Hard Case VII - Red Waves (John Harding Series Book 7) (3 page)

“Any patrol boat could run rings around her,” Denny continued. “The real problem is getting aboard. A small well-armed force with insiders already in place on board would have no problem controlling the passengers. At a cost of 1.5 billion dollars to manufacture Starlight, the ransom could be in the 100 million dollar range. We figure Isis plans on a three boat force. They’ll fire something at the hull to demonstrate their power. The captain of an unarmed cruise ship dead in the water with sabotaged communications has no choice but to negotiate. The Isis pirates get their occupation crew aboard with the captain and crew urging calmness and cooperation from the passengers. Done deal then.”

“Damn it…” Paul whispered in awe, his mind picturing every step Denny listed. “I don’t like your thinking, Den. A year ago, I would never have conceived of these butchers trying to nuke China Basin during a Giants game. If not for Harding’s team that’s exactly what would have happened. You have my attention. What’s your countermove to it?”

“I need world class killers on board with families and business ventures possibly pertinent to the voyage with reason to be there. The Deluxe Cruises Company would love for Nick McCarty, New York Times Bestselling author to do book signings and literary panels aboard. I’ve already bought out five premium suites with balconies from prepaid purchasers on the chance you’ll be able to sell Nick on the idea. They are located on the seventeenth deck in the four outer corners of the ship. They all have balconies and are luxury suites you’d have to see to believe. If the rumors are wrong, Nick and his family will have a wonderful vacation cruise. I know for a fact Nick has killed people from a moving ship with a sniper rifle. My guys are good, especially John, but word is Nick’s the best. Even Lucas reiterated that, and he rarely admits anyone not a Recon Marine is the best in anything.”

“He’s right,” Paul replied. “I’ve read the black ops files on Nick. His sanction record on land and sea scares me. Until I met Nick in person and saw him in action first hand, I thought he was a myth. Then I study what you and Harding’s team have done, and I start thinking with leeway in the rules of engagement, we could win the war on terror in six months.”

Denny chuckled. “I have no doubt if we put our people on board the ship with the two specially outfitted boats I have in my private navy shadowing Starlight, we will deal these sand rats a setback they won’t soon recover from. I’ll have a surprise for them I’m hoping we get to broadcast around the world. Remember the helicopter attacks I sent you on the Isis compounds.”

“Oh my God, Den, those were the best. Guns and bombs blazing to the tune of ‘Ride of the Valkyries’. I… damn… you’re thinking of hauling an attack helicopter with you, aren’t you?”

“I already have a tugboat we pirated on our last operation. I had it converted to one hell of an assault ship, complete with helicopter pad, and EMP shielding. We learned after a mishap at sea off the California coast we needed to protect our electronics since the government has allowed many of our advanced weapons technology to be stolen. We have guns and missile capabilities aboard the Valkyrie to take on nearly anything pirates with major resources throw at us.”

“Major resources?”

“Let me put it this way, Paul. Do you remember the two gunboats the Iranians captured in supposedly Iranian waters?”

Gilbrech sighed. “How can I forget?”

“That will never… ever happen with the Sea Wolf and Valkyrie,” Strobert stated. “My guys will jump into the water with the ship destroyed under them. Then they will be killed swimming toward the enemy with knives clenched between their teeth before they’d ever do a photo shoot on their knees with hands clasped behind their heads. Seriously, I have a pack of killers who would literally eat their own ammo rather than face Lucas Blake in a surrender move. Admittedly, we’ll be bait if a major power is behind this. It’s what we want to do so no one has any question about the culprit behind this assault. I ask only one thing in this. If we uncover a major power behind this attack on Starlight, we’ll devastate their first assault group, but we’d like to know we can count on backup.”

Paul Gilbrech sat silently for many moments contemplating the incredible successes done under his watch by Nick McCarty’s crew and Denny Strobert’s wild bunch under control of John Harding. He turned to Denny with a smile and his hand out which Denny shook. “I will be on an aircraft carrier group in your vicinity. I will shoot the captain or admiral in the head if they try to turn away because they get ordered to stand down by these pantywaist shitheads in DC. Let’s do this, Denny. I’m in. Let me talk to Nick. If he says no, I’m screwed. He would be perfect on board ship with his crew during this bait move. You’re planning on a helicopter lift to the Sea Wolf and Valkyrie when the pirates arrive, right?”

“Exactly. Everyone but a skeleton crew will be on the Starlight, enjoying the good times until the pirates hit. Naturally we won’t tip them off by flying a helicopter over their heads. We’ll need early warning of approaching vessels for this trap to work anyway. Laredo Sawyer will fly over to pick up my people to man the ships. Lucas will have his wife and kids if they want to go aboard the Sea Wolf. Laredo will fly them to the Starlight for safety with anyone not needed aboard the Valkyrie. Jafar Kensington will pilot the Valkyrie. Command Central with all our networking capabilities will be under his charge aboard the Valkyrie.”

“I’ll network real time satellite images to your central command. Laredo’s been around a long time. Wait a minute. Kensington’s just a kid. You guys nicknamed him Achmed the Dead Terrorist, right?”

“He’s as good as Laredo and Clint on computer and IT technology. He’s a killer, been in combat, and Lucas Blake trained on captaining a ship. John Harding calls him little brother. Achmed can network all of us, steer the Valkyrie, and fire the Valkyrie’s remote weapons at the same time without blinking. On top of that he speaks the sand lingo.”

“Okay then. I’ll go to work on Nick. I owe him a visit. I’d rather not present this to him over any line. I’m glad to work with you on this, Den. You understand I can’t simply order someone like Nick.”

Denny sighed. “Oh, how well I know. I’ll meet with John’s team about a mission and the moment I stop talking they look at John for approval. When John doesn’t approve, he’ll make suggestions; but in actuality, either I change the mission or there is no mission. It makes me more cautious. John doesn’t override me for the hell of it. I imagine you have a relationship somewhat similar with Nick.”

“Lucas stays in touch with Nick. They even have similar body disposal practices. I suspect they’ve been comparing notes.”

“Count on it,” Denny replied.

* * *

August in Monterey, California at night can be quite cool, especially if near the ocean front. At nearly 9 pm the temperature with ocean breezes blowing along the main Fisherman’s Wharf walkway hovered at a chilly fifty degrees. A large crowd of Saturday night diners and tourists crowded the walkway to the point of jostling one another while passing. Approaching from the parking lot a man dressed in all black with trimmed black beard and black Kufi skull cap escorted a woman in a black burka. The man, a couple of inches under six feet, and the woman a couple of inches shorter than her companion, slowed their pace considerably while approaching the walkway entrance.

“Kabong was right, Muerto.” Nick McCarty’s friend and partner, Gus Nason, watched the couple with range finders across the walkway from Nick. “Do you have the boat in position, Kabong?”

“Yes. Do not worry about me, Payaso. I don’t understand why you could not have driven the boat. You are Popeye the Sailor, not me.”

“I blend better than you. This will be messy. You look like the terrorists.”

“Your observation was uncalled for, Payaso!”

“Nick? With this many people, how the hell can you-”

Two things happened as Gus spoke. The woman threw off her head cover while lifting the fold at her waist on the burka, revealing two Sig Saur MPX submachine guns belted at her waist. The man reached for one. Fifty caliber rounds, two apiece, pulped the couple’s heads, fired from Nick’s silenced M107 sniper rifle. The couple smashed to the ground from the impact amidst screams from onlookers.

“Oh yeah, I forgot, you wouldn’t care about collateral damage anyway.” Gus focused his long range camera on each of the terrorist’s faces, snapping a dozen pics each.

“There was no collateral damage, Payaso. Stifle yourself, get the pics, and get to the parking lot.” Nick crab crawled across the flat building roof with his equipment strapped to his back with black El Muerto mask in place. It only took him ten seconds to slip over the building’s side to the pier. He tossed his pack into the arms of John Groves, formerly Ebi Zarin, now also known as El Kabong. A moment more and Nick crouched beside Groves as John sped away out of the harbor area in Gus Nason’s cruiser, The Lucky Lady II. “You sure steered us right with that tip, Kabong.”

“We will have to finish off the traitors in the Salinas masjid. Otherwise, they will only attempt to follow this failure with another attempt. It is proven now what Cala and I discovered while attending the masjid. The couple lived at the masjid and were being hidden. Once I hacked into the masjid’s network, it took very little to break into their email files. The two originate from Syria. They must feel invincible with their plans. The communiques to the one picking them up in the parking lot should never have been transmitted over a slipshod security network.”

“Speaking of which, do you have the driver in sight, Payaso?”

“I have him in sight, Muerto. He’s nervous as hell. When the sirens sound, he’ll zoom out of here without investigating what happened to his friends.”

“Good. Follow him as we talked about until I figure out if the tracker John put on the vehicle works.”

“Will do. I hear sirens. The driver’s edging along the parking lot drive nearest the sidewalk with people streaming toward him in a panic. There he goes. I’m following. Be careful with my Lucky Lady, Kabong.”

“The Loose Lady is in good hands, brother Payaso.”

“Don’t start with that Muerto mimic act, Kabong! I have to endure the disrespect my wonderful first Lucky Lady received in giving her life to save me and Muerto in the Caribbean from the heathen with you. Don’t you start doing second hand Muerto insults. It won’t go well for you.”

“It was a boat, Payaso, not the Queen Mary,” Nick cut in, remembering Gus’s piloting in the Caribbean for Nick’s sanctions of Max Stoddard and Jason Bidwell, the men behind trying to have his now wife and daughter killed. “The first Loose Lady… I mean Lucky Lady died with her boots on. I warned you Richert would nuke us from orbit. You’re lucky I anticipated every move. Quit whining and keep your head in the game. If you want to speculate, think of some way we can claim this hit as the Unholy Trio. I have the hits done in HD through my cam. I’m sure Kabong can edit a nice YouTube video with the Trio doing a final note at the end.”

“Yes!” Groves pumped a fist. “It will be just so. I will begin writing the script.”

“No way do we play the cartoons this close to home! Are you guys nuts? C’mon, Muerto, show a little restraint!”

“You worry too much. John and I will get the Lady parked back home.” Nick glanced down at his iPad. “I’m tracking the driver, Payaso. You can meet us on the pier. His signal is clear. I have a few friends joining us tomorrow morning to plot out the masjid sanction. They need to speak with a couple of live suspects they believe to have information on an Isis plot they uncovered in the Bay Area. Paul called me. He’s meeting with us at my house in a couple hours to brief us on the target and our part in it.”

“Well damn… the CIA Director meetin’ with the hired help,” Gus replied. “That he didn’t simply call you makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention. You’re saying this Director’s meeting has to do with the friends from the Bay Area?”

“Yes. Paul said we can opt out on this one because it involves families somehow.”

“Say… wait a damn minute,” Gus said. “You have friends in the business? When the hell did that ever happen?”

“That’s just wrong, Payaso. Everyone likes me.”

“Really? I know of two friends you had in the business: Kate Fuller and Sam Jessops. You blew Sam’s head off and tortured Kate to death.”

Nick sighed. “It was a needed exercise in tough love.”

Gus listened to John Groves laughing in the background. “Only you could say something like that without a lightning strike hitting you in divine intervention or a laugh track.”

“Now you’re just being mean.”

* * *

Nick moved aside with a smile, shaking hands with Paul Gilbrech and his personal assistant, Clyde Bacall. “Hi guys. How’s the wound, Clyde?”

Clyde absently patted his healed head wound from the last McCarty adventure he joined in. “It’s all healed except for the rattled brain.”

“Nice paycheck though, huh guys?” Nick patted Clyde’s shoulder after referring to the millions taken from a corrupt Senator Cameron and terrorist enablers on their last action together.

“That was sweet! Don’t get me and Mr. Gilbrech killed before we can spend it.”

The Unholy Trio of Nick, Gus Nason, and John Groves greeted their visitors as old friends with even Deke the dog sitting to shake hands. Nick’s wife Rachel and daughter Jean both hugged the two men, knowing the importance of such a connection.

“I have the coffee and snacks set out on the deck, Paul,” Rachel said. “If you and Clyde want anything else, just holler.”