Hard Case VII - Red Waves (John Harding Series Book 7) (47 page)

“That’s where the pirates would come aboard,” Jean declared immediately.

Nick marveled at Jean’s intuitive projection. “Not on this ship, kid.”

Jean flashed Nick a smile. “I’m right though. That’s the takeover spot they could gain access to the ship, huh?”

“Yes. It is the number one weakest place on the ship to repel boarders - especially if normal operations with no security team, and no weapons, was in force. We will hold control of the helicopter forward deck against all attempts. It won’t come to that if our plan works well.”

“My Dad said you would make sure no boat reached anywhere near us with pirate boarders,” Al stated. “At some point this will all get very weird, huh Mr. McCarty?”

“Yeah, it will, Al. Call me Nick… okay?”

“Sure.”

“I told Al we’ve seen all her Dad’s fights,” Jean said. “She told us some of them were really tough to watch, huh Al?”

Al shrugged. “Dad loves doing it, and it’s usually fun. I had to promise not to be a big baby if I was allowed to watch the fights like in Las Vegas. The first Rattler fight was bad. Dad broke Rattler’s jaw a second after the fight ended. He lost. Rattler cut Dad up and bruised him so badly during the fight, everyone began calling him Hamburger. Then they switched to Cheeseburger and Cheese for short.”

“The first Rattler fight was brutal,” Nick said. “I liked his fight against the ‘Berserker’.”

Al giggled. “Lynn said Dad knocked the tats right off the Berserker’s face. I guess he won’t get a shot at the title after the meeting with the champ.”

“You never know, Al,” Nick replied. “Fighters are a different breed. Costigan may not be able to resist taking on all comers, including your Dad.”

“Maybe,” Al replied. “It’s not as important as stopping the pirates from attacking ships. If they were able to capture the Starlight with all the thousands of people out here on the ocean, Dad says they could demand anything they wanted.”

“We’re going to make sure that never happens, Al. We hope to make this assault so costly they never attempt it again.”

“Why do they do all these things to people around the world, Nick?”

Nick patted Al’s shoulder. “The real question is why do we let them?”

* * *

The announcement to report for emergency station drill began repeating. All ship’s crew began the tedious task of getting over six thousand passengers to their assigned station. The stations, clearly marked on each individual’s cruise ship sea pass card, engendered no movement amongst many of the strolling passengers until hurried along by the ship’s crew. I’m not much on being a prima donna when it comes to drills and safety measures. The crew had to get this done. Playing games only makes the whole procedure longer. It was nice to see my fellow Monsters all felt the same way. We met on our way to the emergency station at the end of the first announcement. Since our station was the same, we stood together after being checked into position by sea pass card ID.

“My friend John has a good idea to attempt, Cheese,” Nick whispered near to me. “He’s going to try his other identity to persuade Perry he’s a last moment member of the infiltrators sent directly from Ali Khan. It may not take anything other than asking Perry to accompany him on the pretense he was able to smuggle on an EMP weapon to take out communications.”

I looked down at the smiling John Groves with real interest. “I like it. It would certainly be less risky than transporting Halii in a towel cart. That can always remain Plan B. If he would follow you to the cabin we have reserved for interrogation, that would be very nice, John.”

“It will give me a chance to see how much my other identity undercover has been compromised too. It didn’t work well the last time I tried it. In any case, I will get him to the room. Chuck and Sal will be watching too from a distance but near enough to move on him if need be.”

“Once we find out the facts, we can get the others in custody and maybe enjoy our voyage to a certain extent,” Lynn added quietly. “I know the real problem will be Captain Larsen. He won’t like being bait. I have to figure a diplomatic way of explaining to him why he won’t have twenty-eight of his crew members. They have important duties I’m sure. Once they’re in lockup, if Larsen quietly reached out to the Custom Cruises Line, maybe he can get replacements under the cover of an infectious disease problem.”

“It would be best if he managed to run the ship without the infiltrators,” Nick said. “Any contact with Custom Cruises could tip off Isis. You can bet if Iran’s loaning them the Port of Chabahar to mess with the rest of the world, they have intelligence people in the Custom Cruises’ hierarchy. You can bet the rest of the crew will be on edge. Hell, there’s over two thousand crew members. You’d think they could cover for twenty-eight easily enough.”

“Nick’s right,” Clint said. “We’ll get tough with Larsen. It’s possible he’ll listen to reason, especially since we could have allowed the pirates to take his stupid ship. He’s been on cruise ships for twenty years. He must have enough imagination to understand the precedent of pirate terrorists pillaging, looting, and extorting the cruise lines and the rest of the world. Luxury vacations aboard a cruise ship will not be on anyone’s vacation preference list if any ship like the Starlight gets taken.”

“They would finally be made to face the idiocy of floating cities without security,” Jafar said. “When I found out they had no security teams or weapons aboard, I could not believe it. How did Chuck and Sal convince Custom Cruises to allow them aboard?”

“Lucas told me Denny went to see the CEO personally to petition getting Red Dragon on board as an experiment in safety on the seas at no charge to the company. He explained CIA data mining had revealed possible future security risks with pirate threats infiltrated by the terrorists like Isis. CIA Director Gilbrech then personally guaranteed the vetting of all Red Dragon personnel. Custom Cruises agreed to the security upgrade at no cost if it was done with restraint. They’ll be happy we did it without restraint.” I saw the smiles. We all knew no one would have agreed to what we had in mind. We were at war, but no one gave a damn as long as they could make a buck.

“It will be exciting at a distance for the passengers,” Lynn added, “but really, we won’t let them get close enough to do anything but piss their pants.”

We were quieted by the ship’s crewmembers in charge of telling us what we had to do with life vests and various details when reporting to our stations. They were jovial, trying to get us acquainted with the life saving devices while impressing us with the fact danger was non-existent aboard the Starlight. I didn’t say anything, but I’d wager the Costa Concordia Italian cruise ship’s crew told their passengers much the same thing before ending their voyage on its side and sinking near Tuscany. I kept my mouth shut though because I’d be handling a much more likely threat very soon. We were dismissed to do whatever we wished – eat, drink, and be merry.

Nothing could be done at this time other than tour the ship with our families, marveling at being ocean bound aboard the largest ship ever built. We had already been suitably impressed simply seeing the Starlight at the pier. Imagine floating out to sea in a ship many times larger than the Titanic. Nick loved his tower nest. Chuck and Sal promised to get him into it after dark. We all went to sample the rock wall climbing. It was a hoot with the daredevil kids. Only one small family type problem developed when Sonny scrambled to the top like Spiderman with Al a distant second, and Jean nipping at Al’s ankles. Nick saw the cloud forming on his super competitive daughter and pulled her aside before she went postal. He had her laughing in moments so it wasn’t so bad. I beat all the adults, for the most part, because I’m a tad over six and a half feet tall with many months playing in the ocean with sharks while getting poked by a psychopath named Lynn. The guys all did very well anyway, with the wives, not so much.

We moved on to the Central Park theme at the center of the ship. It was incredible. We kept with the physical acumen while touring the ship and trading control of the babies. On a cruise ship, they don’t like kids being loose anywhere on the ship without an adult. They have ship’s director type people with only one job – keep the kids happy and focused on the multitudinous number of activities for kids. We kept them with us and the babies for quite a while playing putt/putt golf, basketball, and table tennis. The lighter moments nearly erased all thought of why we were on board in reality. That would come soon enough.

We found the pool tables before they were taken and had a blast playing teams while keeping the babies entertained. It’s not often Monsters get to have idle time playing games. Chuck found us because we have GPS locators so he always knows where everyone in our party is at any time, including kids and babies. Perry Halii went off duty to his cabin. We adjourned to Nick’s Royal Suite, adjusting the women and kids into the dual hot tubs with sodas, wine, and room service. Gusti arrived as our personal concierge to see to all needs for food and drink. We invited him in to stay as long as his duty station allowed. He was vetted by Red Dragon and knew the score from beginning to when we planned to end it. Gusti was magnificent, one of those people with so much talent for personal service, they are like magicians to behold.

Gusti and Chuck arrived with John’s crew uniform, and identity. He put on his costume and looked top notch. No one other than other crewmembers would even have a clue he didn’t belong in the ship’s crew. Considering there were over two thousand ship’s crew, that fact buried any other concern. Cala got out of the hot tub and put on one of the heavy robes. She grabbed his arms, while looking him over with comical flair.

“You are very handsome in this uniform, my love. Perhaps we should ship out on cruise ships.”

John kissed her forehead. “I like being El Kabong. You love being Cala the Cleaner. I would be agreeable to cruising in luxurious conditions but I don’t wish to work my way over the ocean as Gusti does. He is a saint. I would probably kill many innocents while on duty.”

Gusti enjoyed John’s reasoning, trying to hide the fact he had been listening.

“Be careful, Kabong! We have not even strolled the deck under the moonlight and stars,” Cala cautioned.

“I will be back to do all of that and much more, including dancing and enjoying late night entertainment with you.”

“I’ll hold you to it,” Cala whispered, moving against John.

Nick shook John’s shoulder. “Sorry, Kabong, let’s get this done, my friend.”

“Muerto calls, my love,” John danced away with flair. “I must go now and save the world as only the courageous El Kabong can do. Be patient. I shall return in triumph.”

Cala giggled and patted John’s face. “Go and save the world Kabong. I will be here when you return.”

Nick stopped John before he reached the door with Chuck. “I know I don’t have to tell you this but we are all on alert, John. If anything happens out of the ordinary or beyond our scope, such as a word trigger bringing other infiltrators, kill at will until we reach you. I can’t lose you, John.”

Surprised by Nick’s solemn warnings and affirmations, John gripped his friend’s shoulder. “No worries, mate. I’ll bring Perry where the wonderful Dr. Deville can find out everything about what these jackals have planned. It will be an honor. I will not fail.”

“Gus and I can’t be the Unholy Trio without you,” Nick said, ignoring everything John had said. “Take no chances. Weapons free, partner.”

“Understood, my friend.”

* * *

Perry Halii had only moments before he sat down in the small cabin assigned to him when a knock startled him. He hoped it would not be a request to fill in for someone. He opened the door to find a Middle Eastern man with grim features dressed in a deck officer’s uniform.

“You are not familiar to me,” Halii said. “May I assist you?”

The man looked around in the corridor before answering. “Yes. I have a matter of great importance to speak with you about. Please let me explain inside.”

Halii motioned the man in, taking a closer look at his visitor’s nametag. “I only moments ago finished my duty shift, Groves.”

“My name is Ebi Zarin,” the man said in Arabic. “Ali Khan managed to get me into a slot before the ship left port. He reserved a cabin for us to meet in away from prying eyes. I have satellite communications gear set in place there. It is a secure connection with 256 bit encryption. Khan and Mannan wish to speak with us directly.”

A haunted look swept over Halii’s face. He knew of Ebi Zarin, a merciless killer who he thought killed near the East Coast. Rumors abounded claiming he was alive and forming cells, but also that he was a traitor. If the former was true, he may have been sent by Khan to kill and replace him on the assault mission.

“I have heard rumors of your death and that you sold out to the enemy. How will I know what to believe?”

“Come with me now. Ali Khan can explain it to you over our secure line and allay all your fears. He sent me because he wants Faruk Gaston watched carefully. Khan does not trust him. There have been indications Gaston may be secreting messages to warn of our assault.”

“Allah curse me!” Halii sat on his bed. “I recruited Gaston personally. I am doomed! Have you come to kill me?”

“No. I am here to kill Gaston if he doesn’t do as we direct. You are too valuable to the mission for anyone to consider you expendable. Let Ali Khan tell you so himself. I am not here to harm you. Make sure you are dressed properly. We will go to the cabin together without arousing suspicion.”