Huston, James W. -2003- Secret Justice (com v4.0)(html) (46 page)

Hotary studied the blip and quickly measured the distance. “Only five nautical miles.” He glanced at the RPM indicator. “Increase speed to sixteen knots. Take heading to intercept the ship.”

The man nodded at him and confirmed the order. The ship turned slightly to the northeast and began closing on the radar blip. Their target was traveling at ten knots. The
Sea Dragon
closed on it steadily from a constant bearing.

On the bridge of the other ship they noticed the radar contact approaching them from the southwest, closing with each minute at a steady pace. They grew concerned as the dark ship bore down on them. Their own ship was larger and not very maneuverable. The deck officer called the captain to the bridge. “Contact approaching from the southwest. Two miles away. It is overtaking us, and is on a collision bearing. Speed is sixteen knots.” The captain looked at the radar repeater and then at the deck officer who was looking through his binoculars. “See anything?”

“No, sir. Nothing.”

“Reduce speed to three knots. Try to raise her on the radio.”

The change was transmitted to the engine room and the ship began to slow—if a collision course was in place, changing any part of the collision geometry would avoid the collision. Slowing was the easiest.

And it was exactly what Hotary had anticipated. He turned the
Sea Dragon
slightly more to the east, repairing the collision course, maintaining sixteen knots. The radio crackled as he heard in a heavy Japanese accent, “Ship heading northeast off Virginia at thirty-two degrees North, seventy-four degrees West; this is the
Galli Maru
. State your intentions.”

As they approached one mile, Hotary said to the other men on the bridge, “Get everyone ready.”

Everyone left the bridge except Hotary, his second, and the helmsman. He could now see their objective, a huge ship with white writing on its side. Forward of the superstructure it was mostly flat, like an oil tanker. In large white block letters on the black hull were “L N G,” widely spaced and as big as buildings. Liquefied Natural Gas, natural gas cooled to such a temperature that it was rendered liquid in form, one hundred twenty-five thousand cubic meters of explosive gas.

Hotary could not help but smile. Everything depended on this ship being on course and on time, and there it was, like clockwork. The liquefied natural gas ship was exactly where it was supposed to be, exactly when it was supposed to be there.

The
Sea Dragon
continued to bear down on the
Galli Maru
, now within several hundred yards but still invisible. The concern on the bridge of the
Galli Maru
had grown to a panic. The radio calls were growing more insistent. They had slowed to three knots and yet the ship from the dark continued to come. It was as if the invisible ship was
trying
to collide with them. The captain grabbed his binoculars and studied the darkness. He couldn’t see anything. Not even the reflection of a bow wave. The captain spoke to his first officer without looking at him. “Has this ship changed course at all?”

“Slight modification about fifteen minutes ago. Before that we weren’t tracking her closely.”

“Maybe it’s disabled. The entire crew may have been overcome,” the captain said. “They may have lost power and only the engine is running. They don’t have any lights and they can’t respond to us on the radio. Turn on all our lights. Floods, everything. Light us up. Hold course, but slow down. If she’s unmanned, I don’t want her ramming into us.”

Hotary watched the
Galli Maru
through his binoculars. He saw the floodlights come on. His job had just been made easier. The captain of the Japanese LNG ship was confused. He hadn’t even considered a malignant explanation. People rarely did. It was what Hotary relied on.

As they closed to two hundred yards and looked as if they were going to pass by the
Galli Maru
on its port side, Hotary nodded to the helmsman, who turned the wheel sharply to the right and drove the
Sea Dragon
directly toward the LNG ship side to side.

The
Sea Dragon
was now illuminated by the floodlights of its target as they were only fifty yards apart. The
Galli Maru’
s main deck was ten feet below that of the
Sea Dragon
. Hotary braced himself as the ships closed at a surprisingly rapid rate. The Japanese captain was running outside to the flying bridge then back inside. He was acutely aware of the near inevitability of a collision and what could happen to his cargo if his hull was pierced.

The helmsman turned the wheel to the left just as they were about to touch and Hotary threw the engine of the large cargo ship into reverse to slow quickly to the
Galli Maru’
s speed. The two ships scraped together side to side with a sickening, metallic crunch. Hotary ran from the bridge down to the deck and gave the signal to the four men waiting there with large shotgun-like firearms. They aimed them high and fired. Titanium grappling hooks attached to half-inch-thick steel cables flew from the
Sea Dragon
over to the deck of the
Galli Maru
. The hooks jerked and hopped across the deck looking for anything hard to grab. Three set, then the fourth, hooking on railings, ladders. As soon as the cables were taut, the four men secured them to hard fittings on the
Sea Dragon
.

Hotary looked over and saw the Japanese captain staring in disbelief. He was confused and furious. The captain disappeared inside the bridge of the
Galli Maru
. Hotary had hoped to get over there before they got back on the radio. One of his men yelled from the bridge, “He’s transmitting on emergency frequency that he’s an LNG ship being boarded by pirates.”

Hotary turned to three men standing on the bow. He raised his hand to them, the signal he had hoped not to have to give. They raised the three rocket-propelled grenade launchers, the RPG-7s, and fired into the antennae on top of the
Galli Maru
’s bridge. They knew to avoid the radar antenna if at all possible. They fired almost simultaneously at the radio antenna nicely lit up in the
Galli Maru’
s attempt to be conspicuous.

The rocket motors sent the warheads racing across and slaughtered the antennae over the bridge. The explosions amid the blend of metals, aluminum, steel, titanium, and other composites sent sparks and a multicolored fireworks display high into the dark night. The radio transmission stopped, but they had gotten off enough to complicate Hotary’s plan. He had expected it but had hoped to be quick enough to avoid it.

Hotary ran for one of the cables holding the two ships together. He threw on the backpack that had been handed to him and threw the AK-47 strap over his head. His men handed him a stainless-steel device with two handles designed to accept a steel cable. He slipped it over the cable, and jumped off the deck of the
Sea Dragon
. He slid down the cable onto the deck of the
Galli Maru
. Three other men jumped onto the remaining cables while five more stood on the deck of the
Sea Dragon
, rifles drawn, waiting for the sure opposition.

Hotary heard a commotion as men emerged from several hatches aboard the LNG ship. The captain was one of the first down to the deck and began screaming at Hotary in Japanese. He looked up at the burning wreckage in the superstructure of the ship, and back at Hotary. He just couldn’t believe this was happening on the high seas off the coast of the United States.

The captain yelled for his men to grab weapons out of the arms locker. They scrambled back up the ladders as the men on the
Sea Dragon
opened fire on them. Their AK-47s barked loudly as sailors from the
Galli Maru
fell. The captain ducked back into the bridge, tried the radio, then a backup radio, both of which were disabled.

Hotary jumped over the railing in one easy motion. He pulled his assault rifle over his head and ran toward the bridge. He raced up one ladder, then the next. The other men who had crossed with him were right behind him. He burst onto the bridge. The captain turned to him with fury and screamed at him in Japanese.

Hotary put up his hand. “Speak English,” he insisted.

“Get off my ship!” the captain demanded.

“I’m not here to hurt you. But this is my ship,” Hotary said. He noticed movement on the bridge and fired at the corner. A man screamed and dropped a shotgun then fell to the deck with his arm bleeding profusely. Hotary walked to the man and shot him in the back where he lay. He went silent.

The captain cried out. “Not here to hurt us?! You cannot do this! You are murdering my crew!”

“If you want any of your crew to live you will tell them to do
exactly
as they are told! If they try to stop us, they will be killed,” Hotary yelled.

The captain looked more closely at Hotary. “Who are you?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

The captain stared. “I have watched news from satellite. You look like the man that was on trial on U.S. Navy ship. But it wasn’t him.” He suddenly realized who he was dealing with. He gasped, “You are Wahamed Duar!”

“You will tell your crew to do exactly as they are told.”

The captain nodded slowly, terrified of what he was involved in, now knowing who had possession of his LNG ship.

On the main deck below, three men ran from a lower hatch carrying twelve-gauge shotguns. They aimed at men crossing over on the cables but were quickly cut down by Duar’s men, who were waiting for them.

Duar pointed to the helm and yelled at one of his men to take over. He yelled to the others to scour the ship and find the rest of the crew. They ran from the bridge and headed down one of the internal ladders. They knew the layout of the ship as well as they knew that of the
Sea Dragon
; they had studied a diagram of the entire ship for weeks. Duar pulled out a set of steel handcuffs and turned back to the captain. “Give me your hands.”

“No,” the captain said.

Duar hit him in the face with the barrel of his gun in a slashing movement. The gunsight cut the captain’s face and blood ran down his cheek. “Give me your hands!”

The captain offered his hands.

“Behind you,” Duar insisted.

The captain turned and Duar handcuffed him behind his back. “Sit down,” Duar ordered. The captain sat on the deck of the bridge and stared at Duar and his men with palpable fear.

Only six of Duar’s men were left aboard the
Sea Dragon
, three to handle the ship, and three to empty the contents of the special containers, bring them to the deck of the
Sea Dragon
, and transfer them to the
Galli Maru
. They hurriedly transferred the explosives, radioactive cores, and weapons across from the
Sea Dragon
. When all the equipment had been transferred, Duar grabbed the captain. “On your feet,” he said.

The captain stood awkwardly and Duar pulled him to the ladder. He handed him over to one of his men, who dragged him down the ladder and hooked him to the two-handled device. A line was tied to the end and he was pulled up and over to the
Sea Dragon
.

Duar checked his watch, gave the signal, and the three men left on the
Sea Dragon
released the cables and turned away from the
Galli Maru
. They headed due east. The
Galli Maru
turned west for the Chesapeake Bay.

“Captain Pugh?”

The submarine captain turned to the first-class petty officer, who was carrying a sheet of paper. “What?”

“Here’s the text of that transmission on the international distress frequency. It’s not far from here at all.”

Pugh frowned and grabbed the paper. He read it aloud, “This is
Galli Maru
, at thirty-two North and seventy-eight West. We are LNG ship boarded by pirates.” He looked up at the first-class petty officer and then at the Officer of the Deck. “You think he means
being
boarded by pirates?”

“Yes, sir. He had a heavy accent.”

“Boarded by pirates? An LNG ship? Are you
shitting
me?” He looked at the chart. “Where are they?”

The petty officer leaned over with a pen and pointed to the location. “Right about here, sir.”

“Thirty miles or so from here,” Pugh observed. “How long ago was this transmission?”

“About five minutes.”

“Do we have anything on the ship itself?”

“We’re not sure, sir. Last time we did a radar scan there were about thirty ships in the area. They’re sort of lining up to go into the Chesapeake. Hard to tell which one it was.”

“How strong a signal was their mayday call?”

“Not very, really.”

“Get a message off to the Coast Guard. Retransmit that mayday call in case they missed it. Tell them we’re on the way. They need to get a cutter or helicopter out there right away. Send it to Washington and Norfolk as well.” Pugh paused and thought. “Why the hell would pirates want to take an LNG ship? They think they’re going to break it up into little pieces of natural gas and sell it on the black market? It’s not like you can unload one of those ships just anywhere.”

Lieutenant Commander Terry Foss, the Officer of the Deck, a clever officer that Captain Pugh found annoying but incredibly insightful, asked, “Did you see that message that came in a little bit ago?”

“Which one?” Pugh asked.

“They think the ship we’re looking for, the one that sailed from Africa, has Wahamed Duar himself aboard.”

Pugh looked at him. He didn’t remember seeing such a message. He might have missed it if it started talking in depth about terrorism. Not a lot of terrorists in submarines. “So you’re thinking maybe this is his work.”

Foss nodded.

“This LNG ship is ahead of us. And if the ‘pirates’ are led by Duar, that means the ship he is on went right by us.”

“Yes, sir.”

“How?”

“Don’t know. But if we get there right away, maybe we’ll see.”

“Get us to that LNG ship,
now
.” To the petty officer, “Tell the comm officer I want to get a message off to Washington right away. Tell them we’re near an LNG ship which we believe may have been attacked by the ship they’re looking for. Tell them we’re requesting instructions on what to do when we get there. Are we cleared to sink her? Go, go! Get that message off!”