The Isle of Devils HOLY WAR (12 page)

Back in the cargo hold, Storm and Savage had armed themselves with AK-47 automatic weapons. Savage had never fired an AK-47 before, but appeared confident that he could. While Savage and Storm filled their pockets with ammo clips, Krack in a very disturbed state said, “Why in the hell don’t I get a weapon? Are you two going to let this Jamaican get his head blown off by those crazy terrorists?”

Savage responded, “Krack, you’re my mate. Here, take this for protection.” He reached in a drum and pulled out a 22 inch machete. Savage flipped it up in the air towards Krack. Krack had no choice but to grab the machete out of mid air or risk getting his arm chopped off.

Savage added, “Sorry, Krack, but we’re still in Bermuda, and it would be illegal to allow you to have a firearm.”

Krack snapped back, “Oh that’s great, mon. You let the terrorists have enough weapons to blow up half the island, but the little mon from Jamaica gets a gardener’s tool. What’s wrong with this picture?”

Storm interrupted, “Ok, that’s enough bickering. Get these lids back on the drums. Sooner or later one of those terrorists will be down here checking on their cargo. Krack, were you able to find any unlatched hatches?”

Krack answered, “Yeah mon, but the hatch goes down into a lower cargo hold.”

Savage added, “Well at least if we can’t get the drop on one of the terrorists we can go down another level.” No sooner had Savage stopped talking than they felt movement in the ship.

Storm spoke up, ”Oh hell, the tanker is moving. The Bermuda tug boats must be pulling us away from the dock. We have to try to warn the Commissioner as soon as possible.” Storm was only half right, as the tanker was moving away from the dock on its own power. Hooda did not want to draw any attention or have any record of the tanker leaving Bermuda.

Savage replied, “The only way that’s going to happen is if someone opens up one of those hatches and lets us out.” Just then they all heard one of the hatch doors being unlocked.

Storm whispered, “Savage, you cover me and I’ll get behind the hatch and take him out once he steps through the door.” Savage nodded his head in agreement as he released the safety and cocked back the bolt on his AK-47. Storm was quick to get into place behind the door. As the door swung open a deck guard stepped through the hatch. As soon as he was half through the hatch, Storm grabbed the hatch with both hands and slammed it shut. The hatch struck the guard in the head knocking him out cold. Krack and Savage quickly dragged him off and stuffed him into a half empty drum.

Savage and Krack made their way back to the hatch door where Storm was standing. Savage, huffing and puffing a bit said, “Since by now we’ve probably been cut loose by the tug boat we better look around and see if we can figure out our destination.”

Storm replied, “I agree.” He looked over at Krack and added, “Krack, you stay here and make sure our guest keeps quiet.” Krack was ticked off about having to stay, but he kept it to himself as he walked back to the drums.

Storm opened up the hatch while Savage slipped through it. Storm was quick to follow. It was dark again which made it much easier for them to move around the tanker undetected. The two made their way towards the stern of the tanker. They both saw something on the tanker deck that stopped them dead in their tracks.

Savage blurted out saying, “What the bloody hell, why is the deck loaded with speedboats?”

Storm scratching his head replied, “I don’t think Hooda is taking these boats back to his Saudi friends. What in the world is he up to?”

Savage added, “We’ve got to let both our governments know about this tanker.”

Storm knew if he said a single word or turned around the guard would shoot him. Storm looked at Savage. He could tell that Storm was about to replay what he had done the night before at Casemate’s. In a split second, Storm dropped flat on the deck of the tanker leaving Savage with a direct shot at the guard. The guard’s eyes momentarily looked down at Storm, but by the time he looked up he was staring down the barrel of Savage’s AK-47. Savage didn’t hesitate. He fired off a single shot hitting the guard in the chest. Before the guard hit the deck Storm jumped up and grabbed him by the shoulders and flipped him overboard.

Storm turned back to Savage saying, “If anyone heard that shot this deck will be swarming in a minute.” The two ran as fast as they could to get back to the hold hatch. Once through the hatch the trio moved quickly over to the hatch door that led to the cargo hold below them.

Fortunately for the trio none of the terrorists had heard the shot being fired. While the trio was waiting Savage said, “Look mates one of us has got to get off this tanker and alert the Commissioner.” Savage turned and looked at Krack.

Krack snapped back, “Now wait a minute, mon. I can’t swim that well.”

Storm smiled and added, “Don’t worry, my brother. We’ll give you a couple of life preservers and set you afloat in one of these drums. You’ll be back to shore in no time.”

Krack shook his head and said, “You guys are nuts if you think I’m going overboard in a drum. Plus the police aren’t going to believe me anyway.”

Savage stood up and replied, “Krack, it’s like this, mate. You don’t have a choice.” Savage walked over to the wall where a couple of life preservers were hanging. He ripped them off the wall and threw them at Krack saying, “Let’s go, mate. You’re going for a swim.” Krack knew it was a losing cause to continuing fighting against Savage’s plan.

Krack gave Savage a look that could kill replying, “Alright, you bastard, let’s go.” The three emptied out a barrel of plastic explosives and carried it over to the hatch. They made sure the coast was clear; then they lifted the drum up and went through the hatchway. Once on the deck they made a bee-line for the ship’s railing.

When they got to the railing Storm said, “We’re going to drop the drum in the ocean first then you’ll have to go right after it. The wake from the tanker is going to carry the drum away quickly and you’ll never catch up to it if you don’t jump quickly.”

Krack was very nervous. The drop to the ocean must be forty to fifty feet. He started to climb up on the ship’s gunwhale, but Savage grabbed him by the shoulder and said, “Wait a minute, mate, take this and show it to the Commissioner.” Savage handed Krack his inspector’s badge. Krack put the badge in his pocket and said, “Let’s do this now before I chicken out.” Savage and Storm picked up the drum and let it drop over the railing bottom first hoping it would stay afloat.

Storm added, “God be with you, brother.” Krack gave them two thumbs up and jumped with one life preserver on each arm. All you could hear was Krack yelling, “Oh hell!” as he dropped like a rock to the water. Krack hit the water hard and he lost one of his life preservers. He quickly got his bearing back and swam as quickly as he could towards the drum.

Savage and Storm could no longer see Krack through the pitch black night. Then all of a sudden they heard a scream in Arabic, “Man overboard.” The tankers search lights were turned on and began scanning the ocean like laser beams. Finally they spotted the drum and at the same time Krack was trying to climb into it.

Harbour Radio

Harbour Patrol was out on their midnight run around the Great Sound. For the Patrol tonight appeared to be just another boring nightly run. As they neared the entrance to the sound a strange bobbing object in the water drew the attention of one of the officers. The officer turned the spotlight on the object and yelled out, “Check that object off the starboard.” The patrol boat maneuvered over to the bobbing drum. The closer they got to the drum, it was apparent that it was riddled with bullet holes.

The officer closest to the drum yelled out, “Sir, this drum must have been used for target practice by the Bermuda Regiment.” He reached over and pulled the drum alongside the boat. The officer was alarmed at the contents. He screamed, “We have a body in the drum!”

The other crew members quickly helped pull Krack out of the drum. They laid his bullet riddled body down on the deck. One of the officers took his right wrist trying to check for a pulse without noticing what fell out of his hand. The officer couldn’t believe it as he turned to the others and said, “He’s got a pulse. He’s alive!”

The other officer yelled out, “Call an ambulance and have them meet us at Albouy’s Point.” Within seconds the patrol boat was at full throttle with flashing red lights and sirens making a bee-line for Albouy’s Point.

A few minutes later the patrol boat was tied up at Albouy’s Point. The ambulance crew had Krack on a stretcher and was preparing him for the ambulance. While Krack was being loaded in the ambulance one of the officers noticed a shiny object on the deck. He reached down and picked it up. After looking at it he jumped out of the boat and ran straight for one of his fellow officers standing by the ambulance. As the ambulance pulled out for the hospital the officer said, “Check this out. It’s Inspector Savage’s badge and ID.”

The other officer replied, “I wonder if Savage has been shot up in a drug bust that went bad? Why would this man have his badge and ID?” He quickly pulled out his police radio and called headquarters to make sure an officer was present to meet the ambulance when it arrived at King Edward Hospital.

Word spread quickly throughout the department about the strange events of the night. Not only did an officer meet the ambulance, there was also the Commissioner and several of his staff. When Krack was brought out of the ambulance on the stretcher the Commissioner met them before they could enter the hospital. The Commissioner asked one of the attendants, “Has this man spoken?”

The ambulance attendant replied, “Except for a few moans he’s mostly been unconscious.”

The Commissioner added, “Go ahead and get him into the ER, but make sure the doctors call me the second he regains consciousness.”

The attendants whisked Krack into the ER while the Commissioner and his staff anxiously awaited a chance to talk to Krack.

Meanwhile, three scooters were zooming across the airport causeway. The riders were totally focused on their mission. Their training and commitment to their cause was beyond the imagination of most Westerners. These terrorists were not just willing to die for their cause. They expected to die for it. Hooda was taking no chances. No one was going to stop Cobra from striking a deadly blow to the West.

The three terrorists continued past the airport and on, by-passing St. David’s. They were now headed straight to St. George’s. As they entered the village of St. George’s, all three took a hard left turn and sped up Fort George Hill Road. They were on their way to the Harbour Radio Station on the top of Fort George Hill. The facility was very unusual it was built on the top of Fort George. This old stone structure was complete with a moat and cannons. The Harbour Radio Station was responsible for vessel traffic surveillance in and out of Bermuda. This was the reason Hooda had sent his men to the station; he wanted no one to know his tanker had left Bermuda until it was too late to react to his departure.

The three terrorists parked their scooters just out of sight of the station. They wanted to make sure the occupants did not know they were nearing. One of the terrorists hid behind some bushes with an automatic pistol guarding the entrance to the facility. He was ready to kill any surprise visitors. The other two were dressed like local pizza delivery people with a huge surprise in their pizza boxes.

Two station operators were at the station tonight monitoring the equipment. Both were very busy and didn’t notice anything going on outside of the station.

Meanwhile back on the tanker Storm and Savage were trying to develop a game plan. They had no idea if Krack had made his way to shore to alert the authorities. Savage spoke first, “Let’s sneak on deck and see where we are.” Storm nodded in agreement, and the two crept out on deck.

As they were looking at the shoreline Storm said, “I wish we could warn someone on shore.”

Savage thought for a minute and said, “Just a minute mate I’ll be right back.” He went back through the hatch and unclipped a flashlight he has seen with other supplies in the cargo hold. He quickly returned to the top deck where Storm was. Savage pointed towards the shore and said, “Look, mate, see that flashing tower over there?”

Storm replied, “Yeah, why?”

Savage replied, “At the base of that tower is Bermuda Harbour Radio. There’s a staff there all night keeping an eye out for ship traffic in and out of Bermuda and ships or boats in distress. I think it’s time to send them a distress signal.”