The Isle of Devils HOLY WAR (15 page)

Savage added, “Well, thanks for the glowing report. I now have something to look forward to.” The two continued on with their heavily armed escort.

As the two climbed the ladder stairs going up to Hooda’s cabin Savage looked back over his shoulder and then poked Storm in the back saying, “Can you bloody believe what I’m seeing? That canvas is painted on top to look like the tankers deck.”

Storm stopped and replied, “No wonder the chopper didn’t stop. They didn’t see any speedboats.”

Savage added, “Well, at least now we know Krack must have made it to shore.”

Imad interrupted by saying, “Shut up, infidels. Now you know why we will crush the West. We’re smarter than you.” He turned and went on up the steps.

Storm and Savage just looked at each other. Savage said to Storm, “We’ll see who’s smarter, us or these bloody bastards.”

The Black Squall

Hooda and Imad were waiting for Storm and Savage as they entered the cabin. Hooda was sitting down behind a desk while Imad stood in front of the desk facing Storm and Savage. Once in the cabin Imad stepped in front of Savage and Storm and yelled, “Infidels, drop to your knees and show Sheik Hooda your respect.” Storm and Savage stared at Imad like he had never said a word. Imad yelled again, “Drop to your knees! I command it!”

Storm fired back, “Shove this up your butt.” He raised his arm and fist and pointed it at Imad.

Outraged, Imad took the butt of his AK-47 and shoved it as hard as he could into Storm’s stomach. Storm dropped to the floor in agonizing pain. Imad yelled, “That’s better!” He turned to Savage; Savage knew what was coming. As Imad tried to shove the butt of the AK-47 into Savage’s stomach Savage deflected it with his left arm spinning Imad around and without wasting a second threw a round house right fist at Imad. The impact was so hard on the jaw of Imad it knocked him over the desk into Hooda’s lap knocking them both to the floor.

Savage smiled and said, “Mate, that’s a double TKO.” As he bent down to help Storm up two of the terrorists standing behind him both cracked Savage in the back of the head with the butts of their weapons. Savage went crashing to the floor like a ton of bricks.

A few minutes later both Storm and Savage found themselves sitting in chairs with their hands bound behind them. As Savage looked up the first person he saw was Imad. Imad’s jaw was blood red, and he had the biggest black eye Savage had ever seen. Storm looked over at Savage and said, “Well, I think you made your mark on our friend.”

Savage laughed, but before he could say anything Imad back handed both of them and yelled, “Infidels, you’re only alive right now by the grace of Sheik Hooda. One word from him and I will personally cut off your heads. And believe me, I will enjoy that.” He then stepped back and picked up the machete off Hooda’s desk.

Hooda walked around the desk standing directly in front of Savage. He gave his men a Cobra salute saying, “We are Cobra, and it’s our organization’s responsibility to take the Holy War to the West. Your Governments will wish they had all perished on 911 by the time we get through with them. Now from the two of you I want to know what you have told others about us and what you have seen.” He picked up a second machete from his desk. He went on to say, “My friend will not hesitate if I give him the signal to cut your heads off.” He walked over to Savage and said, “Imad would like to start with you first, so tell me what you know.”

Savage looked up at Hooda, glanced over at Imad and said, ”Well, mate, it’s like this. Hell will freeze over before I talk to you.”

Hooda was outraged. He lifted his boot up and kicked Savage in the chest as hard as he could knocking the chair backwards causing Savage to fall over and crack his head on the floor.” Hooda turned to Storm and said, “Well?”

Storm was concerned for Savage, “Well, it would be nice if you would untie me so I can check on my brother.”

Hooda’s face was turning red with anger. He raised the machete over his head and swung it as hard as he could at Storm. Storm didn’t have time to say a prayer. He knew his life was about to end. Hooda swung so hard that he lost his balance, tripped over his long robe and fell down. While he was falling he missed Storm and instead chopped off the two back legs of Storm’s chair sending him to the floor also.

Storm, lying flat on his back, looked over at Savage and said, “How’s my brother doing?”

Savage replied, “Your brother’s doing fine if he would quit cracking his head.”

Imad yelled out, “Take these infidels below deck and tie them up on the barge.

The two found themselves tied up in the middle of the explosives barge. It was now apparent that Storm and Savage were going to remain tied up on the explosives barge at least until they arrived at Hooda’s destination of destruction. They also knew that if it was left up to Hooda they would probably be blown to a million pieces with the tanker.

The terrorists had been so preoccupied with the helicopter and the capture of Storm and Savage, they had missed seeing on radar a massive storm approaching the tanker. The black squall overtook the tanker throwing massive waves over its bow. The huge tanker was being tossed in the ocean like a cork. Below deck Storm and Savage thought that they were engulfed in a black squall of crude oil. The explosives barge was bouncing and banging against the tankers inner walls. Both men were fearful that the collisions with the walls would cause a spark that would cause the explosives to go off. The two terrorist guards became so fearful that they left the tank and went above to their sleeping cabins to wait out the storm.

Savage and Storm knew that no one would be back down to check on them for hours. Storm was first to speak, “My friend, don’t you think we should do something to stop these madmen?”

Savage replied back, “First things first, mate. We need to get these ropes off our wrists first.”

Storm added, “Man, you’re such a party pooper. Why don’t you just hobble your chair out to the edge of the barge and drop into the oil? The oil will surely loosen the ropes so you can free yourself. Then you can climb back on the barge and help me.”

Savage looked at Storm like he was nuts and said, “I’ve got a better idea. I’ll turn my chair around so you can bite the ropes in two, but make damn sure you don’t bite my wrist.”

They both laughed and Storm said as he stood up with his hands free, “Here let me untie you first.” He bent over and quickly untied the ropes on Savage’s wrist. After that they both reached down and untied their ankles.

When Savage stood up he asked Storm, “How in the hell did you do that?”

Storm laughed and said, “That’s a trade secret; just call me Houdini.” Storm added, “We need to find the detonator in this mess and try to disarm it.”

Savage asked, “Mate, are you a demolitions expert? And what do you mean try?”

Storm snapped back, “Hell no to both questions, but we have to try something. Don’t we?”

Savage replied, “You’re bloody well right about that. Let’s find it first, and then we’ll see if there’s anything we can do with it.” The two immediately began looking around all the piles of explosive packages, but to no avail.

Storm finally said, “I don’t even know what we’re looking for.”

Savage smiled and said, “Let’s listen for a tic, tic, tic.”

Storm gave Savage a little shove and said, “Very funny, very funny.”

After not having any luck and great difficulty just trying to stand on their feet, they both decided to sit down for awhile and ride out the storm.

Back up in Hooda’s cabin on deck, Hooda and Imad were talking. Hooda said, “With all this bad weather do you think we should deactivate the detonator until the storm passes?”

Imad replied, “I think that might be a good idea. I would hate to see this tanker explode in the middle of the ocean.”

Hooda pulled out his cell phone, touched one of the speed dial numbers, waited a minute and snapped his cell phone closed. Hooda snapped at Imad saying, “You can sleep well tonight, Imad.” Imad, a bit embarrassed, left Hooda’s cabin.

Meanwhile below deck Storm and Savage were just trying to hang on without getting deathly sick. When Savage heard something he poked Storm in his ribcage and said, “Hey mate, did you hear that?”

Storm groaned and said, “Yeah, that was my stomach.”

Savage replied, “No, really. I heard a loud click just a minute ago. It came from one of these crates over here.” The two began carefully looking through all the crates in the area where the sound came from.

Storm pried off the top of a crate and cried out, “Hot damn! Look what I just found.”

Savage looked in the crate and said, “We just hit the jackpot, mate.” It was evident to the duo that they had just found the detonator crate. After looking at the wiring and circuitry both knew they were in over their heads. The only thing that made sense to them was a small red light and a small green light on the circuit board.

Storm thought for a minute and said, “I’m sure the red light means the detonator is either off or in a suspended state during this storm. When that green light turns back on, then I bet this baby is armed and dangerous. If this crate is the detonator why are there no wires running from it to some of the other explosives and crates?”

Savage replied, “My guess is that it’s packed with enough plastic explosives that anything within one hundred feet will also explode when the detonator crate explodes. We better seal the crate back up. All we can do now is to know where it is and make sure these terrorists don’t get a chance to detonate this floating atomic bomb.” The two sealed the crate back up and made sure no one could tell that the crate had been tampered with.

The Eastern Seaboard

By the next morning the vicious storm had passed. The duo had managed to survive the night without getting drenched in crude oil. However, Storm never got his sea legs back in the storm and spent most of the time throwing up over the side of the barge. Imad and his fellow terrorists were never concerned enough to check on Storm and Savage at any time during the storm. As the sun rose over the ocean, Storm and Savage heard a noise up above them. It was one of the hatch doors opening. Shortly thereafter Imad and two other terrorists stepped down the stairway.

Storm nudged Savage and whispered, “Wake up. Imad and a couple of his thugs are coming down.”

Savage shook his head a couple of times and replied, “Ok, ok, mate. Get your hands back behind your back so we look liked we’re still tied up.” Both men got into position and waited for Imad.

Within minutes Imad and his small group stepped onto the barge. Imad began yelling as loud as he could to wake Storm and Savage up. Savage and Storm both jumped like they had been startled out of a deep sleep. Imad and his men laughed. He then said, “Don’t worry, you dogs. Soon you will be sleeping in hell.” He walked over to both men back handing Savage in the face and then pulling out his knife and sticking the point of the knife into Storm’s throat. He laughed again and said, ”You infidels! Go ahead and give me a reason to kill you both now. We don’t need you, and there’s nothing you can do.” He turned to Savage and added while pointing his knife at him, “How would you like a taste of this steel?”

Savage laughed and said, “How would you like me to take that knife and shove it up your butt?”

Enraged, Imad kicked Savage in the side of the face and yelled to his men, “We’ve got better things to do. Leave these dogs. They will die soon enough.” Imad and his thugs left the barge and went up the stairs to the hatch and went on deck.

Storm jumped up to check Savage and said, “You’d better watch your mouth. I still need you, my friend. If you keep this up they’ll kill you.”

Savage slowly stood up and said, “Not to worry, mate. I was just taunting them like I would in the boxing ring. When they get mad and drop their guard, that’s when I give them the one-two punch combination.”

Storm smiled and replied, “I get it, but save it until the last round of the fight. Right now we need to get back on top deck and try to figure out where we are.” Savage agreed, and the two made their way back up to the hatch waiting for an opportunity to go on deck.

Finally, after hours of waiting it was dusk. All the ship’s crew was having dinner in the ship’s galley although some crew had retired to their cabins. Storm and Savage knew their captors were not concerned about them. They never even bothered to check on them or bring them any food or water. The two stepped out on the deck knowing that they would only have to keep an eye out for sentries. It was a cloud free night. The storm had left the sky vacant of any clouds. It was now dark enough for the two to temporarily enjoy the beautiful night of stars in the heavens. As they stood there, Savage interrupted the tranquility by saying, “Look, mate. There’s the North Star. I’m not a ship’s navigator, but it looks to me like we’re on a course north northwest. ”

Storm replied, “I knew it! We’re headed for the eastern seaboard of the United Stated. And I’ll bet money it will be in the northeast somewhere.”

Savage added, “Ok, then let’s look at those speedboats and try to figure out what their function in this plot is.” They turned back towards the center of the tanker and began to make their way under the cover of the darkness towards the speedboats. When they got to the speedboats they crawled under them since they were propped up on steel bracings. Once in the center of the speedboats they both stood up to look around.