Those in Peril (Unlocked) (47 page)

‘Right on!’ Dave agreed. ‘You wouldn’t want to abandon the AAVs when we pull out of Gandanga Bay. They will cost a couple of hundred thousand dollars each.’

‘Describe one of these toys to me,’ Hazel said.

‘It looks very much like a conventional battle tank with tracks and a turret, except it has much taller sides. The type we need is the personnel carrier, which can carry twenty-five fully equipped infantrymen, plus the crew of three. Its turret is armed with ring-mounted .50-calibre heavy machine guns and a grenade launcher. Its armour is proof to rifle and heavy machine gunfire. On land it has a speed of twenty-five miles an hour and on the water it is capable of almost ten mph.’

‘Can you get a few of these machines for us, Dave?’ Hazel wondered.

‘It would be very difficult to get our hands on one straight off the factory floor. But I’m sure I could find a couple of them that have been in service for a few years, but which have been well maintained and are in good running order. South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia and a number of other countries in the Far East all have them in use. I should be able to cut a deal with one of them.’

Hazel looked at Hector and Paddy. ‘How many do we need?’ she asked.

‘If we can achieve complete surprise, and get fifty men ashore, we can take and hold the town for at least a day until the enemy are able to regroup,’ Hector replied. ‘Two AAVs should do it.’

‘That leaves no latitude for mistake or accident,’ Paddy demurred. ‘Three vehicles and seventy-five men would cover all possible eventualities.’

‘Paddy often pisses iced water.’ Hector apologized for him.

‘It’s chilly on the willy, but at least it keeps me alive.’ Paddy grinned back at him.

‘Dave, please find Paddy his third AAV. We want him to go on staying alive.’ Hazel laughed with them.

I am so proud of her strength and resilience
, Hector thought with delight,
she has come alive again. She can laugh. The hurting has been thrust aside to make way for constructive thought. It will never go away completely, but now she has it under control. If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same; old Rudyard could have written that with her in mind.

Then he grew serious again. ‘I think we have reached the stage when we need to call in a team of the Chinese design engineers from the Taipei shipyard, so we can reconfigure the
Goose
’s hull,’ he said.

The three engineers arrived five days later bringing with them all the working drawings of the
Golden Goose
in a number of large black plastic tubes. Once the client’s requirements were made clear to them, Hazel gave them a suite of rooms on the floor below hers and they set to work on the drawings with enormous single-minded energy. On the tenth day they re-emerged to present their new designs for consideration.

The empty gas cargo tank nearest to the high superstructure in the ship’s stern was as cavernous as a large aircraft hangar. The designers had partitioned this off from the rest of the ship to form a covert area. Then they had divided this space laterally into three separate levels. The uppermost level was allocated to the storage of military supplies including munitions and firearms that would need to be unloaded swiftly. They had included a single smaller cabin, twelve feet square, in which were two narrow bunks one above the other, and a toilet and shower cabinet beyond a connecting doorway. This cabin was for use by Hazel and Hector. Next door to this was the open parking space for the three AAVs. Directly overhead the shuttered roof opened to allow the vehicles to be lifted to the deck above on a hydraulic hoist. This hoist was mounted on a travelling gantry which could carry the AAVs one at a time to the ship’s side and lower them to the surface of the sea. Within fifteen minutes of opening the overhead hatch all three AAVs could be on the water and heading for the beach at ten miles an hour, carrying seventy-five heavily armed men to the attack.

The second level of the covert area of the hull comprised the men’s living and sleeping quarters, the mess and the ablutions, the toilets and the air-conditioning units to maintain a constant supply of fresh air to all areas. Also on this level was the assembly area from which the men would disperse to their action stations. The bottom level would house the kitchens and refrigerated storage for foodstuffs. But most of the space on this level was taken up by the operational situation room and the electronic equipment. In every part of the ship above them concealed CCTV cameras and listening microphones would be installed. There was not a corner of the entire ship, from the bridge to the bilges, which could not be monitored from this position. One of the cameras would be sited on the stubby radio mast on top of the bridge. It would afford the men in the situation room far below a panoramic view of the ship’s surroundings and her horizon.

Radiating out from the assembly area on the second tier was a network of hidden tunnels and ladders. They would be cunningly built in behind the bulkheads. By means of these tunnels combat-ready men could swiftly reach every part of the vessel without exposing themselves until they burst out of the disguised hatches to take the unsuspecting enemy off guard.

The five of them – Hazel, Paddy, Dave Imbiss, Tariq and Hector – sat at the long boardroom table facing the three Chinese and debated the merits and demerits of the planned layout. One of the considerations that received their full attention was the soundproofing of the clandestine spaces. One hundred and twenty-five men living in confined metal compartments would make some noise even simply moving around. These sounds could alert the enemy to their presence on board. Ceilings, bulkheads and particularly the decks would have to be lined with thick tiles of sound-proofed polyurethane. Every moving part within the covert area, the doors of the microwave ovens and the refrigerators, even the water taps and the flushing mechanisms of the toilets, had to be completely muffled. The men would eat off paper plates and use plastic mugs and utensils, so there would be no clink of metal on china. They would wear only soft-soled boots. When the order for ‘Silent Ship’ was given they would speak only when absolutely necessary, and then in whispers. The electronic equipment would all be muted, and the operators would wear headphones to listen in on all sounds in the other parts of the ship. The gas circulation pumps in the neighbouring cargo tanks would be automatically set to operate in continuous relays, so that they would drown out any small noises from the covert area amidships. Once all had been done to assure quiet operation, they turned their attention to the fitting of armaments and observation equipment. The CCTV cameras had to be completely disguised or concealed, but placed where they were able to cover every part of the ship. The same considerations applied to positioning the listening microphones.

The ship’s bridge was at the very top of the stern tower almost one hundred feet above the cargo deck. It gave the captain, navigation officer and the helmsman a clear 360-degrees view all round. On the tier below the bridge was the captain’s accommodation, the communications and navigation room and the luxurious owner’s suite. On the tier immediately below that were the cabins of the junior officers and ship’s engineers, the ship’s kitchen and mess. The designers proposed building an additional tier on top of the existing bridge and converting this upper level to become the main bridge, leaving the deck below empty. This empty space was to be sealed off entirely. The only access to it would be via the ladder tunnel leading up from the covert area below the main deck. Behind the blank steel walls of this upper deck would be mounted a pair of MK44 Bushmaster 40mm automatic light cannon capable of a rate of fire of 200 rounds per minute. At the throw of a handle the concealing panels dropped down and the cannons were unmasked and ready to go into immediate action, bringing their devastating fire power to bear on any hostile target.

Once all the plans were approved the team dispersed. Dave Imbiss flew out to South Korea where within three weeks he had procured as ex-army stock three AAVs and the pair of Bushmaster cannon. All this equipment was already en route to the port of Chi-Lun in Taiwan where it would be fitted into the covert areas of the
Golden Goose
. During the voyage from Taiwan to the Abu Zara gas field the drivers and crews selected to operate the AAV would be trained in the operation of these cumbersome-looking but extraordinarily effective machines. On the same leg of the voyage the gunners would be trained to serve the Bushmaster cannon.

All these men were to be selected from the force of 125 male personnel and one woman that Paddy was assembling at Sidi el Razig. Seventy of the men were flown in from the Cross Bow operations around the globe. The remainder were chosen from Paddy’s extensive list of mercenaries and freelance guns-for-hire who were ready to accept even the most hazardous assignments, for the thrills and for the money. The single female member of the force was also carefully selected not only for her martial arts skills but more importantly for her remarkable resemblance to Hazel. She was a Russian girl who had been trained by Spetsnaz. Her name was Anastasia Voronova, but she answered to Nastiya.

Tariq flew to Mecca and from there joined a party of Muslim pilgrims returning to Puntland. He crossed with them on the ferry to Mogadishu and then travelled by bus to Gandanga Bay. Once he was there he blended in with the local population, disguised as an itinerant job seeker. He lived rough amongst the other tramps and beggars. His instructions from Hector were to write nothing down, but swiftly he obtained a mental map of the layout of the town and the bay. He studied the exact position where each of the pirated vessels was anchored. He located the stockades in which the captured seamen were being held. He observed and mentally logged the movements of Adam’s mother ships and attack boats. One of his most important duties on this assignment was to observe the movements of his arch-enemy Uthmann Waddah. It was vital for Hector to know if Uthmann was ever aboard any of the pirate mother ships or attack boats when they left the Bay or returned from one of their raids. Hector’s plans hinged on this information, because Uthmann would be the only one among the pirates able to recognize Hazel if he ever saw her again. However, Hector was almost certain that Uthmann would never go to sea. The simple reason for this was, as Tariq had pointed out earlier, that Uthmann Waddah, the invincible warrior, was pathologically terrified of open water. A chronic sufferer from sea sickness, a few hours on the ocean waves would reduce him to a prostrated moaning and vomiting wreck, unable to lift his head let alone stand upright on his two feet. Seawater was his one weakness.

In the few weeks he remained at Gandanga Bay, Tariq watched four large pirated merchant ships brought in by Kamal Tippoo Tip and witnessed the wild jubilation of the successful pirates and the crowds that lined the beach to welcome them back from their forays. Always Adam and Uthmann Waddah were on the beach at Gandanga Bay to watch the ships come in. However, when Sheikh Adam went out in his splendid royal barge to board the captured vessel and distribute largesse to the successful pirates, Uthmann remained on the beach. It was obvious that he was terrified even by the calm waters of the bay.

H
ector and Hazel flew in the BBJ to Taipei where the
Goose
’s captain was already on board. His name was Cyril Stamford. He had been retired from the US Navy only ten months previously at the mandatory age of sixty-two years. He had commanded a battle cruiser and was still of bright mind and in robust health, eager to continue working with big ships.

He was from a long line of fighting Americans. One of his direct ancestors had served in the war against the Barbary pirates in North Africa in 1800 to 1805. Cyril showed Paddy an old and treasured letter which his remote ancestor, Captain Thomas Stamford, had written to his wife from Tunisia in 1804. He read out to Paddy this sentence in yellowing ink:

‘“It was written in their Koran, that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were pagans, infidels and sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave; and that every Mohammedan who was slain in this warfare was sure to go to paradise.”

‘The Stamfords have fought against tyranny, bigotry and lawlessness in two World Wars,’ Cyril continued proudly. ‘Most recently my eldest son Robert gave his life in the mountains of Afghanistan, after being captured by these people and tortured most horribly. My navy has put me out to grass but, by God, I would love to take one more crack at the murderous bastards.’

Before confirming his command of the
Golden Goose
, Hector explained what his clandestine role would be and the hazards that would confront him. Cyril accepted the job gleefully. He was given ten of the Cross Bow Security men from nautical backgrounds to train as his crew. The
Goose
’s engine room and navigation bridge were equipped with such sophisticated electronic controls that a crew of this size would be perfectly able to operate and navigate her efficiently.