Soon they arrived at the spot. All three had their weapons at the ready. Alpha-1, if he got his calculations correct, expected to see a stair case descending below deck.
He opened the door quickly and all three were heartened to see a metal staircase descending downwards onto the decks below. Everything was going according to plan so far.
At the bottom of the stairs, they turned left and headed for the laboratory area.
At this time of the evening, all lab personnel were off duty, in their cabins or in the galley having dinner.
The three proceeded cautiously along the passageway, arriving at the door of a laboratory with a ‘High Containment - High Bio-Hazard Area’ sign posted outside. They entered one by one and flashed their torches around the room and along the walls searching for vital evidence. Suddenly they heard footsteps approaching the room. Alpha-2 hid behind the door before a lab technician in a white Tyvek suit walked in unexpectedly and turned on the lights. He was momentarily startled by the sight of two intruders standing in front of him. He quickly got his wits about him and rushed towards a bench where a panic button was located. Parker’s heart sank. This could be the end of the rescue attempt. He lifted his gun and pointed it at the technician. While he did so, Alpha-2 appeared from behind the door, lurched forward grabbing the technician around the neck and knocking him on the back of the head with his pistol. The man slumped to the ground out cold.
Now that the lights were on they could survey the whole area more quickly. No one could see any sign of the container that Hadley had described or any warning signs for hazardous materials.
They walked cautiously around the large laboratory, eagerly looking for evidence. Parker was getting particularly anxious. The longer they stayed on the ship the more likely they would be spotted, leaving no opportunity for finding Nicole. Alpha-1 looked at his watch. He hadn’t started the countdown yet. They made their way to the far end of the room and seeing nothing of interest, left the area walking out through a second door.
Parker expected to be out again in the corridor. It turned out they were now in a smaller room adjoining the main laboratory. Standing in almost total darkness, Parker frantically groped around for a light-switch and quickly found it.
When the light came on, Alpha-1 was the first to see it. Standing against the end wall stood a class III Biological Isolator with a large stainless-steel container inside.
Black and yellow Hazard warning signs were visible on all sides of the unit warning personnel that full personal protection equipment was required.
Alpha-1 walked over to the Isolator and read a hand-written sign by a lab technician, stuck to the side of the shiny stainless-steel container.
EXTREME CAUTION – WEAPONS GRADE ANTHRAX SPORES
Parker’s spirits were lifted. Alpha-1 pulled a miniature camera from inside his pocket and photographed the Isolator unit and surrounding areas.
‘This should fill the bill quite nicely,’ whispered Alpha-1 before signaling to the other two it was time to move on. They left the small room and arrived back out in the corridor. They walked further along and stopped at the next door they came upon.
A sign on the door read ‘Danger- Toxic Material Store.’
Alpha-1 carefully opened the door, his machine gun at the ready. The storeroom was in darkness. All three men stepped inside and found the light switch.
They were now standing in a vast storage area with rows and rows of shelves packed tightly with thousands of small stainless-steel canisters. Alpha-2 started photographing them at once. Strangely the names of major cities around the world appeared as labels on the different rows of shelves.
Parker lifted up a canister from a ‘London’ shelf and read ‘Swine Flu variant 1CX5 on the canister label. He went to another city name and picked up another canister off the shelf. This one read ‘Bird Flu variant 2DX6’. Another canister read ‘Legionella Pneumophilia.’
‘Is all this what I think it is?’ suggested Parker looking directly at Alpha-1?’
‘I believe so, Dr. Parker. Alpha-2, let’s photograph a good sample of what’s stored here.’
‘I believe we’ve finally uncovered what’s really happening on-board this ship,’ whispered Parker.
‘Yes! Unbelievable!’ replied Alpha-1. ‘So now Dr. Parker, your professional verdict?’
‘Blow the ship but only after I find Nicole.’
After ten minutes of photographing much of what was contained there, the trio exited the store and headed back along the same passageway and arrived at the foot of the stairs.
‘OK! We have a decision to make, ‘advised Alpha-1. ‘One of us has to return to the raft immediately with the photographic evidence. These are the clear instructions from Hadley.’
‘Understood. So how can you help me?’
Alph-1 paused for a few seconds while staring at Parker. ‘Alpha-2, return to the raft at once with the camera. I’ll stay with Parker and help rescue Ms. Lehman. In case anything should go wrong, I need to set the detonators now.’
‘How long can you give us? ‘
‘Fifteen minutes max,’ replied Alpha-1 before he set the dial on the detonator panel strapped to his wrist. Once I press this button the time starts counting down and it’s irreversible!’
‘Let’s go,’ snapped Parker not wanting to delay the rescue another second.
Alpha-2 disappeared up the stairs while the two turned right and walked cautiously along a corridor leading to the rear of the ship. They saw the room number 125 and new they were getting close to Nicole's room.
When they passed room 127 the door suddenly opened. Two sailors walked out and nearly bumped into Parker and Alpha-1. It would have been pure comedy had it not been such a deadly situation.
The two startled sailors looked totally bewildered. They recovered quickly from their surprise. The first sailor lunged towards an alarm button on the wall beside the door while the second sailor pointed his service revolver at Alpha-1.
As quick as a flash, four shots spat out from the silencer on Alpha-1’s pistol and the two sailors fell to the ground, two bullet holes each in their chest. Parker was amazed at the speed of Alpha-1. The two quickly dragged the two dead sailors into their room, keeping them out of sight.
Alpha-1 tapped Parker on the shoulder and pointed to his wrist band. He pressed the button on the small panel, starting the countdown. No going back now!
They continued along the corridor as before. They soon came to the door of room No. 131. They waited to see if the coast was clear after the earlier commotion. Parker slowly tried the door handle, but it was locked. It was a heavy steel door and it would not budge an inch.
‘What do we do now?’ whispered Parker despairingly.
‘Stand aside’ instructed Alpha-1 pulling out a small waterproof box from his pocket containing a quantity of Thermite, a mixture of aluminum and iron oxide powder.
‘The SAS think of everything,’ mused Parker with new found hope.
‘Thermite will quietly melt the lock off the door.’
‘Brilliant!’ whispered Parker with a broad grin.
Alpha-1 packed the lock with the powder and inserted a short fuse. He lit the fuse and stood back.
Parker held his breadth while he watched the white-hot heat of the thermite burning through the metal in the door lock. ‘Nicole should be in here or did the RAF pilots get it wrong? ‘Those two sailors we just encountered were none too friendly. We must be on the right track.’
After the hot glow abated, Parker tried the handle and it moved down. With guns at the ready, the two burst in to the room together. The room was in darkness; the place silent. There on a small single bed in the corner of the room Parker could just make out a figure lying down covered by a blanket, asleep. He cautiously walked across and gently pulled back the covers. He gently turned the persons head to face him.
‘IT’S NICOLE! MY GOD! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!’ mouthed Parker excitedly in a loud whisper in total disbelief.
83<
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Nicole opened her eyes slowly at first and fixed them on Parker. She thought she was dreaming and continued to lie there motionless. Parker grabbed her around the shoulders and gave her a huge bear hug. ‘Nicole! It’s me,’ whispered Parker in her ear, tears flooding his eyes.
Nicole half sat up. ‘Harry! Oh my God Harry, how can this be you?’
They held one another in a tight embrace unable to believe this could be happening.
‘How could you possibly have found me here on this ship?’ she whispered almost inaudibly.
‘This fella behind me was a big help,’ whispered Parker moving to one side and letting her see Alpha-1. ‘Raoul can read a great deal into your coughs you know!’
She smiled looking frail, thin and drawn. Tears stained her face.
‘Harry!’ That is all she could utter before becoming emotional with joy. She could feel a warm rush of relief pulsating through her body, replacing the desolation she felt moments earlier.
Parker pulled the Kevlar jacket from around his shoulders.
‘Here put this on.’
‘Quickly now you two, we haven’t much time,’ warned Alpha-1. ‘We may have to fight our way off the ship as well!’
Nicole with new found vigor stood up and put on the bullet proof jacket and pulled on her shoes.
Alpha-1 leading the way with Nicole immediately following and Parker at the rear, left the room and made their way along the narrow corridor towards the stairs leading up to the main deck. Parker, conscious of the ticking time bombs, was anxious to move quickly along, not letting on to Nicole the ship was about to blow. Suddenly, the Vessel’s central alarm system sounded, emergency beacons on the ceilings started flashing. Parker and Alpha-1 raised their machine guns and kept them at the ready. Two sailors with semi-automatic pistols suddenly appeared in front of them and immediately started firing. Bullets hit Parker's bullet proof jacket. He fired two or three bursts from his machine gun and the two sailors fell. To cause distraction, Alpha-1 unpinned a hand grenade from his belt and rolled in along the floor behind them.
‘Run for it’ shouted Alpha-1 while they scrambled up the stairs, Parker helping Nicole to ascend as quickly as possible. They soon heard a loud explosion behind them before they ran out onto the port side deck and were immediately confronted by four or five sailors firing automatic pistols at them about twenty feet away. Parker and Alpha-1 returned fire with their machine guns and knocked all of them down. Bullets started coming from behind and two hit Nicole’s flak jacket. She screamed with fright. Parker spun around and saw two sailors further back on the deck. He squeezed his trigger and blew the two men away with a short burst of machine gun fire.
‘Are you ok?’
‘Yes. The jacket saved me,’ shouted the brave woman above the roar of the howling gale and the ship’s engines.
‘Luckily the crew appear to be totally surprised by this attack. It looks like they only have small firearms to defend the ship and nobody’s wearing flak jackets’ thought Parker approaching the place where the rope ladder was.
No sooner had he considered this when, coming from the bridge above their heads, they heard heavy machine gun fire, which pinned them down on the inner side of the deck.
‘If we move out to the parapet we’re dead meat. Nicole can you swim?’
‘Oui’ yelled Nicole nervously.’ I mean yes’
Alpha-1 knew they couldn't stay much longer where they stood. He could sense more sailors would be arriving on the deck in numbers before very long.
‘We'll have to go back down the stairs and try to cross over to the other side of the ship. They have us pinned down here. It means we'll have to swim around the back of the ship to get to the life-raft.’
Both nodded their understanding.
‘Follow me.’
Alpha-1 led them back down the stairs and turned left at the bottom. The corridor was still full of smoke from the earlier explosion but ironically gave them cover. Parker knew a way across to the other side through the laboratories. He had seen this route on the ship's drawings. They ran along the smoke-filled corridor until they came to a door with a sign, 'Wet Chemistry Laboratory’. They quickly entered and found the room full of lab benches, glassware and analytical equipment but happily nobody working there. Parker spotted the door on the opposite side of the room and ran towards it, the other two following close behind. He opened the door and ran out onto the starboard deck. There appeared to be no sailors here on this side of the ship.
‘Quickly! Over the side,’ shouted Parker looking at his watch. ‘Seven minutes to go before the ship blows.’
There’s no rope ladder so we'll have to jump.’
The three climbed onto the parapet and Nicole with no wet suit, sat there with her legs over the side, looking down into the black swollen waters. She hesitated. ‘I don't think I can do it Harry.’
‘Don’t worry. I'll help you swim around to the raft.’
Parker dumped his machine gun into the sea below.
A sailor quickly appeared at the door behind them and immediately opened fire with his semi-automatic pistol.
Alpha-1 swiftly turned around and sprayed the sailor with bullets.
‘Let's go,’ shouted Parker
He grabbed Nicole around the shoulders and both slipped off the parapet falling thirty feet into the stormy ocean below. She quickly surfaced and cried out with the shock of the freezing water. The bullet proof jacket, worked like a life jacket, but offered no protection from the ice-cold water. Parker surfaced beside her and both swam in choppy waters towards the rear of the ship. He was afraid the ships engines would start and pull them down into the eye of the enormous propellers. When they eventually got to the stern of the ship, the pair hesitated before hurriedly swimming around the back to the other side. They eventually arrived at the small black life raft on the port side. Staying tight to the vessel’s wall, they waited for Alpha-1 to arrive. His movement through the water was slowed by the machine gun strapped around his shoulder. Nicole waiting beside Parker in the freezing water for what seemed like an eternity, involuntarily moving her arms and legs to control the shivering. Parker hugged her to try and protect her from the cold. Alpha-2 appeared from inside the raft, leaned out and tried to grab hold of her in the rough swell. Alpha-1 finally arrived beside them with the machine gun slung over his shoulder.
‘Parker, I’ll cover you and Lehman while you get into the raft,’ shouted Alpha-1.
He moved out a few meters and aimed his weapon up at the top of the rope ladder.
Before the enemy got a chance to fire, Alpha-1 squeezed the trigger and with a full magazine started spraying the top of the parapet with bullets. Parker and Nicole both lunged towards the side of the raft. Alpha-2 reached out again and this time succeeded in pulling Nicole up onto the raft and bundling her inside. Parker scrambled up the side aided by Alpha-2 while the other SAS Paratrooper continued with steady bursts of machine gun fire aimed at the top of the rope ladder.
Still firing, Alpha-1 backed his way towards the raft. Alpha-2 reached out through the opening and clipped on a wooden rudder and flipped a switch, turning on the two DPV’s. He grabbed Alpha-1 around the shoulders with both hands and pulled him up into the raft; Alfa-1 all the while firing his H&K non-stop. Parker leaned out and cut the rope that secured them to the ship and the little craft started to pull away.
‘Lie flat,’ shouted Alpha-1. ‘Two minutes before the ship blows.’
‘You’ll be glad to know the rain canopy is Kevlar lined, so it's bullet proof,’ shouted Parker.
The life raft was making good progress under a hail of bullets after it pulled away from the ship in total darkness. Parker steered the raft by the clip-on rudder. Nicole looking anxious, noticed he was steering blind, the rain canopy completely covering them like a great protective Iron blanket.
‘No worries! I‘m steering by compass bearing,’ reassured Parker shining his miner’s lamp down on the instrument.’
While they
put distance between themselves and the ship, the number of bullets hitting the cover dropped to a trickle. The people on the ship couldn't see the black raft very easily anymore even with powerful search lights monitoring it.
‘Ah! Safe at last,’ rejoiced Parker.
No sooner had the words left his lips when they heard the distinctive sound of the gun ship Mil Mi-24 starting up on the rear quarter deck. The ship’s Captain ‘Blackbeard’ on board the aircraft, was hell bent on stopping Nicole's escape.
84
Lazare was in his office in Manhattan relieved Cordalis-MC Holdings had finally divested itself of all its drug company stocks. Following his recommendations, the company moved its equity into electronics and social media stock.
Lazare was able to sell off large tranches of his company’s share positions by keeping the value of each tranche below the critical five percent of market cap value for each block of shares, otherwise he would have had to notify the SEC. His stock brokers were able to quietly sell over one hundred and twenty-five tranches of shares on the London, Chinese and Far Eastern stock exchanges over a relatively short period of six weeks without impacting share prices.
He was planning to organize celebrations for everybody in the company when his mobile phone lit up. Seeing Larchet’s name on his screen, he was not looking forward to this call.
His life-long friend spoke in a somber tone. ‘Henri! I just got back from Montpellier.’
‘Yes Peter. I was devastated when I heard of Jacques’s death,’ lamented Lazare with a slight quiver in his voice.
Larchet mistook this for remorse.
‘Did any of his Generals find out what happened?’
‘Jerome got wasted. The two rats that killed Jacques were later found dead outside the walls of the estate. It’s all very strange. A third hit-man wearing a balaclava disappeared with all the money.’
‘Who was he? Any ideas?’
‘One of the dead twins left a clue to their assailant’s identity while he lay dying on the ground’
‘Who is it then?’
The Karl Lehman Affair Page 27