by Ricky Sides
The pirates knew that America had fared better than the European nations because they had intercepted a transmission that showed the capital with odd vessels hovering above it. They had seen the many flags fluttering above the capital and heard the refrains of the “Star Spangled Banner” being played by a band. They had carefully noted the immaculate state of the grounds and compared that scene to the European nations they were presently plundering. The only mystery was the flying machines they had seen in the video. Some pirates thought that they were dirigibles or small balloons, custom designed to take on their futuristic appearance. Others thought that they weren’t even real. They pointed out that no other people in the world could produce movies like the Americans, and that if the Americans wanted to do so, they could easily produce a film with such flying machines seemingly protecting their country.
The captain’s council led the pirates. One man dominated that council. His name was Bran Lynch, and he had started his career as a pirate during the height of the natural disasters that preceded the “night of the quakes.” Bran had recruited several of his fellow Irishmen and formed his first crew. They had stolen a small boat and utilized it to capture their first large ship, which was a cargo freighter loaded with relief supplies. He established a base on a small remote island north of the United Kingdom. Over a period of years, Bran added more men to his crews, and they succeeded in capturing more and more ships. He now controlled a fleet of fifty vessels.
The crown jewel of his fleet was a Russian battleship that they had taken when they had found it adrift at sea after a particularly vicious storm. The life rafts were all gone, and the crew had not been present. The ship had a twenty-degree list, had taken on water and thinking that it was going to sink, the crew had abandoned ship.
Bran ordered several vessels of his fleet to spread out and begin searching for survivors of the Russian ship. He knew if he could locate key members of the crew, he could force them to work for him. With the help of the survivors, he felt he could make the battleship seaworthy.
It took Bran Lynch’s fleet two days, but they located four of the life rafts. The captured Russian crewmen were returned to their battleship. Under the watchful eyes of the pirates, the crew was forced to repair the ship, drain the flooded compartments, and make the vessel seaworthy.
Two months after taking the Russian battleship, Bran had it intercept another. He forced the Russian radioman to contact the new vessel and request assistance. Soon, that ship also fell to the pirates. Utilizing those two ships, within another year, pirate Captain Bran Lynch had taken three destroyers of various nationalities. This gave him five warships, and he also had trained crews to man the battle stations on those ships; effectively making him the most feared pirate sailing among the pirate fleets. He secured the cooperation of the crews by informing them that they could either join him or die. There were instances when these captured crews tried to mutiny within a few days of captivity. In both cases, the mutineers were captured, and several were executed on the spot. The survivors were given another chance to redeem themselves in Lynch’s eyes by serving him well.
On the night before they set sail for America, the hundreds of men who were members of the captain’s council met in the ballroom aboard one of the cruise ships controlled by Captain Bran Lynch. Captain Lynch opened the meeting in the crowded room by slamming the butt of his pistol against the tabletop several times. When the crowd grew silent, he stood to address them.
Lynch stood five feet, ten inches. He was not a tall man, and he was slim of build. This had caused many a pirate to think he could take Lynch in a fight. However, Lynch was a highly trained martial artist, and he had made short work of those men who foolishly underestimated him. His hair was a dark brown. He was smooth shaven, with deep-set brown eyes.
“Captains, I greet you one and all. Tomorrow, we set sail for America. We will be traveling at the speed of our slowest vessels, but there is no rush. There will be ample time to plunder America before we return to Europe to settle matters with the British,” he said smoothly.
As expected, one of the captains spoke up in dissension. The man stood, and then he said, “As to that matter, Captain Lynch, me and my boys will be staying in the Americas. We figure to raid that region. This one has been picked to the bone.”
“Is that what you figure to do, John?” asked Lynch in a soft tone of voice. But those nearest the man edged slightly away. They had seen him react this way before, and they knew what was coming.
“Aye, Captain. That’s exactly what we intend to do. We talked it over and…”
The sound of a large caliber pistol discharging stopped the dissenting captain in mid sentence. The pistol in Bran’s hand was still smoking when the other captain’s body hit the floor. Bran looked to the man who had been standing beside the man he’d just shot. “You were his first mate, weren’t you?”
“Yes, I am Brady, and I was his first mate, Captain Lynch,” replied the man.
“Then you have the right to face me in battle to avenge your captain. Do you wish to exercise that right, Brady?” Lynch asked politely.
“No, Captain. I disagreed with him about staying in America. I wanted to return to help conquer the Brits, but he was the captain, and the captain’s word is law aboard ship,” explained the man.
“That was a very good answer. Do you think you’d make a decent captain?” asked Lynch with interest.
“Some of the men seem to think so, Captain,” The man responded.
“I’m adding his ship to my personal fleet by right of conquest,” Lynch said.
“Of course, Captain. That is your right,” the first mate responded.
“Are you willing to serve me as captain of the vessel, and will you be loyal to me in all things, following my orders to the letter?” asked Lynch formally.
“Aye, Captain,” said the newly appointed captain, standing a bit straighter.
“Tell the men that their former captain had a disagreement with me, and that they now serve you, and that you serve Captain Lynch. Toss overboard any who wish to stand against me, Captain Brady. See to that now. You’ll get further orders by radio.”
“Aye, Captain. It will be done,” the man said. He turned and walked rapidly to the exit.
After the man left the room, Bran looked to his own first mate. “You know what to do,” he said. The man smiled, nodded, and then left the room at a brisk pace.
The meeting continued uninterrupted for an hour. During that time, the campaign to secure supplies in America was discussed in some detail. Lynch congratulated one of the captains for conceiving a plan to load several American oil tankers with crude oil for transport to one of the European refineries under their control. They were in the process of discussing where those tankers might be located when a commotion outside the room interrupted them.
Captain Lynch’s first mate entered the room, followed by several of his men. With them was the newly appointed Captain Brady. “He tried to run with the ship, Captain,” Lynch’s first mate reported.
“Did he now? Well, well, Captain. It would seem your word means nothing to you,” Lynch said in a deceptively pleasant tone of voice.
“I served John for years. He took me in and treated me like his own kin, and you murdered him in cold blood because he disagreed with you. I’ll not serve you, but I did say what I had to say to try to escape,” Brady said stoically. He knew that he was a dead man. There was no way he would walk out of this room with his life.
“Brady, we are both Irish. Don’t you want to see our people free of the British domination?” asked Lynch.
“As I see it, better the Brits than a black hearted man who’d as soon kill a man as look him in the eye, Lynch,” Brady retorted bravely.
“You’re a brave man. I’ll give you that,” Captain Lynch replied.
Turning to his first mate, Lynch said, “Untie his hands and then back away.”
Fixing Brady with a cold stare as his men untied the prisoner, Lynch said, �
��Because you’re an Irishman, I’ll give you one last chance to get out of this alive. If you can defeat me in unarmed combat, you will have won the right to take the ship and leave.”
Brady nodded his acceptance of the terms and began to massage his wrists to restore the circulation, which had been cut off by the ropes the pirates had used to tie him. “A question if I may, Captain. What will become of my men if I lose?”
“Those who’ll follow me will be given the opportunity to do so. Those who won’t will have to leave the fleet, but the ship is mine by right of conquest. The ship and those of the crew willing to serve me will remain with the fleet,” responded Bran in a reasonable tone of voice.
“I don’t suppose you’d consider just letting me leave with the men who want to part ways, would you?” asked Brady.
“If you’d made the request earlier, aye, that I would have granted, but now the situation has changed. You led my men in mutiny. We all know the sentence for that crime. Don’t we, gentlemen?” Lynch asked the other captains present.
“Death!” shouted many of the captains present. Mutiny was the worst of all crimes aboard ship. No captain could afford to tolerate such actions, nor could they let a mutiny go unpunished.
“Then, I thank you for your leniency for my men, Captain Lynch,” Brady said with a nod of his head in Bran’s direction.
“Oh, but they are actually my men, Brady,” Lynch said with a cold expression on his face. “Now that’s enough talk. We have urgent matters to discuss when this is over. It’s time to get down to the business at hand.”
Brady nodded his understanding, and braced for the attack that he knew was coming.
Captain Lynch walked around the circular open space in the center of the room to limber his legs. As he did so, he kept his eyes on Brady, who stood rooted to his spot, turning only enough to keep his eyes on his opponent.
Lynch noted that Brady’s arms were hanging loosely at his sides. He feigned a lunge at the man, just to see how he would react. Brady took a half step to the right and brought his hands up into a defensive posture. Lynch nodded and smiled as he continued to circle. He thought he knew what style Brady would use. He had seen that defensive style before.
Continuing to circle Brady, Lynch drew a bit closer, spiraling in with each revolution. At the same time, he began to weave his hands in an odd rhythmic manner.
Brady concentrated on the hands, sure that an attack was imminent. It was, but not from the expected source. Bran leaped into the air and spun his body one hundred eighty degrees. His right foot lashed out and struck Brady in the mouth, knocking him back several feet.
Bran followed up with another leaping spin. This time, his left foot lashed out and struck Brady in the center of the left thigh. Brady’s leg hurt abominably. He tried to shake off the pain by limping around the circle just as Brady had done before him. He knew that he had to limber up the now contorted muscle or risk losing mobility.
However, Lynch knew exactly what he was doing and why he was doing it. In fact, he had planned on that reaction. Leaping into the air once more, Bran lowered his head as his body spun in another one hundred eighty degree turn. This time, the back of his right heel came crashing down on Brady’s right shoulder, near the man’s neck. Lynch spun away from the man and the two captains resumed their deadly dance.
Brady’s left arm hung limply at his side, telling Lynch that he had temporarily paralyzed the arm, just as he had intended. Without warning, Bran launched another spinning move, but this time he landed shy of Brady by some few feet and with his back to the man.
Brady thought the captain had made a serious mistake. He lunged forward to capitalize on that perceived error, but Lynch threw his body down toward the ground and executed a backward roll. The soles of his boots slammed into Brady’s upper body as he charged the captain. The force of the double impact to his upper chest knocked all the air out of Brady’s lungs. He staggered back several steps as he struggled to get his breath.
However, Lynch wasn’t about to give him any time to recover. The man leapt to his feet, and in an instant, he was attacking Brady. To Brady’s credit, he landed several punches, but thanks to the battle of attrition he had been waging, Lynch’s hand strikes were more powerful and effective. Bit by bit, Captain Bran Lynch beat his overmatched victim to a bloody pulp for the next several minutes. He destroyed the man’s face with several brutal punches, which were delivered with such power that he cracked the bones beneath the flesh.
When Brady finally fell to the floor, Captain Lynch placed his foot on the man’s throat and stomped down hard. There was an audible cracking sound as Brady’s body convulsed violently. For just an instant, his hands and feet pummeled the floor, and then he lay still.
Without a word, the pirate Captain returned to his seat. He resumed the meeting with Brady’s body still in plain view of the rest of the captains and their mates. Lynch knew the body made many of the captains uncomfortable. But it also made them more compliant with his wishes, which was the exact reason he left it there for the duration of the meeting. Forty minutes later, the meeting adjourned. Captain Lynch and a large detachment of his loyal men boarded his new acquisition. Lynch told the captured crew what had happened to their new captain. He then gave them their options. They could swear allegiance to him, or they would have to leave the fleet. Most opted to stay, but three men said they would leave. Those three men were forced to walk the plank, miles from shore.
Large numbers of sharks were attracted to the massive fleet of ships. At any given time, at least portions of the ships in the fleet were dumping refuse and the garbage attracted sharks. In addition, Lynch had brought the bloody and battered body of Brady with him to show the crew. That body had been dumped overboard while the men were making their decision as to whether they would serve Lynch or leave the fleet. The three men who walked the plank didn’t last five minutes in the sea. Their terrified screams disturbed the night watches on many ships of the fleet.
Chapter 4
The Valiant hovered at an altitude of four hundred feet in the night sky. The crew was testing the parking mode program above the desert. Aboard the aircraft, Jim sat at the desk in his cabin. His hand paused beside the intercom button. He hesitated for a moment, but then he depressed the button. “Pilot, please report to the captain’s cabin, and bring the ship’s flight logs,” he said. Releasing the button, he breathed a heavy sigh and hoped that he was about to do the right thing.
He took a moment to prepare himself mentally for the encounter to come. He was still composing himself when the soft knock sounded at his door. “Come in, Pilot,” he said.
Lina entered the cabin with a quizzical expression on her face. This was only the second time she had ever been called to the captain’s cabin. The rest of the crew had looked at her as if to say, “You must be in serious trouble.”
“Yes, Captain?” she asked.
Jim gestured toward the chair at the desk and told her to have a seat, and he sat on the edge of his bed as he had during their first encounter in his cabin. He said, “Months ago, we had a conversation in this cabin. I’ve given that conversation a great deal of thought these past months.”
Jim paused for a moment and Lina spoke into the silence, saying, “Have you reached a decision regarding us, Jim?”
“Not yet. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about, Lina,” he explained.
Lina set the logbook on the captain’s desk, and then she folded her hands in her lap. “I guess you don’t really need the logs,” she said with a smile. “Alright, Jim, I’m listening.”
“I suppose the first thing I should do is ask if you feel the same now. A lot of time has passed and…”
Lina got up fluidly and approached Jim. Sitting in his lap, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. Unlike the chaste kiss on the cheek she had given him at the conclusion of her last visit, this one was full on the mouth. Without a word, she broke the embrace and returned to her chair, leaving a stunned Jim, speechl
ess. “Did that answer your question?”
Clearing his throat, Jim said, “Yes, thank you. I believe you answered that question rather thoroughly.”
A smile traced Lina’s lips and lit up her green eyes as she responded, “Oh, that wasn’t thorough, honey. That was just a brief response.”
“You know I loved Lacey. Hell, I still love her, Lina,” Jim stated. “What if I were to call you Lacey at some point?”
“I loved Robert. Damn, Jim, at times I still wake up screaming in the night and reaching out for him the way I did at the damned airport in Kansas when he was killed. What if that happens when we’re together?” she asked with tears in her eyes. But before he could respond, she continued. “They’re dead, Jim, but we’re not. Both of us were faithful to our spouses while they were with us. But they’re gone now.”
Sighing, she said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lecture you.”
Jim smiled at Lina to let her know he wasn’t bothered by what she’d said. Then his face grew serious once more and he said, “And then there’s Evan to consider.”
“He’s a great young man. You and Lacey did a fine job raising him. I hear nothing but good about Evan, no matter the source,” Lina responded. “And, Jim, I’m glad you adopted him in that ceremony last month. It was beautiful.”
“I’d have adopted him years ago. I actually wanted to, but I was afraid to broach the subject,” he said, and then he explained the conversation with Evan concerning his father’s photographs.
When he finished, Lina said, “Are you afraid I might try to take his mother’s place? I wouldn’t do that, Jim.”
“No, that’s not it. I know you wouldn’t. But Evan and I talked about it. He thinks I might be avoiding a relationship because I’m afraid of how that might affect him. I’ve thought about what he said a lot the past few days, and he’s right. I think I’ve been reluctant to start a relationship because I’m afraid it will hurt him,” Jim explained.