‘No,’ Ben responded. ‘The hijackers have stopped them doing that. Our beds haven’t been changed since the hijack began.’
‘Good. That means no one is likely to come into the cabin while we’re away. Caesar can stay here.’
The voice of a hijacker now came over the public address. Cabins 3034 and 3036 were among the numbers he called.
After instructing Caesar to stay in the room, Ben opened the door for Charlie, who wheeled himself out into the corridor. Josh and Ben followed. Caesar hopped onto Ben’s bed and lay down to wait. Meeting Nan and Maddie in the corridor, the group made their way to the lifts with other passengers. Three armed men in red bandanas were waiting outside the lifts. One of them, Arnaldo, frowned at Charlie.
‘I not see your face before, señor,’ Arnaldo said. ‘There are few passengers in wheelchairs.’
‘It’s a big ship,’ Charlie calmly replied. ‘I haven’t seen your face before, either. Yet, there are few of you people in red bandanas.’
Arnaldo threw back his head and laughed. ‘You are right,’ he conceded, glancing at Charlie’s empty trousers hanging limply. ‘You have no legs? Is very unfortunate. I have a brother who lost a leg to a landmine in Angola.’ He waved at Charlie to continue on his way. ‘Enjoy your breakfast, señor.’
Charlie and the Fultons took the lift up one deck and then went into the dining room for breakfast. One of the passengers heading out was also in a wheelchair. That caused the guards on duty in the dining room to ignore Charlie, as he had hoped. He was able to study the faces of the guards and commit them to memory. Leaning close to Nan, who was seated next to him at a table, he whispered a question he wanted her to ask the guards. She nodded, then got up and headed for the line at the breakfast buffet.
‘Where are your leaders?’ Nan asked one of the guards as she joined the line. ‘Why don’t they come and explain to us what they are doing, to stop everyone from worrying?’
The guard inclined his head upward. ‘The bridge very busy,’ he said. Using his AKM, he waved Nan on. ‘Keep moving,’ he barked.
When Nan returned to the table, she relayed what the guard had said to Charlie.
Upon returning to the cabin after breakfast, Charlie put in a call to Liberty Lee. ‘All quiet here. The leader is on the bridge.’
‘The hostiles will be advised when the money transfer takes place at 1800 hours,’ Liberty revealed. ‘Barracuda insertion is scheduled for 2000 hours.’
‘Copy that.’
‘We need you to determine locations of any explosives they may have planted. They are threatening to blow up the ship.’
‘Roger to that. We will advise.’ Charlie terminated the call and looked at Ben. ‘Where would you plant charges on this ship if you were the hijackers?’
‘Caesar can help us there,’ Ben responded.
‘Yeah, but how do we get him all over the ship without the hijackers spotting him?’ Charlie said. ‘It’s not as if there are dogs on the passenger list. The wheelchair is my cover, but how can we disguise him? As soon as they see Caesar, they’ll realise that something’s up.’
‘I know!’ Josh piped up from behind them. He held up a pair of sunglasses.
Turning to him, his father frowned. ‘What, put sunglasses on Caesar to disguise him?’ he queried. ‘I don’t think that’s going to work, son.’
Josh laughed. ‘No, Dad. You put the sunglasses on!’
Chuppa was leading a three-man patrol that travelled in a forward lift down to Deck 3. When the lift doors slid open, he found two men and a dog facing him, waiting for the lift. One of the men was in a wheelchair. The other, who wore sunglasses, stood stiffly with a brown labrador on a short leash by his side.
Chuppa frowned. ‘What is this?’ he said as he and his two colleagues stepped from the lift and looked the two men up and down.
‘My friend is blind,’ Charlie replied. ‘This is his guide dog.’
‘A blind man goes on a cruise?’ Chuppa said, incredulous. ‘With his dog?’
‘Even those without sight can enjoy a cruise, and the sounds and smells of different ports of call in the world,’ Ben countered, looking directly ahead as Chuppa walked around him, studying him carefully. ‘Our other senses are heightened, and I never go anywhere without my guide dog.’
‘Si, I suppose it is possible, a blind man on a cruise,’ the hijacker conceded, shrugging. ‘But where do you think you are going? Breakfast time is now for the people on the upper decks. You should be in your cabins.’
‘To the infirmary on Deck 1,’ Charlie answered, thinking fast. ‘We go every day together, for our medication,’ he lied.
A look of suspicion came over Chuppa’s face. ‘I know nothing of this.’
‘It’s an arrangement we have with the medical staff,’ Ben said.
‘They are expecting us,’ Charlie added. ‘It’s vital for our health.’
Chuppa nodded slowly. ‘Is that so? Then my friends and I will escort you to the infirmary. Get in the elevator.’
‘Thank you,’ Charlie said, wheeling himself forward and trying to sound genuine in his gratitude. This time, he had a Hi Power jammed in the back of his belt, under his loose shirt. So, too, did Ben. But this confrontation was not the time for gunplay; the other hijackers would miss this trio if they disappeared. If possible, Charlie and Ben would have to bluff their way through.
Ben jiggled Caesar’s leash, then stepped into the lift. Caesar moved forward. Once they were in the lift, the hijackers joined them. Chuppa punched the button for Deck 1, and the doors closed. Ben continued to face the back of the lift as they rode down the two levels in silence. When the doors opened, one of the hijackers took Ben’s arm and turned him around. Little did he know that, just centimetres from his guiding hand, an automatic pistol was jammed into Ben’s belt.
Caesar turned to look up at both Ben and the hijacker with a bemused look on his face, as if to say, What’s going on, boss? Just the same, he played along with this strange new game of Ben’s. He wasn’t alarmed by the sight of AKMs on the shoulders of these three men. He and Ben were frequently surrounded by armed men in their line of work. Caesar always took his cue from his handler. After their HALO jump, Charlie had been clearly tensed up and on watch for other people, which was why Caesar had warned him of the approach of patrolling sentries. Now that both Ben and Charlie were relatively relaxed, so, too, was Caesar.
While the third hijacker, the youngest, led the way along the Deck 1 corridor towards the infirmary, Chuppa pushed Charlie’s wheelchair for him. Ben, with his head back as he feigned blindness, was guided by the second hijacker.
‘The medical staff will be expecting us,’ Charlie said. ‘The infirmary will be unlocked.’ He knew that because he had earlier shot the lock through.
The youngest hijacker reached for the handle. Without noticing the destruction caused to the lock, he pushed the door open. Moving inside, he flicked on the lights.
When they all entered the deserted medical facility, Chuppa looked around. ‘Where is everyone?’ he called.
‘The medical staff are sometimes late,’ Charlie said casually. ‘We always wait here for them.’
Chuppa nodded. ‘Sit the blind one down,’ he instructed.
Ben was eased onto a plastic chair, and Caesar lay down at his feet.
‘Is a nice dog,’ Chuppa said, nodding to the labrador.
‘Well trained,’ Ben said, looking directly ahead.
‘So, we cannot wait here with you,’ Chuppa advised. ‘We must continue our patrol or our chief will be unhappy with us. You can find your own way back to your cabins?’
‘Of course,’ Charlie replied. ‘We always do.’
‘Okay. Make sure you go straight back to your cabins when you are finished here,’ Chuppa ordered. ‘Buenos días, señores.’
Chatting among themselves, the trio in red bandanas trooped away. Ben and Charlie waited until they could no longer hear them, then sprang into action. Ben removed the sunglasses and sl
id them into his breast pocket. Then, kneeling beside the wheelchair, he ripped Charlie’s Zoomers from beneath the seat. Charlie quickly pulled on each Zoomer, as if he were pulling on socks, and came to his feet.
‘Let’s go,’ Charlie urged.
Ben bent to Caesar and unfastened his leash. He led him out into the corridor and pointed towards the ship’s bow. ‘Seek on, Caesar! Seek on!’
Caesar’s tail was wagging furiously now. At last, he got to play the ‘find the explosives’ game with Ben that he knew and played so well. For, to Caesar, seeking out explosives was a big game. Several years before this, Ben had trained him to use his extraordinary canine sense of smell to detect the aroma of explosive chemicals. His reward when he was successful was praise and a pat from Ben. That’s all he needed to keep searching all day – praise and the knowledge that Ben was pleased with him.
Nose down to the metal floor, Caesar trotted along the corridor. Ben and Charlie jogged behind him. With the crew under orders to remain in their cabins, the trio didn’t encounter a soul as they went all the way to the end of the corridor, near the ship’s bow. A steel bulkhead barred their way. But Caesar’s nose took him darting left, to the last door on the corridor. He sat and stared at the door.
‘Caesar reckons something’s in here,’ Ben said, reaching back and drawing the Hi Power from his belt.
Charlie also drew his weapon; there was no telling who or what lay on the other side of that door. He and Ben pressed against the wall either side of the door. Reaching out, Charlie turned the doorhandle then kicked the door open with his boot. With Hi Power in two hands and levelled, he burst into the room. Ben and Caesar were right behind him. Daylight entering by several round portholes showed they were in a linen storeroom. Shelves were stacked with bedsheets, pillowcases, blankets and bedcovers for use in crew cabins. Beneath one of the portholes sat a stack of cardboard cartons. Caesar went directly to the pile. Slowly, he eased his backside to the floor and sat staring at the carton on the bottom of the pile.
‘Here we go,’ Ben said. ‘The jackpot.’
Carefully, he and Charlie removed the top cartons until just one remained. Even more carefully, Charlie opened the flaps on the last box, revealing a square package wrapped in black plastic. Taped on top were a detonator and a battery-operated alarm clock. Bending close, Charlie saw that the alarm was set. Gingerly, he pressed the ‘alarm set’ button. The number 1930 flashed up.
‘It’s due to go off at seven-thirty,’ he told Ben.
Ben nodded. ‘We need to report back and make sure there’s enough time for Angus to deactivate this IED once the full team boards tonight. He’s the explosives genius.’
‘You’re not going to have a go at it yourself?’ Charlie queried. ‘It wasn’t that long ago that I watched you deactivate an IED in San Antonio. What if we just took the battery out?’
Ben shook his head. ‘Number one, we still have hours before the assault team arrives. In the meantime, if the bad guys find that the IED has been deactivated, they’d activate it again and be alerted that someone tampered with it. And number two …’ An embarrassed smile came over his face. ‘When I cut the wire in San Antonio, I was only guessing which one to cut.’
Charlie laughed. ‘You guessed? You mean you could have blown you, me and Caesar sky-high that day?’
Ben shrugged. ‘You heard the mobile ring while I was working on it. We would have been toast anyway if I hadn’t cut the wire when I did.’
‘True enough,’ Charlie acknowledged.
‘We’ve got time up our sleeve here,’ Ben reasoned. ‘And who’s to say they haven’t rigged it to blow if there’s an attempt to remove the battery? Let’s leave it as we found it for now in case the bad guys come back to check it. We can deactivate it once Angus is aboard.’
‘Roger to that. You’re right. They can’t be allowed to know we’re on board. Not yet, anyway.’
As Charlie closed the carton and restacked the other boxes on top of it, Ben gave Caesar a hearty pat and a cuddle. ‘Good job, Caesar. You found it for us, mate! Well done!’
Caesar was thrilled with the praise and, with his tail wagging, licked him on the cheek.
‘I think there could be more IEDs,’ Charlie said thoughtfully. ‘What do you reckon, Ben?’
Ben looked at the pile of boxes. ‘This deck is above the waterline. If this IED went off, it’d cause a whopping great hole in the side, but probably wouldn’t let in too much seawater on a flat sea. I think the hijackers would be aware of that. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a few of these IEDs in place – enough to damage the ship and make it unseaworthy, but leaving it afloat.’
‘Forcing the evacuation of the ship,’ Charlie mused. ‘With the IEDs set to go off tonight, that evacuation would be in darkness.’
‘In all the panic and confusion, the hijackers could make their escape.’
‘Sounds like a cunning plan to me. Let’s see what else Caesar can find.’
They withdrew from the room and closed the door. Moving quickly but quietly along Deck 1, they followed Caesar’s nose to two more IEDs. Both were hidden on the port side, and timed to detonate at seven-thirty that night. Leaving both these bombs where they found them, the trio retraced their steps to the infirmary. There, Charlie again removed his Zoomers and resumed his place in the wheelchair, and Ben retaped the Zoomers beneath the chair and put his sunglasses back on. As it turned out, their disguises weren’t necessary, because they failed to meet any more hijackers on their return to Cabin 3034.
Josh was waiting impatiently for them. ‘What did you find, Dad?’ he asked as the trio slipped back into the cabin.
‘Three sets of charges, son,’ Ben replied. ‘And your suggested ruse worked perfectly. I made a pretty convincing blind person.’
Charlie took out his mobile and called Shark Catcher. ‘Three IEDs located on Deck 1, port side,’ he advised, ‘set to blow at 1930. That’s 1930.’
‘Copy that,’ Jinko acknowledged.
At periscope depth, the stationary USS Jimmy Carter sat 3000 metres to the south of the anchored cruise ship. From here, with the top of its periscope and several antennae jutting just above the surface, the officer of the watch was able to keep an eye on the ship, and the submarine was able to send and receive radio communications. Special ops involved a lot of sitting around and waiting. Very little time was actually spent in combat mode. The GRRR members had learned to fill the waiting time in various ways. As the ten GRRR members rested on bunks reserved for Special Forces operatives aboard the boat, Toushi Harada was playing with his laptop computer, which would accompany him into action; Angus Bruce was doing a crossword he’d brought along; Willy Wolf was listening to music on an iPod. Bendigo Baz, who could sleep anywhere, was snoring away, while Duke Hazard and Tim McHenry were jointly studying the Cleopatra blueprints one more time.
A written message was brought to Sergeant Hazard by the lieutenant who’d first greeted them. Hazard read the message to himself, then, with raised voice, called to the others, ‘Listen up, people.’
Across from him, Baz jerked awake.
‘Shark Catcher advises,’ Hazard continued, ‘that Caesar has pinpointed three IEDs aboard the Cleopatra – Deck 1, port side, all set to blow at 1930. Consequently, our insertion has been brought forward to 1830 hours. With sunset at 1800, we still have the cover of darkness. Sergeant Bruce, dealing with those IEDs will be your first priority once we board. Do you copy?’
‘Copy that,’ Angus called back, setting aside his crossword.
‘Okay, people, let’s get ready to rock and roll,’ Hazard said, coming to his feet. ‘First insertion will be McHenry, Cisco, Bruce, Baz, Banner and myself. Bruce will link up with Grover and Fulton at Cabin 3034 on Deck 3 and proceed to neutralise the IEDs. McHenry, Cisco, Baz, Banner and myself will secure the bridge. Second insertion, Mortenson, Lyon, Wolf and Harada – check with me for orders as soon as you’re aboard. Do you all copy?’
‘Copy that!’ the others choru
sed.
‘Any questions?’ There were none. ‘Then make it a good one, people! We got three thousand lives depending on us tonight.’
The sun was setting as Ricardo sat in the captain’s chair, eating dinner on the bridge of the Cleopatra. A dining-room waiter had brought the plate of noodles up from the galley, escorted by a hijacker who had watched the meal being prepared to be sure that no one tampered with his food. As a final precaution, Ricardo had made the waiter try a little of his meal, as he had done for the past two days. It had been a long, drawn-out day for everyone concerned, but Ricardo had learned patience after years in prison, where days, weeks and months passed painfully slowly.
All the hijackers except for three on deck patrol had gathered on the bridge. The gang waited, looking at the radio telephone handset apprehensively. At 6.06, the phone buzzed.
Laying aside his plate and wiping his mouth on his sleeve, Ricardo casually took up the telephone’s receiver. ‘Yes?’
‘This is Spiros Naxos again. I am calling to confirm that your money has just been successfully transferred to the account nominated by you at the Caribbean Worldwide Bank in George Town on the Cayman Islands.’
‘All two hundred million?’ Ricardo responded.
‘As agreed, the transfer was in the amount of two hundred million American dollars. Will you now keep your part of the bargain and free the Cleopatra and its passengers and crew? As I warned you previously, the bank will return the full amount to the cruise line if you fail to give up the ship within two hours. Do I have your undertaking that you will free the ship by that time?’
‘I will call you back.’ Ricardo dropped the receiver back down.
‘Well?’ Consuela said expectantly. ‘Is the money ours?’
Ricardo didn’t answer her. Instead, he turned to Ana-Maria. ‘Go ahead,’ he instructed.
Ana-Maria had a ship’s laptop on the bench in front of her and was online. She immediately put in the details of the website of the Caribbean Worldwide Bank, then went to a specific account. Using a password known only to Ricardo and herself, she logged into the account. ‘It’s there!’ she exclaimed, almost in disbelief. ‘The deposit for two hundred million dollars is in our account. Look at all those zeroes!’
Operation Black Shark Page 16