“Yea we all know it, I’d like to see the son of a bitch sink, if you need some help we’re in,” the one with the scar said. “They won’t use longshoremen to tie off or load cargo they use all Arab labor.”
“I’ll tell you buddy, that freighter’s fixing to leave. They put in for fuel and their filling up right now. There holds are full I can tell by how low it’s sitting in the water, and their deck is crowded with shipping containers.”
“Are we talking about the same freighter, The Desert Sun?”
“Yea that’s the one, all Arab crew, except for some security guys I’ve seen, now those guys look like military. Haircuts, boots, and guns,” the other guy said.
“Thanks guys you just confirmed where he is,” Faxon said.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
Harper stayed at Ned Devine’s, she sat in Faxon’s regular seat at the end of the bar. None of the waitresses would speak to her, they didn’t give her dirty looks but just ignored her when they came to punch in a check or pick up drinks.
“I guess their pissed at me,” Harper said to William.
“They’ll get over it when they see you two together again. They’re angry, because they saw how much he loved you.”
“Shit where is he William? I swear if he gets himself shot going after this guy I’ll kill him. I’m not leaving till he comes home.”
* * *
Faxon went back to the Jeep. He drove down the dock until he was about a hundred yards away from the Desert Sun. He could see men moving around on deck with machineguns his thirty eight was no match for those automatic weapons. It looked like some other men were preparing to lift the gang plank and that meant they were beginning to leave. If he didn’t stop them they’d be out to sea and be in international waters and there’d be no getting Brantley if he was on board, and Faxon was convinced he was, he had that gut feeling.
He used his cell phone and called Linda. “Hey, I just wanted to check in is everything alright, has Landau tried to get you to sleep with him yet?”
“He’s not like that at all Faxon, we had dinner together and the girls had ice cream, then we watched a new release kid’s movie. I think he enjoyed it as much as they did. He’s been a perfect gentleman. Are you at the apartment,” Linda asked?
“No, I think I found our guy, I’m just not sure what to do yet?”
“Don’t take any chances Faxon, call Detective Walker. Listen Harper called Rachel, she’s been looking for you, I think she’s waiting for you at the apartment. Maybe you should call her.”
“Thanks, I’ll talk to you tomorrow Linda.”
Faxon called Harper.
“Where are you,” she desperately asked?
“Damn Harper we haven’t talked to each other in weeks and the first thing you say is where are you?”
“I’m sorry, Faxon, please come to the apartment, I love you.”
“That’s better, I’m afraid I can’t though, I think I found our guy but he’s well protected, problem is if I don’t go after him now he’ll be gone and we’ll never get him.”
“Damn-it Faxon, wait until I can get some help, where are you?”
“I’m down in the inner harbor. He’s on the Saudi registered freighter the Desert Sun and their getting ready to leave. If I don’t stop him now Harper they’ll be in international waters and we’ll never get him. I’m gonna have to try and slip aboard and find him or stop them from leaving.”
“At least wait till I get there, I’ll call John and he’ll have the FBI and the swat team there,” Harper said.
“By the time you get here it’ll be too late, I think I can get aboard now, if I can I’ll try to damage something so they can’t leave. Call John and when you get here stay on the dock till they arrive, just make sure the good guys know I’m on board. Harper I think you know by now I never stopped looking for the man that had your parents killed, and I’m not sorry for what I did concerning Ensign Beale. He’s agreed to testify now, and I never stopped loving you either.”
Faxon hung up. Harper ran to the SUV and spun the tires as she left Ned Devine’s. She dialed Detective John Walker’s cell phone as she weaved through traffic.
“Hello, did you find Faxon?” John saw the caller ID and knew it was Harper.
“He’s down at the inner Harbor.”
She was breathing hard and John could hear the excitement in her voice.
“What’s going on, I get the feeling I’m not going to get any sleep tonight.”
“Brantley’s on the Desert Sun, he’s got some ex-military with him, they have automatic weapons, the freighter is fixing to go to sea, Faxon called me their pulling up the gang plank and he’s trying to get on board and stop them from leaving.”
“The damn fool is going to get himself killed. Let me guess you’re on your way there. I order you to stay on the dock and wait for us to show up, or so help me I’ll arrest you for interfering in a police operation.”
“Get the fuck out of the way,” Harper screemed at another driver out the window.
John could hear her wheels skid and then spin taking off again. “Being arrested don’t mean shit to me right now John, just remember when you get there we’ll be on board.” Harper hung up and threw the phone down on the floor.
Faxon stuffed a bundle of large zip ties in his back pocket. He put his thirty eight in his belt and filled his pockets with extra shells from the box in his ready bag. He had to smile, a thirty eight against men with machine guns. What the hell all he really had to do was stop them from leaving, that meant getting to the engine room.
The ramp was already raised, the freighter sat low in the water which made the distance to the deck not that far. Mooring ropes were still attached and Faxon quickly decided that was the only way on board. From the bow to the tower at the stern the deck was stacked with shipping containers three high, there were containers in the hold under the deck too. All around the outside hanging down the side of the ship were large rubber bumper guards. The tower was three stories high and at the top was the wheel house, captains quarters below that, the kitchen was on the deck level. Below the deck under the tower were crews quarters, and the engine room was a little forward of the tower about a third of the way from the stern.
Faxon climbed the large rope hand over hand across and up the side until he could reach up and grab the short rail and pull himself aboard. He rolled over against a shipping container, and there was only about four feet between the container and the rail. They tried to get as many as possible on the deck. He lay there listening and finally got up and walked to the front of the wheelhouse tower where he saw a door. Faxon opened the door and stepped in quickly shutting it behind him. He slowly went down the expanded metal staircase, one landing after another. He stopped and ducked behind a large air tank when he saw someone below him about ten feet from the bottom of the stairs. A diesel engine was running and Faxon determined it was the generator engine supplying electricity to the ship. The man was working at the side of a huge diesel engine, and it looked like he was changing a fuel filter mounted on the side. Another man walked up and he could hear him yell, telling the man to go and check the fuel tank valve and to make sure it’s in the on position so they could purge the line before connecting it after he put the new filter in.
Faxon crept down the steps and walked right up behind the man and hit him over the back of the head, he quickly used zip ties on his ankles and wrist behind his back. He looked through the tool box and found a roll of duct tape and wrapped it around his head and mouth, then stepped back behind the tool box. The assistant engineer came back and when he bent to check on the first man Faxon hit him too and tied him up the same way. With his knife he started cutting the fuel lines and the bilge began to fill with diesel fuel, he also cut the hydraulic lines and then he went back up the steps.
* * *
Harper pulled up behind the old army Jeep and got out. Standing with the door open she stuffed three clips in her front left jean pocket, each clip held seven rou
nds. She filled her right pocket with extra rounds from the box, then tied her hair back and pulled her ball cap down low then walked down the dock. Harper couldn’t see anyone from where she was and she didn’t hear anyone either. Faxon would have gone to the engine room and she assumed that was in the bottom of the ship, but getting over there was her first problem, hopefully without being seen.
The large mooring ropes securing the freighter to the dock was the only way across, Harper stood looking down at the three inch in diameter rope, it hug loose sagging then up to the hole where it tied to the cleat. She couldn’t just stand there and be seen so Harper reached out and swung under the rope then wrapped her legs around and began pulling herself up, her legs gripping then pushing as she pulled. It was a good thing she was in such good shape. She made it to the top and peeked over the side, when she didn’t see anyone she pulled herself up and onto the deck.
The shipping containers were chalked up on the outside corners with strips of steel so that the ones on the outside would lean in. Harper kicked a loose piece about a foot long, an inch wide and about a quarter of an inch thick. She picked it up and slapped it against her palm. It was good for throwing, or hitting someone with. She walked down the side of the ship toward the wheelhouse where she hopped to find a door.
When she turned the corner she came face to face with a man holding an automatic weapon across his chest. Harper kneed him in the groin and hit him in the side of the head with the flat steel bar and he went down face first beside her. She took the machinegun and the extra clips putting them into the top of her jeans in the back. She also took his 45 cal. SOCOM pistol and the extra clips then put her small 9mm into the top of her jeans in front.
Faxon got up to the floor just before the deck, he looked down a hall there were doorways on either side and at the far end an opening that went right and left. He was standing at the opposite end when he heard a man yelling at someone.
“Go tell that damn Captain I want to be underway in the next fifteen minutes.”
Just then one of the ex-military men stepped out into the hall with ex-lieutenant Commander Benjamin Brantley, he must have recognized Faxon.
“Don’t just stand there looking stupid, kill him,” Brantley yelled then he turned and ran the other way.
The man shot a long burst from the gun, Faxon ducked into the nearest open door that happen to be a supply room, bullets ricocheted off the wall where he had been standing. The solder began advancing toward the doorway where Faxon was and shot another burst from the machinegun. Faxon held his thirty eight and stood beside the door jamb, he knew he was over powered and when the man got to the door that would be it.
The door from the deck swung in and Harper stepped through, she shot down through the expanded metal staircase into the hall below and the man that was advancing on Faxon.
“Faxon, you down there,” Harper yelled?
“Yea,” he stepped out of the room and looked up through the metal staircase at Harper standing on the landing above him. She dropped the empty clip and pulled one out from behind her back and pushed it in.
“I’m really glad you never listen to anything I say.” Faxon was taking the arms off the dead body when two men came around the corner at the far end of the hall. Faxon emptied a clip before they could fire and both men went down.
“Brantley just ran up, he’s probably trying to get to the wheelhouse, I think there was only six of these guys, so there could be three more,” Faxon said.
“Two more, I took care of one on deck, I’m going after Brantley, try not to get your-self killed, ok,” Harper said as she went back out the door.
Faxon went down the hall the way Brantley had gone hopping to catch him before she did. When he took a right at the end of the hall he saw a set of stairs going up inside the tower. He looked into a doorway on the right and saw the kitchen and a small dining room but no one inside. Up the steps to the next level was the captain’s quarters as he turned to go up again two men fired from above at the same time. Faxon was able to step back far enough but the rounds ricocheted off the metal all around him. He held his gun up and emptied a clip where they were standing, they weren’t so lucky and one of the men fell down the steps.
Harper ran around the side of the wheelhouse and saw Brantley going up the outside steps. She heard footsteps just in time, when she turned around there were four Saudi men coming at her with knives, she emptied a clip and two went down, the other two were too close to put another clip in and she dropped the machine gun and pulled the 45 out and shot one of the two just before the last man ran into her and they both went down knocking the gun out of her hand. The man had lost his knife but he was much bigger than she was and he rolled on top of her with his hands around her throat. Harper got her hand behind her back and pulled out her Walther PPK, she put it to the side of his head and shot, her face was splattered with blood. She rolled him off, got up, and went up the steps following Brantley.
Faxon moved back against the wall avoiding another burst of fire from the last man at the top of the steps. When he stopped Faxon quickly jumped around the corner, the man above was trying to put another clip in, but not fast enough, Faxon emptied another clip up at him riddling the man with bullets. Faxon went up the steps he had to move the body to be able to get the door open. It was locked, he used the 45 cal. And shot the door handle, when he came into the wheelhouse the Captain was trying to get the engines started, the lines had been cast off and the freighter was drifting away from the wharf. Faxon looked across the room and saw Brantley through the window trying to get the door open. The Captain had locked everyone out. When Brantley saw Faxon he ran up the steps further, the only place to go was the roof of the wheelhouse, and then Faxon saw Harper run by the door after him.
When she stepped up onto the roof Brantley shot twice, both missed, the third time the gun clicked, he was out, and he dropped the gun. Harper still held her nine mm but she reached around and put it in the back of her jeans.
“You know who I am,” Harper asked? Brantley backed away.
“That stupid fucking Richard Mathis, I told him just to shoot you in the fucking head and we’d get rid of your body. I trusted he was half way competent, I mean he got you to marry him easy enough so when he told me he would kill you I trusted him. Well when he didn’t, I hired my shooter to take care of it, what fucking luck, he kills the damn horse. Then when Mathis gets the balls to do it he concocts this plan for it to look like a home invasion and you kill him, I laughed about that for a week. Then that fucking Faxon Bennett gets involved.”
Harper kept slowly moving toward him.
“Well come on bitch, you’ll find I’m not that easy to kill, we’ll see who walks away from this.”
Faxon ran across the room but he couldn’t get the door open, it was double keyed. He chased the Captain around he couldn’t speak English but when Faxon pointed the gun at him he suddenly knew what he wanted. He threw the key across the room and when Faxon went to get it the Captain pulled a long curved knife and came at him. Faxon shot him twice in the chest, and then he went to the door.
Harper grabbed Brantley’s wrist when he tried to punch her, she pulled and kicked him in the chest at the same time, then turned into him and punched him in the throat, and he gasped for air. His right hand grabbed a handful of hair and pulled her head back, she pushed back against him as hard as she could not knowing how close they were to the back edge of the roof.
Faxon opened the door and ran up the steps just as Harper and Brantley were going over the side. He saw the look of losing control in her eyes, her arms out to the side, she was terrified Brantley behind her, just for a moment they seem to float in the air and then they were gone. Faxon made it to the edge just in time to see them both hit the water over a hundred feet below, Faxon screemed her name.
He ran down the steps to the deck and around the back of the wheelhouse, he pulled out his knife and cut two of the large rubber bumpers and they fell into the water near where they
went in. Faxon kept looking and a body floated to the surface face down, it was a man’s. Soon after Harper’s head broke the surface, she was alive. Almost on cue two Coast Guard boats pulled up alongside the drifting Desert Sun, they were both loaded with armed swat members and FBI wearing vest. Men boarded the freighter as Faxon watched Harper being pulled on board the other Coast Guard boat, and then the body of Brantley was pulled on board.
They moved over to the dock, a tugboat pushed the Desert Sun back over and mooring lines secured it to the dock once again. Agents and swat team members helped drop the gang plank and the Saudi cook and his assistant were handcuffed and escorted off the freighter. There were the two Saudi men in the engine room and two more crew members arrested. There was only one ex-marine taken into custody, the one Harper had hit with the steel bar and knocked out. Detective John Walker was with Faxon as soon as he walked down the gangplank to the dock.
There were two ambulances, and there were two coroner’s vans. Faxon saw them bringing body bags off the ship, one was laid out before the others, it was the body of Benjamin Brantley, he had hit his head on the rail as he fell. Harper was much luckier she had been able to turn herself and gone into the water feet first, arms to her side, she had gone in clean but had hurt her right leg. An officer walked over and said something to John then walked away.
“Faxon, come on, Harper is refusing to go to the hospital until she sees you,” John said.
They had Harper in the back of one of the ambulances she was laying on a gurney with a blanket over her wet clothes. Her hair was wet but still tied back behind her head. An EMT was sitting beside her in the ambulance, he had an IV in her arm, when he saw John and Faxon walk up he got out to let him get in beside her.
“That’s one stubborn woman you got there mister, she threated to kick my ass if we tried to take her away before she saw you, thing is I think she could do it. I gave her some Demerol for the pain. Her right foot is pretty bad. Other than that she’s ok, except for that personality of hers.”
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