Those in Peril

by Wilbur Smith

  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.

  Hector 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.

  Dave Imbiss was also on board overseeing the final work on the Golden Goose – the installation of the cannon in the concealed emplacements and the reconfiguration of the bays in the hold to contain the three AAVs.

  The Golden Goose was lying in one of the outer port basins and the security cloak that Paddy’s men had thrown over it was all-embracing. Canvas screens had been rigged over the stern tower and all work was carried out behind this. The cannon, AAV and all other sensitive materials were brought in at night on low-loader transporters swathed in shapeless layers of black plastic sheeting.

  When the work on the vessel was nearing completion and the accommodations aboard her were habitable, Paddy O’Quinn arrived in Taipei. Over the following few days the first forty men of his expeditionary force followed him into the city in small groups posing as tourists. These included the technicians who would operate the sophisticated electronic listening devices and CCTV. Then there followed the gunners to serve the Bushmaster cannon, and the twelve drivers and crewmen for the AAVs. The man Paddy had chosen to command the armour was a former officer who had served under him in the army. His name was Sam Hunter and he was a hard man with vast experience in the use of amphibious armoured vehicles.

  Lastly but very far from least there was Nastiya Voronova. In a hired car Hector and Hazel picked up Paddy and the Russian girl from their hotel to drive them to the shipyards. At this first meeting the two women bridled at each other, acutely aware of the other’s rival attributes. Hazel sensed at once that the other woman was a wildcat, all feline grace and pulchritude on the surface but sheer primeval ferocity at the core. From her side, Nastiya was unaccustomed to not being the most strikingly beautiful female in any gathering.

  Hazel and Nastiya sat together in the back seat of the hire car and conversed guardedly. On the dockside while they waited for the ferry to take them out to the Goose’s mooring, Hazel took Hector’s arm and led him a little aside to whisper in his ear, ‘Paddy and the Russian are already into each other like a pair of beavers in springtime.’

  ‘Good God! How do you know that? Did she tell you?’

  ‘She didn’t have to say a word, you silly man. The sweet odour of lust that hangs over the two of them is like the scent of orange blossom. Haven’t you noticed?’

  ‘Yes, but funnily enough I thought it really was orange blossom.’ Hector laughed. The knowledge that Nastiya was deeply involved with Paddy softened Hazel’s attitude towards her. Now she knew that she would not have to guard Hector from the other girl’s extravagant attractions, she found herself beginning to take a liking to the Russian.

  The first thing that Paddy’s recruits had to become accustomed to was the sheer size of the ship. The cargo deck was as long as five football pitches. When they were taken down into the covert area in the reconstructed No. 1 cargo hold they found themselves in a maze of interconnecting compartments and steel tunnels. The tunnels were so ill-lit, poorly ventilated, low and narrow that in them a tall man had to stoop. Once in the tunnels there were no points of reference, and it was not difficult to become confused. For instance, to reach the bridge from the assembly point on the second level involved a claustrophobic vertical climb of over ninety feet, breathing stale air and passing identical exit hatches at the level of each intervening deck. In consequence the men arrived at the bridge level disoriented and short of breath.

  Hector ordered the builders to install improved lighting and ventilation. In addition he ordered the interior of the tunnels to be clearly signed, with various colours of paint to demarcate each level. After that Hector turned his attention to the hatches. With the original design, opening these from the inside involved unwinding the twin locking handles. This was a noisy and protracted procedure that would give the enemy on the far side full warning. Hector devised a new system. The hinges of the hatches were spring-loaded, so that when a retaining pin was knocked out with a single hammer blow the hatch was thrown wide open with considerable force and the attackers were able to storm through it immediately afterwards, taking whoever was on the far side completely by surprise.

  By the time that the Goose was ready to sail for Abu Zara all the men knew the layout of the ship intimately. As soon as they were out of sight of land Hector ordered Captain Stamford to heave to. While they drifted on a sluggish and oily swell Sam Hunter and his AAV crews took their battle stations and the drivers started the engines. Then from the situation room in the belly of the ship the hatches above the vehicles were opened remotely and the hydraulic hoist lifted the first AAV to the main deck, carried it to the ship’s side and lowered it overboard.

  The powerful diesel engines of the AAV roared and it surged forward with Sam in the turret, clearing the way for the other vehicles to follow. One behind the other they were lowered over the ship’s side. They splashed into the water, sinking for a moment below the surface and then bursting out again in a flurry of white foam. In formation the three ungainly craft circled the Goose and then returned to her side, where they were hoisted up onto the cargo deck. When the last of them was safely lashed down and secured below deck, the hatch above them closed. The hoists were hinged to lie inconspicuously flat on the cargo deck until they were needed again. On each of the four following days the same training procedure was carried out a number of times. The gunners in the AAV turrets were given their chance of firing their heavy machine guns at floating targets from various ranges before they returned to the Goose.

  When the ship was a hundred and fifty miles offshore from Taiwan and there was no other shipping showing on the radar screen, Hector ordered an exercise with the cannon on the gun deck beneath the bridge. On his command the gun captains released the steel doors that concealed the gun emplacement.
The doors swung down on their hinges and revealed the two Bushmaster cannon, with their long barrels pointed forward.

  The cannon were loaded with air-burst fragmentation shells. Each of these contained hundreds of steel balls. The timer in the nose of the shell was set electronically by the gun captain for the required range using the built-in computer. The gunner picked up his target in the lens of his optical sight and then squeezed the trigger handle. The computer began continually calculating the range of the target and feeding this information into the fuse of the shell. When the gunner released the trigger handle the range was locked in and at the same instant the cannon fired. The shell burst in the air precisely above the target.

  While Hector, Paddy and the two women watched from the bridge, the crew of the ship dropped empty oil drums over the side to serve as targets. Each of the cannon in turn fired a five-round salvo over the drums. The results were spectacular. The cloud of flying tungsten balls turned the surface of the sea to a tall column of spume and spray, engulfing the drums and everything else around them for a distance of thirty yards in a storm of flying metal. When the spray fell back to the surface nothing remained except the ripples.

  ‘By God and Begorrah!’ Paddy cried. ‘I can hardly wait to watch that happen to one of Adam’s attack boats.’

  ‘I would say we are almost ready to go and pay a visit to Gandanga Bay,’ Hector remarked.

  ‘You are ruddy well correct!’ he agreed with a smile.

  ‘Paddy actually said “ruddy”,’ said Hazel, nudging Hector. ‘Have you noticed how Paddy never swears in front of Nastiya? You could take a lesson in manners from him, my boy.’ Paddy looked dismayed. Up to this moment he had fondly believed that his burgeoning relationship with the nubile Russian was a top military secret. Standing at his shoulder, Nastiya kept her expression remote and inscrutable.

  By necessity, Hazel and Nastiya spent many hours together in the owner’s suite on the deck below the bridge, working to increase their physical resemblance. Hazel cut and blow-dried Nastiya’s hair in the same style that she affected herself.

  ‘How you are so good vith the scissors?’ Nastiya asked, as she admired herself in the mirror.

  ‘There was a time I had to do my own hair.’ Nastiya looked puzzled, and Hazel went on to explain, ‘I was broke. I could hardly afford to eat, let alone visit a beauty salon.’

  ‘That is stupid! When you look like you do, is no need to be broke, never.’

  ‘Perhaps I was too fussy.’

  ‘Too fussy is also stupid.’ Nastiya gave her sage opinion. Once they had perfected the hair styling Hazel opened the large cupboards on each side of the mirror that contained her cosmetics and she set to work. Nastiya’s reserve broke and she giggled like a schoolgirl as she watched her own transformation taking place in the mirror. After that they turned their attention to choosing suitable clothing. Nastiya was entranced by the contents of Hazel’s commodious walk-in wardrobe. It was a treasure house of silk, satin and lace. Of course, they were of similar dress and shoe sizes – Nastiya had been chosen for this resemblance. The Chanel and Hermès shoes looked almost as good on Nastiya’s feet as on Hazel’s.

  When Hazel had finished kitting her out, they put on a little show for the men. Nastiya paraded around the lounge with the aplomb of the fashion model she had once been, and with the same disdainful expression on her lovely face. Hector and Paddy reclined in the easy chairs with whisky tumblers in hand and applauded her enthusiastically, while Hazel watched her creation with a proprietary pride.

  Nastiya’s assignment required her to mimic Hazel’s mannerisms: her walk, the way she held her head and the expressive way she used her hands. The Russian was a natural actress and she swiftly fitted into the role. Finally Hazel attempted to polish her diction. This soon proved to be a waste of everybody’s time. Thanks to her Spetsnaz training, Nastiya spoke the English language well enough, except for one or two small weaknesses. Her word order was often confused, and she could not prevent her tongue from transposing the letters W and V.

  ‘You are very welcome’ was a phrase Nastiya used often, if and when she spoke at all, and Hazel could barely contain her merriment whenever Nastiya enunciated clearly, ‘You are werry velcome’.

  One of her other idiosyncratic pronunciations was the word ‘Okay’ which from her pouting lips became ‘Hokay!’ Finally it was decided that she would have to keep her mouth closed during her period of captivity by the pirates. Fortunately this restriction would not inconvenience her inordinately. ‘Silent Ship’ was Nastiya’s preferred mode of operation.

  To make absolutely certain that Adam would attack the ship they had to lead him to believe that both Hazel and Hector were on board. They had to allow the TV crew from Al Jazeera to film the two of them on the ship when she arrived at the natural gas offshore terminal. Even after the Goose sailed from the terminal Hector would have to remain on board to command Operation Lampos. However, when he attempted to get Hazel to agree to leave the ship before she sailed and move to a place of safety far beyond Adam’s reach, while Nastiya Voronova took her place, his arguments to this effect made as much impression on Hazel as a light drizzle of rain would make on Cleopatra’s Needle.

  ‘Please don’t be daft, Hector Cross,’ she said flatly.

  Hector could not allow himself to be captured when the pirates boarded the ship. He could not command Operation Lampos while he was in chains and guarded by a gang of heavily armed pirates. So they had to choose a double to replace him too. There were a number of men amongst Paddy’s recruits who could fit the role, in that they were dark-haired and well-built. In any event, it was generally acknowledged by all that to an Arab most Caucasians looked alike, and vice versa. When Hector’s double was taken into captivity by the pirates they might beat him up, but Paddy helped Hector to choose Vincent Woodward, a hard man who could take punishment. As Paddy pointed out to Vincent, when he was captured, unlike Nastiya, he would at least be in no danger of rape. For an extra ten thousand dollars Vincent volunteered happily to become Hector’s alter ego.

  However, at this late juncture Hazel suddenly became squeamish about sending Nastiya into the jaws of hell in her place. The Russian girl had become her friend. She expressed her misgivings to Paddy.

  ‘I truly have the utmost pity for any Arab who tries to lower Nastiya’s knickers without her full agreement and cooperation,’ said Paddy with a smile. This was not enough for Hazel and she insisted on a frank discussion and disclosure with Nastiya. They all met in the sitting room of the owner’s suite. Hazel gave a long disquisition on the hazards that Nastiya would encounter if she allowed herself to be captured. She expressed the affection and respect she had developed for Nastiya, and offered her the chance to withdraw from the assignment. Nastiya sat silent, beautiful and inscrutable throughout the whole recital, watching Hazel intently.

  When Hazel had finished she asked, ‘So, hundred thousand dollars you are not going to pay me?’

  ‘No, no,’ Hazel replied, ‘that is not fair to you, Nastiya. In view of the fact that you are going to risk your life for me I think I should pay you at least double that amount.’

  Nastiya almost smiled. ‘We all know that these people will not try to kill me whatever I do to them, as long as they believe I am really you, Da or Nyet?’

  ‘We don’t think they would kill you. They want the ransom. But they might try to hurt you. They might try to force you, to rape you.’

  ‘Vell, they vill be werry velcome to try,’ said Anastasia Voronova, which put an end to any further discussion on the subject.

  Three days later the Golden Goose entered the Gulf of Oman and headed up towards the Strait of Hormuz and the entrance to the Persian Gulf. As soon as they were within easy range of land the Bannock Oil Corporation helicopter flew out to meet them. This was a large twenty-six-seater Sikorski, a replacement for the old Russian MIL-26 that had been lost in Puntland. It ferried Paddy’s men ashore, and landed them at the training camp in a remote part
of the Abu Zara desert where the rest of the troops were in intensive preparation for the Puntland expedition. Relieved of her supernumeraries the Golden Goose sailed on towards the natural gas terminal to take on her cargo.

  The director of publicity for the Bannock Oil Corporation invited Al Jazeera Television to send a film crew to the new natural gas terminal in the Gulf offshore from the Emirate of Abu Zara to record the maiden voyage of the Golden Goose. They accepted with alacrity, and Bert Simpson placed the Sikorski at their disposal. It picked up the Al Jazeera camera crew when they arrived in Sidi el Razig and flew them down to intercept the Golden Goose as she passed through the Strait of Hormuz. As the TV crew circled the ship she was a truly impressive sight. Her gas tanks were empty, so she stood to her full height out of the water, a towering mountain of steel. The camera crew were delighted with the footage they obtained.