“I rather like this one: I have no eyes; I make The Flash of Lightning my Eyes,” replied Konaka.
The Japanese Naicho leader grimaced at Konaka’s allusion to the atomic bombs. He looked Konaka over. “You have a wakizashi at your side.” Takahata nodded toward the short sword worn by Konaka. “Thinking of hara-kiri? That’s how most samurai died.” He gave Konaka a fierce smile. “Need any help?”
“It is the honorable way to die,” replied Konaka, his face twisting into a knot of rage.
“The samurai had honor. You have none,” Takahata said.
“Your opinion, of course, but I will have Japan itself,” said Konaka, his rage dissipating. His face took on a far away look. “Think of the justice of it all! The atomic bombs hidden by this corrupt government will cause the destruction of the same government.”
“If you drop the bombs with a helicopter, you’ll never get away from the blast,” said Hendrick.
“Oh, but we’ve thought of that,” replied Namiki. “We are now installing accessories to the fins which will increase the drag, thus making the bombs fall more slowly. That will provide us with more than enough time to get away.”
“This is ridiculous!” stormed Takahata. “Our forces will stop you before you get anywhere near Tokyo!”
“The flight plan over the city has already been filed. So, you see they are expecting us,” replied Konaka with satisfaction. He looked at Namiki and spoke a short order in Japanese. The nuclear engineer gave a breathless hai! in response and quickly left the bridge.
Konaka looked at Hendrick. “I owe you death for destroying my installations on Tung-yin Tao. I had quite a lot of ordnance stored there, which you blew up, but it really did not matter. The atomic bombs more than make up for the loss. So you will die in the next few minutes along with your friends.” He turned to Murata. “You will do the honors?”
Murata looked surprised, then his face took on a horrifying determination. Murata smiled the look of a shark homing in on bloody meat in the water.
“What is it that you Americans say at times like this?” asked Murata. “Payback is a bitch, is it not?” He brought his machine gun up in front of Hendrick.
Hendrick slowly put his arms around Maggie. He was sure that it would be his last act. Murata cocked his AK47 and pointed it at Hendrick. Hendrick’s breath froze in his throat.
“Not here,” snapped Konaka irritably. “Take them down to the main deck and do it there. There’s enough blood and guts there already. A little more will not matter.”
The four captives exhaled nervously. Konaka’s black-garbed troopers dragged Bakhtin and Takahata to their feet and shoved them all toward the ladder leading down to the main deck. As before, Hendrick helped Bakhtin, and Maggie helped Takahata. They began to descend the stairs on rubbery legs. Hendrick half turned to Murata who pushed him onward.
Hendrick stumbled, bending over to recover his balance and to tighten his grip on Bakhtin. His eyes fell on Bakhtin’s feet and on the butt of the knife concealed in his right boot. This was the one weapon Konaka’s men had missed. But it had only one round. One bullet against - he counted quickly - two in front and four behind.
He had one other recourse. However, he had to get clear of the metal sides of the ship to get a strong signal out to sea. They needed the code words, or else they wouldn’t attack. He stared out a passing window in one of the compartments. At the next window, he thought. He’d get a bullet for it, but there was no other hope now.
Seconds later, he was just a few feet from the next window. He reached into his pocket and quickly yanked on the radio, pushing the transmit button as his hand rapidly withdrew from the pocket. He heard a grunt of surprise from Murata who had been watching him closely. He tried to bring the radio up to his lips, but the antenna snagged on the jacket inner lining. In a panic he bent over to get nearer to the radio just as Murata’s hand clamped over the small transmitter.
“Hidden Sun!” shouted Hendrick a split second before a rifle butt slammed into his back taking his breath away. He rolled painfully on the deck as Murata examined the radio. He casually tossed the radio through the porthole where it fell to the sea.
“Let us shoot him here,” said one of Konaka’s men.
“No,” said Murata in a resigned tone. “Konaka has given us orders and we will carry them out faithfully.”
Maggie helped Hendrick to his feet. She squeezed his arm with concern, and he assured her quietly that he was all right.
Hendrick glanced aft and saw the large, dark helicopter still hovering above the cargo hold. A man was being winched up to join those in the helo. Hendrick recognized the tall, angular form of Konaka. He would be there when the bombs were dropped, thought Hendrick. Below Konaka were two large objects, also being hoisted up to their destination on large racks mounted to the underbelly of the helicopter. Their outlines with large fins and a protruding nose, for Namiki’s high tech fuzes, clearly showed him that they were the Russian atomic bombs. In seconds the atomic bombs would be clear of the ship! Hendrick gave a desperate look seaward.
Where was Golubev?
Viktor Golubev stared through the periscope and licked his lips in indecision. What was happening? He had seen the unmistakable form of Konaka exiting the helicopter and entering the bridge. Did that mean that Hendrick, Bakhtin and the others had lost?
The phone call he had received from Hendrick three days ago had excited him, and he had pushed the speed of his submarine beyond safety limits to get into position. Hendrick had wanted some insurance that the bombs would never fall into the wrong hands in case things went badly against Konaka. It appeared that their worst fears had been confirmed. The battle for control of the ship had seemed to come to an end, but Golubev wasn’t sure which side had won. The radio receiver was tuned to the carrier frequency Hendrick said he would use. Its volume was turned up producing an unnaturally loud blast of receiver noise. Golubev did not want to miss the code word for an attack on the ship.
The receiver noise was suddenly quieted by the presence of the transmitter carrier. Everyone in the conn looked at the radio. There was a rustling sound then two clearly enunciated words, Hidden Sun. Then silence.
Golubev looked at Ian Howard. “That’s it then,” said Golubev in a somber tone.
“Are you sure they’ve lost?” asked Ian Howard quietly. Golubev shook his head in resignation and stared back through the periscope.
Several black-clad men were leading four people down the outside ladders to the main deck. Golubev twisted the periscope handle around to get full magnification. There in the center of view was Hendrick and Maggie Ramsey. Men surrounded them, pointing automatic weapons at them.
“What’s happening?” asked Howard. He studied the old Russian’s face for any indication of the situation on the ship. Golubev’s heavy jowls and sagging gray eyebrows betrayed the fate of the ship and its crew.
“The battle is lost,” said Golubev. “Now it is time to act.”
Howard exhaled quickly in resignation.
Golubev picked up a phone. “Open outer doors,” he said in Russian. Creaking and groaning, the thick doors to the torpedo tubes swung open. The man on the other end of the phone confirmed that the doors were open.
“Fire one,” said Golubev.
CHAPTER 39
To the Edge
Hendrick looked toward the sea, staring hard at the waves for any sign of a periscope. Time was up. Where was Golubev? He looked around in a panic. Maybe Golubev was late. Maybe he didn’t realize that they had lost to Konaka’s men. Maybe he was on the other side of the ship and didn’t see them being led away to be executed. He had to do something, anything to slow down their executioners.
As they reached the main deck, Hendrick pretended to stumble, which wasn’t hard to do with Bakhtin dragging him down. He fell to his knees and dropped Bakhtin to the deck as well. The Russian grunted with pain. Hendrick’s hand felt for the knife in Bakhtin’s boot. He yanked it free and turned the knife blade
around toward himself. Maggie and Takahata were in front of him while Murata and three other guards were just behind him. He lifted the knife, pointing the butt toward Murata.
“What’s that, Hendrick? A knife?” asked Murata in amusement. “Pity that you don’t know which end to point toward your enemy.” He gave a short laugh, his finger tightening on the trigger of his assault rifle.
Hendrick’s fingers poked and rubbed the knife handle searching for the trigger to the built-in handgun. To everyone’s surprise the knife suddenly fired its single round, burying the slug into Murata’s face, entering near the front tip of the lower jaw, smashing its way through Murata’s mouth and exiting out behind his left ear. The impact snapped Murata’s head back and sent his body backwards to the deck. Murata dropped his assault rifle, letting it clatter on the deck five feet in front of Hendrick.
Hendrick leaped at the weapon, but another guard stepped around Murata and kicked it away. The rest of the guards were shocked at Murata’s plight. Murata groaned in agony, writhing around on the deck. Hendrick stood and looked out to sea one last time. There, against the dark of the sea, was a telltale glint of sunlight off a periscope glass.
One of the guards raised his weapon and pointed the barrel at Hendrick’s chest. Time’s up, thought Hendrick.
Golubev’s torpedo exploded ten feet below the keel of the Akita Maru, instantly throwing the ship thirty feet into the air with its upward detonation and snapping the ship in half like a matchstick. Hendrick and the others were scattered by the blast with bodies and weapons flying in every direction. The two halves of the freighter slammed back down on the surface of the sea, leaving Hendrick and the others falling to the deck twenty feet from where they had been. The guards who were behind Hendrick were flung against the ladder, striking them unconscious. The other two guards were dazed but still awake.
Hendrick spotted an assault rifle from one of the guards lying on the deck. He shook his head to clear it, then scrambled toward the weapon. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a black form hurtling toward him. Hendrick and one of the guards arrived at the weapon at the same time. They both got their hands on it and yanked on it with all their strength. Hendrick abruptly swung the rifle to one side, dislodging one of the guard’s hands, then viciously jammed the butt of the rifle into the face of Konaka’s man. The edge of the stock caught him on the left side of his face, breaking his cheekbone with a resounding crack.
The guard staggered backward and fell to the rapidly tilting deck. Hendrick glanced around frantically for Maggie and saw her struggling with another guard. She got her switchblade out and popped the blade, jamming it in her attacker’s arm. Konaka’s soldier howled with pain and backhanded Maggie, sending her to the deck. He quickly pulled out a handgun and pointed it at Maggie.
Hendrick swung the barrel of his automatic weapon around, praying he could get off a burst in time to save Maggie. He fired as he moved the rifle barrel, sending a sweep of lead across the space between him and Maggie’s attacker. He could see the guard’s finger tighten on the trigger of his automatic.
Hendrick’s panicked stream of bullets hit the guard in the arm throwing his aim slightly off as he fired. The bullet grazed Maggie in the side, ripping a hole along a seam in her bulletproof vest. Hendrick saw Maggie flinch and red seep from the tear in her body armor. He gritted his teeth and reaimed his assault rifle. The guard staggered backwards and transferred the handgun to his other hand.
Hendrick was way ahead of him. He took an extra second and carefully pointed the gunbarrel at the guard. He pressed the trigger, feeling the weapon kick against his shoulder. The guard took the blast across the trunk of his body, fell backwards and was still.
Hendrick ran to Maggie’s side and gently helped her to her feet. She winced but seemed to move with enough agility.
“The bombs!” she gasped and nodded in the direction of Konaka’s helicopter. Hendrick whirled around and saw the helo immediately move away from the swiftly sinking ship. The two large bombs were set in racks underneath the fuselage.
The sea rushed up toward them, lifting dead and unconscious bodies from the metal deck to bob furiously up and down on the swells. The deck continued its rapid tilt, making it difficult to stand upright. Hendrick glanced around for something to use against the swiftly disappearing helicopter with its deadly cargo.
“Come on!” yelled Maggie as seawater washed around her lower legs. He ran after her as she made her way back toward the superstructure.
“Konaka’s helicopter! It’s the only way to catch them!” she shouted over the rending metal sound of the dying ship. Hendrick nodded fiercely, then spotted Takahata and Bakhtin next to a pile of debris. He moved toward them, but Takahata stopped him with a shout.
“No! Stop Konaka! We’ll be all right!” yelled the Naicho leader. He pointed to a life raft next to them, which would inflate when the water reached them.
Hendrick whirled around and ran with all his strength after Maggie who had already made it to the ladder leading to the helo deck. His mind raced. Even if they could get into the air and chase Konaka, how could they stop him? His mind stopped, a prayer forming in his consciousness. The main deck tilted precariously, sending random objects and debris sliding toward him. One long, cylindrical object among the debris was the answer to his prayer.
He recognized it immediately. It was a Stinger! One of the now dead Japanese sailors had dropped it during the gas attack.
Hendrick flipped the anti aircraft missile launcher over his shoulder and took the steps two at a time to the helo deck. He heard a burst of gunfire then suddenly was afraid for Maggie. He jumped onto the helo deck with one hand holding the Stinger and the other aiming his automatic weapon.
Maggie stood next to the helo on the pilot’s side, trying to pull a body out of the aircraft. Hendrick could see several bullet holes in the helicopter’s windshield. He ran to her side and helped her drag the dead pilot out of the helicopter, letting him fall to the deck.
“Now who’s going to fly this thing?” asked Hendrick.
“Get in!” shouted Maggie.
He obeyed, not knowing what she had in mind. She simply got into the pilot’s seat and began spooling up the helicopter’s engine.
“You can fly this thing?” asked Hendrick incredulously. “It’s not a seaplane, you know,” he added referring to her escape from Konaka’s island.
Maggie nodded quickly as her eyes flew over the instruments. “I forgot to tell you. My stepfather is not only head of Japanese intelligence, but he also makes helicopters.”
Hendrick looked at her in amazement. Maggie was one surprise after another. She nodded in the direction of the Stinger, which Hendrick had thrown behind the copilot’s seat.
“You better figure out how to use that thing,” she shouted over the rapidly increasing noise from the helicopter’s rotors.
The ship’s deck tilted suddenly to greater than a fifty-degree angle as the aft section of the ship prepared to slip under the waves. The helicopter began to slide along the deck toward the aft bulkhead of the bridge. Maggie gunned the engines and lifted off in a burst of noise.
She immediately righted the aircraft and gained altitude. Hendrick looked at the bridge, expecting to see automatic weapons pointed at them, but the area seemed strangely deserted. He shifted his gaze to the edge of the helo deck and saw the remnants of Konaka’s black-clad bodyguards. Their faces were filled with despair, seemingly lost amid the surrounding raging sea. Two of them pointed their weapons skyward and fired long bursts at him and Maggie. Hendrick heard some of the bullets hit the helicopter’s fuselage, but neither Maggie nor he was hit. Maggie poured on the power and quickly left them and the Akita Maru far behind.
He turned his attention toward the Stinger and scrambled out of his seat to the rear cargo area to examine the weapon. To his amazement he saw operating instructions printed on the side of the weapon in English and in Japanese! He feverishly began to read, trying to concentrate as Maggie relent
lessly drove the helicopter in pursuit of Konaka and his two nuclear weapons. As he began to go through the arming procedure, he realized that one of the Japanese sailors had already gone through most of the steps. He glanced forward and saw Konaka’s helicopter appearing as a dot in the distance.
“When you get a little closer, I’ll open the side door, then you face the right side toward Konaka’s helicopter,” said Hendrick in Maggie’s ear. She nodded in an exaggerated fashion to show him she understood.
Konaka’s helo seemingly grew in size until he could see the sunlight glinting off the spinning rotors. Hendrick looked over the antiair weapon one more time then took up a position next to the right side cargo door.
Maggie eyed the horizon, seeing the coast of Japan looming in the distance. She turned toward him. “We’re about a half mile away. Do it now!”
Hendrick yanked open the door, which slid back parallel to the fuselage and braced himself against the forward door edge. Maggie rotated the helicopter to the left, pointing the right side toward Konaka. The wind buffeted Hendrick, but he managed to get the missile pointed toward the rear of Konaka’s helicopter. He pushed the right buttons then waited for the thermal lock indication, and waited. Konaka’s helicopter receded into the distance as their helo slowed down.
Hendrick lost his patience and hit the box-like front assembly with the palm of his hand. Nothing happened.
“Launch it!” shouted Maggie.
“There’s no lock!” Hendrick shouted back.
“We’ve got no choice! Launch it anyway!” she shot in return.
Hendrick pointed the missile at the fleeing helicopter and pulled the launch trigger. The Stinger gave a blast of noise, filling the cargo area with exhaust fumes and flew from his shoulder out into the sky. Hendrick watched it go for a few seconds then scrambled back to the copilot’s seat.
“The EMP from Konaka’s attack on the ship must have damaged something in the launch assembly. The missile itself might be all right though. When it gets closer to the helicopter, maybe it’ll lock on to one of the engine exhausts,” said Hendrick. He groped inside a bag hanging from the dashboard and found a pair of binoculars. Hendrick peered through them and watched the Stinger fly in the general direction of Konaka’s aircraft. Hendrick saw that on its present trajectory the missile would miss the target.
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