Commandeered (Mercury Black Authority Book 2)

by Finian Blake

  Gregory and Anna were not the classic husband and wife but they did love each other in their own way. Susan made the call to the ship’s radio informing Noah around thirteen hundred on the Patna. This was going to be a tough one for Anna. He poured a drink and sat by the radio needing a few minutes to work up the courage to tell Anna. No woman knew more about her man, knowing both his strengths and weaknesses, finding a way to live with his faults, and the combination that she could live with. He was twenty years her senior. They had Alice when Anna was nineteen and Alice was twenty now.

  Terri threw her breakfast on the counter running over to the studio to tell Sarah. She was breathing heavily because of her injuries and pain wracked her as she walked up the stairs.

  Cassandra had just finished a shower drawing on a full-length white silk robe with a hood going to the stairs to see what the commotion on the stairs was. When Terri reached the top stair, she saw Cassandra in the white robe with a hood over her head. Terri thought she saw Liz’s ghost surrounded by a film of white stepping back into thin air, and falling over backward down the stairs not hitting the stairs in the middle of the staircase until she reached the bottom step. Terri heard the vertebrae crack as she landed. As she looked up she saw Liz screaming at the top of the stairs. Sarah was up like a shot. She looked down the stairs seeing Terri’s unmoving form lying at the bottom with her neck bent at an odd angle. Hurrying down to the fallen woman finding Terri alive, but motionless. Terri was blinking her eyes. Sarah called up to Cassandra telling her to hit the panic button. Sarah looked down at Terri seeing, that her neck was bent at an awful angle.

  “You are paralyzed.” Terri blinked her eyes.

  “They could keep you alive for years.” Tears came from Terri’s eyes. “Blink once for yes and twice for no.” Terri blinked once. “Now blink twice so that I know you can do that.” Terri blinked twice. “Do you want to be kept alive?” Terri blinked twice. “Do you want me to do the honors?” Terri blinked once. “I do not want to make a mistake. Do you want me to kill you?” Terri blinked once. “Are you sure you want me to do this?” Terri blinked once.

  Sarah’s eyes started to flood as she wrapped her arm around Terri’s head jerking it up violently. She looked back in Terri’s eyes, seeing that there was no sign of life. Terri was gone with Sarah sitting there in tears cradling her head. The ambulance pulled up within minutes. When they pulled up Sarah learned that she had lost two loved ones. She started to bawl uncontrollably as Susan and Cassandra tried to move her away only succeeding with help from Suki and Lynn.

  Noah stood up to go to Anna’s state room after the first message as the radio came to life again. He took the message about Terri. After the bad news had been delivered, all he could say was, “I see.” Noah wanted to jump out of his skin. He had to move. He wanted to rage but what was he going to rage at. Noah made one foot move in front of the other all the way up to Anna’s state room.

  “What in the hell is wrong?”

  “Terri’s dead. She fell down the stairs and broke her neck.” Noah put his arms tightly around Anna. “She was running to tell Sarah that Gregory died in a horse jumping accident.” Anna knew that Noah was serious because the news was too horrible to be a joke. Gregory and Terri died within minutes of each other both from broken necks. They cried in each other’s arms for the better part of an hour.

  Somehow their grief turned to passion and they started to explore each other. It was not making love, it was animal sex. When their energy was expended Noah grabbed a bottle of scotch and took a pull passing it to Anna.

  “I thought you preferred vodka,” Noah said still out of breath.

  “You also thought I preferred to be on top.” She snatched the bottle from his hand and took a long pull.

  All of the refugees knew Gregory. Anna decided to wait until after breakfast to tell the others. She could feel Noah’s weight on her. It was somehow comforting as Noah lay across her legs. ‘I could do something with this man’, Anna thought as they lay on the floor. She loved Gregory in her way, but she hated other parts of him, so her tears were for Terri.

  Noah’s whole world just shifted. He participated in running the Inn but that was linked with Terri. Noah would like to see her properly buried but he was stuck in the middle of the contract. He remembered that he owed Frank the respect to tell him as soon as possible. He jumped up, dressed and ran for the door.

  “Where are you going?” Anna was half mad.

  “Frank is her adopted father and I have to tell him. It would not be right to wait.” Frank was on the wing of the bridge next to the wheel house. Noah ran up to Frank gathering his thoughts.

  “I have some bad news.” Noah stalled trying to find a way to get the words out. Frank knew that it was bad.

  “The best way is to just spit it out.”

  “Terri is dead. She fell down the stairs of the studio when she ran over to tell Sarah that Gregory broke his neck jumping horses.” Frank did not move or blink.

  “I loved her. She was my daughter.” Noah put his arm around Frank’s shoulder detecting Frank’s sobs.

  “I cannot cut out on this right now,” Adam said. Anna is going to hang in there until the end too. I will have to deal with Terri after this is done. If you want to go now that is up to you. The Patna should be passing Istanbul shortly. We are going to tell the others after breakfast in the galley. I would not dream of having our people wait that long. Would you prefer to tell Brent, Ryan, Tom and Mark or would you like me to?”

  “I think it should come from you,” Frank said.

  “If you feel that you want to pull out, I will get you first class tickets home. The choice is yours.” Noah contacted each man personally giving them the option. He went back up to the wheel house to collect his thoughts. Frank came in off the wing to the wheel house.

  “I will see it through. You are going to have services when you return. I can grieve here or there. Suki will be with the ladies. Brent, Mark, Tom, and Ryan elected to stay with us.”

  Noah brought Anna to the radio room to use the ships radio telephone. Susan was in the security center.

  “I thought you would call. What are you going to do?”

  “What is happening back there?”

  “With the nature of the two accidents the coroner is going to have a short inquest before releasing the bodies. We will not be able to do anything for about four or five days.” Noah had to ask the question.

  “Is there any chance that it was anything other than an accident?”

  “Absolutely no chance Gregory fell off the horse breaking his neck, and at two hundred fifty pounds he was too heavy to be jumping. He died outright. Terri was in the security center and called the ambulance. She did not want to tell Sarah over the phone, so she ran over to the studio, and there was no way that Sarah knew she was coming. Terri went from the top step to the bottom step nonstop. Sarah was there in seconds. There was nothing to be done and since the ambulance was there for Gregory they were to Terri in minutes, but she was dead when they got there.”

  “Anna would like to talk to Sarah?”

  “Is she around?”

  “Sarah is right here. She said that Anna would call.”

  “Sarah, are you alright?”

  “I will manage. This was the most senseless thing that I have ever seen. Cassandra is in shock. Finish things on your end and I will pull things together on this end. Susan says nothing is going to happen before the corner releases the body. I will make all of the arrangements for Gregory, and Susan will make the arrangements for Terri. We all have troubles. Be sure and take good care of Noah. That is about it here.” Anna broke the connection. The statement ‘we all have troubles’ had been a long time code between Sarah and Anna, that something was wrong and bringing up Noah’s name meant that the problem would likely be him.

  Noah went to Anna’s stateroom. She poured a couple of drinks handing one to Noah.

  Anna was baffled, “This is the dumbest thing that I ever heard of hap
pening.”

  “Anna, I wanted to thank you for hanging in there with me. I never had any doubt that you would do anything different, but I still wanted to thank you. We have half a million pounds of weapons on board that we have to remove, so we might as well go to Pakistan.” Anna needed to see where she stood with Adam.

  “Now that Gregory is dead, do you want to renegotiate the deal?” Anna asked with Adam appreciating the opening.

  “The only thing that I can see changing is that you will collect his share. Gregory did everything that he contracted for and you are doing what you promised. I will keep my word. You are his next of kin so you get his share.”

  Anna had known that many people would go for a renegotiation. Millions were at stake. She knew that he would never ask, so she offered him an opening. Adam pulled the deal together with Anna and Abdul-Rahman walking off with the lions share. They went out to the rail and watched a storm brewing on the Black Sea. He felt a certain excitement watching a storm build on a ship with the name Patna. ‘Jim’ failed his battle with fear on the Patna in Joseph Conrad’s book. Noah wondered what fate had in store for him. He stood behind her with his arms around her waist. Anna felt safe and wanted in his arms. Noah was gentle but there was no mistake that he was in charge. They had ten more hours before they hit the Bosporus. Marc ordered full speed to get as close to the Bosporus as possible before the storm hit. The Black Sea was a strange body of water and there was no point in taking unnecessary gambles. The sea could play havoc even on modern ships. The Patna was one of the best equipped ships in the area, but the closer to the straight that they edged the better off the Patna was. The outside of the ship looked rough but inside you could eat off the floor. Mechanically the engines were twice as much as required. Most civilian ships only had one screw due to cost but the Patna had two engines and two screws, so they could easily over drive the hull. The sea was rising and the Patna was starting to surge even though they had gyroscopic compensators built into the bases of its three boom towers so it behaved well in a heavy sea. The storm created a following sea. Noah took Anna to her cabin, when he started to walk off she held on to his wrist.

  “I do not want to be alone tonight.” Anna said pulling him into bed. She backed to him and pulled his arms around her. She wanted the comfort that Gregory had always been incapable of giving her, and she wanted to be Noah’s comfort. Anna wanted him looking to her as that comfort for the pains that the world inflicts needing to become his safe harbor. With Gregory and Terri both gone, Noah would make the perfect partner. Anna looked at the situation with the practical Russian view. She felt a certain love for Noah, and his other traits made him a logical choice. Anna was not about to let him get away. Adam awoke at four finding that the Patna was surging ahead and falling back, they were in a heavy following sea. He kissed Anna tenderly and made his way up to the bridge. Anna smiled as he left, since without a doubt Anna knew that she had him.

  When Adam reached the bridge the captain was having a cup of Turkish coffee with Marc.

  “The tide is out going now. We will transit through the Bosporus quickly. There is a quick out flow and we will be in the Sea of Marmara in three hours. We can stop there and you can have a water taxi take you to a land line. We are out of Russian influence now. Our next problem will be swinging wide of Israel. They have put out a wide net to catch arms dealers running arms to the Palestinians in Gaza and they have a disregard for international law. When it pleases them they attach an extra fifty miles on to their territorial waters. Unless you approach the Suez from the west they tend to stop cargo ships for the slightest reason and the Patna is on their list. It will add a few hours to our steaming time but we need to slow down anyway. The morning convoy starts through at six and I do not wish to anchor. If we work this right we can steam straight down to the Great Bitter Lake.”

  “Thank you for the offer of the land line. I will be good until we have to stop and Anna will be fine also. I think that we need to keep going.”

  After breakfast, Anna announced the death of Gregory. It was taken with mixed review. Anna assured everyone that she had the resources to deliver as promised. The other generals only saw her as Gregory’s driver. She stepped behind Noah to screen herself from their criticism. Noah made all of the guarantees for getting them settled. Finally, he tired of all the bullshit.

  “Anna can do all of this. She did it for the general. You need to show her some respect. I have never met a person as capable as her. When I do not understand something, I ask Anna. If you do not trust her, you’re screwed!” Noah stormed out of the room leaving everybody stunned by his display. He went up to the wing on the bridge. Frank looked at Noah in his rage. He never had seen him so enraged.

  “They cannot see what they have in Anna. She can handle the whole thing.”

  “You need to pull it together,” Frank took a second look at Noah clearly seeing the raw edges. “Terri’s death is way under your skin. Are you sure that you can run this?” Frank felt the need to back Noah off his rage. “If you do this with a small argument, what is going to happen when you hit the big time?”

  Noah stopped and looked at Istanbul passing on the both sides of the ship. He could see the other side of all of the sights that he admired from the balcony of the hotel. He remembered looking out at the same sights from the hotel, while making love to Liz on the balcony in front of the hidden cameras. He regretted her death more than ever at this moment. Frank saw a side of Noah that he had never seen before and Noah’s indecision made him nervous. Anna stepped out on the wing behind the two men. She took Frank’s arm by the bicep.

  “I will get this,” she said gently. “He will be ready in a few hours.” Frank looked in her eyes seeing the calm in her that gave him confidence. Frank nodded his head and went to the port side wing.

  “You lost it in there.” Anna rested her head on Noah’s chest. He rested his head on top of hers.

  “I know I did. They have known you for years, and nobody could see what you can do.”

  “Gregory never stood up for me like that. If he had I might have been a general!” She spoke laughing into Adam’s chest. He had given her something that Gregory had never given her in all their years of marriage, which was respect.

  Frank was watching from the wheel house. Anna stood back hitting Noah in the chest lightly. “You need to pull it together and concentrate on the deal. You are going to get someone killed.” Adam looked at the Haig Sofia.

  “I will be better as soon as we pass Istanbul. It holds too many memories. I was never here with Terri but then I was.” Only Anna could understand that statement.

  “I am sorry about Liz. It was the right decision then but it might be in question now. A lot of love has gone into the grave.” She hit Adam flat handed in the chest for Frank‘s benefit. “What are you going to do about the love that you have?”

  He looked her directly in the eyes. “Is there a chance for us?” Adam could be so dense at times. She gently kneed him in the groin and hit him playfully behind the ear. Frank was watching from the other side of the wheel house, this one was a tiger. He was glad that she did not need to shape him up. Anna pushed Adam through the door.

  “He will be ok in a few hours.” She shouted to Frank.

  Frank sat at the same table with them for lunch confident that she took matters in hand. Frank was experiencing a new found respect for this tigress. Noah was much more focused. They would be in the Aegean Sea in an hour. Marc joined them at the table.

  9.

  THE HOME STRETCH

  The Patna was one hundred and twenty miles out to sea when the 747’s left Trabzon at nine in the morning. They headed due south across Turkey toward Karachi, Pakistan just west of the Iraqi border. After they were in the air for thirty minutes, there was a call from the Turkish Air Traffic Control demanding that they land in Adana for inspection. The pilot Frank slow pedaled the request, until they were near the coast. Two phantom jets flanked each of the cargo jets escorting them to Adan
a. When they landed they were parked away from the terminal on the military side of the airport with a Turkish official coming to the door.

  “My name is Rais. We have been asked by the Russian government to detain you. They claim that you are carrying stolen Russian munitions.” Frank got indignant.

  “We are carrying humanitarian supplies from the United States for Muslim refugees in Afghanistan.”

  “If you are flying from the United States, why are you coming from Trabzon?”

  “We had a medical shipment to deliver for the UN. It was relief for the Armenians. Your area administrator Karim met our flight and witnessed the shipment. As a customs inspector he verified that they were only medical supplies and nothing was added in Trabzon. The Russians must have found out that we were going to Afghanistan with medical supplies and invented this story. We had to dump half of our fuel so that we would not be too heavy to land. Who is going to replace the fuel?”

  “That is your problem.”

  “You are a NATO and UN member,” Frank countered. “It is your problem because you forced us to land. We are chartered by the UN to deliver medical supplies to Karachi.”

  “We were instructed to have you land and inspect your aircraft.”

  “Nobody is going to inspect this aircraft without representatives from NATO, the UN and the United States Embassy. I would also like the Russians to be present.”

  “I have the authority to inspect your aircraft.”

  “Do you have the authority to create an international incident? I suggest that you call your superiors.” Rais decided to call the minister of the interior for instructions. He was in charge of the area, but Rais didn’t want to take personal responsibility for an international incident between the United States and Russia. Rais did not care much for the Russians anyway because his grandfather died fighting them in the First World War. The plane was on the ground and could not leave without clearance. He received instructions to wait until all parties could be present. After several calls it was determined that the inspection would occur around noon of the next day. The Patna had been at sea for twelve hours and within seventeen more hours they would be through the Aegean Sea. Frank and his flight crew settled in until everybody was ready on the next day. Rais arranged air conditioning, ground power and catering for the two aircraft. The Russians made their appearance at four PM insisting on an immediate inspection. Rais politely relayed his instructions and announced the requirements of the ministry. The NATO representative was the last to show up at eleven AM the next day. All four parties walked up to the door of the 747. Frank greeted them when all of the officials arrived at the door of his aircraft.