Dark Ocean

by Nick Elliott

  ‘Christ no!’

  ‘Tell me then.’

  ‘Look. The last time I saw you I really did think this was all just about Dark Ocean and me, my ship, and her cargo. Believe me, they played down all this nonsense about reviving Japanese imperialism. There were long diatribes from Nakamura about how other right-wing nationalist groups were full of hot air, but not theirs; that the proceeds from any cargo we recovered would be split and their share would be used to fund their domestic activities, line their own pockets I assumed. But nothing about recreating a bloody co-prosperity sphere. That was never mentioned.’

  He was obfuscating, to put it kindly. ‘That's not the way it came across to me, Monty. Nakamura seemed deadly serious about their aims. And what about the Foundation of Oriental and Asian Studies? Isn't that just a front for another bunch of power-crazed psychos like Dark Ocean? I’ve encountered these types before, believe me. They walk among us. Don't tell me you didn't know what the two groups were plotting between them.’

  ‘Listen, to me they seemed just like you say, a bunch of power-crazed psychos. I thought I could just use them as leverage to get what is rightfully mine. There's no way I could resource a salvage operation like this myself and the CMM weren’t about to help were they.’

  ‘So what changed your mind?’ I said ignoring his barb.

  ‘Alright, I won't deny I was in league with them. If they wanted to get control of a few owners, traders, charterers, then good for them. They promised me a slice of the action too. I saw a chance to put Sinclair Buchan on the map again, like it was in my father’s day. Up there with the Swires and Jardines: a regional player.’

  ‘But?’

  ‘But, I didn't reckon on people getting hurt. I don't mean just Alastair Marshall and the girl they kidnapped. God knows that’s bad enough, but the chemical weapon they’ve got for Christ’s sake! I hadn't reckoned on that. It's here on board you know, this VX nerve agent.’

  ‘I know it is, Monty. I've just been locked up with it in the Bosun’s store for hours while this old bucket pounded her way through the storm. For all I know the stuff could be leaking out as we speak. Do you know how it's contained? It was in crates with VX stamped all over them but I wasn't about to start ripping them open.’

  ‘Apparently it's ready to be weaponised. And they've got the launchers stowed in the hold.’

  ‘So what's their plan? Do they have targets in mind?’

  Monty drained his whisky but said nothing, just stared down into his empty glass.

  ‘Well?’

  ‘Hong Kong,’ he mumbled, then said it again louder in case we hadn't heard him the first time.

  ‘They're going to launch VX missiles at Hong Kong,’ I said, ‘from this ship?’

  ‘It's a threat but they mean it. They will do it if anyone tries to stop them from salvaging the Lady Monteith’s cargo, or from any of their other aims.’

  I was having difficulty processing this. Hong Kong’s population, all seven million, was crammed into little more than four hundred square miles. It was close to being the most densely populated place on the planet. If what I'd heard about VX was true, they could wipe out hundreds of thousands, or more.

  Monty carried on. ‘If China, UK, the US...if anyone stands in the way of their plan, they’ll launch an attack. China's the main threat. They know China wants total control of the South China Sea. If China gets serious, militarily I mean, then their plans are jeopardised. But it's not just China. They'll have the whole world and its navies ranged against them. But what they're banking on is apathy, and procrastination. They don't want a military showdown with China or anyone else. They want to control the trade. What was it Raleigh said?’

  ‘For whosoever commands the sea commands the trade; whosoever commands the trade of the world commands the riches of the world, and consequently the world itself.’

  ‘Yes. That’s right.’ He seemed put out that I’d pre-empted him.

  ‘How many launchers are there? And where are they? You say in the hold?’

  ‘They’ll deliver the stuff by UAV: drones. They’ve got a dozen of them stowed down there.’ He looked utterly defeated, increasingly aware now of the part he’d played in all this and the peril he’d brought upon his own city.

  ‘We’ve got to stop them, Monty. Any idea what size these drones are? And how the VX would be dispersed?’

  ‘Japan has led the way in using unmanned aircraft to spray crops,’ Watanabe interjected. ‘For many decades we’ve used them to disperse pesticides on our rice fields. They say one in three bowls of rice consumed by Japanese households has been air-sprayed with agricultural chemicals using drones.’

  ‘You’re a mine of information, Watanabe-san, but the ones on board haven’t been armed yet, have they.’

  ‘Not yet,’ said Monty. ‘The VX is up in the Bosun’s store where you saw it. It’s already stored in aluminium canisters. They just need fitting to the drones. They’ve got two technicians on board to handle it.’

  ‘We need to disable the drones then.’

  ‘If they caught me meddling they'd kill me in a flash, don't you see?’

  ‘I’d have thought some things are worth taking a risk for, Monty.’ I had to restore his confidence, and his sense of moral duty in case he had any. ‘We’re together in this. Remember Hong Kong’s your town. It was mine too. And your own daughter is there. Are we going to let a catastrophe like this happen while we sit around drinking your Scotch?’

  That hit home, but he was still unsure. ‘You’re right. Of course you are. But what to do?’

  ‘Who’s on board now? Besides the crew, I mean.’

  ‘I don’t know their names but there are eight of them: four from Dark Ocean, and four from FOAS who joined in Hong Kong.’

  ‘Right,’ I said without a lot of forethought. ‘Here’s what we’re going to do.’

  Chapter 30

  The sea had calmed a little and waves were no longer washing over the deck, although the ship was still rolling heavily in the swell left by the storm. I wasn’t sure whether it had passed or whether we were in the eye and it would suddenly return, blowing from another direction with greater force. I looked out over the portside but could see no sign of the Marines or whoever it was that the IMTF was sending. I just hoped they were lurking out there ready to pick us up when we had to jump for it.

  A steel door led into a small housing which gave access to the hold. Watanabe opened it. He was familiar with every inch of the ship and I was glad to have him with us. We had convinced ourselves that the helmsman and officer of the watch on the bridge would be too preoccupied with handling the vessel in the heavy weather to be looking down on the deck but we still moved with caution. A hold ladder was attached to the bulkhead. We descended into the darkness, encumbered by the heavy wrench and the torch Monty had provided, pausing to listen for any sound other than those of the sea and the ship’s own sounds as she moved uneasily in the swell. We’d left Monty in hiding above us behind the access hatch with orders to alert us if he saw anyone approaching.

  The Toyama Maru was not a cargo ship and the hold was small by comparison, perhaps thirty feet in length by twenty wide. And counting the rungs of the ladder I guessed it to be as deep as it was wide.

  We reached the bottom and waited there listening. Then I switched on the torch and shone it around the hold space. At the forward end were twelve wooden crates lashed down to pad-eyes set into the deck. We moved forward and set about removing the lashings. Then I broke open the first crate and shone the torch down onto the drone. It crouched there like a giant pregnant spider, its black rotor arms folded inwards and beneath, the white plastic tank bizarrely suggestive of a spider’s egg sack. For a moment I pictured them flying in convoy over the high rise towers of Hong Kong’s Central district, their lethal spray raining down on office workers and shoppers, schoolchildren and pensioners: a scene from some apocalyptic movie.

  The eight rotor arms of each drone were made from thick carbon-fibr
e tubing at the end of which were the nozzles and propellers. I used the wrench to twist each propeller out of shape, then for good measure smashed it down heavily onto the electric motor, cracking its casing open. And to make quite sure, I used a marlinspike I’d lifted from the Bosun’s store to puncture the plastic of the drone’s tank. Meanwhile Watanabe was opening up the other crates. It was a laborious task and took the best part of an hour, but when finished we were both satisfied they were beyond repair.

  When we emerged back on deck Monty was where we’d left him, well hidden from view.

  ‘Did you do it?’ he asked.

  ‘All of them. They won’t be flying anywhere, with or without the VX on board. No-one come out on deck?’

  ‘All quiet.’ The ship was hove to now with her head to the wind. I could make out lights away to the north east.

  ‘If those lights are from Jiapeng Liedao then we’ve reached the coordinates for the wreck site,’ I said.

  ‘We could be right above her then,’ said Monty wistfully.

  ‘It’s time we were gone, Monty. The Marines are waiting.

  ‘I’m not going. You go, Angus. I’m staying.’

  ‘What? You’ve got to get off this thing, Monty. Why the hell would you want to stay?’

  ‘I have to. Don’t you see? You’ve destroyed the threat of delivering the VX by drone but they could still sail into Hong Kong and release it by other means.’

  ‘Which would be suicidal for them too.’

  ‘No. They have technicians who could still rig up some way of detonating the canisters remotely, or by a timing device. It would give them time to get away. It’s a risk we can’t afford.’

  This was a change in Monty’s attitude. Was it his determination to protect Susanna that had suddenly endowed him with courage? Was he making amends for his greedy selfishness?

  ‘Okay,’ I said, ‘but how are you going to stop them? Leave it to the military now, Monty. They may decide to disable the ship.’

  ‘Yes, sink her.’

  ‘Exactly. Remember, the VX attack might only be a threat, but a threat is worthless unless you’re prepared to carry it out. Whoever’s controlling the response knows they will have to remove the threat once and for all, however improbable its implementation might seem. See reason for God’s sake.’

  Eventually he was persuaded and Watanabe went off to get three life jackets from the passageway. We pulled them on and headed over to the vessel’s portside. I was about to start the signalling sequence when Watanabe whispered hoarsely. ‘Look!’ He pointed back to the passageway from where he’d just come. Heading towards us was one of the heavies: the one who Ah Sun had immobilised earlier. He was no more than thirty feet away and lumbering along struggling to keep his balance, but with his gun raised. He fired, the shot going wild. It was almost impossible to take a measured aim with the ship rolling in the swell.

  I pulled the gun I’d taken from the other gorilla out from my waistband and fired off four or five rounds in quick succession. He moved quickly back into the cover of the passageway.

  I handed the torch to Watanabe. ‘Start signalling: SOS.’ The gunfire was coming from the passageway now, the aim more careful, and accurate. Crouching, I ran back towards where the shooting was coming from. At the edge of the hatch I stopped, inserted a fresh clip and, still well covered by the coaming and with a better view of the passageway which was lit, started firing again. He was silhouetted – an easy target. Almost immediately I heard a cry and the firing ceased. Cautiously I emerged from the coaming to get a better view. He lay there, motionless. I went over to him. His eyes stared up into the night.

  I ran back to where Monty and Watanabe were waiting. Watanabe was still flashing Monty’s torch through the curtain of rain out over the dark waters. The noise of the gunfire would have alerted others on board, I was sure.

  ‘We’ll have to just jump for it I said, but as I spoke Watanbe yelled: ‘Look!’ We were getting an answering signal.

  The ship was rolling thirty degrees or more and jumping was going to be risky even at the best of times. Besides the weather we had the ship’s propellers to contend with. She was barely making headway, in effect hove to against the wind, but they’d still be revolving. We would need to get well clear or risk being caught by them.

  And Monty was getting nervous again. Our minds were made up when Watanabe noticed one of the accommodation doors opening. ‘Two men coming!’ he yelled. ‘We must go.’

  We climbed over the ship’s rail and jumped.

  Chapter 31

  We’d waited until the Toyama Maru was listing over to port in the swell before we leapt, but when we hit the water a rolling wave slammed us back against the ship’s side. Pushing off we struggled to swim away from her but again were knocked back onto the steel wall of the hull, further aft now towards the lethal threat of the ship’s churning propellers.

  Watanabe was young and fit but I worried about Monty who was struggling desperately in the maelstrom. Eventually, by kicking against the hull then swimming with one arm while linking to Monty’s with the other, we dragged him clear and into open water. I watched the ship move away into the night as we were tossed around in her wake. We'd been just a few feet from the propellers.

  The open water was almost a relief, though one minute we were deep in the trough of a wave with seething grey water towering above us, the next, lifted twenty feet or more to the crest. This roller-coaster ride went on for what seemed an eternity. Monty was virtually unconscious. What chance would our rescuers have of spotting us in these conditions? The lifejackets were equipped with whistles and lights. The lights had automatically activated when we entered the water, but this was a mixed blessing: they could attract the attention of those on the ship as well as our rescuers. As if to confirm my fears there was a sudden burst of gunfire from the Toyama Maru. With the lifejackets’ lights flashing we were sitting ducks and it would only take a lucky volley to get one or more of us. But the distance between us and the ship was widening fast and there was too much motion both on the ship’s deck and in the water for the firing to be accurate.

  I knew we couldn't hold onto Monty indefinitely while struggling to save ourselves. Thank God Watanabe was with us, but we were both near the end of our endurance by the time the searchlight spotted us. We'd seen its beam sweeping across the sea for minutes. It would appear then vanish only to reappear as our rescuers scanned the turbulent waters. Whether it was the high-pitched whistles or the flashing lights of the lifejackets that saved us I don’t know but suddenly hands were reaching down to grab us.

  We were hauled aboard a long RIB-like boat manned, to my surprise, by four burly Japanese Marines. We lay there in turn gasping for breath and throwing up seawater. Watanabe was the first to react bursting into a torrent of Japanese which turned into a high-speed dialogue with the crew.

  Meanwhile, Monty lay collapsed in the bottom of the boat as we sped away and at Watanabe’s behest, one of the crew bent over to attend to him. Between us, besides being battered against the ship’s hull, we’d swallowed several gallons of the South China Sea and in Monty’s case the experience had left him so exhausted I worried whether they could bring him round. But as he was propped against the rubber side wall of the boat he began vomiting up the salty water and looking around him trying to make sense of what was happening.

  ‘Where are we going?’ I yelled to Watanabe above the roar of the engines.

  ‘To their ship. Japanese Navy destroyer.’

  I grabbed Monty’s shoulder. ‘You okay?’

  ‘I’m okay,’ he croaked managing a weak grin.

  We'd escaped and we’d been rescued. I'd never felt so glad to leave a ship. I looked back at her dark silhouette barely visible now as she disappeared into the spray thrown up in our wake. Ahead of us dawn was dragging itself up, a thin grey band of light on the horizon only slightly paler than the sea below it and the leaden clouds above.

  ‘Are they taking us to their mother ship?’ Mon
ty shouted making it sound like an alien abduction.

  ‘Japanese Navy Special Boarding Unit,’ explained Watanabe. Like your SBS, or US SEALS.’

  We were silent after that, clinging on as the coxswain guided the craft expertly keeping the weather on the port bow so we crossed the peak of each wave at the right angle. As we picked up speed we were flying from crest to crest, the deep V-hull slicing through the waves.

  It was half an hour or more before the lights of the naval vessel appeared ahead of us. We drew up deftly beneath one of the ship’s access ports. A pilot ladder was lowered and, while Watanabe and myself clambered up and into the bowels of the ship, Monty was hoisted up on a stretcher.

  We were met by two officers who escorted us to the sick bay. We showered and were then fussed over by a young medical officer who prescribed a mild sedative for Monty and cleaned and dressed my arm. The bullet had missed the humerus by a couple of inches. Tracksuits were dispensed and we were ushered up to the wardroom where the ship’s commanding officer, Captain Harada, and two of his subordinate officers, introduced themselves in English. We were aboard a Hyūga-class destroyer as guests of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force.

  As we talked there was a discreet knock on the wardroom door and a female officer entered. Bowing then stepping to one side, she made way for the new visitors: Claire Scott followed by Ishikawa from the PSIA.

  When we’d finished with the pleasantries, which under the circumstances added a surreal quality to the occasion, we sat down round the wardroom table. Food arrived. To my relief there were burgers and chips, and Coke. Junk food would do just fine.

  Claire spoke across the table. ‘Angus, a sitrep would be helpful.’

  I finished my Coke and leaned back feeling an immense weariness settle over me. ‘Monty here tells me there are eight of them on board,’ I said. ‘Four from Dark Ocean - Genyosha - and four from the FOAS.

  ‘The FOAS crowd were in Hong Kong for a meeting and to witness the salvage operation,’ Monty supplemented.

  ‘Monty discovered that they’d acquired twelve UAV crop sprayers. Two technicians were on board ready to fit the VX canisters to them. We destroyed the drones but the VX is still there. So are the technicians. That's about it.’