Captain Ghazi pushed back the curtain and the general sat up. “What was all the commotion about my friend?”
Captain Ghazi stood looking at the floor. “I had to torpedo a tanker: They were about to report a distress signal from the airship.” He paused to wipe the sweat from his brow. “You said the mission must go forward no matter what.”
General Nuri Aziz got out of the bunk and kicked a table across the room.
“Any survivors?”
Ghazi shook his head as Nuri paced the small area. He grabbed the bottle of Scotch and poured two drinks as he shook his head. “My brother! The idiot cannot even control a balloon full of civilians!” He stopped and looked at Ghazi, and said with a wry grin on his face, “What will you do for me, Faisal, in return for making you as rich as I have promised to make you?
“Many, many things my general, many things.”
Nuri Aziz is surprised and delighted with this response. He laughs raucously, then poured his friend a drink. “When I am head of the military, I am going to make you Chief of the Navy - a member of my inner circle.”
The submarine commander bowed his head slightly and lowered his eyes. “I am honored, Nuri. Truly honored.”
They clasped hands and hugged then Nuri drained his glass and resumed his pacing. He stopped suddenly and said, “Hubris has always been my brother's fatal flaw, Faisal.”
The captain shrugged his shoulders and sat on the small three-legged stool. “Knowing that, you put him in charge of the dirigible operation anyway?”
Aziz shook his head then poured another round of drinks. He tossed his down, looked at his old friend and said in a voice filled with hate. “I did not choose my brother for this operation; the Chairman chose him over my own protests. He was impressed with Abdul's combat experience in the Gulf War. It was the Chairman who insisted on an escape plan for Abdul.” He paused again as he shook his fist. “He wants my brother to parachute out and be rescued by a seaplane. However,” he suddenly smiled and with an arched eyebrow, said, “I took the liberty of formulating a contingency plan, should my brother not perform his duties to my liking.”
Captain Ghazi looked at him. “A contingency plan?”
“Yes, contingency plans that will fast become the main plan! Hadi Bakr knows what to do . . . The Chairman will never know why Abdul did not parachute to safety.”
Ghazi shuddered. “You- you have ordered Hadi to-to kill your own brother?”
Nuri went to the doorway and looked back at Ghazi. “You are shocked? You have much to learn about affairs of state, Faisal. Fortunately, you will have me, to teach you.” He walked out with a grin and headed toward the boat’s lavatory. Capt. Ghazi stared grimly at the gray wall and finished his drink.
The weather in the area that Sky Ship flew through was unpredictable at times and now dark clouds seemed to appear out of nowhere, accompanied with flashes of lightning and booming thunder. It started to rain and lightning flashes reflected off the slick sides of Sky Ship as she continued her trek north. In the gondola, Colonel Aziz and Hadi had the large blueprint spread out over the navigation table. They both studied the drawing of the airship.
Aziz pressed his finger hard on the tail section at the rear of the schematic. “He must be here! It is the back-up control room. It’s to be used in case the gondola, in which we stand, is somehow incapacitated.” He shrugged his shoulders and continued. “He can’t be in the engine room, and why would he be in the cargo hold? No reason, right? No, this must be his base so to speak. And, according to the drawings, the room has a window. That’s probably how he signaled the oil tanker, from that window with a flashlight or something.” He stabbed his finger down on the tail section once again and said, “This is where Mr. McKee rests between his kills of our countrymen.”
He opened two small packages marked, BLACKOUT EMERGENCY. “But now, we have our revenge. Here are two sets of Night-Vision Goggles.” He pointed to Karim and continued. “Karim located them after I read the Emergency Operations book. It seems that, during one flight, the lights went out for a few hours. After that they purchased a set for the captain and one for pilot so they could operate in a black-out condition.” He handed Salam and Arif each a set of the night-vision goggles.
Aziz rubbed his temple as he told the two men, “I used a pair while I was on a state visit to North Korea. They will allow you to see your adversary in the darkest of night.” He looked at his watch. “In five minutes, we will turn off the lights in the interior. Check the room in the tail. If he is not there, return directly. Understand?”
Both men nodded and left.
Salam and Arif went to the door that allowed them access to the interior. “I suggest we walk down the starboard walkway. This will bring us to the stairs above the room in which the colonel thinks this son of a Jackal hides.”
Arif checked his wristwatch and said, as they both adjusted the goggles over their eyes, “Thirty seconds.”
Arif put his hand on the doorknob and as the interior lights went black, opened it. Both men rolled through the door and onto the walkway of the interior, as Hadi closed the door behind them. He stood guard on the Passengers Lounge side of the door.
Salam and Arif rose quickly and got into in a crouched position with weapons ready as they scanned the vast interior. All showed up through their Night Vision Goggles as an eerie green. Weird, but effective, thought Arif as he saw the walkway as bright as day . . . a green day, he thought. Salam made a silent motion for Arif to follow him down the starboard walkway.
Jennifer was wrapping Dan’s hand with a new bandage. She just tied it as the lights went out. “Dan, what’s going on?” They both stood quickly by the shock of the darkness and bumped heads.
“Oww,” he said. “Damn! What’s wrong now?” He started towards the door, banged his knee into the table and stopped. “Aww, honey, this really isn’t a good day at all.” He rubbed his knee, then quickly grabbed his wife. “Quick! We have to get out of here. Right now.”
Jenn was confused, “Why, why? What’s happening?”
He shook his head, but it was lost on her in the dark, “I don’t know, but there’s an old saying, ‘Don’t think of what your enemy may do, rather, think what he can do,’ and I think they may be trying to come get us, so let’s get out pronto.” He went to the cot by feel, retrieved the bow and arrow, felt around and got the slingshot. He felt his pocket and, satisfied that he had the shots for it, grabbed Jennifer and dragged her behind him. On the way, he bumped into a locker. “Oww,” he moaned, “add emergency lighting to that damned list.”
They went up the stairs to the main walkway. Dan led Jennifer by holding her hand with his right hand and feeling the low rail along the walkway. The going was slow and he bumped his head and arms more than once. Man! he thought as made his way along the narrow walkway, The things you take for granted . . . I’ve never been in such a dark place in my life! he stopped short and Jenn whispered,
“What happened?”
Dan spun and pulled her down into a crouch as he whispered, “Hush! I just remembered. There was a lighting failure a few trips back and Jim purchased some type of see-in-the-dark glasses. I gotta believe they are using them right now.” He listened for a second and they heard someone trotting along the walkways. “And, I gotta believe they are using them to get us. Or, rather get me, ‘cause they don’t know about you.”
They automatically looked back towards the room they just left.
“Dan, what can we do?” she whispered.
He racked his brain for an answer. They listened as the terrorists walked towards their old hideout. ”Two,” Dan whispered. “Or more. They’re cocky because they know we can’t see them to shoot an arrow. Bastards!”
Arif is in the lead as Salam walked behind him checking the rear. Suddenly Arif stumbled over the tripwire Dan and Jennifer had set up earlier. He was agile enough not to fall completely, but his arm hit the low rail and the sudden jar made the goggles slide off his head. He grabbed them jus
t before they hit the deck, but his fast reaction banged them against the rail knocking off one of the lenses. He knelt on the floor of the walkway to find it.
“Are you okay Arif?” asked Salam as he stooped down next to him. In pain, he waved Salam on. Salam ran past him and burst into the room Dan and Jennifer had left. He came in a military crouch and scanned the room with his goggles. Empty! he thought, as he looked around. He saw bandages on the floor and picked them up. He felt the dampness and saw a dark splotch, Blood! he thought with a tight grin, He’s hurt! I must tell the colonel. He left the room and ran up the stairs to the main walkway. He saw a figure and raised his gun. It was Arif trying to piece something together in the dark. “Arif, are you hurt?”
“The damn goggles broke!” he hissed in a low voice.
“He is hurt Arif, I found some bloody bandages, they are warm! He must have just left as the lights went out.”
Arif said, “Come, let’s go back and report to the colonel.”
Feeling that the kill was so close, Salam shook his head and said, “No Arif, we are so close let's go find this bastard and kill him!”
Dan and Jennifer are on the port side walkway and can hear the two men talking. “Jenn, I don’t know the language, but I can tell that they can taste blood. Stay low and take this walkway towards the front.”
She grabbed his arm so hard that her nails threatened to pierce his skin, “Me? What are you going to do?”
“Owww, hon! You’ve got some weapon there.” He grabbed her hand, “I’m going with you for a bit, I have an idea.” They started walking down the walkway. They went about thirty feet when Jennifer’s heel twisted and she fell against the low rail and started to go over the side. Dan had his hand on her shoulder as they ran, and he felt a sudden shift even before she let out a short yell. He grabbed her shoulders and lifted her up and they both fell onto the walkway.
“Oh my God!”
“Shhhh! I got you babe!” he felt a new hurt in his knee. “Com’on hon, we have to get out of here.” They got up and started going again.
Over on the center walkway, Arif and Salam hear them. “Over there Arif,” said Salam as he turned his partner’s head in the direction of Jim and Jennifer. “Over on the port side walkway, there are two of them.” He grabbed Arif’s hand, put it on his shoulder and said, “Hold on and I’ll lead you.” They ran back to the spot where both walkways merged then took the port side walkway.
“Stop,” said Salam to Arif, “down.” And as Arif went into a crouch Salam fired a burst of bullets at the fleeing green figures.
Dan and Jennifer duck instinctively as bullets pinged and bounced off the Kevlar surrounding them. Finally, they make it to the end of the walkway and grope for the stairs that will take them down to the hull walkway. The footfalls behind them stop again and Dan and Jennifer brace for the bullets that, as expected, fly all around them, bouncing and pinging.
“Jenn, get down!
They both dived for the floor. Jennifer rolled away as more bullets rip overhead. They lose each other each other in the dark
“Dan!”
“Run, Jenn, just keep going! I’m gonna try something, but I’ve gotta know that you’re out of this area. Got it?” he heard her grunt an answer and run away.
Dan walked with a deliberate purpose as he ran his hands along the rail until he finally came to a workstation with a computer. He hit the activation key and it came out of sleep-mode, and the keys lit up with a dim glow. He typed his password in and a second later, typed in 'HEAT-SENSOR SYSTEM ACTIVATED.’
On the screen appeared an overhead diagram of the ship, with numerous dots that studded the various walkways. Where am I? he thought as he studied the diagram. He ran his finger down along the hull walkway he knew he was on and finally saw one of the dots lit up. Ok, Dan, he thought, is it sensitive enough to sense the heat of a human being and not just fire? Slowly several more dots lit up in quick succession - BIP, BIP, BIP, BIP: It was the sensors on the stairs they were just on. It’s working! Dan thought as he pumped his fist. Well guys, now we can both see in the dark . . . well, kinda anyway. He removed an arrow from the quiver.
Salam walked first as Arif held onto his shoulder. They stopped every now and then to rip off a round or two to keep their quarry moving and keep them in sight. “We are at a stairway, going down Arif,” said Salam as he stepped down onto the first step. His partner held firm and followed.
Dan watched their progress from behind an aluminum girder. He knew the girder was not made of Kevlar and wouldn’t stop their bullets, but he had to stay out of their night vision sight. He peeked out from his hiding place to watch the heat sensors on the computer. They were getting closer even though he couldn’t see them.
“Straight ahead, Arif,” said Salam as they started walking forward again.
“Do you see them, Salam?”
“No, they must be hiding, but they are running out of hiding places, Arif. This time we win.”
The computer showed Dan that the two were getting closer and still he couldn’t see or hear them.
Suddenly shots rang out and for an instant Dan saw the outline of the men. Then it went dark and Dan was alone again in the dark. Damn! he thought as he thumbed the arrow’s feather in the string. He was off to the side of the walkway, balanced on two guy wires and trying to see the computer screen and the men at the same time. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead as he watched the tiny blips of light on the screen get closer to his hiding place. Not yet, not yet . . . he thought, and then wondered if he had said that, instead of thinking it. Got to watch it, he thought, as the blips got even closer.
BIP ... BIP ... BIP... the men were only about eight feet away, That’s just the height of an average ceiling, Dan thought as he tried to gauge the distance he had to shoot. Finally, it was time and he jumped the railing from behind the girder and released the arrow into the darkness at what he hoped was straight ahead.
A thud reached his ears and the quiet was broken by the reverberations of the Uzi being fired at close range. Dan took off running and hoped he wasn’t running into a girder.
Arif thought Salam ducked and he ducked too as he screamed, “You duck and don’t tell me to duck? What is it you see . . .?” He felt his comrade kicking as he fired his weapon randomly in the air. He grabbed him only to feel an arrow sticking in his midsection. The crazed man is cursing and firing his Uzi into the darkness.
Arif also begins firing wildly, as Salam emptied his Uzi and struggled to get a 9mm out of his boot. “Kill him! Catch and kill him!”
Arif grabbed the Night Vision Goggles off his hurt partner and put them on. He then ran down the hull walkway after Dan.
Dan ran as fast as a man who couldn’t see in the dark could, and suddenly ran smacked into a wall. He couldn’t see the small bend in the walkway and cracked his nose. He got up fast but heard the man right behind him. He quickly leaped onto the low rail and stepped onto a guy wire. “No time to load this thing,” he said as the terrorist turned the corner that Dan had missed. Dan quickly took a baseball batters stance and . . .”
Arif was at a full run and felt a mixture of elation at being able to see again and smelling blood. He came around the corner and was met by Dan's swinging bow. It hit him in the stomach and he dropped his Uzi. He dived for it from a sitting position while, at the same time, the other man did the same. They both become entangled and used knees and elbows to gain an advantage. Dan grabbed the grip and the Uzi went off shaking both of them.
Both rolled off the walkway and fall eight feet to the bottom of the hull.
Arif got the upper hand on the weapon and stuck it in Dan’s stomach. With an evil grin, he said, “Die pig!” and pulled the trigger. The hammer fell on an empty chamber and both realize the Uzi is empty, and as a weapon goes, it’s as good as a baseball bat.
They drop it and continue to grapple. Neither can seem to get and keep the upper hand as they roll closer to a rectangular section of the flooring.
; Dan hit him on the jaw and the man seemed to just shake it off. He laughed and took a martial arts stance. Dan threw a football style cross body slam and it rocked Arif. They both got up wobbly and circled one another. The terrorist faked with a right and finished up with a kick to Dan’s knee as he went to block the punch. He went down and Arif came in to kick his head. Dan rolled and grabbed his foot, twisted it and pushed him down. He grabbed Arif by the hair as Arif grabbed his ears. They shook each other back and forth until Dan slammed the terrorist’s head against the decking.
He stood and looked around for a weapon when he was decked himself by a kick to the kidney. Dan went down as Arif ran to the red handle outside of the rectangular area. Now Dan saw that there were yellow-stenciled words on the floor they were fighting on. It read ‘LOADING DOCK - KEEP OFF.’ Arif saw the look of recognition in Dan’s face and laughed as he pulled down the red lever. A humming motor pumped hydraulic fluid into large cylinders that started opening the floor ramp. Dan rolled over and grabbed Arif, using him as leverage to stand up. The terrorist struck Dan with karate kicks - terrific blows to the body. Dan looked beaten - but he suddenly rushed Arif, driving him to the end of the ramp. Arif stunned Dan with a forearm to the head and he dropped. Arif ran back to the ramp controls and continued to lower the loading ramp. Dan struggled to climb up the opening ramp as a wet wind rushed in. He slid down as it opened more. With a gasp, he grabbed onto a tie-down bolt and with a surge, pulled himself up the lowered door. He barely made it up the steep incline as Arif swung a foot at him. Dan grabbed it and the fight resumed, only inches from the open ramp. They fell and rolled down the now opened ramp and at the last possible second, Dan grabbed a tie-down ring, one-handed - as Arif grabbed onto his foot and for one second looked up as Dan kicked him in his head. Arif fell into the rainy sky, his scream fading as Dan held on with a slipping, bloody hand.
Sky Ship Page 14