Storm Rising

by Steven Becker

  He jumped from the bow, landing on the boulder, but before he could gain his footing, another wave came and slammed him against the rocks. He tried to push himself up, but his shoulder crumpled under him. Seawater had permeated the wound, and he fought through the intense pain, rising onto one knee and crawling across the rocks to safety.

  When he looked back, he saw the Zodiac still trapped in the cut, moving back and forth, a victim of the continuous battle between the waves and the undertow. Just as he was about to turn away, he saw Cyrus’s head rise above the gunwale. Hoping the water hadn’t damaged the gun in his belt, he turned and fired several rounds at the boat, but the wave action made it impossible to aim. For now, his first priority was the chopper, and he started to climb up the left bank toward a narrow chute extending up the hill.

  He ran up the smooth surface of the chute, thinking it was probably a sluice box for the mine, although it looked newer. The footing was good and he reached the top of the hill. Once there, he dropped to his knees and ducked behind a low block wall for cover. On his right were the remains of the mine, the rough-hewn stone construction a stark contrast to the newer precast block structure surrounding him, but this was no time to be an archeologist.

  The chopper was off to his left in a small clearing, but a quick glance revealed no one there. He broadened his surveillance, scanning the hilltop, looking for Mako and Hillary, but there was no sign of them. Needing a better vantage point, he ran to the remains of the old building and entered the decrepit structure. Crossing to the far wall, he hid behind the corner stones, the only remaining part of the wall, and saw three figures staring down into what looked like a cistern surrounded by a low stone wall.

  A pink cab caught his eye, and he followed its path as the driver wound up the steep road to the parking lot. The mine was a state park, but off the beaten path so it got few tourists compared to the more popular beaches. The sight of the cab with only the driver looked out of place. Turning back to the cistern, he saw Mei Lan, with a gun in one hand, lift a welded wire grid covering the opening and push Hillary in. He could only watch as Mako turned to fight her. She lashed at him with the butt of the gun and caught his temple. Storm cringed as he watched him fall into the void and the lid drop back down. Two shots were fired, and he leaned back, expecting the worst.

  The few seconds of mourning cost him. Suddenly he felt the toll the last few days had taken and was about to rise when something struck him in the head and he crumpled to his knees. Blood streamed across his face as he looked up at Cyrus standing over him, holding a rusty old piece of steel pipe. He was about to rise when he thought he heard a woman’s voice call to him. Before he could react, Storm felt another blow from the cold steel knock him backwards.

  ***

  “Is this cool or what?” Cody asked from the captain’s chair.

  Alicia had to admit it was, but he needed to realize that this was a life-or-death situation, not a video game. She watched the footage streaming from the drone to the screen in real time. Cody had contacted one of the two members of the forum, who happened to be a cab driver. He was free, and he loaded his drone and headed for the mine.

  “Can you talk to him so I can get an overview?” Alicia asked.

  Cody spoke into his headset. “Got it, putting it on speaker.”

  “Al, dude, you’re on the speaker with Alicia and me. She needs to give you some direction.”

  “Cool, man, go ahead,” he said. “But it’s crazy windy. I can make her dance under better conditions, but this is going to be tricky.”

  Alicia stared at the screen and told him what she wanted. The drone ascended and started to circle the site. She understood now what he meant about the wind’s effect on the machine, but although there was some movement, the picture was surprisingly good. The drone was over the Zodiac, still being tossed like a child’s toy in the cove, but there didn’t appear to be anyone there. The drone moved over to the ruins now, and she could see Mei Lan standing above a rectangular hole covered with wire.

  “Can you go lower and see what they’re looking at?” she asked Al.

  “On the way,” he responded.

  The drone sped toward the area, and she saw the surprised look on Mei Lan face as she saw the craft hovering over her. If only it was weaponized, Alicia thought, she could take her out right now. But the opposite was true, and she flinched as Mei Lan aimed the gun and fired at the drone. The shot missed and the craft quickly gained altitude, but the woman pursued and fired again.

  “Cody, can you enhance the footage?” she asked.

  He pulled the feed to another screen and reversed the video. Alicia was disoriented watching one screen move forward and the other backwards, so she turned her focus to the current screen. Cody would tell her if he found anything.

  “Mako and some woman are in the hole,” Cody said.

  ***

  Mako opened his eyes and saw Hillary over him. “What happened? Where are we?” he asked.

  “In a freaking hole. Are you okay?”

  They were on a rough-hewn stone floor covered with several inches of standing water. Recoiling from the nastiness, he rose to his feet, fighting the dizziness, and stared up at the grate above their head. He extended his arms, trying to reach the wire, but he fell short. Maybe if he jumped, he thought, but then what?

  “What are we going to do?” Hillary asked.

  Mako looked up again and saw something circling above. It wasn’t a bird. He stared at it and thought he heard a buzzing sound.

  “It’s a drone,” Hillary said, standing behind him.

  “Don’t suppose it’ll drop a line and pull us out.” He looked back at their surroundings. There was nothing they could do here. The stone walls would be easy to climb, but then what? He would need some kind of leverage to lift the grate.

  “I could stand on your shoulders and use the wall for support. See if that thing’ll lift up,” Hillary said.

  She was reading his mind. He lowered his six-foot frame, set one knee in the water and used his hands to brace against the stone wall. Her feet dug into his back as she climbed onto him, but she was lighter than he expected and he rose slowly. Hillary was using her hands to stabilize them, and he adjusted to the feeling of her feet on his shoulders. He placed his hands on her ankles for support, almost forgetting their predicament when his hands touched her smooth skin.

  Gunshots from above brought his attention back to the present. “Can you see anything?”

  “Just keep walking around the walls. This side is embedded in the masonry, but the other side looks like it rests on top.”

  He shuffled his feet sideways, inching around the interior of the rectangular structure.

  “Stop,” she called.

  They had just reached the midpoint of one of the long walls. He felt added weight on his shoulders but didn’t dare look up.

  “Turn around!”

  He spun in a circle, and all of a sudden her weight was gone. Free to move now, he looked up and saw her use her elbow to prop the grate up while she slithered through.

  “Give me your hand!” she called down to him.

  She was on her belly with the grate resting on her back. Using the stone for a foothold, he extended himself and reached for her. He felt her grasp and felt the other hand grab his forearm. She was stronger than he expected, and she started lifting him out.

  “You have to help,” she called down.

  He felt the grip loosen.

  ***

  Storm crawled back into the building, trying to regain his bearings. His head pounded, making the pain in his shoulder seem like a pinprick. Dried blood covered one eye, but the other was unaffected. He got to his knees and peered around the corner. Something caught his eye and he turned to the left and saw Cyrus pulling the two cases out of the remains of the tower. Crafty, he thought, knowing he had underestimated his foes. Keeping the cases on the yacht could have been suicide, but why hide them here?

  Just as he thought it, he hea
rd the roar of an unmuffled engine and noticed a dust trail coming up the beach. It couldn’t be coincidence, and he realized this was his last chance to stop them. He scanned the area and saw something move to his right near the helicopter. A quick look confirmed that Mei Lan had grabbed something from the cockpit and was heading to the road behind Cyrus. He had seconds to react, but just as he was about to go after them, he saw a body crawl out of the cistern. Hands reached out for the edge of the stone wall, but fell inches short. The torn pilot’s uniform told him who it was. With only one eye, he swung his head back and forth, watching Cyrus and Mei Lan escape while Hillary struggled for her life. He left his cover and ran to the cistern, grabbing hold of her wrists just as she was about to slide back into the hole.

  He pulled her out and looked down. On his belly he reached over the side, extended his arms and caught Mako’s flailing hands. Together they pulled him free. The three of them were sprawled on the stone wall trying to catch their breath when he saw the drone hovering over him like it was trying to tell him something.

  “Mako, find out who is flying that thing. I’ll bet Alicia’s got something to do with this,” Storm said and went after the two figures moving toward the dust cloud.

  ***

  “They’re out and all alive,” Alicia said and breathed in relief. “Tell him to focus on the other two,” she told Cody.

  “Ma’am, yes ma’am.” He relayed the orders.

  They both watched as the drone lifted into the air and sped toward the escaping duo. Cyrus and Mei Lan were a hundred feet apart when she saw the Iranian look over his shoulder. Mei Lan was gaining. They were moving along a rocky trail and he was slowed by the cases. Ahead, the trail looked like it went to the beach, and Alicia saw the dust cloud approach them. “What’s that?”

  “ATV or something. Running on the beach,” Cody replied.

  Just as she was about to reroute the drone to get a wider view, she saw Mei Lan overtake Cyrus. They ran together, but looked to be having a heated argument. “Keep an eye on them, we need a bigger picture,” she said and moved her focus to the map of the island on the left-hand screen. The copper mine was at the tip of the island, and as she panned inland, she couldn’t help but notice a road that ran dead straight and parallel to the beach. She stared at it, and all of a sudden it all made sense. It was a runway.

  “Airport to the east of them. That’s where they’re headed.”

  “This is getting out of control. Maybe it’s time to call the authorities,” Cody said.

  She had thought of that on many occasions and almost succumbed on several, but the incompetence of the locals might cost them the contract.

  She recognized the voice. “Mako?” she called back to the speaker.

  “SUP?”

  She almost laughed at how cavalier he could be after facing death, but shook it off as she turned her attention to the screen with the drone’s footage. “There’s an airport. You have to get there before them.”

  CHAPTER 25

  Mako turned to the drone operator and glanced at the cab behind them. “Well? You heard the lady. Can you take us to the airport?” he asked.

  “It’s a fare, man,” he said and stuck his hand out. “Name’s Al.”

  “Right on, man, you take plastic?” Mako asked.

  He nodded and they hopped in the back of the cab. Al sped along the windy road ascending to the top of a small peak and made a hard right. The brakes screamed as he descended. This was taking too long, thought Mako, and he tapped on the rear window.

  Al slid it open and the smell of the local ganja wafted back to him. “Where are we going?”

  “It’s the only way around the island, man,” the driver said. He turned around but left the window open. The brakes squealed as they descended the winding road, a little too fast for Mako’s preference, and entered a residential area. “I’ll drop you at the end of this road here. You’ll have a bit of a hike, though.” The converted pickup reached the dead end, and they jumped off the back together.

  “Hey. What about the fare?” Al screamed after them.

  “The woman on the phone will take care of it,” Mako yelled. Together he and Hillary jumped off the back of the open bed and stood on the dirt road, ignoring the curses of the driver as he pulled away. They stood frozen for a second, wondering what to do when, Mako saw an opening between two houses that led in the general direction they wanted to go. With no other options, they ran to the dirt trail. Making their way down the hill, tumbling when they hit loose rocks, they fought the low brush tearing at their clothes and exposed flesh. Slowly they made their way to the runway.

  His stomach dropped when they reached it. He looked both ways and saw nothing. It was deserted—no planes, no ATVs, no people. He had expected to have to jump for the still-exposed landing gear of an escaping plane, pull himself aboard and save the day. But there was nothing here, and he stood on the hot tarmac waiting for an answer. Defeat surrounded him, and he turned toward Hillary. Just as he was about to confess his incompetence, he caught a small dust plume out of the corner of his eye. It was growing larger, coming from the direction of the copper mine. “We need some cover,” Mako said.

  “The hangar’s over there.” Hillary pointed to a metal building at the eastern end of the runway. “I’ve been in and out of here a few times.”

  They ran toward the building, hoping to get out of sight before the vehicle arrived. When their feet hit the tarmac, they were able to sprint the remaining distance—about half of the three-thousand-foot runway. Arriving exhausted, they stood in the shade of the open door, hands on their hips, trying to catch their breath. Once he had recovered, Mako started looking around and got an idea.

  ***

  Storm half-stumbled and half-ran behind the ATV. The harsh terrain quickly took a toll on his battered body, and he started falling behind. He chanced a look to sea and saw the Zodiac still trapped in the cove. As long as they were heading to the landing strip, this would be the perfect way to follow. Turning, he stumbled on a loose rock and felt his ankle cave underneath him. Pain shot through him, and he knew the boat was the only way. Unable to put any weight on the crippled leg, he crawled to the shore. The wind had died a bit, but the swells were still an issue as he slid down a large rock and into the water. The first thing he saw was a large wave coming toward the shore, which he ducked underneath to avoid its force. Surfacing, he used the backwash to help propel him to the Zodiac. Another wave crashed over him, but he had a firm hold on the rope strung around the gunwales. The soft sides of the boat cushioned the blow, helping him ride out the surge. Once it passed, he hauled himself over the edge and went to the helm.

  After a brief fit, the engine fired and he turned the bow to the seas, timing his exit as a wave passed underneath the boat. He cleared the rocks, and the wave action settled into large, but more gentle rollers, allowing him to turn parallel to shore and follow the ATV. They were still going straight, following the rock-strewn beach. Steering slightly away from land to conceal both himself and the vessel if they chanced a look, he sped ahead.

  As he approached, his mood darkened. The runway was graded a good twelve feet higher than the shore to protect it from storm surges, but the height gave him no vantage point to see what was going on there. He had to make a decision.

  The buzz of a small plane caught his attention, and he looked to the west. A twin-propeller island hopper came into view and started its descent. The white fuselage with the blue tail fin struck something in his memory, and he recalled the Cape Air insignia from his flight to Tortola. The plane was close enough now to see the tail clearly, and the white bird on the blue background confirmed his guess.

  This must be the aircraft that Cyrus and Mei Lan planned to escape on, he thought, and an idea began to form. But first he had to find Mako and Hillary. He gunned the motor, enduring the pain as the bow crashed into the seas. With some kind of resolution in sight, he ignored the throbbing in his shoulder and head. He needed to reach the hangar
before the ATV.

  He changed course toward shore and was able to easily land the boat on the beach by the runway. His feet hit the ground, and he immediately stumbled on his bad ankle. On all fours, he crawled up the embankment until his head was level with the tarmac. Fumes from the fueling shed across the way wafted across the runway on the breeze, making him cough and reminding him of the wound to his shoulder. He felt exposed, but there was no place to hide. Certainly nothing he could reach in his present condition. Crouching behind a small rock, he watched the plane land and taxi. As it passed, he tried to see if there were any passengers, but the tinted windows revealed nothing but the pilot, who had his door cracked to allow some ventilation into the cockpit.

  The plane turned and stopped. He watched two attendants amble out of the hangar, jump into a golf cart with an extended bed and drive to the plane. The door opened and the pilot emerged. A strange look appeared on his face when he saw the attendants, but from this far away he couldn’t hear what they were saying. He looked closer and realized it was Mako and Hillary. An unusual feeling permeated his chest, and he realized it was a little pride in his son’s ingenuity.

  The ATV was on the runway now, and he ducked low behind the rock as it passed. He could see it clearly. A four-seat Gator with a pickup bed, three passengers hanging on to the roll bar and two cases banging against the sidewalls in the rear bed. It slowed at the plane, and the two passengers exited and stood off to the side. They appeared to be having a heated discussion while they waited for the driver to remove the cases.