Scott was familiar with this area of the ship. The door to the bridge viewing area was locked. He knew that beyond the door was the small corridor where you could view the bridge. He also knew that there were blinds on the bullet-proof glass windows and that they would probably be closed. Scott hadn’t forgotten about the steel security door either. It wasn’t something that they’d be able to break down easily. The outer door however was just a normal door. So, with a swift powerful kick to the lock area, it was opened. He walked through, closely followed by Brandon.
As Scott had expected, the blinds to the viewing windows were closed. He tried to look through the windows at the corners, hoping to sneak a look at what was happening on the other side. Unfortunately though, there were no gaps that allowed him to see anything. Then, there was a sound from the main door. They must have heard the other door break open and were coming to check out the noise. Scott and Brandon prepared themselves. Scott’s daily training in the ‘killing house’, many years before had prepared him for moments like these. It was a specially designed building used by the SAS to prepare for hostage situations. The operatives would practice storming a room, with live ammunition, and identify targets.
The door started to open, inwards. As soon as it did Scott kicked it open and charged in, Brandon was right behind him. Once again, Scott went in low, dropping to one knee, quickly identifying his target and firing. The man who started to open the door had been thrown backwards onto the floor when Scott kicked the door. He was trying to regain his feet and aim his gun when Scott shot him. Simultaneously, Brandon had fired from a standing position, across the bridge at another terrorist who was armed, killing him instantly. The third terrorist managed to get off a couple of shots, before he too was hit with a barrage of bullets. Scott felt an excruciating burning pain in his left arm. He looked down. There was blood everywhere. He knew straight away that he’d been shot in the arm, but his adrenaline was pumping so he tried to ignore the pain.
The captain and several officers were tied up and gagged. They were all sitting on the floor, huddled together in the far corner. One crew member was untied, and was crouching on the floor, near one of the terrorist’s bodies. He quickly identified himself as the ship’s mate, the terrorists had been forcing him to steer the vessel. Brandon quickly began to free the captain and other officers while Scott tried to stem the bleeding from his arm.
“Do any of yer know how many of them there are?” Scott asked, as the men were freed.
“There were 14 of them that came aboard in Mexico. I know that for sure. Plus Mr. Chen over there,” replied one of the American officers as he pointed at the body of the man Scott had shot when he entered the bridge.
“So there are more of them then,” Brandon said to Scott.
“Yes, there were seven or eight of them that left here about 20 minutes ago. And, they sent someone else down to the lower decks about an hour ago, after some of the crew got into a fight with someone else down there,” added the captain.
“There are eight bodies up on Deck 14, another three here, plus we took oot two others earlier. So there should be another two doon on the lower decks,” Scott said looking at Brandon.
“Yup let’s go finish this,” Brandon said calmly.
“Hang on a minute. Do any of yer know what they’re using tae block all the signals?” Scott asked.
“There’s some sort of device in Chen’s bag, I saw him keep checking it,” said the ship’s mate, pointing at a large black holdall.
Scott quickly opened the bag and removed the black rectangular device. It appeared to be some form of high powered signal jammer and had various antennas. Scott checked it and removed its battery pack power source.
“Okay, hopefully all of yer equipment is working again now. There must be a lot of these scattered aroond the ship,” he said holding it up.
The officers started to check all of the ship’s navigation and communication systems. Scott turned to Brandon.
“Yer stay here and make sure they get a message oot aboot the Bay Bridge. Also, call some of yer contacts. Tell them tae get a message tae the Pentagon. Make sure they get messages oot all across the country putting everyone on ‘red alert’. Especially all bridges and well known places of interest. I’ll go doon and find the last couple,” Scott said.
Brandon nodded, he knew Scott was right. It was important to get messages out, as they were running out of time. The ship was probably less than half an hour away from the Golden Gate Bridge. So the attackers on the Bay Bridge would almost certainly be ready to strike.
“Let me get that arm bandaged properly,” one of the officers said to Scott as he was on his way out of the bridge.
“We dinnae really have time fer that,” Scott replied, pausing for a second.
“It will literally take me 30 seconds, I have everything here,” the officer insisted as he retrieved a first aid kit.
“Okay, while I’m here, captain, can yer put another message oot tae the passengers and crew?”
“Yes, what do you need?”
“Just tell them tae make sure they stay in their rooms. I dinnae want tae encounter anyone apart fae the bad guys.”
“I’ll do that now. How did you guys get onboard anyway?” the captain asked.
“We’ve been onboard fer 10 days,” Scott replied.
“I wish the government would inform me when we have Marshalls onboard. I’m the captain of this ship, and it would make things easier if I knew!”
“We’re nae Marshalls.”
“Well, who the hell are you then?”
“We’re just a couple of Mac’s on vacation,” Scott said smiling at Brandon, who was busy making calls on his cell. Brandon winked at him.
“Yeah, right, and I’m Captain Jack Sparrow,” he replied.
Scott’s arm was bandaged. The bullet had gone in just above the elbow and had come out the back of his arm. He changed the magazine on his gun and left the bridge. Quickly he descended the stairs down to deck 1. As he was descending he heard the captain’s announcement, telling everyone to remain in their rooms. When he reached the first deck he moved to the ‘staff only’ staircase and elevator bank which led to the lower floors. Raju had shown him this area earlier on the voyage but Scott hadn’t been down to those floors. He made his way down another flight of stairs, and was about to start searching the deck when he heard someone coming up from the deck below. He held his position and readied his gun. Sure enough, it was one of the terrorists. The man was oblivious to the danger as he rounded the corner on the stairs, and came into the line of fire. Scott fired two short bursts into the man’s torso sending him crashing backwards into the wall, before slumping on the stairs.
Immediately Scott heard shouts from below, so he ran and jumped down the stairs to the next deck. His gun was ready as he moved out into the wide corridor where the shouts were coming from. There was another terrorist running towards him with his weapon firing. He was about 50 feet away and closing fast. Scott squeezed his trigger again and cut the man down. He flew backwards, firing shots up into the ceiling as he fell. Scott quickly checked both men to make sure they were dead. He then checked the lower floors to make sure there were no more terrorists. Also, he discovered several plastic explosives set on the lowest level. There didn’t appear to be any timers on them though. Scott was relieved. With no terrorists left to set them off, they shouldn’t be a problem he thought.
Scott returned to the bridge and confirmed that all 15 terrorists were accounted for. The captain and the officers had managed to get the ship’s systems up and running again and had radioed the shore explaining the situation. The Coast Guard was on the way out to the ship, plus police units and a SWAT team were en route to the Oakland Bay Bridge. Also Brandon had been in touch with his contacts and terror alert warnings were in the process of being issued all around the country. Scott and Brandon had done all they could. It was now up to the captain and crew to handle things along with the authorities. Scott was anxious to g
et back to the cabin to see Tiffany, so he and Brandon left the bridge. On their way back down to the cabin, they heard the captain’s voice over the loudspeaker system. He announced that the threat was over and that they were now back in full control of the ship. Just as they reached the door to the cabin, Brandon turned to Scott.
“I think we made a pretty good team, bud,” he said as he offered his hand to Scott.
“Aye, we did.” Scott replied shaking his hand.
“You need to get that arm looked at as soon as possible.”
“I will. There’s someone I need tae kiss first though afore I do anything else,” Scott said as he knocked on the door.
Chapter 20
The Al-Qaeda attacks on the ‘Bay area’ proved to be a dismal failure. The ‘Pacific Dragon’ was not damaged and all passengers disembarked in San Francisco, only a couple of hours later than they normally would have. Soon after everyone was off the ship, special bomb disposal units removed all traces of explosives from the ship’s lower decks. There wasn’t a single fatality on-board, apart from the terrorists. Only a handful of people even needed hospital treatment. One of the crew members who’d attempted to tackle a terrorist had been hit on the head with the butt of a rifle, and had suffered a deep cut and a concussion. Apart from that, there were a couple of older passengers who were suffering from shock and Scott, who had his arm checked out and dressed.
The Golden Gate Bridge was completely untouched, and the attempt to cause damage to the Bay Bridge was thwarted too. A car packed with explosives and four terrorists did make it onto the bridge. However, police and a SWAT unit surrounded the car and killed everyone inside before they were able to detonate any bombs. There were no other incidents of attempted attacks reported anywhere around the country. Even reporting of the Bay area incident was kept to a minimum, as to not unnecessarily scare people. The vast majority of passengers on the ship weren’t even aware exactly what had happened. And, those that were, were encouraged by the authorities not to say too much about it.
An investigation into the incident did take place and ‘Yellow Star Lines’ were banned from operating in US waters due to their failure to meet security expectations. There was never any definitive answer as to why Xi Chen had decided to join with Al-Qaeda. Despite investigations by the Chinese and US governments, and by the cruise company themselves, there was never any reason found for his decision. He had a background in the Chinese military but had never had any links in the past with any extremist organizations. There was also no evidence of him ever having anything to do with the Muslim religion. It was another one of the mysteries that would probably never be solved. The company soon went out of business, due to losing the lucrative US part of their operation. The ‘Pacific Dragon’ didn’t sail again after it arrived in San Francisco. All future cruises on it were cancelled, and for weeks it was subject to various investigations. The ship was eventually sold to another cruise line and renamed.
Later that year
It was late on December 23rd, Tiffany was asleep and Scott was lying behind her with his arm wrapped around her. He was awake and was thinking about how much he was enjoying being a father. She’d given birth the previous week and everything had gone smoothly. Their wedding had been perfect too, just after they returned from the cruise. It was a small private affair, which took place on the beach by her parents’ house. They hadn’t planned on inviting many people at all, mainly just family and some of her close friends. However, they ended up inviting Brandon and Shara too, plus a few other new friends from the cruise. In fact they’d met up with Brandon, Shara, and their daughter Alexandra quite a few times over the previous few months.
Since the wedding, everything had been very quiet and peaceful. It had taken a while for his arm to heal properly and he’d been left with another scar. Overall though, by Scott’s standards anyway, it had been a very uneventful time. Not that he was complaining. He and Tiffany were enjoying their new home and their life together. A quiet family life was all Scott had wanted for a while, and now it finally seemed like he’d got it. He was looking forward to Christmas. They had plenty of room in the new house so Tiffany’s family was coming to stay with them this year for the holidays. Jim and Linda were due to arrive the following morning while Katy and Josh were due to arrive later on Christmas Eve. Kyle was supposed to stop by the day after. He was still enjoying his training and being a part-owner of the gym. He’d also started to date Lauren too, who he’d met at the wedding. Scott wasn’t sure how serious it was, and was unsure if she’d be with him when he came to visit on Christmas Day.
Scott was tired but he was having trouble getting to sleep. He lifted his head up, to check the time. It was just after midnight, so it was officially Christmas Eve now. He snuggled back down under the covers and cuddled up to his wife. After a few minutes, he was just about to fall asleep, when he heard cries coming from across the hallway. They started off as small murmurs but gradually got louder, turning into full screams. Scott got out of bed and made his way across the landing. He was just wearing a pair of black boxer-briefs. He rubbed his eyes as he walked into the nursery and moved towards the cries. Scott reached into the crib and lifted up the small baby, holding the tiny infant to his chest. He gently bounced and rocked the baby for a few minutes, while rubbing his back and talking to him. Although the cries did subside a little, they did not stop. Scott figured the little guy was hungry. He was about to turn around and head out of the room when he heard more cries. This time, they were coming from the crib on the other side of the room.
“Och, I think yer brother’s hungry too,” Scott said softly as he walked across the room.
He picked up the other baby. Both little boys were wearing pale blue ‘onesies’, and were hungry. He had a baby in each arm, holding each of the twin boys against his chest, so their little faces peered over his shoulders.
“Let’s go and get yer some scran boys,” Scott said, as he walked out of the nursery.
Maybe, just maybe, he’d finally found his ‘happily ever after’.
KILTED DESIRE 3 - New Blood Page 18