The attacking boat was not ready for such a massive barrage of firepower. The rounds were being poured out at well over two hundred and fifty per minute, and Irving knew the machine gun could fire at a faster pace, but he guessed they didn’t have a lot of ammunition. Irving, Frank now beside him, saw the rounds hitting almost dead center of the attackers, each round heard and seen ricocheting off the metal tower and the hull of the now slowed attacker. The other pirates turned to escape the area, but, unfortunately for them, their decision was not a good one. As soon as they did, Hector powdered the side of their boat, and it soon became silent other than the idling of its motors. The boss reduced his speed to almost still, brought his boat close to the silent running vessel, and Hector once more blew out another burst, strafing the boat back and forth. Then the boss slowly moved to the other side and repeated the strafing. There was no response after that.
Frank looked at Irving as he just shook his head in amazement. The passengers were stooping down tightly in the stairwell. Soo Mi, Yuto, and Helen were unaware of what happened. They never had time to get to the cabin.
“Now’s the time for us to get rid of this bastard,” said Irving.
Knowing Hector was probably too busy wrapping up things with the Browning, he aimed the group toward the bridge to take on the boss. They all hunkered down and moved silently.
“Carlos, Felipe.Ven aquí ahora. ¿Dónde estás?” screamed Hector.
Irving looked at Frank. “What?”
“He’s looking for the other two.”
Hector’s quick footsteps pounded, him coming back while he ran from the bow on the right side of the console area. The passengers were on the left. They remained still and crouched as Hector rushed to the flight of steps to their cabin.
Irving turned to Yuto and Frank. “I’m after him. When you hear gunfire, take the boss and shoot him until he no longer moves, hear?”
~~ ~~ ~~
They nodded as Irving disappeared into the darkness back to the cabin. A moment later, gunshots, and they turned to go toward the bridge but were stunned by the presence of the boss standing just ten feet in front of them.
“Estás muerto, sabes (You’re dead, you know). You now muerto, mi amigos!”
He raised his AK and leveled it out as a grin revealed his brown, tobacco-stained teeth. The passengers froze knowing their fate. Then, two shots rang out. The boss just stood there, but no bullets or sounds came from his barrel. His knees buckled, his eyes bulged, and blood spurted from his right ear. The AK fell to the floor followed by the boss flat on his face. Behind him stood Helen with a pistol in her hand. Yuto instinctively reached behind himself to check for his gun he had put inside his belt and found it gone.
“You guys okay? I didn’t hit any of you, did I?” Helen asked in a quivering voice.
Frank raced over to her, followed by the others. He took the gun from her still-shaking hand and put his arm around her as she slowly folded like a rag to the deck, sobbing. He held her there for a minute or so, then stood.
“Stay with her, Soo Mi,” he said.
From there, Frank met Irving as he came back from dealing with Hector, and they proceeded to the bridge for anything that would help them. Frank found some maps seeming to be of the area they were in. Irving checked the fuel gauge and found it at a little less than a quarter of a tank.
He called for Yuto to come over. “You know what a siphon is?”
“No, what?”
“We need to get the fuel from the other boat into our boat. A tube that we can transfer the fuel from that boat to here,” he said, pointing at the other boat.
“Oh, you want gas from bad boat?” Yuto asked. “Yes, I know now. Not know word, si…”
“Siphon?” Irving interrupted.
“Yes, I go look,” Yuto replied and started back to the stern.
“You may have to look on the other boat. If you do, Irving or I need to go with you,” Frank yelled as Yuto disappeared.
“We’re drifting right now,” Irving said. “Let’s tie the other boat up in case we need their fuel, but only then. No telling if there are any people left over there. Here’s west,” Irving said, pointing out the compass on the dashboard. “That would be where Brazil will be. We need to get to a well-lit city or big town and get to the police as soon as possible.”
“Right,” Frank agreed.
Yuto appeared a little later with not only a siphon tube but a sucking mechanism as well as a pump to facilitate the transfer. He also brought a long grappling hook if they needed to get to the other boat.
“I’d say you really do understand English a lot more than you put on,” said Frank.
“Yes, understand better than talk,” Yuto replied with a sheepish smile.
Irving picked up a flashlight and, with Frank and Yuto, went to the engines to find how to fill the tanks. Frank leaned over the side and extended the grappling pole, hooked it on to the bullet-ridden boat, and tied it off. He grabbed another area of the boat and pulled it alongside and tied it off as well.
Yuto hopped over the side and onto the crippled craft.
“Be careful. Wait for us,” Irving shouted.
Once Irving was satisfied of the locations for fueling, he and Frank climbed over onto the boat where Yuto had remained. Frank had an AK, and the others had pistols. From there, Irving led them on a systematic search of the boat for anyone left alive, peering into nooks and crannies as well as cabins, radio rooms, and engine rooms. They found no one alive. Altogether, there were five dead bodies on deck. Yuto gathered up their armaments and magazines for safe keeping, saying he intended on taking them back to their vessel.
Irving searched the boat for its engines and the fueling locations, found them, and then instructed Yuto to go back and get the siphoning tube and accessories. Yuto dutifully picked up all the rifles, pistols, and magazines he could carry, climbed back over onto the boss’ boat, and was gone.
“Jesus, that Browning machine gun was awesome. Wiped these poor bastards out clean and quick,” Frank said, glancing at all the telltale bullet indentations on the boat and the multiple bloodied bodies.
“Yeah, these guys didn’t have a chance. They had no idea what the boss had on his boat.”
“Neither did we,” Frank said.
~~ ~~ ~~
Yuto appeared with the siphon and had already placed his side of the tubing into one of the fuel pipes that Irving had left open. “Okay here. Sy...phone in here.”
“Good job,” Irving said, grabbing the other end and walking it back to the other engines. He set it up for the transfer. “First, I’ll check and see how much they have.” He disappeared to the bridge area. When he returned, he informed everyone, “They have more than we did, but it’s not much more. Half a tank ain’t bad, though. Of course, we don’t know where we’re going right now.”
They finished up the transfer of fuel and took every bit of food and water left on board. Irving made one more pass around the boat, searching for anything that would benefit them, then climbed over the side back to their boat, untied the pirate boat, and let it drift away.
Once everyone was on board, they all went over to Helen, now sitting up but still comforted by Soo Mi.
“Quite a shooting exhibition, Helen. You saved us,” Frank said and, turning to the others, he whispered, “Let’s let her rest in the boss’ cabin for now. I think we need to wait until dawn to get our bearings. No telling where we are in relationship to a big city. I know Rio is on the southern part of Brazil, but I think we are way up north if I can read this map right. We might not have enough gas to get to Rio.”
“Let me see the map?” Irving asked, sliding it over to a larger flat surface. “This mark is probably where the transfer was to happen. It looks like we were quite far out northeast of there when I first saw the lights. I’m guessing we need to go south, if not southwest, but let’s wait until morning.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Frank gestured with his thumb up. “We need a lookout while
the rest of us sleep?”
“Not a bad idea. I’ll take the first shift for an hour,” Irving said while taking his watch off of the boss’ right wrist. “I can now tell the exact time.” Irving smiled and then sat in the captain’s chair. “Get some sleep, folks.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
For once the passengers were able to sleep without fear or loss of hope. Frank woke with a feeling of energy he hadn’t had in a long time. Each one had taken some time to stay as a lookout, and now it was about eight in the morning and everyone was milling around, especially Helen who said she was famished. She found the galley, cereal, coffee, juice, and some kind of meat that really didn’t taste that bad. As to what animal it had belonged to, she had no idea.
She’d made the coffee and set out plates and eating utensils for everyone, and as they entered the eating area, she actually greeted them with a smile as if nothing ever happened the night before. Frank wondered a bit about that, but food and drink were the most important things on his mind today.
“Irving, do you know where we are?” Frank asked.
“Yeah, I was right. North of where we want to go. I think Natal is just south of here. It’s a big city. That will be our destination. I’m running the boat that way, I hope. The fuel gauge is now pretty good. We left the other boat with nothing to spare.”
No one answered, all clearly being at ease with Irving’s plans. They had an enormous amount of confidence that Irving would bring them to safety because they certainly had no experience to do it themselves, that was for sure. After breakfast, Soo Mi and Helen cleaned up their plates and then, as if on cue, they started cleaning up the entire mess hall and kitchen area. Frank had to laugh to himself because he knew Kate would have been doing the same thing.
Cleaning up the boat of some evil rotten pirates who would have killed us as soon as look at us? Yep, that’s Kate, all right!
Later, each of the passengers came up on deck and stared at the horizon, searching for land or anything that would lead to the end of their ordeal. The ocean was calm, the sun shone brightly, and a small breeze was comforting. Irving was at the helm again, always studying the map on the console in front of him. It seemed as if he would never just sit back and relax, even now. He seemed to always be looking for something or improving on it. His ashen face was obviously a result of years of worry and deception, all the while attempting to appear at ease and calm.
Soo Mi and Yuto hung out together, sitting on the bow enjoying their respite and the warm sunshineon their faces. Frank arranged the rifles and the ammunition and took inventory of it all as Helen stayed away from the guns. She had never fired a gun or really ever held one that she could remember, so she’d said, until the night before. She’d also said that somehow, she hadn’t come to terms with the murder of another human being, but she knew it was necessary for her life as well as the others, and she was at peace with that. However, in her mind, she felt there was no reason for her to relive the shooting of the boss by being close to the firearms at Frank’s feet. She c
alled out that she wanted to go over to Frank but she just couldn’t do it.
Frank eased over to the hastily covered Browning on the bow. He was curious to see what kind of machine could have done all that damage on the pirates’ boat. He loosened the tarp and let it drop to the base of the mount. He touched the barrel at its end and softly slid his hand down to the breech handle, pulled back a bit on the breech bolt, and part of a shell was visible.
Jesus, still loaded.
He eased the bolt back and then detached the belt of shells from it. He returned to the bolt handle, yanked back sharply, and ejected the shell. The noise of this large piece of ammunition hitting the deck jarred everyone’s daydreaming. Once they saw the shell rolling on the deck harmlessly, they resumed what they were doing. Yuto left Soo Mi alone to examine the Browning.
“I never seen this in my life. It no shoot?” he asked.
“No more bullets. It’s okay,” Frank replied.
This destructive, massive piece of military hardware was so impressive, Yuto could barely stop touching it. He rubbed it and inspected every part as if he wanted to know everything about it. He then stood back and gazed in wonderment. “Most kill gun I know in my life,” he finally said.
“Yeah, pretty impressive, I’d say, too,” Frank said.
Irving then shouted, “There’s another boat coming our way. Load that Browning again.”
Frank hustled to reverse the unloading process as fast as he could. He fumbled with a couple of the shells on the deck trying to load the breech. He wasn’t sure how to load it but figured it was the right way to get a shell in the chamber and then add the belt of shells second. Once he was ready, he swung the barrel to the west where there was a tiny dot of a boat speeding toward them.
“Everyone get a gun. This may be ugly,” Irving yelled.
Frank sought desperately for the safety on the Browning since he was not familiar with it. He didn’t even know if it had one. He figured that Hector had left it quickly, so he probably never put the safety on when he ran back to find the other goons. Frank finally found something he thought was the safety, but it was in the correct position for firing. He was ready but he was scared.
The boat coming from the west was joined by another. There was no question that one of them was going to go to the right of their boat and the other would go left. Frank became very nervous. He would be vulnerable no matter which way he fired. As the boats sped toward them and became larger and larger, it was apparent they were heavily outfitted police or military boats manned by many armed soldiers. Frank again rendered the Browning useless, threw the cover over it, and tied its rope around the base.
“Everyone! Unarm your weapons quickly. Put them all here on the bow. I’m stopping the boat. Line up on this side and put your hands up and behind your heads when they get near. Don’t make any stupid moves to do anything from now on. It’s going to be all right, but they don’t know us from an enemy,” Irving said loudly.
The military boats were much larger than their craft, and they almost engulfed it. The boats were maneuvered up against them, and soldiers jumped off and onto the deck where they quickly made the passengers kneel. The officers in charge then came on board.
“¿Quién eres tú (Who are you)?”
Frank took over the conversation and spoke fluent Spanish to the soldiers. He explained their plight from the beginning and even showed his wrinkled boarding pass to the officers, identifying him and the others as passengers from the ill-fated Air USA Fight 2222. One officer returned to his boat and radioed his information to shore, told the same story Frank had told him, and a response was heard, but Frank couldn’t hear it well.
“You are an American?” one officer asked.
“Yes,” Frank said.
“Your story checks out. We all thought everyone perished in the accident. You know that was fifty-two days ago?”
“Damn, lost count.”
“Lucky, eh?” asked the officer.
“Yeah, really lucky, I guess. Wouldn’t want to be that lucky again,” Frank joked.
Chapter Thirty-Six
The passengers were now safely aboard the military ships. They were told they were headed to Natal, a large city on the east coast of Brazil, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte. There, they were to be debriefed, their stories told, questions asked, and finally given good food and lodging. They would be flown to Rio de Janeiro and then home. All of this was being paid for by Air USA. Of course, there would be a large contingent of people awaiting them, including their families, friends, and the media. They would be billed as heroes and survivors. Their individual stories would be all over the news, books published, and probably some film company would produce a movie of their adventures.
Each one was overcome with emotion upon hearing they had come to the end of their horrid experience. Once they were by themselves, they reviewed each miserable day they had had over and over: the death of Maxine, Otto’s
heart attack, the ravaging death of Homer, the sharks, the flying fish that gave them life on the high seas, the murderous pirates who unmercifully killed Kimberly, the second bunch of thugs attacking them, and finally safety. They wanted to be sure that the story each would tell would be the same as the other’s.
Frank desperately wanted to call Kate, but the people in charge told him they had contacted her through Air USA and let her know he was okay and gave her the information of his arrival home. They had relayed the fact that she was okay as well and would be waiting for him at the airport when he arrived.
They had all thought, without a shadow of a doubt, their fate was eventual death. None of them thought they would be in the arms of their loved ones or their families and friends ever again. They just couldn’t wait to get on that plane to Rio and then home. It was such a warm and exhilarating feeling to know they would never have to go through this hellacious trauma again. Each of them cuddled up into a bed with clean sheets and soft pillows as they quickly fell asleep on terra firma.
~~ ~~ ~~
The next morning, they all received wakeup calls. Breakfast was served as room service with pancakes, eggs, papayas, coffee, yogurt, and pao frances, a small loaf of bread. An hour later, they were informed they would be leaving soon for the airport where the airlines had paid for them to shop for clothes and buy luggage for their trips home. Helen was especially excited about the luggage since her old raggedy suitcase was falling apart. And for all of them to be putting on new attire was going to feel so good after wearing the same clothes drenched with saltwater for fifty-two days.
They all convened in the lobby. There were cameramen, newsmen, and women everywhere asking questions in broken English and not really giving them time to answer. Yuto and Soo Mi appeared especially embarrassed to be so obviously inept in speaking English well, so Frank and Helen both simultaneously helped shield them from the media. Irving was his usual calm, demure self now. He gave curt, quick answers to questions but ignored many of them. They couldn’t wait for the black SUVs to show up and whisk them away to the airport to go to Rio where they could shop. The flight to Rio was short and comfortable.
The Mystery of Flight 2222 Page 15