by Toby Tate
Phillips pushed open the door to the flight deck and broke into a trot around the back of the ship’s island and between two C-2 Greyhounds, their wingtips folded up as if standing at parade rest. All seven people followed behind Phillips as they crossed the flight deck out under the sky’s deepening twilight and ran aft toward the port side. When they reached the edge, the mobile crash crane had already been moved into place and several deck hands stood awaiting orders—not from the captain, but from Lilith. When Phillips arrived, the crewmen didn’t even glance at him.
Lilith and the CHENG stood watching as the group assembled in front of them. Lilith had the nine-millimeter pointed at the CHENG’s head while the officer stared straight ahead impassively, like he was ready to give his life for the cause—whatever that was.
The first thing Hunter noticed was Lilith’s eyes, glistening silver like two pools of mercury, a sharp contrast to her platinum blonde hair. He figured Phillips probably didn’t even notice—he was too pissed off to do anything besides get her into custody, or die trying.
“Put the gun down, Ms. MacIntyre. There’s no way you can get away with this, nowhere you can run.”
Lilith smiled. “Ah, so my dear brother has finally told you about me. I’m so glad. He always was such a good boy, playing by the rules, staying out of trouble.”
“Lilith, this is crazy,” Mac said. “Why are you doing this? Don’t you know they’ll kill you?”
“Let them try, big brother, let them try. But first, let’s see exactly what one of these magnificent machines can do. Let’s have a little demonstration. What do you say, captain?” Lilith had her eyes trained on Phillips like she was waiting for some kind of reaction. The CO stood his ground.
With her free hand, Lilith opened up her cell phone and hit autodial. While she did that, a dozen members of the ship’s self-defense force, led by Captain Geralds and Lieutenant Commander Johnson, arrived wearing camouflage uniforms and carrying M16 assault rifles. Lilith didn’t flinch, but only waited.
At first, nothing happened. Suddenly there was a rumbling sound that came from beneath the flight deck. Hunter knew exactly what that sound meant and his heart lurched into his throat.
Everyone turned toward the starboard side of the ship in time to see a huge, billowing cloud of smoke fill the air, followed by the white-hot exhaust flames and deafening roar of a launching Sea Sparrow missile.
CHAPTER 49
Terrell Jackson loved to shoot hoops. In fact, he was so good he had won a scholarship to play for the University of Georgia Bulldogs after a scout from the school had seen him and his team play against a Georgia high school—Terrell had racked up some forty points in that game. Not bad for a kid from the Bronx, he thought as he laid another one up, his seven-foot frame doing “hang time” in mid-air for what seemed like eternity as the ball made a shoop sound on its way through the net.
Terrell had just finished a game with some friends from school at playground 174 in the West Farms neighborhood. The court had been built in the early 1950s, but still held up pretty well after the hurricane. He had managed to clear enough leaves and trash off the court to make a space to play in. It was close to his house and he would stop by the Audry Mini Market and grab a sandwich on the way home—if it was open. For some reason, he had always loved their sandwiches. Maybe check out a few of the Latino girls. He liked them, too. Terrell smiled at himself as he laid up another shot from twenty feet away, his size twelve Reeboks squealing on the blacktop. If he had been playing an actual game, he would have scored about thirty points by now, he thought.
Terrell had spent the weekend helping with the Bronx River Project, a massive cleanup effort that had pulled tons of garbage and old tires from the water in an effort to make the dirty waterway what it once was—a beautiful river. The hurricane had managed to dump even more garbage and debris in there and along the streets where he lived. But he loved his city, in spite of its flaws, and he would miss it when he was in Georgia.
Terrell hoped that his little brother would eventually follow in his footsteps. That boy loved his video games, though, Terrell thought. His mother and father, still together after nearly twenty years, were supportive of Terrell’s dream to play college ball and hopefully professional ball. He was thankful for that. He had many friends with dysfunctional families and knew that it caused some major heartache for them. He just hoped he could make the grades in school that he needed to stay on the team. So far, though, his grades had been steady As and Bs, so he didn’t think there would be much problem there. Still, it would be a challenge. He hadn’t even thought about a major yet.
Terrell’s mind was distracted when he began to hear what he first thought was a jet plane. He noticed a few people across the street looking up in the sky behind him and he turned to see what they were staring at.
It looked like an airplane with a trail behind it, but it was too skinny for a jet. It was some kind of rocket…or missile. The scary thing was that it seemed to be getting closer and it was headed in a downward direction.
Terrell held the basketball against his hip with one hand and stood mesmerized by the sight. Flames were shooting out the back—he could just make them out in the early-evening sky—followed by a trail of white smoke. The longer he stood there, the more he realized the missile was indeed headed straight for them, and there was no chance of hiding from it. He couldn’t imagine why on earth this might be happening, unless it was a terrorist attack.
Terrell’s stomach tied itself in knots as the missile nosed its way toward the ground. He had faced gangbangers and hoods with guns, but never anything like this. His senses were heightened from the rush of adrenaline that shot through his body and his first instinct was to run, but he had never been afraid of anything in his life. He wasn’t going to start being afraid now—not even of death. He could hear the voices of the people that were left in the neighborhood scream out in fear and astonishment. Terrell hoped it would be quick—he said a silent prayer for himself, for his neighbors and a silent goodbye to his family and to his dreams. He prayed that his parents would either be unharmed…or die quickly.
As it closed to within a few hundred yards of where he was standing, the missile was louder than anything Terrell had ever heard in his life. He let the basketball fall to the ground as he covered both ears and shut his eyes tight. When it hit, blistering heat and searing pain struck him like a burning tidal wave, but only for a fraction of a second.
Then…oblivion.
CHAPTER 50
A collective gasp went up from the onlookers that stood on the aft deck of the Gerald R. Ford, watching in helpless terror until the missile was finally lost from sight over Manhattan Island. Hunter felt a mix of horror and awe as the smoke trail lingered like a long, white finger of death until that, too, began to fade.
The sky over the Bronx glowed bright white for a split second, followed by a thunderclap. Soon black smoke began rising into the sky like a cloud of locusts.
Phillips turned to his XO and whispered, “Get down to CIC and find out who the hell just launched that missile. Use force if you have to, but make sure they don’t fire another one.”
Lilith slowly shook her head at the XO, Captain Geralds. “I wouldn’t, captain, or your chief engineer could get splattered all over the flight deck.”
Hunter knew that Phillips had probably never wanted to kill someone as much as he did at that moment. He watched as the CO glared at Lilith, who still had the M9 pointed at the CHENG’s head. She smiled playfully, as if the whole thing was nothing more than a game.
But Hunter knew Phillips couldn’t afford to anger the woman, so he had to keep his own emotions in check. Hunter was having a hard time doing that, himself.
Through clenched teeth, Phillips said, “Tell us what it is you want.”
“That was only a foretaste, Captain. If my demands are not met, and I fail to dial a certain number on my cell phone, there will be another missile, this one aimed directly at City Hall on Manhatta
n Island. Now, you wouldn’t want to see the mayor and his staff incinerated would you?”
Phillips shook his head, saying nothing.
“Good. Now, I want the admiral’s barge lowered into the water with myself and one other person on board,” she said.
Phillips look puzzled. “One other person?”
Lilith looked directly at Hunter and smiled. “I would like Mr. Singleton to accompany me on my journey.”
Hunter felt as if the breath had just been sucked out of his body. “Me? Why me?”
“I think you would make an excellent father for our children, and in time, you’ll learn to love me and forget about…her.”
Hunter glanced at his wife and saw rage creep over Lisa’s face like a dark storm cloud ready to cut loose with unbridled fury. She took a step toward Lilith, but Hunter moved into her path.
“Lisa, no!” He grabbed her shoulders in both hands. “Don’t. She’ll kill you—and the baby. Don’t worry about it. It’s going to be alright—I’m going to be alright. It may not seem like it now, but it will be, I promise.”
Hunter had never felt so utterly helpless, like a cornered rabbit with nowhere to run. But he had to be positive for Lisa’s sake.
“She’s too strong for us to fight now, but when the time and place are right, we’ll know it,” he said. “She has to have a weakness, we just need to find it. And we will.”
Lilith laughed. “Yes, Lisa, there has to be a weakness, and your weakness is my survival—mine and my child’s. I guess that makes me the same as you. The only difference is, my child will live and yours will die.”
“Where do you plan to go? No one is going to harbor a fugitive with a hostage,” Sammy said. “Are there more of you out there that we don’t know about?”
“Commander Crane, you surprise me. I thought you knew everything about us. You’ve already killed one of us, you and your CIA friends. Is that where you got the blood to test for your serum? Well, there won’t be enough serum in the world to stop me once I get into New York City. And my friend here is going to help me make more babies, aren’t you sweetie?”
“I thought you didn’t need men for that anymore,” Hunter said.
“True, but that would take the fun out of it, now wouldn’t it?”
Lilith winked at Hunter with these last words and Hunter had to work to restrain Lisa from charging the woman and tearing her head off.
The crane motor started up and made everyone on deck jump as deck hands under Lilith’s control hopped down to the boat davit and the steel cable and its hook began to pay out.
“Now, if you’ll send Mr. Singleton over my way, I’ll send the chief engineer yours,” Lilith said.
Hunter stared hard into Lisa’s eyes. “Honey, it’s going to work out, I promise,” he whispered. “There’s nothing she could do to make me stop loving you. I’ll figure out a way to escape and I’ll come back to you. Just don’t give up hope.”
Tears streamed down Lisa’s face as Hunter spoke, and he knew that frustration was gnawing away at her insides like a hungry parasite. Hunter reached down and grabbed her hand, then gently placed it on her belly.
“You’ve got to stay here and take care of junior while I’m gone,” he said. “Tell him his daddy is out saving the universe.”
Lisa couldn’t help but crack a smile. “Junior? How do you know it’s a boy?”
“I just have a feeling, that’s all.” Then he leaned down and kissed her tenderly, holding her in his arms as if he would never let go.
“Come on, lover boy, it’s time to start a brave, new world,” Lilith said.
Hunter reluctantly let Lisa slide from his arms as he slowly backed away to the side of the deck, then turned and jumped down to the boat davit and climbed the ladder up the side of the boat. Lilith switched her aim from the CHENG to Hunter and followed Hunter up the ladder and into the barge as Phillips and the others on deck watched helplessly.
Hunter saw Jessica Blount walked over to where Lisa stood and put an arm around her shoulder. Lisa crossed her arms, hugging herself tightly.
The crane roared to life and began taking up slack, lifting the barge by its steel eyebolt out of its perch and then over the water. Hunter stood looking over the rail of the twenty-foot green and black barge, determined to watch his wife, taking in every last detail, until he could see her no more. The boat slowly began descending into the harbor and Hunter thought of the mythical boat on the river Styx that carried its passengers to the gates of Hell. He prayed that he wasn’t headed somewhere worse.
As soon as the boat hit the water, Hunter fired up the diesel engine and black smoke poured out of the exhaust port. Lilith walked over to the eyebolt, disconnected the big hook, and swung it away from the boat.
Hunter glanced up at Lisa one last time and mouthed the words, “I love you,” and she did the same. He turned and hit the boat’s throttle, kicking up a rooster tail of water and praying that Lilith would fall overboard as they plowed their way farther into the darkness of the harbor and towards Manhattan.
CHAPTER 51
Before the barge was even out of sight, Phillips motioned Sammy over.
“How much of that serum do you have? Enough for the entire crew?”
“Yeah, more than enough,” Crane said. “I made sure of that before I brought it on board.”
Phillips was hesitant to use it, but he could see no other way. “Alright, go down to your stateroom and grab a couple of syringes full of that stuff and meet me at CIC. And make it fast.”
Sammy answered “Aye captain,” as he jogged off toward the ship’s island.
Phillips glanced at Lisa and felt a twinge of guilt for her situation. Because of his inaction and disbelief, her husband was now at the mercy of a psychotic killer. But he couldn’t afford to take the time to berate himself or more people were likely to die.
“Ms. Singleton, we’re going to do everything we can to get your husband back, I promise you that.” he said.
Lisa nodded and smiled weakly.
“Seaman Blount, take Ms. Singleton to her quarters and stay with her, alright?”
Jessica put an arm around Lisa and gently led her off toward the ship’s island.
“Captain, I don’t believe Lilith took her laptop with her,” Blakely said. “If I can get into her hard drive, I may be able to find something we can use.”
Phillips nodded slowly, wondering how much more the CIA operative knew that he wasn’t telling.
“Alright, Blakely, go for it. But keep me updated.”
The captain turned to his XO, Johnson and his security detail.
“Commander Johnson, take the chief engineer down to the brig and lock him up, then meet us at CIC. I want the rest of you to remember that whoever has taken over CIC is a fellow crewmember. There are probably one or more of them guarding the door and they may even have the room booby trapped, so don’t open the door until I give the command. When it’s open, I’m going to have Sammy jab the first person he comes to with that hypo. Once we do that, I want one of you to get inside the room and disarm whoever else is in there, understood? I don’t want any shooting. The first person to shoot for any reason other than self-defense will be seeing me at captain’s mast, is that understood?”
The group said “aye, sir” in unison—except for MacIntyre, who seemed to be lost in his own world. Phillips knew he was probably hurting.
“Mac, I know what you’re thinking,” Phillips said, “but you can’t blame yourself. There’s no way any of this could have been predicted. In fact, you tried to warn me and I didn’t listen, so if anyone is to blame, it’s me.”
“No captain, if anyone is to blame, it’s Lilith.”
Phillips couldn’t argue with Mac’s logic. He was right—Lilith had come unhinged and was determined to right whatever perceived wrong was done against her at the expense of the people of the USS Ford, Manhattan Island and maybe even all of humanity.
“Well, the first thing we have to do is get our ship back,
” Phillips said. “Let’s start with CIC.”
With one last glance toward the harbor and the admiral’s barge that was now long gone, Phillips took off in a trot toward CIC, waving a hand over his shoulder for the others to follow.
CHAPTER 52
Seawater sprayed over the side of the small boat and Hunter could feel the salt pummel his skin like it was being sandblasted. He shouted over the roar of the diesel as Lilith stared from beside him into the darkness of the harbor ahead.
“So tell me, your bitchiness, what do you hope to accomplish by taking me hostage?”
She turned her silver eyes on him. In the dark, Hunter thought they looked liked empty sockets and he cringed.
“You are an impetuous man, aren’t you Hunter? Defying the odds to the last.”
“I don’t care how powerful you are—you can’t force someone to love you. It doesn’t work that way.”
Lilith moved closer to Hunter, until she was only inches away. He could feel her warm, wet breath in his ear and it sent a shiver up his spine.
“Who said anything about force? Once you’ve tasted the sweet nectar of the Lilitu, nothing else matters. You should know that.”
Hunter shifted his head slightly to the left, away from Lilith’s breathy whispers.
“Where are we going, anyway?” he asked.
“To the 79th Street Boat Basin on the Hudson. There will be someone there waiting for us.”
Hunter raised a brow. “Someone? You mean more of you?”
“Not exactly like me, just followers. They have witnessed my powers and have devoted themselves to serving me.”
“I get it. Kind of like the Manson Family, right?”
Lilith shook her head. “That’s what I like about you, Hunter, always laughing in the face of danger.”
“Aren’t you supposed to send a signal to your…minion…on the ship to stop that missile launch? Or were you just bluffing?”