The Devil's Waters

CHAPTER 51





LB started to answer, but Wally held up a hand.

“This is Captain Bloom. Yusuf Raage?”

“I am waiting for you on the bow.”

Wally sped his gait, carbine up and ready. LB followed close behind. On the port rail, Doc and Quincy would be sprinting forward right now.

“Captain.”

“Yes?”

“I have Iris Cherlina.”

Off the radio, Wally cursed. LB passed him in the narrow corridor to break into a run. They flew past the bodies of pirates. Nearing the end of the passageway, LB leaped across the corpse of the thin Somali he’d shot ten minutes ago up on the cargo deck. How did he get here?

Reaching the end of the companionway, LB and Wally pulled up. From behind cover, LB scanned the bow through the NVGs. Yusuf Raage stood in the open between two hawsers, at the point of the hull. In the milky light of the moon and the tall beacon on its mast, the Somali could not see the pair of infrared beams pinning him from Doc and Quincy standing to port, weapons trained, one to his cheek, the other on his chest. Both dots glowed dangerously close to Iris Cherlina’s head, framed inside Raage’s elbow, a knife at her throat.

LB raised his goggles and lowered his weapon. Wally did the same. Both walked into the open, closer. Doc and Quincy stayed back to keep the pirate covered.

LB spoke first. “Iris, this is Captain Bloom.”

Wally dipped his brow. “Ma’am.”

Yusuf Raage answered by tossing the walkie-talkie overboard. He yanked the back of Iris’s hair, stretching her white neck. He shaved the blade up her flesh. She breathed hard through her nose, blinking wildly.

LB held up a hand. “You don’t want to do that.”

Yusuf eased his head beside hers, as if to whisper in her ear. “Ah, Sergeant. You have no idea how badly I do.”

Wally asked, “What do you want?”

Off to starboard, the warship Nicholas approached with the great mumble of her engines. Yusuf tucked the knife tighter under Iris’s chin. She stood stiffly, quiet.

“Have your men lower their rifles. If they raise them again, I will kill her. You may do as you like after that.”

With a wave of Wally’s hand, Quincy and Doc lowered their M4s.

Yusuf shifted his dark eyes to LB. “Did you kill my cousin?” Wally gestured for LB to give no answer. LB ignored him.

“Yeah.”

The Somali nodded before returning his attention to Wally. “I will make a trade.”

“No.”

Yusuf Raage slid the blade sideways under Iris’s chin. She jerked at the sting. A dribble of her blood soaked into his sleeve.

“You will throw your weapons overboard. Then you and your men will get off this ship. He will stay behind. When I am satisfied, I will release the woman.”

Wally said again, flatly, “No.”

The Somali wagged his great head. “Captain. This woman has offended me in enough ways. I will slit her throat and take a bullet for it. So be it. She will die at my hand. Or he will. Either way, I am a dead man, I know that. The question is, who joins me?”

Wally did not hesitate. He raised his M4, looking keen to put a round between Yusuf’s eyes.

“Quincy, Doc. Dismissed.”

On the port side of the bow, both PJs held their ground.

The pirate did not duck Wally’s raised muzzle. He dug the edge of his blade deeper into Iris’s flesh. He showed his teeth when he said, “Captain, I’ve warned you.”

Wally yelled at Doc and Quincy. “Dismissed!”

The two PJs wavered, unsure. Wally did not shout when he said to LB, “You, too.”

The Somali waited. Another red drip pulsed down Iris Cherlina’s throat.

LB lifted the Zastava’s strap off his shoulder. With a spinning heave, he tossed it over the gunnel into the night.

Wally did not shift his stance.

“Doc, Quincy. Escort LB off the bow. Now.” Wally lowered his voice. “I’ll put you in the brig later.”

LB called across the bow to the two PJs. “Hold.”

Doc and Quincy steadied, both fixed on Yusuf Raage.

“Wally, he’ll kill her.”

“And I’ll kill him. Now leave the bow.”

“You got to be kidding.”

Swiftly, Wally lowered his M4 from Yusuf Raage. In the same motion, he drew his Beretta sidearm to point it at LB’s chest.

“Back off. That’s an order.”

“Or you’ll shoot me?”

“Yes. Then I’ll shoot him.”

LB drew himself to his full height, still a head shorter than Wally.

Wally spoke down the short barrel of the pistol. “I’m going to count…”

“What are you, my f*cking mom?”

LB stepped closer to Wally. The pistol’s muzzle lifted to his eyes.

“That others may live, Wally. Others. Any order you get or give that contravenes that is not worth following. So go ahead and count. I’ll get you started. One.”

The Somali’s gravelly voice interrupted. “Captain.”

Wally did not turn to the pirate; the Beretta stayed on LB.

“What?”

“This sergeant you point your gun at. You wear the same uniform. You are clan.”

“I suppose.”

“The men you killed on this ship, they were my clan. Two were my family. Aim your gun only at me.”

Wally glanced for a moment at the pirate. When he returned his focus to his pistol hand, LB had sidestepped away from the barrel.

Wally holstered the pistol.

He said to Yusuf, “Let her go. We’ll all walk out of here alive, all right? You’ve got my guarantee.”

Yusuf did not release his headlock on Iris. “Thank you for that gesture, Captain.”

“Then let’s go.”

“But you know it’s a lie. I will die here or in some African jail. My life is worth nothing in your hands, just as yours would be worthless in mine. At this moment, I prefer vengeance to keeping my life. I’m sure you think that barbaric. It may be. Now throw your weapons overboard. Leave the bow, then leave the ship. The sergeant stays behind.”

Wally lowered his head and sucked his teeth. He hardened his stance, spreading his boots on the deck. Before he could bring the M4 up again, LB stepped close to stop him.

“Listen, listen to me.” LB pushed the carbine down. He urged, just above a whisper. “You lift that rifle again, he’s gonna kill her. You know he is, right in front of us. Let me stay.”

“No.”

Before LB could say more, Wally grabbed his tunic to drag him strides away. He dropped his voice to a hiss.

“It’s your turn to listen. I have orders, direct orders, to eliminate this pirate. This specific pirate.”

“Give me that order. I can do it.”

Wally loosed a long sigh. “I can’t say yes.”

“You can. Just send me in. You’ve done it a hundred times before. It’s a rescue. I’ll do what I have to do, then I’ll come back. I always do.”

The pirate spoke. “Captain. Your answer?”

LB leaned his face beneath Wally’s, looking up. “You know that little talk you wanted to have? About what I did in those jungles while you were pissing your pants waiting for me to come back? Let’s have it now.”

“Now’s not the time.”

“I think it is. They weren’t just recon missions. They were black ops. There were targets. I killed people in those jungles. Drug lords, commies, revolutionaries, kidnappers, all on orders. All to prop up some local tyrant, or some political bullshit like this ship. After a while I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t blink without seeing a face. So I stopped, Wally. I put it down and I became a PJ. I saved myself. The only way I can sleep at night is knowing I save people.”

LB spun to Yusuf Raage. “You’ll let her go, right?”

“My word.”

“Wally, she doesn’t deserve to die like this. She didn’t sign up for it. We did.”

Wally pursed his lips. “Shit.”

LB said again, “I can do this.”

Wally turned away, to the forward rail. He lifted his M4 off his shoulders to drop it into the black gulf. He gestured for Doc and Quincy to toss theirs. Both PJs looked to LB before following the order. He nodded, and they splashed their rifles.

Wally had not yet tossed away the Beretta. “It’ll take us a while to get off the ship.”

Yusuf Raage laughed. This struck LB as a deranged thing to do.

“I think not.”

“Why?”

As if in answer to Wally’s question, an explosion rumbled out of the freighter’s stern, the detonation felt in the deck as much as heard. Doc and Quincy swung around, empty-handed, trying to find the source of the blast, looking to the sky. The freighter rolled to port.

What had just happened—had the Predator struck anyway? They’d called the drone off; they’d beat the deadline! LB shouted at Yusuf Raage, “What the hell was that?”

The pirate kept his grip on Iris but eased the knife from her throat.

“This ship is going to sink.”