Paulo looked into Nick’s eyes and saw his death. “I knew I should never have taken this fucking job. There are three women on board in the two cabins next to Carone’s master suite at the end of the passageway. He has two Cartel hitmen as bodyguards. They’re probably in the suite with him by now. The rest of us were ordered to repel boarders.”
“Are the women part of the operation or entertainment?”
“Crew and entertainment.”
“I like you, Paulo. If you’ve told me the truth we’ll put you into the hands of a guy from the CIA. For now, I’ll give you something for your pain.” Nick retrieved a syringe from his bag and injected Paulo with it. In less than ten seconds, Riggs was dead.
“Ah… Dead Boy,” Clint said. “You killed him.”
“Sorry, Clint… was he a friend of yours?”
“We thought you were going to give him over to Denny,” Lucas said.
Nick met his old friend’s gaze with a grim set to his features. “No prisoners, Lucas. I don’t care what Denny and Paul want. Anyone we leave alive at our back will be a danger later, especially Carone. I’ll tell you what, if the women stay in their cabin until Kabong and I put on our black masks, I’ll blindfold them for Denny. If they see our faces, they get an eternity shot. Can we get Lynn landed for the interrogation?”
“We’re on with you now, Muerto,” Lynn remarked. “Let me know when you get Carone secured and I’ll be right down.”
“Thanks, Lynn.”
“Do you have any ideas on the lower compartments,” John asked Nick.
“If it’s like Paulo said we’ll stick to our original plan and let Tonto sniff the people out. I’m thinking the grenade trick would be a good one for Carone’s cabin. If it doesn’t work, we can throw in a live one.”
“I swear you have me on my last nerve with the damn grenades!”
“Calm down, Lucas,” Nick urged. “You have to admit the unloaded grenade trick works pretty well.”
Lucas shrugged reluctantly. “It’s worth a shot.”
Nick didn’t wait. Taking his MP5 from Harding, he slipped down into the interior corridor running from one end of the ship to the other. Ready to take weapon’s fire, Nick hugged the bulkhead until he was sure the corridor was empty. “C’mon down with Tonto, Clint. I think poor old Paulo was right. It looks like Carone and his banditos may be hiding in his room waiting for an all clear sign he ain’t ever getting.”
Clint and Tonto, followed by John, Lucas, Casey, and Kabong joined Nick at the bottom of the decorative ladder staircase. Clint gestured Tonto into action. Tonto sniffed at every door, moving on while two men then searched the cleared room. With Lucas and Casey guarding for movement into the corridor, Clint, Nick, John and Johnny moved with Tonto, clearing each room, below decks kitchen, dining room, engine room, and every space where someone could hide or lie in wait. The work, tedious and at times nerve wracking, ended once again at the main corridor. Tonto showed no interest in any room until reaching the area housing the master suite.
Harding knocked on the door from the side that Tonto indicated first. The rest of his companions stayed tight to the bulkheads on both sides. “Hello in there. If you are women, say so. Then, stay in your room until we tell you to come out.”
“Who are you,” a woman’s voice asked.
“Never mind that. Do as I say. Is there a man in there with you?”
“No.”
“Where are the other two women,” John asked.
“Next to me, the one before the master suite.”
“Stay put.” John moved to the next door, knocked and repeated his initial greeting. A woman answered and acknowledged another woman shared the cabin with her.
Automatic weapons fire shredded the center top part of the master suite door streaming down the corridor. Nick dropped down in prone position and fired an MP5 burst through the lower door center at knee level. Screams wailed in shocked agony. Nick’s action drew general amusement from his companions as he rolled again to the bulkhead. When the screams softened to sobs interspersed with cries of pain, John moved to one side of the master suite door with Nick opposite him with the grenade. When Nick had fired into the lower door, he had made a nice round hole by design that would accommodate his grenade.
“Hi there,” John called out. “Come out with hands locked behind your head and you won’t be shot.”
“Fuck you! You’ll kill us anyway… you bastards!”
Nick shrugged with a smile when John glanced over at him and mouthed. “He’s right.”
John grinned and nodded. “If you don’t come out in thirty seconds, my companion will toss a grenade inside your cabin. It doesn’t matter to us if you’re alive or dead. We’re here to arrest you, Carone. You and your men will be questioned. Otherwise, we execute you.”
They heard hoarse angry voices inside, accompanied by the plaintive cries for a doctor from the wounded man.
“Ten seconds,” John began counting down.
“I’m Carone! We are coming out!”