Daniel Ganninger - Icarus Investigations 02 - Peeking Duck (20 page)

We
looked each other again.  The two people we suspected to be the catalysts in this event seemed out of the picture.  Our information about the true demise of the captain would have to wait, as would our questions about who the captain really was.  For now we had to focus on getting control of the ship.  I shook my head at Galveston as an indication not to press the issue further.

Galveston
nodded and gave the order for the men to move out.  I followed the last seaman out of the cramped room and thought to myself that if this worked, it would be a miracle.  The nearest military support was a half-day away in Tristan de Cunha, and it was only a guard post, incapable of handling the firepower of the mercenaries aboard the
Trusian
.                We were on our own.

-Chapter 42-

Galveston instructed the men again not to engage the pirates, but instead to drive them toward the stern of the ship.  The crew of the
Trusian
was not capable of handling the skills of these pirates, so we had to out think them and hope for the best.

The time was nearing five P.M. and the sun was beginning to lower in the sky.  Our operation had to succeed before nightfall because we weren
‘t sure of the capabilities of the pirates at night.  They boarded a ship in the middle of the night without being detected, so it was logical to assume they had the latest night vision equipment.

Each group of the crew was lead by a man with a gun
, and the remaining men picked up objects they could use as weapons.  The two teams of sailors fanned out toward the stern of the ship, while Galveston and I proceeded up the stairs to the deck that housed the bridge and the living quarters of the captain and chief mate.

Galveston
reached the top of the stairs and found the hall eerily quiet.  There had been a crackling of life through the radio in French and German, but nothing we could understand. 

“
Cover me,” Galveston ordered as he bound around the corner and located the first mate’s cabin.

As
Galveston stopped at the door, I scanned the opposite direction and noticed black clothing appear farther down the hall.

“
Down, down!” I screamed as the first volley of gunfire blazed past my position.

Galveston
threw himself on the ground and then propped himself onto his elbows.  He raised his rifle to a shooting position as another burst of gunfire pierced the steel walls of the hall.  I immediately pulled up the submachine gun we had taken and sent a spray of bullets towards the marauders.  The pirates flew back behind the wall and tried to return fire.  As their bodies appeared again, I let off another stream of bullets.

Galveston
noticed I was providing adequate cover, so he moved to the padlocked door.  He furiously worked at the lock with the butt of the gun until it finally gave way and popped open.  Galveston disappeared inside and soon came out with a man hobbling on his left leg.  The man appeared disoriented and dehydrated, but otherwise in decent condition. 

I let out another burst of gunfire to keep the pirates at bay as
Galveston propped up the man with his arm and moved toward me in the stairwell.  My ears stung from the sound of bullets that bounced along the steel walls as the pirates tried a barrage of random gunfire.  I fired back again and heard a yell from down the hall as one of my bullets caught the leg of a pirate.  Galveston and the man from the cabin were close now, and I helped them from the hall into the protected area of the stairwell.

“
I think you winged one of them, Roger!” Galveston said to me, breathless from the ordeal.

I didn
‘t feel proud about it, but I had been left with no choice in the matter.  I was just glad it was him and not me.

“
Let’s get the hell out of here,” I said with as much calm as I could muster.  “Who’s this?”  I asked as we moved backward down the stairs.

“
Dimitri Petsoro, Chief Mate,” the wounded man answered softly.  “Who are you two?”

“
Just the welcoming committee,” Galveston announced, scanning the upper stairs for any signs of pirates.

We helped the man to the bottom of the stairs and sat him down against the hall wall.

“Roger, I’m going after the other guy up there,” Galveston told me, already running up the stairs.

“
Wait!” I tried to yell, but he had already disappeared.  “I hate it when he tries to be a cowboy,” I said to Dimitri who clutched his leg and winced in pain.

I heard a series of gunshots and the sound of a struggle
emanating from the upper deck.  I peered around the corner and saw Galveston back at the top of the stairs with a pirate in a choke hold.  He twisted the man around facing forward and ran him into the frame of the doorway that led into the hall.  The man grunted in pain and dropped to his knees as Galveston pushed the pirate onto his stomach.

“
Roger, get up here and bring some tape!” Galveston yelled breathlessly.

I bound up the stairs with the tape and
saw the grunting pirate.  Galveston was sitting on top of him with sweat pouring from his face.

“
Tie him and drag him to Dimitri’s cabin.”

I did as
Galveston ordered and quickly bound the man’s hands, legs, and mouth, and began to drag him kicking toward the room.  Galveston ran down the hall and grabbed the pirate I had wounded and began to drag him to the room.  A trail of blood followed the man from the wound I had made on his leg with my gunshot.

“
Get something to wipe this blood up,” Galveston ordered again, as he threw the man in the room and tied him with the duct tape.

I was appalled at the si
ght, but quickly grabbed a sheet from the bed and began to mop up the blood on the floor to the hall.  I understood Galveston’s command.  We didn’t need a trail so other pirates could find the ones we had captured.  In order to keep the wounded pirate from bleeding out, I used a clean portion of the sheet to make a tourniquet for his leg.

“
I hope we remember where we put everybody,” Galveston said from down the hall.

“
We may need a map,” I called in return as I finished my custodial job.

The operation to subdue the two men had only taken a few minutes, but it seemed like an eternity.  We were up to eight pirates captured and hoped there were really only four to go.  Now it was time to claim the bridge.

-Chapter 43-

Captain Marquette and Balboa stood on the bridge scanning the deck.  The pirates on the deck were ordered to change to a different radio frequency when Balboa transmitted a series of clicks.  There were only four pirates reporting positions, and they had no idea where the others were.  It was pure chaos and not going according to their plan.

Balboa checked his watch and the time was only ten minutes from
seventeen hundred hours, their extraction time from the ship.

“
All men to zhe bow, have the package ready on zhe deck.  Shoot any intruders,” Balboa ordered coldly over the radio.

“
What the hell is happening,” scowled Captain Marquette.  “It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”

“
I don’t know.”

“
It was supposed to be a smooth plan.  What happened?”

“
I zaid, I don’t know,” Balboa shot back with a look of disdain. 

Marquette
stepped back and composed himself when he saw the angry look in Balboa’s eyes.  “Are the explosive’s set?”

“
Jes, I have the detonator.  I vill blow zhe ship once ve are aboard the helicopter.”

“
Good, blow it to pieces.”

Balboa nodded his head and reached for a small electronic device from his pocket and kept it in his hand as the two men raced from the bridge.

The other remaining pirates had moved to the bow.  Marquette counted only four men remaining in their original group.

“
Should we go after the others?” Balboa asked Marquette.

“
No, we leave on that helicopter immediately,” Marquette answered with defiance.

Balboa didn
‘t challenge the man.  All the mercenaries aboard knew the risks if something went awry.  Balboa was in it mostly for the payday, and the trivial geopolitical reasons for their initial invasion of the
Trusian
were of no concern to him.

“
Ready your positions for the extraction,” Marquette yelled at the remaining men.  “I will take personal charge of our possession.”  Marquette turned to Balboa.  “Get him,” he ordered.

Balboa
went to the deck, disappeared between the containers, and reappeared with a handcuffed and blindfolded man.

-Chapter 44-

“Let’s get that Dimitri guy to a safe spot.  I’m a little worried because I haven’t heard any more radio chatter.” 

Galveston
closed the cabin door behind him where we had stuck the two pirates and ran down the hall.  I followed him down to the lower deck and back to Dimitri.  He looked horrified at being left behind but had managed to get himself to his feet.

“
Is there another way to the bridge?”  Galveston asked the chief mate.

“
This way,” Dimitri motioned and led us to another set of stairs that led past the deck where we had apprehended the pirates.

Dimitri struggled to get up the two set of stairs but was able to reach the top deck of the superstructure where the bridge was located.  We stopped outside the entrance and readied our weapons while Dimitri hid himself behind one of the steel walls, out of sight in the stairwell.  He would be safe there until we could secure the bridge. 

Galveston placed himself next to the entrance of the bridge, and I took up position across from him with my gun raised.  We had no idea what resistance we would encounter, so we carefully peered around the corner to get a better view.  Galveston inched his way beyond the doorway, crouched in a position by the walls of the long bridge.  I followed closely behind.  We would try to take them alive, but if needed, would fire our way out.

Galveston
continued forward and then motioned for me to stop.  He saw no movement, but that didn’t mean no one was inside.  Galveston slowly raised his head, keeping his eye through the sight of the gun.  I crept up behind him and did the same, my heart pounding out of my chest.  My palms began to sweat as Galveston gave the signal to find the targets in the room.

I peered
over a console and noticed an eerie calm on the bridge.  There was no movement, but I kept my finger poised over the trigger of the assault rifle, just in case.  I scanned the room again and realized the place was deserted. 

“
What the hell?” Galveston questioned, unsure of why no one would be on the most important part of the ship.  “Check the sides,” he whispered.

I moved to one end of the room with my gun drawn.  There was nowhere to hide on the bridge and no one was about.  Thankfully there was also no ambush from someone
hiding outside.

Galveston
and I looked at each other with confusion, and then I heard the faint hum of an aircraft engine.  I realized it was the slap of helicopter blades in the air.

“
Maybe we finally have reinforcements,” I said with a note of glee that help was on the way.

Galveston
didn’t share my enthusiasm and ran to the windows overlooking the bow of the ship to investigate.  I moved behind him until I could see the bow of the ship and the multitude of containers.

There
, perched atop a large stack of containers, was a hastily erected, wooden helipad.  Just large enough to accommodate the skids of a helicopter and positioned to allow it to land on top of the containers safely.

“
Look!”  I yelled, pointing to the sky.  It was a large helicopter flying low over the ocean’s surface in the distance.  The sound grew louder as it approached.

I
turned my gaze down to the helipad and counted seven men climbing a ladder to the top of the container stack.  One man struggled to get to the top, his hands bound with something.

Galveston
had been observing the same thing, and before I could talk, he was already gone.  I tried to catch up with him, but his adrenaline was no match for me.

“
Dimitri, don’t move, we’ll be back.” I stammered.  “I have to go after a crazy person,” I muttered under my breath.

The helicopter was already landing by the time I got to the deck. 
Galveston was nowhere in sight.  Some of the crew of the
Trusian
appeared behind me as I moved to the bow of the ship.  They had also been wondering what the sound was and why none of the pirates had retreated to the stern of the ship like we had planned.

I ran hard toward the helicopter
, which now sat on top of the container stack.  As I closed in, I could see Galveston climbing up the ladder the pirates had made to get to the landing pad. 

“
He’s going to get himself killed,” I thought.

I finally reached the
makeshift ladder and began to climb, not so much to get to the pirates, but to make sure Galveston didn’t get shot.  Before I could reach him, Galveston leapt from his position like an attacking cat and ran toward the helicopter.  I peered over the top of the ladder as the helicopter’s downwash began to pound my head.  One of the pirates was trying to push the bound man into the helicopter and didn’t notice Galveston running at him.  The men in the helicopter tried to fire their guns, but they were too late.  Galveston rammed the man from behind, causing him, and the bound man, to fly into the air and slide under the helicopter. 

I saw the
other men attempting to get out of the helicopter, and I pulled myself higher on the ladder so I could raise my gun.  As I did, the men in the helicopter noticed my position and began to fire.  The bullets shattered beside me in the metal.  I moved back down the ladder out of range and heard the pelt of bullets hitting above me.  I didn’t realize it, but I had just saved Galveston’s life. 

The noise from the helicopter increased as the engines went to full power.  It quickly rose off the deck, and the flow of air almost caused me to fall off the ladder.  I could see it pull away, and as the downwash lessened, I stuck my head up from the top of the ladder again. 

Galveston was still struggling with the man on the helipad, and I ran to assist him. The tied up man lay yards away with a look of horror on his face.  Luckily the helicopter had to pull off the pad forward, and the pirates didn’t have a view to try and shoot.  But I knew they could easily turn and gun us down.  I ran toward Galveston and helped him subdue the man as the helicopter began to turn gently, putting us into range of the pirate’s gunfire.  I pulled up my gun and began to fire wildly into the air at the helicopter, making it stop its turn.  The pilot must have decided not to tempt fate, and the aircraft flew higher in the sky and farther away, as the sound of its blades decreased.

Galveston
continued to grapple with the man until I had enough.  In an uncharacteristic move, I took the butt of the gun and hit the man over the head, knocking him unconscious.  Galveston fell back gasping for air and tried to speak, his face pouring with sweat.

“
You okay?”  I yelled at him.

“
Yeah, yeah,” he muttered as he got to his knees with his hands over his head.

“
What the hell were you thinking?”

Galveston
could only give me a wide eyed gaze.  I think he realized that hadn’t been his brightest move.

“
Let’s get these guys off here,” I told Galveston, helping him to his feet.

I reached down and turned the passed out man onto his back, where we could see his face.  We didn
‘t know the man, but it was Balboa, and he had something of vital importance in his hand.

We weren
‘t currently concerned about the tied up man.  At the moment, it wasn’t of any importance to find out who he was, and why he was tied up.  We had other pressing concerns and needed to focus on the more immediate threats first.  It never occurred to us that this bound man was the most important piece of all.