Hard Case VI: The Killer Inside (John Harding Book 6) (20 page)

“Two down on the pier, Recon,” Lucas confirmed his plan glitch correction.

“We’re on our way into the room, Pappy. We’ll be right out.”

Inside our thug holding room, the flash-bangs made a mess of the hijackers. They were in no shape for hijacking anything. Two were dead in addition to Ramone, having been a bit too close at the point of flash-bang impact. The others bled from nose, mouth, and ears. The concussion amplified within the metal bulkheads nearly ruined our prisoner collection for Denny. Lynn, hands on hips, while Clint, Casey, and I cleaned the prisoners off a bit, eyed the guy who had shot Ramone unhappily. She poked the groaning leader in the chest.

“You killed one of Lynn’s little helpers. Ramone Stinky-feet was not a good guy, but I spent a lot of quality time with him, turning him from the dark and stinky side. Then you went and shot him in the head. What were you thinking?”

“Check this out, babe.” Clint held the M134 Mini-gun he retrieved from the large pack, one of the dead men had been carrying. “This guy was loaded. The bag’s full of ammo. It’s a good thing we set a trap for these guys. If this one had been able to swing this sucker on us, we would have been screwed.”

Lynn grabbed the M134 from her mate with a big smile. “Damn, cowboy! 7.62 caliber, six barrel, two to six thousand rounds a minute. They did come prepared with some heavy fire power. Cheese! You lucky bastard!”

“I resent that!” I put on my outraged face while wiping the last guys face off with a wet towel. “I knew my Dad. It was my Mom that was a mystery.”

I could tell Ramone’s shooter could barely hear what Lynn or the rest of us were saying, but he felt surly enough to say something interesting. “Soon, you’ll all be dead.”

“Huh?” Lynn handed the M134 to Clint, crouched next to the speaker, and grabbed him by the ear. “You have my attention, Pooky. What’s this about the untimely deaths of your diligent captors?”

Pooky realized suddenly that silence is golden, but in his case now, unlikely. He shut his eyes and mouth tightly as if that were going to do him any good. Lynn released him. She went to her bag where we stored Silvio’s new device, and returned with her pencil beamed propane torch. She gestured at the now silent Pooky.

“We’ll have to go old school, Cheese. Get Pooky in the chair with his pants down. Oh… and spray some of that Pine stuff down his pants before you pull them down. I don’t want any more stinky surprises tonight.”

By the time I got Pooky in the chair, he realized we weren’t even going to ask him any questions before Lynn singed his balls. He began screaming everything about two second assault vehicles arriving on the pier by previous agreement without a call. That of course didn’t save him from Lynn making certain he hadn’t left anything out. The three other live prisoners tried to add their life stories to the mix when Lynn finished with Pooky, and glanced their way. She stroked the sobbing Pooky’s face before putting away her torch.

“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m taking the M134, and prepare to repel boarders.” She kicked the M134 bag with all the ammo gently with her foot. “C’mon Clint, grab this baby, and haul it to a good place where I can kill some people.”

Clint began to do as told, but Lynn stopped in her tracks on the way to the hatch. “I hear you chuckling, Pappy. Don’t you dare shoot all those guys before I get into position!”

“I don’t take orders from you, Crue!”

“If I don’t get to fire my six barrel baby, Ahab, there will be another ship in danger of being burned on the high seas. I believe the boat I’m referring to combines the word Sea with a woodland creature’s name.”

“You wouldn’t dare!” I could tell in his voice Ahab was appalled.

He couldn’t see her, but Lynn was stifling herself with both hands to keep silent on the line, rocking back and forth on her feet. The rest of us were enjoying the verbal trade. I was actually rooting for Lynn to burn The Sea Wolf to the waterline. I’d get out of Bay training for at least a couple days before we had The Lora ready to sail.

“Damn it!” Ahab’s tone projected defeat. “Best get your ass in position, Crue. Denny? Are you on?”

“I am, Lucas. I didn’t want to interrupt until I could take stock of what I had Crue could destroy if she didn’t get her way. You’re in charge, Cheeseburger. Do something with that spoiled brat.”

We monsters did enjoy that Denny gem, except for Crue. I could tell she was trying to think of something he owned she could destroy. I had to hand it to Denny. That one liner took guts.

“Laugh, Crue,” I told her. “Get your gun into position before Lucas does have to shoot all the bad guys.”

“Okay,” Crue agreed as Clint smilingly tried to guide her out. “Strobert! There will be blood!”

“My wife thinks of you as her sister. That makes you an Aunt to my soon to arrive baby. You can’t do horrible things to your brother-in-law,” Denny reasoned.

“That is so cute you think your disrespect will be forgotten by an imaginary bloodline. You are just so precious.” She moved to the hatch which was a good sign, unless of course she was heading toward Denny’s position.

“Just in case Lynn is headed toward your position instead of the arriving enemy, what’s the rules of engagement on these new arrivals?”

“With Isis combatants, I’d like all I can get alive. What if Crue wastes the first couple out of the vehicle or vehicles, I mean really stitches them, and then Lucas takes down whomever pops out showing resistance? You can all yell down ‘surrender or die’, and they either surrender or die.”

“That’s good with me,” Lynn acknowledged.

“Same,” Lucas said. “I’ll disable the vehicles first. I don’t want them all scrambling out at once. Can you call anyone to cover our asses on this one, Den?”

“I just talked with my Homeland Security contact after Crue finished with Pooky. They’re contacting local police in the area to let them know we have a federal operation ongoing. Prisoners would help, but may not be an option. They may do something deadly stupid no matter what we do.”

I had been securing our prisoners while listening to the conversation. We would jam the hatch on the way out. “Casey and I will head on the run to pier level. We’ll find a place where we can make sure none of them get away. If we do get some to surrender, we will hold in place while the rest of you move to us for prisoners.”

After getting acknowledgement, Casey and I scrambled down to the pier. We split up amongst the shipping containers near Alexi’s ship to await the secondary boarding party arrivals, but not too far apart. They arrived in short order, steering straight for the gangplank. As agreed, Lucas put .50 caliber armor piercing rounds through the radiator and blocks on both SUV’s. When the first man exited the front vehicle, Lynn stitched him from his feet to the top of his head. He slammed into the door he had just exited, her rounds keeping him upright while dancing his last deathly jig. The driver popped out with a grenade launcher. Lynn cut his head off at the neck while Lucas blew the grenade launcher apart.

Lynn then stitched the hoods roofs and side panels, knowing the 7.62 loads would not penetrate. Casey and I began yelling ‘surrender or die’ in between the automatic weapons fire from the M134 in three languages. Lynn stopped firing for a moment, awaiting a decision, as Casey and I continued to call out. The doors opened. Ten men spilled out of the insides with their hands waving. It’s very effective when would be hijackers and criminals know they will be executed on the spot in the middle of an ambush.

Casey and I herded them to the area in front of the gangplank. When I say herded, I mean we had MP5’s trained on them in a business type manner they would not survive while ordering them to the front. We stayed clear of the SUV’s in case they had a lurker inside ready to ambush us. Anyone ducking a head outside the SUV’s now would have it pulped by .50 caliber rounds. Clint and Denny joined us for the securing the prisoner part. Denny busily took photos, digital prints, and DNA samples while we kept watch. Lucas and Lynn remained in position so there would not be surprises. Once the identification process was finished, Clint stayed with Denny, while Casey and I tore the SUV’s apart. We set all weapons out for processing, but kept all communications and computer gear.

Fifteen minutes later, the teams Denny had waiting in reserve for prisoner transfer arrived. There would be no regular federal processing for these guys. We kept the dead and Pooky, but shipped the rest. It would be a busy feeding out on the Bay tomorrow for my shark playmates, but not until the Great Banana finished getting tortured. We didn’t want my finned friends getting confused as to the food menu. Alexi joined us as we finished body bagging the dead. I know he had to be worried somewhat about follow up attacks.

“A fine operation, my friends. I thank you. It is clear these goons want me out of operation at the Port of Oakland. Their more involved plans for hijacking ‘The Roma’ is still a mystery, is it not?”

“I believe they planned to use the tanker like a suicide vest.”

Alexi was clearly surprised at Denny’s theory. As I heard it for the first time, it made a lot of sense. Confirming what Denny suspected would be put on our grand interrogator. I had a feeling we would be riding along with Pooky. I know his balls were on fire from the very recent questioning he had already gone through. He experienced Crue in the flesh. Knowing the absolute no hesitation way she applied her propane torch very likely would lead to some quick answers on the ride home.

“That would be most interesting, Denny,” Alexi said. “You are right in assuming what a tanker could do if aimed at valuable pier facility. It could disrupt shipping to this deep water port for months.”

“I’m hoping we have someone who knows the story. If something changes where we might need to have The Roma act as a decoy the bad guys think is under their control, would you be willing to let us work the con?”

“Of course. You are a very deceptive man, Denny. If your theory proves true, I would launch ‘The Roma’ at the time the hijackers intended. I assume you have your warship, The Sea Wolf, ready for action?”

“We do,” Denny answered. “I will also have an AWACS in the air so I can get a beam on where any small launches are sent from. This could really be big, Alexi. Thank you.”

“I am at your service. I would be dead if not for your team. I will await your call from ‘The Roma’.”

Having said that, the old Russian returned aboard ship. The rest of us monsters were glancing at each other waiting for who knows what. Our new direction seemed to include an end game if Denny’s theory is confirmed by Pooky.

“Did Achmed the Terrorist confirm our hijacking crews’ identities?”

“Yeah, John. It was the main reason I let so many of them go with my transfer team. The nationalities of the hijackers are all of countries with strong Isis influence. I’m shipping them immediately back after we sort out whether they arrived via the pipeline we closed in Mexico. Our remaining guy’s name is Tahir Quazi. He’s a former Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence member. Jafar said he picked up Naji already, so don’t worry about him being gone when you get home.”

“He’s Pooky to me,” Lynn said. “Let’s climb aboard. I’ll ride with Pooky. Any bets on whether I can get him to confirm Denny’s theory or not?”

Silence.

“You guys are no fun anymore. I think the thrill is gone. I’m bringing Jess along next time so I can at least get a look of horror when I’m workin’.”

Chapter Seven

Sea Wolf Patrol

I slipped into bed next to Lora. The minions were already loading body bags for disposal. That way, we could get moving quickly once Denny confirmed the ship supposedly steaming toward a spot twenty miles off the coast to meet ‘The Roma’ was everything Tahir Qazi claimed it was. He volunteered a vast amount of information in exchange for Lynn not massaging his balls with the propane torch on the way to Pain Central. The transfer of an undetermined amount of explosives would take place at or around 3 pm, leaving enough time for preparation and arrival at target – AT&T Ballpark at China Basin. At precisely the time of the San Francisco Giants’ first pitch. All games were sellouts, so easily forty thousand people would be in attendance at the ballpark located right at the pier. There would be myriad people around the ballpark too. A tanker the size of ‘The Roma’ hitting the China Basin pier loaded with explosives would be devastating beyond imagining. Tomorrow, I would train alongside the Wolf while we moved into position for interception. Lora woke and looked at the clock.

“Are we safe?”

“Working on it.”

“You’re tense.” Lora moved against me.

“I wasn’t until you started dancing.”

“I was trying to be comforting.”

I’ll play. “Okay, we’ve passed that adjective. Want to try satisfying next?”

Giggle. “Maybe.”

There were no maybes about it.

* * *

“I thought Mom would be taking me to school.” Al had returned with her minions, the Sparks twins.

They were giving me the open mouthed stare. I think the rumor about an attempted killing at my house was circulating. I figured someone probably noticed. Since I already collected the evidence for disposal, and dead men tell no tales, I figured the rumor mill would fizzle out in a few days. It did remind me of what was in store for me after my school drop off task. I’d be on the ocean for a long time today, but I admit with my pirate crew of monsters on board for another excursion into high seas combat, the juices were flowing.