Smoke and Shadow (26 page)

“
Hicks,
what
’
s your
position? Over.
”
Hudson bit his lip to prevent the tirade building up in his
head to spill out into the radio. He wasn
’
t afraid of confronting Hicks, but
he didn
’
t want the
rest of the team in his business. Hudson was the rookie on the
team. He knew from past experience where he stood in the dynamic of
the squad. This might be a private operation, but everyone on the
team served in Afghanistan or Iraq. The pay might be better, but
the rules were still the same.

Hicks
didn
’
t answer.
Hudson imagined him hiding in the dark somewhere, masturbating to
the videos he kept on his phone. The man had no shame.
They
’
d only been
out on the Nostromo for a few days, but Hicks loved himself
whenever he found the chance and he considered himself an expert in
subtlety. Now he deserted his post after tossing away
Hudson
’
s special
lighter. The rookie closed his eyes and gripped the railing to
steady himself. He tried to put himself in Hick
’
s shoes. Didn
’
t he miss Samantha?
Wouldn
’
t he feel
less stress if he followed Hick
’
s example? Hudson chuckled to
himself as he looked down at his palm, thinking about his
woman.

Hudson stopped laughing when he
noticed the blood on his hand.

When did he cut
himself? He wiped his palm on his pants leg and looked for the cut.
The blood was gone and he couldn
’
t see any wound on his hand. So
where did the blood come from? Hudson looked down at the railing
and saw droplets of red staining the polished steel. He bent down
and found the small pool of red right between his feet, right where
Hicks stood guard. The blood and the discarded lighter suggested a
more gristly explanation for Hicks
’
absence. He couldn
’
t have fallen overboard, could
he?

“
Hicks, come in.
Over.
”
Hudson could hear the strain in his own voice now and it
reminded him of Samantha
’
s agitated voice. The response to
his request snapped him back to reality.

“
What the fuck
is all the chatter about, Hudson?
”
Apone
’
s voice jabbed at Hudson through the radio
speaker.

“
Sarge, I
can
’
t seem to find
Hicks. I think there might be a problem.
”

Apone
’
s
bitter chuckle spoke volumes.
“
There
’
s no problem, son. Hicks is probably
just hiding somewhere so he can play with his dick. Now get the
fuck back to your post and stop jabbering in my
ear.
”

Hudson imagined
Apone and the rest of the team laughing at his rookie anxiety, but
he couldn
’
t ignore
the pool of blood on the deck.
“
Um, sir. I think we might have a man
overboard. We might need to swing back around before we go too far
to
…”

“
Hudson, we are
on a timetable. The client wants his boat and his cargo delivered
by the close of business on Friday. We are behind schedule as it
is. I will not sacrifice my reputation or my commission because
some jumpy fucking rookie thinks his bunk mate fell overboard.
After Hicks blows his load and gets back to his post, let him
explain to you the fine art of not falling the fuck off the boat.
Are we clear?
”

Hudson clenched
his fist around his lighter and grit his teeth.
“
Clear, Sarge.
”

He shut off his
radio and cursed Apone, Hicks and the whole fucking team. Apone was
full of shit. He wasn
’
t even a sergeant; he just made everyone call him that. He
didn
’
t know how to
lead men. He didn
’
t even bother to ask why Hudson thought Hicks went overboard.
He just climbed up Hudson
’
s ass to prove
…

The engines on the Nostromo fell
into an abrupt silence. The lights on the deck and in the state
room went out without warning. Hudson only heard the hollow lapping
of the waves against the hull before Apone went ape shit on the
radio.

“
Hudson! What
the fuck are you doing? I thought I told you that under no
circumstances did I want this boat stopped?
”

Hudson responded
without trying to conceal his confusion.
“
Sarge, I
’
m still on the starboard deck. I
haven
’
t left my
post.
”

“
Then who the
hell told Bishop to stop?
”
Apone waited for a beat to let the captain of the
ship respond to his furious question. No answer
came.

“
Bishop? Bishop,
respond. Over.
”
Captain Bishop didn
’
t reply. Apone lost even more of his
shit.

“
Goddamn it.
Vasquez, are you still fucking answering the
com?
”

“
I
’
m right
here, Sarge.
”
Hudson usually got nervous when he heard the smoky toughness
in Vasquez
’
s
voice. He was happy to hear her now. She could sort all this out
and get Apone off his ass.

“
Go meet Hudson
at the bridge and get us moving again. And when
you
’
re finished
there, find Hicks and cut his dick off. I
’
ve had enough shit from him
tonight.
”

“
I
’
m on
it.
”
Her voice
suggested movement.

“
On my
way.
”
Hudson moved
forward on the deck as fast as he could. Vasquez was tough shit.
Hudson didn
’
t want
to keep her waiting.

Hudson tried to
think of an explanation for the sequence of events that
didn
’
t include a
huge cluster fuck.

When he took this
job, it sounded like easy money. Just protect a private yacht on a
trip around the Arabian peninsula. Some sheik or sultan or whatever
didn
’
t want his
expensive toy getting snatched up by pirates, so he hired a team of
operators to baby sit. When Hudson heard what the sheik offered to
pay, he leaped at the chance to join the team. The job screamed low
risk, high reward. Erik Prince
’
s new mercenary navy cleaned up most
of the pirate activity. The only thing they had to worry about now
was a Yemeni Coast Guard captain unwilling to take a bribe. The
boat wasn
’
t the
sheik
’
s only toy.
He had other toys locked in the state room. Those toys had to be
gagged and blindfolded. Those toys would create a problem if an
official didn
’
t
take the money and turn a blind eye.

Hudson was ready
for pirates and coast guards. He wasn
’
t ready for missing teammates and
stumbling around in the dark. He held his flashlight high and close
to his head, but the uneven motion of running on the swaying boat
made the beam jarring to follow. He held his other hand on his MP5
without knowing why. The team was on patrol and they did have an
unknown situation, but he didn
’
t need his weapon now. He needed
Hicks to pop out of the shadows with a stupid guilty grin on his
face. He needed the lights to come back on and the
Nostromo
’
s engines
to kick into high gear. He needed to get back to Sam. Her smile was
on his mind when he climbed the short flight of carpeted steps and
reached the hatch to the bridge.

He pulled the
lever and pushed, but something blocked the door from opening.
Hudson tried to look through the port to signal to the men inside,
but he didn
’
t see
anyone at the controls. The radar screen and navigation panels were
dark. The wheel swayed back and forth. A limp wrist sat trapped in
its bottom spoke.

Hudson craned his
head to see whose hand was trapped in the wheel, but he
couldn
’
t lift
himself high enough to get a good angle. He pulled the lever again,
this time slamming his shoulder into the hatch to force it open. He
put too much force into the blow and he tumbled onto the bridge as
the steel door gave way. Hudson landed on his back and came face to
face with the corpse of Captain Bishop.

Hudson had
experience with death. He lost friends in raids against the
Taliban. He saw bodies lying out in the streets of Fallujah. But
Bishop
’
s glassy
brown eyes made him jump back and kick away with a yelp. The hole
in his throat still pumped out spurts of black red blood. Hudson
felt himself sitting in a lukewarm pool of the
man
’
s lost
life.

“
Shit!
”

He staggered to
his feet, slipping on the blood slick floor. He bumped into the
body of the first mate and nearly fell face first into a new puddle
of blood. Hudson threw his back against the control panel. He
couldn
’
t catch his
breath. Then he coughed and the nauseating smell of released bowels
filled his nostrils.

“
Oh
Shit!
”

Apone
’
s bark
from the radio broke his cycle of cursing.
“
Vasquez, what
’
s your status? Why
aren
’
t we moving?
Over
”

Hudson
’
s
grip on the call button slipped from the sweat and blood on his
fingers, so he grabbed the device with both hands to
respond.
“
We
’
ve got
men down on the bridge. I repeat, we have casualties on the
bridge!
”

“
What the fuck
are you talking about, Hudson? What happened to
Bishop?
”

“
He
’
s
dead.
Rizzo
’
s
dead too. They
’
re
both dead.
”

“
Fuck me
running...
”
It
only took a moment for Apone to get control of himself.
“
What happened,
Hudson?
”

“
I
don
’
t...I don
’
t know. They were dead when I got here, but the bodies are
still warm.
”

“
How did they
die, son? Did you see anything?
”

Hudson
’
s
eyes couldn
’
t look
away from the hole in Bishop
’
s throat.
“
Small arms fire, one
shot.
”

“
And you
didn
’
t hear
anything?
”

“
No...Negative.
”

Apone turned his
attention from Hudson to the rest of the team.
“
Alright, ladies.
We
’
ve got company.
You know what that means. You are weapons free and authorized to
fire at will. You see anybody on this boat you
don
’
t recognize,
you send them to hell. You read me?
”

A chorus of macho
affirmatives came over the radio, but Hudson
couldn
’
t bring
himself to answer. Maybe Apone noticed, because he tried to couch
his next words in a confident but comforting
tone.