Shadow Tyrants

TWENTY-SIX

Three ATVs with one rider each were approaching the towed container fast. But they weren’t taking the same path. Instead, the ATVs were driving through the jungle to the right of the tractor-trailer.

“They’re trying to make an end run around us,” Linc said.

“They know we’ll be sitting ducks if they can take out MacD in the tractor,” Eddie said.

Although the ATVs were much faster than the tractor, they had to slow considerably in the dense brush.

“I can’t pick them off,” Eddie said after his shots were blocked by the trees. “Can you?”

Linc shook his head. “I can barely see them.”

“MacD,” Eddie said, “how close are we to the beach?”

“Ah estimate thirty seconds,” MacD replied. “The Chairman must have done something back there because the pier is coming out of the water.”

“Good. Drive onto it.” Eddie looked at Linc. “That should give use some breathing room.”

“If we make it there.”

The ATVs were now almost even with the tractor and began to get closer to the pathway.

“MacD, watch out on your right,” Eddie said.

“Ah’m as low as Ah can be and still drive this thing.”

Eddie and Linc fired off several bursts into the trees. One of them got lucky and hit the lead driver. His ATV careened into a tree and broke apart. The other two drivers swerved away and began firing at the tractor. Their aim was terrible because they had to shoot their assault rifles with one hand while trying to avoid colliding with anything.

Still, they’d get MacD eventually if they kept firing. Eddie saw a way to slow them down.

He pointed to the palm trees loaded with ripe coconuts. They had a clear shot at the fruit because it was higher than most of the foliage.

“Remember the crab we saw earlier?” he said to Linc.

Linc nodded and smiled. They both aimed at trees ahead of the drivers and fired.

Heavy coconuts began raining down on the ATVs.

One of the guards was hit square on the head and fell off his ATV, which veered into a huge bush and flipped over.

The other guard saw what happened and swerved back toward the path, out of the deadly rain of coconuts. But in his panic, he forgot about Linc and Eddie.

They fired a continuous volley at him, and one of the shots hit a tire. The ATV cartwheeled, throwing the guard high into the air before he smashed into a tree and fell to the ground in a heap.

“We’re there,” MacD said.

They emerged from the trees and drove across the beach onto the four-thousand-foot-long concrete pier.

Then Eddie heard the sound of another ATV. They’d been so distracted by the two in the jungle that they hadn’t noticed the new one approaching along the trail.

They moved to the back of the container and saw the ATV roaring up behind them. It stopped at the beach, and the driver got off. Out of the back of the ATV he pulled out a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

He was now two hundred yards behind them, effectively out of range of their P90s. But the RPG had a range of nearly five hundred yards.

“MacD, step on it!” Eddie called out. “RPG!”

Despite being out of range, Eddie and Linc emptied their magazines at the guard. The guard took his time taking careful aim. The RPG would rip the container to shreds. There was nothing more they could do.

“Need a little help, Eddie?” Max said in his earpiece.

Eddie turned and saw the Oregon approaching fast. Before he could answer, he saw bright flashes of light from the forward Gatling gun. Twenty-millimeter tungsten rounds sizzled into the water and across the beach until they reached the guard. One of them hit the RPG round, which blew apart in a massive fireball. When it dissipated, the guard was gone.

MacD kept driving to put more distance between them and the island.

“Thanks, Max,” Eddie said. “Your timing is impeccable.”

“We’ll stay on overwatch until this is over just in case you get any more unwanted visitors.”

“When you have a chance to dock at the pier,” Eddie said, “we’re going to be bringing a few guests aboard.” Now that the prisoners from Jhootha Island were safe, he was more concerned about the people they’d been ordered to leave behind. “Any word from the Chairman and Raven?”

“Juan says they’re in a bit of a jam.” Max’s voice reflected Eddie’s worry.

“What can we do?” Linc asked.

“Nothing. According to him, they’ve got about sixty seconds to get out of there.”