Action: Pulse Pounding Tales Volume 2

HAMMERTIME by Asher Wismer

Dirk Hammer launched his body into the air, using the taut canvas covering the lifeboat as a trampoline. Below him, the soldiers fired their muzzle-loading muskets; it flashed through his mind that he was extremely lucky that modern firearms were so rare in this part of the world.

As he passed over their heads, Hammer reached out and caught the second-tier railing that bounded the luxury ocean liner's upper deck. He vaulted it, recalling for a moment his two years as a circus acrobat, and slid into an open door. The click of the latch seemed very loud; Hammer knew he had only a minute before the soldiers regrouped.

"Ahem."

Hammer looked up from his kneeling position, his hand going to the hand-forged knife in his belt. The speaker was a woman, early twenties, wearing a dressing gown and curlers in her hair, just turning in her seat from the mirror. The small cabin was otherwise empty.

"Pardon me," Hammer said. "You'll want to keep your head down for a while; there are Navy ships coming and they'll make sure the passengers are safe."

"Was that gunfire I heard?" the woman asked. She didn't seem scared.

"You'll be hearing it a lot more in a few minutes," Hammer replied. He stood. "Would you mind standing?"

"You must be a mercenary," she said, getting up. "We were told this part of the world is dangerous; I didn't imagine we'd be exposed to it."

Hammer grabbed the chair and wedged it under the cabin door handle. Not a moment too soon; the door shook with blows, and Hammer turned to the woman.

"Is there another way out of here?"

"Through the inside door," she said. Her eyes were bright. "Are you a pirate?"

Hammer pushed past her. She followed, talking casually, as if he had stopped in for coffee.

"Joe and I signed up for the cruise back in April. I didn't really want to go, but he was so intent on doing one last round-the-world trip… he's retiring next month, did I mention? We've been seeing each other – dating, really – for almost a year. He was down in the lounge an hour ago, did you see him?"

Ignoring her, Hammer scanned the next room. He knew the soldiers would be at least familiar with the cruise liner's layout, and that meant that he had only a few minutes to either escape or hide. The Navy boats would protect the passengers, but Hammer himself wouldn't be so lucky.

The cabins on the upper level were large, opulent, and Hammer saw at once that this particular one stretched all across the deck to the opposite rail. Joe – whoever he was – must be enormously wealthy. Without looking back, Hammer said, "The other side of the ship. Are there lifeboats like the ones on this side?"

"Starboard? Sure, the whole liner's outfitted. We wouldn't want to end up like those poor fools on the Titanic, would we? Joe had his people check out all the safeties before we boarded…"

She prattled on. Hammer cracked the opposite door; so far, no one in sight, and the pounding on the wedged door continued. Any minute now… Hammer grabbed the woman's arm and pulled her out of the cabin. Shocked, she stopped talking, and Hammer led her over to the rail. Sure enough, there was a row of lifeboats, all secured and covered in heavy canvas. The deck was empty; all the other passengers, hearing the gunfire, had fled to their cabins.

"Come on," he said, as the woman began to pull away. "You don't want to be caught in there when those soldiers get through."

"The idea! I am a paying customer! They would never dare touch me!"

"You haven't traveled much, have you?" Hammer asked. He looked down over the rail; about five meters, give or take. The nearest stairs were easily twenty meters in either direction. Hammer said, "I'm going over. Follow me and you'll get out of this alive."

The woman said, "You can't be serious."

"I won't be able to come back up to get you, so come on!"

"I'll just get the purser. He'll know what to do-"

No time; Hammer could hear through the two open doors that the pounding had stopped.

In a single motion, he swept the woman off her feet and into his arms. As she began to shriek, Hammer took the railing in a single bound, and the breath whooshed from her body as they dropped five meters and landed, Hammer's powerful legs taking the impact with barely a tremor.

"How did you-"

Hammer put her down and ran to the lifeboat; she followed, hesitant. Around to the other side, he pulled his knife and slit the canvas just over the edge, where it tied off. He cut a two meter slit, pulled the canvas up, and said, "Get in."

"I will not – what are you doing?"

No time, no time! Hammer slithered into the lifeboat. He felt the deck shaking; the soldiers were coming the long way around, but they'd be in sight any second.

"Get in," he hissed to the woman. "Or you will be killed, I promise!"

She got in. Hammer stretched the canvas back over the edge of the lifeboat, and they listened, lumped together in the small space, as the soldiers rumbled past and around, shouting, searching.

"What are they looking for?" she whispered.

"Me, and what I have," he whispered back. "I stole something."

"So you are a pirate!"

"Shhh! No, it has nothing to do with piracy. There are some evil people who wanted to use this item for terrible ends. I don't know all the details, but I was sent here to retrieve it."

The voices outside grew louder as the soldiers milled around, confused.

"I got on board at the last port," Hammer continued, barely sub-vocalizing. "I think I saw you, actually; I was the waiter who saved your dress from that drunk's spilled drink."

"Oh," she said. "You have very good reflexes. By the way, how did you make that jump? Your legs should have been broken!"

"I spent four years studying Yoga and mountain-climbing in Tibet. If there's one thing you learn when trying to follow goats up sheer mountainsides, it's how to fall long distances without hurting yourself."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"You're alive, right? Stop worrying about the how and help me figure out how to get off this ship."

Incredibly, the woman smiled. "I think I can help you. My name is Diana, and I'm here for the same reason you are."

Hammer narrowed his eyes. The bright sunlight outside illuminated the small lifeboat space, allowing him to examine the woman – Diana – more closely. She was shorter than his own almost-two-meter frame, but now he could see the taut muscles in her arms, the hard lines in her face barely obscured by makeup.

"Diana Wilkox," she said. "InterPol. You're a mercenary?"

"No," Hammer said after a pause. "Dirk Hammer. The CIA hired me to retrieve the-"

"-Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám," Diana finished. "Yes, we both are, it seems."

"I hope this won't affect our new friendship," Hammer said, and smiled. "It seems I got to it first."

He reached behind himself, squirming in the tight space, and pulled out a flat package wrapped in oilcloth. "It wasn't hard to get it," he continued. "It's getting off this ship alive that's the problem."

"I understand." Diana moved closer to him, if such a thing were possible. The quarters were tight; she made them tighter.

"The code in the book is vital to International security," she said. Her voice had gotten deeper; her breath tickled his face. The confined space heated in the beating sunlight.

"Yeah, well, it's also vital to the security of the United States," Hammer replied. "There's only one copy."

"One copy. Do you think your people really need it? After all, InterPol is committed to keeping the entire world safe. Obviously your country would be included in that international blanket of safety."

Diana's robe had become loose. The skin underneath was evenly and deeply tanned. Hammer's eyes narrowed.

"I don't know if I want to take that chance," he said, and pushed upwards, driving his knife through the canvas.

Diana gave a little yelp of dismay, but Hammer was already outside on the deck. He looked around, satisfied that his instincts had been true.

"How did you know the soldiers weren't around?" Diana asked, sitting up.

"I could feel the vibrations of their feet through the lifeboat cables," Hammer replied. "I spent a year in solitude in the mountains of Xanadu, meditating on the harmonies between all things. I could feel it when they went back around the side of the cabins. We have maybe three minutes before they start around again."

"What do you-"

Hammer grabbed Diana's arm and pulled her out of the lifeboat. "No time," he said, and steered her through a convenient door into the upper galley. Diana grabbed a cook's long white coat from a rack as they passed. Hammer's mind spun with his memorized map of the cruise ship and its various spaces.

"We can't take a lifeboat," Diana said, as if reading his mind. "It will take too long to lower it, and the soldiers will have a gunboat off the side."

"You didn't see one?"

"I've been playing the part of socialite," she said. "Except for some very minor reports I didn't have any contact with my people. It was important to be entirely in the character."

"Entirely," Hammer muttered. All the cooks were gone; the gunfire had made everyone go to ground. All Hammer carried during missions was his handmade knife; he had a minimalist mindset, but now he wished he'd packed a few guns.

"I think we both know that we can't escape alone," Diana said. Outside, they heard shouts; the soldiers had found the lifeboat with the torn canvas. Diana and Hammer ducked down behind a counter.

"The soldiers are dull, but not stupid," Hammer whispered. "They'll start combing the ship properly in a few minutes. The gunboat will circle, so we can't swim for it."

"I have an idea." Diana peeked over the side of the counter, and then crawled to a cupboard. She rifled through it, pulling out some items, and then crawled back. "Just give me a minute…"

Hammer watched as Diana mixed some powders and liquids together, pouring the resulting slime into a bottle. She carefully wobbled it back and forth, but didn't shake it.

"Simple explosive," she said, smiling. "Got a match?"

Colonel Mahir Aiyalot, 7th Division, stalked down the hallway towards the galley. He had seen the American, seen him vanish like a ghost only to reappear and fight through a full division of his men before disappearing again. It seemed that there was someone with him; it wouldn't have surprised the veteran soldier if the American had help from someone on the ship.

Two of Mahir's most trusted men walked with him. They'd sent the bulk of their forces around to the other exit; Mahir trusted in his own abilities to hold this side if need be. Considering the abilities demonstrated by the American, the Colonel was worried that they'd need to kill him instead of capturing and interrogating him.

He positioned the two men by the galley door. This side led directly to the dining area, with the small antechamber hallway hiding the bustle of the galley from the passengers. Mahir drew his curved sword, a relic from a previous war, and entered.

The first thing he saw was the figures of a man and woman; the American wore a ripped shirt and held a knife to the throat of the woman, who wore a white cook's coat. The man saw Mahir and shouted, "No closer! She's a passenger and I'm holding her hostage!"

The Colonel stopped in his tracks, making a gesture to halt his men. The American stood in the alcove between two stoves, his back to the wall. Mahir smiled in his mind; he knew that there was no way out of the galley that wasn't through him or through his other forces.

"Do not harm her," he said in accented English. "You have no reason to hurt an innocent woman."

"She's my ticket out of here!"

"You should let her go and give us terms."

"You won't negotiate if I let her go!"

Mahir slowly moved forward. "You should let her go," he said, and dropped his sword. "I will be your hostage."

The hostage's eyes widened. The American said, "You'd let me hold you against my own life?"

"This," Mahir said, "is only proper according to the codes of battle. An innocent should never be unnecessarily harmed."

The American lowered his knife. Mahir stepped forward. The American said, "That makes me feel really bad about this."

A powerful explosion ripped through the galley.

Hammer and Diana crouched in the small chamber, hearing the explosion two rooms away.

"How did you do that?" Diana asked.

"I studied electronics and imagery with Edison," Hammer said. "Light can be transmitted in dark or enclosed spaces; the large mirror reflected our images in the galley through that pinhole, and through the array of glassware I set up while you set the explosive."

"You're full of surprises," Diana said. "I almost believe you know what you're doing."

Hammer smiled. "Don't get cocky just yet. We have only a few minutes before the soldiers regroup."

"Did you mean what you said about killing that man?"

"He showed personal honor in battle. I hate to take lives without necessity, but to take the life of an honorable man is almost worse than killing an innocent."

"He'd have killed you without thinking."

"But for reasons of honor, not of evil. No matter who employed him, that man was worth ten of his own."

Hammer took Diana's arm and led her down the stairs. The air had started to fill with smoke; some part of the ship was on fire. They could hear the sounds of evacuation, alarms, the shrieks of pampered passengers made to discomfort themselves and leave their belongings behind.

"So," Hammer said. "Did you have an escape plan?"

"Just a contingency," Diana replied. "I expected to take the book on the last day and disembark with the passengers. They'd never have noticed it until I was long gone. You?"

"My escape plans," Hammer said, "never go according to, ha, plan. Someone always starts shooting or punching and then I have to make a mess. I feel sometimes like trouble follows me around."

"I'm certainly following you," Diana said. "But we should try to get to the underwater observation deck. It will bypass the passenger evacuation route and get us to the outer hull with fewer distractions."

"What good will going deeper into the ship do us?"

"The crew puts on underwater shows for the passengers," Diana said. "I read it in the brochure. They have undersea gear, breathing apparatus, quality things to make their guests pay more in tips. We could steal some and escape underwater."

"And avoid the gunboat," Hammer said. "Good thinking. You might actually be an undercover operative after all."

"I get by on being underestimated," Diana muttered.

They heard noise in the hall ahead. Hammer said, "Stay behind me," and pushed through the door.

Two soldiers, muskets up, shining lights into every corner. Hammer began to run. They noticed him as he reached the halfway point, and before they could shout Hammer's thrown knife killed one of them where he stood. The other flinched as his friend fell back, and then Hammer was on him.

The soldier was not a simple grunt. Contrary to media portrayals, most soldiers are highly trained and efficient in the killing arts. Hammer disarmed the soldier with a kick, and then found himself falling back as the soldier attacked with his service kukri.

The fight was fast and brutal. Hammer, using the ancient martial art of Baritsu, recovered his balance and went on the offensive; the soldier would have been more than a match for any ordinary fighter, but Hammer was far from ordinary. Evading the kukri, Hammer pulled the soldier's arm into a lock, twisted, and snapped it at the elbow. The soldier cried out; Hammer continued his movement, directing the soldier by the broken arm, and slammed him headfirst into the wall.

Diana had barely had time to reach the two men.

"You could leave some for me," she said, nudging the dead man with her foot.

Hammer retrieved his knife and handed Diana the kukri. "Fighting is not egalitarian," he said. "You can fill in when the corners get full."

They continued to the lower decks. The air cleared of smoke; while the fires burned above, it wouldn't reach the lower decks for some time. They passed a few straggling passengers and crew; Hammer directed them towards safety.

No more soldiers stood in their path. The observation deck was split into two sealed rooms, the first dry and comfortable for the passengers, with the heavy glass port on one wall and another glass port on the far wall, where interested passengers could watch as the crew set up their equipment. Diana led Hammer to the heavy lock that separated the two rooms.

"We can put on the breathing gear and escape through the water lock," she said. "I have a boat waiting around the point of the island; it's just a working sloop, so it won't attract attention."

"I was going to take a lifeboat," Hammer replied, "but your plan is better. It's always good to avoid attention."

Diana spun the locking wheel. The heavy port opened, and she stepped through. As Hammer moved to follow, a shadow fell across his eyes; he turned and barely avoided another kukri, swung hard by a huge soldier. He bumped into the port, felt his impact knock Diana back inside and slam the lock shut.

Diana shouted, but was muffled by the thick glass. She watched Hammer fighting the soldier, and then felt a gaze on her back. She turned. It was Colonel Mahir Aiyalot, bloody and charred but very much alive.

"Terrorists," he said, spitting blood, "deserve no honor."

He attacked.

Mahir had, by his long experience in war, anticipated some sort of ambush, and had not walked into the galley unprepared. Although he hadn't foreseen the optical illusion, let alone the explosion, he had been sure of an attack from the side, and so had deliberately positioned himself by a thick counter. When Diana's explosive blew the galley apart, Mahir had dived, barely ahead of the blast, and most of the shockwave and fireball had passed above.

While his ears bled and his head pounded with burst capillaries, Mahir remained focused on his goal; detention or termination of the terrorists who had attacked this peaceful cruise vessel. Mahir had no knowledge of the Rubáiyát, or the code inside; all he had was his honor and his duty, and he'd let himself into the waterlock through a deck-side hatch, meant for emergencies.

Diana, caught off-guard, fought back. Unlike Hammer, her training had been in formal martial arts, focusing on deep stances and powerful short-range strikes. Mahir expected her to fall immediately, or try to fight with fancy high kicks. Instead, she rooted herself to the floor, fending him off at first defensively and then with more and more power. Mahir found himself backing up, although Diana barely moved from her initial position.

Hammer, inside the waterlock, kicked the giant's legs out, and followed him to the ground with a killing elbow. He leaped to his feet, rushed to the glass. The locking wheel refused to turn; Hammer kicked it, to no avail.

Mahir stood back. Diana, breathing steadily, seemed to see only the Colonel, her entire world narrowed to the pinpoint of Mahir's threat.

"I should have expected that this man would have an accomplice on board," Mahir said. He gestured to Hammer, helpless behind the heavy glass. "No terrorist, no matter how fanatic, works alone."

"We're not here to hurt anyone," Diana said softly. "The soldiers attacked us. Your men are trying to kill us. We have our own mission."

"You will not succeed," Mahir replied. "Already the passengers are safely off this ship. This day will not be one of media and celebration for your evil ideology."

Diana cocked her head. "We're not here to-"

She stopped. Stood upright out of her stance.

"He is," she said, and pointed at Hammer. "He was sent here to blow up the ship."

Hammer's chest tightened. He hit the glass again; it shook but held firm.

"I'm InterPol," she said. "I'm undercover, and I found him out. I was keeping him from carrying out his plan while the passengers escaped."

"She's lying!" Hammer shouted.

Mahir looked back and forth. "Why would he believe you?"

"Because of this," Diana said, and held out the oilcloth package. The Rubáiyát, with the code.

Hammer's eyes bulged in shock; he realized that Diana had stolen it, with incredible deftness of hand, as they'd collided before the water-lock separated them.

She must have been just waiting for the right time, he thought, and pounded on the glass.

Mahir seemed to reach a decision. He looked back at Hammer.

"You are safely confined," he said. "I will get my men and take you under arrest. This will be a great victory-"

Mahir's next words came with a gout of blood; the blade of the kukri that Hammer had given Diana appeared in his chest, and he shuddered and collapsed. Hammer swore; Diana, it seemed, was far less concerned with collateral damage than he.

She dropped the blade and walked to the glass. Hammer looked around. This side was sealed; the outer hatch could open, but he had no reason to leave with the Rubáiyát out of his hands.

"Thanks," she said. Hammer frowned at her serene expression; she seemed entirely unphased by the casual murder. "By the way, I don't really work for InterPol. Well, not all the time. Now, what should I do with you?"

Hammer struck the glass, and felt a twinge of satisfaction when Diana startled. "Don't waste words," he said. "Let me out, or leave me here. I'll be back for you either way."

Diana suddenly smiled. She shed her blood-spattered coat, revealing a very small bathing suit. Hammer's eyes widened.

She turned and walked away, to the far wall. There was an ornamental screen, which Diana kicked aside. Behind it, Hammer could see a hole and something metallic…

Diana pulled her legs up and over into the hold. She turned, waved the oilcloth package at Hammer, and vanished into the hole.

Hammer pulled his knife and scored the heavy glass with three powerful strokes. He reared back and fired a powerful Baritsu kick into the center of his scratches, and the glass crazed around the impact. He kicked again, and it shattered, and Hammer was through. He jumped over Mahir's body and reached the hole; the metallic shape had vanished. Without hesitation Hammer leaped through and found himself sliding down a slick metal tube; he sensed the sea rushing up beneath himself and took a deep breath.

When he opened his eyes, Hammer was underwater, the wake of the cruise ship spinning him around. The bright tropical sunlight lit up the world beneath the waves as bright as day; Hammer focused and saw the cruise ship moving in one direction, and a small metal tube moving in the other.

A single-person submersible device; Diana's "contingency" plan, apparently, had been her goal all along.

Hammer shook his head, then swam for the surface.

Three weeks later, Diana Wilkox strode through the streets of Cairo. The incident with Hammer had broken her cover, and although she'd dropped the package at a safe location, she needed to stay out of the game for a while. Cairo was a good place to lie low; because of the recent pyramid excavations, there was a lot of international business and therefore a great number of tourists.

Wanting to keep occupied, Diana had signed on with a small security firm to be a lookout. Nobody suspected a woman of being involved with security, or of being dangerous, for that matter. She sat at her small cafe table outside the client's building, ordered coffee, and sat watching the front gate. There were two armed guards outside. Diana had sat watching this building for almost a week. Aside from normal business, nothing had happened.

Diana sipped her coffee, felt the sun beat down on her broad-brimmed hat, resigned to weeks of boredom while the InterPol situation died down.

An enormous explosion blew out one of the building walls. The streets were filled with smoke and dust in an instant. Diana, already on her feet, pulled the small pistol from her purse and charged into the fray.

And collided with a large, muscular man, running in the opposite direction. His shirt was torn nearly off his torso, blonde hair caked with dust, eyes gleaming-

"Hammer!"

"Fancy meeting you here," Dirk Hammer said. He lunged past her and put a guard down with a single blow to the temple. "Not to be rude, but we need to be going."

Diana asked, almost in a shriek as they ran, "What happened in there?"

"Job went bad," Hammer replied. "I delivered my message – don't worry, it has nothing to do with you – but somebody recognized me."

"Why blow up the building?"

"Ah, now that wasn't me," Hammer said. "You were involved in guarding the building, right?"

They turned a corner. The air was clearer here. The stone streets echoed with another explosion, and Hammer pulled them both into a cul-de-sac in the wall.

"Well, let's just say the opium trade is out one of their biggest stockpiles," Hammer said, grinning. "I was just going to confirm the building, but the people you were guarding against got past you."

Diana looked past him into the street. All the commotion was a block away, but Diana heard sirens.

"You're pretty good," Hammer continued. He pulled the remains of his shirt around his chest, but the garment was clearly done for. "I didn't even notice you until last week."

"I never saw you at all," Diana admitted reluctantly.

"I'm also pretty good," Hammer said. He pulled her into an embrace. "Play along."

The street outside the cul-de-sac grew busy with police, on foot and in ancient cars painted a sickly blue.

"Where will you go now?" Diana whispered into his ear.

"I have to turn in my report, but then I'm free. We should take some time to catch up; we have a lot to talk about."

"I thought we'd covered everything."

"Your moral compass needs a little adjustment," Hammer said. "Although I expect you to be an unwilling student."

"How about a cruise?"

"Nothing better," Hammer said. "Too bad about your job here."

"It was almost over anyway," Diana said. "I guess it's karma; I mess up one of your jobs, you mess up one of mine."

Hammer pulled his face back a little. "What?"

"The Rubáiyát?"

"Oh, of course." The sirens and commotion had all centered around the shattered building, and the street was clear. Hammer let go of the embrace and pulled a wrapped package from the small of his back, where it had been tucked in his waistband.

"I got that back weeks ago," he said, and grinned. "Anyway I hear Jamaica is lovely this time of year?"

BIO:

Asher Wismer is an Educator for eNotes.com, living and working in Maine, USA. He has had flash fiction featured on the website 365tomorrows.com, as well as short stories published in the following venues:

"December in Florida," Holiday of the Dead, from Wild Wolf Publishing

"Jobs Taken," Action: Pulse Pounding Tales Vol. 1, from Matt Hilton

"Safety in Numbers," Hunger Pangs: Dark Confessions, from The MayDay Collective

"Evil and Life," Weird Noir, from Fox Spirit Press

"Norm," thewifiles.com

"Hurting People for Fun and Profit," serial novel on Jukepopserials.com

"True to the Song," Fox Pockets Piracy, from Fox Spirit Press (upcoming) "Best of Show," Twisted Tales, from Wild Wolf Publishing

"War Most Willing," Fox Pockets Shapeshifters, from Fox Spirit Press (upcoming)