Choke Point

FIFTY-FOUR

A piece of debris must’ve struck Kozak’s shoulder blade during the explosion, because he had a welt the size of a grapefruit forming there. He stood in front of the bathroom mirror, strangely fascinated by the wound. After a moment, he rinsed his face and frowned over the commotion coming from the living room. He ventured outside to find everyone huddled around Ross’s computer, with Diaz’s face appearing in one window, Mitchell’s in another. Diaz was glancing offscreen, scanning a report:

‘Those tattoos are Mentawai from Sumatra, Indonesia,’ she explained. ‘They come in three phases. The first takes place during childhood, at eleven or twelve, with tattoos beginning on the upper arms. The second happens at eighteen or nineteen, when they get tattoos on their thighs. The third and final phase occurs when someone is fully grown. What interests me the most are the tattoos on your driver’s wrists.’

Ross nodded. ‘They look newer, don’t they?’

‘Yeah, they do. Maybe a few weeks, maybe just a month ago, suggesting that he’s been there recently.’

‘Suggesting that maybe they recruited him from that area,’ said Ross. ‘And he’s been coming back and forth.’

‘You could be right,’ said Diaz.

Another window opened on Ross’s laptop, and now Maziq had joined the call. ‘Hello there, Captain. I have the information you requested — all the ships that left both Massawa and Aden after the Ocean Cavalier arrived. I used a six-hour window. But I have to tell you, the list is pretty long. I count seventeen vessels between both ports.’

‘Are any of those ships headed for Sumatra, Singapore or Malaysia?’ Ross asked.

‘Checking.’

‘Ross, I admire your tenacity, but this is a long shot,’ said Mitchell.

‘I know that, sir, but if you’ll just give me a chance. I’m confident they recruited this guy out of Sumatra.’

‘This is interesting,’ Diaz said. ‘About three months ago, Saif Hamid was spotted in Singapore before we lost him. The sighting has been confirmed, so he was definitely in the neighborhood.’

‘I’ve got three ships all headed in that general vicinity,’ said Maziq. ‘Two out of Massawa, but this one looks like your best bet. She’s a Panamanian-registered bulk carrier, Duman. She arrived in Aden at 0623 local time and pulled out at 1420. If the weapons were transferred to another container, they could’ve been off-loaded to the container yard in Aden and just sat there until Duman arrived.’

‘That’s exactly what happened,’ Ross said.

‘Duman’s not scheduled to arrive in Singapore for another eleven days.’

‘Eleven days?’ asked Pepper.

Maziq frowned. ‘She weighs thirty-six thousand tons, and her max speed is only twelve knots.’

‘What’re you complaining about?’ said 30K. ‘That’ll give you plenty of time to heal up.’

‘Ms Diaz? Maziq? Thank you for the intel,’ said Mitchell. ‘We’re in your debt. Now if you don’t mind, I need to speak to Captain Ross.’

‘No problem, sir,’ said Diaz. ‘Good to see you again.’

‘You, too.’

‘I’m here if you need me,’ said Maziq before his comm window vanished.

Mitchell waited a moment, then cleared his throat. ‘Captain, you might be on to something, but I have to say … I’ve still got a lot of reservations. Let me gather a little more intel, and I’ll get back to you. In the meantime, your evac is still on the way.’

‘Thank you, sir,’ said Ross. ‘We look forward to hearing from you soon.’ He ended the link and glanced up at Kozak. ‘We’re not walking away.’

Kozak sighed with relief. ‘Hell, no, sir.’

The next morning Ross and the others were driven to the airport by Oliver. Before they boarded the Gulf Stream jet that Mitchell had sent for them, they said their good-byes to the old man, who pulled Ross aside. ‘You lost someone close to you, which is why you asked about my daughter. The pain is who you are …’

Ross would not allow the burning sensation behind his eyes to go any further. He nodded and hurried away.

By the time the jet left the ground, Ross had learned that Mitchell had put in a request with the Navy to have one of their littoral combat ships (LCS) intercept and shadow the Duman from just over the horizon.

‘Are we still on mission?’ he asked the major, who stared back at him from a window on Ross’s laptop.

A smile nicked the corners of Mitchell’s mouth. ‘What do you think?’