Choke Point

FIFTY-SIX

Later in the evening, word reached Ross that Duman had left the shipping channel and was heading toward the northern entrance to the Rupat Strait, which detoured around the western side of Rupat Island before again merging with the Strait of Malacca. The following evening, a helo had lifted off from the island and was heading toward the container ship.

‘That looks suspicious enough to me,’ Wagner told Ross.

‘Roger that. We need to reconnoiter that island.’

‘We’ll get you there. In the meantime, we’ll have higher work things out with the Sumatran government so you boys don’t get a ticket for trespassing.’ Wagner grinned and winked.

Ross and the others quickly familiarized themselves with the area and worked out a hasty reconnaissance mission with Wagner and Mitchell, along with intel updates from Maziq.

Rupat was a circular island lying three miles off the eastern coast of Sumatra, in the Riau province of Indonesia. The island was swampy and sparsely populated, with only one primary settlement, Batupanjang, on the southwestern coast. A few primitive villages of thatched-roof huts, along with some rickety piers and a small fishing boat rental place, were up on the northern coast. Just up the beach from them stood the more modern Tanjung Medang Lighthouse, an impressive 171-foot-tall tower with lantern and gallery, along with keepers’ huts on the small cape. Every ten seconds a brilliant white flash marked the narrower section of the strait. Most of the island’s tropical wet interior was too difficult to explore and still belonged to the insects and wildlife. Seasonal floods made farming all but impossible, save for some rice paddies in the south. With a diameter of just thirty miles, Rupat was a mere blip on the map, and Ross had never heard of the island until now. The Malaysian government planned to build a bridge from Melaka to Rupat and on to Dumai, the ‘Malacca Strait Bridge.’

Down in their quarters, Ross briefed the team, and they were champing at the bit to get off the ship and get back on dry land. Pepper was okay, but Kozak and 30K had suffered mild cases of seasickness, and that amused Ross no end.

‘All right, this is a recon,’ Ross said. ‘And as you boys might say, we’re going in light to get the ground truth, doing what we do best. See you up top.’