Death Blow

18

Captain Prestwick found his shoes and led Murdock and Bradford down to the engine room. They met no Chinese on the walk.

“How many Chinese onboard?” Murdock asked.

“About thirty. Most of them are sleeping in vacant rooms. I don’t even know which ones. The purser should know. I’ll call him and he will give me the room numbers.”

At the engine compartment Murdock was surprised at the size of the place. In the far end was a closed off space where the controls and instruments were situated. Lam materialized from behind some huge pipes.

“Skipper, not sure how to dig these guys out. The door is locked but we could go through it. Trouble is, I don’t know what a fire fight with live rounds might do to these tubes and pipes.”

“Good thinking,” Captain Prestwick said. “I have a key to open the door, but what then?”

“An EAR round,” Bradford said.

“What if we get a bounce back here and it puts all of us down as well for four hours?” Murdock asked.

“Yeah, the quarters are a bit close.”

“Flash bang?” Lam asked.

“Could do it,” Murdock said. “Three of them. I have one.”

They found three, the captain took out a master key and three men pulled flash-bang grenade pins and held down the arming handles.

“Open the door only six inches,” Murdock said. “We pitch the flash bangs in to the middle of the area.” He nodded at the captain.

“Unlock it and pull it open.”

He did. The men threw in the grenades, felt one rifle round hit the metal door, then the captain pushed the door shut and latched it as the strobes went off inside and the six loud explosive sounds came though the walls.

The moment the sounds died, Murdock jerked open the door and the SEALs charged into the room. There were no shots fired. The six Chinese were all on the floor moaning and holding their ears. All had their eyes shut. The SEALs bound them with riot cuffs and found the two crewmen in a locked side room. They came out, and the captain told them that they might get under way in a few hours. The men began to check controls and instruments.

“Commander, you said there were some problems at engineering?” Captain Prestwick asked.

“Yes, can you take us there?”

Five minutes later they came to the engineering section where Fernandez watched a door.

“In there, Skipper. Two of them, they saw me and holed up. That room important?”

“If we want to run the ship,” Murdock said. “Captain, any ideas? A back door, flood the thing with teargas?”

“No back door, no tear gas. It’s a small room. One of those flash bangs should do it.”

Fernandez had one. The captain unlocked the door, Fernandez threw in the non-lethal grenade and two minutes later engineering was back in friendly hands.

The captain smiled. “I think I own my ship again. No, those other Chinese with their submachine guns could still kill some of my passengers. Let’s wake up the purser and find out which rooms the Chinese are using.

“The thirty men you mentioned, did that include the guards out front?”

The captain shook his head. “No, thirty onboard. You’ve accounted for some already, four on the bridge, six in engineering, maybe three or four more. That should leave twelve or fourteen sleeping. We need to surprise them before they can get to their guns.”

The purser was not pleased to be rousted out of bed at 0245, but when he saw the SEALs he became absolutely chipper and ecstatic.

“Damn right I know where they are, the fourteen rooms they demanded. All in the crew quarters. I put them in the four to a room area. I call it our dormitory rooms. They have four of them side by side. I’ll show you exactly where they are.”

Murdock called in reserves on the Motorola. He had eight men marching down the corridors to the crew deck. The purser opened the first door and four SEALs charged in, binding hands and feet on two Chinese before they knew what happened. One soldier put up a fight but was promptly knocked out with a slash of an MP5. They went to the end of the four rooms and opened that one.

In the last of the four rooms there were only three men, and one was awake and got off a shot with a pistol. The round missed and Howie Anderson charged him and broke his arm taking the weapon away from him.

“Little shit, I should break your neck,” Howie brayed. He was the closest to the fired round.

Captain Prestwick couldn’t keep a delighted smile off his face. It was 0323 when the last Chinese was bound. All were walked to the Promenade deck and their ankles retied. They would be put off the ship as soon as it was ready to pull away. The ship’s engines fired up, and the crew alerted, bailing out of warm beds ready for action.

The captain said it would take at least an hour to get the ship ready to move. There were no other large ships docked near the Queen of the Seas. The SEALs counted twenty-eight Chinese ready to be kicked off the ship.

“The other two were the ones at the gangplank,” Lam said. “That makes the thirty we need. No stowaways.”

By 0430, Captain Prestwick said they were ready. The SEALs cut the plastic cuffs on the Chinese men’s feet and led them down the gangplank. Once on the dock their feet were bound with another riot cuff and they were added to the tethered Chinese on the dock.

Murdock was the last SEAL up the gangplank before it was released by the ship. It would be stowed on the dock later.

Murdock hurried to the bridge. He wanted to see the captain maneuver the big ship out into the channel. At the same time, he called on Howie Anderson to bring up the SATCOM. Time to alert the fly boys that they might be needed. It wouldn’t take them long to get to Hong Kong, and if they were in the area it would be even better.

“Queen here, CAG,” Murdock said on the SATCOM. “We’ve cast off our lines and are starting to maneuver into the bay. So far no Chinese other than those unconscious or tied up, know what’s going on. There could be an alarm sounded at any time. Quicker here the better.”

“We’ve had cover on you for about an hour,” the CAG on the aircraft carrier Stennis said. “You can talk to them on channel two on your dial. I’ll turn you over to them.”

Murdock made contact on the first transmission.

“Skyhigh, this is the Queen, glad you’re nearby. We’re pushing away from the dock now. No alarm yet. Will let you know what’s happening.”

“Good, Queen. We’re flying CAP about ten miles off shore. Can be in your area in three or four minutes. Good luck.”

Murdock watched the huge ship edge away from the pier. She used some kind of side thrusters that blew water to the side of the ship to ease her into or away from a dock. At last they were twenty feet away, but not anywhere near far enough to start a turn. The engines purred and they moved like a snail with an outhouse on its back.

Murdock scowled. Damn, what about those destroyers he heard were based in Hong Kong? They could do thirty to thirty-two knots. The Queen could make twenty if she were at top speed. No contest if one of the Chinese destroyers was sent on a chase. He had no idea where the nearest Chinese military air base might be. The Tomcats could take care of the fighters, and the F18s could handle patrol boats, but would they sink a destroyer?

They were forty yards away from the pier when the nose of the big ship began to come around so she could head out of the harbor, and to the northwest at the same time. A siren wailed from the pier and Murdock could see the flashing lights of a police vehicle.

“Somebody knows that we’re gone,” the captain said.

Soon they were turned and picked up speed as they headed northwest out of the port. Far back, Murdock could see lights coming toward them, could be a patrol boat. He went to the Motorola.

“Gunners on the EAR, how many shots do you have left on this charge?”

Bradford came on first. “I’d say six.”

Train answered next. “Near as I can tell I have seven left.”

“Good, both of you get on the Pomenade deck. One on each side as far forward as practical. We may have some company soon. I see one, now three sets of lights heading our way. We’ll wait until they get in range and listen to them order us back to the dock. When they are close enough and before they open fire, we hit them with one round of EAR. That should put them dead in the water.”

“That’s a roger,” Bradford said. “Weapons free?”

“No, on my command.”

“Roger,” Train said.

Captain Prestwick moved over by Murdock. “This is quite a team you have here. You really get things done.”

“Our job, Captain. I just hope we don’t have any major problems, like a Chinese destroyer or a frigate. Both could do serious damage to your bridge, which is where they would shoot with machine guns and rockets.”

The captain paled and Murdock hurried on.

“We have jet fighters for support if we need them. They will track any warship and fend it off well out of range. At least we hope they will. We can handle the smaller patrol and harbor boats.

“Patrol boat coming up fast on our stern,” one of the crew on the bridge said.

“Right. Steady as she goes. We need to get away from here as fast as we can.”

“What’s that, Captain, twenty knots?”

“We’re going twenty-two right now. We’ll see.”

“Coming up fast, Skipper,” Bradford said. “She looks to be about a forty footer.”

“Let her come by you both. EAR guns hold your position near the bow on the Pomenade. That’s where your shots will be from. The patrol craft will try hailing us first, I’m sure.”

“If not?” Train asked.

“If any shots are fired by the craft, you have weapons free to fire one round.”

“Confirmed,” Bradford and Train said almost at the same time.

“Patrol craft at three hundred yards astern, Captain,” the First Officer said.

“Noted.”

Murdock left the bridge, ran down the steps to the Promenade deck and hurried forward. He was on Train’s side. He spotted the SEAL about forty yards ahead of him. He could also see the first patrol boat jolting through the quiet waters at top speed and closing the gap between the boats.

Train turned as Murdock came up. “My side,” Train said. “He can’t be fifty yards off.”

Train held the EAR weapon tightly against his thigh to make it hard to see as the patrol craft caught the luxury liner and moved ahead toward the bow. It slowed opposite the high bridge and a loudspeaker sounded.

“Queen of the Seas, you are commanded to throttle back and take on boarders. I say again, throttle back to all stop and prepare to take on boarders.”

The big ship kept moving, turning away slightly from the patrol boat. The small craft matched the turn and gave the warning again. When there was no response to the command, a man hurried on the fore deck of the craft and sat at what looked like a machine gun.

“Fire, Train,” Murdock said. It took him a moment to refine his sight on the broad side of the ship and fired. The whoosh came and then almost at once the man on the machine gun fell off the seat and lay on the deck. The boat kept moving but Murdock figured there was no one conscious on board. Lam was still on the bridge.

“Lam, ask the captain to make a sharper turn, I think the patrol boat is on auto pilot. The personnel on board are taking a nap.”

Murdock saw the big boat swing more to the left. This time the patrol boat did not follow, it kept moving straight ahead and would, Murdock decided, until it ran out of diesel or was boarded by friendly forces.

He turned to look for the other patrol boats he’d seen before as lights. He found only one, and it was five minutes away.

“Anderson, find me on the forward Promenade deck with the SATCOM.” Two minutes later Murdock took the handset.

“Skyhigh, this is Queen, talk to me.”

“Queen, holding ten out. Any problems?

“We had one patrol boat that we took care of. Another set of lights coming but about the same size. How long does it take to get a Chinese destroyer up to power and moving after us?”

“I’d say three hours. Could have personnel problems. In two hours you’ll be well into international waters.”

“What about those channels and all the islands? Doesn’t that mean the international part is twenty beyond them?”

“Not sure, Queen. I’ll ask the professor.”

There was a lot of empty air. The boat behind them was gaining rapidly. It must be doing forty knots. Still two minutes away.

“Queen, nobody awake is sure. You’re hitting the West Lamma Channel, I’d bet. That puts you nine miles from the tip of the north end of Victoria and you’re past the last Chinese Island. That’s a half hour for you guys at twenty-two knots.”

“Sounds better. We have one small problem in that patrol boat. She’s almost here. Hold.”

Murdock still carried the Bull Pup. He worked aft to a good firing position and waited. He knew the Chinese patrol craft would be in radio contact with each other. When the lead boat went dead on the air, the back one wouldn’t take any chances. Its commander would open fire as soon as he was within range. Murdock checked the laser sighting on the boat and figured it was about a mile and a half away. In another half mile the patrol boat’s .50 caliber would be in range, and Murdock would bet the ranch that he would fire.

Time seemed to crawl by. Murdock checked the patrol rig twice a minute. That didn’t make it come any sooner. Now Murdock was following the boat with the scope and the laser. He could see someone onboard, on a .50-caliber machine gun. The man charged in a round. Do it now.

Murdock lasered on the boat and fired. The jolt to his shoulder as the 20mm round went off and spun out of the barrel was as usual; but it had been a while, and it surprised Murdock. He got on target with his scope again and saw the round explode in the small boat’s antenna. He worked the bolt and fired again, this time the round exploded on target slightly forward, smashing out the glass in the small bridge area and probably killing the driver.

The boat made a slow turn to the left and then went dead.

“Nice shooting, Skipper,” Train said. “That motherfucker was about ready to rake us with some fifties, wasn’t he?”

“He was.”

“Now what other problems can we try and stay away from?”

“Skipper,” Lam called.

“Go, Lam.”

“The captain wants you up here pronto. To the bridge.”

“I’m moving.”

Three minutes later, Murdock walked into the bridge and looked at Captain Prestwick who put down the phone and scowled. He shook his head and then saw Murdock.

“Our commo people have been monitoring Chinese radio in the port. The boys over there are mad as hell. They know they have lost two patrol boats and they are working on getting a frigate under way. The frigate was due to sail at six this morning which is just a little more than two hours from now. So she was getting steam up and going through pre-sailing procedures. They just compressed those and the frigate will be ready to sail in thirty minutes.

“We’ve turned around the tip of Victoria, and are on a heading almost due south, but we have about ten miles to sail to get out of the islands down there. So technically we’ll still be in Chinese water. In a half hour we should make it to the islands, but not out the twenty miles of territorial water that China claims. You better call in your big guys with the wings on them for some help.”