Jihad

CHAPTER 137

Kenan felt his pulse rise as the radio call came in. He answered smoothly, exactly as he had practiced a million times.

The response he got was one he hadn’t expected.

“LOOP is being closed,” replied the voice.

“Closed? But—”

“You’ll have to talk to the coast guard,” replied the man on the other side of the radio. “We’ve been ordered to return to shore. You’re to stop where you are and await further instructions. Other arrangements will be made.”

They were roughly seven minutes from the tie-up point, and another five from the control rig where they were to detonate the explosives. Could they be stopped in twelve minutes?

No, thought Kenan. No. Allah had brought them close enough to succeed.

They were expecting a response. Should he continue to protest? What would a “normal” ship do?

They would comply — there really was no choice, was there? — then the captain would contact his shipping company for directions, or perhaps make other arrangements to offload his crude.

“Roger, we copy,” said Kenan. “Aztec Exact is changing course and will await further instructions.”

He debated whether to use the radio distress call that was planned as a distraction. Perhaps he should save it until later.

No. Best to follow the plan as closely as possible. He pressed the button, jamming the radio frequencies with the bogus calls of a pleasure boat sinking miles away.

Twelve minutes. All he had to do was press the ignition button as the ship drew close to the platform. The explosion would rupture the pipeline and destroy the platform in one swoop.

“Helicopter,” said the helmsman.

Kenan looked toward the control platform. A helicopter had just taken off.

“They’re evacuating,” Kenan told him. “Just hold our course.”

Then he heard the sound of a rotor nearby and realized the helmsman had been talking about different craft completely.