OUTCAST Ops: The Poseidon Initiative

THIRTY

Stephen Shah eased up on the throttle of the small fishing boat he had paid an exorbitant fee to borrow. He was sure that the handful of gold Krugerrands he’d given to the old man at the dock were worth more than the boat if he didn’t bring it back. But it seemed seaworthy and it had gotten him this far. The pair of binoculars tucked under the steering console were also a huge bonus.

He lifted the optics to his eyes and peered at the Hofstad boat from perhaps a quarter-mile away. One of the terrorists sat at the boat’s wheel while a second was reloading what Shah recognized as a sub-machine gun. That man stood over Naomi, who sat on the stern deck, back to the rail. Her arms were by her sides but he couldn’t tell whether they had been bound. The other three of the terrorists stood on the boat’s rail, watching the water intently.

Shah felt a surge of blind panic. Had Dante and Jasmijn been killed and tossed over the side? Or had they been thrown overboard while tied together? But then he scoped the scuba tanks on deck and forced himself to stay calm. They must be diving. Why, he hadn’t the foggiest notion. To retrieve something for Hofstad? They were close to the oil rig.

Perhaps Hofstad was forcing them to sabotage the rig somehow — plant explosives on it?

He scanned the water in the direction the men were looking but couldn’t see anything. He supposed they might be looking for or watching their air bubbles. He searched the surrounding water through the binoculars but still saw nothing. He didn’t ‘like the situation. Jasmijn seemed to be the safest of the three of them, since she had the specialized knowledge to create the antidote. But Nay and Dante, although they were posing as scientific colleagues, were basically assistants— temp help — and Shah wondered if, after whatever objective they had for this dive was achieved, Hofstad wouldn’t kill them off out here.

Almost subconsciously his hand dropped down to the Browning 9mm tucked into his waistband beneath his now untucked shirt. If he could only get close enough to the Hofstad boat, he might be able to neutralize them. But first he would have to find a way to bring his boat to them. If he were to speed over to them they would most likely gun him down.

He looked around the old boat, at the pile of nets and buoys on the deck, at the VHF marine radio on the console, at the battered old outboard motor mounted on the transom.

His eyes lingered there, then flicked back to the radio, then to the Hofstad boat. He found the switch to raise the motor and lifted its lower half out of the water. He then removed the cowling to expose its innards, as though he was working on it. He wiped some grease from the motor on his hands and smudged his forehead. Then he found the sparkplugs and removed one of them, pocketing it.

Shah walked back over to the console and picked up the radio. He verified it was set to the distress channel, then spoke in English while he keyed the transmitter.

“Attention, attention! Fishing boat requires assistance. Calling white boat near oil rig: can you help me? Motor won’t start. Think I just need a jump start. Please help, over.”

A couple of minutes passed during which Shah refrained from using the binoculars in case he himself was now being watched. Then the radio crackled to life in Dutch-accented English.

“Fishing boat, we acknowledge your transmission but we have divers in the water and cannot leave the area now, over.”

Shah gripped the transmitter and spoke into it. “Please, I am begging you. I am taking on water with no battery power to run my pump. If I just had a jump start I could help myself.”

About thirty seconds went by and Shah was beginning to think that they were ignoring him. But then the reply came.

“Fishing boat: all right. We can send a man over in our tender vessel to see if he can give you an assisted start. Stand by.”

Shah thanked them and dropped the transmitter. He heard the buzzing of a low horsepower motor start up, and then he saw a small boat speeding in his direction from Hofstad’s larger vessel.