Polar Quest

34

Tao watched as the beach receded in the darkness. Behind her back, she worked against the nylon line that bound her wrists. The flesh at the base of her thumbs was raw and bleeding from repeated attempts to pull free.

A layer of cool salt water sloshed across the bottom of the Zodiac, soaking both her and Kilkenny. Tao worked her legs beneath his head to keep his face from being submerged. From the shallow rise and fall of his chest, Tao knew he was still breathing.

Thirty minutes out from the beach, she saw the lights of a deep-sea fishing boat. The man in the bow of the Zodiac signaled the boat with a flashlight and was greeted with a reply. Another small wave rolled beneath the tiny boat and the layer of water rushed from bow to stern. The surge splashed over Tao’s legs and washed over Kilkenny’s face. As the water rolled back Kilkenny briefly opened an eye.

The pilot of the Zodiac cut the engine as it reached the stern of a Hatteras, and the man in the bow tossed up the lines. Once the boat was secured, one of the men grabbed Kilkenny by the armpits and started to lift. As the man pulled him to his feet, Kilkenny shifted his weight. The man lost both his balance and his grip and Kilkenny tumbled overboard.

‘Shit, I dropped the bugger.’

‘Fish him out, man. Duroc wanted them dropped further out.’

‘I don’t see him. I think he sunk.’

Kilkenny took a deep breath before hitting the water. Beneath the surface, he whipped his bound legs up and down in a dolphin kick and propelled himself under the fishing boat. BUD/S, the Navy’s basic training program for SEALs, included an exercise called ‘drown proofing,’ where trainees were dumped into a deep pool with their hands and feet bound. The purpose of the exercise was to remove the fear of drowning so the trainee could calmly focus on the situation.

Once under the boat, Kilkenny placed his back against the slime-covered keel and worked his way toward the stern. He started to sink and gave a sharp kick to push himself back in place. Near the stern, he bumped into one of the twin propellers with the top of his head, and a few tiny bubbles escaped from his nose. Moving by feel, he worked his hands around the blades and started rubbing the nylon line against the curved brass edge, hoping that the engines wouldn’t start.

The fishing line cut into his wrists as he tried to keep it taut against the blade. Weakened by tension and friction, the nylon line snapped and Kilkenny’s hands sped away from the propeller. His hands tingled as the blood rushed back into them.

He braced himself against the rudder and repeated the same maneuver with the ties around his ankles. From inside the ship a puttering sound throbbed into the water.

Cooling pumps, Kilkenny realized. They’re getting ready to start the engines.

As Kilkenny rubbed the line faster against the blade, his pulse raced and his lungs threatened to explode from his chest. On the other side of the fiberglass hull, the boat’s twin diesels rumbled to life. Kilkenny pulled hard on his bonds just as the pilot shifted the engines out of neutral. As the propeller engaged, Kilkenny felt the loops of nylon tear into his ankles, scraping off the layers of skin. Salt water burned his wounds and blood seeped through the torn flesh. Suddenly the constriction on his ankles disappeared and his legs flew apart, away from the propeller.

Kilkenny wondered if he’d lost his feet, then the numbness gave way to pain and the warm sensation of reawakened flesh. Pulling with his arms, he dove deep, away from the turning blades, and surfaced in the roiling froth behind the boat. He grabbed hold of the jump deck and caught his breath as the boat picked up speed and headed out to sea.

‘Is it okay if I fuck the bitch before we dump her?’ one of the men asked the captain of the boat as he leered at Tao from the bridge doorway.

‘What do I care?’ the captain answered. ‘Just don’t untie her.’

‘No way,’ the man replied. ‘I took a couple thumps from her already. I like her wrapped up just the way she is.’

The man closed the bridge door, stepped out onto the stern deck, and crouched over Tao. He pulled her shirt up to her armpits and yanked the cups of her bra away from her breasts. Tao struggled, trying to kick at him, but the man just laughed and sat on her knees. Moving down, he unfastened the top button of her pants and went to work on her zipper. Tao reared up and struck him squarely in the face with her forehead, crushing the fragile bones in his nose.

‘You fucking bitch!’ the man cursed, his eyes welling up with tears and blood gushing from his nostrils.

Kilkenny pulled himself up onto the jump deck and looked over the stern rail. The boat’s engine’s were deafening. From behind, he saw one of Duroc’s men sitting on Tao’s legs. He was cursing violently, his hand wrapped around Tao’s throat. Kilkenny vaulted over the rail, grabbed the man’s scalp with one hand, pulled back and twisted with the other. The sudden torque snapped the bones at the base of his skull, killing the man instantly. Kilkenny lifted the man off Tao and heaved him over the rail.

‘Bloody hell!’ the captain shouted.

Kilkenny turned as a man charged toward him from the bridge. He grabbed a pike pole off the rail and jabbed the blunt end into the man’s stomach. With a sharp, circular movement, Kilkenny then swept the end up and struck him on the side of his head. The man staggered sideways, colliding with the captain who’d emerged from the bridge with a pistol. Kilkenny spun the pike pole, hooked the captain’s ankle, and dropped him on the deck. With the blunt end, he struck the captain’s forearm hard enough to break bone. The gun clattered harmlessly to the deck.

Kilkenny picked up the pistol and fired a warning shot next to the captain’s head. ‘Don’t move.’

‘You okay?’ he asked Tao as he removed her gag.

‘Doesn’t matter,’ she replied, still furious, ‘just cut me loose.’

Kilkenny found a knife in the tackle box and cut her bonds. As she fixed her clothing, Kilkenny bound the two men.

‘We should toss them overboard,’ Tao said.

Kilkenny shook his head. ‘No.’

‘Why not? You dumped that would-be rapist.’

‘He was already dead.’ Kilkenny stepped onto the bridge and switched off the engines. ‘Anyway, I have a better idea.’

Kilkenny pulled the handset out of the ship’s radio and tossed it into the sea. He checked their current position against the charts and programmed a northerly course into the boat’s autopilot. He switched on the engines and set the speed at ten knots. The boat turned in a slow arc to the right, straightening out when the compass read zero degrees.

‘Time to shove off,’ Kilkenny said as he left the bridge.

He stepped down into the Zodiac and grabbed hold of the rail as Tao undid the lines and leapt aboard. The inflatable boat bobbed in the wake of the sport fisher as it pulled away.

‘So, where are they going?’ Tao asked.

‘North,’ Kilkenny replied as he started the outboard motor. ‘I figure by morning they should be in the territorial waters of Cuba.’