Running Dark

22

“I NEED TO SPEAK TO YOUR FATHER,” SUMNER SAID. “CAN YOU take me to him?”

“Of course,” Marina said. “But why?”

“I have some questions.” Sumner handed Block the Dragunov.

“Oh, yeah, now, this is what I need!” Block’s eyes lit up. “Those pirates come back and they’re history.” Block was like a child with a new toy. He pretended to sight something in the distance. Sumner reached out and gently pulled the scope away from Block’s eye. He bent the gun on its side and flipped a small switch near the trigger.

“What did you do?” Block said.

“Switched it from automatic to semiautomatic. I don’t have a lot of ammunition. You have to make every shot count.”

“I just switch it back if I need automatic?”

“Don’t.”

“But if I need it? The switch will set it back?”

Sumner had a terrifying vision of Block spraying the water with ammunition, all of it falling far short of its mark.

“No. The switch sets it back to auto or semiauto depending on how you depress the trigger. One pull will give you one shot. Hold it down and the gun will continue to fire until you release it.”

“Hell, put that back. Saves me a step. I promise to use it semi until I need it auto.”

Sumner shook his head. “Under stress you are far more likely to hold the trigger down out of sheer panic. Kind of like the way a new driver hammers the gas pedal instead of the brake when an accident looms.”

“I’m no new driver.”

Sumner reached out to take the gun.

Block danced backward, out of his reach. “Okay, okay. You win. I’ll leave it on semi for now. Don’t worry.”

Sumner had a lot of concerns, but he kept them to himself. He turned to Marina. “After you.” They headed to the lower decks. Marina took a hallway that wound toward the casino.

“He’s gambling right now,” she said.

“So he’s not worried about the pirates?”

Marina seemed to consider the question a moment before responding. “He likely is anxious about them, but he greatly enjoys gambling, so that’s where we will find him.”

Sumner thought it best not to comment on Herr Schullmann’s habits. In fact, when they reached the casino entrance, it became clear that many of the ship’s passengers were escaping reality by losing their money. The casino hummed with activity. Bells dinged from the slot machines, dice landed on green felt with muffled thuds, and the dealers murmured in low tones as they ran the games. The area was surprisingly full, mostly with men. Sumner didn’t see one woman gambling. Even the bartender who’d poured him a whiskey hours ago was gone. One lone female croupier dealt a hand of blackjack to the French businessmen. Sumner spied the Russian at a roulette wheel, sans mistress, and Herr Schullmann leaned against a craps table watching the thrower fling the dice. Marina made her way through the stations. She slid up against the rail next to her father. Sumner remained a step behind her. Herr Schullmann flicked a glance at his daughter, then returned his gaze to the game.

“What do you want?” Herr Schullmann spoke in German. His voice held a gravelly tone, like that of a smoker who’d destroyed his vocal cords. He was in the same dark slacks from earlier, but he’d changed into a polo shirt that did little for his paunch. Sumner pegged him as a machine-tool operator made good. He had little doubt that if he were to meet Herr Schullmann at his factory, he’d find him with his sleeves rolled up and dirt under his fingernails. Sumner was raised in Minnesota by a professor father who, despite his advanced degrees, spent a great deal of time hunting, fishing, and skinning animals with his brothers. The rest of the family remained steadfastly blue-collar. They were pipefitters, plumbers, and electricians. Sumner spent entire summers camping with his uncles. He knew how best to deal with men like Schullmann. The trick was never to underestimate them. What they lacked in finesse, they made up for in ferocity.

“I’d like you to meet Mr. Sumner,” Marina told her father. “He works for the Kaiser Franz. He wishes to ask you some questions.” Schullmann turned his head to look at Sumner. His eyes held a wary look.

“What kind of questions?” He continued to look at Sumner but spoke in German and addressed his daughter.

“Questions about how to armor something to withstand a rocket-propelled grenade,” Sumner answered in German.

Schullmann raised his eyebrows. He waved at the croupier to cash him out. Then he gathered his chips, dropped them into a pants pocket, and headed toward the bar without another word. Marina followed him, her face set. Sumner wasn’t surprised at all. His take on the entire family was that the parents disliked each other, and this meant that the daughter would be stuck in the middle. Probably had been her whole life.

Schullmann heaved himself onto a barstool and ordered a beer. He gave Sumner a curt nod that Sumner interpreted to be a request for him to order.

“Seltzer water, lime,” he said to the bartender, now a young man with red hair and a towel thrown over his left shoulder.

“You don’t drink?” Schullmann said.

Sumner offered a barstool to Marina. She took one two seats away from her father, leaving Sumner the one in between. He pulled the chair out a bit and slid onto it.

“Not when I’m on duty,” Sumner answered.

“They come back?” Schullmann asked the question in a desultory manner, then swallowed a mouthful of beer. To Sumner it looked as though Schullmann wasn’t concerned about the pirates at all. Which was strange. The man had his entire family at risk, yet he sat in the casino playing craps and drinking. Sumner quelled his distaste. He wasn’t privy to the family dynamics and didn’t care to be. All he needed was this man’s knowledge about armor plating. He took a sip of the soda, enjoying the cool liquid. It wasn’t until that moment that he realized how thirsty he was. He downed some more of it before responding.

“That noise—you must have heard it—was a grenade blast. They missed. We were implementing our own countermeasures, but it was difficult to be accurate given the darkness. Your daughter’s assistance was invaluable. She shot a flare gun at the precise moment that we needed it. Without the flare’s illumination, they might have been successful in their latest attempt to board.”

Marina colored a bit at Sumner’s praise. Schullmann acted as though he hadn’t heard it.

“What do you want to armor?” he asked.

“The door to the bridge and a small section of the upper deck. Is it possible?”

“What did you say you are armoring against?”

“Rocket-propelled grenades.” Sumner used the English term before switching back to German. “I don’t know the German word for them, nor do I know the model.”

Schullmann nodded. “Most likely an RPG-7. They’re the most common launchers used worldwide. I am quite familiar with this weapon, as I have had many discussions about arming a car to withstand them.”

“Can it be done?”

“On a car? With an additional nine-hundred-plus kilos of steel, an undercarriage that resists fire, run-flat tires, and a good driver trained to move that vehicle out of the hot zone during an attack—maybe, but not likely. The design of those explosives was based upon the Deutsche Panzerfaust antitank weapon. This is a powerful device. One hit is often enough. Two in the same general location will end the struggle. Arming the sides of the ship against a direct hit? You would need steel. Lots of it. And a way to cut it to fit the dimensions you require. At my factory we have large robotic arms that do this for us. The weight alone makes it difficult to do without mechanical assistance.”

Sumner shook his head. “Not the sides of the ship, a small portion on top of the deck. Almost like a duck blind for hunting. Just something to hide behind when the grenades start flying. And I need it to be movable.”

Schullmann grunted. “That is crazy.”

“Surely you can improvise something? Anything is better than nothing.”

Schullmann considered this. He drank his beer. “Plating is heavy. It has to be in order to work. Even a small amount to protect the bridge door would weigh many kilos. When it’s put on a car, the auto becomes far less mobile. In this case one would have to move the shield manually.”

“Could we put it on a dolly? Move it around that way?”

“One of those red dollies with rubber wheels that you see deliverymen use? Probably not. Best would be a flat dolly with iron wheels. Do you have one of those?”

“I would think so. If only to transport the luggage and other items that provision the ship. I’ll ask the captain.”

Schullmann ran a hand along his chin. Sumner waited, allowing him time to think. The German swallowed some more beer before speaking again.

“You could try cage armor.”

“What’s that?”

“Strips of steel spaced at intervals. Almost like a birdcage. It’s ideal for grenades, because it deflects them before they reach the target. There is a problem, though.”

Sumner thought he already knew what the “problem” was. “As they are deflected, they explode. So whoever is within range of the explosion will die.”

Schullmann nodded. “It’s a flaw. The cage system is used to wrap around an already heavily armored tank. It stops the grenade from piercing the armor, but it’s the armor on the tank that protects the inhabitants inside from the explosion. Just using the cage without another wall of steel is not a guarantee of safety.”

“But the cage is lighter and easier to make than armor plating.”

Schullmann nodded.

Sumner stood. “Let’s make it. I’ll look for a dolly and some metal rails or steel rods that we can use to build a cage. I’ll get the ship’s mechanic to assist you.”

“What about the design flaw?” Marina had been so quiet that Sumner had forgotten she was there.

“I’m not going to have anyone inside the cage. I’m going to use it for another purpose entirely.”