The Blood King Conspiracy

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

“Do you think the Blood King knew of the device?” Ben asked as the darkness began to soften outside the car’s windows. “And named his ship after it?”

“Sure. The coincidence otherwise just doesn’t wash.”

“Then why didn’t he fetch it himself?”

“Well, this leads us in to the next phase of his plan,” Harrison paused. “We think.”

“Next phase?” Drake came alert.

“Kovalenko never knew where the displacement device ended up. He could not have known it sank aboard the Queen Anne’s Revenge or, as Ben says, he wouldn’t have hesitated to obtain it. They’ve been digging that old wreck up for a decade.”

“So the TV coverage was most likely his biggest shock since he came firing down the birth canal?” Drake wondered.

Hayden nodded. “And then he sent a team to grab the CIA agents in charge of investigating the case. Full circle.”

“We beat him to the controller,” Ben pointed out. “That’s why he sent Alicia to grab us in Key West.”

“But you said something about a next phase,” Kinimaka said.

“This isn’t the Blood King’s big play,” Harrison said. “It’s something that has diverted him momentarily from his plan. I mean, think of the sheer fortune of seeing the device, the chance that it would be shown on TV, and then the gut reaction. It all smacks of a man seeking his dream rather than his goal.”

“Is that all you got?” Drake screwed up his face.

“No. A good third of the people we, um, spoke to, told us the Blood King had been searching for something extremely precious for his entire life. Something even he, with all his power, couldn’t get his hands on. They also said he was nearing the end of his quest. He has properties all over the world in addition to his floating home you know, and it is one of these that he plans to retire to soon and so fulfil a lifelong quest.”

“Still ball-all to go on,” Drake snapped. “Do you have locations?”

“Some. Every time Kovalenko elaborated on this quest, he would simply refer to it as ‘reaching for the gates of hell’. He also apparently banged on about Cook finding it first. That bastard Cook found it first, to quote one source.”

“Captain Cook?” Kinimaka sounded surprised. “The man who came to Hawaii?”

“Most likely. We don’t know.”

“That all means nothing,” said Mai who had been so quiet up until then that Drake had almost forgotten she was there. Calm, but taking everything on board. “And if we destroy him now?”

“I so admire the plain thinking of the Japanese,” Harrison said. “Our thoughts too. Once we have him in custody — or dead — his plans evaporate with him.”

Kennedy was squirming about on the leather seat, still trying to pull those jeans up a little more. “You can bet your ass on one thing. In addition to an army, he’ll have some radical defences on that ship.”

Hayden gave the New York cop a sassy look. “I’ll take those jeans off your hands if you like, Ken. You got no idea what bits I’m getting stuck to the leather.”

Kinimaka shifted a bit. “I do.”

“Hey, talky dude,” Alicia barked. “How much friggin’ further do you want me to go? Normally, people pay to keep me in one position for so long.”

“Key Largo,” Harrison stared at a passing signpost. “We have a facility there. A most interesting one. Won’t be long now.”

“Will it help you find the Blood King’s ship?” Drake asked.

Harrison smiled but the emotion didn’t touch his eyes. “With this masterwork of technology, Mr Drake, you could see through the walls of… ” he gulped a little. “Well, you’ll see. It’s good.”

Key Largo might well have been the largest of the Keys’ archipelago but within twenty minutes Alicia was unhappily waving the famous Caribbean Club goodbye and pulling into a concealed entrance. Within seconds a small, squat building appeared. Harrison directed Alicia to pull up outside and indicated a masked entryway to the side.

“Let’s go.”

Around the side of the building they entered the main complex. Harrison showed his credentials and immediately ordered new clothes for Hayden and Kinimaka. The facility administrator eyed the big man dubiously.

“We may have to send out for you, sir.”

Kinimama nodded, used to it. “Whatever, man, whatever you can do.”

“And this woman,” Harrison indicated the desk-clerk. “Needs to be debriefed.”

Harrison led them towards the inner workings of the facility. Drake walked behind Kennedy, aware that the two white elephants who shared their room had only gotten bigger during the last few days. He felt driven to help Hayden, to enable her to come to terms with the loss of her men, but at the same time he knew Kennedy and he hadn’t fared well recently.

Was it some kind of comedown for her? Not being able to quietly keep in contact with some of the relatives. Or was she continuing it by mobile, through Twitter maybe. In any case she remained distant and uncommunicative, which made him worry further.

Life had been so much simpler in the SAS. Listen, obey, execute. Just do your job.

Real life made everything turn to grey. It slowed him down and sucked away his fighting and thinking prowess. This was because real life wasn’t as straightforward and simple as living the army life. It was because real life was the toughest boot camp in the world.

And now it tore at him that when he needed his army skills the most he had sat on his arse, diluting them for over seven years.

The main room in the facility was round, and circuited above by a walkway that provided access to banks of flashing terminals that lined the walls. Three operatives stood around chatting until they saw Harrison speed-walking towards them.

“Sir?”

“I need a briefing of where we’re at and how we got there. Now.”

The facility’s team leader came forward, proffering a hand and then pointing out a row of hi-tech terminals that sat below a bank of TV screens mounted on the wall.

“A demonstration is usually quicker,” he said. “Then the explanation.”

The tech sat down without inviting anyone to join him and started pecking at a few buttons. Within seconds a grainy image started to emerge on the screens.

“Just tasking our baby,” he muttered to himself. “There she is, there…” he finessed a pair of toggles as he pecked away. “It’s normally quicker, but we put her on stand-by. Poor girl’s had a rough few days.”

Kennedy grunted at him. “Some of us have had a rough few years.”

Drake laid a hand on her shoulder. At least she didn’t shrug it off. When she turned her head slightly he beckoned her over to a quiet corner.

“When this is over,” he said, “do you think we could talk? About Kaleb. About the families’ victims. And about Alyson?”

It was the first time he’d openly invited talk about his late wife since her death.

Kennedy looked shocked. “You want to? Really?”

“Yes.”

“I would,” Kennedy nodded immediately. “That would be good.”

A series of long beeps interrupted their moment. Drake looked over to see the tech indicating the high screens and a rapidly emerging image. “Ok,” he spoke like a college lecturer, “what we have here is your standard satellite image, as seen… ” he bowed his head,“… on many a TV show. This is what you, the general public, are used to.”

Drake wondered if he’d really lost it that much. Damn, he needed to get back into that tough regimental training that the Hereford boys did every day.

The classified system zoomed in closer as the tech squeezed a toggle. Within seconds they were looking down at a busy street, so close they could pick out the features of passers-by.

“Paris.” The tech told them. “It’s around eight a.m. there now. See there? The Park Lane hotel, right in the heart of the Champs-Elysees.” The camera whizzed up to the roof, so close Drake could actually see individual pebbles and bits of litter.

“Fantastic,” Ben breathed.

“Old hat,” the team leader said. With that he squeezed a little harder and the camera panned forward, zipping through the very fabric of the walls.

“Woah,” Kennedy said. “I didn’t know you could do that.”

Now the view showed one of the hotel corridors.

“This?” the tech grinned, “this has been around for a while. You can get this kind of technology on a cell-phone right now. They’re marketing it as ‘see-through-walls’ technology, but they’ve dumbed it down so you only get to see about four inches in. Privacy laws and all that.”

“I should think so,” Kennedy told him. “Imagine what a stalker or a killer would use that kind of technology for.”

“Agreed. But this is what we use it for.”

The tech sent the camera whooshing along the corridor, through the lift doors and down the shaft, and then up the next corridor. Quickly, just to show the scope of the science, he darted into a room where a couple were eating on the bed.

“We tap into a previously unused range in the electro-magnetic spectrum. Combining the terahertz waves with CMOS technology we can actually see anywhere. It’s an upgrade to the old Thermal Imaging Satellites that only read body heat. You may have seen satellites that showed people looking like blobs of fire, running around? Well, this is the next step. Clearly, it’s had to be classified beyond top secret.”

“This doesn’t even exist?” Kinimaka looked around. “Cool.”

Kennedy was shaking her head. “I can’t believe you have this. And that you’re pleased with yourselves. You never hear of ‘invasion of privacy’?”

“Can it, for Christ’s sake will you?” Alicia drawled back at her. “Let the little man get to his point. I’m dying of boredom here.”

In reply to Kennedy the tech said: “We’re the United States Government, Miss. We do pretty much whatever we want.” Then he flicked a shy smile towards the English assassin.

“And my point…” he flicked another switch that set off a new set of pictures, “is this. We recorded all this yesterday and today.”

The pictures suddenly began to whizz by and then, with sickening quickness, came into perfect focus. Drake smiled to see an enormous vessel laid out before them, what could only be described as a super-yacht.

“Is that what I think it is?” He glanced at Harrison.

“The floating home of Dmitry Kovalenko,” he said. “The Stormbringer.”

Alicia took a step forward. “So Hudson cracked it,” she said with a rare authentic smile. “He actually found the Blood King when no one else could.”

“Yes, miss Myles,” Harrison took a moment to return the smile. “Mr Hudson did us a great service.”

“That he was always good for,” Alicia waved at the screens. “Carry on.”

“Well, it’s a super yacht. Five hundred feet long. Five decks above the water and one below. Cinema, helicopter hangar, car port. Submarines onboard. Probably a medical centre. At least five tenders — small boats used for grocery runs.” The tech shook his head in disbelief. “Never underestimate the greed of the super-rich.”

Drake was listening hard. “You’ve mentioned three methods of escape already.”

“I know. And that’s the one’s we know of. Even this baby couldn’t get down to the last level, the one below water. It’s shielded with some kind of heavy sheet material.”

“Where is he?” Alicia and Hayden said, almost at the same time. They both had reason to confront the Blood King.

“Several miles south of the Dominican Republic,” the tech told them. “That’s deep water just off the Bermuda Triangle.”

“The Triangle?” Kinimaka blurted. “That crazy SOB”

“Yes, well the Blood King has several properties in the United States. We think he is steadily making his way towards one. Obviously he is unaware we have located him.”

Drake pursed his lips. “Don’t be a dick. The man owns you. He knows your every move. You’re lucky he’s at sea or he’d have disappeared already. Perhaps that, in the end, was his only mistake.”

Hayden spoke to Harrison. “What’s the plan? You’ve already mobilised, right?”

Harrison grinned. “Can you say Fort Lauderdale?”

The tech chimed in. “I often do at Spring Break,” he said, shooting a grin around, received nothing in return and carried on. “Based there, you got half a dozen USS Destroyers. A fleet of F22-A Raptors. And about sixteen USS submarines. That bastard just sailed near the wrong harbour.”

“Did you identify his defence capabilities?” Drake asked.

“Firstly-” Harrison sighed, “a vast amount of men, all armed with the latest weaponry, you can bet your ass. I’m sure he’ll have a cupboard full of rocket launchers too. Obviously he can’t have deck-mounted gun turrets — that would’ve drawn to much attention through the years. His capabilities have to be hidden. So, we think defence is his strongpoint. Early warning systems. Laser shields. Armour-plating. Booby-traps. The army of willing men.”

“Willing?” Kennedy hissed. “No, they’re not willing, count on that. The Blood King’s way is through coercion not employment.”

Harrison continued with barely a flicker. “Ed Boudreau may also be on board. He has vanished since the last attack.”

“All these defences, of course,” Drake said, “are designed for just one thing. To give Kovalenko time to escape whilst those who protect him die.”

Harrison shrugged. “A plot he has no doubt hatched and re-hatched many times since he became a self-made myth.”

“I so wish we could find out what it is he has over all these people,” Ben said.

Harrison pursed his lips. “Well, it has to be something big. He sure owns some connected people.”

“So what are you planning?” Hayden asked impatiently. Drake could see her fists clenched and how tight the skin was around her eyes. The CIA agent was desperate to challenge the Blood King and Boudreau on their own playground.

“The one feasible option. We get close to the Stormbringer, get men aboard, and commandeer his ship.”

Drake spoke quickly. “You can’t just sail up in one of those USS Destroyers and threaten him? Make him surrender.”

“That’s the ideal scenario. But you’re forgetting one important factor.”

“They believe he may have both devices,” Mai said softly. “In which case — he may set them off.”

“He might anyway!” Ben exploded. “If he does in fact have them.”

Drake shot him a loaded glance, but Ben just looked confused. The eighteen-year-old said: “You ok, Matt?”

Then, Hayden started laughing. “I get it,” she bobbed her head, “I get it. You’re offering the Blood King an olden day battle to make him believe it is a mark of respect. You’re offering him to go down fighting like the pirates used to.”

“You’re going to board his ship?” Drake felt the adrenalin begin to flood through him.

“With an army,” said Harrison grinning. “The USS Lake Erie has already sailed from Fort Lauderdale. This could be the biggest naval battle of modern times, against probably the greatest adversary since, well… Blackbeard.”

Drake’s elated expression said it all. “I have to get a bite of this. Can you get us onboard before they launch the strike?”

“Choppers are fuelled and waiting,” Harrison said quickly looking at his watch. “The operation is still in planning, but even then it’ll be touch and go.”

Drake and Hayden were moving first. “We’ll make it. Let’s go.”