The Ghost Ships of Arizona

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE

Drake watched proceedings aboard the galleon with fascination, actually impressed with how someone had molded the motley mercenary force into a relatively competent work crew. His other thought — not so impressive — was of the sheer number that made up the mercenary army. It had been hard to make out in the gloom last night but the tent-filled camp stretched way back from the ridge and well into the desert. He counted hundreds. Dawn had risen an hour ago and, so far, nobody had discovered Bay-Dale’s body or noticed that Bell was missing. Business as usual then, over at the ghost ship. Now that he had a better chance to study it, Drake drank in the entire spectacle — the wonder of the ship in the sand, the rarity of such a find, the convergence of so many random events that must have transpired to send a galleon this far inland.

As the broad side jutted out so did part of the stern. Drake studied two tiers of shattered windows, the ruined remains of a balcony, and what appeared to be prancing lions near the top. The side that faced him bristled with cannon or at least damaged portholes that once held cannon.

“Here be demons,” said a voice at his side. Yorgi.

“Aye, maybe, lad. Maybe. But the demons are all living and ransacking that bloody ship. Hundreds of ‘em.”

“Are they inside now?”

Drake studied what had been revealed of the deck. “Not far off.”

Karin joined them, having crabbed her way along the sand dune. “You see the front? The ship’s name is visible. We were right. This is Cavendish’s Content. The ship, loaded with stolen treasure, then a pirate galleon that was never seen again.”

Drake whistled softly. “Hard to imagine.”

“A forty-ton gold ship, blown off course, drifting around the desert for years, scaring the locals and then found by the Pythians. What’s wrong with that?”

“Well, since you put it that way.”

“Don’t kid yourself. The US government established a military base not far from here. You think they didn’t perform GPR scans first? You think they didn’t know about this ship and probably more? These governments know much more than they will ever tell or care to spend money locating, because they have most of it tied up elsewhere.”

“Back pockets? Election victories? Presidential campaigns? Smart motorways touted to ease congestion that suddenly sprout more cameras and recognition programs than a Hollywood whorehouse?”

Karin nodded. “That’s about it.”

Drake turned away from the ship and lay on his back, staring down their dune to the very bottom where Smyth, Lauren and Bell waited and talked. He hoped Bell was giving them something juicy to work with because he doubted even the whole SPEAR team could cope with this size of enemy force.

“Activity’s certainly ramping up today,” he said.

“And that’s why,” Yorgi said. “Men just broke through deck of ship. It is not a good day, friends. We are but a few against…” He tailed off, daunted.

“We need a plan,” Drake said. “To stop or stall them.”

“Quickly,” Karin said. “And then I can get to Fort Bragg.”

“If you still want to go.”

“It’s all I want, Matt.”

Drake watched clouds drift through blue skies. “I’ll call Hayden. See how long they’re going to be.”

He made the call and connected within seconds. Hayden had been about to call. She and the rest of the SPEAR team were only hours away. Attack choppers loaded with soldiers had left minutes before them, tasked with helping SPEAR take down the huge mercenary force and end the Pythian presence. Robert Price again had shown his worth, at least Drake assumed the order had come from his office. Drake told her that two more Pythians were now out of the picture and that one of them might even prove the undoing of Webb himself. That thread, that terrible, evil thread, was about to be snipped in half, or circumcised, as Alicia so delicately phrased it.

“The Pythians’ shelf life is up,” Drake said. “But will they go out with a whimper or a bang? I’m fearing the latter.”

Hayden mentioned that a desert storm was coming. A weather center said that it was due to hit quickly and with deadly force, one of the biggest the region had ever seen. This was how ghost ships disappeared, Hayden guessed.

“Hey ho,” Drake said. “Nobody ever expected this to be as easy as finding a fish and chip shop in Sheffield.”

“Hey ho?” A sarcastic voice came through the speakerphone. “Who’s that? What have you done to Drakey?”

“Crap,” Drake moaned. “Alicia’s back. This battle just got way more dangerous.”

“Yeah,” Dahl drawled. “We’ve been looking out for her for about a day now.”

“Piss off, Torsty. And I just know ya missed me.”

Drake found his thoughts wandering to Mai. “Don’t be long,” he said.

“Eh?” Alicia sounded surprised.

“Just hurry.” Drake turned it into a command. “The mercs have broken into the bloody pirate galleon and we’re badly outnumbered.”

Hayden came back on the line. “We’re coming in hot. Hold on, guys, those mercs will be occupied by the fight of their lives before that storm hits and we’ll be home in time for Mano’s barbecue ribs.”

Drake tried to laugh in agreement but somehow didn’t quite share her optimism. Now that he studied them the vast skies were already tinged with red. The desert broiled beneath them. A storm of storms was coming. And here we are again, stuck right in the middle.

He took another glance over the sand dune. The ghost ship loomed before him, as creepy and chilling and eternal as any nightmare vision. Suddenly all the stories made sense.

Many would die here today and this would be the last thing they would ever see.