03 Deluge of the Dead (32 page)

 While he waited for Dr. Greenburg to return Scott glanced over to the room where they had taken the girl. He saw Sergeant Major O’Hara holding her hand and talking as she lay on a treatment table. Curious, Scott went to join them for a moment. The girl began to answer O’Hara’s question as Scott approached them.

“They’re monsters,” Nikki said. “They killed my father and raped me. Lots of them did it. They’re all bald with scary tattoos. They do lots of drugs and then they do terrible things to people. Surf Nazis, that’s what they call themselves. The worst one is called Scag. He beat me for fun. And he did other things. Terrible things. He wanted to kill me. I hid while he killed everyone else. He let the zombies in to eat them. He let them in and they ate everyone. Then they left. I ran to the roof because the radio said the zombies won’t go out in the rain. Thank you for saving me, Ashley.”

  O’Hara smiled back at her as he caught Scott’s glance and raised an eyebrow above the surgical mask. “You’re safe now, Nikki. We won’t let them ever hurt you again,” O’Hara said in a softer and gentler voice than Scott would have guessed he possessed. “Can you tell me anything else about their plans, sweetheart?”

“They want to be pirates. Scag talked about all the people on boats like they didn’t deserve to be safe out there. He said his people should take those boats and show the people on them how bad it was for the rest of us left on the land. He said some horrible things about what he would do to them when he took their boats.”

“Did he say anything about where he would take their boats?” Scott asked. Nikki was startled by his sudden appearance and clammed up. The surgical mask probably didn’t help Scott look too friendly either. “Don’t worry,” Scott said. “I’m a friend of Ashley. It’s just that my family was on one of the boats that they stole tonight. I’m trying to find them. Did they mention anything about where they were going?”

Nikki still hesitated and O’Hara said, “It’s alright, Nikki. Just relax, lass. You’ll tell me if you remember anything like that, won’t you?”  She nodded and Scott turned away when Dr. Greenburg called him back towards George. As he left he heard O’Hara say, “That’s the Commodore. He’s a good man, Nikki. This is his ship. We saved you using his helicopter. He wants to protect all those people on the boats. He’ll take care of you now too.”

Scott hadn’t thought of it that way, but realized that O’Hara was telling the truth. He shook his head and refocused on George. He was looking even worse as Grace began adding medicines to his IV. Within a minute, however, he seemed to be breathing faster and some color returned to his cheeks. Grace checked his pulse and frowned as she pulled an inhaler out of her vest pocket. She looked at Scott and he nodded before she removed the oxygen mask and placed the inhaler in his mouth.

A single puff of the compound mixture of what would be called poppers and smelling salts on the streets was enough to make George snap awake with a rasping gasp. “Oh shit!” he exclaimed.

“George?” Scott said. “George can you hear me?”

“Yes… Who? Scott?”

“Yes, George. I have to ask you some questions. Do you remember what happened to you?”

“No… Wait. Yes. Some fucker shot me. Then they threw me in the bay. I thought I was dead,” George said weakly.

“Well, you’re not in great shape,” Scott admitted. “But I have to find my family, and yours. Do you know if they’re okay?”

“No. I betrayed my family, Scott. I betrayed Martha,” George said with perfect clarity. “I deserved this.”

“What are you talking about?” Scott asked in confusion.

“I cheated on my wife, Scott. For the first time in twenty-five years of marriage, I slept with another woman. On the way up from Cabo, on your yacht, I had sex with the woman we saved down there.”

“What?” Scott wasn’t sure he believed what he was hearing. “Who did you sleep with?”

“Carla,” George growled. “Her name was Carla – the same bitch that bit you in the ass. It’s my fault. I sent her over to your ship when Martha came to the yacht. I couldn’t let Martha find out. I’m so ashamed, Scott. I betrayed my wife and I killed you by sending that temptress to your ship.”

“You didn’t kill me, George,” Scott said earnestly. “I’m not going to die, at least not anytime soon. So don’t worry about that. I don’t blame you for anything. But I need to rescue your family and mine. Do you know if they were okay when you got shot?”

“No. I didn’t see them. I didn’t see anyone except the asshole that shot me, and the one I shot.  Oh shit, I’m hurt bad, aren’t I?” His voice was fading towards a whisper now.

“Listen, George! We don’t have much time,” Scott spoke louder. “Do you know where they took the
Expiscator
? Which way did they go?

“I don’t rememm…” George’s voice trailed off and Dr. Greenburg stepped forward to check his pulse again. Shaking her head she frowned at Scott. He nodded and made a ‘get on with it’ gesture. Grace picked up a large syringe, squirted a little fluid out, and bent forward to inject it into George’s chest.

George’s eyes snapped wide open and he yelled, “North! They said they were going north to set up a pirate base! They were trying to make Billy drive the boat. Dear Lord, they were pirates and they took Martha and Molly and my grandsons! Scott, you have to rescue them. Please, Scott, please find them. Please save them. Promise me…”

“I will, George. I promise, I’ll do everything I can to find your family and save them,” Scott said. “I swear it.”  He was gripping George’s hand through his latex gloves and felt the firm squeeze that he assumed signified George’s gratitude. Then the grip got tighter, so tight it almost crushed Scott’s fingers, before suddenly going limp as George Hammer released his final breath and grip on life.

*****

“Cast off all lines!” Captain Fisher called out over the loudspeakers. Then he triggered three long blasts on the ship’s horn, turned to the helmsman and said, “One point starboard and all ahead, one third.”

“One point starboard and all ahead, one third, aye,” the helmsman replied as the
Sovereign Spirit
moved away from the dock and gathered speed smartly. She had backed into the dock when they arrived, to make use of the stern ramp, so now she charged smoothly away from the pier.  

“Bring her starboard ninety degrees, then ninety degrees again at the mouth of the basin,” Fisher ordered. They were already moving faster than normal for maneuvering inside the port, but they were in a hurry. Fisher released numerous blasts of the ships horn to warn other vessels that they were coming through. It was reckless, but Scott had made the urgency of their mission quite clear.

At one point it looked like the Navy ships might try to intervene, but Sergeant Major O’Hara was talking to them on the radio to explain that they had an emergency rescue mission to perform.  Major Connors had also contacted the Navy on secure frequencies to inform them of the pirates and request assistance in tracking them down. That request was denied on the grounds that their mission was to secure and protect the port. They simply repeated their stance on neither interfering nor assisting with Flotilla activities during humanitarian rescue operations. It was par for the course when dealing with vessels under command of Admiral Winchester.   

At least the Navy wasn’t doing anything to prevent the
Sovereign Spirit
from going to sea. Nevertheless, Captain Fisher almost had a heart attack when they emerged from the shipping basin at over ten knots on what seemed to be a collision course with a harbor cruise boat full of refugees from Santa Monica. Each vessel took evasive action just in time to narrowly avert disaster.  Captain Fisher doubled the lookouts and told them to activate the searchlights on the bridge wings, although now that they were out of the inner harbor the radar should warn of any other pending collisions. 

Once the ship cleared the outer harbor breakwaters Captain Fisher ordered full speed ahead and set a course of west-by-northwest until they rounded the Palos Verdes Peninsula and could turn north at flank speed in pursuit of the pirates.  Soon the
Sovereign Spirit
was charging through the storm swells at close to 25 knots, her aging hull humming and groaning in protest at the harsh treatment. Captain Fisher was sure that the old girl could handle it, but he had no illusions of being able to catch up to the
Expiscator
, let alone the
Catalina Jet Cat
.  Both of the “pirate ships” were faster than the
Sovereign Spirit
– the jet powered ferry decidedly so. The only chance the old cruise ship had of catching up them was to anticipate their moves and pursue relentlessly. The
Sovereign Spirit
did have the advantage of endurance; she could travel much farther without refueling than the smaller boats she was chasing and Fisher was certain that Scott was determined to chase them around the world, if necessary. He would also be launching the helicopter on a reconnaissance flight before dawn and could send the Cigarette speed boat ahead at high speed, as soon as the swells settled down a little.

Scott sat impatiently in an observer’s seat along the aft bridge bulkhead. He was using a sat-phone to confer with Captain McCloud on the
Stratton.
Scott had explained everything they had learned about the pirates, as well as the news that he probably wouldn’t succumb to the Super Rabies virus. McCloud seemed stunned by both pieces of news, but ignored Scott’s miraculous survival to focus on the pirates.

“Alright Scott, I’ll have my radar operator review the recorded data for the past few hours. If they were headed north they must have passed us here in Marina Del Rey. I suspect they would be travelling at high speed. That Catalina ferry you described is capable of close to forty knots, which is faster than anything we have aside from aircraft and your Cigarette boat, but it would be limited to the speed of your yacht, if they wanted to stay together. What’s the max speed of the
Expiscator?
”

“About twenty-five knots,” Scott replied. “Maybe a little less in these storm swells.”

“Okay, I’ve just ordered a check of our radar logs. They should stand out like a sore thumb. Do you want me to issue an all vessel alert, Commodore?”

“No, please don’t,” Scott replied. “I’d like to keep this news off the radio waves tonight, so they don’t know that we’re already chasing them.”

“That’s a good idea,” McCloud agreed. “However, I can send a secure message to other Coast Guard vessels. They’re quite busy and spread out during this evacuation, but it wouldn’t hurt for them to keep a lookout. It’s also possible that these pirates didn’t go north at all, so I’d like to alert my cutters down south to be on the lookout too.”

“Thank you Captain,” Scott replied. “Do you have any assets up north?”

“Yes, the Cutter
Sea Otter
was dispatched to Santa Barbara this afternoon and should be heading back towards Channel Islands Harbor in the morning with as many boat people and refugees as they can gather. I’ll send them a secure message to watch for the pirates. Do you want them to intercept, if they find them?”

Scott contemplated that option for only a moment before saying, “No, there’s too much danger to the hostages. It might be best if they just shadow them and be ready to close in when we can offer more assistance. The last thing we want to do is spook them right now.”

“Understood, Commodore,” McCloud agreed. “Do you want me to suspend rescue operations here and have the
Stratton
lead the pursuit? We can make better than thirty-five knots and actually close on them.”

Scott had been wondering if he should make that request too. He had to balance his personal needs and grief against the needs and survival of so many other people who were depending on the Coast Guard and the Flotilla to rescue them during the storm. He needed to know how critical the
Stratton’s
current activities were to other survivors. “How would that affect the rescue operations in Marina Del Ray? Do you think it would cost lives?”

It was Captain McCloud’s turn to pause. “Yes, Commodore, I’m afraid it might. I have the majority of my crew deployed throughout the marina now. Many of them are providing armed protection during lulls in the rain for refugees waiting to be moved to secure floating docks. Others are operating small boats to transport survivors to those safe docks, while the rest are working to isolate more floating docks and searching the yachts to make sure they don’t have any of the infected aboard. I can’t recall many of them without reducing the number of people we can rescue during the storm, or the safety of those we do. I could put to sea with a skeleton crew, but our only option when we caught up to the pirates would be the threat of our canon and machine guns because I wouldn’t have the manpower for boarding parties.”

“I can’t ask you drop what you’re doing there and come to rescue of my family,” Scott responded dismally. “I won’t put their lives above those of others who are following our own directions to find sanctuary. Perhaps there is an alternative though.” He paused to think it through. “Could you spend the next few hours trying to find replacements for some of the work that needs to be done in the marina from among the survivors who are arriving there?  Then, if you can recall a few more of your crew, you could probably catch up to us.”

“That could work,” McCloud conceded. “I’ll get to work on it right away. But do you think you can really catch up to them in the
Sovereign Spirit?
”

“I don’t know. We really don’t have any speed advantage over them at all,” Scott admitted. “Our only chance of catching them is if they stop to get supplies or, God forbid, raid and seize other vessels. It sounds like they have over a hundred people in their gang. The ferry is fast, but it doesn’t have any cabins or berths. They’ll want to pick up more live-aboard yachts, but those will slow them down further. I just hope they don’t keep running too long before they decide to start raiding and, yes, I know that’s a terrible thing to hope for. ”  

“Understood,” McCloud replied. “But if they do start preying on other boat people in the region I will have to sound a general alert. People will need to be warned to defend themselves from this new threat.”