03 Deluge of the Dead (36 page)

“Get ready boys,” he said. “These people won’t know what hit them. We’ll take this harbor and grab whatever we want. The rain should keep the zombies away and most of the people will be asleep. Take anything of value, especially guns, food and bitches. Waste anyone who fights back. Remember, we only want to take the fastest boats with us, in case those assholes from the Flotilla are chasing us. Forget about sailboats or anything that doesn’t look like it can keep up with the rest of us. Speed boats and power cruisers are number one on the list of things to grab. We want more fuel too, so don’t blow up the fuel docks. I want to be in and out of this place within an hour, so look sharp. Now put on your ponchos, grab you guns, and go out on deck. We’re going in hot!” He finished up with a demented whoop that chilled Stan to the core.    

Stan decided that he would run the ferry onto the beach or sandbar at the entrance to the harbor at full speed. It was the only thing he could think of that would foil the pirates’ plans and trap them ashore.  The impact would probably throw most of them off the decks of the ferry too. He knew that Scag would kill him and it would probably go bad for George’s family, if not the hostages on the
Expiscator
, but he wouldn’t be a party to any more slaughter of innocent survivors.

Unfortunately, perhaps having some intuition of Stan’s intent, Scag moved over and pushed him away from the controls, saying, “I think I can handle this thing from here. It can’t be that hard to steer.”  Stan wanted to resist, but he was surrounded by armed pirates. So he watched helplessly as Scag did a rather good job of weaving around Sterns Warf and into the mouth of Santa Barbara Harbor, even reducing speed to make the sharp turn into the harbor. Stan was afraid that nothing could stop them now.

*****

Ensign Norman Howard was manning a 7.62mm machine gun on the deck of the USCGC
Sea Otter
when the jet powered ferry barreled into the Santa Barbara Harbor at close to full speed. Even though he had been told what to expect, the sudden appearance of the big catamaran was shocking.  It threw out foaming phosphorescent wake and rooster tails from its jet drives as it slewed around into the mouth of the harbor and bore down on the cutter which sat mid channel, blocking passage to the floating docks full of boats and refugees.

Norm blinked once and squeezed the trigger, unleashing a stream of tracer rounds that peppered the water before climbing the port bow of the ferry to rake its forward deck. Figures dressed in what looked like dark cloaks stood frozen in shock as Norm’s bullets cut into their ranks. His fire was joined by another machine gun mounted on the opposite rail of the cutter. The converging lines of tracers swept the bow of the ferry clear of any pirates who failed to dive for cover. Several pirates chose to jump overboard to escape the machine gun fire and Norm lost sight of them in the ferry’s wake.

Whoever was driving the ferry reacted quickly, turning sharply behind the first row of boat docks, heading towards the breakwater, and cutting power to settle behind the cover offered by yachts and fishing boats near the harbor’s mouth. Norman cursed and released the trigger as the ferry left his field of fire. The Coast Guard had performed their primary mission of keeping the pirates away from the center of the harbor where the refugee boats were clustered, but now the pirates might be able to flank them by going ashore on the breakwater. 

He was relieved to see and hear gunfire coming from Sterns Warf where he had seen armed men from the Flotilla helicopter deploy a few minutes earlier. They would be able to target any pirates who showed themselves on the ferry, but Norm could tell that they were restricting their fire to single shots at clear targets, probably due to the hostages that might be aboard. At least they could contain the pirates while they waited for more help to arrive.

*****

“Holy shit!” yelled Scag as the machine guns opened up on the ferry. It was Stan’s first hint that Scag might be capable of fear. If the scar faced pirate was scared, it didn’t slow his reactions. As bullets tore into the pirates on the bow, Scag turned the ferry sharply behind a row of docked boats and killed the power to stop before hitting the breakwater.

“What the fuck is going on?” he demanded without expecting an answer.

“It looks like they weren’t as surprised as you thought they’d be,” Stan said brazenly. He knew the comment might get him shot, but he had been ready for that a few moments earlier and couldn’t pass up the satisfaction of seeing Scag’s plans derailed.

He braced to meet his fate as Scag spun on him, but the bastard just grinned and said, “Did you warn them?”

“No,” Stan replied. “Maybe some survivor out at that oil rig used a radio.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Scag said slowly. Then he turned to the other speechless pirates standing on the bridge and said, “Find out how many men we lost and get the rest of them ready to go ashore. We’ll have to take this place the hard way.”

One of the men nodded and turned to leave the bridge, but a bullet came through a side window as he walked by, hitting him in the shoulder and putting him down with a yelp of pain.

“Damn it!” Scag yelled. “Everyone get down on the floor and stay away from the windows.” He took a quick glance in the direction the shot had come from and saw the flash of several guns firing from the pier. He also heard screams of pain coming from the deck where his men were still exposed to fire from that direction. “This is a fucking trap!” he muttered. Then he activated the intercom and yelled. “Everyone shoot at the pier! Come on you wimps! What kind of pirates are you anyway? Kill those fuckers!”

Return fire from the pirates began lashing out blindly towards Sterns Warf where it did little harm, but did slow the rate of fire coming from the Marines. Of course Scag and his men had no idea that they were facing an elite military unit. Their ignorance fueled their overconfidence and exposed more of them to the expert marksmanship of the Force Recon Marines.   

*****

“What the fuck is happening over there?” Terrence said as he stared out the bridge windows on the
Expiscator.
  He was referring to the flashes of gunfire and tracer rounds that lit up the entrance to the harbor half a mile away.

Billy didn’t answer him. He didn’t really know the answer, but he hoped that Scag and his gang were getting shot to pieces. It sure looked like most of the tracer fire was directed at the ferry and Billy doubted that the pirates even had tracer rounds. Most of the pirates were armed with a mix of civilian rifles and shotguns. Some of them carried assault rifles, but Billy suspected those were also semiautomatic civilian versions. Whoever was firing on the ferry was clearly using military grade weapons.

“It looks like a war,” said Terrance’s partner, Floyd. He had come up to the bridge after Scag boarded the ferry. That left four more pirates downstairs drinking booze in the
Expiscator’s
salon and guarding Scag’s three
old ladies.

“Yeah,” Terrance agreed. “I’m glad Captain Scag didn’t ask us to follow him in there. I’m sure his gang will kick ass, but I’d rather not get shot at.” Floyd nodded in agreement and they both stared at the firefight.

“Why did you guys betray my Dad and the Flotilla?” Billy asked casually.

Floyd looked like was going take a swing at him, but Terrance raised his hand and said, “Betray your Dad? Why did he stick us in a crummy crew cabin and assign us to the shit details? Why didn’t we get a nice stateroom, like your friends did, huh kid? Why didn’t we at least get to pick out one of the empty yachts for ourselves? Your Flotilla treated us like crap, kid, but we didn’t plan to join these pirates either. It just happened and now we’re committed.”

“You could still change your mind,” Billy pointed out. “Scag is gone now and it looks like he’s in a fight he might not win. We can turn around and go back to the Flotilla. They’re probably following us by now anyway. Scag wouldn’t dare chase us towards them. If you return my Mom and me, along with this boat, I promise that you won’t be in trouble. I’ll even promise to give you a yacht to live on, if that’s what you want.”

Terrance and Floyd exchanged looks and Billy thought he might have swayed them. Then Terrance laughed and said, “We like this yacht just fine, Billy. And I don’t trust your promises either. You’d say anything to get us to help you and your Mom right now. But the Coast Guard and Marines would just string us up as pirates if we took you back. No, kid, we’re past the point of no return now. If we have to leave Scag here, we’re going north, as far away from the Flotilla as possible. You and your Mom are coming with us too, as insurance. And you’ll be fine as long as you do exactly what we and Scag tell you to do. You can start by steering us over to check out those yachts anchored south of the pier. ”

*****

 The
Sovereign Spirit
was steaming north at full speed. She had just passed the Santa Barbara County line at Rincon Point when the helicopter returned. Captain Fisher was shocked to learn that Scott had remained with the Marines on Sterns Warf. That hadn’t been part of the plan.

“What kind of stunt is he pulling,” the captain asked Mick.

“He didn’t fill me in on the details, but he said we would know when we saw it. I’m supposed to pick up the rest of the assault team and head back right away.”

“Alright,” Fisher agreed. “We’re only about twenty-five minutes away now, so you better get going. The Coast Guard just broke radio silence too. The harbor is under attack, but the pirates were surprised by the resistance. So far the boats and refugees there seem to be safe.”

“Where’s the Cigarette boat?” Mick asked.

“It didn’t get there before the pirates. They’re sneaking up the coast slowly, just beyond the surf line, and say they have the harbor in sight now. They’ll wait off the coast of Montecito and dash in when we give the signal.”

“Good, we’ll coordinate our move with them,” Mick said.

“I don’t think we’ll get close enough to use the mini-sub plan, but we can offer fire support if needed,” Fisher assured him.

Mick shook hands with Captain Fisher and climbed back into the helicopter as Sergeant Major O’Hara and Special Agent Slidell ushered six more Marines aboard. Sam was already in the cockpit and they made quick work of the start-up checklist. A minute later the Super Huey was airborne and loaded for bear.

*****   

Scag was enraged. He kept losing men to rifle fire from the pier and the rest refused to get off the boat and assault the harbor. Scag couldn’t really blame them. Anyone who stood up was getting shot. This raid was definitely not going according to plan. Maybe the skipper was right about people on the oil rig sending a warning, but this seemed like the damned Army or National Guard had suddenly come back from the dead to attack his gang.

  “We need some leverage here,” Scag whispered to himself. Leverage was something he knew all about.  “Bring the hostages to the bridge!” Scag yelled over the sounds of gunfire. If the sharpshooters on the pier wanted to shoot the bitches and brats he was in real trouble.

It only took a minute or two for his men to bring the three women and twin boys to the bridge. Scag smiled as he said, “Hold the little brats up in front of those windows.”  The women shrieked, but Scag just kept smiling.  “Put the bitches in front of the other windows. Let’s see how badass these shooters really are.”

There was a lot of screaming and crying as George Hammer’s family were positioned in the windows facing the pier, but the gunfire from the pier decreased drastically as soon as they were. Scag kept smiling as he stood up and grabbed one of the twins, placing a pistol to his head. He waved the kid and gun in front of the window. The rifle fire from the pier stopped completely. Scag kept smiling.

“I think it’s time to negotiate,” Scag said.  “Do we have loudspeakers?”  He turned and looked at Stan who was sitting on the floor behind the control panel. Stan nodded reluctantly as Scag explained what he wanted him to say.

*****

Ensign Norm Howard reloaded the rugged M-60 machine gun with a fresh belt of ammunition as the
Sea Otter
moved slowly towards the harbor entrance where they would regain a clear angle to fire on the pirate ship and block its path of escape. Norm could already see part of the ferry, but the masts and cabins of other boats obstructed his line of fire. As he readied the machine gun he noticed that the gunfire from the pier had suddenly dwindled. He was wondering what that meant when an amplified voice broke the sudden silence.

“Hold your fire! Please stop shooting. There are women and children aboard this vessel.” The voice sounded vaguely familiar and Norm struggled to place it. The answer was soon forthcoming. “I’m Stan Dawson of the Flotilla,” the voice continued. “This is all a big misunderstanding. We didn’t mean any harm to anyone here, so we’ll just be leaving now. Everyone just hold your fire so we can go in peace.”

Norm used his personal radio to talk the
Sea Otter’s
captain, Lt. Commander Bonner. “Sir, I recognize that voice. It is Stan Dawson. I met him in Oceanside. He was the skipper of the Commodore’s missing yacht. But I’m certain he’s acting under duress, sir.”

“Copy that, ensign. Stay alert, but hold your fire unless fired upon,” replied his commander. The Coast Guard cutter slowed further, but continued to creep towards the ferry as Norm finished loading the M-60 and charged a live round into the chamber.

*****

Billy heard the loudspeaker as a muffled echo that was too distant to be understood. Terrance and Floyd heard it too, but remained focused on the anchored boats in front of the
Expiscator.
Billy was steering the yacht slowly towards the smaller boats. He was happy that none of them showed any sign of being inhabited by other survivors, aside from one with a mooring light that might be automated or solar powered. It wouldn’t bother him if the pirates seized abandoned boats. Hell, the Flotilla was doing that too. But the idea of being involved in another raid like the one at the oil rig, not to mention the capture of the
Expiscator,
was unthinkable.