Apocalypse Cult (Gray Spear Society) (34 page)

The angry Polish man yelled some more.

"Yes, sir," Edward said.

"Good. We'll head over to the
Aegis
now." Aaron closed his phone and spoke to Marina. "It seems we are Delilah and Sampson now."

"It's a pretty name," she said, "but didn't she betray Sampson for silver?"

There was the distinct sound of somebody being slapped. Marina headed toward the door.

"Marina," Aaron said, "what are you doing?"

"Just checking...," she replied.

Suddenly very anxious, he rushed over, but he failed to stop her from opening the door. They looked into a small, poorly lit storeroom crammed with boxes. A large man stood over a woman, who sat on one of the boxes. She held her right cheek, which had the red imprint of a hand on it.

"What are you looking at?" the man yelled in a Polish accent. Both he and the woman wore T-shirts with the name and logo of a nearby coffee shop. "This is none of your business!"

Marina clenched her jaw. Aaron put his hand on her shoulder and found she was as tense as a bow string. She started rubbing her black fingernails.

"Marina," he whispered into her ear, "we can't afford one of your episodes right now."

She stared straight ahead, frozen in place. Then she took a step towards the Polish man.

"Marina!" Aaron said urgently. "If you love me, you'll let this one go."

He realized she wasn't capable of just walking away, no matter how much he pleaded with her. He also didn't trust her to choose an appropriate, non-lethal response. He had to take some kind of action so she wouldn't have to.

He walked over to the Polish man and stood with their noses almost touching.

"Apologize to the lady," Aaron said.

The man sneered.

Aaron didn't have time to mess around, so he punched him in the gut very hard. The man crumpled to the floor. Aaron kicked him in the face to make sure he knew what it felt like to be struck there.

"Apologize," Aaron demanded.

"I'm sorry," the man croaked.

The woman smiled slightly.

Aaron grabbed Marina's hand and left the storeroom. She allowed herself to be led away.

"Thank you," she said softly.

"No problem," he said. "Can we get back to saving the world now?"

They slowly made their way through the churning crowd. Once outside, they could move more quickly, but then they came to a stop. Policemen were examining the red speedboat while paramedics tried to revive the owner of the boat. The tarp had been pulled back.

"Fuck!" Marina murmured. "We need our weapons."

"We have to keep moving," Aaron said. "Let's see where the
Aegis
is."

They walked around to the south side of Navy Pier where the crowd was even worse. Sweat stung his eyes. They spotted the
Aegis
drifting near the end of the pier, just a hundred feet from thousands of unsuspecting tourists. The attack could come at any moment. Guards wearing green clothing were still posted all over the ship.

Aaron's phone rang, and he answered it. "Hello?"

"This is Edward. We called the
Aegis
, and the captain bought the whole story. He actually believed that Jack was Simon. Give 'em hell, sir."

"Good job. Bye." Aaron turned to Marina and said, "We have permission to board the enemy craft."

"How?" she replied. "We don't have a boat, and we can't swim across."

"That's the easy part. I'm worried about fighting an entire gang of heavily armed thugs with nothing but our bare fists and sharp wits."

"And then we have to defuse a highly sophisticated, tamper-proof bomb."

"Since we're working miracles today, why not cure the common cold, too?" he said. "I hope you enjoyed your life. Today is likely to be the end of it."

Chapter Twenty-four

Aaron and Marina stood at the end of the pier to get a closer look at the
Aegis
. Wearing green clothing and facial tattoos, the dozen or so sentries tried to maintain casual postures, but their stiffness showed they were hardly relaxed. Standing on a giant bomb would explain their anxiety. Compared to most of the boats in the water, the
Aegis
was a big ship, like a bully among small children.

Marina started jumping and waving her arms.

"What are you doing?" Aaron said.

"They're expecting us, aren't they? Maybe they'll come pick us up."

He shrugged. He also waved his arms like an eager child.

They eventually got the attention of the men on the ship. A blue, inflatable dinghy was dropped into the water, and a man rowed it over to the pier. Aaron and Marina climbed down into the small boat carefully to avoid capsizing it. The lone man at the oars turned the dinghy around and started back towards the ship.

He had a shaved head with green leopard spot tattoos in place of hair. Aaron judged he was no older than twenty, perhaps even just a teenager. He wore a green sweat suit.

"Hi, there," Aaron said. "Thanks for the ride."

He was ignored.

A bulge under the young man's shirt suggested he had a concealed gun, and Aaron wanted the weapon. Others were watching from the
Aegis
, which limited his options.

Marina abruptly leaned to one side, forcing the dinghy to rock violently. The man with the leopard spots fell on her, and they became a tangle of arms and legs. After a moment of awkward struggle, they separated. He resumed his work at the oars.

"What was that?" Aaron murmured to Marina.

She took his hand and pressed it against her belly. He felt a gun under her shirt. He smiled at her.
I picked the right woman to fall in love with,
he thought.

The dinghy arrived at the
Aegis
. The three of them climbed a ladder to reach the main deck. Aaron's heart was pounding, but he maintained a calm appearance.

A small group waited on the deck. The oldest man wore elaborate green robes with blue bands. Jade rings pierced his nose and eyebrows.

"I'm Captain Job," he said. "You must be Delilah and Sampson."

Marina nodded. "What can we do to help you?"

"You can start by explaining why Simon sent you. We didn't ask for help, nor do we need it."

"He lost contact with the
Scimitar
, and he became concerned."

The crew was staring at Marina with obvious suspicion. Aaron realized she was the only woman in the group, and the entire crew of the
Scimitar
had also been male. Apparently, Simon had run a very sexist organization. Marina was not acceptable as a fellow crewmember. Aaron became irritated at himself for not anticipating this problem, but there was no helping it now.

"Does Simon know what happened to the
Scimitar
?" Job said.

"No." Marina shook her head. "We must presume it's lost. The entire mission now depends on you, Captain. It is fortuitous that Simon sent two ships instead of just one."

He looked at her face closely. Then, he looked at Aaron's face. "Your tattoos seem odd."

"It's a new style," Aaron said. "Simon prefers it."

"Does he?" Job said in a tone of doubt. "He also prefers the women remain with the children, instead of pretending to be soldiers."

Marina's cheeks became flushed. To her credit, she held her tongue.

"Delilah is an unusual woman," Aaron said. "Simon trusts her. We would like our orders now. I'm sure there is something useful we could be doing."

"Everything is done," Job said. "We're just waiting for sunset and watching for enemies. Sraosha warned that our adversaries would attack the instant we dropped our guard." He gave Marina a sharp look.

"Could we tour the ship?" she said. "Simon would like a report from us."

"Are you saying he doubts my abilities?"

"No, but he is anxious. Tonight is the culmination of years of hard work. I don't understand your hesitation, Captain. Aren't you proud of your ship and crew? Don't you want to show them off? I'm sure my report to Simon will be very favorable."

"This isn't the time for a guided tour. I need my entire crew at their posts, including myself."

Job crossed his arms in an aggressive, stubborn manner.

This isn't going well
, Aaron thought. The captain had three other men with him, and all three carried AK-47's. The weapons were held low, below the top of the railing, so nobody else in the harbor could see. Aaron noted the safeties were off.
Not well at all.

"Captain," he said, "we all serve Simon, and our goals are one. There is no reason for this argument."

"Right now the best way for you to serve Simon is to stop distracting me." Job turned to his men. "Lock them in the forward starboard stateroom. Be alert! I don't trust these two." He walked off.

Marina and Aaron were escorted into the interior of the ship. One of the crewmen led the way while the other two followed behind. All three held their assault rifles in a ready position. They were tense and quiet.

Aaron couldn't allow himself to be locked up, which meant he had to make his move now. He was confident he could take out one of his escorts quietly, and Marina could handle another, but that left the third. Any gunfire would cause the entire crew to come running. He had to be clever.

The interior of the ship had beautiful furniture and cabinets made of cherry wood. The windows were beveled glass, which refracted the sunlight into a thousand tiny rainbows. A large plasma television showed a pie eating contest in progress. There was a half-full glass of cola on a table beneath.
That's what I need,
Aaron thought.

He approached the television until the cola was just within reach. He pretended to watch the eating contest.

"Hey!" one of the crewmen said. "Come back over here. Stay with us."

Aaron didn't respond. Keeping his gaze forward, he mentally rehearsed the series of movements he was about to perform. The television screen was a good enough mirror that he could locate everybody in the room. He measured distances with his eyes.

Marina took a casual step to her left while everybody was looking at Aaron.
She knows
, he thought.
We're going to be a great team.

Two crewmen came up behind Aaron. He glanced backwards out of the corner of his eye to make sure he knew exactly where his opponents were standing. Then he forced himself to relax so his actions would be quick and fluid, like a viper striking.

"I'm talking to you!" the crewmen said.

Aaron slapped the cola at his face. Then, still turning, Aaron grabbed the barrel of the second man's AK-47 and wrenched it away. Aaron immediately reversed the motion and brutally slammed the butt of the rifle into the second man's jaw. There was a crunching noise as teeth broke.

By this time, the first man had cleared the cola from his eyes. Aaron landed a wicked blow on his wrist to make him drop his weapon before he could pull the trigger. Then Aaron gave him the same dental surgery as his comrade.

Continuing to wield the rifle as a club, Aaron savagely beat both crewmen until he was pretty sure they were dead. Every blow was as hard as he could make it. Now was not the time for measured use of force.

Breathing hard, he looked over at Marina. She had already taken out the third and final escort without a shot being fired. Blood spurted from a deep gash on his throat where she had slashed him with her fingernails. He died as Aaron watched.

"Nicely done for a rookie," Marina said. "Bravo."

"Thanks," Aaron said. "What now?"

"Take their weapons."

Aaron didn't keep the AK-47 that he had used as a club because the barrel might be bent. However, that still left two good rifles, one for him and one for Marina. He also found spare ammo, a loaded revolver, and two knives.

"This is a good start," he said, "but I want more firepower."

"Me, too. You miss your grenade launcher?"

"Like it was my own child."

She smiled slightly. "I bet they have a weapons locker below. That will be our next destination."

"Should we hide the bodies, first?" He pointed at the dead crewmen, who were leaking large quantities of blood into the carpet.

"Better to move quickly while we can. Come on."

They went down a narrow staircase to a lower deck. Aaron entered a long, well-lit corridor with doors on either side.

"Keep your knife ready," Marina said. "That's the best weapon in a tight space. Watch how I do this."

She knocked softly on the first door. Then she stood with her back against the wall and a knife in her fist. Nobody answered the door, so she opened it herself and peeked inside.

"Empty," she whispered.

She moved on.

On the third door, a man answered her knock. She drove her knife into his throat as soon as he stuck his head out. She checked the room, kicked the body back inside, and closed the door to hide it.

"Nasty," Aaron said, "but efficient."

He took one side of the corridor, and Marina took the other. They worked their way down the length of the ship. Aaron wanted to move quicker, but he knew haste would cause mistakes of the fatal variety. The Navy Seals had a saying, "Slow is fast, and fast is slow." It described exactly this kind of situation.

After a few more doors, Aaron killed a man using the same method that Marina had used. He had never stabbed a guy in the throat before, and it felt dishonorable somehow. Intellectually, he knew all methods of murder ended in the same death, and this one was less painful than most, so he kept going.

He looked in every room but found little of interest. This deck held mostly cabins and storage spaces. Most of the original furnishings had been removed, and bunk beds had taken their place. Now the cabins looked more like prison cells than luxury staterooms. There was a persistent foul odor reminiscent of dirty socks.

Suddenly, people on the deck above started yelling.

"They found the bodies," Aaron said.

"Follow me," Marina said.

She sprinted the rest of the way down the corridor. They came to another stairway leading to the lowest deck, and they ran down it.