Hard Case VII - Red Waves (John Harding Series Book 7) (48 page)

“Very well. I pray you speak the truth,” Halii said with resignation plain in his voice. “I have risked everything to further the mission and ready our people aboard ship. It did not help to be completely out of touch with either Khan or Mannan. Do you finally know the coordinates and timing for the assault?”

“Yes. I am not at liberty to discuss such matters. I must allow Ali Khan to explain what you need to know. It is the main reason for my arrival. I am not to be in the cabin with you when Khan speaks with you.”

Hope brightened Halii’s face. Zarin’s outlining of the private communications venue could indeed mean Halii would be able to perform his duty to ‘Jihad’ under direct order from the leaders in Iran. He stood, straightening and smoothing his uniform. “This means much to me. Let us go so I may finally communicate again with someone in authority.”

The two men left. They smiled and greeted everyone as dictated by their positions as crewmembers aboard the most luxurious cruise ship yet built. It took nearly ten minutes to traverse the ship to Zarin’s secret professed communications hub. Zarin slipped his card in the slot and opened the cabin. He led the way inside. The door closed behind them as Halii looked in confusion at the smiling faces around him. They were all strangers.

* * *

“What’s he like, Johnny,” Nick asked. “Can he help or was he a rough sell? That was a great adlib to think of making our cabin part of the plot.”

“He has been out of contact with Khan and Mannan. Perry was happy to hear he would be talking with his boss. He has no idea where the assault will happen but I am certain he knows how Khan and Mannan are to contact him. He recruited Faruk. Perry thought I was here to kill him.”

“What is this? Where is the electronics gear to speak with Ali Khan? Who are these people?” Halii continued speaking in Arabic.

I could tell this guy knew he was in trouble. I answered him in Arabic, which everyone but Lynn spoke fluently, and she was learning with Samira and Clint’s help. “We are agents of the United States you don’t often see. We know of the planned pirating of the Starlight, orchestrated by Ali Khan and Joram Mannan, sponsored by Iran at the Port of Chabahar. There are many details we will need you to apprise us of, Perry.”

“Do not act as if you know me. I will tell you nothing. I know nothing of what you claim about an assault on my ship.” Halii went into dumb mode with Kabong shaking his head.

“Do not insult these people, Halii,” Kabong told him. “They know you lead the infiltrators on board the ship. Immediately begin explaining every single detail of the operation. You may be able to avoid pain you will not be able to comprehend.”

Halii made a break for the door, but I clotheslined him. Clint put the restraints on him once I flipped the groaning captive over. “Not very smart, Perry. My associate gave you good advice. We are not the regular federal authorities. I’m afraid we’ll have to introduce you to our interrogator, Dr. Cruella Deville.”

I put Perry into the bed. Nick, Clint and I did our tag team holding duty while Lynn introduced herself. She had already decided on the heel needle therapy since we managed to get her equipment on board. It took only two short needle sessions with Clint and Nick anchoring Perry’s legs and feet. I kept him from twisting his own head off or breaking all his teeth. With Issac Leon copiloting with Gus, Denny decided to hunt down an AWACS reconnaissance plane to ride along with for us. Jafar stayed with us by design so we would have a more accomplished IT guy in addition to Clint. Denny was on live with us though by satellite. Everything Kabong had claimed Perry would be able to talk with Ali Khan by, we had there for our own networking.

Lynn patted the sobbing Halii’s face. “I believe we have a good little helper now, Denny. Aren’t you my good little helper, Perry?”

“Yes! Anything! I…I will tell you everything. Please don’t torture me anymore, Mistress!”

Lynn instructed Halii as to how he should address her. She preferred Mistress of the Unimaginable. “Good boy. We’re going to turn on our audio equipment while my boss listens in. I want you to take us through everything from the beginning, concentrating on all details concerning the takeover of Starlight and how your crew planned to assist the pirates.”

Halii did as instructed, convincing us and Denny of his truthfulness. I have no idea how tough a guy Perry was, but when you meet an interrogator without mercy or compassion that smiles as they torture you, it flips a switch inside your head. I could tell from Denny’s face he saw an opportunity here beyond mission parameters. The infiltrators barely knew each other and were told by Perry per instruction to keep separate as much as their jobs permitted.

Halii explained the weapons they would use and the location where they were hidden. He confirmed our infiltrator count without being told. The original directive from Khan and Mannan named the last stop on the voyage as the general area the Starlight would be attacked. We had already figured it would have to be close to the Port of Chabahar. The fact Khan and Mannan picked the area directly between Muscat, Oman and the Port of Chabahar meant Iran was worried about reaction times from our forces. It was still the Gulf of Oman. Perry would be informed of the exact time and coordinates during the last stop on the cruise in the Port of Muscat.

“Why were you so eager to speak with Khan?”

Lynn repeated Denny’s question, making sure Halii heard it.

“The men… they are getting more nervous about the assault,” Perry answered. “There are over eight thousand people on board. Even with the weapons we have smuggled aboard, they know if rushed we would be hard pressed to stop a counter attack.”

“You have two women amongst the infiltrators,” Lynn said. “What were they to do, and why would you religious zealots of women haters ever depend on them?”

“They were to… kill Captain Larsen. They are near him often on the bridge due to their jobs in communications there. They are proven killers. The moment we received word to make our move, the women were to kill Larsen immediately.”

Jafar turned to me from where he was keeping Denny in contact with us. “Brother, would these women not be the answer to obtain Captain Larsen’s cooperation? With the ringleader, Halii, and the women hired to kill him admitting their plot, would he not then do as we ask? We know Halii is networked with all of them. Can these women be asked to come here where surely Crue can convince them to admit their plans to the Captain?”

“Good input, Achmed,” Lynn said. “Damn, Cheese… except for the fact Larsen would probably want to call in the military instead of bait the trap, at least he’d know why we were doing this. He’d also know we saved his life.”

“It would mean moving on everyone sooner than we expected to. Lynn’s right about Larsen’s first reaction, but he might at least be more sympathetic to our plan if he knew we do have military backup.”

“Really,” Denny chirped in. “Other than a vague reference to the fleet running some interference if a major power intercedes from Paul Gilbrech on scene, you guys will have your asses in the wind from beginning to end. What if Larsen wants to speak with someone who can guarantee… oh no… no way!”

Denny saw us all staring at him with smiles. “I can’t guarantee something like that. Think about it. Paul could get away with it, but they’d strip him of his Director’s post in a heartbeat if he tried it. What the hell do you think they’d do to me? I’d get a firing squad. Oh hell… okay… I’ll do it. We have our island in case I have to escape. I know you all wouldn’t let them put me in a dungeon somewhere. Maria would be very upset, Lynn.”

Lynn waved him off. “Step the hell up, Denny, and soldier on. We’ll take care of you. We can’t risk Director Gilbrech. He’s our top guy in the food chain.”

“Lynn’s right,” Nick agreed. “Paul would do anything to make this mission succeed, but it would be much better if he had to do as little as possible. We can do this. Lynn will get Larsen on board if you flash your credentials, Denny. You’re an assistant director. If we move on this with Halii’s help right now, Chuck and Sal from Red Dragon Security with their people could handle the infiltrators’ incarceration. Larsen would then be the key to doing what we need done in placating the rest of the crew and seeing to what we would need to cover their absence.”

“What the hell would all you gold-bricks have to do then if the infiltrators get put under lock and key,” Denny joked. “Okay… okay… let’s move on this before the first port stop in Khasab, Oman.”

A very good thought struck me when port stops were mentioned. “Denny. Do you know where Tom Wilders’ Seal Team is, whom we know intimately? What if they met the ship in Khasab and with Chuck and Sal’s help, transported the infiltrators to a holding facility incommunicado in Khasab? I know they don’t do prison guard work, but they owe us a favor.”

“Damn…” Denny remained silent and we could almost see the wheels spinning in his head. He looked up finally. “Let me work that angle. I know a safe house in Khasab where we could put that many in holding with a capable team watching them we can trust. They’re going to want to be with all of you, but I don’t want them part of this kill mission.”

“Agreed. We don’t want any official capacity military in this. Did you get the additional weapon you spoke to us about in case we get faced with a warship?”

Denny grinned at me like that fat Cheshire cat in the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ Disney movie long ago. “I did indeed. The minions are guarding the Valkyrie and everything on it. My engineers installed twin RGM-84’s on it. I know you’re familiar with the weapons system. Clint is too.”

Good Lord. “Rockets capable of taking out a warship. How in hell did you pull that magic trick off?”

“With Paul’s help through his Navy contacts. I know between our Mi-24 attack helicopter and the UH-60M Blackhawk, we probably won’t need much more in the way of fire power, but I wanted to cover all our bases. With you insisting on this Port of Chabahar hit, I figured a couple rocket launchers would not be a bad thing.”

“When you guys talked about the Valkyrie I thought it was a converted pilot boat or something,” Nick said. “How big is it?”

“Big enough for two helicopter pads, brother,” Clint answered. “I want to be on one of the helicopters with ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ so I’m hoping I won’t get stuck firing and maintaining the RGM-84 rocket racks.”

“I think our problem area will be getting away from Chabahar after we lay waste to it,” I replied. “That would be my pick for a place where those rockets would come in real handy.”

“I have a suggestion for that,” Nick said. “If Denny can get a bunch of those new computer detonated MILA-6C Limpet Mines, you and I could pick a bunch of targets in the Chabahar Port. I read in your file you’ve done extensive diving in combat situations. How would you feel going with me to give these pricks something else to think about besides our going into town for Khan and Mannan?”

“You guys get all the fun,” Lynn complained. “I’m making you teach me how to scuba dive, Cheese.”

“Ah… no… you’re not,” I retorted to much amusement. “I’ll bet the Sea Wolf could get us in close enough without interference to allow us choices from a target rich environment. What about it, Denny?”

“I’ll find as many as I can on short notice and have the Seals deliver them if I can find Wilders’ team – hell of an idea, Nick. I’ll have the tech advanced dive equipment ready to board too. You guys could set those Limpets off at will to cover your entry into the port or exit. If there’s nothing else, I’ll let you figure out the safest way to gather captives while I find Wilders’ Seal Team and the Limpets. Captain Blood out.”

“Captain Blood?”

“Pay no attention to Denny, Nick,” I told him. “He has delusions of grandeur sometimes. I’m wondering if Dr. Deville has her little helper at a point we could use him to gather his friends for a meeting. He can claim to have received an urgent communique from Khan he needs to relay in person.”

“I’ll ask, but I’m certain Perry wants to help in any way he can.” Lynn walked over next to the clearly terrified Perry. He had not moved a muscle since filling us in on what he knew.

“How are you, baby.” Lynn stroked the side of Perry’s face. “I know my little man will do anything I ask, right Perry?”

“Anything, Mistress… anything! I can get a meeting with everyone. We have a contingency plan to meet in the forward section of the storage room if I call a meeting. We are all on dayshift at this time. I could arrange it easily. I will play my part perfectly when Ali Khan does contact me too.”

“I love your enthusiasm, Perry,” Lynn replied. “Let’s do this.”

* * *

It took a while to arrange due to working conditions on board the ship. The dayshift aboard a cruise ship can be nightmarish in that more demands are made on ship’s personnel by a very large passenger presence wanting food, entertainment, and personal service. Perry hushed the people as they arrived. These were not your ordinary ship’s crew. We knew they had the experience or they would never have been able to sign on for the Starlight cruise. Nick and I waited out of sight on one side of the huge storeroom while Clint and Lynn waited on the other. Everyone else was in reserve out of sight and further away at the other end, including all of the Red Dragon Security team. When we had the right body count, the four of us made our appearance with silenced MP5 submachine guns. Two of the Red Dragon team secured the storeroom. They would dispense anything needed while we entertained our prisoners.