“That’s illegal, isn’t it? High seas and all that.”
Pope’s heavy-lidded eyes seemed to light up. “To paraphrase Chairman Mao, ‘Legality grows from the barrel of a gun.’“
Bosco could not suppress his enthusiasm. “Break out the jolly roger, Cap’n. Show ‘em our true colors.” Obviously his arm wound from Chad wasn’t hindering him.
Breezy adopted a Wallace Beery scowl. “Arrr, matey, arrr…”
Pope resumed speaking. “For now, let’s say we get aboard. Once we have more than a couple of men on deck, we’re pretty much committed. A retrograde movement off a ship is a losing proposition.”
He picked up a timer used to detonate explosives. It resembled a miniature cooking timer, variable to sixty seconds. “We’ll have breaching charges to blow the hinges off any dogged hatches. Each team has an EOD tech, but I want each of you familiar with these gadgets. Remember: mainly we want control of the bridge and the engine room. If the bad guys are holed up somewhere else, we can probably just contain them. Get them out later.
“Now, we have a minimum crew to put aboard once we control the ship. At that time the
“What kind of casualty?” Pace asked.
“Engineering. If the engine is damaged or the rudder’s jammed, something like that. In which case we’ll have to rig a tow — slow going but it can be done. At that point, depending on where we are, we’ll make for a neutral port. With a U.S. Navy warship escort.”
Tom Pfizer, a former SEAL, was impressed. He asked, “How’d you arrange that, sir?”
“I didn’t. The admiral did. There’s two frigates available: the
“Wouldn’t it be easier just to have one ship tail us?”
“Yeah, but that could draw attention. And if we actually chase the yellow cake all the way around the Horn of Africa, that ship probably will need to fuel somewhere.”
Pope surveyed his audience once more: an assembly of serious, focused young men who belonged to the same guild, having paid mostly the same dues to gain membership. The only exceptions were Bosco and Breezy, typically laughing and scratching. “All right,” Pope concluded. “If there’s nothing else for now, we’ll break it off. Continue checking gear, especially the Zodiacs. Boat captains, take over.” He nodded toward Jeff Malten, Tom Pfizer, and Geoff Pascoe.
As Malten started to leave, Pope beckoned him aside. “Jeff, I’d like your take on Bosco and Breezy: I can’t always tell them apart. They seem to feed off each other.”
Malten laughed. “I had the same trouble in Pakistan. Bosco’s about two inches taller, otherwise they’re interchangeable Army pukes to me.”
“This afternoon I saw them clowning in the galley. They’re taken to wearing kerchiefs on their heads and one of them got an earring from someplace. Next thing you know, they’ll have a peg leg and a parrot on one shoulder.”
“Yeah,” Malten said, chuckling. “They’ve started saying things like Avast!’ and ‘Aye, Cap’n,’ and saluting with two fingers. Breezy even got the lyrics to ‘Fifteen Men on a Dead Man’s Chest.’ I think they’ve seen too many pirate movies.”
“They act like frat boys,” Pope said. “Frankly, it makes me a little nervous. I’m thinking of putting them on two of the M-60s.”
Malten’s eyebrows raised. “I know they come across as juvenile delinquents sometimes. But don’t sell them short: they’re real serious after the kickoff.”
Pope glanced down while rubbing his bald head. “Well, I admit it surprised me when Breezy volunteered as a stay-behind medic. He may be some kind of surfer dude, but he doesn’t strike me as a grandstander.”
“He’s not. Like I said, I worked with both of them on the last op in Pakistan and Afghanistan. They’re solid when we’re in contact.”
“You mean when there’s lead in the air?”
Malten kept a straight face. He rendered a two-finger salute and uttered a throaty, “Aye, Cap’n.”
“Now don’t
“Aye, Cap’n.”
73
Hurtubise motioned to Zikri in the galley. They went to a far table and sat down. “We need to have a more definite plan if we are intercepted.”
The captain said, “I thought you would fight off any attempt to board.”
“That depends on the attacker. If we are hailed by a warship, we do not have many options, do we?”
“Well, no. Other than surrender, there are only two choices: fight or scuttle. If we fight, we lose. If we scuttle, we lose. From my view, it would be far better to stop and let them search. There is a chance they might not find all the yellow cake.”
“But you said we were unlikely to be stopped by a warship,” the Frenchman reminded him.
“Yes, that’s right. We are exercising legitimate right of passage. Where possible, I will keep within the territorial limits of each country we pass. The Americans have no authority there — even less than in the open sea.”
Hurtubise bit his lip in concentration. “Very well, then. We are most likely to be intercepted by an American or Israeli commercial ship, with naval commandos.” He paused, considering the likelihood. “We have a good chance of beating them off, but they may chase us.”
Zikri gave an indifferent shrug. “They can chase us all they like. As long as we are in international waters, and they cannot actually stop us, all they can do is follow.”
“Well, what could they do to stop us?”
“If they cannot put a boarding party on deck?”
Hurtubise nodded.
“Maybe they would try to disable our rudder or propeller, but to do that they have to get very close. They must have no deck guns or heavy weapons. Maybe if they have rocket launchers…”
“No, they cannot get that close. Our machine guns and RPGs would rip their speedboats apart.” Hurtubise thought for a moment. “What else could they do?”
“I cannot think of anything else. Unless… well, maybe they would ram us.”
“With their own ship?” Hurtubise asked.
Zikri’s eyes went to the vinyl tabletop, then back to the Frenchman’s. “It is possible. But that is no guarantee they could stop us. They might only dent some plates.”
“Could they disable your steering by collision?”
Zikri did not like the direction the conversation was turning, but he tried to remain objective. “Perhaps. But it is unlikely. You see, our stern overhangs the rudder and propeller. They would have to ram us very hard from just the right angle to have a chance. And I would be maneuvering to avoid them.”
“So that could go on for a long time?”
“Yes, yes.”
Hurtubise tapped the table in a momentary pique. Finally he said, “If they get that close to us, I could turn my RPGs on them. I doubt that they have anything comparable, and after we put a few grenades on their bridge, they will have to respect us. That should keep them at least a hundred meters away.”
“Would your grenades be effective against a ship?”
