He motioned to Bones.
Go!
The big Indian sprang, knife in his right hand, more for the intimidation factor than to actually use it. He knew that he and Maddock would have little trouble dispatching these three unsuspecting men with their bare hands. But in his business, it didn’t pay to get complacent, and right now overall, the odds were definitely stacked against them.
Right away Bones could see his target. The man who was not one of the brothers was both taller and chunkier, and standing closer to Bones to boot. He would take him down first, leaving the two brothers to Maddock until he could assist. He hoped that Maddock would be okay with this, since right now they had no way to communicate anything of that complexity.
With his bare feet, his track-runner start off the line was silent and he wasn’t noticed until he was mere feet away and coming at a sprint. He launched himself into the tallest man, using the steel butt of the dive knife to strike him with non-lethal force in the head. The crewman was unconscious before he hit the deck. His spindly limbs were wrapped around Bones’ body, though, and the wily Cherokee had no choice but to go down with his victim. He saw three pairs of legs engaged in a struggle above him. Maddock had arrived.
Bones rolled the tall guy off of him and shot to his feet. Maddock was grappling with the brother who was facing Bones. That man tried to warn his twin, who stood with his back to Bones, by uttering something in Japanese. It was too late. Bones wrapped his arms around the much smaller man, the left gripping his abdomen like a vice, the right clutching the knife blade in front of his throat.
Maddock had his knife sheathed had full control of the other brother, bear-hugging him into submission. He cocked his head toward the lifeboats. Bones took his meaning immediately. They needed cover. Right now before anyone saw them.
“Speak English?” Maddock hissed at his captive.
“Some.” He trembled in Maddock’s grasp, the suddenness of the attack having unnerved him.
“Stay quiet and do what we say and you will all live. Do you understand?”
The man nodded feverishly. “Yes, understand. What you want?”
“We’re going to those lifeboats over there, and then we’ll tell you. Don’t resist, and this will all be over soon without anyone getting hurt.”
The Japanese man looked extremely confused, but nodded. Bones lifted the tarp a little and rolled the tall, unconscious crewman under it. He used his knife to slice a length of cord that had been tying the tarp down and put it in his pocket. Then he and Maddock each gripped one of the brothers and escorted them at a trot to the lifeboats.
Once ensconced beneath the small boats, Maddock and Bones had the two brothers sit cross-legged on the deck. Maddock addressed them.
“We require use of a satellite phone. Where is the nearest one located?”
The two brothers looked at one another.
“Seriously, Maddock? They barely speak English.” Bones held a hand up to the side of his head, miming talking on a telephone. “Phone,” he said.
The captives nodded in unison.
“Where!” Maddock brandished his knife.
“Bridge,” one of the brothers said.
“Tomoaki,” the other said almost at the same time.
“Which is it?” Maddock hissed.
“Both!” the brother sitting next to Bones said. “Tomoaki has one. Captain has one on bridge.”
“Would it be unusual for either of you to walk into the bridge and request to borrow the sat-phone?” Maddock pressed.
The brothers looked at one another and one gave a shrug. “We are machine fabricators.”
Bones looked at Maddock. “I take that as a ‘yes’.”
But then one of the brothers looked up at Maddock, nodding. “Can say I need call Tokyo to confirm parts order.”
Maddock nodded at him. “Good.” Then he indicated for Bones to tie the other brother’s hands behind his back.
“What are you doing?” the brother who had just spoken said.
“Get the phone. Bring it back. Tell no one. Understand?” Bones hoped the glare he directed at the man was sufficiently intimidating.
The Japanese crewman appeared confused.
“Do you understand?” Bones repeated.
The man pointed at his trussed brother. “He come with me?”
Maddock and Bones both shook their heads. Maddock brought the knife near the brother’s neck. He looked the Japanese man in the eyes while Bones made a show of cinching down his brother’s restraints.
“You have five minutes to bring that satellite phone back here without alerting anyone.” Bones held up his hand fingers and thumb spread apart.
“After five minutes, if we still don’t have a working sat-phone, your brother here will die.” Maddock showed the man his watch and then made a slashing motion with the knife in the air in front of his brother’s neck. “Are we clear?”
The unbound brother nodded, eyes wide. He looked at his brother, said something in Japanese, then said to Maddock, “Five minutes. I go now.”
He got up and crawled out from the boat, looking back once before standing and walking briskly away.
“I hope,” Bones said, watching the man walk away, “he likes his brother better than my sister likes me.”
Chapter 27
“I wonder what’s under that tarp,” Bones said, while he, Maddock and their captive waited under the lifeboat. Thankfully the Japanese man had remained quiet and compliant thus far. Maddock tapped him and pointed out to the tarp-covered bundle.
“What’s under the tarp?”
The man made a grunting noise while he looked out at the tarp, and then seemed to lose interest. “Airplane.”
Bones looked at Maddock, then back to the captive. “Airplane? What kind?”
Having another way out of here was a possibility they hadn’t considered.
“There’s no way even the smallest of planes could take off from this ship,” Maddock pointed out.
“Unless it’s a float plane.” Bones’ suggestion piqued Maddock’s interest as he mentally pictured the airplanes with pontoons instead of wheels that could land and take off on water, like the one that had been destroyed at the pier. He looked at their prisoner. “What type of plane is it?”
The captive shook his head. “It no work. Just model.”
Maddock and Bones exchanged quizzical glances. “Model of what?” Maddock pressed.
The crewman shrugged. “Old plane. You go see.” He pointed over at the tarp. Bones looked that way with interest.
“Don’t.” Maddock looked at Bones, shaking his head. “Not worth the risk. We hunker down here until he’s back with the sat-phone.”
Bones made a mock sad face. “But it’s a plane, Maddock.”
“A model.”
Bones eyed the captive doubtfully. “Not that I think this guy would ever lie to us…but there’s kind of a language barrier at play here. Maybe he doesn’t mean the word ‘model’ like the way we think of ‘model’.”
“How else would he think of it?” Maddock glanced at his watch.
“I don’t know, model, like really good? A model plane, as in one that all other planes look up to?”
Maddock muttered something incomprehensible under his breath.
“It’s okay, we can just sit here and wonder…” Bones glanced longingly out at the tarp-covered plane.
“You know the price if you get spotted.”
“I won’t be spotted. Besides, it’s getting a little hot in here, some fresh air will keep me alert for when it’s time to move.”
“Go, then.”
Bones crouched at the entrance to their hideout, scoping out the work deck. Satisfied the coast was clear, he made a silent, nimble dash to the end of the tarp where Maddock had waited before. He undid one of the tie-downs and slid beneath the tarp. Beneath it he found that it was dim but he could still see in the bluish light from the work deck’s floodlights penetrating the fabric.