Roarke increased the force, still remembering force, not speed. With his left hand still on the man’s wrist, he released his right hand, extended his whole arm flat against the killer’s arm, elbow touching elbow. He bent the arm against what nature intended, and it broke. Roarke heard the amplified crack through the water.
The man suddenly drifted upward. Roarke kicked to stay with him. Accelerating, he extended the fingers of his right hand straight out, held them tightly together, and drove them directly up and into the man’s unprotected Adam’s apple. Roarke pulled away and repeated the move, further drilling his fingers into the man’s neck. This time he felt bone crush. But he was not finished. Now with his left palm flat, he slammed up into the man’s right lung, instantly collapsing it.
The attacker’s mouth opened; an automatic reflexive motion. This had a serious effect underwater. He gagged and gasped. But the Charles River filled the space that hungered for air.
Roarke and the man who wanted to kill Katie were inches apart. Roarke ripped off his face mask. There was nothing the scuba diver could do to stop him. Not anymore. Roarke stared into the lifeless eyes and recorded the face.
He took in a lungful of air from the regulator that hung over the dead man’s shoulders. Now for Katie. But Roarke couldn’t find her.
Chapter 32
Up or down? Roarke needed to see better. The mask was still in his hand. He put it over his face, and using the scuba mouthpiece, he cleared out the water.
Up or down? He didn’t know. Roarke held the dead man close in order to suck in another breath.
Up or down? Down was dark. He didn’t even know the depth of the river, or how far Katie could have sunk. If she went down?
Roarke replayed the pursuit and the fight. Katie reached out. Her arms were there. I swam around her. Did she see me and give up? I rammed him. He held onto her. Then the final blow. Where did she go?
He remembered that the man had begun to rise in the water. He let go! Katie must have gone down. Down to where there was only darkness.
Roarke looked up to the light. He saw the outline of two boats: Katie’s and the boys. And then a splash. One of the boys was coming toward him.
He turned away. He’d given too much thought to where she was. Roarke had to go deeper. He took one more blast of air, let the dead man go, and dove. As he kicked, he thought he felt a fish brush his foot. He hadn’t seen any, but there definitely was a tickle; a touch of some sort. He kicked again and swam farther into the darkness. The feeling was there again.
Roarke glanced back. It was really too dark to see anything, but he felt the sensation once more. It was like a touch…a touch that moved up his body until it was on his hand…a hand holding his hand.
It was Katie.
Chapter 33
The drug production increased by 60 percent over two weeks. It’s amazing what people can accomplish when they want to live, Commander Umar Komari rationalized. Soon he would set up another transaction. This one would finally leave him with the cash to complete his purchases. Drugs to cash. Cash for weapons. What a wonderful world.
Komari expected to have firepower to take and hold a moderate-sized, poorly defended Indonesian city. But for bigger gains he needed more men. More men meant more supplies. His solution lay in the history of his own land. The terrorist commander took a page out of the Dutch conquest. Night after night, the colonel dispatched his forces into villages in neighboring islands to steal what they needed. The more fathers and husbands saw hungry mouths at home, the more they turned to people who had food. Of course, they were the very forces that stole from him in the first place: Colonel Komari and his men.
And so the militia grew.
“You see,” he told his lieutenant, Musah Atef, “it is a simple matter of supply and demand. We can put the hunger in their bellies. Now comes the real challenge. Can we put the hunger in their hearts? What will it take to transform ditch diggers into Muslim warriors? We must quickly teach them that our Jihad is their one true calling. By giving them a reason to die, they’ll have a reason to live forever. We must do that, Atef. We must do that without delay.”
Komari closed his eyes and visualized the success of his mission. “The edge of our sword will slice across our homeland, and the words of the Prophet shall be on everyone’s lips. We will drive the non-believers from our midst, and the one true God will look over you, your children, your children’s children, and for all who follow.”
Colonel Komari ranted on endlessly, as despots do. His minions pledged they’d follow, as obedient sheep would. And night after night, the ranks of Komari’s personal army swelled. His plans grew bolder by the week. He had seen other noble soldiers of Islam strike deadly blows against the infidels. Bin Laden. Hussein, in his day. Even his brother miles away shared his passion against the Great Satan, the Christians, and the Zionists.
The day will come. Soon he thought.
Komari ended every speech the same way. “Have no doubt: Have no fear, my people. From this, our one little island, we will form a new nation. A nation true to Allah. And no one will stop us.”
The 7th Fleet’s area of operation is immense. It stretches across more than 52 million square miles of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The borders frame much of the globe. The fleet patrols west of the International Date Line to the east coast of Africa, north from Kuril Islands off the coast of Russia, and far to the south, to the Antarctic. The Navy conducts at least 100 exercises a year in the Pacific theater, not only as a way to strengthen bonds with allies, but to keep the fleet at a high state of readiness.
President Lamden’s order to deploy elements of the 7th Fleet to the waters between Australia and Indonesia put American Super Hornets within hours of both nations.
Taylor honored the commitment without hesitation. One of his first acts as chief executive was to call Prime Minister David Foss. He pledged his support and reassured the PM that the fleet, under the command of Admiral Clemson Zimmer, would answer any call. President Taylor also added a personal aside. As a Navy commander and an F/A-18 pilot, he participated in one training mission with the Australians — INDUSA RECONEX. This bilateral reconnaissance exercise took him into Indonesia and familiarized him with the region.
President Taylor reaffirmed the promise that America would maintain a highly visible presence in an area fourteen times the size of the continental United States. That meant that Adm. Clemson constantly would have to move his pieces — some 40–50 ships, 200 aircraft, and about 20,000 Navy and Marine Corps personnel — on a floating chessboard. This included coordinating with the local military forces, transoceanic freight trade, and pleasure craft.
At the back of the PM’s mind was whether or not the U.S. could help in time. Australia was now in the terrorists’ crosshairs. They’d targeted the hotel scheduled to hold a multinational conference. God knew what else could happen.
“That sonofabitch!” she cursed as soon as they got in an FBI car. Roarke had warned Katie not to say anything until they were away. “The fucking sonofabitch, Witherspoon. He did it.”
“Take it easy. You don’t know that.” He wrapped a blanket around her, then checked the bandage on his leg.
“Yeah?” She was furious. “Who else? It’s Witherspoon.”
“Why?”
“He caught me looking up case law on FRT. He probably — no, not probably — he definitely figured out what I was doing and who I was doing it for!”