“It’ll have to be a hand signal. I don’t have a handheld radio.”
“More like an arm signal. It’s pretty far away.”
Shah nodded in agreement. “If I hold my arms out to my sides, like an oh c’mon, be reasonable gesture — that means take your best shot. Okay?”
“Okay.” Dante climbed the ladder. Shah put the boat back into gear and motored away from the rig.
At the top of the ladder, Dante oriented himself with respect to his target position and took off running. He would need time to get himself comfortably situated in a good sniper nest. A few minutes later he reached the end of the rig and turned right along the edge, crouching low behind a metal railing to avoid being seen by the men on the boat, which he could now see off to his left.
Shah’s Zodiac was in his field of view as well, cutting a beeline to the larger vessel. Dante crawled on behind the railing until he reached a large diameter pipe situated like an inverted “U.” On the other side of it was a cluster of smaller pipes that he thought would make a good hiding place.
He dashed past the large pipe, temporarily exposing himself to the view of the boat, and then tucked himself into the maze of pipes. Eyeing the Hofstad boat, Dante was pleased that he was mostly concealed by the pipes. He blended in with the oil rig. No longer worried about being spotted, he turned his attention to the offensive. He rested the barrel of his pistol on one of the pipes and took rough aim at the ship. He laid his spare magazine out in front of him so that it was easily accessible. Then he peered through the binoculars.
As soon as he focused the glasses he could see the Hofstad leader gesticulating to his two other men on board. And there! Sitting on deck, wrists tied in front of her and ankles bounds as well — was Nay. He let out a sigh as he spied on the boat. Her position was far less than optimal. It was a very close-quarters environment and were he to miss, the shot could easily ricochet inside the boat and hit Naomi.
The sound of Shah’s Zodiac motor decelerating reached his ears as it neared the boat and Dante turned his attention back to the gun. He played with the balance some more, getting the long barrel to rest on the pipe in front of him just right. He practiced looking through the binoculars held in his left and then quickly changing to the sight of the gun held in his right.
He watched as the Zodiac pulled up to within a few feet of the big boat. He tensed. This was it. Should there be a firefight without time for Shah to give the signal, he would need to be ready to cover them just the same. He peered through the binoculars, which unfortunately were cheap 7x25’s, not nearly powerful enough to afford him the chance to read lips. But he could see the Hofstad leader pointing directly at Jasmijn clearly enough, no doubt asking what in the Hell she was doing aboard Shah’s boat. Shah must be explaining how he found her in the water but not me…
As he continued to watch, the body language of all parties grew increasingly agitated. He saw one of the Hofstad men not doing the negotiating with Shah raise his automatic weapon to a semi-ready position…
And then Shah spread his arms wide in a gesture of exasperation.
THIRTY-FIVE
Dante reacted swiftly to the signal, moving his eyes off the binoculars and onto the gun sight as he had practiced. He saw the Hofstad man in the boat who had partially raised his automatic weapon swing it to a state of full readiness. Dante held his breath, aiming the pistol. He switched back to the binoculars one more time, then quickly back to the pistol.
Now!
He let loose two rounds aimed at the chest of the shooter. Through his naked eye he saw the man twitch violently and fall backwards, discharging his weapon into the air as he landed hard on his back on the deck, not far from where Naomi sat in her trussed position.
Dante heard other shots now — Shah returning fire from the Zodiac as he ducked behind the steering console. Dante consulted the bino’s one more time as he took aim on the henchman who was swinging his machine gun toward the Zodiac in response. Back to the gun sight. Held his breath. Put pressure on the trigger, slowly…
He squeezed off two more rounds, watching in grim satisfaction as the second gunman contorted in shock and dropped to the deck.
Only one enemy remained standing.
But the leader was already on the move, backpedaling to reach the cover of the boat’s console, instead tripping over Nay. Dante could hear Shah firing at the remaining opponent, but through his binoculars he could see that he missed his mark as a fiberglass door to the cabin shattered. And the Hofstad leader was pushing himself up off the deck…
…and turning his attention to Naomi.
Dante popped the fresh clip into his weapon and took careful aim, well aware that Naomi was in very close proximity to the intended target. He squeezed off four rounds, two of them missing but two snapping the terrorist’s head back in a whiplash motion.
Dante heard the whiny acceleration of the Zodiac’s outboard as Shah threw the boat into gear. He ate up the remaining distance to the Hofstad boat in seconds and jumped onto the larger vessel while Jasmijn remained in the Zodiac. Dante observed through the binoculars as Shah ran to the terrorist and kicked his auto-rifle away from him. He saw him reach out and place his fingers on the man’s neck, feeling for a pulse. Then Shah looked back toward the rig and drew his hand across his neck in a slashing motion.
Dead.
That was five Hofstad men eliminated. It should mean that there were no more terrorists on the boat, but when your life depended on being right you didn’t make assumptions. Shah cautiously circled around the boat’s deck, carefully checking all areas, even lifting open storage compartments with his pistol at the ready. When that was cleared, he moved to the cabin. He yanked the door open and aimed his gun down inside. Then he descended slowly into the interior space. Dante watched and listened for signs of gunfire.
A couple of minutes later he emerged from the cabin, nodding his head and holding up his hand in the “okay” sign.
The boat was clear, the entire Hofstad squad dead.
Shah pointed in Dante’s general direction, off to his left.
Go to the ladder.
Dante made his way back through the rig’s catwalks and spiral ladders until he reached the steel platform at the top of the ladder. He heard the Zodiac approaching and when it was within sight he climbed down the ladder until he hung just above the water. Shah pulled up to him and he dropped into the raft, giving Nay and Jasmijn a hug. Then Shah took them back to the Hofstad boat where they boarded, leaving the Zodiac tied up alongside. After a few rounds of congratulatory talk and expressing thanks over being alive, Shah got down to business.
“We should sink this boat and the Zodiac and take the old fishing boat I came out here on back to port. But before we do we need to search it top to bottom — and the bodies — for anything that might lead us to the people pulling the strings.”
Jasmijn immediately volunteered to search the cabin, knowing there were no bodies there, and headed below.
“I’ll search the bodies,” Shah volunteered. “Dante, you search the rest of the boat topside. Nay — why don’t you go down below and help Jasmijn.” The two OUTCAST operatives nodded and went about their tasks. It was a good call, sending Naomi below. Jasmijn was a scientist, not a spook, and likely wouldn’t know what to look for unless it was blatantly obvious.
Shah searched the bodies of the two subordinates first and found nothing on their persons. He was a little surprised since one of the men he’d neutralized in the Zodiac had been carrying a wallet. So there were inconsistencies in the group, Shah mused. They were not a perfectly programmed machine.