Tanner squeezed off two rounds at the micro-drone, both missing. Knowing he would now draw the wrath of the Secret Service on him, he fired again, a single shot, but a good one. He watched as one of the MUAV’s rotors broke away from the body and flew off into the water.
“Take out the drone!” Tanner yelled to the Secret Service guys, but it was no good. They began firing on the barge as the MUAV, still airborne, struggled to maintain a hover with only three-quarters of unbalanced power.
Tanner ducked behind the structure and ran around to the opposite side, pounding on the wall as he went to let Liam know that the situation was critical. He came out on the other side and knelt on one knee, steadying his aim. He had maybe a couple of seconds before the agents became aware of his new position.
He squeezed off three more bullets, feeling relief more than satisfaction as two of them found their mark and pieces of the MUAV shattered into the air, the micro-copter plummeting toward the yacht’s starboard rail. Tanner held his breath as he lowered his weapon and scoured the MUAV for signs of a plume of STX ejecting from it, but he saw none as the contraption impacted with the rail. For one heart-stopping moment Tanner thought the micro-copter was going to fall back into the sea, where it would no longer pose a threat. But instead the broken machine tilted and fell onto the deck of the yacht. Those nearby stampeded away from the wreckage.
And then a Secret Service round splintered the wooden wall above Tanner’s head, and the OUTCAST operative wheeled away. He got to his feet and dashed to the door of the structure. Throwing it open, he ran to the inner room where Liam stood guard over the Hofstad prisoner, watching the monitors.
“Good work! It landed on the yacht but I haven’t seen any plume.”
Tanner nodded. “Secret Service is all over us, though. Patch a call through to Danielle and tell her we need comm. I’ll try the manual method.”
Tanner moved to the VHF marine radio that was part of normal marine vessel equipment. Maybe he could explain himself to the yacht’s captain and establish a line of communication with the president’s team that way.
They heard the thudding of lead slugs against the structure’s outer walls as they reached out to communicate. It was Liam who made contact first. Flashing on how much the communication system had cost to implement, Tanner was grateful for it now, and he made a mental note to look into having it upgraded upon their return. If they returned.
Liam quickly conveyed the situation to Danielle, who promised to contact the White House and brief the appropriate people on the breaking situation. She did not want to distract them with the horrible news about Jasmijn, but did say that the antidote had been developed successfully and that Dante, Stephen and Naomi were en route to Maine with doses of it now via supersonic air transport, should it be needed.
Tanner, meanwhile was having trouble raising anyone on the Lincoln. He was using channel 16, the one reserved for marine emergencies, and getting no response. He switched over to a vessel-to-vessel channel and hailed the president’s yacht.
“Barge to Lincoln, barge to Lincoln,” he began, wanting to make it crystal clear where he was transmitting from. A few seconds passed and then he received a reply from a stressed-sounding male voice.
“This is yacht, Lincoln to barge. You are ordered to surrender. I repeat, you are ordered by the United States Secret Service to surrender. Show yourselves on deck with your hands up!”
“Just tell President Carmichael that this is Tanner Wilson of OUTCAST. I’m on board the barge with Liam Reilly, my team member, and a suspected Hofstad terror operator we are holding until he can be placed in custody, over!”
The reply came quickly, suggesting that nothing was being done to authenticate Tanner’s story. “You will need to surrender regardless of who you are!”
Tanner looked over at Liam, who stared with concern at the remaining drone display. “Special Forces team incoming,” he noted, watching an assemblage of black-clad men aboard a black Zodiac inflatable boat approaching the barge at high speed.
“We better comply.” Tanner waved an arm toward the exit.
“What about him?” Liam pointed to the terrorist bound on the floor, who had become more alert at the sound of the gunfire.
Tanner considered using him as a human shield but decided it increased the risk that he and Liam would be seen as the terrorists.
“Leave him. Let’s go.”
Tanner and Liam tucked their guns into the front of their waistbands, where they would be visible, but kept their hands raised high as they exited the structure onto the deck of the barge.
FIFTY
“Do not move!” The icy male voice issued from a megaphone held by the driver of the inflatable boat that now deployed a special forces team onto the barge.
Tanner and Liam froze with their hands high in the air. They stood two feet from the barge’s rail, on the side facing the president’s yacht.
“We’re on your side,” Tanner stated as two of the team scouted the barge deck for more people.
“Former SEAL Team 6, here,” added Liam.
“Shut up! Keep your hands up!”
They were scared. They trusted nothing. Tanner couldn’t blame them.
“On your knees. Now!”
The pair of OUTCAST operators complied with the instruction.
Their hands were bound behind their backs with flex cuffs and they were taken aboard the small boat, which motored over to the mega-yacht. The entire inflatable was lifted aboard the yacht by crane, and then the two operators were dragged across the deck where the party had been happening, the guests having been cleared to other parts of the ship.
As soon as they were taken inside the door to the salon, President Carmichael was there to greet them, flanked by several of his cabinet and additional security personnel.
Tanner smiled as he looked at the president. The look on the face of the POTUS transformed with recognition. He addressed the Secret Service agents holding onto Tanner and Liam.
“Wait! I know this man! Tanner Wilson?”
Tanner grinned. “It’s a pleasure to see you, Sir. Wish it could be under better circumstances.”
Carmichael nodded before continuing to address his people. “He saved our asses during that god-awful reaper drone thing!” One of the men standing next to Carmichael said something softly to him that Tanner couldn’t hear, but they heard the POTUS reply, “Yes! That’s him!”
“Liam Reilly, here, was there, too, Sir.” Tanner cocked his head at Liam. Carmichael nodded solemnly before commanding his agents.
“Free these individuals at once. See to it that these two men are given five-star treatment. Have them debrief you and then show them to a suite. Now!”
“Yes, Mr. President.” While one of the agents cut the flex cuffs from his wrists, Tanner spoke.
“Mr. President, you should know that we detained one of the terrorists in the barge’s wheelhouse. He’s tied up in there now.”
One of the Secret Service men touched his earbud and nodded. “They just found him. They’re bringing him out on the barge deck now.”
“Can we go out and get a look at him?” Carmichael asked. “Maybe one of us knows who he is?”