Hooke was the first one back on Leon’s pilothouse.
“You dumb motherfucker,” he said. “I should shoot you right here. If you came from together on your damn anniversary Jeannie would have killed me! Then Rebecca would send me over your place shoveling snow, unclogging toilets, and changing oil for the rest of my natural life! I coulda brought Tommy, damnit! Why the fuck didn’t you tell me!”
T-Ball gave him a smug look.
“It was my turn.”
Holt, Daranchak, and Pops were right behind Hooke with the ship’s Master. The Master now looked more like a whipped puppy. They replaced him at the helm.
“Slow the ship to bare steerageway. Understand?” asked Holt, “…very slow.” Then the SEAL officer in charge called out.
“Echo One, come here, man!”
“Sure, LT, what do you need?” he said.
“Hooya on the bomb disposal. We need to send a full report back to GW. I’m sure Guterson wants to know what is happening.”
“Roger that, sir.”
T- Ball followed Holt out on the bridge wing and into the Arabian sun yet again. The SEAL called the George Washington.
“Rebel, this is Kermit. Romeo sierra on that Five Aces package… Say again? Roger here he is.”
Holt handed T-Ball a hand-held radio.
“It’s Guterson. You are secure so nobody outside George Washington can hear you, but I don’t know who over there is listening.”
“Oscar, this is Echo One, over.”
“Roger One. Good job. What happened?”
“Oscar, this is Echo One. Unknown military destruct charge located with Five Aces. Net explosive weight precluded need for precise placement.”
“Copy, Echo One. How did you romeo sierra over?”
“Oscar, Echo One. Little black box.”
“Copy, Echo One. We’ll send over a CMC, a closed metal container, soonest so that you can safely store and transport. Standby for further instructions. Let Kermit know that prize crew from Lone Star and trees from Rebel are standing by.”
“Echo One.”
T-Ball saw San Jacinto now. She was less than a thousand yards off the Leon’s port side. He could make out the ship’s boarding team preparing to launch their boat. One of the helos that brought the takedown team from George Washington was on San Jac’s deck, probably refueling. The other was circling around overhead.
“Echo One, Oscar. I almost forgot, your orders came in last night. You got Ingleside.”
“Roger that, Oscar. Anything else?”
“Negative, Echo One. Keep up the good work.”
He handed the radio back to Holt.
“Sir, Lieutenant Guterson said that a boarding team from San Jacinto and Marines from GW are standing by to secure the ship.”
“Right. Well, they will have to wait. We need to complete our own initial search first. For now, I want you to remain on the bridge as I directed before.”
“Aye, aye, sir.”
T-Ball found Hooke and Pops inspecting his handiwork.
“Hooya, brother,” Pops said.
“I always said you were a solid motherfucker,” agreed Hooke.
“What’d you do, T-Ball?” asked Pops.
Now I’m ‘T-Ball,’ the Tech thought to himself, Save the day and suddenly I’m one of the boys. He pointed to the device he put into the circuit. “See that little black box connected with alligator clips?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I evaluated the circuit and determined where the signal was going out to the explosive train. The electrical impulse to the detonator will only work if there is sufficient current. I put that black box in, which is basically a large resistor, to increase the electrical resistance in the circuit so that the signal could not travel through to the detonator.”
“Huh?” Pops looked confused.
“Basically, Pops, that thing puts a large load on the battery so that it doesn’t work right.”
“Fucking-A man. Now you gonna cut the blue wire, just like in the movies right?”
“Yeah sure.”
“Tell you what, T-Ball, you must have a ten inch dick. That there is some good shit. You guys are no joke.”
Pops turned and strolled away shaking his head.
In a hushed tone Hooke asked, “How did you know which one to use?”
“Simple, I pulled out the biggest one I had.”
“Go large or go home?”
“Exactly.”
“All in Kilo, all in Lima, this is Kermit. Victor bravo sierra sierra. We’ve done visit, and board, we need to finish search and prepare for seizure by Lone Star.”
“Kilo Five.”
“Fozzy.”
“Gotta go,” Hooke said to T-Ball.
One of the helos went back to George Washington to re-fuel. Guterson gave the aircrew a CMC for T-Ball to store the explosive charge in. George Washington’s EOD detachment would place it in a magazine in case the FBI, the EOD Technology Division, or some other government entity wanted it for evidence of intelligence. Otherwise, they would dispose of it at the next possible chance. T-Ball placed the charge in the CMC and set it on the bridge wing opposite of George Washington. He stretched some duct tape over the hatch so nobody would go near it.
“Kermit, I recommend informing San Jacinto that I have placed the charge on the bridge wing there, that they may want to back off some.”
“Okay,” said Holt. “Did you receive that last call from Echo Two?”
“Uh, no, sir.”
Just then T-Ball heard Hooke’s voice.
“…this is Echo Two. Request assistance in main hold from Echo One. Meet Fozzy on main deck over.”
T-Ball looked at Holt who nodded and answered Hooke’s request.
“Roger, Two. This is Kermit, One is on his way down.”
T-Ball met Lieutenant Junior Grade Barnes on the main deck. Then he followed the young officer three decks down into Leon’s innards. They reached a long passageway that looked as if it ran about half of the ship’s length. T-Ball saw Hooke and two of the SEALs from Lima forty feet ahead of him in the passageway. Just beyond them was a door. As T-Ball got closer he saw that it was a hatch constructed of heavy steel. Its hinges looked like they would hold a lot of weight.
Just as T-Ball got up to where the SEALs were, Hooke called out, “Stop.”
“What?”
“Look closely.”
“Unfuckingbelievable,” one of the SEALs remarked.
“I’d have never seen it,” said the other.
T-Ball studied the door. He started at the large knob on the right side and circled around the top, past the hinges. Then he saw it. On the bottom edge there were two small, gray boxes, each the size of an AA battery. One was on the door and one was below it on the bulkhead.
“A sensor.”
“Bingo.”
“Damn, Hooke, that was a good eye. I’m not sure I’d have seen it either.”
“Well shipwreck, that’s why I’m a Master Tech and you’re a Senior Tech. So what is it?”
“Actually it’s stupid whatever it is. I mean, we’ve seen it. If you wanna hide it, why not put it inside?”
“Good point, but what is it?”
“Could be a booby trap. Open the door, it sets something off. Boom.”
“Or?”
“Or it could just be an alarm. Heck, it might just be a status sensor. If this is the main hold, maybe it lights a light somewhere telling someone the door is open.”