“Mayday, Mayday. This is the Mississippi. We’re a super tanker carrying two million barrels of crude oil. We’ve been damaged by a rogue wave, and we’re sinking. Please, if anyone can hear us, we need immediate assistance.”
“Mississippi. This is Sea King Mikey. Charlie. Charlie. One. Five. We’ll render every assistance possible. Please confirm your location.”
“Twenty-five miles east of north Bimini Island.” He then read out their precise GPS coordinates.
Sam didn’t have to look at a map. It was the exact same location of the other recent attacks. “Copy that Mississippi. How many lives are aboard?”
“Five crew and two civilians.”
“Mississippi we’re heading to your location to render assistance. What is the state of your oil compartments?”
“One is compromised and a deck fire has started. The rest are currently secure.”
Sam looked at Veyron who typed the coordinates into the GPS and then plotted their distance. “We can be there in twelve minutes.”
“What about our fuel?” Sam asked.
“We should be all right to pick up the passengers and then return to the Maria Helena. We’d better get the Maria Helena moving toward the stricken vessel, so that we can shorten our flight time on the return trip.”
Sam depressed the radio button. “Mississippi, we will be overhead at your location in twelve minutes.”
“Thank you.”
Sam then flicked the VHF to channel 45, where the Maria Helena had maintained an open communications channel with him. “Maria Helena.”
“Go ahead Sam?” It was Matthew who answered the call.
“We’re heading to 25 miles southwest of Bimini Island to render assistance to the Mississipi, a supertanker carrying two million barrels of crude oil. We’re going to be running pretty short on fuel by the time we rescue her crew and passengers. Can you please head in that direction?”
“Copy that, we’re on our way.”
“Mississippi, this is Sam Reilly, Special Projects Director of the vessel Maria Helena. I have the Maria Helena heading in your direction to take you under tow. Are you in authority to agree to Lloyds Open Form?”
Silence.
“Mississippi. Do you accept Lloyds Open Form?”
More silence.
“Mississippi, do you read?”
“Rescue ship. The fire is spreading to the bridge. Please hurry.”
Sam shook his head.
“What do you want to do?” Tom asked.
Sam banked the helicopter to the left. “Do you mean — am I still going to offer my services?”
Genevieve leaned forward in the helicopter. “Are you?”
“What?” Sam shrugged his shoulders. “Do you have any idea what the overheads are to run the Maria Helena? Many of the anti-looting acts prohibit us from making much more than a fraction of the value of any treasure we discover.”
Genevieve looked at him with horror. “What were you going to do if he’d said no?”
Sam grinned. “Tom, please inform Genevieve the first rule of the sea.”
“Render assistance to any person found at sea in danger of being lost.”
Chapter Fifty Eight
Sam circled the Sea Knight as he saw the stricken oil tanker up ahead. Its forward oil compartment had split and oil was already spilling into the ocean. The oil had caught alight on the deck and the flames radiated with such strength that it might as well have been daylight outside.
“Sea King. We’re on the aft bridge. Please hurry, it’s going to get hot here pretty quick.”
Sam looked at the raised bridge nearly five stories high. On its roof were seven people waving their arms frantically. “Understood Mississippi.” He then turned to his other passengers. “Change of plans Tom. Get the life raft ready. I’m going to have to drop you all in the sea. There’s no way they will survive for me to make a second trip for the remaining passengers.”
“Got it.” Tom maneuvered the heavy inflatable life raft to the side of the helicopter. He then opened the side door.
Sam banked to the right and flew five hundred feet away from the stricken supertanker. Tom threw the life raft out the side door. It hit the water, instantly breaking its soda canister, causing the compressed air to inflate it in seconds.
“All right. Everyone out.”
Sam watched as each of them quickly dropped out of the helicopter. Tom was the last to jump. He looked back at him. “Have you got a portable radio to contact the Maria Helena?”
“I’ve got it. You go.”
“See you soon.” The second he watched Tom disappear, Sam raised the collective, sending the helicopter back into the air.
Within forty seconds he made his approach towards the bridge of the Mississippi. The heat over the burning oil created an artificial updraft. Sam fought with the controls as he tried to bring it towards the aft section of the supertanker. The flames were well forward of the massive ship, but he knew they wouldn’t be for long. With that amount of oil, it had the potential to combust with life ending consequences.
He took the helicopter down to a hover just above the raised bridge. Tom had left both side doors open, allowing for immediate loading. “Get in!”
Sam kept his left hand on the helicopter’s collective — a device used to change the angle of the main rotor blade, thus increasing or decreasing lift. As the people piled inside, he carefully raised it — thus increasing his lift and compensating for the additional weight.
He turned his head slightly to the left so that he could calculate the average weight of each person who clambered aboard. There were six men and one woman. The last person to climb in Sam predicted to be the ship’s captain. The man had a trim white beard to match the rest of his hair, and dark hazel eyes. He looked like every other shipping captain Sam had ever met — but it was his eyes that told Sam the man was in charge. He looked broken. He’d just lost the company a fortune, and as a consequence would never be entrusted with the command of such a ship again.
Sam’s predictions were immediately proved right.
“I’m John Bates. Captain and last one off the ship.”
Sam pulled back heavily on his collective, simultaneously rotating his left hand to increase the throttle. He wanted every last piece of power to get him away from the forsaken vessel. He then swung the joystick to the right and the Sea King banked away from the Mississippi. Sam turned to the side and acknowledged the man. “Pleased to meet you, Captain Bates.”
“I assure you, I’m much more pleased to meet you, Mr. Reilly.”
Sam smiled. His reputation was prolific in the world of shipping, and the man had recognized him instantly. “Is everyone all right?”
“Yes, but we have the remainder of nearly two million barrels of crude oil still pouring into the ocean. Not only is the loss going to hit the company hard, but you and I both know just how much damage that amount of oil will do to the ecosystem in the area.”
Sam looked at the sea below. The oil had already spread along the surface for nearly a quarter mile. It would be the worst oil disaster to hit the U.S. coast since the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. He said nothing. There wasn’t anything more that he could do about it.
“Given the circumstance, Mr. Reilly — I’m pretty certain the company would be willing to accept Lloyds Open Form.”
Sam watched as a new flame caught the massive oil slick, sending fire skipping along the surface like a fiendish imp from hell. The top deck then exploded. Flames engulfed the rest of the decking. “That’s very big of them, but I’m afraid I really can’t see anything we can do about it now. I thought all these modern oil tankers were required to have in built redundancy systems designed to protect the oil from spilling during a collision?”