They rounded the bend, Teddy shouting out above the drone of the engines that he had three boats on radar, about half a mile ahead nearing the river mouth. Enzi’s boats would have to steer to the right of the river estuary, avoiding the sand banks and silt deposits blocking most of the channels, this would slow them down as they reduced speed to improve navigation.
Enzi had come up on deck now, the oppressive jungle heat behind him, taking in the refreshing familiar sea wind. The three boats were spread out, navigating the narrow channel at the river mouth. Enzi’s boat in the middle, being jostled by the current, unaware of his pursuers. The artefacts he had recovered were safe in his boat, the remainder in the forward boat. The third boat had their fuel, and once they were at sea, they would tie up and refuel before heading for the rendezvous point sixty miles away.
Teddy could see the boats just leaving the estuary ahead, the first one was in open sea, engine idling awaiting the others. Archer had moved up to the cockpit and was standing with his head out of the top hatch, previously reserved for a machine gun now unfortunately absent. His binoculars trained on the three boats, assessing their cargo, and passengers, then returning to his seat next to Teddy who had reduced their speed to a crawl. Debra came forward, ‘so what’s the situation boss?’
‘Ok, first boat has more men so less cargo, Jones is in that one.’
‘The bald guy who went after your Dad?’
‘That’s right Teddy. The second boat has just Enzi, a driver and one guard, sitting lower in the water, so that has the artefacts.’
‘How can you be sure?’
‘Because I know Enzi, there is no way he would allow anyone else near to something he was after, not even Jones.’
‘And the third boat?’
‘That’s our target, two men, and a lot of fuel drums; they are setting up pumps on some of the containers, probably to refuel before heading up the coast.’
Enzi’s boat had just cleared the constrictive estuary and was pulling up alongside Jones; he was shouting instructions to Jones when Archer hit his first target.
They did not hear the hovercraft, the wind blowing off the sea into shore disguising their approach. Archer had fired three rounds in quick succession, spreading them across the expected course of the boat three hundred metres away. He did not have the luxury of a shot to check range and wind direction that may affect the grenades trajectory as he needed surprise. The shots were a few seconds apart and the wind did factor in their path, but in his favour.
The first missed its target, hitting the water in front of the boat, causing the driver to throttle back his engines, fearing an attack from the front. This caused the second and third grenades to hit the bow and stern of the boat, the high explosive rounds igniting the fuel drums, and incinerating the crew and boat in a rapidly expanding fireball.
Archer and Debra could feel the heat wave rush past them in the rear of the hovercraft. Teddy accelerated and adjusted course to avoid the pool of burning fuel that remained. They passed no wreckage or bodies, nothing survived the blast. Teddy shouted back, ‘Archer save your grenades, I don’t want to be retrieving those artefacts from the sea bed!’
Enzi was startled by the explosion of his fuel boat, his men on deck knocked over by the concussion wave. Jones yelled something but Enzi was unable to hear, the explosion had stunned his eardrums. Then he followed Jones extended arm and realised that it was no accident, the yellow and black hovercraft was closing on his position. Enzi could not see the occupants, and for now it did not matter, he gestured to Jones to get between him and the threat, while his boat was brought up to speed in an attempt to retreat. He looked at the fuel, they would not make the rendezvous and at this speed perhaps get ten miles. He reached for his satellite phone, now operational outside his jammer placed by Laurent earlier, ‘Get to me now, we are near the estuary! I don’t care we are under attack and out of fuel! Well how soon? Good!’
Archer could see Enzi’s boat increasing speed, and although he wanted to just fire a grenade and blow him back to hell, he resisted. His focus was on the boat containing Mr Jones which had turned around and was moving to their left side, out of range of the grenades. Teddy had spotted the boats course, and Archer knew what Jones was trying. The hovercraft appeared to be pursuing Enzi and ignoring the other boat, allowing it to move closer on the port side, just one hundred metres back, in the fans wake.
Jones could see the hovercraft increasing speed after Enzi’s boat, but his orders remained, protect Enzi’s retreat. He moved outward to the left of the hovercraft, aiming to draw alongside and open fire on the rudder fan, and any occupants with sustained machine gun fire at close range. He was behind and left of the craft, his men standing in the centre of the boat to balance it, and generate a good field of fire along the enemy vessel. The pilot appeared oblivious of their approach, too focused on Enzi. Jones raised his machine gun and the boat began to pull up alongside the hovercraft.
Teddy had been watching Jones come alongside what was perceived as a blind-spot, but Teddy was never blind-sided. Archer and Debra had loaded up their M4 and M16 carbides and four of the handguns in reserve. When Teddy shouted, they stood up from their position on the floor of the passenger compartment, rifles came to bear on Jones and his crew less than fifteen metres away.
Jones saw Archer and his companion too late, the bullets from the two rifles thudded into his crew with repeated accuracy. Jones instinctively dived into the forward hatch, a bullet missed him and slammed into his driver’s side. The barrage of fire ceased and Jones jumped back up, taking the opportunity of his assailants reloading, in a few seconds he had emptied both machine guns at the hovercraft, bullets pounding its body.
Archer and Debra had taken the advantage, their attack wiped out the men in the adjacent boat. They had dropped back down to reload when the expected return fire hit, bullets hissing past through the window above them, and some ricocheting off the lightly armoured bodywork. In seconds the fire had abated and Teddy had maintained speed as the driverless boat slowed. Archer came up firing into the hull of the ship as the hovercraft sped off after Enzi.
Jones did not fire a second round at the hovercraft; he knew when to retreat, his crew dead or dying, the boat holed. He knew the documents in the hold would survive, confident their containers would protect them from the seawater now permeating the punctured hull. He took out the only life-raft, pulled the ripcord to release it from its constrictive plastic shell. With a gentle pop it inflated and fell over the side with its own weight. Jones tied it to the listing vessel and began rapidly transferring the documents and some weapons off his wrecked boat. In less than ten minutes he was aboard and rowing away, one of his men shouting from the sinking boat, Jones ignored his plea for assistance.
Teddy was about one mile behind Enzi, the powerboat at full throttle not quite outpacing the old hovercraft which was now at over thirty-five knots in the open calm sea. With Enzi’s heavy cargo the powerboat was at a disadvantage, which Teddy exploited. He was about to call Archer, when he landed with a thud in the right hand seat, ‘What’s up Archer my boy?’
‘Tactics, get behind them, ride above their wake, and take out their crew at range with the M4, out of range of their machine guns.’
‘No problem, we are nice and stable, ideal firing platform, with the buffeting of the powerboat at speed, even in this calm sea, they will not hit us easily.’
‘We get Enzi, and then recover the artefacts and back to camp.’
‘Simple Archer, there is just one problem!’
Enzi’s ears had stopped ringing since the first attack minutes ago, they were about ten miles up the coast and the fuel light had begun flashing a few minutes ago. He had his men at the rear of the boat, nervously scanning the horizon for their pursuers; the boat hitting small waves allow them to see nothing clearly. Enzi’s radio crackled into life, ‘Boat one this is Seabird.’