Sean could see the gunman’s assault rifle still firing. More rounds struck the metal base of the crane, plunking into it harmlessly. Suddenly, the guy saw the container flying his way. Sean narrowed his eyes as if taking aim with his makeshift wrecking ball.
The container swung dangerously right toward the shooter, but he reacted too fast and dove down again. The metal box soared over him beyond the starboard side of the boat.
Sean couldn’t see clearly out of the cracked windscreen, but he thought he saw a smile on the gunman’s face as he popped back up and took aim again. Sean jerked one of the levers back, and the long arm slowed to a stop and then began moving to the right. The container’s momentum carried it out high over water for another few seconds before it started swinging back.
The gunman took careful aim with his weapon, apparently realizing that his previous technique wasn’t doing the job.
“Come on,” Sean said.
The shooter set his feet and readied to fire. Sean ducked down to the floor as the man squeezed the trigger. The bullet zipped through the windscreen and the seat cushion. It would have hit Sean in the chest had he waited any longer. Now he watched through the narrow glass on the floor as the gunman started to adjust his aim.
He never had a chance to get off another shot. The container swung down over the boat and smacked into the gunman from behind with incredible force. The crane continued the box’s momentum until Sean popped up and pushed the lever again to change its direction. Once more the container swung high into the air. When it started its downswing, the shooter slid off the front face and dropped to the ground at a sickening speed.
His legs snapped when he hit the ground, though he was already dead or unconscious.
Sean watched the metal box flying back at the ship. His timing had to be perfect, or he’d screw it up completely. And there was only going to be one chance at it.
The container whizzed through the air, thirty feet over the ground. “Almost there,” Sean said to himself. “Almost there… ”
He hit the lever that lowered the cable just as the metal box reached the edge of the pier. The cable slackened, and the box’s flight path changed, sending it straight at the boat’s control room.
Sean hung out of the crane and watched the container crash into the ship’s bridge with devastating force. The entire cabin was ripped off the vessel. The men tending to the truck’s wreckage heard the loud boom and looked back to see what happened.
They saw the container fly out over the harbor and drop back into the starboard side of the ship’s hull with another massive crashing sound. For a moment, they were in stunned disbelief. The next, their eyes shot over to the crane to find who was responsible for the destruction.
The crane, however, was empty.
17
The pier swarmed with activity. City police and emergency crews had responded to the chaos just minutes after the Americans made their escape. Fifty minutes later, an American destroyer made its way into the waters just outside the harbor, and word was that more U.S. Navy ships were coming to assist in apprehending any other vessels that tried to get out with malicious cargo.
Sean walked into the coffee shop and found the other three sitting in the back corner. The place smelled of fresh brewed Kenyan coffee and old wood. The latter was from the walls and floors being covered in darkly stained panels. It had an old feel to it, like the shop could have been around for two hundred years.
A man behind the counter greeted Sean with a toothy grin and asked what he’d be having.
Sean ordered a cup of coffee and took it over to where his companions were already sipping on theirs.
“What took you so long?” Tommy asked.
Sean knew his friend was going to say that. “So predictable. You know, after all these years of hanging out with me, I’d think you’d have come up with something original.”
The two exchanged a laugh. “Well, I do have to say your little stunt back there with the crane was pretty original.”
“You saw that?”
Tommy raised his shoulders and hands, palms facing up. “You didn’t think I was just gonna take care of my boat and leave you behind, did you?”
Fitz raised his cup in salute. “I gotta admit, Tommy, you’re pretty handy in a fight. You ever think about becoming an agent?”
“Sorry, guys,” Tommy shook his head, “I’ve already got an agency of my own to run. And speaking of, I’m afraid I need to get back to the camp before the crew starts to worry.”
“What are you working on?” Emily joined the conversation.
Tommy took another sip of coffee before answering. “The Tanzanians found an ancient temple near where our camp is set up. They had a team of their archaeologists working on it but had some trouble with one of the structures.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“It’s a little difficult to explain, but the temple is a monolith at its core.”
“Like Stonehenge?” Fitz asked.
“Very similar to that. But early indications suggest this site is much older. Anyway, it turns out what they found was just the inner ring of this temple and that it extends out in a sort of spiral and into the surrounding hills.”
“And by into the hills you mean underground,” Sean said.
“Exactly.” Tommy nodded. “The ancient people who lived there apparently built an intricate tunnel system into the hills and mountains. We believe it was for ceremonial purposes, perhaps burials. Once our engineers stabilized the tunnels, we were able to go in and begin recovering some of the artifacts. So far we don’t have much, but it’s likely we’ll find more the deeper we go.”
“Sounds fascinating,” Emily said.
“It’s pretty cool stuff. When you get to see something that no human eyes have seen for thousands of years, it’s an incredible feeling.”
“When you put it that way,” Fitz said, “it sounds a lot more interesting than what we do. And safer.” He chuckled at his own comment.
“It has its moments. But we encounter our own kinds of trouble. Thieves are always looking to rob excavation sites. Sometimes we have to deal with people who mean to destroy them altogether.”
“Terrorists?” Emily asked.
“From time to time. Though we don’t have that sort of situation happen often. All of our crews are armed at all times just in case, since our specialty is recovery and transportation of priceless artifacts.”
“So you’re like the armored trucks that go to the bank and pick up the money.”
Tommy smirked. “Kind of. We get in and dig around in the dirt too.” He turned to Sean who’d been unusually quiet for most of the conversation. “Speaking of, now that you’ve solved this whole thing, why don’t you come back out to the dig with me and have a look around? We might even find something down in the tunnels.”
Sean glanced at Emily, almost as if to ask for permission. “The director doesn’t have anything else for us right now, does he?”
“Not that I know of. I figured we would head back to the States in the morning. But if you want to hang around for a few days, I’m sure that would be fine. We never get another assignment right on the back of another one.”
It had been too long since Sean had hung out with his friend. The idea brought back memories of the old days when they were kids, running around the foothills outside of Chattanooga.
Sean finally nodded. “You know what? Yeah, I think I will stay and hang out for a few.”
The look on his friend’s face brightened instantly. “Awesome. When we get back, I’ll show you around the temple site and then maybe take you down into the cave.”