“Sounds like a plan,” said the man in the Kiss T shirt and raised his hand for a high five, Luke slapped it reluctantly not wanting to leave the guy hanging but still not forgetting that he’d been willing to sell him out.
“Come on, let’s get going,” he said with hope in his heart for the first time in a long while. Luke climbed down the wooden ladder, and balanced precariously on a gleaming black Kawasaki speedboat. The water lapped gently against the pilings, as he helped Sophie down into his boat. “You’re not going to trust them again, surely?” she queried, as she stood alongside him at the controls. She watched Jake clamber down into a cherry-red speedboat next to them.
“No fucking way,” he said shocking her with his outburst, “But I’m thinking safety in numbers.”
“You think they’ll still try to catch us?”
He fired up the engine and it throbbed throatily and heard the other three speedboats do the same. “Yep.”
He made a circle above his head and pointed out to sea. The four speedboats shot forward, Sophie almost lost her grip as the boat sped away. She clung on for dear life as spray covered her face and she felt refreshed in the evening’s relentless heat.
CHAPTER 29
20:30 PM
“There’s movement, Commander,” said the seaman staffing the radar, aboard the USS Thomas Jefferson, an aircraft carrier moored twenty knots from Florida’s east coast, near to Miami.
Commander Roscoe looked over his shoulder. “Where are they?” He asked.
“Miami beach, Commander.”
“How big?” the commander asked.
“Small, Commander. One vessel, a speedboat, I would guess, judging by its acceleration.”
“Will they never learn?” The commander sighed. The USS Thomas Jefferson’s task was to protect the lower east coast. “Send a launch to intercept. Shoot to kill.” He commanded as casually as ordering his eggs over easy.
20:55 PM
The quartet of speedboats hugged the Florida coastline as they hurried northwards. Luke was almost at full throttle making the boat take off now and then, as they hit the larger waves. Luke allowed himself a smile and thought the plan might actually work, when Sophie tugged on his sleeve and pointed behind them, he saw a searchlight mounted on a naval launch cutting across the ocean was almost upon them.
Luke opened the throttle to maximum and roared forward between the others and pointed behind them. The drivers nodded and split off in three different directions, while Luke took the direct route north, as they had previously agreed that Sophie’s mission to escape was the most imperative.
In the launch the sailors whooped and cheered, glad to have some action finally. Man, this was the real thing, thought Seaman Matthers at the helm, no messing around, wasting their time catching the odd immigrant, treating them with kid-gloves as they went through the system, then slipping away never to be seen again. The immigration system sucked, that was for sure. What was the point of the navy catching them, if the courts were going to let them slip through the net? The odd one in a hundred they made an example of, got shipped back home only to hop on the next boat back.
They were fighting a losing battle, he knew that the Navy and Coast Guard between them were only catching about one percent and for most of them to disappear into thin air. In addition, the war on drugs was even more hopeless, he thought. Still, the plague had changed everything. He heard from the other patrol officers that the order’s were ‘shoot to kill’, he’d thought they were bullshitting until he heard it with his own ears.
This was going to be the first time he’d engaged with the enemy. They’d practiced repeatedly for this day and finally tonight he would do battle, show his mettle and knew they could count on him to do his duty. He was totally prepared to kill fellow Americans, having had it drummed into him, that they were dying and carrying an incurable disease, then he would have no qualms. In fact, he would be doing them a favor by all accounts, he’d had it on good authority that the carriers died a horrific death and he thought a quick dispatch with his rifle had to be better than the slow lingering agony that awaited the Black Death victims.
The searchlight picked out the cherry-red speedboat and they locked onto it. Matthers opened up the throttle and reduced the gap between them. Seaman Weston mounting the machine-gun had Jake firmly in his sights; Matthers nodded his assent to open fire. Weston aimed and fired off a volley, as Jake’s speedboat hit a wave and he soared into the air, ensuring most of the shots missed their target.
Jake nearly choked when he saw three bullet holes appear in his bow, he swung the steering wheel hard down, spun the speedboat 180 degrees and the momentum almost threw him over the side. He zigzagged towards the vessel, giving them no chance to take another shot and then he was behind them. He breathed a sigh of relief, and smiled pleased with himself and hoped he had gone some way in redeeming himself with Luke for drawing the enemy away. He chanced a look over his shoulder and was surprised to see that they had not given chase. Puzzled he slowed, turned a large arc, and sped after them.
“There!” screamed Matthers, thrusting his chin out in the rough direction. “Point the Goddamn light over there!” They hit another wave and he lost the speedboat to the darkness, he maneuvered the craft in the general direction, while Seaman Chen roamed the searchlight ahead, they finally picked out the yellow speedboat, only to lose it again, as it weaved from side-to-side trying to evade capture. When it was finally in the sights, the searchlight locked on following the speedboat’s twists and turns. Matthers smirked and shortened the distance to make sure of a certain kill.
“That’s not it,” said Chen confused.
“What do you mean?” said Matthers. “Course it is.”
“This speedboat’s yellow, the other one was red.” Chen told him.
“He’s right,” agreed the machine-gunner. “It was red. There must be more than one speedboat. Shall we call it in for re-enforcements?”
“I think we can deal with two boats, don’t you?” Matthers said. “Take this fucker out, then we’ll find the red one, it ain’t gonna be far away.”
They closed on the yellow speedboat driven by the guy in the Kiss T shirt, who did his best to avoid them, but they had the faster, superior vessel, Matthers nodded to the gunner who fired off three short bursts, each hit the fleeing speedboat. One of the bullets made contact with the engine, and the speedboat spluttered, then ground to a halt.
The guy in the Kiss T shirt held up his hands and smiled weakly, the machine-gunner lined up for the kill shot, when Matthers tapped him on the shoulder, “Me first.”
The gunner reluctantly relinquished the weapon to his superior. The two boats rocked on the water and were in danger of bashing into each other.
The guy in the Kiss T shirt squinted against the harsh searchlight pointed at his face, and could only make out the silhouettes of the men aboard the naval vessel, “OK, you’ve got me,” he smiled. “Take me to you leader,” he joked badly, and cracked a smile, when Matthers fired, riddling him with bullets from top to bottom.
21:15 PM
Luke cut the power and listened. He heard and saw the gunfire not so far away from them. Sophie bit her lip as the Kiss guy’s knees bent, and then he toppled head-first into the ocean. Luke brought his craft gently up alongside Jake’s. “Follow me, I’ve got an idea.” Jake nodded, Luke opened up the throttle throwing them back, and Jake did likewise. The woman in the white speedboat, saw them and followed suit.
On the patrol boat the sailors high fived and whooped. “That was gross!” laughed Matthers. “Did you see the way his guts spilled out? Right where’s the next one?” with blood lust in their veins they were determined to find the next target. Chen weaved the searchlight over the ocean and caught a flash of white. “There!” he yelled pointing ahead. Matthers pulled hard down on the wheel, opened the throttle and the trio leaned into the curve as the boat powered after their target. Machine-gunner Weston let out a whoop like a banshee and raked his machine-gun side to side randomly at the horizon.