“Aye-aye, Captain,” Gomez said flatly.
“We are going to need to have a serious chat about your future on my ship, affirmative action or not.”
The racist remark hit Gomez like a slap in the face, but he snapped to it, like a good sailor. However, this was not over; he would make sure of that. With the help of the lieutenant, he heaved the carcasses of Matthers, Weston and the leg of Chen to a watery grave. Gomez crossed himself and sat back down, his head had started to throb, but unable to rub his head, or ease the pain thanks to the goddamned helmet and hazmat suit.
The Captain turned to him. “If I found out that you removed your helmet out there you will be put on a charge for disobeying a direct order.”
14:00 PM
“I think this should be enough to be going on with,” Luke said to Sophie as they taped a gas pump-handle open and laid it on the ground where it emptied gasoline all over the forecourt along with the other pumps he had doctored.
He hopped onto the motorcycle, Sophie clambered onto the back, and he kicked it over, revved the engine then screeched away leaving a trail of rubber in their haste to put some distance between them and the gas station.
Sophie held around Luke’s middle with one arm, twisted to face backwards, held up Luke’s pistol and fired at the gas station. The first slug hit the forecourt harmlessly, she sighed and aimed more carefully, no mean feat, as the BMW motorcycle rapidly accelerated up to 80 mph and she lined up the second shot and missed again. She flicked hair out of her eyes, held her arm straighter, squeezed the trigger gently, and fired.
This time the spark ignited the spilled fluid, which speedily whooshed up to the pumps, and in turn ignited the underground storage tanks. The garage erupted with a massive detonation that shook the earth. The roof flew up into the sky followed by black, billowing smoke, pluming into a mini mushroom cloud.
14:30 PM
The naval launch arrived back at the aircraft carrier, it bounced several times against the side of the massive ship and it took the Captain several attempts to attach the craft to the lifting apparatus. Eventually he managed the task and with a lurching motion, the craft slowly lifted from the sea, which seemed reluctant to release the small launch from its grasp. The boat swayed as it hoisted skyward, Gomez’s head pounded and he felt nauseous.
The lifting gear hoisted the launch to the top and they had to swing inward to the ship. Various deckhands helped the shipmates to disembark. The captain lumbered out of the craft first, severely inhibited by the hazmat suit. The sailors on deck grabbed him by the shoulders to heave him onboard. The lieutenant went next, followed by Gomez, whose legs gave way the moment he was onboard. As they tried to help him up he sneezed violently, covering the inside of his helmet with mucus making the sailors recoil.
The Bubonic Plague would now contaminate the six thousand men crammed into the confined space of the aircraft carrier USS Thomas Jefferson….
CHAPTER 33
14:35 PM
Luke whooped as he heard the explosion. He felt euphoric, as if they were finally achieving something, taking control of their actions rather than reacting to the hazards thrown at them. They were causing distractions that could only assist in their escape, while the local military patrols attended the fires there would be less around to catch them. He held up his hand for Sophie to high five.
He was still congratulating himself when an armored jeep sped out from a side turning, heading toward the fire, but on spotting him, spun a huge arc to give chase. Luke opened the throttle further, knowing that the BMW 1200 GS would have a top speed of 125 mph.
The jeep was hot on their tail, the passenger stood with a rifle, took aim and fired, but the bullet passed harmlessly. Sophie saw this, leaned in close to Luke’s ear, and shouted what had happened. He took evasive action, swerved side-to-side, sometimes long wide arcs, and other times short, to give the sharpshooter no time to find a pattern. “Oh shit,” he mumbled.
“What’s up? Sophie asked. He nodded forward, and she saw the abandoned makeshift road block, made up of burned-out vehicles, some of which were still smoking. Luke slowed the motorcycle, knew he only had seconds to find a way through and saw a slight gap. He grinned, opened the throttle and they shot through the gap like a cork out of a bottle. The jeep tried for the same spot and crashed headfirst into the heap. The soldiers were shaken by the impact, but no one had been seriously injured. The driver backed the armored jeep up and drove straight at the gap once more, already widened at his first attempt, smashing into the vehicles with the sound of grinding metal, the gap widened further. A Mustang fell from its perch on top of the roadblock and helped enlarge the opening. He reversed once more, crunched into the stack of twisted vehicles and pushed on forwards, the engine screamed under the pressure, but eventually the driver succeeded and they pushed through the roadblock and continued their pursuit of the suspects.
The motorcycle was a dot on the horizon, as they chased after them quickly closing the distance between them. As Luke hurtled towards the coast, Sophie tapped his shoulder. “Faster! They’ve made it through!”
She watched in abject horror as the jeep gained on then, she looked over Luke’s shoulder willing him on. The boulevard was dead straight, and they would soon cross the bridge over the river then they were only blocks away from the beach and somewhere to hide amongst the hotels and gift shops.
When suddenly to Sophie’s surprise, the jeep appeared to slow.
“What you doing?” the gunner asked. “Why are you stopping? They’re far too far away for a shot.”
The driver switched off his engine put his feet up and lit a cigarette. “They ain’t going anywhere,” the driver said grinning broadly. “Gimme the radio.”
14:45 PM
Fort Lauderdale is famous for its canals; more canals than Venice as they liked to proudly boast and along with the Intracoastal Waterway and other rivers; Florida was a sailors’ paradise. Due to Florida being so flat, conventional bridges were out of the question. They needed a way for boats to pass under the low bridges, and Fort Lauderdale along with most major towns in south Florida had an abundance of bascule bridges, commonly known as drawbridges, where the two sides would rise into the air to allow boats a safe passage along the river.
These bridges were a major annoyance amongst the inhabitants, as mistiming a trip and having to wait for the giant jaws to open and the tedious wait as the boat passed along underneath at a snail’s pass, could easily add twenty to thirty minutes to a journey.
They broke down constantly as the local government cut the maintenance budget with the subsequent mechanical failures. Each bridge had a control room that would lower the flashing warning-barrier as the up to forty feet high leaves would open. Since the start of the Bubonic Plague outbreak, military personnel operated the cantilever bridge control rooms. They would raise the metal jaws to allow naval vessels to pass along the Intracoastal Waterway River and then lower them back down for the military vehicles to cross the bridge. However, for the last two days there had been little to do for the men stationed in such control rooms.
It was one such control booth that the jeep driver had radioed with instructions to raise the bridge. The operator acknowledged the order, glad to have something to do and initiated the opening of the drawbridge.
14:46 PM
“Oh shit.” Luke said when he saw the warning-barrier lowering, with flashing red lights and accompanying dinging of a bell, he knew it could mean only one thing, the bridge was about to rise, effectively trapping them.
He slowed for a moment considering their various options and realized that they didn’t have any. He couldn't give up, if he did, they'd be executed.