18:14 PM
Commander Roscoe entered his meager quarters wearily. He pondered on the captain’s orders; the indiscriminate killing of fellow crewmen was unthinkable. They should quarantine the men, sure, that would be prudent, and it would be nigh on impossible to man the ship with so few able-bodied seamen left to help, but they would manage, they could call upon Washington to bring in re-enforcements.
Of course, he’d heard the rumors of what the captain had done earlier that day when they went ashore to find the missing crew; apparently he’d ordered the murder of a crewman that was still alive — not the behavior of an officer and a gentleman, and not the sort of man he wanted to command him. He dwelt on his best course of action. He felt anguish in the pit of his stomach and realized there was only one thing he could do, and that his actions would put him in danger like never before. It was only his good conscience, and for the men and the safety of the country that he loved and had sworn to protect that he was even contemplating such a terrible plan. There was only one thing for it, he was going to have to relieve the captain of his duty. He was talking about mutiny…
CHAPTER 37
18:15 PM
Sergeant Gruber choked on his cigarette at the startling sight of the furniture truck and spluttered; “Get after them.”
The driver started he engine and gave chase. The Humvee lurched from the side street and was hot on the heels of the furniture truck, although the driver had to swerve around the objects of furniture ejected from the back.
A bullet cracked Luke’s side-view mirror. “Shit.” He saw the army vehicle trying to pull alongside him. He swerved taking evasive action and the enormous furniture truck sent the smaller vehicle spinning off the road.
He put his foot down, but knew deep down that they could never out run the faster Humvee, which zoomed up his inside. He lurched to the side, but this time the driver expected it and took the necessary action to avoid a collision and as Luke straightened the truck, the Humvee slipped through the gap and got ahead of them.
“They are not wearing helmets,” Sophie gasped. Worried for the danger the soldiers were in. Luke stared at her incredulously, fearing she had lost her mind, fretting for the well-being of the men who were about to kill them.
The Humvee got ahead of them and the machine-gunner slowly stood as if he had all the time in the world while he organized the roof-mounted machine gun and got ready to aim at them. Luke spotted a turning to their right going over a canal and yanked down hard on the steering wheel, but because of the furniture truck’s huge bulk, instead of taking the turn, it rose into the air as if it was about to topple over, “Argh!” Luke screamed out as the rear of the truck caught up with the front and the wheels on one side started to rise.
The soldiers laughed as they saw the furniture trucks predicament, “What an ass-hole,” the driver laughed. “What a boner.” He watched awestruck as the beast finally overturned and screeched along the street amid a blast of sparks.
Luke gasped, badly shaken as the truck ground to a halt. He quickly cleared his head, and he saw fuel pooled in front of the cab and spread over the street, knowing the smallest spark could ignite it. “Are you OK?” he asked Sophie.
She nodded. “I’m OK,” she said and saw the army vehicle turning a circle up ahead. She released her seatbelt, climbed up the interior of the truck, and pushed up the heavy door. She crawled out onto the side of the truck and balanced on the wheel before dropping down onto the bridge. She noticed the pool of fuel, and recognized the danger; she promptly made her way to the back of the overturned truck hoping that it would give her some protection from the inevitable bullets. Luke emerged from the cab, and crouched down, rushing along the side of the truck as the Humvee completed the circle and now faced them. He did not hang around and leaped down from the back of the truck making Sophie jump.
The machine-gunner saw the upturned truck laying in the intersection like some sort of dinosaur, smoke streaming from the engine compartment. He spotted Luke and Sophie hiding at the back of the truck. “This’ll be like shooting fish in a barrel.” The driver laughed and picked up speed, enjoying the first action they’d had in days, and headed toward them.
Luke gulped, they were sitting ducks as the armored vehicle rushed at them. He took the pistol from the front of his pants but knew it would be hopeless. Even the machine-gunner on top had armor shielding around him. He could try for a head shot, but he was too far away and a moving target, but he lined up and aimed anyway.
The machine-gunner saw Luke and chuckled. “What a boner.” He laughed and swung the heavy machine-gun around to face him. Steadied his balance and readied his aim.
Luke came out from behind the safety of the truck, held the pistol two-handed and took careful aim, knowing he only had one chance at this and aimed to take out the gunner, the most dangerous enemy at that moment and fired.
The bullet pinged off the armor plating protecting the gunner, who sniggered. “Not bad…” he mumbled to himself. “But not good enough…” He went to spray the area with a retaliatory shot when the Humvee hit the fuel and went into a spin.
“Whoa!” the driver yelled and wrestled with the steering, he clipped the side of the truck, which spun them in the other direction, shaking him badly. The driver spun the wheel in the opposite direction, trying to regain control of the vehicle when the Humvee clipped the curb, shot up the embankment of the canal totally out of control, went up on its side, teetered, then dropped upside-down into the canal with an almighty splash.
Luke could not believe his eyes as the Humvee sank into the murky depths of the canal. He rushed to the bridge and tentatively peered into the stagnant water, clogged with weeds, unable to see the vehicle, only the bubbles emitting from it.
“We have to help them,” Sophie said.
“You’re joking, right?! They were going to kill us.”
She looked at him pleading with her eyes and bit her lip. He sighed heavily, made his way down onto the towpath where one of the hazmat suited soldiers emerged from the depths gasping for air. He sucked in huge mouthfuls of fresh air, and then spluttered as he swallowed some dirty canal water at the same time.
The sergeant splashed wildly and swam noisily to the embankment. “Help me. My suit is filling up with water.” Luke watched hypnotized as the sergeant sank beneath the water level, then popped up again, “Help!”
“Luke!” chided Sophie and nodded crossly towards the sergeant.
Luke leaned out and outstretched his hand, “Come on, grab hold.”
The sergeant splashed noisily toward Luke’s outstretched arm, unable to swim properly as his hazmat suit filled quickly with filthy canal water. He panicked and sank fast. As he resurfaced, he once again stretched his hand out to Luke’s thankfully, and their fingers had almost touched when an alligator tugged him back down under the surface of the water.
Luke stepped back startled. He stared aghast as the water bubbled furiously where the sergeant had been.
He popped back up as the water around him turned bright red. “Help me! There’s something in here!” He scrambled towards Luke who held onto a nearby cypress tree and leaned out further to the soldier, when an alligator soared from the canal and took a huge chunk out of the sergeant’s torso. His eyes popped open, his jaw dropped and he coughed up blood.
Luke made contact and grabbed the soldier by his wrists and heaved him to the side of the river when he saw the triangular wake caused by the alligator’s snout slightly below the surface heading towards the sergeant once more at speed. He redoubled his attempt and with supreme effort, he got a proper hold of the sergeant, strained with the weight of the man and his water-filled suit and started to pull him from the canal. The alligator snatched him from Luke’s grip and within a second had dragged him back down under the water’s surface.