And right now, he was alive.
Hurt, sore, and bleeding, but alive. And as long as he stayed that way, he could still finish the mission: Find Mercer, then kill him.
Who’s Captain Optimism now?
This guy…
7
Lara
There were two of them, and they were olive drab, not black; though in the darkness of the night, they might as well be black.
“Jon boats,” Maddie whispered next to her.
“Jon boats?” Lara repeated.
“That’s what those are called. Looks like they have trolling motors in the back, but they’re keeping them quiet and rowing the old-fashioned way so they won’t make any noise.”
The better to sneak up on us, she thought, watching the two crafts as they glided smoothly across the water. If not for the half-moon, she wouldn’t have been able to see them at all. It was pretty clear where they were headed — right toward them.
The Trident was anchored like it had been the last few days with its lights shut off, which was standard operating procedure, because despite their distance from shore, it wasn’t a good idea to be the only lights blinking out here. But SOP or not, they had been spotted and had been since last night, maybe even longer. These men approaching them now knew exactly where they were and how to reach them without being seen or heard.
Or they thought they did, anyway. They were about to get a very rude awakening.
“What are those things made of?” Lara asked.
“Usually aluminum,” Maddie said. “Sometimes fiberglass or wood.”
“Wood?”
“But usually aluminum.”
There were three figures in each boat, with one sitting forward at the bow while the two behind him slowly rowed them forward with paddles. They were likely armed, since you didn’t try to sneak up on an anchored yacht in the middle of the ocean in the dead of night without bad intentions.
The radio resting between her and Maddie squawked — it was just a small sound with the volume turned almost all the way down, but it still made enough of an impression that she flinched a little bit.
“Wonder what they’re doing all the way out here at this time of the night,” Blaine said through the radio. He was somewhere above and to the left of them, hidden by the darkness of the bridge. In case they needed to abandon the charade, she wanted him up there and ready. She wanted everyone ready.
Just in case, right, Will?
“Maybe they just want to borrow some sugar,” Bonnie said. She was positioned on the upper deck and tasked with watching the other side of the boat in case there were more surprises coming their way.
“I guess we should greet them all friendly like,” Carly said. She was on the main deck behind them, keeping an eye on everyone else. “That would be the Christian thing to do.”
“Fuck that,” Blaine said.
“Hey, there are children present.”
“Oops.”
“Sucker,” Carly said. “Everyone’s locked inside their cabins, snug as bugs.” Lara could hear a slight echo from Carly’s radio, which meant she was in the hallway outside the rooms, probably pacing nervously back and forth and doing her very best not to let it show in her voice. “Just make sure to keep the collateral damage limited to outside, okay guys?”
“That’s going to depend on them,” Bonnie said.
“Shoot first and never mind the questions; isn’t that the Ranger way?” Blaine asked.
“Sounds familiar,” Carly said.
Lara picked up the radio and keyed it. “That’s enough chitchat. We’re going radio silent from now on. Everyone, wait for my signal.”
She had let them go back and forth because they needed it; there was something unnerving about sitting (or standing) around in the dark waiting for men with guns to slowly, oh so slowly, reach you. All that anxiety needed a release, and talking or joking always seemed to do the trick. She’d seen it work for Danny and Will plenty of times.
Next to her, Maddie was peering over the railing. “I still just count six. All armed, probably. I don’t know about you, but I don’t believe they’re coming here to borrow some sugar.”
Lara gave her a wry smile, then picked up her M4 and checked that the safety was off for the third time since she arrived at the spot next to Maddie on the boat’s port side. They were almost exactly in the middle of the main deck, hidden behind a wall section of the railing that provided plenty of cover in case of a firefight. The better shooting position was on the upper deck, and she already had Bonnie and Benny up there right now.
Maddie fidgeted and switched up her grip on her own carbine. “It’s times like these I miss having the Ranger around.”
“He’ll be back soon enough. Then you’ll be complaining about his bad jokes.”
“Yeah, probably.” She paused for a moment, then, “Too bad Keo didn’t come back with you. We could sure use him, too.”
She shared Maddie’s regret and wondered what Keo was doing right now. The last time she saw him, he and Jordan were on their way back to T18 to get the oft-talked about but never-seen Gillian out of Mercer’s destructive path. Had they made it? Where were they now? He knew exactly how to contact her, so why hadn’t he?
You still alive out there, Keo?
She pushed the question away and peeked over the railing. Without binoculars, the boats looked more like two long, black shapes bobbing slightly up and down against the ocean currents. They were still far enough away that she couldn’t hear the slosh-slosh of their paddles moving against the water, but close enough that she noticed a slight pang of anticipation and maybe, just maybe, a little bit of fear, which was something she hadn’t felt in a long time since coming out here.
“Who do you think they are?” Maddie whispered.
“I don’t know.”
“Can’t be collaborators…”
“Why not?”
“I’ve never known those guys to be this subtle. Remember the last time they assaulted Song Island?”
She nodded. How could she forget? That night still haunted her dreams. The blood, the deaths, the piles of bodies, then later the tide of ghouls…
“Maybe they’re pirates,” Maddie was saying.
“Pirates?”
“Not the Johnny Depp metrosexual type of pirates, but more like those Somali pirates you hear about on the news. They take over boats and hold the crew for ransom.” The smaller Texan shrugged. “But that was back when money was still, well, money.”
“Pirates,” Lara repeated. For some reason, just saying the word made her smile.
“Hey, stranger things have been happening these days. Ghouls, end of the world, blood towns… Why not a little pirate action?”
She looked over the railing at the jon boats again. The six figures inside them still lacked details even though they were closer than before, which probably meant they were all wisely wearing black clothes that helped them blend into their environment.
They had definitely come prepared. The question was: For what?
“Blaine,” she said into the radio. She wasn’t whispering, but it was close. “Call it.”
“Forty yards,” Blaine said. She couldn’t tell if he had changed his voice to match hers or if it was the result of the lowered volume on the two-way. Whatever the reason, she had to strain more than usual to hear him.
Next to her, Maddie shuffled her feet and there was a sharp click! as she thumbed her rifle’s fire selector off the safety position.
“Thirty-five,” Blaine said.