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MYSTIC:
Alex hears his satellite phone beeping and pulls it from his coat pocket. He recognizes the ID as his college in Montana and looks at Okana. “It’s my friend, David Conway, from the College.”
He and Okana are the only ones left in the lounge, so he presses the green button to answer. “Hi, David.”
Alex listens to David explain what he discovered about the black material. “That’s great. Hang on a second.” He looks down at Okana. “What’s the fax number here on the ship?”
Okana tells him the number for Lisa’s lab, and Alex reads the numbers to David. “Thanks for the help.”
Alex turns off the phone and slips it into his pocket. “It’s about that black material we found in the methane. It looks like we’re one step closer to retrieving the device in the Pacific.”
***
Harrison is sitting on a chair in front of the control console, staring through the front window of the bridge. The water is like glass as the Mystic cruises between two of the Aleutian Islands into the Bering Sea. The turbines suddenly shut down and the ship’s speed quickly falls away. He checks the control console, and the only noticeable problem is the RPM indicators for the turbines showing zero, just as the Captain had planned.
***
When the turbines suddenly become quiet, Alex looks over at Okana. “I’ll find out what’s going on. You keep an eye on things down here.”
Alex stands and hurries up the inside stairs to the bridge. “What happened, Harrison?”
“I don’t know. The turbines just suddenly stopped.”
“Where’s the main power supply?”
“Just inside the engine room, but that’s not the problem. All the electronics are working, but the turbines are offline.”
Alex grabs the microphone for the ship’s intercom system from its overhead bracket and presses the button on the side. “Rita, you’d better get to the engine room. We still have power up here, but no engines.”
He clips the microphone into its bracket and studies Harrison’s expression. “Tell me what happened.”
“I was sitting in the chair, keeping an eye on things, then the engines just stopped.” He sees the skepticism in Cave’s eyes and knows he better think of something in case this doesn’t work. “Look, we still have thrusters, so let me get us back underway.”
“How fast can we go?”
Harrison flips four switches on the master control panel. “Only fifteen knots, but it’s better than nothing. We need to get through these islands.”
Harrison enters the command, and the computer takes over, then the maneuvering thrusters push the Mystic through the water toward the other side of the two islands.
Alex hears the roar of a ship’s horn and looks through the windows. When he sees a black ship speeding in their direction, he grabs the microphone again. “We’ve got company, and it’s not the coast guard. We won’t be able to outrun them, so I’ll stay up here. Okana, you know what to do.”
Alex keeps the microphone in his left hand as he waits to see what will happen. He lightly touches the handle of the pistol in the front pocket of his jeans. It’s lightweight and easy to conceal, and after what happened to Okana in Prince Rupert, he grabbed it from his cabin when they returned to the Mystic.
The black ship is approaching at an angle to block the way, and Alex knows without the turbines, they will not be able to outrun it. “Turn us around, Harrison.”
“What good would that do? We should stop and find out what they want.”
“Use the thrusters to spin us around, damn it! I saw the way they worked in port, and we can stop faster than they can. We might be able to keep some distance between us for a while.”
Alex watches Harrison hold his hand above the control panel, hesitant to escape the black ship. “What’s the problem? Friends of yours?”
“Honestly, Alex, I’ve never seen that ship before.”
“Then do what I said and get us out of here.” He keys the microphone. “Hang on to something.”
Harrison pulls back on the joystick and it’s like hitting the brakes as the thruster’s rotate one hundred-eighty-degrees at full power. Anything loose is hurled forward and the ship nearly stops. He twists the joystick, spinning the Mystic around and they are moving away from the black ship.
***
Rita throws open her cabin door and runs down the hall to the door across from Alex’s cabin. She steps into the engine room and checks the circuit breakers, and nothing is tripped. It has to be something to stop both engines at once.
She knows her engine room and quickly identifies the problem. Someone has cut the electrical wires for the master fuel solenoid. She realizes whoever it was knows what they were doing. A workbench with tool drawers is bolted to the wall, and she grabs the wire strippers. Now all she needs is a short piece of electrical wire.
***
Alex stares through the rear window and keeps his eyes on the black ship as it corrects its course, then it quickly closes distance.
Dieter and Mike run up the stairs, and Alex points behind them. “Friends of yours, Captain?”
Dieter takes his time responding as he studies the black boat. “I have never seen that ship before.” He feels Cave staring at him and wonders how much he knows. “Piracy happens in all parts of the world, Professor. What makes you think I would know them?”
Alex doesn’t answer and looks at Mike. “Who chose this route?”
“John and I agreed it was the fastest way through the islands.”
Alex lets the matter drop for now. “They’re gaining fast. We’d better hope Rita fixes the problem with the turbines before it’s too late.” He’s counting on Okana to organize a plan if they are forced to stop.
***
Okana waits near the top of the stairs from the lower deck, and grabs Lisa’s hand as she reaches the top. “You should wait in your cabin until I know what’s going on.”
“What about Alex?”
“He knows what he’s doing. He doesn’t need to worry about you right now, so please go below.”
Lisa steps out of the way as Bett and Josh run up the stairs, carrying three shotguns.
Okana takes one of the guns and finds it interesting that Josh and Bett look eager for a fight. “We need to control the high ground,” he tells them. “You two will be on the bridge. Try to keep out of sight until something happens. If they try to board this ship, it will be from the stern. Everything forward is too high from the water for a fast assault. They may think we’re unarmed, so don’t give them a reason to start shooting.”
“What about you and Alex?” Bett asks.
“We’ll let Alex take the lead from the bridge, so wait for him to resolve this without a fight. He has a way of doing that. I’ll be the rover and take care of this deck and the stern.”
Josh grins. “I might have a hard time hiding.” A thought suddenly occurs to him. “Hey, Rita can shoot. She’s pretty good, too.”
“If she can get the turbines running, none of us will have to shoot. Let’s go.”
***
Dieter jumps back when Bett suddenly comes up the stairs onto the bridge and crouches down behind the bulkhead near the left door. Then Josh runs past him and tries to hide by the right door. Where did they get the shotguns?
Alex watches Dieter’s expression, and it’s obvious he’s surprised they are armed, but doesn’t say anything. Mike surprises him when he opens his coat to show his pearl handled .45 cal. revolver tucked under his belt. Alex sees the small reaction in Dieter’s eyes when he sees Mike’s gun.
When Alex looks at Harrison, he’s completely at ease, as if this kind of thing happens every day. On the other hand, he knew what was going to happen. In order to get on board, the black ship has to make the Mystic stop. As long as the thrusters keep working, that will be difficult. That’s when he hears a cannon fire. The water near the stern erupts like a geyser with a muffled thud, and everyone flinches except Harrison.
Alex grabs Harrison’s arm and spins him around. “What do you know about this?”
Harrison raises his hands. “Hey, don’t get mad at me, Alex. This is my sixth time dealing with pirates and it’s usually in the same way.”
“Explain!”
“They threaten to shoot you full of holes, so you stop. Then they send a boat over and rob what they can. If no one tries to stop them, they just take what they want and leave. No big deal. That’s why I always carry a quarter ounce of gold in my pocket.”
Alex watches closely as Harrison slowly reaches into his front pocket, brings out a small leather pouch, and holds it up.
“See? Saved my ass a few of times.”
Alex wonders if he might be wrong about a high-jacking, but that black ship is after something, and it has to be big to be worth trying to rob them.
The cannon explodes again and Alex hears the projectile pass over the bridge, then water soars into the air off the starboard bow.
***
Rita hears a thud through the hull and knows things are getting bad topside. She knows she has a roll of wire somewhere and has already dug through the drawers. She’s frustrated, and can’t think of another place she might have put it, then she suddenly runs out of the engine room and into Alex’s cabin.
***
“Shut down the thrusters, Harrison,” Mike orders.
Alex snaps his head around to look at Mike. “What are you doing?”
“I don’t want anyone to get hurt, Alex. We’ll do like Harrison says and give them what they want.”
Alex thinks about Okana’s encounter with Blacktooth and shakes his head no. “We can’t do it, Mike. We don’t know what they’ll do if we let them onboard. As long as we keep moving, we’re harder to hit.”
Mike is still undecided. “What do you think, John?”
Dieter knows with so many weapons on board, the chances of taking over the ship have dropped immensely. So far, he can get away with acting innocent. “I agree with Alex. We need to keep moving.” He looks at Harrison. “Use the thrusters to move us from side to side. We may lose some speed, but we will be harder to hit.”
Harrison twists the joystick and suddenly the Mystic is sliding sideways through the water. The next roar from the cannon is louder as the black ship draws closer to the stern, but the round hits the water two-hundred-feet ahead and slightly off the port side.
Suddenly, they hear a whine as the turbines come online. Harrison quickly switches the joystick from thrusters to engines and engages the jet pumps. He shoves the throttle to full speed, and the Mystic lurches forward with incredible power as she gets up on the pontoons and slices through the surface of the water. Everyone stares through the rear window as the black ship quickly falls away in the distance.
Now that the engines are running, Alex wants answers. “Stop us here, Harrison.”
Mike is surprised by the order and looks at him. “What are you doing, Alex?”
“We’re out of range and can stay that way, but we still need to get to the arctic. Let’s find out what happened to the engines before we try it again.” He looks up at Josh. “Mind staying up here with Harrison?”
Bett slings her shotgun over one shoulder and leans back against the rear window. “I can handle it, Alex.”
“All right, let’s find Rita.”
Okana is waiting in the walkway, just inside the doors out to the stern, and watches Bartram come up the stairs from below and go into the lounge. He moves from the doors to the bottom of the stairs to the bridge, and stares at Bartram.
Alex walks down the stairs and into the lounge, and Josh, Mike, and Dieter follow him.
Okana swings his shotgun onto his right shoulder and continues to stare at Bartram as he steps out of Alex’s way. “Rita’s still down in the engine room.”
Mike steps around Dieter. “I’ll get her.”
***
Rita is looking around the engine room, wondering if something else just went wrong with the turbines. She looks up when Mike walks in. “Are we still under attack?”
“No, we’re fine for now. Everyone is waiting for you in the lounge.”
She tosses the pliers onto the workbench. “Good. This was intentional.”
Rita follows Mike up the stairs and stands next to Okana. “Someone sabotaged the fuel system in a way that was difficult to fix. They cut the wires in the connection box, so I couldn’t splice them together and I had to run new wire to get them working again.”
Okana notices a faint grin from Bartram. “What were you doing, Leroy? This is the first time I’ve seen you since we left port.”
“I was in my cabin, reading and sleeping.”
“And you didn’t notice the cannon fire?”
“I looked in the hallway and saw Bett and Josh with shotguns, so I just stayed in my cabin until it was over.”
Alex realizes it might be difficult to discover the culprit right away, and they have to continue to the Arctic. He looks at Rita. “Are the engines able to operate safely?”
“They’re fine for now. I’ll do a permanent job at our next port, when I get some wire. Someone must have thrown my roll overboard. Oh, and you’re going to be without a reading light for a while, Alex.”
Alex gives her a nod of approval. “Okay. We take another route through the islands and continue to our destination. We’ll play the blame game underway.”