Jake looked to Svetla and Toni. “How many men aboard?”
Svetla said, “Ten plus Petros Caras.”
“Minus the man I just shot.”
“I hurt a guy a few hours ago,” Toni said. “Probably just a broken nose, though.”
“So,” Jake said. “Still ten who could fire back at us.”
“No,” Svetla said. “The captain and one man always stay on the bridge operating the yacht.”
“Eight then. Against two.”
“Three,” Toni corrected.
“I meant two guns.” Jake looked at the Czech woman now and said, “You know the layout of this boat. Where would you position your men?”
She thought for a moment and concluded, “I would put just a couple of men at the stern to cover this passageway. A couple more at the top of the ladder outside. The rest on the upper decks as back-up in case we get through one or the other side.”
“Right,” Jake said. “Plus, they have to assume we have help with the boat outside.”
Just as he said that gunfire broke out on the upper deck. Jake thought immediately about Elisa in the old WWII Italian Navy patrol boat.
“What are they firing at?” Toni asked.
“My Italian friend, Elisa.”
“Elisa sent you here?” Svetla asked. “She’s my contact.”
“Yes.” Jake checked his gun and decided to replace the magazine in his gun with a full one. That would be seventeen rounds now. Damn it! Toni would slow them down. They would only be able to move as fast as her.
More gunfire from above them. Sounded like 9mm from sub-machine guns. Not much range on those.
He had to move fast. Elisa would probably be able to stay far enough away from the yacht to stay out of the effective range of the 9mm rounds, but the men could have something else that could reach out and get her.
No time to discuss this. If they waited too long, the men above could get help from the other Greeks who had the professor. They could be closing in on their position right now.
“All right,” Jake said. “I’m gonna go out and head aft. Try to clear a path for us.”
“You’re crazy,” Toni said. “They have us pinned down. A blind man with Parkinson’s could hit you running down that passageway.”
“You got a better idea?”
She didn’t. Neither did the Czech woman.
Jake shrugged. Here he went again, headlong into a barrage of bullets.
But now the shooting above was getting more intense and it sounded like it was coming from two directions.
He opened the door just a crack to look outside and saw two men rushing right toward him down the narrow passageway. One man looking behind them and the other toward Jake. Crouching down, Jake aimed at the men. When one of the men shot at him, Jake took the guy out. The other one turned and sent bullets flying toward Jake. Hesitating a beat, Jake fired two more times and toppled the last man.
“Let’s go,” Jake yelled.
The three of them slowly left the Greek’s stateroom, Jake in the lead, Toni in the middle, and Svetla covering their back. They moved as fast as they could, but suddenly the ship leaned hard to the port side, knocking them into the bulkhead. When they leveled off, they continued down the passageway, stepping over the dead bodies. Just about to the end, guns appeared around the corner ahead from the lounge area. Jake aimed and put himself in front of the women.
“Jake Adams,” came a loud voice. “Navy SEALS. Come to us.”
Jake wasn’t sure if it was a ruse or not. So he kept his gun aimed at the men as the three of them moved toward the stern. “How do I know you’re SEALS.”
The guy laughed and said, “Ask that pretty lady on crutches behind you. We flew to Sigonella together.”
“It’s them, Jake,” Toni said. “Nice of you guys to divert to this assignment.”
As they came around the corner, they saw two men in full black assault gear. The lead man had a beard.
“Ma’am, you were our assignment. Your boss thought you might need back-up.”
More gunfire sounded from the upper decks. The SEAL team leader talked into his head-set. Then he turned to them and said, “Got a couple of stragglers topside. We’ll wait here until my men secure the boat. Who’s the other woman with the gun?”
Toni said, “She’s with Czech Intel. She’s with us.”
The sailor shook his head. “She looks like this chick from Maxim Magazine.”
Svetla smiled. “Two months ago. That was me.”
The SEAL Team leader nodded. “Nice. Maybe I can get you to sign my copy.”
“Absolutely.”
The SEAL cocked his head slightly and glanced around the corner down the passageway. With a quick burst from his sub-machine gun, he then backed up and said into his mic. “Smoked ‘em.” He listened again and then ordered, “Hold them and send two men room-to-room.”
Jake said, “How’d you come aboard?”
“Helo,” the SEAL said.
“You see the old Italian Navy patrol boat?”
“Sure did. We coordinated our assault with her and the Agency.”
“What about the other boat?” Jake asked.
The sailor shook his head. “Don’t know about any other boat. This was our target.”
Jake needed to get off the yacht and find the other Greeks.
“What’s wrong?” Toni asked.
“The Greeks I’ve been dealing with for days, those who have Sara Halsey Jones, were on their way here to turn the professor over to Petros Caras. We need to intercept.”
“Our mission is to get this yacht to Catania,” the SEAL said. “And to bring this Greek billionaire in for debriefing.” He put air quotes around that last word.
“Understood,” Jake said. “But I could use some extra firepower. Maybe some of the guns your men confiscated topside.”
“That I can do,” the SEAL said. He backed away from them and talked into his mic.
“What about me?” Svetla asked.
Jake knew nothing about this woman or her capabilities, other than the obvious ones. “You need to go with these SEALS and give them everything you’ve got on Petros Caras.”
Svetla raised her brows and smiled. “Gladly. I might need to be debriefed thoroughly by these men.”
Another SEAL showed up from the stern carrying two sub-machine guns with extra magazines. He also had a gray-haired man by the collar, his arms zip-stripped behind his back, and shoved the man into a bench seat along one wall. Jake took the guns and strapped them over his shoulders, shoving the magazines into his back pocket.
“Is this the famous Petros Caras?” Jake asked.
“That’s him,” Svetla said, almost spitting out the words. Then she went into a diatribe of words in Greek as she moved closer to the man. Jake had no idea what she was saying, but the Greek looked both shocked and disappointed. When she punched the man in the face, the Navy SEALS all said “Wohh.” They were clearly impressed as the blood trickled from the man’s mouth.
Jake put his hand on the Czech officer’s shoulder. “Okay, you can have your way with the man after I get a little information from him.” He turned to the Greek and asked him where his men were right now, those who held Sara Halsey Jones.
The Greek licked the blood from his mouth. “So, you are Jake Adams. I thought you would be taller.”
“I get that a lot. Now answer my question. Where’s that long-haired Yanni and his friends?”
“He will fuck you up,” Petros Caras said, trying out his best American English slang.
“Yeah, I know,” Jake said. “All you Greeks like it up the ass. So where is your butt buddy?”
He laughed under his breath. “You’re too late. When these men started their attack, I told them to kill the American professor.”
“You’re lying. You wouldn’t do that without understanding what she found.” Jake was delaying just long enough for the SEAL Team to do their magic.
“And you know this for sure,” Petros Caras said.
“Yeah, I’ve known dirtbags like you my entire life. You think everything can be purchased. Everyone has a price. But you can’t buy me. You can’t buy these Navy SEALS. You owe the Agency your very existence. You survive only at their will.”
“I can buy the CIA.” The Greek spelled out the letters slowly.
Jake turned to the SEAL Team commander. “Have your men traced the call on the SAT phone?”
The SEAL man with the beard said, “Sure did. Thanks to your friend at the Agency. You must have friends in high places. It usually takes a lot longer than that. The coordinates have been given to your Italian friend out in the patrol boat. By the way, I like your ride.”
“All right,” Jake said. “I’m outta here.”
Toni grasped him by the arm before he left. “Jake. Just a minute.”
“Yeah.”
The two of them moved away from the others.
“We need to talk,” Toni said.
“I don’t have time for this.”
“I mean later,” she said. “We never really talked after you lost. . .Anna.”
“I know. I didn’t think you wanted to.”
“I’m ready now.”
“But I’ve got to get Sara Halsey Jones. I promised her brother.”
“After that,” she said, a tear at the corner of her right eye. “Be careful. I’ll be at Sigonella.”
He nodded and left her there in the lounge of the billionaire’s yacht. Something wasn’t right with her. She never used to let missions like this get to her.
When Jake got to the stern of the yacht, he waved to Elisa on the patrol boat. She took this as a sign to power the boat forward. With great precision she shoved the bow of her boat within just a few feet of the larger craft. Jake jumped and landed onto the bow of the boat, his mind still on Toni behind him. As the patrol boat drifted back away from the yacht, Jake could see Toni with her crutches at the entrance to the rear lounge, her wistful gaze concentrating on him.