03 Deluge of the Dead (34 page)

“Your mini-sub only carries two people, doesn’t it?” Mick asked.

“Yes,” Scott confirmed. “But, as agent Slidell pointed out, we have plenty of scuba gear too. I was thinking that the sub could tow at least half a dozen armed divers and take the pirates by surprise.  Of course first we need to find them and hope they stand still long enough for the sub to sneak up on them.”

“That’s a tall order,” Captain Fisher commented. “We’d need to get within a couple miles of them without being spotted to launch a mission like that.”

“I know,” Scott agreed. “I didn’t say it would be easy. It might not work at all, but it’s an option we should consider, if circumstances permit.”

“What other options do we have?” Carl asked.

“We could come at them fast and hard using the helicopter and the Cigarette Top Gun, as well as the Fountain Sportfisherman, full of Marines,” Mick suggested.

“That would have the advantage of speed,” Helen Slidell agreed. “But you would sacrifice most of the element of surprise. An alert crew would have at least a minute’s warning of an approaching speed boat, maybe 30 seconds for the helicopter. On the other hand, a combined operation employing the speed boats, helicopter and mini-sub would probably be ideal, especially if the boats and chopper could be used as a distraction in front of the pirates while the divers came aboard at the stern swim step of your yacht. It will all depend on conditions at the time of intercept.”

“Well, Special Agent Slidell, I’m certainly glad to have you aboard for this,” Scott said. “Any other assets we should consider?”

“I brought a top notch sniper with me,” Helen said. “He has a 50 caliber rifle that can make accurate shots at up to a mile, figure half a mile firing from one boat towards another.”

O’Hara nodded and said, “I have two designated shooters with modified M-16A4s too. I can have them team up with the FBI sniper to form a long range fire team. I’ve also assigned a couple men to each of the LAV-25s on the boat davits, Commodore. Your ship now has some serious firepower with a range of more than two miles. Of course I wouldn’t recommend using the canon while there are hostages on those boats, but it’s good to have the option. Maybe we can use that firepower to scare the bastards into surrendering.”

“That might be worth a try too,” Scott said. The discussion was interrupted by the beeping of several text message notifications. Scott and Captain Fisher both pulled out their cell phones to read them. After a few moments they exchanged glances and Scott motioned the captain to share the news.

Fisher said, “I instructed the bridge crew to switch the radar to maximum range as soon as we passed Point Magu. They may have located the pirate boats about forty miles ahead of us in the Santa Barbara Channel. If so, they have more than an hour lead on us, but at least we have them in our sights now.”

*****  

It was after midnight when the pirate standing next to Stan Dawson pointed through the windshield at a dull cluster of lights emerging through the rain and clouds up ahead. “What is that?” the big man asked.

Stan glanced at the radar and back up to the dim lights and said, “It looks like an oil drilling platform.”

“It still has power?” the pirate asked.

“Looks that way,” Stan replied indifferently. “They’re mostly self-sufficient.”

“Any women on those things?” the pirate asked in a tone that Stan didn’t like.

“How the hell would I know?” Stan retorted. Then, realizing the implication of the question, he added, “I doubt it. It’s probably full of tough rednecks. Those platforms house several dozen oil workers and I bet most, if not all, are men.”

The pirate studied the radar screen for a moment and asked, “What about all those other dots around it?”

“They look like boats,” Stan admitted and immediately wished he had thought of another explanation.

“You mean boat people, don’t you? Isn’t that what you call all those people floating around on their cushy yachts? Take us over there and slow down,” the pirate ordered.  Then he picked up a hand-held radio and called over to the
Expiscator.
“Hey, Scag, are you there? We’re coming up to an oil rig with lights on and it looks like there are other boats there. They might have chicks and other loot. Can we hit these guys?”

There was a long pause during which Stan began to get a horrible feeling in his gut. His attempt to prolong the trip to Santa Barbara by straying out further into the channel had inadvertently brought the pirates to a cluster of boat people at this oil rig. If the pirates attacked them, it would be Stan’s fault.

“I’m busy,” replied a voice that Stan thought was Scag. “If you want to check it out, make it fast. We don’t have time to mess around out here. We’ll find more boats and bitches in Santa Barbara, but I guess you can make a quick hit here too There’s still no sign of anyone chasing us, is there?”

The pirate glanced back at the radar display and didn’t see anything showing up behind them. Stan held his breath, hoping the pirate didn’t know enough to notice that the display was set to short range. After a moment the pirate spoke into the walkie-talkie again. “All clear behind us, Scag.”

“Then go for it,” the voice replied. “Just don’t start a fight you can’t win. Get in and out of there fast. We don’t have time to fuck around.”

“You heard the man,” the pirate nudged Stan. “Take us over there and pull up to the biggest boat you see. Then keep us there and don’t try anything funny. I’ve been watching you drive this thing, so I think I could do it myself, if I have to shoot you. And don’t forget we got those bitches and little brats from the other boat now. If you don’t do exactly what I say, they’ll pay for it.”

The final threat was the only one that really forced Stan to comply with the pirate’s demands and refrain from blowing the ferry’s horn to alert the people that were about to be attacked by these bastards. Instead he turned the ferry towards the oil rig and the cluster of boats that could now be seen anchored around it. Those people had found a good place to escape the zombies, but were about to face an equally dreadful threat from the Surf Nazis.

*****

“They’ve slowed and changed course, sir,” said a crewman monitoring the radar on the bridge of the
Sovereign Spirit.

“Let me see,” Captain Fisher said as he walked over to the radar screen. It was a high tech model that overlaid the radar returns onto a GPS moving map display. “They’re heading for that oil platform and it looks like other vessels are anchored there too. You better call the Commodore up here.”

Scott arrived just as the radar image of the larger pirate boat, obviously the ferry, merged with the other returns surrounding the oil rig.  “What do you have?” Scott asked.

“It looks like the pirates have decided to pay a visit to some boat people at an oil rig in the channel,” Fisher replied.

“Damn,” Scott muttered. “That can’t be good news for those boat people, but at least it will slow down the pirates for a while.”

Captain Fisher eyed him narrowly and said, “Don’t you think that’s sort of a callus way of looking at it?”

Scott looked startled before he replied, “Maybe so, Jordy. I’m having difficulty thinking about anyone but Michelle and Billy right now. So many others are already dead, or undead, and what can we do to help those boat people now? Maybe if we had guessed that the pirates would go to the oil rigs we could have flown ahead in the helicopter to warn people and drop off some Marines to defend them, but we didn’t and it’s too late for that now.”

 “I suppose that’s true,” Fisher said with a resigned note to his voice. “If only we could get a step ahead of them.”

“Yeah…wait!” Scott exclaimed. “That’s it! You’re brilliant, Jordy. We
can
get a step ahead of them.”

“What are you talking about?” Fisher asked in confusion.

“We can send the helicopter and the Cigarette up to Santa Barbara right now to set up a reception committee of Marines,” Scott said excitedly.

“What if they aren’t going to Santa Barbara?” Fisher asked.

“I’m willing to bet they are,” Scott said. “They already passed Channel Islands Harbor and Port Hueneme. Santa Barbara is their last chance to pick up more boats and supplies for another hundred miles. They’ll want to take advantage of the rain for a supply run too, if they don’t want to be fighting off zombies when they go ashore. But even if they do bypass Santa Barbara it won’t make a difference. Don’t you see? As long as we keep them within radar range, or even know what direction they’re going, we can just leapfrog ahead again and set up a warm welcome at their next possible stop.”  

“You don’t think that will put the hostages in more danger?” Fisher asked.

“No more than they already are,” Scott replied. “If we do this right, there’s no reason for them to think the people we have waiting are connected to us or the Flotilla. We’ll just blend in with the locals who will be defending their boats and harbor from pirates. Anything we can do to slow them down, or whittle away at their numbers, will distract them and help us get into a better position for a hostage rescue mission.”

“That sounds like a good plan,” Fisher agreed after a moment’s thought.

“Please call everyone back to the conference room,” Scott said. “We don’t have much time to put this together.”

*****

Billy couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The
Catalina Jet Cat
had cruised in among at least a dozen boats anchored next to a big lighted oil platform and pirates leaped from the ferry to the decks of the boats. Gun shots flared as they stormed below decks. Billy couldn’t hear any of the screams from his vantage point on the bridge of the
Expiscator
, but he watched as the pirates pulled women up on deck and threw the bodies of men overboard. It was a repeat of the assault on the
Expiscator
, times ten.

The ferry moved up towards the oil platform, probably intending to board it too, but there was a flurry of activity on top of the platform as the oil workers responded to the threat. A hose began pumping fluid over the side of the platform in the path of the ferry. Then someone fired a flare gun and the ocean erupted in flames. Billy realized that they must have pumped oil or gasoline into the ocean and ignited the flammable slick.  The ferry quickly reversed out of danger, clipping several of the smaller boats in the process.

Within five minutes the pirates had succeeded in starting the engines on five of the boats they had boarded, while others fired their guns up towards the people on the oil rig.  Two of the boats closest to the platform had caught fire and one of the other boats captured by the pirates went to pick up several of their gang trapped on them. They got the pirates, but left several women tied up and screaming on the decks of the burning boats. It was horrific.

“Hot damn!” exclaimed Terrance as he stared out at the flames that sputtered in the rain. “I never seen nothing like it,” he muttered. What bothered Billy was that Terrance seemed to be smiling as he watched the women burning alive. Billy was struggling to keep from vomiting.

“Alright, show’s over,” said Scag as he walked onto the bridge. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and Billy couldn’t help notice that his body was covered in tattoos. Many of them looked like the type that gangsters got in prison, but there were others including a big one of the Devil surrounded by flames on his chest. Billy wished that Scag was one of the people burning on those boats. No such luck. Scag picked up one of the little radios his gang used and said, “Wrap it up boys. We already wasted half an hour here. We’ll get plenty of boats and probably some old ladies at out next stop, but I want to get in there and grab them before dawn. If those boats you guys nabbed can’t keep up, you’ll have to leave them, or follow along behind. At least you got a little practice at your new jobs.” Scag finished with a cruel laugh and turned to Billy.

“You take us straight to Santa Barbara kid, as fast as this boat will go, and I won’t mess with your mother tonight. Is that clear?”

“Yes,” Billy said flatly.

Scag’s smile faded and his hard glare fell squarely on Billy, “That’s Captain Scag to you, punk.”

“Yes, Captain Scag,” Billy said without having to fake his fear. All these pirates were scary, but Scag was clearly the worst of the bunch. Billy didn’t dare do or say anything that might tempt Scag to molest his mother. Therefore Billy increased the throttles and pulled the
Expiscator
into formation with the ferry as they headed towards shore with a few new pirate boats trailing behind them.

*****

 The cockpit was dark except for the dull red and green glow of night vision lights on the control panels. Scott had turned off all of the exterior navigation lights and normal cabin lighting in the helicopter as they swept along the coastline between Ventura and Santa Barbara.  They were flying blacked out and radio silent to avoid notice by the pirate boats that were cruising slower on a parallel course just a few miles offshore.

There had been rapid agreement when Scott had presented his plan to leapfrog ahead of the pirates in the helicopter. They were carrying a squad of Marines, along with the FBI sniper, and hoped to reach Santa Barbara at least half an hour before the pirates. The plan from there was not clear, except that the Marines needed to slow the pirates down and keep them there until the Sovereign Spirit arrived.

The Cigarette speed boat was also racing towards Santa Barbara without any lights. The boat handler and Marines aboard were using military night vision goggles to navigate as they sliced through the six foot swells at over fifty miles per hour, but it was unclear if they would arrive before the pirates. If not they would hug the shore to avoid being spotted.

Before leaving the ship Scott had called Captain McCloud on the
USCG Stratton
to inform him the plan. McCloud reported that the
Stratton
was almost ready to leave Marina Del Rey. He also confirmed that the smaller Coast Guard cutter
Sea Otter
was already in the Santa Barbara Harbor assisting refugees as they sought refuge on yachts and sailboats there during the storm. Scott asked McCloud to warn them about the incoming pirates, but not over open radio channels. Scott said he would warn boats in the path of the pirates and requested that the
Sea Otter
stay inside the harbor to defend the refugees from attack. Scott said, “That cutter crew should be able to drive the pirates away from the people and boats in the harbor, but please ask them not to give chase. We’re closing in with plans to rescue the hostages, but we don’t want to scare them into running before we can spring our trap.”  McCloud had reluctantly agreed to instruct his men to cooperate and simply secure the harbor.