The Power Trip

  ‘Gotcha,’ Taye said, hoping Flynn’s words were his idea of a joke.

  Blood was trickling down from the top of Flynn’s ear, landing on his neck. As long as it stayed out of his eyes he didn’t care. He was on a hunt, ready to shoot anyone who got in his way.

  * * *

  A triumphant Den surveyed the scene. Finally, they had them! All three pirates and no injuries, other than Jeromy who’d gotten shot earlier.

  One of the deckhands had fetched sturdy ropes, and after overpowering the three pirates they’d tied them up.

  Now not only did they have three prisoners, they also had their guns, making Den feel more secure about everyone’s future.

  Guy had taken charge of an incoherent Renee, wrapping her in Jeromy’s robe, feeding her sips of water, assuring her she was safe now.

  Renee was still unable to speak. Tears coursed down her cheeks while she clutched her arms around her body and rocked back and forth.

  Guy led her over to Jeromy and sat her down next to him. ‘Look after her,’ Guy said tersely. ‘Who knows what the poor girl’s been through.’

  Jeromy was about to object, then he thought better of it. Guy had shown him kindness, therefore he had to reciprocate in spite of his injury, which was probably draining the life out of him – although Guy had fixed him up with a makeshift tourniquet which could quite possibly be saving his miserable life.

  Jeromy was not a religious man. He’d only been to church twice in all his forty-two years, and that was only to appease one of his ex-lovers. Slumped on the floor in the mess-hall of a luxury yacht, he suddenly found himself praying to a God he’d never conversed with before. A God he’d never believed in, only right now that God was all he had.

  He reached over and touched Renee’s arm. ‘There, there, dear,’ he said soothingly. ‘Everything will be all right.’

  * * *

  Clutching her loot, Mercedes made it up to the bridge.

  No Cruz.

  A dead Amiin.

  She was horrified. Amiin was Cruz’s right arm. Who could have done this to him? And where was Cruz?

  She skipped away from the bridge, and as she passed Kyril’s room she was grabbed by a concerned Luca Perez, who held her arm and said to her in Spanish, ‘There are pirates aboard, girl. Get in here now. You’ll be safe with us.’

  ‘I know,’ she said, thinking fast. ‘They haven’t seen me. I’m . . . uh . . . looking for weapons.’

  ‘Are there guns? Where?’

  ‘There’s a place I know,’ she said vaguely.

  ‘You have to stay,’ Luca said, reverting to English. ‘These people are bloodthirsty savages – they even shot their own man.’

  ‘Amiin?’ She said his name before she could stop herself.

  Cliff stepped forward. ‘What did you say?’

  ‘Amen,’ she muttered, crossing herself.

  ‘You’re a girl – so if they catch you it won’t be good,’ Luca warned.

  ‘Thanks for your concern, Mr Perez. Thing is, I know this boat pretty well, so there’s no way they’ll catch me.’

  ‘What’s in the bag?’ Aleksandr asked, leaning forward from Kyril’s chair.

  ‘Oh God! I think I hear Renee,’ Mercedes cried out. ‘I’ll be back with guns. Don’t worry about me – I know what I’m doing.’

  She ran before they could stop her.

  The question that tormented her was – how had those prisoners gotten free? Were they telling the truth? Had Cruz really shot Amiin himself?

  If so, why would he do that?

  She had so many questions, and no one to answer them. The biggest question of all was, where was Cruz?

  Was he abandoning ship? Would he do that and leave her behind?

  Knowing her poppa, it was quite possible.

  She thought quickly. There’d obviously been a confrontation. The passengers had most likely used Amiin as a shield, and Cruz had blown him away to save himself. Then he’d probably decided to make a quick getaway as things were turning sour, and right now he’d be heading for one of the speedboats to whisk him away.

  Mercedes’ gut feeling warned her that she’d better hurry if she wanted to catch up with him. The Captain knew she was one of them, so she could hardly stay on board and bluff it out.

  Screw it! She was cool. She had what she wanted. The cash. The ring.

  Best to run while she still could.

  * * *

  ‘I feel as if I’m in CSI or Law and Order,’ Taye quipped, trying to make light of a dire situation as he followed close behind Flynn who moved stealthily with his gun drawn. ‘Wish I had a friggin’ gun,’ he continued. ‘It’d make me feel a lot more secure.’

  ‘Here’s what you do,’ Flynn advised. ‘If I start shooting, you rush ’em, tackle them at the knees, throw them off-balance. Then grab whatever guns they got.’

  ‘Yeah, cool, that’s if they don’t shoot my balls off first,’ Taye said, imagining the worst.

  ‘They won’t,’ Flynn said with a grim smile. ‘We got this.’

  ‘You’ve got it,’ Taye said, running his hand over his shaved head. ‘I certainly ain’t.’

  They were doing a sweep of the top deck: it all seemed to be clear.

  Taye stuck right behind Flynn – his new hero. The bloke appeared to be fearless, and Taye got off on the air of confidence Flynn exuded.

  Taye wondered how Ashley was coping. If he knew his wife at all, by this time she’d be a hysterical wreck. Ashley didn’t do well under pressure, although she’d managed a pretty fine job of climbing up the side of the yacht when she’d had to. He was proud of her for that.

  Flynn led the way down the staircase to the middle deck. Once more it was all clear.

  ‘The pirates have speedboats each side of the yacht,’ Flynn said quickly. ‘One pirate guarding each boat. If we can surprise ’em, then it’s two less to deal with.’

  ‘Surprise them? You mean kill them?’ Taye asked, trying to stay cool.

  ‘No,’ Flynn answered caustically. ‘How about we invite them aboard for a cup of your favourite English tea?’

  ‘Okay, okay, I get it,’ Taye said, duly chastised. ‘Where do you think the crew is?’

  ‘My guess is they’ve got them all together on the lower deck. The guy upstairs was the leader. The one he shot might’ve been his second-in-command. Then there’s the two with the boats. That leaves four more. Two of them at least are watching the crew – the other two are who we gotta keep a lookout for.’

  Taye couldn’t hold back his curiosity. ‘You ever shot anyone?’ he whispered as once more they moved stealthily towards the stairs.

  ‘Why don’t we shut up and concentrate,’ Flynn muttered, feeling the sting at the top of his ear, while blood continued to drip down his neck.

  ‘Right,’ Taye said quickly. ‘I’m up for that.’

  ‘Good,’ Flynn said. ‘So let’s do this thing.’

  Chapter Ninety-Four

  Once Cruz decided something, that was it, no going back. Every fibre in his body warned him to make a fast getaway and haul his ass off The Bianca.

  Amiin was dead. The other pirates meant nothing to him, they were merely the workforce. Amiin was the only one who’d mattered.

  Dammit, his right-hand man had been dumb enough to get himself taken prisoner, giving Cruz no choice but to shoot since he’d managed to get himself right in the line of fire.

  Cruz headed for the speedboat on the left side of the boat, pushing and shoving Captain Dickson in front of him, using him as a shield, so that if any bullets came flying, they’d hit the Captain and not him.

  For one brief moment he thought about Mercedes and wondered where the hell she was. Then he remembered that Mercedes was a smart girl who could look after herself; she didn’t need him to babysit her. He’d taught her to be a survivor, exactly like him.

  Captain Dickson was breathing heavily. Abject fear had overcome him, and he felt that at any moment he might succumb to a heart attack.

&n
bsp; Cruz dug him in the back with the Uzi and yelled at him to move faster.

  The Captain struggled to do as he was told, but he still failed to move fast enough for Cruz’s liking.

  Cruz gave him a vicious kick, causing him to slip and fall down the stairs, whereupon Cruz muttered a litany of curses, came after him and hauled him to his feet. ‘You do that again an’ you’re dead meat,’ Cruz growled.

  * * *

  As time passed, Ashley began to lose it. No amount of consoling words could calm her down.

  ‘I have to get out of here,’ she whimpered, thinking of her twins and how they couldn’t possibly manage without her. ‘I can’t stay in here – I feel sick. I’m about to faint.’

  ‘No, you’re not,’ Xuan said sternly. ‘What you are going to do is sit down, shut up and put your head between your legs.’

  ‘I can’t do that,’ Ashley wailed. ‘Surely you understand? We’ve all got to get out of here. They’ll find us anyway, so what are we waiting for?’

  ‘We’re waiting for Aleksandr and the others to come back,’ Bianca said, fast losing patience. ‘And you’re not making the wait easy. So like Xuan said – shut up.’

  ‘Listen, I know we’re all scared,’ Sierra said, sure that Flynn wouldn’t let them down. ‘However, staying in control is the most important thing of all. Fighting amongst ourselves is not helping.’

  ‘She’s right,’ Lori said. ‘We mustn’t lose it.’

  ‘Oh, be quiet,’ Ashley snapped. ‘What do you know. You’re just a hanger-on.’

  ‘Excuse me?’ Lori said, bristling.

  ‘Now, now, ladies,’ Bianca interjected. ‘This is no time to get into a bitch fest.’

  Ashley slumped down on the bench that ran along one side of the small room. ‘Oh my God!’ she moaned. ‘I have a premonition. We’re all going to die in here. We’re getting raped, then murdered. I know it.’

  ‘Be quiet, you stupid woman,’ Xuan said with steely determination. ‘You’re talking nonsense. And you’d better shut your nonsense before I force you to.’

  * * *

  ‘We gotta go investigate – find out what’s goin’ on,’ Den insisted to Guy, once the three pirates were firmly secured.

  Guy, a lot braver now that he was no longer being held at gunpoint, demurred. ‘Let’s not forget who’s in charge here,’ he said, asserting himself. ‘I’m the one with seniority. I’ll decide what we do next.’

  ‘Where was all that seniority when I was beggin’ you to get the crew to do somethin’?’ Den demanded.

  Guy did not appreciate the younger man’s tone. ‘We should stay put,’ he said. ‘It’s safer for us to all be in one place.’

  ‘You’re such a friggin’ wuss,’ Den said in disgust. ‘Don’tcha understand what’s goin’ on here? You’re not in charge of me or anyone else. This is a shit situation, an’ I’m not sittin’ around waitin’ for it to get worse.’

  Ignoring Guy, he started talking to a few of the crew who finally seemed to have realized that they did indeed have balls, and even better – they now had guns.

  Den proposed that several of them set off to find out exactly what was going on. The First Officer and two of the crew agreed.

  Den took the front position.

  * * *

  Jabrill, an emaciated man with slit eyes and a mean mouth, guarded the speedboat on the left-hand side of the yacht. A former fisherman, he was not as bloodthirsty as his comrades and preferred sitting on the sidelines, chewing on his khat while thinking about his Ethiopian girlfriend and the money he had coming to him.

  Jabrill was anxious to get home. He hoped that the ransom would be paid fast, and that they could be on their way soon.

  When Cruz appeared, Jabrill was pleased. It seemed things had happened quicker than expected, although he hadn’t heard a helicopter overhead, and usually the ransom was paid in cash and dropped off that way.

  Cruz was not alone. He had an unknown white man with him, a man he shoved into the speedboat ahead of him at gunpoint.

  Jabrill stared at his boss and wondered where Amiin was. Cruz never made a move without Amiin by his side. Amiin was Cruz’s conduit to the pirates, the only one who could translate his orders.

  ‘Let’s go,’ Cruz shouted, jumping into the boat.

  Jabrill continued staring, his expression blank.

  ‘Go!’ Cruz yelled. ‘Fuckin’ take off, you moron.’

  Jabrill did not understand a word he was saying.

  * * *

  Fully charged with the leadership gene, Den experienced no fear as he and several members of the crew began checking out the yacht. On the upper level they came upon Aleksandr, Cliff and Luca, and quickly exchanged information.

  Once they saw Kyril’s lifeless body, they all realized the seriousness and extreme danger of the situation.

  Den was on fire. They had guns. They had balls. He decided that if he got through this, he was going into the security business. Maybe start his own firm. Yeah, no more barman crap, he was hot to strike out on his own.

  He suggested to Cliff and Luca that they should get Aleksandr down to the mess-hall, pointing out that it was safer if everyone stayed together.

  Luca and Cliff seemed to think it was a smart idea, and Aleksandr agreed.

  ‘We should go find Flynn and Taye – tell them what’s going on,’ Cliff announced, commandeering an AK rifle. ‘I’ll do it.’

  ‘And I’ll stick with you,’ Den said, thinking of his mum’s face if she knew he was on a dangerous mission with an actual movie star.

  Oh yes, his mum would have a fit! So would his married sister who had a big crush on Cliff Baxter. She’d always considered her little brother a total loser, so screw you, Big Sis!

  Den had never felt more alive.

  The movie star and the barman set off to find Flynn and Taye, while Luca and several crew members assisted Aleksandr downstairs.

  Aleksandr was not happy about being a victim. He was a strong, powerful man, and being unable to walk because of his injury infuriated him.

  In his mind he was going over how this could’ve possibly happened and who was responsible. He had enemies. Every successful businessman had enemies. And then there were his soon-to-be ex-wife’s brothers. He wouldn’t put it past them; they were a bunch of jealous, greedy pricks, who thought he owed them a living.

  He promised himself that, however long it took, he would find the person who had masterminded this outrage, and they would be duly punished. Not only by law, but by his own hand.

  Aleksandr never made a promise he couldn’t keep.

  * * *

  ‘He’s dead,’ Renee cried out, her eyes wide with fear. ‘A man . . . a bad, bad man shot him.’

  ‘What did you say?’ Jeromy asked, leaning closer to the girl. These were the first words she’d spoken and he couldn’t quite understand her; she wasn’t making much sense.

  ‘Dead,’ she repeated, shivering uncontrollably, her face deathly pale.

  ‘Who is dead?’ Jeromy asked, fear creeping up on him, for surely this couldn’t be true?

  ‘The Senator,’ Renee gasped, breaking into heavy sobs. ‘He was on top of me . . . the man shot him . . . I could’ve been shot too.’

  Jeromy didn’t like what he was hearing. He summoned Guy, who came over carrying a blanket that he wrapped around Renee.

  ‘She’s saying something about the Senator being shot,’ Jeromy informed him. ‘It can’t be true, can it?’

  ‘God, no!’ Guy said. ‘I’m sure it isn’t. She’s traumatized, doesn’t know what she’s saying.’

  ‘There’s an evil man in my cabin,’ Renee whispered, barely able to speak. ‘He’s asleep on the bed. He has a gun. If he wakes up he’ll come and kill us all.’

  Guy looked around.

  Where was Den?

  * * *

  Moving as fast as she could, Mercedes made it to the speedboat just as Cruz was screaming at Jabrill to take off. She shimmied down the rope ladder and jumped into the
boat, clutching her garbage bag of cash, the ring stuffed into her bra for safekeeping.

  ‘Were you leavin’ without me?’ she said accusingly.

  ‘Who d’you think I was waitin’ for?’ Cruz lied. ‘You, of course.’

  ‘Why’s he here?’ Mercedes demanded, indicating the Captain.

  ‘’Cause he might be useful,’ Cruz said gruffly. ‘An’ when he’s not so useful I’m gonna toss him overboard. Now tell this motherfucker to start the boat an’ get us the fuck outta here.’

  Mercedes knew a few words of Somalian, enough to tell Jabrill to go.

  But Jabrill wasn’t having it. Sensing all was not right, he demanded to know where the others were – Cashoo, Hani and especially Amiin.

  Cruz screamed his frustration as Flynn and Taye appeared on deck.

  * * *

  Spotting Mercedes and Captain Dickson in the boat, Flynn figured they were both being kidnapped and instantly knew he had to do something.

  ‘Get out of the boat with your hands up,’ he yelled at Cruz. ‘It’s over. The Coast Guard’s on the way. You may as well surrender now.’

  ‘Go fuck yourself,’ Cruz screamed, raising his Uzi and letting forth a barrage of bullets.

  Jabrill jumped to attention. Violence was not his thing unless absolutely necessary. To hell with the other pirates, they’d be okay on the other boat. He revved the engine, and within seconds the powerful speedboat took off.

  Chapter Ninety-Five

  ‘Get out!’ Sergei screamed, wrenching the covers off the bed.

  Ina opened one eye. ‘What?’ she mumbled.

  ‘You heard me. Out! Now! Out of my life, you conniving cunt,’ Sergei shouted. ‘You’re probably in cohorts with your thieving brother. The two of you have been laughing at me behind my back. I should’ve known better than to trust either of you.’

  ‘I’ve done nothing,’ Ina whined. ‘Why’re you taking my brother’s bad deeds out on me?’

  ‘Bad deeds, huh?’ Sergei yelled, grabbing her hair and yanking her from the bed. ‘So you knew all along what the pizda had planned. You knew it!’

  ‘No,’ Ina objected. ‘I knew nothing. What’s happened? Why are you so mad?’