Running Dark Part 24

Emma aimed at the lead pirates.

"Now," Ha.s.sim said.

She fired. The rocket catapulted out of the tube just as the boat hit a wave. She stumbled backward. She kept going in that direction to allow Stark to step forward. He aimed, held the position for a second, then fired. Emma saw the gun buck on recoil.

Her grenade exploded five feet from the back of the pirate boat. Shrapnel rained down on the inhabitants. They were close enough now that she could hear their yells as the bits of exploded ordnance pelted them. She couldn't tell if Stark's shot was wide or not, but he followed it up with another that did hit its mark. A pirate at the boat's rear dropped like a stone. She saw a muzzle flash from Sumner's gun as he fired another shot and the pilot fell, hitting the side of the small craft and tumbling overboard. There were three men left in the boat. The two other pirate s.h.i.+ps appeared from behind the cruise liner and roared toward the front.

"Here come the troops. Excellent. When they bunch up together, we'll veer off to the back," Ha.s.sim said.

The attackers formed into a roughly triangular pattern, joining the lead s.h.i.+p in firing at the Kaiser Franz's bridge. Several flashes of muzzle fire from Sumner told Emma that he had turned his attention to the new attackers. One pirate in the second boat raised a rifle in their direction.

"Time to go," Ha.s.sim said. "Hold on."

He put the craft in a tight right-hand turn. Emma stumbled to the side with the curve.

"Good hits, both of you," Ha.s.sim said. "Stark, take the RPG." He looked at Emma. "You should get ready to board." She reloaded the RPG and handed it to Stark.

"Watch my back blast," he said. She scrambled to the other side. Stark aimed and fired. Flames leaped out the back of the tube an impressive distance of at least ten feet. Emma grabbed the messenger bag, slung it over her left shoulder, put her teardrop backpack on the other shoulder, and hauled the large duffel to the boat's edge.

"I'm ready," she said.

The Kaiser Franz loomed closer. They were in its shadow, skirting the s.h.i.+p's side, heading to the rear of the enormous vessel. As they did, Emma looked up at the portholes for the lower-level staterooms. One framed the anxious face of a man. He caught Emma's eye, and his widened as they looked at each other. They kept moving, and the man disappeared from view.

"Let me get off another shot before you turn behind," Stark said. Ha.s.sim nodded and manipulated the throttle, powering down the boat. Stark aimed the AK-47 off the back. He fired off ten shots in quick succession. A cry went up.

"Got one at least." Stark's voice held a grim note of satisfaction. "They're not following us right now. The guy with the gun on the cruise s.h.i.+p is keeping them busy."

"I'm cutting around the back," Ha.s.sim said. He made another hard right, curving behind the liner and angling across its wake. They bounced into the air with the force of the waves.

Emma stared at the wake in dismay. Black oil poured from a hole in the s.h.i.+p's hull. It flowed out behind in a long stream. She didn't know where it originated from, but it didn't bode well.

Stark tapped her on the shoulder. "Are you sure you want to do this? That s.h.i.+p is going to stall soon. When it does, those pirates will be crawling all over it."

Emma wasn't sure. Now that she was there, she understood the extreme danger in which Sumner had once again found himself. The pirates alone were trouble enough, but once they got hold of the ricin, they would be armed far above the crude explosives that they currently carried. Whatever happened, they could not be allowed to obtain it.

"I'm going," she said.

Stark ran an angry hand through his hair. Before he could say anything, Ha.s.sim spoke up.

"I'll get as close to that aft ladder as I can, but it's still going to require that you leap. I suggest you leave the duffel for last. Once you're on the ladder, I can try to hand it to you."

"If we miss?"

"We can't. It will drop like a stone. The mission will be over. Finished."

"So not an option," Emma said.

"No."

"How about I lose these two other bags and just jump with the duffel?" Emma said.

"The duffel's too heavy. It will hinder you. If it does, then you will drop like a stone. I'd rather you get on the ladder. If we can't get the duffel to you this time, we'll swing around and give it another try."

"Well, at least let me take the ricin testing kits." Emma zipped open the duffel and grabbed three of the boxes labeled BIOHAZARD DETECTION KIT. She shoved them into the messenger bag.

They moved closer to the s.h.i.+p. The sounds of exploding grenades intermingled with the whoos.h.i.+ng of the waves that buffeted the little boat. Ha.s.sim slid the craft up to the ladder hanging off the Kaiser Franz's side. He yanked the steering wheel to the left when a wave threatened to slam them against the larger vessel. The spray from the wake blew in the air, misting Emma. She grasped the handrail and prepared to move over the edge. The rail was cold and slick with a combination of water and oil. She scissored one leg, then the other over it and hung from the side, facing forward, her feet on the very edge of the deck where it met the hull. The weight of the two packs seemed to steady her, but the boat was slippery underfoot, and she couldn't imagine what would happen once the ungainly duffel was added. It was sure to unbalance her.

"Next try!" Ha.s.sim yelled to her. He stayed parallel for a moment before angling closer.

Emma kept her concentration on the approaching ladder. She bounced with every wave that hit them. At four feet away, when the ladder was opposite her, she leaped.

Her oil-slicked hands slipped on the rails. She managed to grab one with her right hand but missed with her left. Pain shot through the fingers of her right hand. The knuckles felt as if they were being pulled apart from the weight of her body as she hung there. Her grip was loosening with each swell of the wave. She swung back and forth, trying to grab anything to lessen the pain in her fingers. She managed to get a grip on the ladder's side rail. Once she did, it was easier to maneuver her feet onto the rungs. She turned to Ha.s.sim, who stayed with her but once again parallel and at a safe distance.

"Throw me the pack!" she said. Ha.s.sim looked at her, the ladder, then lifted the pack. Before he could throw it, Stark put a hand on his shoulder. Emma watched him lean closer to Ha.s.sim while the two men talked. They reached some agreement.

"Get ready. I'm coming with the pack," Stark said.

Emma was speechless. That he would go from calling her crazy for boarding the vessel to joining her in the madness was remarkable. Before she could respond, the Somalis came around the back of the cruise s.h.i.+p, hurtling straight for them.

"Go!" Stark yelled.

Emma needed no further encouragement. She started up the ladder as fast as she could. Behind her she heard Ha.s.sim's engine noise increase as he opened the throttle. The boat shot away, leaving her alone to scale the side. She looked up. The climb seemed to last forever. She moved as efficiently as she could, given the motion of the boat, the slipperiness of the ladder, and the weight on her back. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the pirates approaching.

When she was ten feet from the top, she heard the cracking sound of gunfire from above. The pirates behind her yelled. She was three feet from her goal now, and moving with a speed that would have impressed her had she the time to admire it. She was at the top when she heard the sound of an RPG being fired.

A hand reached over the side, grabbed a fistful of her s.h.i.+rt in the back, along with the strap of one of the packs, and she felt herself being physically hauled over the metal railing. She gave whoever was pulling her onto the deck some help by pus.h.i.+ng off her toes, vaulting over the side in a heap of limbs, still flying forward, unable to stop her trajectory. She catapulted headlong into the man's body, the weight of hers throwing him backward onto the deck. She landed on top of him. He grunted in her ear as the fall took the breath out of him. He grabbed her around her torso, rolled her, reversing their positions, until her back was on the hard wooden planks and he was on top of her with his head against her cheek. She looked up and saw a strange steel wall looming over them, with a porthole in it. She stared at it, fascinated, wanting to close her eyes to avoid seeing the grenade strike them but finding it impossible not to watch.

The grenade hit the wall from behind and angled from right to left. It exploded on impact. Emma felt her eardrums s.h.i.+ver with the sound, popping as if she were on a plane at thirty thousand feet. With the cacophony came a blast of heat and wind. The wall twisted with the force of the warhead. It curved to the side and bent in half. The entire contraption flipped into the air, and Emma caught a glance of flying shrapnel as the wall cartwheeled to their right. Bits of metal flew in every direction. She closed her eyes when it rained on them, before opening them again. The object hammered back onto the deck and rolled in a crazy, lopsided fas.h.i.+on, flinging off parts as it did. It came to rest twenty feet away and stopped. One thin bar swung from a metallic thread that kept it attached to the debris.

The man on top of Emma raised his head, and she got her first full look at him. Sumner loomed over her, his face a mixture of anger and disbelief.

41.

SUMNER ROLLED OFF HER AND CRAB-WALKED ACROSS THE DECK to the far wall, where a rifle lay. He returned to the railing, staying low. The cruise s.h.i.+p kept surging in fitful starts and stops, making it hard for Emma to stay put. Sumner, too, seemed to be having trouble. She watched him brace his shoulder against the railing and his foot on the deck. He wore black gym shoes with rubber soles that squeaked on the polished planks. A large man stepped out of a nearby door. Emma recognized him as the person who had stared at her while she was trying to board.

"Block, get down," Sumner said. The man hunkered down before crawling to Emma.

"Can you shoot?" she asked.

Block raised an eyebrow. "Yes."

She lifted her pant leg at the ankle and pulled out the gun. It seemed as if she was forever giving her gun to someone else to shoot. She handed it to Block.

He smiled. "Finally I get a real gun. Sumner's been hogging the rifle. What are you going to use?"

She reached into the messenger bag and removed two grenades. "Do you have any matches?"

Block handed her a small book of matches embossed with the words KAISER FRANZ.

"I'll light these and throw them if I need to."

Block looked intrigued. "How about I give you the gun and I throw the grenades? I might be able to throw farther than you."

"Good idea," Emma said.

"Block, do you have a radio?" Sumner asked.

"I do," Block said.

"I don't hear anything. Call Janklow and ask him what's happening on their end."

Block pulled a walkie-talkie off his belt and depressed the b.u.t.ton. "Janklow, they gone?"

Emma moved up next to Sumner with the matches still in her hand.

"You should get inside. I don't want you to die from a grenade," he told her.

"I'm staying."

Sumner didn't say anything. He turned back to stare out to sea.

"Janklow says they're gone. Took off all at once. Like they got an order to retreat or something," Block said.

Sumner visibly relaxed. Emma felt a breath rush from her body, as if she'd been holding it for a very long time. She heard Block's walkie-talkie rattle again. A man's voice flowed out of it.

"The crazy Western woman, is she on board?"

Emma snorted. "Is he talking about me?"

Sumner nodded. "You think he's wrong?"

"About what, that I'm crazy?"

"Yes."

"As crazy as you are," she said.

Block laughed behind her. "Yeah, Janklow, she's here and giving Sumner what for."

The walkie-talkie emitted another squawk. Emma heard the man's voice again. "Ask Sumner if she's the beautiful mad scientist."

Sumner allowed a trace of a smile to cross his face but said nothing.

Block depressed the b.u.t.ton. "She's beautiful, and she's nuts to join us, so I guess the answer is yes."

Sumner grabbed a rung of the railing and pulled himself up to standing. "This is Emma Caldridge. Caldridge, Harry Block."

"Pleased to meet you, Ms. Caldridge," Block said.

Sumner handed Block the rifle. "Can you take a watch? Ms. Caldridge and I have a lot to talk about."

Emma watched Block heft the gun with obvious pleasure. "I sure will." He handed Emma her pistol. "Don't hurt him. He's the most depressing guy I've ever met, but I'm getting used to having him around."

She was surprised. "Depressing? Not at all."

Block grunted. "Just ask him what our chances of surviving are and then tell me if you don't think he's depressing."

"Our chances of surviving just got a whole lot better," Sumner said.

Block looked happier. "Let's hope you're right."

Sumner waved Emma to a nearby door.

The minute they pa.s.sed through it, she turned to him. "I'm glad you're alive. I was afraid I'd be too late."

The hallway was dark. All the lights were off. The s.h.i.+p continued to move in fits and starts, but it was slowing. The surges were not as violent, the slowing less p.r.o.nounced. Emma leaned on the wall to brace herself against the movement. Sumner supported himself by placing a palm on the same wall, next to her head. Emma thought he looked exhausted. His dark hair hung in clumps, and deep circles rimmed his eyes. He rubbed his face against the arm that held him steady. When he was done, he gave her one of his intense looks, but it was tinged with another emotion Emma couldn't identify.

"Did Banner send you?"

"He wanted to, but Stromeyer was against it. I sent myself."

Sumner took a deep breath. He shook his head. "You shouldn't have come."

"I had to."

"Colombia not enough excitement for you? You needed more?"

"I couldn't live with myself if you died and I hadn't tried to help. And besides, what about you? Are you a danger junkie or something?"

He put his head down and looked at the floor for a moment before looking back into her eyes.

"I'm furious that you took the risk, but at the same time very, very glad to see you."

His voice sounded like gravel rolled over, as if he hadn't slept, but there was no mistaking the emotion behind the words. Something small in her uncurled, as if the constant hold she kept on her emotions were relaxing for a moment. Instead of the usual rush of despair and grief that followed whenever she released her vigilance, she felt calm. Perhaps for the first time in days. Sumner leaned toward her, lowering his head to hers.

From down the hall came the sound of several people approaching. Emma watched Sumner fold back into himself, almost as if he were physically pulling himself together. He stepped away from her, breaking the connection that had pa.s.sed between them.

"Heading to hot spots is my job," he said.

Emma sighed. "And chemistry is mine."