Chapter 10
Kate awoke again and blinked into the darkness. The ship had slowed and was almost at a standstill as it gently rolled from starboard to port on the quiet sea swell. She wasn't sure how long she had been out for, but her face was still burning where Uday Ahmen had slammed his fist into her cheekbone. And Cruise. She let out a sigh. Cruise was in it all along. She felt a sense of betrayal, she felt like a fool…for her crew and for herself. The thought made her feel sick and she wondered what could possess a woman to so violently go against her country.
In the corner of the hold, she could see movement up and down. Men were going up and down the ladder and out the hatch as they moved the goods on the pallet. She blinked again, trying to improve her vision, and saw the object of their desire. Semtex. Cases of it. She let in a sharp intake of breath as the ship suddenly rolled starboard, and she lost her footing, the rope cutting further into her wrists.
Madeline Cruise's voice cut through the dark, sneering in her direction. "Well Lieutenant I guess this is where our fun will end," as she passed another case of semtex up through the hatch.
Kate opened her mouth to try and form the words, but nothing came out but a soft moan.
Cruise wandered over, almost casually, as if they could have been two girlfriends meeting at a bar. Except for her eyes. Her cold eyes were not that of a friend.
"I guess you're wondering why? How could I? How could I not?" She spat the words out at the X with a look of pure hatred in her eyes.
"I've worked as an undercover agent for ASIO for over ten years," she sneered "and in that time, I've had threats, and danger, and the Australian government said well that's all part of the job Madeline. Don't worry Madeline, we'll make sure you and your family are protected. But when a bomb ripped through my brother's home, murdering him, his wife and their new baby do you know what the Australian government said? Casualties of war." She spat that last sentence out at Kate as if she was drinking vinegar. "Well…I'll show them what causalities of war means."
And with that she went back to her work, hauling the semtex out of the hold and up into the daylight.
…
Twenty minutes later, they were done, the pallet now an empty board of wood. Kate blinked at them in the darkness as they shuffled around at the other end of the hold. What were they doing? Her stomach turned as she saw the light of the hatch closing shut for the last time and in the brief few seconds of daylight streaming through she realized. There were plastic explosives attached to the bottom of the hold.
…
A sense of urgency overwhelmed her as she struggled against her bonds, twisting frantically this way and that, to loosen at least one rope, but the more she twisted, the tighter they became, and blood was now trickling down her forearm from where the ropes had opened up a gash on her wrist. She knew they were going to sink the ship, and if the plastic explosives detonated while she was in the hold, she would be gone in an instant, consumed in her metal prison…nothing would be left. But the ropes wouldn't budge, and with her last ounce of energy sapping from her body she gave up and slumped into what slack lay in the chain holding her to the boat hook, her head drooped in pure exhaustion as she welcome the blackness in.