'Goodnight Tony. I'm off now. You working late again?' Jack inquired, glancing at him carefully.
Tony shook his head. 'I'm not really busy now, it's Michelle. She needs to finish a report, and I'm waiting for her. Hey, I can always find something to do!' He watched Jack leaving his office and settled down at his computer, rubbing his eyes. The last two coffees he'd drunk had little effect; he found it increasingly difficult to keep his eyes open.
Hardly surprising really, if he thought about it. It had been a busy week, filled with meetings and paperwork, a visit from Chappelle and more activity than usual with terrorists. They were all tired, arriving at work early and leaving long after their shifts ended. Michelle hadn't finished on time that night either, still busy writing up a report that needed to get to Washington by morning.
The phone woke him up a little. He rubbed a hand across his face and picked it up, noting it was an internal call. 'Almeida,' he said, hearing the voice of the person at the switchboard.
'Mr. Almeida, I got a call from a Mr. Giles at the port. Abdul's been spotted buying a ticket for the midnight city cruise.'
He thanked her and spoke to the official, confirming that the terrorist they knew only as Abdul was in fact in the terminal. Tony couldn't imagine what such a man would want on an evening boat cruise, but he was going to bring him in wherever he was. He raced down the stairs and grabbed Michelle.
'Honey, we've got a lead on Abdul,' he told her, pulling on his jacket. 'He's down at the port. I'm going to bring him in.' His eyes shone, thrilled at the thought of a little action. Michelle looked less thrilled.
'Why don't you call a SWAT team, Tony? You're not seriously thinking of going after him alone, are you?'
'Honey, there's little time. And if he sees any police he'll just disappear. We've been monitoring this guy all week and we lost him yesterday. Finding him is pure luck. I'll be right back.'
'I'm going with you,' Michelle said suddenly. 'You'll do a lot better undercover with me, it'll look natural, a couple out together.'
Tony frowned at her, hating the thought of her joining him, but Michelle had already slipped her own jacket on. 'Just call the night shift supervisor and we can get going.'
He called his evening counterpart, hating the man and keeping his conversation as short as possible. They arrived at the port in time to see the small ferry taking on its final passengers. Michelle hastily bought two tickets and they rushed across the gangway.
'Tony, he's got a gun. He'll kill someone here if you try to arrest him. There's too many people around. We don't even know if he's here alone.'
Tony nodded. 'Yeah. We'll just go on this cruise and keep an eye on him, and I'll arrest him when we return. It would be great if we could find his entire group, but I doubt we'd get that lucky.' He found a seat on the ferry next to Michelle, opposite Abdul. The evening was cold but calm and the ferry nosed out of the harbor. A man appeared, thanking everyone for joining the tour and explaining the sights they would see. There were plenty of dolphins around, he assured the passengers, they were bound to spot one tonight.
'Focus Almeida. You're not here to admire the sights of LA by sea! Don't even think of taking your eyes from Abdul for a moment!' He moved his eyes determinedly away from the spectacular sight and gazed at a different spot from where Abdul was in his periphery. Michelle bought two lemonades, handing him one. He gazed at her surprised. 'Honey, it's a bit chilly. What about a coffee?'
Michelle shook her head, enjoying the tour. 'Jenny down at archives said she's never seen anyone drink as much coffee as you. It's really not so healthy. I think you should drink more water instead.'
Tony groaned aloud. Once Michelle got something into her head, she carried it out. He foresaw having to spend the next several years sneaking out to the coffee machine whenever she was away from her desk. 'Honey, don't you think I'm allowed something that's a bit unhealthy?' he began, hoping to get her to see his side of it. 'I eat well, I don't smoke, I don't drink much, but coffee…'
'No, sweetheart, you're drinking at least eight cups a day, and its way too much,' Michelle told him, kissing him. 'You'll get to drink two and no more!'
Tony groaned for her benefit, knowing he would arouse her suspicion if he gave in too quickly. Abdul watched them with a bored expression. Tony slipped his arm around Michelle, pulling her close to him. 'Keep an eye on him for a moment, sweetheart. I'll take a quick look round to see whether I can spot any of his friends. Somehow he doesn't strike me as a man who's into tours.'
He got up slowly and left the deck, wandering into the main cabin. Crowds of people ate and drank, talking. He couldn't see a single suspicious person. He wandered down a narrow staircase past the toilets, peering into a dark room. There were spare ropes and buckets, and a can of oil. He turned to go, almost outside the room when he stopped. He hadn't heard anything, he hadn't seen anything, but he could swear there was someone in the darkness. Sight, sound, smell…That was it! The smell he had grown accustomed to in the Middle East during his military service. He pulled his gun from its holster.
'Stop now! Hands up! Throw down the gun real slowly.' Five men stepped out of the darkness simultaneously, pointing their weapons at him. Tony kept firm hold of his own gun, pointing it steadily at a man.
'I'll shoot him first,' he warned.
'No you won't, cop,' stated a man, pulling out his phone. He said two sentences into it rapidly in Arabic and pressed end. 'Now drop your weapon and move against the wall.' Tony remained immobile, his finger on the trigger. Footsteps appeared down the stairs and Michelle appeared, followed closely by Abdul, who held a gun to her head. 'Now cop, drop your weapon, or we'll kill the woman,' said the same man, smiling at Tony. Chewing his lip he did as they ordered, throwing his gun in the middle of the room. 'Good. Now move over to the wall. Try anything, she dies.'
'You touch her, I'll kill you,' he warned, furious for having allowed Michelle to accompany him. He faced the wall, feeling them push a gun against his own head. They spoke together and one man brought some rope, grabbed him and tied him to a post in the middle of the room. He turned his head, watching them push Michelle beside him and tie her own hands.
'Alright, I'll give you a chance to live. I want any phones and bugs now,' said the same man, gazing directly at Tony. 'Otherwise I kill the woman. She is worth nothing, anyway.'
Michelle's face turned red. She opened her mouth to make an angry retort. Tony interrupted her rapidly, not wishing her to draw any further attention to herself. 'I haven't got a bug. You can take my phone.' Hands patted his body down, confirming the lack of a bug and removing his phone.
'Your phone now, woman,' said the man, taking Michelle's phone. They patted her down, while Tony watched, forcing himself to remain silent. 'Good, now you wait.' Another man appeared and forced a cloth into his mouth, making him gag. Thick tape was placed round his mouth. 'Good. Now you sit here nice and quiet till we call you. If you're good, you get to bring the woman with you. If you're bad, she stays on the boat.' The man gave him a hard look before leaving the room, locking the door.
Michelle began banging with her feet, desperate to attract the attention of anyone using the toilets. After a second Tony joined in, surprised at the noise they managed to make.
The door was flung open and a man entered with a gun. He stared at the scene in silence for a minute before speaking into his radio. Two more men entered the room, speaking together. They moved towards Tony, slapping him hard across the face, laughing as his head jerked back and forth from the blows. Michelle struggled furiously, kicking one of them in the shins. He kicked her back in a rage, muttering something in Arabic under his breath. A second later he gave a shriek, as Tony's shoe met his knee with full force. 'I'll teach you to hurt her, you bastard,' he thought, feeling his fists clench behind the post. Another man reached down and grabbed him by his hair, pulling out a handful while he forced himself to remain silent.
'Try anything else, cop, the woman dies,' warned one of the men. They left the room, locking the door behind them.
Michelle turned to Tony, her face registering dismay at the sight of his bruises. A tear slipped out of her eyes. Tony shook his head at her and nodded towards the ground. He placed his hands on her pockets, attempting to speak through the gag, unable to understand a single word he said. She stared at him uncomprehendingly for a moment before slipping her hands into his pockets. Tony nodded, attempting to smile at her. She withdrew his car keys – he nodded again, making another futile attempt to speak. It was unnecessary, she already knew of his tiny pocket knife on the key ring. He attempted to smile at her through the gag as she moved closer to him. Tony held the tiny knife they had overlooked and cut through her ropes. Michelle got up, removing her gag. She took the knife and released him.
'Honey, I'm so sorry,' she began. 'Abdul started moving and you weren't back yet, so I followed him downstairs, and then he pulled the gun on me.'
'Sweetheart, you've done nothing to be sorry about. They called him, because I walked into a trap! Are you ok,' he asked her, worried.
She nodded. 'I'm fine. Tony, what did he mean; you can take me if you're good? What's going to happen to this boat?'
He shook his head. 'I don't know. Nothing good, if Abdul's involved. But it's odd; he's too good for simple boat hijackings. It doesn't add up.' He frowned, deep in thought. The roar of the engines changed, the waves pushed the boat from a different angle. They looked at each other.
'We're turning,' Michelle said.
Tony nodded, closing his eyes to feel the waves under the boat. 'We're heading directly out to sea,' he said, puzzled. 'We must be meeting a boat.' He looked at Michelle, wishing he hadn't brought her. 'Sweetheart, listen carefully. I'm going to make a noise and I'm going to take out the men who'll come in. I want you to try and use the radio. Call the coast guard and let him know the boat is hijacked and we need assistance. I'll be right up as soon as I'm done here.'
He banged on the floor loudly and waited while two irritated men entered. He gave Michelle a little push to get her moving through the open door, hearing her footsteps running along the corridor. The door banged behind her and the men yelled, moving towards him. When they were close enough he moved, snatching a gun from one of them. They faced each other, guns drawn. His training returned. Without hesitation he pulled the trigger, hitting the man with the gun in the chest and shooting the other seconds later. Picking up the second weapon he opened the door and moved along the corridor, almost bumping into a returning Michelle.
She shook her head at him. 'It's no good, Tony. The radio's dead. I only got a second in there coz the men came back.'
'Honey, it's going to be ok,' Tony told her, a lot more confidently than he felt. 'It's not surprising they disabled the radio. I want you to take a lifeboat and get out of here, go find another boat, there's plenty of fishing trawlers out tonight, and radio the coast guard from there.'
'What about you?' she asked, frowning at him. 'I'm not leaving you here to be killed, Tony.'
A warm feeling rushed through him and he drew her towards him, kissing her. 'Honey, someone's got to create a diversion. I'm good at that. And I wouldn't mind taking a look at the engines. We're going to be rammed into something, and since we're heading directly out to sea it can only be an incoming ship.' They looked at each other silently. 'I'll create a diversion and you can escape while they hunt for me. Whatever happens you're getting out of this alive, honey' he thought silently. Michelle remained motionless, holding his hand. 'Go, sweetheart,' he said, leading her along the corridor and up the stairs.
He pulled the cord on the lifeboat, and they watched it inflate, standing close together. 'Tony, I…' Michelle began.
Tony placed a finger to his lips, lowering the boat noiselessly into the water. 'I'll see you with the coast guard, honey.' He picked her up and lowered her carefully over the side. The boat sped away from the lifeboat, heading further out to sea. He watched it for a minute until he was certain it could no longer be seen, before turning away and creeping towards the ladder. One terrorist passed less than a foot from him as he pressed himself beside a lifeboat. He grabbed the man from behind, disarming him and forcing him down the ladder. Opening the locked door he pushed the man inside.
'Alright, you're going to tell me what's going on,' he demanded, releasing the safety on his weapon. 'Otherwise you'll join your friends.' He saw the terrorist glance at the bodies and make a sudden sharp movement. Tony grabbed him by the hair, pulling his neck as far as it would go. 'Oh no you don't, you bastard. You're not going to martyr yourself until you've told me exactly what I want to know!' He glared at the man, lowering his gun. 'Otherwise I'll put a bullet right there!'
He saw the man close his eyes and knew he'd won. 'We go to meet Allah tonight, cop.'
'How?' he demanded, shaking the man harder.
'We're loaded with C4. We go to meet a returning US battleship in an hour,' boasted the man, gazing back at him defiantly. 'Allah u akbar.'
'Where's the C4?' Tony demanded, horrified by their plan. He knew precisely which ship was expected back that night, Bobby was on it. The man laughed at him and reached forward with his hand, attempting to snatch the gun. Tony shot him automatically, laying the body beside the other two. He leaned against the wall thinking hard, picturing the entire boat. Where would the explosives be hidden? He hadn't seen it upstairs, of course, so it would have to be somewhere below decks. Gun first, he pushed open the door and crept outside, checking every hatch.
The C4 proved to be in an innocent looking box just beside the opening that led to the engine. Tony grabbed the man who was guarding it, banging his head into the wall with full force. The man crumpled to the ground. He removed his gun and paused for an instant, wandering whether he should move the man back to the compartment he had been locked in with the bodies or leave him where he was and deal with the C4 first. Disposing of the C4 had priority, in the utmost silence, which ruled out shooting the man. Tony left him where he lay and attempted to move the box. It required his entire strength moving it inch by inch over to the ladder. Silently he crept upstairs to peer along the deck, suspecting he had only minutes left before someone would miss the men below. The deck appeared deserted – he heard only silence from the passengers. By now they would all be held in the main cabin unable to help him. Slipping back down silently he began the physically challenging task of pushing the box up the stairs, a step at a time. His biggest problem was preventing it from sliding back down and crushing him. He paused to get his breath back when he managed to push it onto the deck.
Tony wiped the sweat from his forehead and frowned at the box, wandering how he could dispose of it in the sea. It was quite impossible for him to lift it and throw it over the railing. A sudden thought occurred to him. He crept silently along the deck till he got to the back, noting the railing consisted of metal rods that could be removed, allowing the passengers on and off the cruise boat. He opened the railing silently and crept back along the deck. The box moved noisily across the deck, Tony pushing it as fast as he could aware he had less than a minute to spare. Four men appeared with guns, as he gave the explosives an extra large push and watched them slide into the water.
He was grabbed and disarmed before he could straighten. Rough hands hauled him back across the deck to where Abdul waited for him. Merciless eyes met his own, holding their gaze unblinking on him. Tony said a silent prayer, hoping they would shoot him quickly without torturing him first.
'Pull yourself together, Almeida. Michelle's safe. She's likely to have alerted the coast guard by now – these passengers will be saved too. You dumped the C4. You've completed your task!' Another part of him rebelled at the thought of being killed. 'No, I don't want to die! I got Michelle!'
'You caused us a lot of trouble today,' Abdul remarked, while two men held him in a vice like grip. 'Our plans have been set back for a few weeks. A pity you will not live long enough to see us complete them!'
'You'll never complete them,' Tony hissed, staring back defiantly.
Abdul walked around him suddenly, grabbing his left arm and snapping it expertly at the elbow. Tony heard himself let out a shriek as his broken arm was twisted further behind his back and bound at the wrist to his right hand, the cord cutting into his flesh. Abdul faced him while he fought for consciousness.
'You can go swimming, agent. Let the sharks eat well tonight.'
Hands hauled him back across the deck and pushed him over the edge. Dark cold water swallowed him, closing over him, so completely black he became disoriented. His arm ached ceaselessly; his lungs felt they would burst for air. His mouth opened and the air escaped from him, rising in bubbles to the surface. Kicking hard he did he best to follow them, opening his mouth and filling his lungs before a large wave washed over him. He managed to regain the surface, noting the boat was now a distant speck of light, the sole speck visible on the entire ocean! His body was lifted high by a second wave, the tops curling over him, forcing him into a spinning tunnel deep underwater. It took his entire strength to kick himself to the surface, having only moments to fill his lungs before another wave bore down on him. He was going to die in the ocean, pushed deeper than he could deal with; weighed down by the water he kept involuntarily swallowing.
'On your feet, private! What the hell do you imagine you're doing? Every time I turn my back you're slacking off! Do you think its siesta time? Get up at once, or you'll have KP for the rest of the month!'
He forced himself to the surface, filling his lungs. He would survive the next wave, and the one after that.
He blinked in the dim light, wandering how long he had been awake. The tap's steady dripping annoyed him intensely. He bore it as long as he could, knowing there was nothing he could do stop it. Little wander it had reminded him of his all night struggle to stay afloat in the cold Pacific. He rubbed his eyes, trying to remember what they had told him in the rescue helicopter. Something about being twenty miles off the coast, something about Michelle threatening them with bureaucratic hell if they gave up their search. 'A never ending stream of official government forms' the man had told him, 'detailed questionnaires requiring official ID with every mail. Mr. Almeida, we'd have searched the entire Pacific to avoid that! You're a lucky man.'
He had been, until now.
