“Okay, Mike, take her up,” Hutchins said while leaning on the attack periscope, “Early, admiral.”
“This way we’ll cover his watch being off. We’ll stay up for an extra ten minutes, too. That will cover him both ways.
“Remember, Mike, he hasn’t been able to synchronize his watch with us for a long time and he’s been beating it around in the bush. Anything could happen.”
“Aye, aye sir.”
“Captain! Radio Room.”
“Captain aye!”
“Got one weak transmission of five seconds and then nothing just as the antenna broke the surface,
sir.”
Duleg looked at Hutchins with a wondering look and Hutchins said, “might be the last of his three bursts. He might have been earlier than we thought. He may try again in this window.”
“Captain! Radio Room.”
“Captain aye.”
"Three bursts of five seconds with five-second intervals on 95.1 FM.”
“Reply!” the captain burst out.
“Done, sir.”
“Very good. Surface! Surface!”
When the boat broke the surface the executive officer spun the wheel on the conning tower hatch and it popped open with a hiss. He immediately slammed it back until it clanged and latched open. Stepping back
immediately as the captain passed him in a rush yelling, “Lookouts to the bridge!”
The lookouts followed closely on the heels of the captain who had already made a full sweep of the moonlit horizon with his binoculars. Once the lookouts were posted the captain turned to the intercom and said,
“admiral. Care to join us?”
The admiral had been waiting patiently for the invitation. Admiral or not, it was still the captain who ran the boat. This captain heeded the admiral’s orders in private, but in the presence of the crew the admiral made sure that the crew knew the captain was running the boat.
“Thank you, captain. Yes,” he said as he sailed up the ladder to the bridge.
“Admiral the bridge looks strange.”
“What exactly do you mean, Mike?”
“No lights at all, sir. Even at 0400 hours there ought to be the occasional car or something. That bridge is eight miles long and the only land connection between the west and east for 150 miles. Stands to reason that
someone would be using it at any given time, but as you can see there isn’t a light on it anywhere. Just the normal navigational warning lights.”
“I hope the ‘spook’ notices that, too,” Hutchins replied and continued, “you’re right, Mike, I don’t like it. Take us in closer.”
“Sir?”
“Closer, Mike.”
“Yes, sir, but we are already well inside the three-mile limit.”
Hutchins smile was visible in the moonlight as he said, “then a few more miles won’t make a bit of difference will it, Mike?”
Duleg keyed the intercom and said, “all ahead standard, steer one-eight-one.”
“Aye, aye captain. All ahead standard, steering one-eight-one.”
“Very good!” he responded and then to Hutchins he said, “as you say admiral, what’s a few more miles between friends.”
“Yes indeed, Mike, yes indeed.”
No more had the boat begun to pick up speed and swing to its new course when the dark bridge came alive with lights. Searchlights seemed to be everywhere. They all seemed to be focused on the lake and not on the bay, but there must have been one every 100 yards on that eight mile bridge. The “spook” was fairly caught.
Lights or not, the silence wasn’t broken except by the gentle swishing of the water along the sleek hull of the USS Sailfish as it glided toward the bridge at a good pace. Then the silence was gone. The roar of a large boat engine could just be heard over the swishing water along the submarine’s hull and then the pop, pop of firing from the bridge. Seconds after the first pop a flare ignited over the lake and then another and another, until the sky was full of them and the surface of the water in front of the bridge was as bright as day.
The USS Sailfish was still too far away to be recognized, but the light was intense, even from this distance and the admiral said,“better ease her off, Mike. They’ll pick us up, too if they happen to look this way.”
“All ahead one-third!”
“All ahead one-third, sir!”
The order was no more than out of Mike’s mouth when more popping could be heard. Only this popping was not all flares. Someone was now firing down into the lake and they were doing a lot of it. The sounds became more distinct as the submarine closed the bridge, until the captain ordered all stop and washed out the decks. The admiral and the captain stood side by side straining into the glare on the other side of the bridge. Despite their earlier disagreements they were both sailors and both knew how to do their jobs. Each
harbored his own hopes and uttered his own prayers for the man on the other side of that firestorm. After all, he was a comrade. An American in harm’s way and though they disagreed on getting and being here, now that they were here, they were in total agreement to stay until the last second, despite the consequences.
The fire from the bridge was increasing by the second and they were close enough now to hear the deafening roar. They were also close enough to see its focus. A lot of tracer rounds were being used, probably every tenth round was a tracer. They couldn’t see exactly what it was aimed at, but it was being directed toward the general area of the center span and directly south. The direction of fire was moving, too. Each second it came closer to the bridge and they knew the fire was tracing the path of a fast-moving boat.
A fireball lit up the sky and made the remaining flares wane by its intensity. The firing stopped as if a switch had been turned off, but the flares continued and the search lights panned the water below and to the
south of the bridge.
“He’s bought it, admiral. He had a good run, but they had too much fire power.”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll take her back out and down before they notice us.”
“Hold your position, Mike.”
“But, sir. He’s gone. It won’t do any good for us to get caught here, too.”
“I’ve been in this situation before, Mike. A long time ago. I keep telling you that you don’t know this man like I do. We wait and listen.”
The captain said no more, but stood by the admiral hoping the people on the bridge wouldn’t turn their attention to the north before the flares burned completely out.
There was vehicular traffic on the bridge now. A lot of it and it was making some noise of its own. Good,
Duleg thought. The more noise they make the less likely they are to notice us.
A soft purr became apparent now from the bridge. No, not from the bridge. From this side of the bridge. The captain strained his eyes as the admiral pointed off in the distance. Against the full moon he could just
make out a slender wake. Not from a large boat, but a wake just the same. It wasn’t moving fast, but it was moving.
A few minutes later a small dinghy appeared in the distance. It came steadily closer and veered sharply toward the submarine. At first the captain thought they were caught, but then he realized it wasn’t likely that this small boat was a patrol boat. In a few more minutes it was quite clear that only two men occupied the
boat.
The captain hit the intercom, yelling, “Boat crew to the foredeck on the double!”
When the dinghy clanged against the side of the submarine the captain saw a man quickly climb out, dragging another man behind him with the boat crew helping. The admiral had hurried down to the deck to get a better look.
The crew cut the dinghy loose and Duleg motioned them to the bridge hatch door. The captain stood above them on the bridge watching in amazement. How did this guy pull this one off? he wondered. No one could
have survived that firestorm.
He noticed the “spook” motion the admiral and the others on ahead as he continued to drag the other man toward the door. A staccato sound greeted the captain’s ears now and he looked up in horror to see a helicopter beginning a strafing run on the submarine. He glanced down at the deck and saw the “spook” spin the other man around toward the hatch door and step in between him and the oncoming helicopter.
The captain yelled, “Lookouts below!” As he ducked behind the bridge bulkhead and listened to the rattling of the bullets along the deck and up the bulkhead.
As soon as the sound stopped he jumped up and looked over the bulkhead to see the “spook” on the deck by the door. The captain slid down the bridge ladder to the deck and as he reached the prone and injured man, the crew came back out the door and helped to drag him in.
Once he saw them all inside the bridge door the captain yelled, “Secure all hatches! Dive! Dive! Dive!” Before the last words were out of his mouth the diving alarm sounded in earnest and he heard the clanging of the bridge hatch above.
As he slid down the hatch into the conning tower he saw two members of the boat crew standing over a disheveled man, crumpled up on the floor, with his hands tied and a gag in his mouth. Another man was also on the floor and one of the crew was helping him to a sitting position. There was blood all over his back and down his left forearm.
“Take that wounded man to the infirmary and take the other man to the brig,” Duleg ordered and the bleeding man nodded his approval.
As the bound man was dragged to his feet the “spook” said to the men, “Feed him. He’s been three days without food.”
The men looked at the captain and he nodded his assent.
As soon as the captain had the boat under the water and trimmed with the proper headings ordered, he followed the admiral to the infirmary.
The “spook” was sitting up on an examining table and a pharmacist’s mate was attending to the wound on his bare back. The wound through the left forearm looked nasty, but a bandage was being held in place by
the “spook” as the pharmacist’s mate worked on his back.
“Back’s pretty chewed up, sir,” the Pharmacist mate said to the man.
“Ain’t the first time. Do what you can, but hurry it up. I still got work to do.” Turning then to Hutchins he asked, “What’s your status, sir? What’s the news?”
“War alert. We’re ready to move to our pre-set position after I’m dropped off at Norfolk.”
The “spook” got a concerned look on his face and said, “gone that far has it? I was afraid I was running out of time.”
Pulling out the news clipping from his front shirt pocket as it lay beside his left arm he said, “Anyone here read Spanish, sir? I think this is something to do with a bombing in Bogota, but I can’t tell for sure.”
The admiral took the damp and faded clipping and said, “looks like it. Mike, get Swenson in here. He speaks and reads fluent Spanish. He’s an amazing Swede.”
“Admiral do you have the ability to give me access to a radio/telephone?”
“Yes, of course, but not from this depth. We’ll have to come up to get our antenna out. I’d prefer to wait on that a while. This area is hot and the sun is coming up now.”
“We can’t wait too long, admiral. If you are on war alert then it’s almost too late now. I think this thing can still be stopped, but to do that I have information that needs to be passed on immediately. I’ll be as quick about it as I can.”
Swenson came in now and the admiral handed him the clipping, asking, “What’s this about, Seaman
Swenson?”
Swenson took the clipping and scanned the article saying, “Old news, sir. It’s an article describing the bombing in Bogota and the death of the delegates. There’s a list of delegates killed, both American and
Colombian. It goes on to say that the Colombian government suspects the cartel was responsible for the bombing, but that the United States isn’t so sure it wasn’t the Colombian government’s doing.”
The captain looked at the “spook” who had a faraway look in his eyes and finally he said, “you want him to read it verbatim?”
“No, sir. Thank you. I thought that’s what it was, but I had to be sure. It was the cartel. No doubt about it. Our friend in the brig told me he ordered it. Knowing that for sure now, it might be possible to take some heat off this situation with Colombia.”
“There’s more isn’t there?” Duleg stated more than asked and continued, “that list of names mean something to you?”
“One was a friend. An old friend. A good friend.”
Duleg now said, “and that man in the brig ordered him killed along with the others. Why did you save him out there? I saw you shield him from the attack. You took two hits for him. Why? He wasn’t worth saving.”
“Every man is worth saving, captain. This man, because he’s needed alive. He’s the key to averting a war. That makes him worth saving, but even without that, he was worth saving. God judges men, not me. I just
execute missions.”
The Pharmacist’s mate pronounced, “Best I can do, sir. I think the arm will be okay if it doesn’t get infected. The bullet went clean through. Not a large caliber and it missed the bone. The back is just a deep
graze. You’ll have quite a scar, but then it will probably not be noticeable in there with all the rest.”
The captain peered around at the man’s back at that and stared.
“Yeah, well it comes with the territory. I can’t seem to get killed like everyone else I’ve ever known. I just get more chewed up and then do it again. What a way to make a living.
“Admiral. I really need that phone right about now.”
The admiral turned to the captain and asked, “What do you think, Mike? Are we far enough out that we can ease up to use the radio/telephone?”
“If we have to, sir, but I’d rather not.”
“We have to, captain. Just like I had to run that gauntlet back there even though I knew it was
there.”
Hutchins now asked, “How did you pull that off? We thought you were a goner for sure. But then I’ve thought that about you before.”
“I smelled the dogs, sir. They had to be there. I’d seen helicopters searching far and wide for hours. The bridge was the last obstacle. It was also the best place to stop me. They knew I was coming and I knew they
were there.
“That fishing boat had a motorized dinghy and I put it overboard thirty minutes out and tied it fast to the boat. Then I set the automatic controls to steer straight for the bridge at full speed. I tossed our friend into the boat and cut it loose. I drifted back and headed to the east.
“By the time the firing started I was well east and quietly puttering along. I couldn’t move too fast or be too far out because of the flares, but they were watching the fishing boat and they were sure they had
me. As a result they concentrated their flares and searchlights on the center of the bridge and I slipped under the bridge east of them.
“It was the helicopter I didn’t figure on. It must have swept north of the bridge to avoid the flares and picked up my wake. Sorry about that, admiral. None of your people were hurt were they?”
“No. Everyone’s okay.”
“Good.”
Turning to the captain, he now said, “did you get a look at that chopper in the moonlight, sir? No markings. It was cartel. They knew I couldn’t be stopped so they intended to kill my prisoner. His usefulness would be limited if he were dead. Since they couldn’t get him back they tried to kill him. That’s why I shielded him. He has to be delivered alive.”
“Who is he?” the captain asked, already reasonably sure.
“A man someone wants, captain. Like they say. I don’t reason why, I just do or die.”
The admiral put in, “Mike get us up so he can use the telephone.”
“Aye, aye sir.”
“Admiral keep a close watch on that man in the brig. He holds the world in his hands right now. As long as he stays alive there’s still a chance to avert this thing. He has the answers to a lot of questions that have yet to be asked.”
“He’s under double guard and I’ll order a suicide watch on him.”
“Good, admiral. Thanks. And thanks for waiting.”
“Any time, ‘spook’. Now follow me to the phone.”
“This way we’ll cover his watch being off. We’ll stay up for an extra ten minutes, too. That will cover him both ways.
“Remember, Mike, he hasn’t been able to synchronize his watch with us for a long time and he’s been beating it around in the bush. Anything could happen.”
“Aye, aye sir.”
“Captain! Radio Room.”
“Captain aye!”
“Got one weak transmission of five seconds and then nothing just as the antenna broke the surface,
sir.”
Duleg looked at Hutchins with a wondering look and Hutchins said, “might be the last of his three bursts. He might have been earlier than we thought. He may try again in this window.”
“Captain! Radio Room.”
“Captain aye.”
"Three bursts of five seconds with five-second intervals on 95.1 FM.”
“Reply!” the captain burst out.
“Done, sir.”
“Very good. Surface! Surface!”
When the boat broke the surface the executive officer spun the wheel on the conning tower hatch and it popped open with a hiss. He immediately slammed it back until it clanged and latched open. Stepping back
immediately as the captain passed him in a rush yelling, “Lookouts to the bridge!”
The lookouts followed closely on the heels of the captain who had already made a full sweep of the moonlit horizon with his binoculars. Once the lookouts were posted the captain turned to the intercom and said,
“admiral. Care to join us?”
The admiral had been waiting patiently for the invitation. Admiral or not, it was still the captain who ran the boat. This captain heeded the admiral’s orders in private, but in the presence of the crew the admiral made sure that the crew knew the captain was running the boat.
“Thank you, captain. Yes,” he said as he sailed up the ladder to the bridge.
“Admiral the bridge looks strange.”
“What exactly do you mean, Mike?”
“No lights at all, sir. Even at 0400 hours there ought to be the occasional car or something. That bridge is eight miles long and the only land connection between the west and east for 150 miles. Stands to reason that
someone would be using it at any given time, but as you can see there isn’t a light on it anywhere. Just the normal navigational warning lights.”
“I hope the ‘spook’ notices that, too,” Hutchins replied and continued, “you’re right, Mike, I don’t like it. Take us in closer.”
“Sir?”
“Closer, Mike.”
“Yes, sir, but we are already well inside the three-mile limit.”
Hutchins smile was visible in the moonlight as he said, “then a few more miles won’t make a bit of difference will it, Mike?”
Duleg keyed the intercom and said, “all ahead standard, steer one-eight-one.”
“Aye, aye captain. All ahead standard, steering one-eight-one.”
“Very good!” he responded and then to Hutchins he said, “as you say admiral, what’s a few more miles between friends.”
“Yes indeed, Mike, yes indeed.”
No more had the boat begun to pick up speed and swing to its new course when the dark bridge came alive with lights. Searchlights seemed to be everywhere. They all seemed to be focused on the lake and not on the bay, but there must have been one every 100 yards on that eight mile bridge. The “spook” was fairly caught.
Lights or not, the silence wasn’t broken except by the gentle swishing of the water along the sleek hull of the USS Sailfish as it glided toward the bridge at a good pace. Then the silence was gone. The roar of a large boat engine could just be heard over the swishing water along the submarine’s hull and then the pop, pop of firing from the bridge. Seconds after the first pop a flare ignited over the lake and then another and another, until the sky was full of them and the surface of the water in front of the bridge was as bright as day.
The USS Sailfish was still too far away to be recognized, but the light was intense, even from this distance and the admiral said,“better ease her off, Mike. They’ll pick us up, too if they happen to look this way.”
“All ahead one-third!”
“All ahead one-third, sir!”
The order was no more than out of Mike’s mouth when more popping could be heard. Only this popping was not all flares. Someone was now firing down into the lake and they were doing a lot of it. The sounds became more distinct as the submarine closed the bridge, until the captain ordered all stop and washed out the decks. The admiral and the captain stood side by side straining into the glare on the other side of the bridge. Despite their earlier disagreements they were both sailors and both knew how to do their jobs. Each
harbored his own hopes and uttered his own prayers for the man on the other side of that firestorm. After all, he was a comrade. An American in harm’s way and though they disagreed on getting and being here, now that they were here, they were in total agreement to stay until the last second, despite the consequences.
The fire from the bridge was increasing by the second and they were close enough now to hear the deafening roar. They were also close enough to see its focus. A lot of tracer rounds were being used, probably every tenth round was a tracer. They couldn’t see exactly what it was aimed at, but it was being directed toward the general area of the center span and directly south. The direction of fire was moving, too. Each second it came closer to the bridge and they knew the fire was tracing the path of a fast-moving boat.
A fireball lit up the sky and made the remaining flares wane by its intensity. The firing stopped as if a switch had been turned off, but the flares continued and the search lights panned the water below and to the
south of the bridge.
“He’s bought it, admiral. He had a good run, but they had too much fire power.”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll take her back out and down before they notice us.”
“Hold your position, Mike.”
“But, sir. He’s gone. It won’t do any good for us to get caught here, too.”
“I’ve been in this situation before, Mike. A long time ago. I keep telling you that you don’t know this man like I do. We wait and listen.”
The captain said no more, but stood by the admiral hoping the people on the bridge wouldn’t turn their attention to the north before the flares burned completely out.
There was vehicular traffic on the bridge now. A lot of it and it was making some noise of its own. Good,
Duleg thought. The more noise they make the less likely they are to notice us.
A soft purr became apparent now from the bridge. No, not from the bridge. From this side of the bridge. The captain strained his eyes as the admiral pointed off in the distance. Against the full moon he could just
make out a slender wake. Not from a large boat, but a wake just the same. It wasn’t moving fast, but it was moving.
A few minutes later a small dinghy appeared in the distance. It came steadily closer and veered sharply toward the submarine. At first the captain thought they were caught, but then he realized it wasn’t likely that this small boat was a patrol boat. In a few more minutes it was quite clear that only two men occupied the
boat.
The captain hit the intercom, yelling, “Boat crew to the foredeck on the double!”
When the dinghy clanged against the side of the submarine the captain saw a man quickly climb out, dragging another man behind him with the boat crew helping. The admiral had hurried down to the deck to get a better look.
The crew cut the dinghy loose and Duleg motioned them to the bridge hatch door. The captain stood above them on the bridge watching in amazement. How did this guy pull this one off? he wondered. No one could
have survived that firestorm.
He noticed the “spook” motion the admiral and the others on ahead as he continued to drag the other man toward the door. A staccato sound greeted the captain’s ears now and he looked up in horror to see a helicopter beginning a strafing run on the submarine. He glanced down at the deck and saw the “spook” spin the other man around toward the hatch door and step in between him and the oncoming helicopter.
The captain yelled, “Lookouts below!” As he ducked behind the bridge bulkhead and listened to the rattling of the bullets along the deck and up the bulkhead.
As soon as the sound stopped he jumped up and looked over the bulkhead to see the “spook” on the deck by the door. The captain slid down the bridge ladder to the deck and as he reached the prone and injured man, the crew came back out the door and helped to drag him in.
Once he saw them all inside the bridge door the captain yelled, “Secure all hatches! Dive! Dive! Dive!” Before the last words were out of his mouth the diving alarm sounded in earnest and he heard the clanging of the bridge hatch above.
As he slid down the hatch into the conning tower he saw two members of the boat crew standing over a disheveled man, crumpled up on the floor, with his hands tied and a gag in his mouth. Another man was also on the floor and one of the crew was helping him to a sitting position. There was blood all over his back and down his left forearm.
“Take that wounded man to the infirmary and take the other man to the brig,” Duleg ordered and the bleeding man nodded his approval.
As the bound man was dragged to his feet the “spook” said to the men, “Feed him. He’s been three days without food.”
The men looked at the captain and he nodded his assent.
As soon as the captain had the boat under the water and trimmed with the proper headings ordered, he followed the admiral to the infirmary.
The “spook” was sitting up on an examining table and a pharmacist’s mate was attending to the wound on his bare back. The wound through the left forearm looked nasty, but a bandage was being held in place by
the “spook” as the pharmacist’s mate worked on his back.
“Back’s pretty chewed up, sir,” the Pharmacist mate said to the man.
“Ain’t the first time. Do what you can, but hurry it up. I still got work to do.” Turning then to Hutchins he asked, “What’s your status, sir? What’s the news?”
“War alert. We’re ready to move to our pre-set position after I’m dropped off at Norfolk.”
The “spook” got a concerned look on his face and said, “gone that far has it? I was afraid I was running out of time.”
Pulling out the news clipping from his front shirt pocket as it lay beside his left arm he said, “Anyone here read Spanish, sir? I think this is something to do with a bombing in Bogota, but I can’t tell for sure.”
The admiral took the damp and faded clipping and said, “looks like it. Mike, get Swenson in here. He speaks and reads fluent Spanish. He’s an amazing Swede.”
“Admiral do you have the ability to give me access to a radio/telephone?”
“Yes, of course, but not from this depth. We’ll have to come up to get our antenna out. I’d prefer to wait on that a while. This area is hot and the sun is coming up now.”
“We can’t wait too long, admiral. If you are on war alert then it’s almost too late now. I think this thing can still be stopped, but to do that I have information that needs to be passed on immediately. I’ll be as quick about it as I can.”
Swenson came in now and the admiral handed him the clipping, asking, “What’s this about, Seaman
Swenson?”
Swenson took the clipping and scanned the article saying, “Old news, sir. It’s an article describing the bombing in Bogota and the death of the delegates. There’s a list of delegates killed, both American and
Colombian. It goes on to say that the Colombian government suspects the cartel was responsible for the bombing, but that the United States isn’t so sure it wasn’t the Colombian government’s doing.”
The captain looked at the “spook” who had a faraway look in his eyes and finally he said, “you want him to read it verbatim?”
“No, sir. Thank you. I thought that’s what it was, but I had to be sure. It was the cartel. No doubt about it. Our friend in the brig told me he ordered it. Knowing that for sure now, it might be possible to take some heat off this situation with Colombia.”
“There’s more isn’t there?” Duleg stated more than asked and continued, “that list of names mean something to you?”
“One was a friend. An old friend. A good friend.”
Duleg now said, “and that man in the brig ordered him killed along with the others. Why did you save him out there? I saw you shield him from the attack. You took two hits for him. Why? He wasn’t worth saving.”
“Every man is worth saving, captain. This man, because he’s needed alive. He’s the key to averting a war. That makes him worth saving, but even without that, he was worth saving. God judges men, not me. I just
execute missions.”
The Pharmacist’s mate pronounced, “Best I can do, sir. I think the arm will be okay if it doesn’t get infected. The bullet went clean through. Not a large caliber and it missed the bone. The back is just a deep
graze. You’ll have quite a scar, but then it will probably not be noticeable in there with all the rest.”
The captain peered around at the man’s back at that and stared.
“Yeah, well it comes with the territory. I can’t seem to get killed like everyone else I’ve ever known. I just get more chewed up and then do it again. What a way to make a living.
“Admiral. I really need that phone right about now.”
The admiral turned to the captain and asked, “What do you think, Mike? Are we far enough out that we can ease up to use the radio/telephone?”
“If we have to, sir, but I’d rather not.”
“We have to, captain. Just like I had to run that gauntlet back there even though I knew it was
there.”
Hutchins now asked, “How did you pull that off? We thought you were a goner for sure. But then I’ve thought that about you before.”
“I smelled the dogs, sir. They had to be there. I’d seen helicopters searching far and wide for hours. The bridge was the last obstacle. It was also the best place to stop me. They knew I was coming and I knew they
were there.
“That fishing boat had a motorized dinghy and I put it overboard thirty minutes out and tied it fast to the boat. Then I set the automatic controls to steer straight for the bridge at full speed. I tossed our friend into the boat and cut it loose. I drifted back and headed to the east.
“By the time the firing started I was well east and quietly puttering along. I couldn’t move too fast or be too far out because of the flares, but they were watching the fishing boat and they were sure they had
me. As a result they concentrated their flares and searchlights on the center of the bridge and I slipped under the bridge east of them.
“It was the helicopter I didn’t figure on. It must have swept north of the bridge to avoid the flares and picked up my wake. Sorry about that, admiral. None of your people were hurt were they?”
“No. Everyone’s okay.”
“Good.”
Turning to the captain, he now said, “did you get a look at that chopper in the moonlight, sir? No markings. It was cartel. They knew I couldn’t be stopped so they intended to kill my prisoner. His usefulness would be limited if he were dead. Since they couldn’t get him back they tried to kill him. That’s why I shielded him. He has to be delivered alive.”
“Who is he?” the captain asked, already reasonably sure.
“A man someone wants, captain. Like they say. I don’t reason why, I just do or die.”
The admiral put in, “Mike get us up so he can use the telephone.”
“Aye, aye sir.”
“Admiral keep a close watch on that man in the brig. He holds the world in his hands right now. As long as he stays alive there’s still a chance to avert this thing. He has the answers to a lot of questions that have yet to be asked.”
“He’s under double guard and I’ll order a suicide watch on him.”
“Good, admiral. Thanks. And thanks for waiting.”
“Any time, ‘spook’. Now follow me to the phone.”
