attack, one important question remained: what if, after hitting them with the stink bomb, the psy-ops recording, the flash grenades and Twitch’s secret weapon, the pirates wanted to give up?
The thought had crossed Nolan’s mind more than once during the day. Back in Indonesia, Whiskey had trapped dozens of Zeek’s men on a sandbar and mowed them down with a fusillade of .50-caliber machine gun fire. It was distasteful, but in the end, necessary. Zeek’s men were murderers, rapists, and sadists. The Muy Capaz were no different. Besides, eliminating them was what Whiskey was being paid to do.
So before they took off, Nolan had told the team: “Remember what Mr. Jobo said. ‘Gloves off.’ Those are his words. Those are our specs. So, that’s what we gotta do.”
* * *
THE DAY HAD passed in surreal fashion for the pirates on Craggy Two Cay.
The four brigands who’d gone out on a “flying raid” two nights before had not returned. And while it was not too unusual for gang members to simply give up the pirate life and vanish, it was odd that four would jump ship together. What’s more, no one had been able to get in touch with Colonel Cat. Had his plane crashed two nights ago? The pirates had heard nothing on their shortwave radios about any aircraft crashes on the islands. Had their colleagues been caught by the authorities, then? No one knew—and that was making everyone feel uneasy.
On the other hand, the deal that Doggie and Jacks had made the night before with the men from Africa had the potential to change Muy Capaz’s financial situation forever. If they could line up enough drug and weapons dealers and start a pipeline flowing, they would make so much money, they could spend scads of it in Badtown for weeks at a time and still have plenty left over.
So, it had been a day of yin and yang. Still, the pirates had spent it as they usually did: sleeping, gambling, fighting with each other, drinking and doing drugs. The only defensive action Black took was to post a half dozen men down on the east beach of the cay, near the mouth of the bight that split the island in two, something he did in times of heightened security at the camp.
The job of these six men was simple. They were to report anything unusual coming their way from the ocean side, the likeliest route for any attack on the hidden camp.
And something odd did arrive around midnight.
Not from the sea, but from the air.
* * *
ONE MOMENT, THE six pirates on the beach were passing a bottle of rum and only casually checking the horizon.
The next moment, hellfire fell upon them.
The noise came first—and it was incredibly loud. People screaming, animalistic wails of agony, people shouting over radio static. It was suddenly all around them. Then the night lit up with incredibly bright explosions, dozens filling the sky.
Then came the helicopters. The pirates weren’t sure of the number, but it sounded like hundreds of them. Two streaked close past them; they looked dark and menacing, loaded down with bombs and guns. But there was another thing: The emblems on their fuselages were unmistakable: the red-white-and-blue insignia, with the star in the middle?
These were Americans. U.S. military gunships sent here to attack them. Between all the noise and the flashes of light, it was as if the 82nd Airborne itself was suddenly descending on Craggy Two Cay.
The six pirates on the beach were instantly terrified. They’d never run into anything like this before.
They had no desire to take on the helicopters. None of them even shot back. Instead, they dropped their weapons and ran into the jungle, heading at top speed back to their encampment.
* * *
NOLAN’S WAS THE first copter to arrive over the hidden pirate base. Flying very low, he slowed down just enough for Gunner to light the stinkpot’s fuse and kick the malodorous weapon out the copter door; then they streaked away. The bomb landed with a splat right in the
The thought had crossed Nolan’s mind more than once during the day. Back in Indonesia, Whiskey had trapped dozens of Zeek’s men on a sandbar and mowed them down with a fusillade of .50-caliber machine gun fire. It was distasteful, but in the end, necessary. Zeek’s men were murderers, rapists, and sadists. The Muy Capaz were no different. Besides, eliminating them was what Whiskey was being paid to do.
So before they took off, Nolan had told the team: “Remember what Mr. Jobo said. ‘Gloves off.’ Those are his words. Those are our specs. So, that’s what we gotta do.”
* * *
THE DAY HAD passed in surreal fashion for the pirates on Craggy Two Cay.
The four brigands who’d gone out on a “flying raid” two nights before had not returned. And while it was not too unusual for gang members to simply give up the pirate life and vanish, it was odd that four would jump ship together. What’s more, no one had been able to get in touch with Colonel Cat. Had his plane crashed two nights ago? The pirates had heard nothing on their shortwave radios about any aircraft crashes on the islands. Had their colleagues been caught by the authorities, then? No one knew—and that was making everyone feel uneasy.
On the other hand, the deal that Doggie and Jacks had made the night before with the men from Africa had the potential to change Muy Capaz’s financial situation forever. If they could line up enough drug and weapons dealers and start a pipeline flowing, they would make so much money, they could spend scads of it in Badtown for weeks at a time and still have plenty left over.
So, it had been a day of yin and yang. Still, the pirates had spent it as they usually did: sleeping, gambling, fighting with each other, drinking and doing drugs. The only defensive action Black took was to post a half dozen men down on the east beach of the cay, near the mouth of the bight that split the island in two, something he did in times of heightened security at the camp.
The job of these six men was simple. They were to report anything unusual coming their way from the ocean side, the likeliest route for any attack on the hidden camp.
And something odd did arrive around midnight.
Not from the sea, but from the air.
* * *
ONE MOMENT, THE six pirates on the beach were passing a bottle of rum and only casually checking the horizon.
The next moment, hellfire fell upon them.
The noise came first—and it was incredibly loud. People screaming, animalistic wails of agony, people shouting over radio static. It was suddenly all around them. Then the night lit up with incredibly bright explosions, dozens filling the sky.
Then came the helicopters. The pirates weren’t sure of the number, but it sounded like hundreds of them. Two streaked close past them; they looked dark and menacing, loaded down with bombs and guns. But there was another thing: The emblems on their fuselages were unmistakable: the red-white-and-blue insignia, with the star in the middle?
These were Americans. U.S. military gunships sent here to attack them. Between all the noise and the flashes of light, it was as if the 82nd Airborne itself was suddenly descending on Craggy Two Cay.
The six pirates on the beach were instantly terrified. They’d never run into anything like this before.
They had no desire to take on the helicopters. None of them even shot back. Instead, they dropped their weapons and ran into the jungle, heading at top speed back to their encampment.
* * *
NOLAN’S WAS THE first copter to arrive over the hidden pirate base. Flying very low, he slowed down just enough for Gunner to light the stinkpot’s fuse and kick the malodorous weapon out the copter door; then they streaked away. The bomb landed with a splat right in the
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