CAG said.
“If we get there early, there will be a wait. What time is it?”
“Almost sixteen hundred, sir,” one of the officers at the table said.
The CAG shook his head. “I can’t send you out in the dark, even in a good open window. The weather is too unpredictable. It could close in suddenly and you’d be in danger of not being able to find the atoll or get back to the ship. It’ll have to be within an hour, or in the morning first light.”
“Agreed,” Murdock said. “How does the weather look in the next hour?”
The weather officer frowned. “We’re about in the middle of a big cell that won’t be pushed past us for another two hours.”
“Then it’s daylight and we hope for better weather orwe find a valley we can wade over there in. How fast are we going now?”
The captain looked at another officer. “Sir, last reading was thirteen knots. The seas are getting large out there.”
“So, by dawn we should be nearly on top of the atoll,” Murdock said. “That might change our plans. Be damn nice to know if the freighter had stopped there and then moved on. It should come to the atoll two or three hours before we get there. A furious lot can happen in three hours with these hijackers.”
On board the
Willowwind
Keanae knew too late that he should have done it right then. Jomo Shigahara himself had come down to the galley to bitch about the quality of the food. He was less than fifteen feet from where Keanae hid behind the cornflakes and cases of canned goods in the storage locker. The door was open. It would have been simple to nail the bastard with two shots from his .45. Now it would be harder.
Since that time the heavy weather had hit and the freighter was struggling to make ten knots. The chief mate had been let out of his cabin arrest and willingly complied with Shigahara’s orders to keep the ship from going down, and to get it back on the course that had been set. Chief Mate Barry Stillman had told Wally the second cook that the ship was heading for Bikar Atoll.
“Nice little spot. Has water and lots of trees. Small community there, with lots of fishermen. They even have a clinic and a real doctor. That’s where you should jump ship. How are you at swimming?”
Keanae grinned. “Not too fucking good with this shot-up shoulder, but I could make it a half mile or so.”
“If we stop there, and I bet you a thousand we will, we’ll anchor on the lee of the atoll and go in by that whale boat on the aft deck. Motor and everything. We won’t be more than two hundred yards offshore.”
“Maybe it’ll all be over before then,” Keanae said. “Where does the captain take his dinner?”
“In his cabin …” Wally stopped. “You thinking of doing something drastic?”
“Yep, should have done it before. Without the head of this snake, the whole damn thing dies.”
“He always carries that little automatic. A thirty-eight I think it is, or a nine-millimeter. Say he has seventeen rounds. Your forty-five only has eight, right?”
“Seven in the magazine and one in the chamber. I won’t need that many. Who takes the man’s food up to him?”
Wally laughed. “Hell, I think that you’re going to do it.”
“Wally, tell me exactly how the food gets there. Do you knock and say dinner? Or just knock and wait for him to open the hatch? Is there any set procedure he’ll be looking for? I’ll have a cap on and pulled down when the hatch opens.”
“Nothing special. I’ve taken it up a half dozen times. Just knock on the hatch and when he yells, you yell, ‘Dinner, Captain,’ and he should open up.”
“How long?”
“His tray will be ready in about twenty minutes. He likes to eat promptly at eighteen hundred.”
“You say eighteen hundred? You were Navy?”
“Twenty-one years and accepting my retirement checks.”
“I’ll be ready.”
Keanae went behind the stores and put on different clothes. He wore khaki shorts, as most of the men did, and a blue shirt
“If we get there early, there will be a wait. What time is it?”
“Almost sixteen hundred, sir,” one of the officers at the table said.
The CAG shook his head. “I can’t send you out in the dark, even in a good open window. The weather is too unpredictable. It could close in suddenly and you’d be in danger of not being able to find the atoll or get back to the ship. It’ll have to be within an hour, or in the morning first light.”
“Agreed,” Murdock said. “How does the weather look in the next hour?”
The weather officer frowned. “We’re about in the middle of a big cell that won’t be pushed past us for another two hours.”
“Then it’s daylight and we hope for better weather orwe find a valley we can wade over there in. How fast are we going now?”
The captain looked at another officer. “Sir, last reading was thirteen knots. The seas are getting large out there.”
“So, by dawn we should be nearly on top of the atoll,” Murdock said. “That might change our plans. Be damn nice to know if the freighter had stopped there and then moved on. It should come to the atoll two or three hours before we get there. A furious lot can happen in three hours with these hijackers.”
On board the
Willowwind
Keanae knew too late that he should have done it right then. Jomo Shigahara himself had come down to the galley to bitch about the quality of the food. He was less than fifteen feet from where Keanae hid behind the cornflakes and cases of canned goods in the storage locker. The door was open. It would have been simple to nail the bastard with two shots from his .45. Now it would be harder.
Since that time the heavy weather had hit and the freighter was struggling to make ten knots. The chief mate had been let out of his cabin arrest and willingly complied with Shigahara’s orders to keep the ship from going down, and to get it back on the course that had been set. Chief Mate Barry Stillman had told Wally the second cook that the ship was heading for Bikar Atoll.
“Nice little spot. Has water and lots of trees. Small community there, with lots of fishermen. They even have a clinic and a real doctor. That’s where you should jump ship. How are you at swimming?”
Keanae grinned. “Not too fucking good with this shot-up shoulder, but I could make it a half mile or so.”
“If we stop there, and I bet you a thousand we will, we’ll anchor on the lee of the atoll and go in by that whale boat on the aft deck. Motor and everything. We won’t be more than two hundred yards offshore.”
“Maybe it’ll all be over before then,” Keanae said. “Where does the captain take his dinner?”
“In his cabin …” Wally stopped. “You thinking of doing something drastic?”
“Yep, should have done it before. Without the head of this snake, the whole damn thing dies.”
“He always carries that little automatic. A thirty-eight I think it is, or a nine-millimeter. Say he has seventeen rounds. Your forty-five only has eight, right?”
“Seven in the magazine and one in the chamber. I won’t need that many. Who takes the man’s food up to him?”
Wally laughed. “Hell, I think that you’re going to do it.”
“Wally, tell me exactly how the food gets there. Do you knock and say dinner? Or just knock and wait for him to open the hatch? Is there any set procedure he’ll be looking for? I’ll have a cap on and pulled down when the hatch opens.”
“Nothing special. I’ve taken it up a half dozen times. Just knock on the hatch and when he yells, you yell, ‘Dinner, Captain,’ and he should open up.”
“How long?”
“His tray will be ready in about twenty minutes. He likes to eat promptly at eighteen hundred.”
“You say eighteen hundred? You were Navy?”
“Twenty-one years and accepting my retirement checks.”
“I’ll be ready.”
Keanae went behind the stores and put on different clothes. He wore khaki shorts, as most of the men did, and a blue shirt
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