Chapter 41

Jeremy shook himself and carefully watched the man on the deck of the ship, and slipped into the water. It was fifty yards to the boat, and he swam as quietly as was possible in the pouring rain. He thanked god for the rain as he came alongside the trawler. He slowly climbed the ladder and onto the deck. Moving aft, the man in the bridge was leaning back in his chair and smoking.

Jeremy moved aft, crawling along the deck. He saw where the man was lounging and there was an assault rifle leaning against the railing some five feet away. Far enough, Jeremy thought, he moved steadily toward the man looking around for something, anything, to incapacitate the man. He pulled out his ceramic folding knife and held it in a reverse grip. It clicked into place almost silently. The boat rocked and the rifle fell to the deck with a crash. The man looked over to see what had happened and jumped when he saw Jeremy.

Jeremy lunged, grabbing the man by the wrist, and walking the blade of his knife up the man’s arm in a crisscross pattern. His uncle’s training made it almost effortless as the blade severed skin and muscle, slicing through veins and arteries until without thought, the blade sliced across the man’s neck.

The man looked at him in terror as if some great white ghost had walked on deck and rendered him useless. He gesticulated with his one functional hand and then collapsed in a heap on the deck. Jeremy picked up the assault rifle, ejecting the magazine and checking the clip. It was full. He then checked the chamber, and a bullet bounced on the deck when he racked the slide. He didn’t look at the man. He went below decks to see what was there.

Quickly he checked each room to see if anyone was inside. Each room was empty. In one of the rooms he found several crates of munitions. There was a door with a heavy padlock on it, which he didn’t bother with. He opened one of the crates, and it was stacked with magazines. He pushed it aside to the next crate, forcing the lid.

Grenades. He took two, and put them on his belt. The next crate contained flash bangs. Interesting, he thought. He took three of those and then opened the next crate. Smoke grenades. He grabbed two of those and ran back onto the deck.

With the assault rifle in one hand he leapt into the water. He swam as best as he could though the water which was only about 7 feet deep at the deepest, and soon he waded ashore. He took the first grenade and pulled the pin. He threw it as hard as he could, along side the boat. He ran to some cover, away from the trail, and hunkered down. The explosion was more than he was expecting, and a large cloud of smoke rose from the water, near where the boat lay at anchor.

The four men came running out of the forest, guns ready. Jeremy tossed a flash bang at them. It exploded mere feet from them. They turned and sprayed the area where he was hiding with bullets, inaccurately due to their confusion from the nearby explosion.

Jeremy picked his target. He steadied his breathing, just like he had practiced, one ... two ... three ... one of the men shuddered and collapsed. One ... two ... three ... a second one looked stupidly at the other two men as he touched the hole in his chest and fell into a heap.

Jeremy crawled quickly away as the two remaining men hurled grenades close enough to where he had been laying to really frighten him. When he was in brush high enough, he ran ... and then ducked down behind some fallen palm trees. He could make out the two men moving just beyond the trees. He held steady waiting for them to do something, anything.

One of the men got back into the boat. The other moved toward where Jeremy was hiding, apparently following his footprints. Jeremy moved cautiously toward camp, making some good distance between himself and his hunter.

Jeremy reached the camp and walked into the cave. He then walked backwards in his footprints to hard rock and climbed up above the cave and then got down between two large outcrops and waited. The other man was cautious, and he picked his way carefully, not in a hurry. Jeremy waited. The man pulled a grenade from his belt and yanked the pin, tossing it into the cave. He stepped away and waited. The explosion shook the area, and Jeremy took careful aim and fired. The man’s head exploded.

Jeremy ran back toward the beach. As he got close, he kept low. He saw the man on deck; he had only just reached the main deck and was headed up to the helm. Jeremy waited; he heard the man scream and then what could only be described as cursing though what the curses were was still a mystery.

He pulled the last grenade from his waist and removed the pin, hurling it at the small boat that was tied alongside the larger. He ducked back down into the brush ... and waited. The explosion erupted in a gout of water and the man fell over.

He then stood and ran to the railing to look over, and Jeremy breathed again, bringing the sights onto the man and squeezed. The man crumpled over the side. Jeremy pulled his canoe from the brush near the lagoon and put it in the water. He paddled quickly to the corpse of the man.

The sharks would be arriving shortly, so he quickly pulled the corpse onto the canoe. It was a struggle but because of the canoe’s low sides, only a little bit of water sloshed into the bottom of the boat. He searched the man; he had two handguns, which Jeremy discarded into the bottom of the boat, and a key ring with a several keys on it. There was also a big wad of cash wrapped in a rubber band.

Jeremy jettisoned the body over the side of the canoe, feeling sure that he had picked it clean. He tied his canoe to the rope off the side of the boat, and climbed the ladder onto the deck. He noticed, once on board, that the ship was listing to port and coming down by the aft. He had to hurry.

Jeremy ran down the ladder to the below decks, and went to the door that he had found locked. He tried the keys until one fit, pulling open the heavy door. The lights went out, and a few seconds later the backup emergency lights came on, bathing the decks in an eerie red glow. There in the red light he could see six skinny young girls, perhaps sixteen or so.

They were chained to the wall, and he looked at the first in the eye and smiled, then unlocked the manacles and shackles. He took her by the arm and led her onto the deck, which was now tilted at a very odd angle.

“English?” he said to her, and she shook her head. He pointed at her rag-covered chest “you and the others” and this time he pointed down at the deck “go safe” and he pointed to the island. She looked at him like he had lost his damn mind, but slowly nodded. He gave her the keys and she ran below decks and started jabbering at the other girls, who seemed excited and jabbered back.

She got them all up above decks and then he pointed to three and pointed to the canoe. They got the idea, climbed down the ladder, and settled into the canoe. He took the first girl by the shoulder. “You stay here. I go and come back.” He gesticulated and repeated himself a few times before the girl nodded in some semblance of understanding.

He paddled quickly to the shore and let the three girls off, and then went back for the others. They quickly climbed down the ladder and Jeremy was halfway to shore when the boat rolled up on its side with a loud and reverberating moan. All six girls were now safely ashore and he led them to the camp and told them to wait.

Jeremy turned down the path and made his way toward the defunct Japanese base. He walked into the clearing and yelled, “Naomi, Nicole, it’s safe now, come on back. Come on girls, Tiffany, Pricilla, Anabell, all clear.”