Chapter 4

Caribbean on the C-2, Morning

Maria spent the night on deck with Karen, KT, and Paul during their shifts. She dosed but did not really sleep. She did seem in better condition when Paul went back on watch at 0800 that morning. She seemed to be in almost a Zen state for about 10 minutes until KT's words pulled her back.

"Dad something's coming fast. It looks like three surface craft coming out of the southwest. That damn plane's back too."

"When do they reach us?"

"My guess is about 20 minutes for the boats, and any second for the plane. We're about 30 minutes from Cuban waters."

"Karen, start an SOS on emergency channels. Then bring up some ammo for the guns. We're gonna be in for a long afternoon. Maria, can you help Karen and KT?"

"Right away, Captain."

About that time, Paul saw that same small plane coming at them again. It over flew the C-2 and headed for the three approaching craft. It flew around them several times and flew off again.

Paul brought the engines on line and waited an agonizing few minuets before he engaged the prop. He feathered the engines and increased his RPM as quickly as he dared with the cold power plants. The combination of the sails and engines increased their speed and decreased the closing rate of the three boats.

The plane came at the C-2 from the starboard side. The plane passed C-2's stern. Karen, from below, heard distant gunshots and something hitting the top deck. The C-2 suddenly slowed as the diesels dropped to idle, and the sound of the sails losing wind could be heard.

"What happened?" asked Maria.

"Oh my God!" screamed Karen as she pushed past Maria and ran up the ladder. When she reached the deck, she looked to the stern, but could not see her husband. A life line from the cockpit draped tautly over the stern.

She rushed to the cockpit and looked into the wake of the boat. A limp Paul was being pulled by the automatic life pack that was worn when a single person was on deck. As she reached for the line, she slipped on a small mount of blood. She was desperately trying to pull Paul in when she felt Maria's hands helping pull Paul aboard.

The women carried Paul below deck to the master stateroom. Maria said, "I have a nursing background. I will take care of your husband. You get us to safety."

Karen shook herself and turned to her worried daughter. "I'll get us moving. You get the weapons on deck." She grabbed the M16 out of KT's hands and rushed to the cockpit.

The plane decided to make another sweep as Karen reached deck. She did not hesitate. She flipped off the safety and tracked the incoming plane. She led the plane and began firing. She went through the entire clip before she heard the plane's engine sputter and saw a machine gun fall out of the plane's window.

Before she did anything else, she engaged the C-2s automatic systems for maximum speed and went below to check on Paul. When she entered the cabin, she noticed that Maria had a pressure bandage on his head, and was cutting off his safety equipment.

Blood was seeping out of his right shoulder but not as badly as it had been. Maria noticed Karen in the hatch way. "He was lucky. He was shot in the head and shoulder, but both were glancing hits. When he wakes, he is going to have a headache like he's never had before, but he will wake up. He will need stitches for the shoulder, but it could have been much worse. I would like to get him to a hospital, however, to confirm that."

KT yelled from topside, "Mom, I'm gonna need help!"

Pirate Island, Greece Same Time

Aleia slipped out of the galley into the communication room and pushed on the man setting before the computer / communication console. "Sam, can I get you anything to drink or eat? You haven't been out of your chair for hours."

"What time is it, Aleia? I am getting a little hungry."

"It's 9 in the evening Sam. Shea and I are worried about you. We've tried to talk to you and you don't even notice we are here. That could damage our fragile egos and make us hard to get along with."

"God, I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. It's just when I get something working correctly, I like to continue my work, and everything around me fades out. It used to drive my wife crazy."

"I was just teasing you. We're supposed to keep you healthy so you can work. Jeff warned me before he left that you might get lost in your work. Apparently he was correct."

"Jeff's a smart guy. It's no wonder he was so successful." Just then, Sam's stomach growled. Both started laughing. "I guess I really could use something to eat."

Suddenly Aleia quit laughing and her eyes became unfocused. Suddenly she came back to herself with a frown. "Sam, our watcher in Cuba is in danger."

Shea rushed into the cabin. "We need to get in touch with the Cuban Self Defense force, and let them know where Maria is."

"How do I do that?"

"Are you able to make telephone calls yet?" asked Shea.

"Yeah, that's what I just finished. Who do I call?"

"Call the Presidential palace at xxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Use the password Gringo Amigo Uno Dos Uno Dos. Do you know Spanish?"

"No. I could talk to them in Yiddish."

"Hand the headset to me when you get them."

Five minutes later an irate Cuban officer was shouting in English, "Who are you and how did you get this password?"

Sam put the conversation on speaker and Shea replied, "We are in touch with Maria Castro through a special communication system that you cannot monitor. She has requested aid. She was rescued by an American family, but her kidnappers are attempting to recapture her and kill her rescuers.

"They are currently approaching Cuban waters, but they are afraid that the three boats that are chasing them will reach them first. Can you help?"

"Why should I believe you?"

"Don't believe me. Check it out. Send some kind of craft out to see. If you let the president's niece get kidnapped or killed by not acting, I would hate to be in your place."

After a pause, another voice came on the speaker. "I do not know who you are, but if you are sending us on a false mission, we will find you."

Sam resisted the urge to boast, "Want to bet?" He replied, "Look, How would we know Maria's password if she didn't give it to us? Please, don't screw around here! It's a matter of life and death."

"I will send out a MIG. I could get in trouble if you have lied to me."

Since the conversation was still in English, Sam replied, "How can you get in trouble for doing your job? That just doesn't make sense."

"I used a presidential alert signal to scramble the jet. It can only be used if the president's family is in danger."

"You have trusted us so far," Shea said. "Do you want us to stay on the line? I am still in contact with Maria."

"Yes." The officer signaled his assistant to start a phone trace.

Sam chuckled. "I see you started a trace. Let me save you some time. We are hacking a NATO land line out of Greece. You will not be able to find our exact location."

Caribbean on the C2, same time.

Karen ran to the top of the ladder just as a line of a 50 caliber machinegun slugs tore a hole in a sail over her head. "Holy shit! They're not half stepping this time. KT, hold your fire and stay down until they get into range.'

A few seconds later, KT let loose with her M60 from the fore deck. The machine gun did not have the range or impact of the 50, but the lead boat did slow down as a line of water spouts approached its bow. She elevated the weapon some, and the next burst hit the approaching boats flying bridge.

Karen reached her hard point from amidships and opened up with her M60. The three boats spread out and started weaving as they approached. More 50 Cal slugs walked their way toward Karen as she hit the deck. The slugs went over her head, but one of them hit the main sail servo motor.

As the servo exploded, shrapnel caught Karen in the legs and back. When Karen screamed in pain, Maria came above decks with a med kit. Ignoring the hail of bullets, she ran to the wounded woman and yelled to a panicking KT, "I'll take care of your mother. Try to keep them off of us. Help is on the way."

Above the Caribbean - Cuban SDF fighter Matador

"Matador, Matador this is Base. What is your status?"

"I'm at 3500 meters heading West, Northwest. I have four surface contacts on radar now. Which contact has the president's niece?"

"She is on the sailboat. All others are enemy vessels. Can you tell if they are in our waters yet?"

"They are a few kilometers out, but they appear to be heading this way."

"We have just been informed that the enemy boats have heavy machineguns and are firing on the sailboat. There are wounded. You are weapons free. Repeat, you are weapons free. Matador it is up to you to save Maria Castro. God speed your way."

Junta Ortiz took a deep breath and hit her after burners. The ageing jet shot out pushing her into her seat and forcing her to fight for breath. She could see the one sided fight, and dropped to just a few meters above the water.

As she lined up on one of the outside boats, she took another breath and held it. She hit the firing switch on her control stick. The jet shook as the 40 MM cannons sought out the Miami based Cuban boat. The explosive projectiles laced across the boat.

One of the shells hit the boat at the water line and penetrated the fiberglass hull as if it were paper. It would have gone out the other side had it not hit the main gasoline tank. If the boat had been running on diesel, the shell may have gone through with only a fire, but after a long voyage, it was only half full of gas.

The gas vapors mixed with the inrushing air from the tank rupture just as the shell exploded. A giant fireball filled the ocean where the boat once was. Junta jerked her stick up and to the right as she fought to avoid the pieces of the exploding vessel.

After a perfect S loop to avoid the fallout, Junta lined up on the other outside boat and started her attack run. Hugh sprays of water gained on the now fleeing boat. As the projectiles laced the middle of the boat with explosions, it slowed and started smoking. Flames could be seen coming from the interior of the boat. She let it pass from her attention.

She lined up on the third boat but failed to notice that on the damaged boat the last mortally wounded man picked up a shoulder type SAM and fired. Alarms filled the plane's cockpit as the antimissile defenses activated. Junta desperately punched out flairs in a failed attempt to distract the heat sinking missile. She let out one burst of cannon fire, hit her eject lever, and crossed her arms over her chest.

The canopy flew upward and back. She was expelled by a small rocket under the pilot's seat. Junta felt as if someone had taken something and tried to compress her spine into a solid bone. Her head was pushed into the seat and the forces tried to push her crossed arms through her chest.

Just as the chair cleared the tail of the plane, the SAM entered the jet's exhaust. The plane's aft section burst into pieces as the jet turbans disintegrated. Chards of metal permeated the pilot's legs causing enough pain for her to pass out

The Caribbean C2

The third boat's crew was distracted by the attacking plane which allowed them to get too close to the C2. KT fired a 40 MM high explosive (HE) grenade into the Cuban's bridge. She broke open and reloaded the launcher and had another on the way before the crew realized their mistake.

KT then raked the boat with the M60 until the cabin cruiser started circling. As she turned her attention to the second attacking boat, it exploded. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the parachute land in the water.

She rushed to her mother. Before she asked, Maria reported, "It's superficial. The most difficult thing I had to do was hold her down to keep her from knocking off the bandages and start fighting again."

"Good. We have a downed pilot we need to save. He saved our lives now we need to save his. She ran to the cockpit and hit the controls to lower the sails. The main sail was locked in the up condition, so KT rushed to the fried servo, pulled her utility knife out of her vest and sawed the halyard until the sail was free.

Now, fully under engine control, she raced to the downed airman's aid. Maria helped Karen below decks, put her in KT's cabin, and returned to help KT find their hero.

Suddenly all electronics on the C2 dropped off, the engines shut down and an eerie calm fell around them as the remaining Cuban boat shimmered and disappeared into a greenish opening. "What the hell was that?" shouted KT.

Maria stood with fear on her face. She whispered, "Oh my Goddess, protect us from the darkness."

Maria's plea was suddenly interrupted. "Shit! Maria how good are you with an M16?"

"Very good."

"Then get one out of the arm's locker. We've got sharks." As soon as the Cuban boat disappeared, KT was able to restart the engines and race to the downed pilot. She whispered a small prayer that they would reach him before the sharks.

Junta was saved by the automatic inflation device from the ejection system. She was confused as she slowly came awake in the water. "What happened?" she asked aloud. Then her memory started returning. 'Boy am I in deep shit, ' she thought.

She was hoping that she had saved the president's niece when she heard a scream and looked to her left. Fear bordering on panic filled her when she saw sharks attacking the body of a dieing Cuban as he fought desperately to avoid their feeding frenzy. She knew his blood would draw more sharks. She tried to remember her training, but all she could remember was a documentary she had seen on the USS Indianapolis and the ship's tremendous crew loss to sharks

Suddenly she saw a fin circling her. Her childhood came back to override her Marxist training. She started praying, "Hail Mary, mother..." The shark's circle was getting smaller and smaller. Junta knew that at any moment the shark would attack. As the shark turned to make its run, Junta went numb and watched with a stoic fatalism as she awaited her death.