engine,” Korfa ordered as he edged away from the vehicle. Nadif’s brow furrowed, and then he nodded and hopped behind the wheel as Korfa continued to distance himself from the truck, his assault rifle held loosely by his side.
The motor rumbled to life and everyone visibly relaxed. Korfa strode to the SUV and climbed into the passenger seat, while the three remaining men squeezed into the rear.
“Get us back to the ship. I feel exposed out here. We’ll count the money, and assuming it’s all there, we’ll clear out by this evening,” Korfa commanded, raising the glasses to his eyes once more as they bounced over the ruts and beat a trail across the dunes to the sea. He never stopped sweeping the horizon, on the alert for any trickery.
Their Mogadishu contact had provided the gizmo he’d assured Korfa would catch any transmitter or locator chip, but he knew nothing of these things, even after being coached to watch the lights and the meter, and was inherently distrustful of technology. This was the largest ransom he’d ever collected, and his experience had taught him that nothing worth having ever came easily.
The heavy SUV crossed the blighted expanse at a crawl, and took half an hour to reach the ship, anchored in the shelter of the large cove. Half the men were onshore, waiting, and when they saw the Toyota they began whooping, jubilant, the tension of the long standoff finally dissipated.
The old vehicle stopped at the shore and Korfa got out, followed by Nadif and his men. As the others gathered around, Korfa and Nadif moved to the rear of the truck and watched as the pirates hoisted the rucksack between two of them.
“Come. Let’s get the bag to the ship. We’ll count it and then I’ll radio for the others to bring the trucks,” Korfa said. Once the money was verified, on Korfa’s orders transportation would be dispatched from the village of Eli, and then the pirates would disappear, the surviving crew turned loose to fend for themselves while they waited for their ordeal to finally end.
The men cheered again as their compatriots lifted the sack over their heads, carrying it like a holy relic to the shore and the waiting skiffs. Korfa grinned as he saw the excitement in their eyes – this was the kind of take that would be legendary, and his name would be whispered in hushed reverence for years to come.
He supervised the passage to the boats, reveling in his moment of triumph while keeping his expression somber. All the men boarded and the outboard motors revved as they cut across the natural harbor to the ship, looming in the water in silent witness.
Nadif had the two men carry the money to the captain’s cabin, where a cash counting machine sat waiting on the table. He and Korfa ducked into the room with the money while the two trusted gunmen framed the doorway, guarding the quarters as their leader went about his joyful task.
In the Toyota’s tire compartment, a red LED under the floor cover blinked for five seconds, and then switched to green.
The detonation vaporized the vehicle in a white-hot blast, and in a nanosecond the searing explosion spread, enveloping the ship and everything around the truck for half a mile. The distinctive shape of the mushroom cloud would have been wondrous to behold if anyone had lived to see it, but that wasn’t to be – everything in the vicinity was immediately killed, metal melting from the searing heat, the ship blown out of the water like a child’s toy by a chain-reaction that for a brief moment approached the temperature of the surface of the sun.
~ ~ ~
The men in the Cessna saw the fireball in the far distance as the explosion shot skyward, visible even though they were already sixty miles away. Henri’s eyes betrayed a flicker of shock as he craned his neck, and then he drew a controlled breath and focused on concealing his reaction. A hint of a smile tugged at the corners of Sol’s mouth, and he removed a satellite phone from the bag next
The motor rumbled to life and everyone visibly relaxed. Korfa strode to the SUV and climbed into the passenger seat, while the three remaining men squeezed into the rear.
“Get us back to the ship. I feel exposed out here. We’ll count the money, and assuming it’s all there, we’ll clear out by this evening,” Korfa commanded, raising the glasses to his eyes once more as they bounced over the ruts and beat a trail across the dunes to the sea. He never stopped sweeping the horizon, on the alert for any trickery.
Their Mogadishu contact had provided the gizmo he’d assured Korfa would catch any transmitter or locator chip, but he knew nothing of these things, even after being coached to watch the lights and the meter, and was inherently distrustful of technology. This was the largest ransom he’d ever collected, and his experience had taught him that nothing worth having ever came easily.
The heavy SUV crossed the blighted expanse at a crawl, and took half an hour to reach the ship, anchored in the shelter of the large cove. Half the men were onshore, waiting, and when they saw the Toyota they began whooping, jubilant, the tension of the long standoff finally dissipated.
The old vehicle stopped at the shore and Korfa got out, followed by Nadif and his men. As the others gathered around, Korfa and Nadif moved to the rear of the truck and watched as the pirates hoisted the rucksack between two of them.
“Come. Let’s get the bag to the ship. We’ll count it and then I’ll radio for the others to bring the trucks,” Korfa said. Once the money was verified, on Korfa’s orders transportation would be dispatched from the village of Eli, and then the pirates would disappear, the surviving crew turned loose to fend for themselves while they waited for their ordeal to finally end.
The men cheered again as their compatriots lifted the sack over their heads, carrying it like a holy relic to the shore and the waiting skiffs. Korfa grinned as he saw the excitement in their eyes – this was the kind of take that would be legendary, and his name would be whispered in hushed reverence for years to come.
He supervised the passage to the boats, reveling in his moment of triumph while keeping his expression somber. All the men boarded and the outboard motors revved as they cut across the natural harbor to the ship, looming in the water in silent witness.
Nadif had the two men carry the money to the captain’s cabin, where a cash counting machine sat waiting on the table. He and Korfa ducked into the room with the money while the two trusted gunmen framed the doorway, guarding the quarters as their leader went about his joyful task.
In the Toyota’s tire compartment, a red LED under the floor cover blinked for five seconds, and then switched to green.
The detonation vaporized the vehicle in a white-hot blast, and in a nanosecond the searing explosion spread, enveloping the ship and everything around the truck for half a mile. The distinctive shape of the mushroom cloud would have been wondrous to behold if anyone had lived to see it, but that wasn’t to be – everything in the vicinity was immediately killed, metal melting from the searing heat, the ship blown out of the water like a child’s toy by a chain-reaction that for a brief moment approached the temperature of the surface of the sun.
~ ~ ~
The men in the Cessna saw the fireball in the far distance as the explosion shot skyward, visible even though they were already sixty miles away. Henri’s eyes betrayed a flicker of shock as he craned his neck, and then he drew a controlled breath and focused on concealing his reaction. A hint of a smile tugged at the corners of Sol’s mouth, and he removed a satellite phone from the bag next
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