Daniel Ganninger - Icarus Investigations 02 - Peeking Duck (21 page)

-Chapter 45-

“Good Lord, man, what did we just do?” I gasped, staring at the now disappearing helicopter.

“
We kicked some ass and took some names, that’s what,” Galveston said with a bit of machismo as he rubbed his knees and back.

“
Crazy.  I think we’ve gone crazy.”

“
Crazy like a fox.”

“
Shut up with the colloquialisms already.  Let’s get this moron off here before he fully comes to.”

Galveston
and I pulled the man to the edge of the makeshift helipad as he began to regain consciousness after the whack to his head.  Balboa was groggy but able to climb down the stairs and into the subduing arms of the crew.  I walked back and picked up what had been in Balboa’s hand, a black box about the size of a cell phone, and put it in my pocket.

The bound man
was still lying on the helipad, and we pulled him to his feet.  He had a look of shock in his eyes and was mumbling incoherent words.  We pushed him toward the ladder and began to help him down.

“Take him to the bridge and tie him up tight.  Take this other one, too.  I don’t know his story,” Galveston yelled down.

“
We did it, man!” I announced proudly.  “Now we can get off this ship and back home.”

“
I’m with you there.  I need a hot shower and a shot of whiskey,” Galveston replied.

We climbed down the ladder and walked back to the superstructure.  I was emotionally exhausted.  Everything seemed wrapped up in a nice little package.  Maddie would get her containers back, and we would get our much needed pay.  There were looming questions on what to do with the antiquities we thought were on board, and why the CIA had formulated such a crazy plan in the first place.  It was of no concern to
Galveston and me now. 

The crew could manage to sail the ship back to a suitable port, and the proper authorities would take care of the captured pirates.  I was uneasy with the fact that some pirates escaped, but I was sure our government could track them down easily.  It occurred to me that the reason we had found the ship before the CIA was because they didn
‘t want to answer questions on their role in the
Trusian’s
disappearance.  At this point, I just didn’t care.  I just wanted to get off this ship, see Jane, and go home.  Galveston, on the other hand, had a slightly different idea of what we should do next.

I followed
Galveston through the watertight door on the deck of the ship and began the climb up to the bridge where we had left Dimitri.  I passed the second deck and heard something faint; it almost sounded like voices yelling.  I recounted in my mind the many places we had left the pirates and knew we couldn’t let our guard down yet.  I called to Galveston to come back, and we traced the sounds to a storage unit on that deck.

“
Is someone yelling?” I asked.  “It sounds like they’re saying ‘help’.”

“
Did the crew capture some pirates, too?” Galveston asked.

“
I don’t think so.”  I listened closely at the door and then heard a woman’s voice.  “I don’t remember there being any women pirates.”

“
Let’s pop it open and find out.”  Galveston raised his gun and popped the lock of the door as I pulled up my rifle.

“
Go for it,” I announced. 

Galveston
reached for the door and swung it open, revealing another dimly lit room.  The voices stopped as I peered in and saw six frightened South African meteorological workers sitting on the floor.

“
We forgot about you guys,” Galveston said, which only garnered looks of pure terror in return.

“
We’ll do anything you want, please don’t hurt us,” one of the men said.

“
Don’t worry we’re not going to hurt you, we’re here to rescue you,” I told them in a gallant way.

“
We did forget about them, though,” Galveston whispered.

“
Shut it,” I whispered back.  “You are all safe,” I announced again to the group.  “We’ll get you back to your station.”

“
Follow us,” Galveston said with a wave of his hand.

The members of the team left the room and hugged us as they went by.  It made me feel like the whole operation was well worth it.  We trudged up the stairs and onto the bridge where Dimitri had found a place in a comfortable chair.  Most of the crew began to gather around Balboa. 

I found Pi and asked him if he could coordinate finding the members of the meteorological team something to eat and drink.  Pi happily obliged and led them to the galley. 

We decided to help the crew round up
the pirates we had hidden away as we waited on the
Southern Sea
.  We spent the next hour making sure there was no one left on board that wasn’t authorized to be there.  It was a daunting task, but the crew handled it flawlessly, appreciative of their freedom.  The crew formed a party to go to the station on the island and bring back the pirates there, while ferrying the scientists back to their home away from home.  The scientists would have a lot of repair work to do to get back online, and many of their nerves had been frayed away.  We knew when they got connected to the real world a flood of ships would be heading our way, so time was of the essence.

The sky grew dark as we continued our tasks around the ship. 
Galveston had already contacted the
Southern Sea
, who offered assistance to the crew of the
Trusian
, and the team trying to rebuild their meteorological station.  I made a call to Jane and Maddie who were eagerly awaiting our finds.  Jane was noticeably relieved when she heard my voice.  I intentionally left out that we had been shot at, or that I had shot a man in the leg.  She didn’t need to hear about that right now. 

Jane and Maddie told us they had arranged a helicopter flight from
South Africa to the
Southern Sea
when the ship got into range.  Maddie carefully gave Galveston the coordinates of our meeting point in the Atlantic Ocean.

I figured that was that.  We had found the ship, the cargo was secured as best we knew, and our contract requirements had been fulfilled.  I was looking forward to spending some time with Jane, and spending some of the hard earned money we would get from our sizable contract with
OceanLogic.  My adrenaline finally emptied from my body, and the reality of how badly things could have gone crept in.  We could easily have ended up shot or captured.  It was an unsettling thought, and I couldn’t imagine what men felt who lived through war.

The pirates had been strategically scattered in various rooms of the ship to keep them from talking to each other.  We didn
‘t need them coming up with a plan of escape.  I met Galveston on the bridge where he was talking to Dimitri.  The investigator in him had not stopped working, and I was surprised when he began asking some probing questions.  “We’re done,” I thought.  Why was he continuing to delve into something that was beyond our scope of work?

It became obvious he wasn
‘t satisfied with what we had found out in our investigation so far.  There were still the strings with the company in Singapore, the captain’s demise in Sweden, and the strange correspondence with CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.  The other nagging question was why Dimitri was on this ship when he was never supposed to be.  Also, what was the story with the one man the pirates were so hell bent on getting off the ship?  I could tell this was the direction Galveston was heading. 

Dimitri had been pressuring us to speak to the pirates since we had detained them and there was no clear reason why he needed to do so.  To
Galveston, this was a red flag.

“
I need to speak to the pirates individually,” Dimitri said forcefully.

“
I don’t think anyone should speak to them until we have the proper authorities here,” Galveston said flatly.

“
I insist.  They harmed my crew and killed the captain.  I want to know why.”  Dimitri clutched his leg.  “Are the radios working yet?”

“
No, not yet.  The pirates destroyed everything.  We don’t have any way to communicate.”

I began to contradict him, reminding him that we had a satellite phone, but
Galveston raised his hand toward me, indicating I should keep quiet.  Dimitri shook his head and was growing frustrated.  I noticed him inching from his seat, and he put his head down. 

Without warning he lunged toward the desk in front of him and
at the handgun Galveston had placed there.  As he reached the desk, he grabbed the gun and fell to the floor in pain. 

Dimitri looked up and quickly cocked the gun and pointed it at us with fire in his eyes.

“You will let me talk to those men, now!”  he growled.

“
That ain’t going to happen,” Galveston calmly replied.

“
Maybe we should let him talk to one of them,” I said, slowly raising my hands and feeling my stomach go into my throat.

“
No, no one is talking to anybody, yet,” Galveston said again without a twinge of fear. 

He walked toward Dimitri
, who held the gun pointed at Galveston’s chest.  Dimitri didn’t move and kept the weapon poised in position, but Galveston continued to walk toward him. 

“
Stop, or I’ll shoot,” Dimitri warned. 

Galveston
didn’t stop.  Dimitri hesitated for a second and then pointed the gun at Galveston’s feet.  I heard a click as he pulled the trigger, attempting to give a warning shot.  Horror washed over Dimitri’s face as he realized the gun wasn’t even loaded.  Galveston reached out and twisted it from his grip. 

I gasped in relief as
Galveston towered over the chief mate, holding the gun by the barrel.  Dimitri simply stared up in disbelief.  At least we knew we were dealing with a man that couldn’t shoot to kill.

“
You have some explaining to do, sir,” Galveston said coldly.

The man shook his head and regained his composure. 
“What do you want to know?” he asked reluctantly.

“
Why are you here, and who do you work for?” Galveston asked seriously. 

What was this man hiding?  
Galveston didn’t allow him to speak.  He could tell the man was not just a sailor and was trained not to talk. 

“
Let me lay out what we know, and you can fill in the gaps,” Galveston started.  “This ship is carrying Asian antiquities being smuggled out of the country, that part we know.  We also know the company that contracted the cargo to be on board was in Singapore and has been sending curious messages to CIA headquarters.  That’s why we were hired, to get this ship back.  Now, we know you weren’t supposed to be on this ship.  How did you get here, and why?”

Dimitri
‘s expression remained the same, but he seemed to realize the jig was up.  “You don’t know what you’ve gotten yourself involved in.”

“
We’ve just been shot at and almost killed, I think we have an idea,” Galveston fired back.

“
This ship isn’t carrying Asian antiquities; it’s carrying something much more valuable.”  Dimitri paused to catch his breath as he changed positions on the floor.

“
What are you talking about?”  I interjected.

“
I was recruited by the CIA for this job,” he said clearly.

Galveston
and I looked at each other in disbelief.

“
I was hired to coordinate the defection of a Chinese national.”

“
What the…?” Galveston began.  “A Chinese national?  That is the cargo?”

“
Not just any Chinese national, one of the lead Chinese computer analysts. This man has been actively engaged in hacking U.S. government computer systems and corporations.  He runs the entire program for the Chinese government.  The man you brought in that was tied up by the pirates, he is the cargo, and he is the one we are all after.”

Galveston
and I could only look at each other in amazement.  We had uncovered an intricate plan of defection by our own government, and an even more amazing hijacking by pirates.

“
And why was our government trying to have him defect?”  I asked.

“
He has been in secretive communication with an operative in the U.S. consulate in Beijing for two years.  He began to make overtures that he wished to defect.  The CIA wasn’t sure who he was until he gave us information on how he had hacked into the Federal Reserve many years ago—something that had never had gone public.  We continued to correspond with him and developed a plan of action to get him out of the country.”

“
And how did you do that?” Galveston asked with anticipation at the answer.

“
We faked an explosion at his home a few months ago.  The Chinese thought he perished in the blaze, but the CIA had him at a safe house in Hong Kong.  They couldn’t fly him out so they decided to get him out on a container ship.  I was approached by the CIA during that time.  It was easy for me because I was already the second in command of this vessel.”