“I fully understand that, but you know us Aussies - straight to the point and no offence intended!” Big J proffered his beaming smile.
“OK Captain but from now on my divers are in control.” The thin-faced Japanese tried to copy the beaming smile but it simply did not have he same effect.
Big J picked up the intercom phone. “Control room?“
Marion answered. “Big J - thank heavens; we've got a big problem here, please come at once!” she pleaded.
“OK bring them up as soon as you can,” he answered casually.
“But Big J?” she pleaded confused by the strange reply.
“Well done,” he responded and replaced the intercom phone smiling impishly at the Japanese man.
“First I'd like to show you our control room. Then you can tell me how we can take advantage of all this hardware eh?” Big J stood up and started to the door. Unaccustomed to being dominated in such a manner the Japanese man was initially peeved at Big J's attitude but then he reminded himself “Aussies are different” and followed without outward complaint.
Marion, sitting at the monitors, had witnessed the first attack. Her guard had not seen what was happening; he was too interested in the girlie magazine he'd discovered on a shelf.
Big J acted swiftly as he entered the control room.
“Put that down - it's not yours,” he admonished the guard.
He made to grab the magazine with his left hand but at the last moment balled his right fist and struck the man with a powerful short jab to the solar plexus. The man gasped. Big J turned ready to give the thin-faced Japanese man the same treatment, but stopped in his tracks when he saw Alex holding a silenced revolver at the Japanese's temple. Mo, who had followed Alex, closed the door quietly behind them.
“Nice move Big J. I figure that's ten down and only twenty-five or so to go!” He turned the Japanese around. “So who have we here?” Mo pushed him into one of the swivel chairs. “I'll cover him while you tie him securely.”
Big J took a roll of duct tape and bound the man like a parcel to the chair.
“Its talk time!” Alex waved the revolver at the man.
“And just who are you?” the man snapped back defiantly.
Alex sat in the chair opposite him.
“Now that's another story, but I'm asking the questions now.”
“Any one down there?” It was one of Franco Ebola's men.
He'd been with Franco aboard La Vielle as they systematically searched the cabins and holds. It had not been very long before they discovered the gold. The initial sight of the golden treasure had Franco and his two men mesmerised and silent for several minutes. Finally some animal sixth sense made Franco wonder where their Japanese leader was and despatched a man to locate him.
“In here,” Big J responded casually.
The man stepped confidently into the control room; stopping abruptly he instantly took in the scene and raised his machine pistol.
“What's going on here?” he growled.
Using his revolver as a cosh, Mo hit him with a heavy blow across the back of his neck. The man sank unconscious to the floor.
“One more bites the dust - we'll have âem all in no time at this rate!” The smile on Alex's face faded as their attention was drawn to the drama being played out on the video monitors.
At this time Big J's crew were still gathered on the tug and guarded by several armed men. Nothing appeared to be wrong as Ebola reached the deck but he still had that strange danger signal nagging inside of him. A disturbance in the water between the tethered vessels signalled the arrival of the diving bell. Several of the captive crew, ignoring their guards, ran to the winch, which briefly distracted him. The diving bell was lifted from the water and carefully swung inboard so it could be lowered onto the clamps of the pressure vessel in the hold.
In the control room the gruesome events had been vividly recorded on the monitors. As the bell reached the surface ready to be hoisted aboard, Big J, ignoring Alex and the captive Japanese, dashed out and over to the dripping sphere.
It only took a few minutes for the men to transfer to the safety of the pressure vessel. They left the remains of the dead diver in the bell.
John, speaking over the intercom, eventually broke the solemn silence.
“I guess you saw what happened?” He addressed Big J., “The poor bastard or what's left of him is in the bell.”
“OK John.” Big J moved close to the microphone. “Now just you and the boys get a good hot shower. We're not doing any more diving so you can open the âhome comforts kit' now.” Then he added in a lower tone, “As you may be able to see, there's been take-over here, so I have to make some new plans. Just try and relax. I'll be back soon and explain everything.”
“What do you mean a takeover?” John pleaded.
“Don't panic I'll be back. Everything is under control, I promise.”
Big J returned to the control room.
“Mo, will you call for two men to assist us in here. You know what to do when they arrive,” Alex addressed Mo, who smiled and stepped up to the deck. Two of the armed men stood near by.
“Hey your boss needs you.” He tried to look submissive. They brushed him aside and hurried into control room. Mo followed and closed the door behind him.
“Two more, this is almost too easy,” Alex smiled at the two prostrate forms, already being trussed like Christmas turkeys. “Twenty-three left. That's much better odds, eh?”
Alex flipped open his mobile phone and presses a stored number; he waited for a few seconds.
“OK Dick. You and Pedro sail towards us as soon as possible. I want you to tempt them into chasing you. OK?”
“They can try but they won't catch my baby!” Dick replied indignantly.
Franco stepped up to Big J as he left the control room.
“Where's The Japanese?”
Big J tensed and looked down at the much shorter but arrogant Franco. He didn't answer for a moment then relaxed.
“The Big Boss eh?” Big J smiled. “He's organising the dive from the control room. This way.”
At that moment there was a shout from one of the armed guards. Franco looked across to the La Vielle where one of his men was pointing out to sea.
“Franco, a boat approaching.”
Franco left Big J and crossed quickly to La Vielle. Dick was certainly giving a good performance. At about forty knots he approached La Vielle then swerved to lay a course parallel to the cargo boat. Pedro stood wedged in the stern holding a sub-machine gun; at about one hundred yards he opened fire using the whole clip in one burst. The men standing at the rail ducked away from the hail of bullets.
Franco ordered two men into one of the powerboats still moored to La Vielle.
“Get that bastard,” he shouted angrily.
Dick turned and made another pass just as the powerboat's engines roared into life; but this time Pedro's hail of lead was sprayed directly at the powerboat - consequently the crew dived frantically for cover until Dick's boat had passed out of range.
Alex, concealed in the hold next to the pressure vessel, took the transmitter from his pocket as he watched the manoeuvres through a porthole; he allowed the powerboat to get about two hundred metres away and then pressed the green button. The red light flickered for a moment before the powerboat disintegrated in a huge explosion.
“Hum, very interesting,” Alex muttered with satisfaction, “That's the first time I've seen one of those in action.”
Dick turned his boat and once again passed close to La Vielle this time Pedro was holding what appeared to be a portable rocket launcher. Several men rushed to the side and fired wildly at the passing boat. Pedro waved the weapon defiantly, attracting several shots, which hit the water close to the foaming wake. Dick anxious for his boat's safety immediately turned and headed several hundred metres out of range.
Franco was enraged by the attack and knew that he must tackle the problem of this strange craft and its rocket launcher before it spoiled his own special plans.
He called the two remaining boat skippers together.
“We have to get that boat so I need both of you out there to finish it off. Can you handle that?”
“We also have rocket launchers on board. It should be easy. Leave it to us.” They each gathered their specialist crews together and boarded the two remaining powerboats.
The skipper of the chartered dive boat and the shorter Japanese had watched the performance from the protection of the dive boat's wheelhouse. Both had noticed the fact that the powerboat had exploded without apparent reason. Now they were even more nervous.
“I'm going over to the tug - there's something wrong.” The Japanese moved towards the door. The skipper nodded.
“You do what you want mate, I'm staying right here.”
It was at that precise moment that two more explosions destroyed the two pursuing powerboats. One of the crew on the nearest one, still carrying his grenade launcher, was blown cart-wheeling into the air, his dead finger reflexively clamped firmly on the trigger. By sheer fluke, the rocket propelled grenade screamed across the two hundred metres of open water and slammed into the chartered dive boat's wheelhouse, killing the two occupants instantly.
Distracted by the chaos, the armed men guarding the captive crew ran to the side to see what was happening.
“Now lads!” Big J growled; without hesitation the former captives strode across the deck and pounced on the armed men. Several turned in time to fire at their attackers; the others were too late. In a few seconds there was wild firing of semi-automatic weapons and men from both sides fell dead or wounded to the deck.
Hearing the fighting on deck, Greg and Oscar, who had remained hidden in the tug's engine room waiting for the signal from Alex, could not contain themselves any longer and charged up to the deck to join the fray.
Franco Ebola on the other hand, recognising potential disaster, slipped cautiously into the pressure vessel hold and up to the control valves. A voice challenged him.
“Don't you touch those controls â you'll kill the divers.” It was the old engineer.
As Franco turned he produced a revolver from his waistband, looked in disdain at the diminutive engineer and without any hesitation shot him in the throat.
“Why you bastard.” It was La Ville's former captain. He'd been sulking in his cabin before the noise of the powerboat battle roused him from his trance. Realising that he'd been a complete fool in throwing away his one chance of redemption, he'd made up his mind to try and put things right between him and Greg.
Franco looked up from the dead engineer and with the same indifference shot the unarmed captain in the chest; he fell dying with one arm across his old companion.
“Fools,” Franco muttered and returned his attention to the controls.
Armed with his .38 Browning, Alex stepped from the showdowns. Just seconds too late to save the captain and engineer, he didn't make a challenge but Franco seemed to be aware of his presence and half turned. Alex fired twice and the heavy slugs slapped into Franco's chest. With a look of disbelief he fell back against the pressure vessel, then slipped dying to the floor.
Up on deck, the firing had stopped as Big J and his crew brought the situation under control. Believing that all the armed men had been neutralised, they relaxed. However, unknown to them, one had slipped out of sight in the mayhem. Suddenly the thin-faced Japanese leader, followed by his liberator, stepped out onto the deck; the Japanese was holding Marion by the hair, a pistol held to her temple.
“Everybody back!” he ordered.
Oscar reacted, taking a step forward. Alex pushed an arm in front of him holding him back.
“Steady my friend,” Alex cautioned with understanding. “Leave this to me.”
The thin-faced Japanese was standing by the side deck rail and unsure what to do when suddenly the submersible's bright yellow hull appeared at the surface, almost alongside where they were standing. The hatch opened and a pale face cautiously peered out.
The Japanese threw Marion to one side and vaulted over the side to land half in the water almost on top of the submersible's pilot.
Oscar rushed forward to comfort Marion.
On the submersible the thin-faced Japanese shouted, “Back inside!” to the terrified man and scrambled with surprising agility into the open hatch and dropped inside, clamping it shut behind him.
“What's happening?” the stunned pilot asked in near hysterics.
“Just dive anywhere for the moment!” the Japanese commanded the frightened man as he slumped behind the controls.
The submersible slipped silently beneath the surface. It had all happened so quickly that everyone on deck had only been able to watch in stunned silence.
The lone terrorist looked over the side in amazement as he realised that his master had abandoned him.
“The game's up so drop the gun.” It was Alex pointing his own .38 at the man's chest.
The man paused and looked uncertainly about the deck.
“Put it down slowly,” Alex commanded quietly.
The man shrugged his shoulders and made to place the weapon on the deck, but at the very last moment, he rolled, bringing up the pistol ready to fire. But Alex had anticipated the move and quite deliberately fired into the crouched form. The man's pistol clattered to the deck as he collapsed grabbing at his stomach.
Big J stepped forward and picked up the discarded pistol, tossing it with disgust over the side.
“We don't need any more surprises,” he growled and moved to the side.
Alex, ignoring the wounded man, stood looking at the empty sea. “Amen to that,” he answered.
“I don't think he'll get far in that!” Big J shrugged his shoulders. “More importantly we've got some wounded men to sort out.”
“I'm afraid so,” Alex agreed. “It looks as though a couple of our boys may not be going to make it.” Alex said sadly, turning his attention back to the scene on deck. “I'll let John know that everything's under control again.”