The Isle of Devils HOLY WAR (11 page)

Hooda added, “Do you know the two men you were captured with?”

Krack replied, “Yes, mon.”

Hooda snapped back, “That’s why, you fool. Bow your head and die.” One of Hooda’s men reached over and pulled Krack’s head down to expose his neck. Hooda raised the machete over his head with both hands and as he was about to do the deed, Savage kicked his chair backwards knocking the terrorist down on the floor.

Savage jumped to his feet and pulled his grenade from his pocket quickly pulling the pin out with his other hand. He yelled, “Mates, this is a live grenade! If you want to live, back away from my friend.”

Imad yelled to Hooda, “The infidel lies! It’s a dud.” It appeared to be a standoff. No one was making any kind of move.

Hooda said, “Well, my friend, if you’re going to kill us then please go ahead.”

During the struggle Storm had grabbed the barrel of the weapon of the terrorist who was guarding him. Krack was now standing up on his feet not sure what was going on. Savage gave Storm a quick glance. Storm had seen a look like this before. He could see in the cold steel eyes of Savage that he was not playing games. This was no bluff.

Storm yelled out, “Let it rip!” He turned jerking the gun barrel as hard as he could flipping the terrorist over his head. Meanwhile Savage stuffed the grenade down the pants of the terrorist he had knocked to the floor. He grabbed him by his belt buckle and tossed him over by Hooda and Imad.

Savage yelled, “Boys, get out of here! That grenade’s going to blow in a couple of seconds.” Storm started firing the AK-47 in the air as the trio raced for the open door through which Hooda had entered the room. Krack slammed the door behind him.

He yelled to Storm, “Give me that weapon to secure this door.” Storm flipped him the AK-47, and Krack jammed it though the door pull and the door jamb making it impossible to open the door. The three ran down the hallway into the next room.

Back in the interrogation room the terrorists were in chaos. Imad screamed out, “Protect yourselves! The grenade is live!” At the moment of explosion, one of Hooda’s men threw his body over the terrorist with the grenade in his pants, shielding the others from the explosion. The room was filled with smoke, and the stunned terrorists lay all over the floor.

The trio had heard the explosion. They were hoping Hooda and his fellow terrorists had found their way into paradise. If not, they knew they had very little time to find an escape out of Casemates.

Bust’ in Out

Once again Storm, Savage, and Krack found themselves outside of the barracks in the long narrow corridor between the barracks and the outer wall on the south side. They were staring directly in front of them at another tunnel that appeared to lead into the outer rock wall. This tunnel was very different from all the others around Casemates. This one looked fairly new and had a single grooved steel track in the center of the floor.

Savage turned to Krack and asked, “Krack where’s this tunnel headed?”

Krack scratched his head and said, “Not a clue, mon. This tunnel wasn’t here when I was in the slammer.”

Storm added, “Look, guys, we don’t have much time. Let’s check the tunnel out or get our butts moving in some other direction.”

Savage replied, “I’m getting sick of these tunnels, but we don’t have much of a choice. Let’s go.” The three walked into the tunnel very quietly and cautiously.

This tunnel was vastly different than the other tunnels in Casemate’s. It was well lit, and the walls were highly polished steel. The tunnel was almost perfectly tubular in shape. From where they were standing they could see the downward incline and the slow curvature of the tunnel. The trio still had no idea where they were going, but with no weapons for protection, they knew there was no turning back.

Meanwhile, back in the barracks Hooda, Imad and their fellow terrorists were getting back onto their feet. Three terrorists lay lifeless on the floor.

Imad, still coughing and choking from the smoke and dust said to Hooda, “I will kill these infidels on sight.”

Hooda frustrated, shoved Imad and yelled, ”You have embarrassed Cobra letting these infidels disrupt our schedule tonight.”

Imad replied, “I will take all our men, and we will track those dogs down and kill them.”

Hooda snapped back, “You fool! We have a schedule to maintain. Split our men into two groups. You take half the men and find those dogs. I would like to interrogate them, but if they resist kill them. I will take the rest of the men and continue with the operation.”

Imad yelled out to his men, “Pick up your weapons. We must find the infidels and destroy them.” As Imad and his men left the room he called for more assistance with his two- way radio.

Hooda signaled the rest of the Cobra force to go back to work as planned.

Back in the tunnel Storm, Savage and Krack continued walking for over a hundred yards. They finally came to what appeared to be the end of the tunnel, but to their surprise the tunnel now turned up ninety degrees and continued straight up for at least thirty feet. They all stood there looking, wondering what to do next.

Storm spoke up first, “Well, dudes, this looks like the end of the line to me. There’s no way we’re going straight up there.”

Savage added, “Mate, I’ve got a surprise for you. If we go back to Casemates we’re all dead men. I’m pretty sure we really pissed the terrorists off. Not to add that we killed a few of them too.”

Krack kept quiet. He was just thinking to himself that he might never see his wife again. Before Storm could reply to Savage he heard a strange sound at the other end of the tunnel.

Savage pointed towards the sound and said, “Look. It’s a bloody unmanned trolley of individual oil drums heading this way. What the hell are the oil drums doing in this tunnel?”

Krack spoke up, “Well mon, there is an oil tanker sitting just outside of Casemates, you know.”

Storm interrupted, “You know, he’s right, Savage.”

Krack added, “You’re damn right, I’m right.”

Savage replied, “I get it. These drums are on their way back to the tanker.” Just then one of the trolleys passed by the trio. Savage kicked the drum in the side as it passed. Savage added, “Did you hear that echo? See that drum move on the trolley when I kicked it. These drums might not be very full, and there definitely not full of oil or gas.”

Storm looked at Savage and said, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Savage nodded his head in agreement.

Krack looked at both of them and said, “Oh hell no! There’s no way I’m getting in one of those stinking drums.”

Savage replied, “Well, Krack, have it your way. We’re going up that tunnel in one of the drums, but do me a favor.”

Krack asked, “What’s that?”

Savage continued, “Please don’t tell those terrorists where we went when you’re captured and being tortured.”

When the next barrel came by, Savage and Storm slid the trolley off the track and opened up the barrel. To both of their amazement there were weapons in the barrel. After seeing the contents, Storm said, “I thought these terrorists were smuggling weapons into Bermuda, but now it looks like these are outbound. What gives?”

Savage replied as he began to pull out some of the weapons, “As I said before this is a training camp for terrorists. It’s evident that their next target will be wherever this tanker is going.” Savage stacked the weapons in a dark corner where the tunnel bulged out to make the turn upward. He then put the trolley back on the track and climbed into the barrel. As he loosely lowered the lid of the drum over himself he said, “See you mates on the top side.” Within seconds the track automatically clamped onto the trolley to secure it for the vertical trip upwards. Savage was out of sight in no time.

Storm looked at Krack and said, “Well, Krack, are you going or staying?”

Krack was slow to answer, but finally it came out. “Alright, let’s go.”

The two quickly climbed into the next two drums which were only half full. Within seconds they were also on their way to catch up with Savage.

Once up on the tanker deck the trolleys released each drum and the drums slipped down a metal slide which funneled into the secret hold below. At the end of the slide the drums found themselves moving along a conveyor belt, and then a couple of men pushed the drums into a storage holding area. Savage, Storm, and Krack all knew that they had better stay in the drums until the workers had left the hold either for the night or for a break.

Back in Casemates, after several hours of futile searching, Imad told his men to guard all possible exits while he reported to Hooda. Imad found Hooda standing in front of the fake oil pipeline tunnel to the tanker. Imad saluted Hooda and said, “Hooda, I have failed you. We cannot find the infidels. They have vanished into thin air.”

Hooda glared at Imad and said, “First of all, these ghosts enter our domain from nowhere. Next they kill our warriors, and now you tell me they have vanished.” Hooda without warning gave Imad a backhand across his face. With his other hand he pulled out a dagger and held it to Imad’s throat adding, “At this rate, my friend, you will never see paradise. In fact, hell is closer than you think!”

Imad dropped to his knees and bowed his head begging, “Forgive me, master, I will not let you down again.”

Hooda kicked him in his side as hard as he could and said, “Get off the floor. Have your men keep a lookout for the infidels and kill them on sight. The tanker is almost loaded. We are on target to leave for our final destination tomorrow night.”

As Imad turned to walk away, Hooda reached out and grabbed his shoulder saying, “Don’t forget to make ready your three men to do the deed they have been trained for in St. George’s tomorrow night.”

Imad turned back and said, “Your will is my command.” He quickly walked away leaving Hooda to supervise the loading of the last of the drums.

Locked and Loaded

The trio spent hours hiding in the drums waiting for what seemed to be an eternity before the terrorists finally left the tanker’s cargo hold area. After about thirty minutes of silence, Storm decided to lift up the lid on his barrel to take a peek out into the hold. The hold was dimly lit. Storm could see hundreds of drums packed tightly together. They were all lined up in rows one after another and chained together with what appeared to be a two foot walkway between the rows of drums. Storm climbed out of his drum and replaced the lid quietly. He whispered, “Hey, Savage, Krack, are you here?” About a minute later a lid on a drum across the hold lifted up, and Savage stood up. Next to Storm, another lid slid off a drum, and Krack raised his head to see what was going on.

Savage spoke up, “We’re in the bloody hold at the stern of the tanker. I’ll bet you a million dollars all the hatches are locked down, and we’re trapped like rats.”

Krack asked, “Are you telling me we might be heading out to sea?”

Savage smiled and replied, “Might is the wrong word, Krack. Unless we can figure a way out of this old rust bucket we’re heading out to sea.”

Storm chimed in, “Krack, why don’t you check all the hatches while Savage and I check out these drums and see what’s in them.” Storm and Savage began quickly, but quietly looking through the drums one at a time. Most of the drums were filled with explosives; however, they did find drums of ammunition, grenades, and automatic weapons.

Savage finally turned to Storm and said, “Wherever this tanker is going its looks to me like there’s enough fire power here to start a holy war.”

Storm replied, “I already know what country we’re going to; I just don’t know what port we’re going to.” Storm knew that Bermuda was less than seven hundred miles from the United States as the crow flies. A feeling of desperation was settling in for Storm. They were locked in the ship’s hold with no way of communicating with the outside world.

Meanwhile back in the tunnel at Casemates, Hooda and Imad were walking down the tunnel towards the tanker. Hooda turned to Imad and asked, “Are all our warriors aboard the ship?”

Imad replied, “All except for a few that are destroying computers and documents.”

Hooda nodded and added, “Excellent. Hurry them up, and let’s leave this Isle of Devils.” They were now at the end of the tunnel waiting for someone on the tanker to lower down a makeshift platform to pick them up. While Hooda was waiting he looked over towards one of the corners and asked, “What the hell is that over there in the shadows?”

Imad walked over to the corner of the tunnel and picked up an armload of automatic weapons. He turned back to Hooda and said, “Look, sir, these are perfectly good weapons. Who would have left them here?”

Hooda thought for a minute then said, “I wonder. We never found the infidels. Do you think they’re aboard the ship?”

Imad replied, “We will search the ship from bow to stern and when we find them I will personally slit their throats.” The platform was finally lowered down into the shaft. Hooda and Imad stepped onto the platform and were lifted up to the deck of the tanker.