Daniel Suarez - Kill Decision

Mooch was using wet wipes to wash away the mace from the faces of the stricken men. The two crewmen edged nervously alongside to take charge of them. “Kommer du, Kapten?”

“Jag stannar med skeppet.”

The crewmen looked grim-faced as they performed a capable fireman’s carry and shouldered the men down the hall.

“Get going, Captain.”

“I’m staying with my ship.”

Odin raised the gun.

“My crew is leaving, and I cannot let you take charge of this vessel in an active shipping lane. You could cause a collision, an oil spill, or worse. You tell me where you need to go, and I will take you there.”

Mooch was checking Ritter’s pulse. “We could use the help, chief.”

Odin shook his head. “He has no idea what we’re headed into.”

The captain looked down at Ritter. “Is that man really ill?”

Mooch put away his stethoscope. “He’s been sedated. If you have any doubts that we’re about to be attacked by drones, see how he acts when he wakes up.”

“I am staying. If what you claim is true, then a skilled captain will be useful. And I know my ship.”

Odin lowered the MP5. “I refuse to take responsibility for your decision. You were warned.” He gestured for the captain to walk first. “Now lead us to the bridge.”

Mooch called after Odin. “What about Ritter?”

“Secure him. We’ll deal with him later.”

McKinney followed Odin and the captain up several metal gangways, gaining height until they finally emerged in the center of a narrow but long control room running the entire width of the ship. It was lined, front, back, and sides, with tall, durable-looking windows fitted with vertical windshield wipers. The room was bordered at waist level with consoles populated by switches, phone handsets, radios, radar screens, and built-in computer displays. Behind that was another console with a ship’s wheel and throttle controls, along with wide counters on which sat navigational charts and remote camera monitors for various sections of the ship.

The helm had a commanding view of the sea in every direction as well as down onto the ship’s deck-a couple of hundred feet or so behind the control tower stood the Sikorsky helicopter, already lashed down on the small helipad. Beyond that McKinney could see the curving trail of the ship’s wake as they made a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn to the south in pursuit of the Ebba Maersk.

Evans stood at the wheel of the ship, examining computer screens. He glanced up when they entered. “How’s the hijacking going?”

“Don’t touch anything.” Odin nudged him aside.

“Foxy started the turn, and then took off with the crew. What’s going on?”

“He’s escorting them to the escape boat. The captain’s staying.”

Evans raised his eyebrows. “Really. Can I take his place in the lifeboat?”

Odin shook his head. “Mission’s not done yet, Mort.”

The captain had already picked up large binoculars and was scanning the horizon while McKinney sat in a chair next to the navigational charts. The captain spoke while scanning the sea. “Who is your pilot?”

Odin was examining the radar and GPS navigation screens showing ship traffic in the area. “I am. I’m a licensed sea captain.” He then moved alongside McKinney to examine the nav chart as well.

“Where are you heading?”

“In pursuit of the Ebba Maersk.” Odin pressed a finger into the navigational chart. “She’s approximately thirty-three miles southwest of our position, doing roughly eighteen knots. What’s the maximum speed of your ship, Captain?”

“We can do twenty-six in a favorable wind, but we’ll burn twice the tonnage.”

“Saving on fuel costs isn’t high on my priority list.” Odin moved to one of the ship’s control monitors and started changing settings.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Antiterrorism operators need to be able to pose as qualified airport and ship personnel, so we’re cross-trained in the equipment. I’m programming an interception course. When we finish our turn, we go to full speed, heading one-six-eight.”

A phone on the console rang. Odin grabbed it and listened for a moment. “Good. Get the team back here and let’s plan this operation.” He hung up. “Captain, your crew deployed the escape boat successfully. No injuries.”

The Swede nodded grimly. “If your purpose was to catch up with the Ebba Maersk, why didn’t you use your own helicopter?”

“Because the Ebba Maersk is infested with thousands of combat drones that will destroy anything that gets within twenty miles of it.”

The Tonsberg was already completing its turn and leveling out.

The captain threw up his hands. “What you’re saying is madness.”

Odin traced his finger along the map, passing two red pins. “Those distress signals. Look, you marked their location on your own map. It’s the same course the Ebba Maersk took.” Odin lifted a handset from the console and passed it to the captain. “Here. Try to raise them on the radio. You won’t be able to. The crew is either dead or in hiding.”

The captain grabbed the radio and eyed Odin before keying the mic. “ Tonsberg to container ship Ebba Maersk. Tonsberg to container ship Ebba Maersk. Do you copy?”

As the captain continued transmitting, Odin started making calculations on the relative movements of the two ships while McKinney watched closely. From his pencil markings she could see they weren’t going to close the distance for a while.

“Will we catch it in time?”

He started to rerun his calculations. “I think we can.”

In a few minutes Foxy, Mooch, Ripper, and Smokey entered, their pistols holstered. Foxy shrugged. “What’s the plan?”

Everyone on the bridge gathered around, including the dour-looking captain, who had given up trying to raise the Ebba Maersk.

Odin gestured to the navigational chart as he spoke. “At twenty-six knots it will take us roughly three hours and fifty minutes to close with the Ebba Maersk. During that time she will travel another eighty-one and a half miles closer to Carrier Strike Group Five. That puts them within the radius of their CAP and picket ships-but only just.”

Foxy nodded. “Hawkeye flights should spot the drones on radar.”

Odin gestured to the nearby console. “Look at the swarm around the Maersk on the radar screen, Foxy. What’s it look like to you?”

Foxy and the others turned to look at a nearby radar screen. “It looks like rain.”

“Right. There are so many of them hovering around the ship, so close together, it looks like a squall line-like no aircraft any radar operator’s seen before.”

Foxy nodded. “Tricky bastards…”

“I estimate we’ll be within the colony’s attack radius for almost two hours before we catch up with the hive ship.”

McKinney sucked in a breath. “Two hours?”

Foxy whistled. “That’s a lot of time for them to go to town on us.”

Odin nodded to McKinney. “The professor thinks there will be various morphologies of drones-and we saw that as we flew in. We can take some of this ship’s firefighting gear-the oxygen masks, for instance-to conceal our chemical signature and faces. As for the ship… we’ll just need to defend it as best we can until we reach our target.”

No one looked particularly enthused about this plan.

The captain frowned. “But if what you’re saying is true-that there are thousands of combat drones-what do you plan on doing when you catch up to the Ebba Maersk?”

Odin looked him straight in the eye. “We’re going to ram it.”

The look of horror on the man’s face broke new ground. “This is insanity! Do you realize that the Ebba Maersk is one of the largest ships in the world? The environmental damage-not to mention… that’s over a billion dollars’ worth of shipping not including my cargo-not to mention the cargo on the Ebba Maersk.”