Richard Johnson - Deadly Cargo - A Chilling Naval Terrorism Thriller

Dan put his mouth close to the door so he could whisper. “Listen carefully. We don’t want anybody else to hear this. You’re in luck, my friend. The BA in the serial number stands for Bank of America. When the bank has large amounts of money to ship around the world, they pack it in large bales, wrap it in plastic sheeting, put it in plastic totes and use containers like this one to ship it. There’s nothing but a huge load of raw cash in that container.”

“American dollars?” Ruiz whispered the question.

“Yes, but the best part is how much. The numbers 11 and the letter M tell us that there’s $11 million in there.”

“Eleven million!” Ruiz said out loud, and Dan hushed him through the door.

“Quiet. You don’t want everyone else to hear you.”

“Eleven million,” Ruiz said again, this time in a breathless whisper. “Are you sure?”

“Do you want to open the container and see for yourself?”

“Yeah,” Ruiz breathed, and Dan heard the lust in his voice. “Yeah, I do. If I could get my hands on eleven million, I could—”

“You could be the boss of this place,” Dan reminded him. “If you have that kind of money in your hands, you can tell the others that you will share it equally with them, not like what de la Vega does. They will come over to your side just like that.” Dan snapped his fingers with a loud click. “Then you’ll be the boss, and you’ll also be very rich.”

“Yeah,” Ruiz breathed.

“But the thing is that when banks ship money, they use special security locks. I know how to break them open. But I want in on this,” Dan said. “I want to be an equal partner.”

“Special locks?”

“Heck yeah,” Dan said. “You don’t expect them to ship that kind of money without special security locks do you? There are four of them. One on each of the vertical latching bars. But that’s no problem for me.”

“You get me inside that container, and I’ll make you my right-hand man.” Ruiz laughed under this breath.

Carried on the breeze, the raucous noise of the drunken party in the distant house sounded louder than before. “Listen to that,” Dan said, “now is the time to make your move, while everybody else is getting drunk. You and I can break into that container, and you’ll have the money in your hands before any of those guys wake up. By sunrise, you’ll be in charge of this place.”

The metallic sound of a key being forced into the lock brought a sigh to Dan’s throat. The door swung open and the shadow of a giant of a man stood before him. “Get out here,” Ruiz demanded. “Your kids stay in that one,” he pointed toward the other hut, “and your wife stays here until we’re done. You got that?”

Dan nodded, “Yeah, I got it.”

Moonlight flashed in front of Dan’s face, and he saw the blade of a large knife in the hand of his captor. “Don’t do anything funny,” the bearded pirate warned, “or I’ll slit you open and take your wife for myself.” Ruiz quietly closed the door and snapped the lock back in place.

“Hey, I thought we were going to be partners,” Dan protested.

“We’ll be partners after we get the eleven million.”

“You don’t trust people very easily, do you?” He glanced over the big man’s shoulder toward the dock and thought he saw three crouching forms duck over the side of the catamaran and disappear.

“I don’t trust people any more than I think they should trust me. Now let’s get going.” They crossed the moonlit clearing and entered the dark trail leading to the dock. As they stepped onto the wooden planks, Dan snapped his fingers as if he had a sudden thought.

“We need a couple of tools. Do you have a hacksaw and a bolt cutter, by chance?”

“Yeah. They’re on the boss’s tug.”

Dan smiled at the big man, “Good. Grab those and I’ll go have a closer look at the locks.”

Ruiz stared at his prisoner, hesitated and then decided that he had the situation under control. “Just don’t get any ideas,” he threatened, waving the knife.

Dan held up his hands. “There’s nothing to worry about. I’ll just be right over there.” He pointed toward the barge. Sixty feet farther down the dock, Dan glimpsed Jacob’s face peering at him from the shadows of the cockpit, and his hands went to work. Jacob saw the signals and signed back, and Dan saw his son quietly slip the aft dockline off the double horns of the cleat, leaving the eye of the line hanging to the cleat by a single horn.

A noise behind him turned Dan back toward the tug, and he saw Ruiz coming. In his hand was a large bolt cutter. “This what you need?”

“No hacksaw?”

“Couldn’t find one.”

Dan took the bolt cutter and stepped onto the barge. “Well, let’s see if this will do.” He walked around behind the container and Ruiz was right behind him. Dan swung the handles wide to open the jaws, then turned to Ruiz. “Give me a little room to work. Stand over there. This is going to take a minute.”

Ruiz stepped back and Dan clamped the bolt cutter jaws over the lock and pretended to squeeze as hard as he could. Nothing happened. He gritted his teeth, grunted and squeezed again, but still he was not able to break the lock. “These special security locks are made of hardened steel,” he looked sheepishly at Ruiz, “I don’t think I’m strong enough to break it. That’s why I wanted a hacksaw.”

Ruiz stomped forward. “Get out of the way, you’re too weak.” He grabbed the bolt cutter and shoved Dan aside, who made a point of tripping and falling on his side in full view of the catamaran. Quickly he flashed a sign into the night.

Ruiz gripped the bolt cutters in powerful hands, clamped the jaws on the lock and pressed the handles together. Snap! “Hah!” he said, pointing at the broken lock and admiring his work, “nothing to it.”

Dan flashed a sign and, in the distance, the sound of a diesel engine came to life. “Congratulations,” Dan yelled, scrambling to his feet, “the money is all yours.” He jumped from the barge to the dock and ran toward the catamaran. Jacob was already at the bow line, releasing the eye from the cleat.

“Go, go!” Dan yelled as he ran. Jacob took the wheel, shoved the throttle forward and the catamaran started to move. As it cleared the end of the dock, Dan leapt and landed on the starboard hull swim-step, grabbed the stainless steel railing and climbed up into the cockpit.

“Good job, son.”

“Thanks, dad. I did like you said and told Mom and Cadee that you wanted them to go below and stay out of sight.”

“Let me take the wheel. Go below and tell your mother and sister that it’s okay to come up now.” He scooted onto the captain’s seat, and Jacob reached for the cabin door. From the main salon, a scream pierced the night.

Nicole’s cry was suddenly muffled as de la Vega stumbled through the door with his hand clamped tightly around her mouth. In his other hand was a machete, and he waved it threateningly. “Don’t try annathin,” he slurred, obviously deeply soused, “or I’ll kill her.”

The old man wobbled on his feet, as the boat took a small wave against the beam. It was all the break Dan needed, and he lunged for the machete, knocking it from de la Vega’s grip. Nicole broke free, and a noise from behind caused the old man to whirl. When he did, the last thing he saw was a heavy crystal pitcher shattering into his face. Cadee stood, feet apart and ready to swing with her fist if the pitcher didn’t do the job, but de la Vega had crumpled to the deck.

“Sorry about your pitcher, mom,” Cadee broke down and cried. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

Nicole took her daughter into her arms. “Oh, sweetheart, you did just the right thing. I can get another pitcher, but I’m so proud of you.”