Клайв Касслер - Marauder

CAST OF CHARACTERS THE CORPORATION

Juan Cabrillo—Chairman of the Corporation and captain of the Oregon .

Max Hanley—President of the Corporation, Juan’s second-in-command, and chief engineer of the Oregon .

Linda Ross—Vice President of Operations for the Corporation and U.S. Navy veteran.

Eddie Seng—Director of Shore Operations for the Corporation and former CIA agent.

Eric Stone—Chief helmsman on the Oregon and U.S. Navy veteran.

Mark “Murph” Murphy—Chief weapons officer on the Oregon and former U.S. military weapons designer.

Franklin “Linc” Lincoln—Corporation operative and former U.S. Navy SEAL.

Marion MacDougal “MacD” Lawless—Corporation operative and former U.S. Army Ranger.

Raven Malloy—Corporation operative and former U.S. Army Military Police investigator.

George “Gomez” Adams—Helicopter pilot and drone operator on the Oregon .

Hali Kasim—Chief communications officer on the Oregon .

Dr. Julia Huxley—Chief medical officer on the Oregon .

Kevin Nixon—Chief of the Oregon ’s Magic Shop.

Maurice—Chief steward on the Oregon . STRAIT OF MALACCA

Omar Jabal—Captain of the oil tanker Dahar .

Kersen—Terrorist leader.

Abdul Tanjung—Terrorist. MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

April Jin—Former intelligence officer in the Royal Australian Navy.

Angus Polk—Former commando and Australian Department of Defence analyst.

Lu Yang—Former stepfather of April Jin.

William Campbell—Lu’s attorney. TIMOR SEA

Sylvia Chang—Scientist for the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Roberta Jordan—Cook.

Lieutenant Commander Womack—Executive officer of the Ocean Protector. BALI, INDONESIA

Sinduk—Terrorist leader.

Oliver Muñoz—Husband of Senator Maria Muñoz.

Elena Muñoz—Daughter of Senator Maria Muñoz.

Emily Schmidt—Wife of Senator Gunther Schmidt.

Kyle Schmidt—Son of Senator Gunther Schmidt. AUSTRALIA

Leonard Thurman—Doctor at Royal Darwin Hospital.

Paul Wheatley—Electrician.

Harry Knoll—Electrician.

Sam Carter—Royal Australian Air Force airman.

Todd Wilson—Royal Australian Air Force airman.

Burt Gulman—Nhulunbuy harbormaster.

Sawyer—American hunter.

Bob Parsons—U.S. Marine and hovercraft pilot.

Renee Labelle—Friend of Parsons’.

Victor Ormond—Archaeologist. CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

Langston Overholt IV—The Corporation’s CIA liaison. SHIP CREWS

Raymond Wilbanks—Captain of the Shepparton .

Gabriel Rathman—Captain of the Centaurus . SHIPS

Salacia —Roman bireme.

Oregon —The Corporation’s flagship.

Dahar —Kuwaiti oil tanker.

Namaka —American research vessel.

Empiric —Australian research vessel.

Ocean Protector —Australian Defence Force vessel.

Marauder —Trimaran.

Shepparton —Australian cargo ship.

Marsh Flyer —Hovercraft transport.

Centaurus —Cargo ship.

Thai Navigator —Ore carrier.

ONE

STRAIT OF MALACCA

Captain Omar Rahal tracked the small boat racing across the placid waters of the narrow strait. It was approaching his California-bound oil tanker from dead ahead, and far too quickly to be a fishing boat. He’d tried to raise them on the radio, but there was no response. It meant only one thing.

Pirates.

Using his binoculars, he could see that the boat was full of men armed with guns, but there was nothing he could do to avoid them. The Dahar was more than 300 meters long, and the strait between Malaysia and the Indonesian island of Sumatra was barely three kilometers across at its narrowest point. The ponderous ship would be impossible to turn around, and the speedboat would easily outmaneuver any attempt to ram it.

“Increase to full speed,” he nevertheless told the executive officer. “We’re not going to make the Dahar an easy target.” Such high velocity for a ship as big as theirs was risky in these tight confines, even with calm seas, but he couldn’t let them hijack his ship without doing something.

As the XO ordered full power, Rahal activated the shipwide intercom. “Now hear this, men. We have hostiles off our bow. They are armed and mean to board us. Initiate emergency lockdowns and go to your action stations. Do not, I repeat, do not attempt to fight them.” He didn’t want any crew members to die on his watch.

The boat passed behind the bow of the Dahar so that Rahal could no longer see it. He went to the port bridge wing so he could watch for it over the side of the ship.

They came back into view, and he could now make out seven men clad in T-shirts and armed with automatic rifles. There had to be an eighth driving, hidden by the roof of the tiny wheelhouse. The boat circled around so it could match the tanker’s speed. Rahal spied a man holding an extendable ladder.

He called to the XO. “Activate the SSAS alarm.”

The XO flipped open a safety cover and pressed a large red button. The Ship Security Alert System was a silent alarm that contacted the ship’s base of operations to inform them that a hijacking was in progress. It ensured that the hijackers would not be warned that help had been summoned.

A few seconds later, the bridge phone rang. Rahal picked it up.

“This is Captain Rahal on the Dahar .”

“Captain, this is operations headquarters. We are calling to verify that you have an emergency in progress.”

“Affirmative. This is not a false alarm.” Rahal recited the code sequence verifying his identity. “Seven or eight armed men are preparing to board us.”

“Understood. We have your position and will contact the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency and the Indonesian Sea and Coast Guard. Stay on the line as long as you can. Are there any ships in your vicinity that could render aid?”

“What do we have on our radar?” Rahal asked the XO.

The XO peered at the radar screen and shook his head in dismay. “The closest vessel looks to be a freighter thirty kilometers behind us.”

“Even if we stop, it would take her two hours to get here,” Rahal spoke into the phone. “What’s my ETA on the Coast Guard?”

“The MMEA is scrambling a helicopter in Johor, but the soonest they’ll make it to you is ninety minutes. Stay calm and do not resist the hijackers. Help is on the way.”

Rahal smirked at the XO. “‘Help is on the way,’ he says.”