Prepared For Rage

"I was in the av shack, getting another pair of binoculars. I heard some fu

"We got some bad guys on board, trying to shoot down the space shut-tie, I think."

There was a startled silence.

"No, I'm not kidding," Cal said fiercely, "and this is not a drill."

Recovering, Noyes said, "How the hell did they get on board?"

"There was a freighter-never mind that now. I don't know how many of them there are, ten or twelve, I think, but they've got the bridge and CIC and I'd guess Main Control, too. All our communications are out, I can't yell for help."

He spun around and felt for the door to the gun locker. "Is there anyone else in the av shack?"

"No. Captain, why don't we just stick our heads out the door and yell for the crew?"

"Because the crew can't shoot back. Yet." Cal 's fingers felt for the lock.

"Do you want me to turn on a light, Captain?"

"No! No." He found the lock and delved in his pocket for the massive ring of keys he always carried.

It wasn't there.

He felt the other pocket.

The key ring wasn't there, either. "Goddamn son of a bitch." They must have fallen out of his pocket during the fight.

"Captain, hold up a minute. We've got the radios in the helo."

Cal 's hands stilled. He hadn't even thought of the helo's radios.

AKIL GAINED THE BRIDGE TO FIND ALL QUIET UNDER THE WATCHFUL EYE of Yussuf, who greeted him with a triumphant smile. On the gun deck forward, the barrel of the 76mm had been trained on the sky over the shuttle.

They could have destroyed it on the ground, but Akil wanted to hit it in flight. According to Bayzani and to Riley, with the automated tracking gear installed during the ship's last refit, it shouldn't be a problem.

The shuttle's destruction would produce the maximum amount of shock and horror in the viewers. Millions would be watching; online, on television, later on the news cha

When they were done they would know two things they hadn't known before.

One, that no one was safe from him and his forces. No one was beyond his reach.

And two, that henceforward Isa and Abdullah were names of respect, of awe and admiration, names to be taken seriously by every Western nation in the world.

NO ONE ON THE HANGAR DECK WAS AWARE ANYTHING UNTOWARD WAS happening elsewhere on the cutter because no one on the hangar deck could hear anything over the multiple boom boxes playing everything from Dave Matthews to the White Stripes. The 76mm was forward, that was where the attention of the terrorists would be concentrated. The hangar deck and his people were aft. For the moment, Cal wanted it kept that way. He didn't think his crew would panic but he didn't want to test the thesis, either.

He and Noyes walked to the helo at a casual pace, Cal unable to refrain from taking a look over the port side at the shuttle gleaming white and brave under the lights.

Noyes opened the door of the helo and slid inside. "Shit," he said a few minutes later. "The radios are dead. They've already been here. Somebody had some good intel, Captain."

"Yes, they did," Cal said. He sca

He looked at his watch.

"There can't be that many of them, Captain," Noyes said urgently. "We can rush them."

"They've got hostages," Cal said, "the Munros, BMC, the XO on the bridge. The watch standers in Main Control and CIC. They've killed Myers and I think everyone on the boat crew and they're not out of ammunition."

"They'd rush the bridge."

"I know they would. I don't want them to."

"How about rushing the 76mm?"

"They've got people on the doors leading to the gun deck."

"But we can't let them take out the shuttle."

"Did they just take out communications, or can you still get this bird in the air?" Cal sca

Noyes flicked a few switches. His frown cleared. "I think she'll fly, sir." He looked at Cal. "But sir, there isn't enough time to fly to shore and get help. The shuttle launches any second now."

"I know."

Noyes looked confused at first, and then he understood. His face changed in the reflected glow of the lights on land. "Oh. Shit. You want me to be a hero."

"If I knew how to fly it, I'd fly it," Cal said.

Noyes, amazingly, gri

"Will it do enough damage to get the job done?"

"You said you think they're not going to start shooting until after the shuttle launches. Do you know what spiking a gun means?"

"Yes," Cal said, and realized what Noyes meant. "Yes!" There was another way, a better way, and maybe no one else would die.

They conferred hurriedly and came up with a plan.

"There's only-"

"What?"

"They could shoot us down."

"I haven't seen anything bigger than a.22 pistol. They're traveling light. If you can stay out of range until the last minute, and if you're willing to take the risk-"

"Let's do it," Noyes said.

Cal looked at the crowd, and then at his watch. Six minutes. "We have to clear the hangar deck. Oh, Jesus. And we have to get rid of them."

"Them" was the CNN crew, now snaking its way through the crowd on a dead reckoning for the helo. "Start the engine, that'll get all the bright ones moving," Cal said, and slammed the door shut. He grabbed the first crewman he saw, which turned out to be FS2 Mellot. "FS2."

Startled, she said, "Captain?"

He looked past her. "SKC? YNC? Come here a minute." He led the food service officer and the two chiefs away from the helo, along the way collecting MK3 Ochiai and DC2 Milton, all reliably levelheaded crew members. "We need to launch the helo. Never mind why, it's an emergency, just help me clear the hangar deck. And folks? We have armed hostiles on board. Let's not attract any attention. As quietly as possible, please, get everyone down on the fantail. Now!"

ON BOARD SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR

"T minus thirty-one seconds. Go for auto-sequence start."

Her mouth was dry and her heart was racing. Cal, Mom, Dad, she thought, watch me fly.

ON BOARD USCG CUTTER MUNRO

The rotors were begi

He fought with an intransigent buckle on one of the tiedowns and swore out loud. The buckle came free and he threw the tiedown over the side to follow the first three. The last thing they needed was some piece of debris getting caught up in the rotors' backwash and he didn't have time to run anything back to the hangar.

Onshore, clouds of steam were begi

Camera lights went off like popcorn all along the main deck. He risked a look around the corner of the hangar. Was that a dark figure he saw slipping from shadow to shadow? They couldn't all hit the Darwin sorter, worse luck.

He duckwalked beneath the rotors and climbed in the back of the helo. Noyes was taking off as Cal 's foot left the deck.

Munro fell away beneath him.

ON BOARD SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR

"T minus ten seconds. Go for main engine start."

"Five… four… three… two… one…"

The hold-down bolts blew and they were hit with seven million pounds of thrust from two solid rocket boosters and three main engines.