Piranha

“Why?” Juan asked.

“Because Kensit took over six QF-16 fighter drones over an hour ago. They took off from Tyndall Air Force Base and are headed in our direction. They should be almost directly above Kensit right now.”

Juan banged his fist in triumph on the arm of his chair. “That’s how he’s going to shoot it down.”

“I’ve got Overholt on the line,” Hali said.

“Patch him in.” Hali nodded, and Juan said, “Lang, did you get in touch with the president?”

“It’s not the president,” Overholt said. “He’s in Chicago this morning. But Vice President Sandecker is on his way back from Brazil.”

“Where is his plane?”

“It just passed over Haiti.”

“You need to get the pilot to turn around. Lawrence Kensit is about to bring Air Force Two down with drones he’s hijacked.”

“Oh, my God,” Overholt said. “We just got a flash report that the data feeds from six drones were lost as they were flying toward the Bahamas for a demonstration at the UNITAS naval exercise. They haven’t been able to make contact with either the drones or the chase planes.”

“If the drones are modified F-16s, they’ll be able to chase down Air Force Two unless their fuel is exhausted before they can intercept.”

“Convincing the Air Force that the vice president’s plane is about to be shot down by their own jets is going to be a tough sell, but I’ll see what I can do.”

The line clicked.

“Did you get that, Eric?” Juan said.

“Yes, and I might be able to help. I’m sending the transponder codes for both the drones and Air Force Two to Hali so you can track them. I got them off of Kensit’s remote control panel.”

“Good work.”

“That shot from Trono’s recording also might show Murph how to deactivate Kensit’s co

Juan nodded to Murph and threw him Trono’s phone. Murph caught it with one hand and began downloading the video from the phone to the ship’s computer system.

“Before you go, I have another troublesome issue for you,” Eric said.

“By all means,” Juan said, shaking his head. “We’re just twiddling our thumbs anyway.”

“I found a video of Admiral Ruiz taken last night.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know. It starts with an overhead shot of three ships, then zooms down to the bridge and there’s Ruiz talking on the phone. According to a sign on the bridge, the ship is called the Reina Azul. I think she’s speaking with Kensit and he was watching her.”

The Blue Queen, Juan thought. “Can you play back the conversation for us?”

“Yes, but you can only hear Ruiz’s part of it. Here it goes.”

Juan immediately recognized the dusky voice that threatened him just a week ago off the coast of Venezuela. Pauses interrupted her speech while she listened to Kensit.

They’re launched from a container, she said. No, even the Oregon will have trouble evading them. They’re called Carrier Killers for a reason . . . Don’t worry. The captains of the Maracaibo and Valera think we’re going into Port-au-Prince to pick up a huge load of cement bound for Puerto Cabello . . . Through a shell company. They have no idea I’m on board . . . I had my men attach bombs to their hulls during the night. There won’t be survivors or witnesses . . . Then I expect you to deliver . . . Yes, we’ll be there on time.

“That’s it,” Eric said.

“Not good,” Murph said as he watched Trono’s video. “Carrier Killer is the nickname for the Russian 3M-54 Klub antiship missile. It’s very hard to shoot down because it accelerates to mach three during the final approach to the target and has thrust vectoring for high-angle defensive maneuvers.”

This was sounding worse and worse to Juan. “Can the Gatling guns hit them?”

“If we’re lucky, but it’s not a sure thing. The Klub’s speed is over three times as fast as our own Exocets. I’d say the Metal Storm gun is our best shot.”

“Why the other two ships?” Max wondered. “Safety in numbers?”

Juan nodded. “Human shields. Ruiz knows we won’t attack unless we know which ship to sink.”

“But we’ll know as soon as they launch. Those tailpipes spew out a lot of smoke.”

“There’s something we’re missing,” Juan said. “Linda, get on the radar and keep an eye out for any three-ship convoys. I’ll control the helm from here. Wepps, be ready on the defensive weapons.”

Murph lowered the false doors hiding the radar-guided Gatling guns and raised the Metal Storm array into place on the deck. “Weapons ready.”

Juan thought about the names of the two ships Ruiz mentioned. Maracaibo was a large lake in Venezuela. It made sense that Ruiz would dupe cargo ships from her own country. It was possible that their guest Maria Sandoval knew one of the ship captains who was unwittingly serving as a decoy for Ruiz. She did say that the Venezuelan ship captains were a tight-knit group.

“Hali,” Juan said, “ask Captain Sandoval to join us in the op center.”

“After the great smuggling cover story we got her to swallow?” Max said in amazement. “She won’t believe that after seeing what we’ve got in here.”

“I have a feeling we don’t have much time left, we need to get her on the satellite phone. We’ll get her to pinkie-swear not to talk, if that makes you feel better.”

Max shrugged in acquiescence. “That’s a binding contract, as far as I’m concerned.”

“She’s on her way,” Hali said. “I’m putting the transponders up on the view screen.” A map of the Caribbean appeared with parts of Cuba, the Bahamas, and Haiti visible. Graphics of three red planes just north of Cuba was slowly converging with a blue-plane graphic northwest of Haiti. “That blue one is Air Force Two. The red ones represent three drones.”

“What happened to the rest of them?” Juan wondered.

“They must have crashed or we’d be getting a signal from them.”

“Murph,” Juan said, “tell me you can disable those drones.”

Murph was bent over his console in concentration and didn’t respond.

“Murph?” Juan prompted again after a few seconds.

Murph finally raised his head. “It looks like he’s controlling one of the drones manually and letting the other two fly on autopilot.”

“Can you interrupt the signal?”

“No, and I can’t take over the one he’s controlling manually. I wouldn’t have the right setup here to maneuver the plane anyway. But it’s possible that I could reprogram the autopilot.”

“Do it. At their current closing speed, we’ve only got ten minutes until those drones are on top of Air Force Two.”

Maria Sandoval was escorted into the op center and her eyes went wide as she took in the high-tech command bridge.

“Who are you people?” she said in awe.

“We’re the good guys, Captain,” Juan said as he rose to greet her. “And I need your help. I can’t explain everything that’s going on right now, but it seems that your friend Admiral Ruiz is going to try to sink us and I need to know where she is. Do you know the captains of the cargo ships Maracaibo or Valera?”

“Not the Maracaibo,” she said, “but Eduardo Garcia is the master of the Valera. I’ve met him a few times while we were docked in Puerto Cabello. He’s a good captain, though he’s a bit of an odd character.”

“It’s very important that we speak to him. I’m going to pass you to Hali and he’s going to help you get in touch with Captain Garcia. What we have to ask him will be better coming from someone he knows.”

“I’ve got an incoming missile!” Linda called out.

“What? From what direction?”

“It came over Île de la Gonâve to the south. Ruiz’s launch ship must be on the other side of the island. Our radar couldn’t see anything until the missile passed over the island.”

Juan cursed under his breath. She was using the same tactic against him that he’d used against her with the Washington by putting the island between them. He couldn’t fire back with his own missile because he didn’t have a lock on the target while apparently she had a clear lock on the Oregon thanks to Kensit and Sentinel.