Страница 20 из 124
Kate started to move, but by then it was too late.
At the far end of the chopper deck, one of the cameramen had opened a case, pulled out a sh toрort, stubby tube, and flipped up some kind of eyepiece. The State Department chopper was still circling overhead when a rush of flame erupted from the stubby tube. Something belching white smoke shot from the tube and tore through the air toward the chopper.
A missile.
The trail of the missile stretched out like white taffy. Then there was a loud whump, and what had been a helicopter was now a ball of flame, spewing randomly shaped black debris that slammed into the steel superstructure of the Obelisk. Within moments the chopper hit the water, rolled once, then disappeared, swallowed by a twenty-foot wave.
“Oh my God,” the press attaché whispered.
Kate turned to see the cameramen and journalists all stooping simultaneously, throwing open their cases with the precise coordination of dancers in some lethal ballet.
There was no camera equipment in the cases. As the camera crews stood, they were all holding guns. Kate recognized them as AK-47s, the kind with the big curved ammunition clips.
The two marine bodyguards and the Secret Service man were raising their weapons when the counterfeit news crews opened fire. The noise was deafening.
The two marines and the Secret Service man dropped like bags of meat, blood erupting from their necks, faces, and bodies.
One group of terrorists started roughly rounding up the rest of Kate’s on-deck crew, as a second group broke off, quickly descending the stairs toward the lower decks, sweeping and taking ground as they did. Using the chaos as cover, Kate started moving toward the second stairwell to try and warn Parker’s group, when she found herself face-to-face with Ransom. She gestured for him to come with her, when she noticed he was holding an automatic pistol. And it was leveled point-blank at her head.
Kate’s brain went into overdrive, trying to absorb what was happening. It became apparent to her that Ransom—or the man who’d claimed to be Ransom—was actually in charge when he addressed everyone on deck. “Listen to me carefully, because I’m only going to say this once,” he said. He wasn’t shouting, but his voice carried. “No one else needs to die.” He prodded one of the dead men contemptuously with his toe. “This was stupid and u
“Please don’t kill me, please don’t kill me—” Tina whimpered.
“Shut up, Tina,” Kate snapped.
Tina stopped talking. Kate confronted the lead terrorist. “What do you want?”
“You’ll find out soon enough,” he said.
“You’re not Cole Ransom. So who are you?”
“You can call me Abu Nasir.”
Kate felt a cold fear rising inside her. The man Senator McClatchy claimed had bled Trojan Energy for almost fifty million dollars over the last year was now seizing her rig. Her fear suddenly gave way to a primal anger when she heard a burst of gunfire nearby, followed by the desperate screams of men whose voices she recognized as members of her crew. “Leave my people alone, you son of a bitch—”
She lunged toward Abu Nasir, her fingers reaching for his eyes, but he sidestepped her easily and swung his gun-weighted fist across the side of her head, and she went down like a steer in a slaughterhouse.
Kate blinked hard, trying to squeeze the stars from her eyes as she was pulled to her feet by a large Asian man whom Abu Nasir called Chun. She felt her head. A tender knot was already rising under her hairline, where she’d been struck.
“Take Ms. Murphy to B Deck with Stearns and Prejean. Place Deputy National Security Advisor Parker in the stateroom. And after you finish rounding up the rest of the crew, put them in the mess hall.”
Kate saw four of Abu Nasir’s men down on the drill deck, wrestling with the large steel box that she’d seen them rolling across the chopper deck just a few minutes earlier. They were attaching it to the crane used to move drill pipe, winching it down through the drill shaft to some lower point on the rig. The men seemed completely comfortable and familiar with the equipment on the drill deck.
It was quite clear to Kate that whoever these people were, they had extremely good intelligence. They knew the design of the rig, and they knew who was on board.
Earl Parker eyed Abu Nasir. Then he spoke, his voice quiet but full of a calm authority. “I would prefer that you put me with everyone else. As the senior United States government official on this rig, I have a responsibility to take care of these people.”
Abu Nasir turned and eyeballed him with amusement. “You’d prefer?”
The bearded American slapped the older man across the face so hard that his glasses flew off. A thin trickle of blood ran from the corner of his lip.
Earl Parker continued to meet Abu Nasir’s gaze.
“All right then, Tillman. I insist,” Earl Parker said. Again, his voice was not loud. But it carried.
Abu Nasir laughed.
Earl Parker said, “All that I’ve done for you, Tillman . . . and you repay me like this?”
The American slapped him again, even harder this time. Earl Parker staggered backward, and his eyes lost focus. “Take this old bastard down to the control room, Chun,” Abu Nasir said, “while I decide whether or not to shoot his ass.”
The big man whom Abu Nasir had referred to as Chun quickly cuffed Earl Parker’s hands behind him with flexible plastic cuffs, then steered the now compliant deputy national security advisor away.
Abu Nasir surveyed the remaining people on the deck and said, “Anybody else feel the need to share any questions or concerns with me?”
Nobody spoke. Kate’s stomach churned.
“Good.” He turned to one of his men and said, “Round up any strays and get them to the mess hall. In the meantime, take Stearns, Murphy, and Prejean down to my cabin on B Deck.”
Heads nodded.
Tina raised her hand, ducking her head obsequiously. “Um, sir? What about me?”
ghtр
Abu Nasir blinked. “What about you?”
“Don’t I go with the VIPs?”
Abu Nasir looked at her curiously. “Don’t you go with the VIPs? Hm. Would it reflect badly on you if you had to rub shoulders with the hoi polloi? Is that the point of your question?”
Tina smiled weakly. “I just meant . . .” Her words died in her throat as Abu Nasir drew his pistol and shot the young woman in the head, then pushed her with his foot. She rolled once, then flopped over the side and fell into the ocean. The wind gusted, died, gusted again.
“Folks, I want you to understand something,” Abu Nasir said, smiling genially. “Any questions you might have, you’re going to get the same answer. This.” He waggled the pistol in front of them. “Do what I tell you, and don’t ask questions. We clear?”
Everyone nodded. Kate wanted to rage at him, wanted at least to raise her eyes from the deck. But she knew that it wouldn’t do any good. Right now she needed to focus on protecting her crew. And she couldn’t do that from the bottom of the ocean.
“Good.” Abu Nasir motioned with his head toward the stairs. Kate followed Stearns on rubbery legs as they headed back across the chopper deck.
Chun steered Earl Parker to the control room down on the drill deck, pointed silently to a chair, then stood by the door. Parker stared sullenly at the big man, who looked off at the ocean. The skies were low and dark, and the waves were so huge that you couldn’t quite make sense of just how big they were.
According to the last weather forecast Parker had seen, the typhoon off the Philippines wasn’t supposed to hit the rig. But it sure looked nasty out there. Maybe the forecast was wrong.
After three or four minutes, the muscular bearded American walked through the door, a pistol thrust into his belt.
“Can anyone see us?” Parker said.