Christopher Golde

    Chapter sixty one

           The Attack

Then I saw the lamb open one of the seven seals,
And I heard one of the four living creatures call out,
As with a voice of thunder, ‘Come!’ 

John                                        Revelation: 6.1

 

Date:            27th June 2002                                          Location:     Western Pacific Ocean off Japan

 

 
              Ieko Fujimo pointed at a boat that appeared on the horizon dead ahead. The chopper pilot next to him nodded in acknowledgement and the aircraft seemed to tilt forward in an attempt to gain speed towards the unsuspecting craft.

Fujimo spoke in Japanese to the rest of his crew seated in the rear of the aircraft through the microphone in his helmet.

“We are now approaching our target and should be able to land on its decks in approximately ten minutes. When we do land, it will be an aggressive assault so as to take them by surprise. Our target will be the main cabin which I will personally search. Kill any crew that attempts to resist and try to capture at least a few alive for interrogation”.

His orders finished abruptly as the pilot pointed to a blip on his radar screen.

“Another aircraft sir,” came the pilot’s voice in Ieko’s helmet, “departing the vessel. It looks like another helicopter.”

The Japanese cult leader cursed aloud. He suspected that it was probably carrying the information he was after.

“What should we do sir,” asked the pilot?

For a moment Ieko considered whether he should chase the other helicopter or attack the vessel. He quickly came to the conclusion that if they were to attack the other aircraft and win he would lose the information he needed. Better to attack the vessel he decided and hope that he can get what he needed from whoever was left aboard.

“Continue on towards the vessel,” he commanded.

He watched as the other aircraft quickly disappeared off their radar screen in the opposite direction. He hoped they had not picked him up on their radar, but then he knew they would not be expecting him. After all, he would never have found them, or know what King was up to if he had not had his spy on board the boat.

The jet black chopper came lower and lower to the bright blue water as they approached the vessel. It seemed that they were on a certain collision course when the skilful Japanese pilot lifted the aircraft's nose at the last minute and they rose suddenly to be positioned directly above the open midsection of the vessel.

Ieko pointed at the helipad located on the bow of the vessel and immediately their aircraft swooped down on to it and landed. The chopper had barely even touched down, when two black-clad and armed invaders bound from its open rear doors, weapons drawn, ready to fire on anyone who would dare to get in their way. Within seconds, four more cult members dressed in black and fully armed also jumped from the rear of the chopper and Fujimo removed his harness and helmet opening his side door.

“Wait here, hold your pistol ready to defend and keep the engine running,” he yelled to the pilot, who just nodded once in acknowledgement.

Ieko heard shots and an explosion, as he looked across the deck towards the large cabin area to see a black pall of smoke rising. He immediately alighted from the chopper, ducking his head while under the spinning propeller and ran towards the smoke.

As he came around the edge of the lower deck, the cabins came into sight and he saw two of his men attempting to open a cabin door and another unknown person lying still on the deck. When he saw the smoke rising from the other side of the boat, he assumed that was where the rest of the team was.

The two team members he could see, turned away from the door, ran and took cover around a corner. Suddenly, a deafening explosion ripped a large hole into the vessel where the door had once been.

Ieko quickly approached as the two armed assailants ran through the dissipating smoke and into the gaping hole. As Ieko entered the cabin himself, his two men were already through another door and had disappeared into the vessels internal passageways. He looked about and could see that he was in what looked like the main cabin. He inspected a large chart table which contained maps, diagrams, and notes.

‘Perhaps, what I am looking for is here somewhere,’ he thought, looking around the room. He saw a large telescope, a fixed compass, a fridge, a dumb waiter in the wall and a television monitor, but not one computer. ‘Damn, he has taken them with him. Surely he must have a computer.’

He heard the slight hum of a motor from somewhere in the cabin. As he began to walk towards the wall where the dumbwaiter was located, a voice came from behind him and one of his men re-entered through the passageway door dragging with him a beautiful Asian woman. Fujimo smiled and turned back towards them.

“Miss Pierce, I believe, what a surprise to meet you all the way out here in the middle of nowhere.”

Julie looked at him with disdain, trying to hide her deep fear of the Ong leader she had come to regard as an absolute evil human being. She pulled her arm away from the intense and painful grip of her captor, but he refused to release her.

“Let her go,” ordered Fujimo.

As her abductor let go, she held her wrist with her other hand and rubbed it gently.

“What is the meaning of this Fujimo,” she spat?

“I just thought I would pay a social visit to King San, it is so long since I have seen him”, he said mockingly, “He wouldn’t happen to be in would he?”

“He’s not here,” she replied, “so maybe you should leave.”

“I will leave Miss Pierce when I have what I came for and what is rightfully mine.”

She looked around the cabin but could not see Jason’s laptop.

“Something not here Miss Pierce,” sneered Fujimo?

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” she lied.

Suddenly they heard gunshots and shouting from out on the deck. Fujimo strode back to the gaping hole that had been a door and yelled at his henchman to bring her.

As they emerged onto the deck, Ieko could see a person in a wetsuit running towards the starboard edge with fins in their hands and struggling to carry what appeared to be a case. In pursuit were two of the cult invaders and they were yelling at the fleeing person to stop and firing in the general direction of the escapee.

One shot seemed to hit the runner and they fell to the deck but quickly regained their feet and kept running to the edge and in one single bound jumped over, disappearing from sight. One attacker ran to the edge, while the other retrieved the case the fleeing crew member had dropped in the fall. Soon the two had returned to Ieko, who waited expectantly with Julie and his other man by his side. Julie felt a rush of despair when she saw that one of them was carrying; Jason’s laptop.

“Well, well, well,” said Fujimo, smiling broadly, “what do we have here?”

“The other one jumped in the ocean,” said one of the assault team with a feminine voice, as she pulled off the balaclava and let her long black hair fall about her shoulders.

“Doesn’t matter they won’t last long out here,” answered the cult leader, “and besides we have what we came for,” he looked at Julie Pierce, “and even more.”

He laughed grabbing the laptop and walking towards his waiting aircraft,

“Bring her, kill anyone else you find and destroy the boat.”

Julie was grabbed roughly by the female assailant and the others smiled at each other and headed off in the direction of the cabins. Julie felt a tear form in her eye as she resisted the pulling of the female cult member.

“Jason, where are you?”