Fair Winds #2
Rushing quietly down the corridor, he came to the engineer’s room.
The watertight door was left partially open.
Simo crouched low and peered inside. The engineer wasn’t visible, but Simo could hear noises like a movie was playing over the drone of the diesel engines.
He crept inside, his pistol at the ready.
Around the corner, Simo caught sight of the engineer.
His back was to him, and his hand was rapidly moving up and down as the computer screen was displaying two blonde women having sex with each other.
Simo felt bad for the man, but the alternative was worse.
With a sigh, Simo shot the engineer once in the head, splattering the beautiful, raucous blondes on the screen with the engineer’s blood and bits of brain.
Simo raced to the engine compartment and opened the watertight door with a spin of the wheel.
The loud sound of the engines washed over him.
He peered left and right and saw no one in the small compartment.
Simo examined the engines and followed the fuel lines, making small slits into the thick rubber, letting the diesel fuel leak onto the floor.
Moving over to the automated fire suppression system, he turned both Halon tanks’ valves to the ‘off’ position.
From deep inside his wetsuit, he pulled out a small explosive device, secured it to the fuel line with zip ties, and set the timer.
Rushing back through the corridor, Simo began pounding on the doors. Soon the men inside were yelling and trying to open their doors. Simo waited with his gun drawn and, as expected, the captain’s berth opened and a man holding a pistol stepped out. Three silent shots brought the man down.
Simo raced forward, pulled the dead man out of the doorway, and called out, “Mr. Iravani! I need your hands up! I am here to rescue you!”
“Ok…” came a nervous reply, “but… my wife is here, too.”
“What?” Simo barked.
Amir Iravani stepped forward with his hands held high. Simo looked inside the room and saw that the man was alone. “Where is she?”
“They brought her aboard when they locked me in here! I heard her crying earlier! She is in the next room!”
Simo rushed to the First Officer’s room and knocked hard on the door. Through the pounding and yelling down the hall, he heard a soft, diminutive voice answer in Farsi, “Bale?”
Simo motioned for Iravani. “Sir, this door is sealed shut. My intel stated that you were the only one to be rescued.” Simo watched the man turn pale and nearly break down.
Simo had to steady the man as his hands shot up, covering his face in horror.
Simo watched as the man’s hands dropped away, his determination set.
“I—I cannot leave without my wife. I would rather perish…”
Simo knew he could simply knock the man out and carry him away. He knew that Amir Iravani knew the same.
The man pressed his hands together in prayer and in desperation begged, “Sir, I implore you! Please! Please save my wife!”
“Ask her who else is in there.”
The man nodded and spoke loudly over the useless pounding of chairs against the sealed doors down the corridor.
“It is hard to hear her through the door and noise… I think she said that she is alone, as is proper,” Iravani stated.
“Fuck.” Simo sighed and looked at his watch. “In seventeen minutes this vessel is going to be on fire…”
“Please! Sir, I will do anything! Save her please!”
Simo stared at the thin, bearded man, reached out, and surprised him by grabbing him by his shirt and pulling him close.
“I will do everything I can. But here is the deal. You will be off this ship and in the water, or I simply take you now… alone. Agreed?” Simo watched as the man looked to the sealed door, swallowed hard, and looked at Simo.
With a sob, Iravani nodded his head. “Deal.”
“Tell her to turn on all the lights, stand away from the door, and wait.” Simo let go of Iravani as the man yelled through the door.
“She agrees.”
“Her name?”
“Oh. Effat.”
“Let’s move!” Simo replied and pulled Iravani down the corridor and up into the pilot house.
Simo heard Iravani gasp as he saw the dead ship’s captain.
Simo checked their position on the ship’s GPS.
With a spin of the wheel, Simo changed course, slowed their speed, and aimed the ship directly for Somalia.
Simo pulled out the ship’s telephone-like handset, checked the frequency, then removed a small digital recording device from his belt.
Simo held his lips to his finger at Iravani.
The man nodded and Simo depressed the handset ‘send’ button and turned on the digital recorder.
Broken English, with a heavy Somali accent, came from the recorder and into the radio handset.
Simo quickly secured it with tape as the demands were being yelled out of the device.
“We have your ship! We demand one million US dollars! We kill one hostage every fifteen minute! Do you hear?”
Simo let the recording play as he pulled Iravani out toward the stern of the ship.
Simo grabbed a nearby hooked gaff, eyed Iravani, and fished his trailing rucksack’s line up.
Grasping the wet rope, he hauled his bag close and heaved it aboard the ship.
He pulled out an emergency inflatable lifeboat, pushed Iravani away, and pulled the cord. A black two-man raft quickly inflated.
“Can you swim?” Simo asked.
“Y—yes… but Effat cannot. She fears water.”
With a sigh, Simo secured the raft’s line to the rail, tossed the raft behind the ship, then pulled it close. “I will lower you down into the raft. Hurry.”
With a nod, Iravani rushed to the rail and began lowering himself. With Simo’s help, he managed to drop into the raft.
Simo shouted down. “There is a light, there in the pouch. Turn it on and keep it shining toward the ship.”
“I’ll wait for you…”
Before Iravani could finish, Simo cut the line and watched Iravani’s panic-filled face stare, aghast, back at him as the raft floated away from the ship.
“I’ll be back,” Simo shouted and rushed back into the ship.
In the engineering room, Simo found what he needed. Grasping the acetylene equipment, he raced down the corridors. The men trapped inside were still pounding on the doors and screaming in Farsi.
Simo checked the time, slipped on the goggles, and lit the torch. He cut halfway through the door and checked his watch once more. Two minutes to detonation. “Fuck!” he yelled as he stared at the now-dead torch in his hand.
Amir Iravani stared in horror as the ship erupted in a ball of fire.
The stern of the ship blasted out of the water, ripping the steel ship in half.
In desperation, he grabbed a paddle and madly began paddling toward the burning, sinking wreckage.
Tears were streaming down his face as his arms burned from the effort.
As he closed in, the bow slipped under the dark sea, leaving only burning bits and pieces from the ship lighting the way.
Iravani dropped the paddle onto his lap, covered his face with his hands, and began crying, alone into the night.
“I told you to keep the light pointed at the ship,” Simo barked at Iravani.
Amir Iravani spun around and saw Simo in the dark water, pulling his wife in a life jacket toward the raft.
“EFFAT!” He gasped, grabbed the paddle, and began paddling like a madman toward his wife and Simo.
With a heave, Simo pushed the diminutive Effat up into the raft as Iravani grabbed her and embraced her with all he had.
“Ok!” Simo shouted. “Calm down before you both fall off!”
“Allah’s blessing on you! Thank you, Sir!” Iravani shouted and held his hand toward Simo.
“Just sit down and keep hold of your wife. I didn’t have time to get her out of her burka. She refused to take the damn thing off… Where is the light?”
“Oh! Here!” Iravani held up the light. “Will you be coming inside?”
“Not enough room,” Simo grumbled.
“Are there not sharks…” Iravani swallowed.
“Let’s hope they are all sleeping.”
“Yes.” Iravani nodded as he held onto his shivering, wet wife in the near pitch-black night.
Simo held on to the back of the raft and began moving them away from the wreckage. After several minutes of swimming, Simo paused as a single light flashed three times from under the water fifty meters from their position.
“What is that?” Iravani gasped.
“Your ride to your new home,” Simo chuckled. “I must warn you that they will be placing blindfolds on you and your wife, understand?”
“Yes.”
“Please explain this to Effat.”
Simo watched as a dark shape began to surface from under the pitch-black water. Simo began kicking hard and moving them toward the submarine.
“Ahoy!” came a voice from the sub.
Simo yelled out, “Simo here with plus two!”
“Two?” came the questionable reply.
“Yeah, two. You missed getting his wife, Effat,” Simo yelled back.
“STOP! Do not approach any further until we have confirmation!”
Simo stopped and pulled himself up the side of the raft, nearly sinking it. He grabbed the light and shined it on both Amir and Effat’s covered face. “Explain!”
“This is my wife!” Amir Iravani declared.
“Then why is there a problem? Where was she supposed to be?”
“Effat is my wife! She was with me when they abducted us in Northern Yemen. We have been married for nine years… why?”
“Wait.”
The voice from the ship called out once more. “Is Amir Iravani with you?”
“Yes. He matches his picture and description. It’s a little wet out here and I am tired…”
“Sir, we have an Effat Iravani under our protection…”
Simo suddenly had his pistol pointed at Effat. Iravani quickly covered her with his body. “Sir, I do not know what is happening. This is my wife.”
“Mr. Iravani insists that the woman here with him is Effat Iravani. You all need to figure your shit out. If I get bit by a shark out here, these two are going to be the next course. Understand?”
“Hold on, Sir. Ok… Permission to proceed.”