“Father,” interrupted Kristin. “We need a doctor, or Bear’s going to bleed to death!”
Though his concerns were obviously elsewhere, Dennis Liu managed to tear his glance away from Max’s body. With vacant, glassy eyes, he looked out to the opposite balcony, where Vince and his party were seated.
“Dr. Patton!” he summoned urgently.
The silver-haired physician had no choice but to stand. He traded the briefest of concerned glances with Ricky and the rest of his table mates before crossing the room to attend to the wounded terrorist.
Vince meanwhile found himself anticipating more trouble, as Liu rushed down to the room’s main table. Not certain what he would do if Liu isolated his fury on the American President, he watched as the terrorist halted alongside the president of Russia.
Liu was still seething with rage. He grabbed the Russian statesman by the lapels of his tuxedo, and yanked him roughly to his feet. This in turn caused the remaining two Russian security agents, who were seated at an adjoining table, to also stand.
Liu laughed at this futile effort to protect their charge. He appeared to be taking sadistic pleasure from this tense encounter, as he jammed the barrel of his pistol up against the Russian president’s graying temple.
“I warned you,” he muttered angrily. “And you, my dear pitiful comrade, shall be the first head of state to pay for this act of folly.”
Vince feared that the blood would really start to flow now, and he looked on as Monica joined Liu at the center of the room.
“Why waste the bullet?” she commented haughtily. “Besides, the spineless idiot’s worth more to us as a living bargaining chip.”
“Max’s death has changed all that,” returned Liu. “Without his computer expertise, we’ll never be able to transmit the unlock codes back to Admiral Liu. So to hell with our original plan. I’m going to take great pleasure in blowing away each one of our special guests, before detonating the charge that will take this entire ship to her watery grave.”
“But, Father,” Kristin countered from the balcony, where she was watching Dr. Patton work on Bear. “How can we abandon our cause so readily?”
“Who said anything about abandoning it?” Liu replied. “Our martyrdom shall ignite the spark of world revolution!”
Kristin was desperate to refocus her father’s crazed thoughts. Her anxiety was obvious as she scanned the room. It was as her gaze passed over Vince’s table that she spotted a very scared Ricky Patton, and a thought suddenly inspired her.
“Father, we’ve got Max’s replacement seated right there on the balcony!
Dr. Patton’s son knows computers. He should be able to take Max’s place at the console.”
This alert observation hit its intended mark, and Dennis Liu relaxed his grasp on the Russian president’s tuxedo jacket. Once again he broke into a mad fit of laughter that ended after he disgustedly shoved the sweating Russian statesman back into his chair.
“Ricky!” shouted Kristin, her voice firm and urgent.
The young man didn’t really know how to react to the summons. Vince noted his confusion, and realizing that his presence could very well defuse this trying turn of events, nodded supportively.
“For the sake of all of us, Ricky,” Vince whispered. “You’ve got to do what they say. Just buy us some more time, and I promise you that we’ll figure a way out of this mess.”
Ricky was already traumatized by the events of this tragic day, and he stood tentatively, his injured leg rubbery. One of the on looking terrorists arrived at the table. Ricky was led at gunpoint over to that section of the balcony where his father continued working on Bear.
Dennis Liu and Monica Chang joined him there, and with Kristin close by, Ricky listened to her father’s forceful ultimatum.
“Young man, destiny has just selected you to take your place in history.
You need only to obey me and apply your unique skills to all that I ask.
In return, I promise on my own daughter’s life that no harm will come to your father.”
Liu halted at this point. He aimed his pistol at the kneeling physician, rammed a bullet into the gun’s chamber, and added: “And should you disobey me, or attempt in any way to intentionally sabotage our efforts, know that I won’t hesitate to put a bullet into your father’s skull. Do you understand me, comrade?”
Ricky nodded meekly.
“Kristin, I want you to escort him down to security,” said Dennis Liu in Mandarin as he lowered his pistol and handed it to her. “Have him help you with the operation of the video console. We only have a couple more hours to go until Red Star arrives overhead. I’ll be down shortly, to escort Comrade Patton up to the Radio Room, where he can begin getting familiar with the equipment.”
“Very well, Father,” replied Kristin, who somewhat limply held onto the shiny 45 pistol.
Dennis Liu reached down and tightened her grip on this weapon, saying, “Your vigilance is needed now more than ever before, daughter. Can I count on you to carry out this all-important task?”
“Of course you can,” she replied with renewed determination.
“Then get moving,” Liu whispered. “With no one down there monitoring the cameras, there’s no telling what other conspiracies are being hatched elsewhere in the ship.”
33
High above Liu, inside the auxiliary equipment stowage space on Signal Deck, Tuff listened intently as Thomas explained the exact nature of his mission. Of particular interest was the reason behind having to cut the ship’s speed below eight knots precisely at midnight. Just knowing that an organized rescue effort was about to be attempted, lightened Tuffs spirits. He was quick to offer his services, suggesting that before he showed Thomas the best way down to the Engine Room, they make a preliminary stop along the way.
Ever since making good his escape, Tuff had been busy secretly exploring the ship to see what they were up against. He carried out these clandestine recon missions by traveling through the QE2’s duct system whenever possible. His intelligence indicated that there were at least two-dozen terrorists, all armed with a variety of sidearms and submachine guns.
Thomas wasn’t all that surprised to learn that Dennis Liu was their leader, and that the majority of the weapons were smuggled in via the replacement gym equipment. After Thomas shared the nature of the strategic nuclear threat that the terrorists had conveyed to the Pentagon, Tuff better understood why most of the hijackers were Chinese, with the majority of them having been planted inside the ship’s Laundry.
Tuff had already witnessed the ruthless manner in which the terrorists operated, and had no doubt that their threats were to be taken seriously. His excursions had previously taken him up into the ceiling of the Queens Grill, where he was able to peek through a ventilation grating and confirm that both Vince Kellogg and the heads of state were still alive as of late that afternoon. Hunger pangs had directed Tuff past the kitchen, where the presence of several armed guards kept him from accumulating a proper stash of victuals. He instead had to make do with a raid on an adjoining storeroom, where the only available food was caviar and pate de foie gras.
Tuff pulled out a tin of expropriated pate that Thomas consumed while the Englishman further plotted out the exact logistics of their upcoming excursion. In order to reach the dual pitch levers and slow the ship without being discovered, Tuff recommended that they first disconnect the security cameras in the aft end of the Engine Room. To accomplish this feat, he suggested that they visit the equipment access space, where he had been working when he first learned of the hijacking.
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