The crazed Liu demonstrated amazing upper-arm strength. He lifted Tiger and carried the helpless agent over to the table holding the nine statesmen. As he resecured the lock on Tiger’s neck, Liu’s line of sight swept the table, finally locking itself on the fear-filled face of the Japanese prime minister.
“Comrade,” shouted Liu, fighting to calm his heaving breath. “This brave fool willingly put his life on the line in your behalf. He knew the terms of this struggle. Yet before I execute the sentence, I’ll give you one chance to take this man’s place. It’s your decision, Comrade Prime Minister, for your actions will determine who shall live and who shall die.”
A look of shocked bewilderment filled the prime minister’s pale face.
Sweat poured down his forehead with such abundance that the round lenses of his wire-rimmed glasses became drenched. Directly behind him, a stunned Kristin appeared equally affected by this traumatic standoff, forcing her to use both hands to hold her father’s pistol steady.
Dennis Liu’s glance swept the terror-filled faces of the other heads of state, his eyes finally locking on the only other Asian seated before him. President Li Chen appeared close to tears, and Liu further tightened his grip on Tiger’s neck, all the while addressing China’s trembling young leader.
“Comrade Li, to think that all this is a direct result of your cowardly, illegal actions. The tragedy is that this isn’t your scrawny neck in my arms. But your time is coming, never fear.” Vince continued watching from the balcony, and his worst nightmare came to pass when the figure seated across from the Japanese prime minister spoke out.
“Stop this madness at once!” ordered the President of the United States.
“Oh, shit,” muttered Samuel Morrison, as all heads turned toward his chief executive.
Liu reacted to this unexpected outburst on the part of the President by first snapping Tiger’s neck with a single push of his hands, and then dumping the twitching corpse on the floor. There was gathering madness in the terrorist’s eyes as he coolly rounded the table, took the Clock pistol from Kristin, and aimed it at the chest of the American President.
“So the leader of this group of buffoons has finally summoned the nerve to speak. Tell me Mr. President, if that was one of your vaunted Secret Service agents, would you have condemned him to death, like the spineless prime minister just did?”
Kellogg and Morrison couldn’t believe what they were seeing — The President of the United States defiantly pushed back his chair and stood.
“What in God’s name do you hope to achieve with all this bloodshed?” he asked Liu, his tone pleading. “If you’ve got a legitimate complaint, speak your piece and we’ll do our best to deal with it. But this wasteful madness has to stop at once!”
The arrival of a swell forced the President to reach out and steady himself on the edge of the German chancellor’s chair. Liu managed to keep his balance without lowering the barrel of his pistol, and he faced the President and smiled.
“So you’re willing to step in and mediate my cause,” remarked Liu, a sudden calmness to his voice.
The President was hopeful that his plea was getting through, and he readily replied. “I’m willing to offer the full services of the United States of America to insure that your complaints are fairly dealt with.”
This proposition caused a demented peal of laughter to escape Liu’s lips. “Wonderful!” he exclaimed. “The very nation that desires to suck the life’s blood from my country, now wants to mediate a truce between us. How very fitting!”
Well aware that this dangerous encounter had gone far enough, Vince made the difficult decision to stop it. And the only way he could do so was to directly intercede himself.
“Mr. President!” he shouted, while pushing back his chair and standing erect. “Shut your mouth and sit down at once. Sir!”
Vince could hardly believe it when the President actually obeyed his brash order. Unfortunately, now the spotlight shone in his direction, with Liu’s initial reaction quick in coming.
“Ah, and what brave soul do we have up there?”
Before Liu could follow up this question, Kristin checked her watch and broke in. “Father,” she pleaded. “The Red Star is approaching!”
Dennis Liu seemed to suddenly forget all about Vince’s presence. Even his expression changed, as he lowered the pistol, checked his own wristwatch, and called out to Monica.
“Kristin is right. I have an all-important duty to fulfill before I can return and personally attend to this insurrection. I will leave all this in your capable hands, comrade. Don’t hesitate to shoot first and ask questions later. Because the next couple of hours could very well be the most important span of time that this planet has ever known!”
39
Watching the confrontations on the security monitors, what Ricky had to keep reminding himself was that this wasn’t fiction, but reality of the harshest sort.
To calm himself, he also followed Thomas Kellogg and Tuffs progress as they left the Security Room and headed below. He currently had them isolated on Four Deck, where a camera showed them headed aft.
Another video screen displayed a wide-angle view of the Hospital’s operating room. His father and Dr. Benedict were in the midst of an operation there, removing a bullet from the shoulder of the terrorist called Bear. Ricky knew that as long as he and his father were needed by the hijackers, their safety was all but guaranteed.
Yet another video screen showed the way in which a good portion of the crew had been detained. Dozens of ship’s officers, stewards, and other members of the QE2’s staff had been locked up in the Library. A rifle-toting sentry stood outside, with other terrorists arriving from time to time to escort various crew members to their watch stations.
With a random key strike, Ricky discovered another terrible scene. One of the terrorists was trying to rape a Filipino chambermaid. He hadn’t even bothered to drag her into one of the cabins — he was attacking her in an anteroom that directly adjoined a carpeted section of passageway.
He pinned her to a wall with his chest and knee, kissed her, and tore open her blouse. As her head shook back and forth, Ricky could imagine her screams of terror.
Then he saw down the adjoining passageway, a pair of uniformed crew members approaching, apparently completely unaware of the rape that was occurring ahead of them.
They looked familiar and when Ricky queried the computer to determine the location of the camera, he realized with a start just who they were.
As the words four deck-starboard aft passageway flashed up on the screen, Ricky manipulated the mouse, and the screen filled with a close-up of Thomas Kellogg and Tuff. They were about to pass right by the terrorist, and there was absolutely nothing Ricky could do to warn them.
Thomas Kellogg still had trouble comprehending how incredibly lucky he had been up to this point. To have successfully completed the HALO jump, only to bump into Tuff, as he had done, was an amazing streak of good fortune. Their chance encounter with Ricky Patton was proof that Lady Luck was still with them, for now they could proceed to the Engine Room without having to worry about being caught by one of the ship’s security cameras.
Eleven o’clock was rapidly approaching, and it appeared that they’d have plenty of time to get into position for the SEALs’ midnight arrival.