Boarding Party

Seconds pass like minutes as we stand frozen in the sand, listening for any sign that we might have been discovered during our murderous hunt. While I watch the yacht in the silver of the moonlight, Lou silently steps by me and into the water that is lapping at the beach. He doesn't make a sound as he glides into the knee deep, then waist deep water. He has wiped the diving knife and now returned it to the sheeth and is holding his pistol at the ready.

I am still, just the wind in my ears as the warm breeze off the water whispers up the beach. I watch as Lou clamps the pistol in his mouth and reaches up and grabs hold of the line that holds the ship to the beach. Now he works, hand over hand, until he is up to the bow, his climb rocking the KOZANOSTRA slightly with each swing. It is not discernable from the motion of the sea.
My turn. I wade out into the surf, make the rope and hold the forty-five in my teeth until I get a hand on the line. I use my free hand to pull the pistol and tuck it in my waist-band... too heavy to chomp on all the way out to the bow of this ship.
The rope is thick, almost too thick to get a good hold of. I feel my hands slip with every swing, only saving myself from falling with the new purchase a few feet up the line. Before I know it, I feel Lou's steel grip on my arm, helping me up and over the bow.

Nothing but silence as we crouch in the bow of the ship. There are no windows forward except on the upper deck. Near the anchor windless is circular alcove of seats that we dive into. There is a stark contrast between our dark appearance and the white of the gel-coat on the ship. We get as low as possible and check our weapons and clips. Both of our clips were dunked when we waded in. With a quick sling into the night air, the bulk of the water is cleared and we place them back in our pockets.
Lou gets behind me now and his hands come up, one across the front of me... cupping my chin, the other palming the back of my skull. He gives a quick movement to show me what would need to be done, then turns me to look at him. He repeats the motions, this time without my head as a visual aide. His motion is quick and forceful. This is what it will take to bring one of these men down silently.
Oh great.

We do a little recon work now, slipping down the side of the ship, crouching under windows... sneaking a peak to see if anyone is in the lounge or the galley. No one visible through the windows. There is a door amidships. We open it slowly and listen. There is a lot of commotion somewhere below decks, a group moving to the aft part of the ship.
"I'm going to cut her loose." Lou whispers in my ear. "That should add to the confusion." He pauses for a moment when we both hear yelling somewhere below decks. After a beat, he continues... "You make your way to the engines and disable them. When they come down to check it out, you take them out."
I look at him, "Okay. What are you doing again?"
"I will make my way back and see if I can take a few of these guys out to equal things out a bit."

With that, Lou is gone an I am crouched in an open doorway at the top of a set of steps. Oh shit. He obviously thinks I can do this... so I will. I take the steps slowly, stopping after the second one to recheck the round in my pistol, still there. Now more steps, circling around until I can see the carpeted passageway. I wait and watch for shadows coming or going but see nothing. I peer forward and then aft as quickly as possible, looking for any sign of these guys. This is all staterooms. I see no one, and no engine room. If there is a way to get there from here, I cannot see it. With a quick move I check each room looking for hostages, or bad guys, but find nothing but a cigar in an ashtray and a couple of half eaten sandwiches.
I have to find the damn engine room.

When I come up from below decks I can hear them now. They are yelling, screaming above the pain of their victim as he is mercilessly tortured. It makes my skin crawl. I look out the door and forward to see if Lou is still up front, but he has done his job and is making his way back, probably on the other side of the ship. There is an almost imperceptible movement as the yacht is pulled out to sea by the retreating tide.
I step back inside and enter the main salon. There, through the main room and out onto the fantail of the ship, I can see the pirates. There are five of them in view. Bear is tied to a metal chair and one of them holds a lit butane torch. They are shouting questions that I can't really hear, and then apply the torch to the under side of the chair until he starts to cook. I can't watch, but they can... and that is good for me. Crouching down I make the distance from the top of the steps to the side of the glass doors that will allow me access to another set of stairs. These should lead to the engine room... one way or the other.

The pirates egg each other on, yelling and screaming at the top of their lungs as Bear screams in agony. For whatever reason he hasn't given us up yet. Lou raised doubt in my mind about Bear, but it seems that he is keeping us his secret. But then it comes out... his reason. The pirates remind him that Agaki has been executed, and that he will be next if the truth does not surface soon. I think Bear knows all to well that he will not live. His only satisfaction is to deny these pirates what they want.
While they press him for answers, I crack the door and then slip out and into the circular stairway. As I descend I can hear them slapping him, trying to get him to regain consciousness. There is a curious smell of cooking flesh that I feel I will remember until my dying day.

At the bottom of the stairs I am standing in what must be the crew's quarters. There are voices coming from behind a metal door forward in the compartment. This must be the engine room. As I am contemplating my next move, the handle moves and the door opens. I dive into an open stateroom and try to hide. Inside this room I find Antonelli, thrown on the bed. His leg almost has me pissing myself it looks so bad. Blue from the knee down becuase of a lack of circulation, and the foot gone from above the ankle. There is some dark blood pooled in the bedspread, but he is not dead. I can see life in the slits of his eyes as they follow me around the room.
"Chris?" I whisper, "Can you hear me?"
There is a slight nod.
"How many of them?"
He opens his right hand twice, spreading it slightly.
"Ten?"
Another nod.
"We killed three on the beach. Are they part of the ten?" As I ask my question I can hear someone pissing in a head next to this stateroom. I hold my hands up and let Chris know that I will be back in a moment.
Beyond an open door is the pissing pirate. He is about my size with a rifle slung over his back and a pistol tucked in a broad leather belt. He has no shirt some ratty looking pants. The smell, like a Turkish prison, almost moves me back out of the small room. But I can't go. I have to take care of this... right now.
He is almost finished, just ready to tuck and turn, when I grab him simultaniously from the chin and the back of the head. I grab and pull, following through... so to speak. I snap his neck so quickly and brutally that it is two thirds of the way around and looking at me as the man expires. I drop him like I had just touched dog shit. It scares me how easy that went. I pull his body into one of the crew's bunks and pull the covers over him.

I return to Antonelli's room and he motions to the closet. He communicates to me to turn the bottom drawer pull. I do.
There is a rush of air moving a piston, and then a reveal shows itself with two Uzis and two extra clips. I load one and hand it to him. Without a word he slips it under the covers and then winks. I take the other, tucking my pistol away. I pocket the extra Uzi clip and pull the slide back. With that I leave Chris Antonelli to his fate and seek out the engine room.

There is a circular window in the metal door. I climb the two steps and peek inside. There is one man in the space. I must have just killed the other... his partner. If there were ten to begin with... three gone on the beach, five on deck, then this is the remaining man below decks. I slowly turn the latch and crack the door. There is a lot of noise in the engine room, a generator running to supply the yacht with electricity. When I step in the other man does not turn. He is expecting his friend to return.
The man speaks, something in French... I think. He still does not turn, but flips between blueprints that layout the different spaces and compartments of the ship. If I am going to do this again the time is now. My window of opportunity is quickly closing.
Now a question. He asks it a second time and begins to turn. I am almost on him, but now the element of surprise is gone. To my right is a fire bottle in a holder on a support beam. As I pull it from its spot the pirate sees me, but it is too late. I crack him across the face with it. Even though I have knocked a couple of teeth loose on the man, he still goes for a pistol as I am taking another swing. This one seems fatal as I whip the fire extinguisher across the top of his skull and he folds. His gun clatters to the ground and he follows. I grab an arm and drag him out of the center of the space... out of view of the small window.

The plan has changed a bit. I didn't have to lure anyone into the engine room. Disabling the engines would be a waste of time. I approach the metal door and take a quick look through the window as I start to turn the handle and stop in my tracks. Two more of the motley crew come down the steps from the upper deck and barrel into the stateroom holding Chris. The rapid gunfire from the Uzi stops their two heartbeats. The noise alerts the remaining pirates on deck. Two more race down the steps, stopping short of the doorway into the stateroom, pistols at the ready.
I burst through the metal door and spray both sides of the doorway with nine mil rounds from my Uzi. Two more down.
"Chris... you okay?" I think I whispered that, but my ears are ringing. I step over to the doorway and am careful to slowly show my weapon and then myself. Chris is holding the Uzi at arms length, the barrel still smoking. His eyes are wide with rage. He wants more. I hold up a finger. One more.

Up the stairs I go. I can hear the remaining pirate call out a name, then another. He repeats himself, but then falls abruptly silent. I make the landing on the next deck and then spy around the corner. I can see Bear's feet still tied to the metal chair, the pirates feet beyond his... almost standing on the tips of his toes, and a pair of familiar shoes behind them.

Lou holds the large knife to the man's throat, lifting him with the blade under the back of the jawbone. "You like cooking things you little motherfucker? Huh? I think those sharks out there will eat their meat raw."
"LOU... he is the last one."
There is a bit of a pause. Disbelief I guess.
"You killed the others? Are you sure?"
"Antonelli said there were ten. Three on the beach, two in the engine room, two that Chris mowed down, and two more I killed outside his room. Yep... that is the last one."
"Come here."
I stand and walk over the pair of them. Lou has that knife blade cutting into the first few layers of skin. If Lou makes any kind of move he will kill him.
"We may need to talk to this one." I say with the calmest voice I can muster.
Lou eases up on the man's neck. "Hold my knife."
I reach out and take it. Lou shifts his grip and traps the man in a sleeper hold that drops him to the deck. "We need some rope. He will only be out for a moment or two."

After we have hog tied the pirate and leave him on the deck we check out Bear. Lou finds a pulse but recoils at what has been done to him. Without moving him from the chair, we can already tell from the oozing of melted fat and blood that they have succeeded in burning off much of the flesh that was in contact with the metal chair. He is out of his misery for the time being, unconscious and barely breathing. We decide that Chris may be more of a priority, although it doesn't seem likely that either will live through the night.