Chapter 29
So Jake Harper wasn't going to make it after all. Crane felt slightly disappointed. He wouldn't get to kill him now but there could be other opportunities in the future. Crane was still delighted to have the privilege of beating up the bitch inorder to make his handler's threat sound plausible. His handler, whom he had come to know as Will Frankfurt, had devised a plan that would ensure both the delivery of the codes and guarantee Crane's revenge. He strode through the ships halls, planks groaned beneath his boots as he pulled pressed on. He nodded at the guard who stood outside Will's door. He wore black cargo pants, black boots a utility belt with several fragmentation grenades, a side arm and a switchblade, he also wore a black cloth above his head that left only the eyes exposed. How was the man breathing? Crane wondered the same thing. He carried an HK automatic rifle and stood at attention. He didn't wear Kevlar and Cain realizes that all the guards on board the ship wore no Kevlar. Will's door was made of wood—and so was every door—and it consisted of a round window as well as a sunken doorknob for sliding the door open.
Crane stood at the door and knocked.
"Come in," he heard Will say and he slide the door open and entered inside the tidy room that had a small couch on one side, a glass table at the center of the room, a swivel chair without wheels where Harriet sat with her hands bound against the back rest and her feet bound against the spinning mast of the chair. Her face was bruised, her right eye was swollen and black, blood trailed from the corners of her mouth and upon seeing her Crane smiled appreciating the work he had done.
Will sat behind a desk just in front of the room, he had a white patch on his nose and his eye looked slightly swollen, the desk had nothing on its surface except a red cloth and a bottle of charred whiskey. Crane also took note of the other two similarly dressed guards who stood at attention with the HK's ready to fire.
"What can I do for you?" Will asked
"I want to know if my revenge is guaranteed," Crane eyed the woman in the chair grudgingly and similarly Harriet glared at him with pure rage. Will eyed him slyly and smiled.
"100% guaranteed," Will assured.
"Great I'd love to kill the bitch now," Crane demanded.
Will's shifted to that similar to a grizzly bear before he said, "She lives…for now."
Crane's jaw hardened. He just couldn't understand why his handler was keeping the woman alive. Her team was bringing the codes so why was it such a big deal when all the had to do was kill Harriet here, kill her team, get the codes and get the hell out of America to carry out the plans of Tonitruum. It was as simple as that.
"Fine," Crane answered tensely and for a moment there was a hard staring contest between him and Will.
A knock at the door broke their contest. "What is it?" Will asked
"They're here sir," some replied from behind the door.
"Excellent," Will said, "Crane come with me. You too keep an eye on her if she tries to escape kill her with no remorse"
Harriet eyes stared blankly at Will.
The devil shows he's true colors, she thought as Will and Crane stepped out of the room and slid the door shut behind them.
"Rick you dumbass," she whispered and hang her head low.
Will and Crane were joined by five other guards along the way, the guard who stood outside his office door remained where he stood. It seemed like a lot of security for just one prisoner but Will knew Harriet too well that he didn't think that way. They exited to mid deck and emerged on the upper deck of the ship. It was still dark but the sounds of some birds were already reverberating through the air. The walked onto the jetty and walked on the wet concrete. It was a quiet environment, wooden crates were stacked here and there, to the right were dock ships both fishing as well as commercial. The waves hit calmly against the concrete walls at the edge of the concrete path. A hundred metres away stood Rick, Dash and Aubrey. No sign of Jake Harper as expected. Will had made sure to check the hospitals thirty minutes after he made contact with Harriet's team, turns out Rick had been telling the truth after all. A motor boat engine sounded in a distance but it quickly died down probably the early fishermen.
"Glad you made an appearance!" Will shouted and stopped his convoy stopped beside him too. "I was starting to think you weren't going to make it"
"Don't bullshit me!" Rick said
"Fine then. Let's get down to business," Will said casually, "hand over the case."
"Didn't your grandparents teach you how barter works!" Rick taunted. "Harriet for the codes otherwise no deal!"
A red dot appeared on his chest as well as Dash and Aubrey's. There were three other guards on the top deck had their rifles trainee on them with laser target precision.
"Shit," Dash said.
"You have no say in this Rick!" Will shouted, "Either I shoot you down and get the codes from your dead hands or you hand over the case and I let you leave"
They should have expected a twist like this yet this whole time Rick was being driven by his emotions that he couldn't think straight and now he going to get his friends killed.
"I'm really sorry I got you into this mess guys," Rick said
"Hey it's our fault too," Aubrey said
"Yeah we should have anticipated an ambush like this," Dash clapped Rick's shoulder. Rick managed a half smile he was grateful to have loyal friends such as these.
"It has been and honour serving with you," he told them and stepped forward with the briefcase. It didn't matter whether they handed the codes or not because in the end they'll still end up dead one way or another.