KILTED DESIRE 3 - New Blood (22 page)

   He returned to the cabin, Tiffany was just waking up. He didn’t mention anything to her about the men on the stairs. Instead they sat out on their balcony for a while before venturing out for another afternoon of fun around the ship. Once again they met up with their regular teammates and won the afternoon quiz. Later that evening after dinner, they met up with Brandon and Shara in the bar. It was a casual dress night, as most people had already started to pack their suitcases for disembarkation the following morning. They were due to dock in San Francisco at 8:00 a.m. Scott and Tiffany were just wearing jeans and T-shirts, as were Brandon and Shara. There were a few men around who were dressed in shirts and ties, and ladies in dresses. On the whole though, it was probably the most casual night of the voyage.

   Scott and Brandon were busy chatting, and sharing email addresses and cell phone numbers. They planned on keeping in touch, as they lived relatively close to each other, and had so much in common. The ladies were excited about staying in contact too. Shara wanted to know details about the wedding and was excited about the new baby. It was around 11:00 p.m. that night when they said their ‘goodbyes’. They knew there was a chance of seeing each other in the morning, but had said farewell, just in case. Scott was disappointed that they hadn’t seen Lauren that evening, but they had to be up early in the morning, so needed to head to bed. Hopefully they’d bump into her sometime in the morning, he thought.

   Later, as Scott and Tiffany lay cuddling in bed, she put her hand on the side of his face.

   “Scott, I have to tell you something,” she said
, sounding a little scared.

   “What’s wrong Tiff?”

   “I have a confession to make. Don’t worry it’s not anything bad. I should have told you sooner though, but I was waiting for the right time,” she said as she lay flat on her back.

   “What is it?” he asked, as he rolled over on to his front and lifted himself up onto his elbows. It was fairly dark but he could make out her features, he moved his face in close to hers.

   “Well, do you remember the day before we left for the cruise?”

   “Aye, I had to go oot fer a few hoors.”

   “Yeah, well, I got a call from the hospital. They had a cancellation, and they asked me if I wanted to go in to have my ultrasound scan done that day,” she said sounding apologetic.

   “And, yer were too excited tae say nae!” Scott said holding her hand.

   “Yeah, I’m sorry. I know you wanted to be there.”

   “It’s fine Tiff, If I was in that position
, I’d have been excited too. As long as he’s healthy, that’s all that matters.”

   “Thanks Scott, that’s why I love you,” she said sounding relieved.

He moved in closer and kissed her gently on the lips.

   “So yer know the sex then?” he asked, sounding excited.

   “Yeah I do, and I’ve been dying to tell you.”

Just then, they were interrupted by the captain’s voice, over the loud-speaker system.

‘LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,
THIS IS THE CAPTAIN SPEAKING. PLEASE PAY ATTENTION. THIS IS AN URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT. I  AM DEEPLY SORRY THAT I HAVE TO TELL YOU ALL THIS, BUT EARLIER THIS EVENING, OUR SHIP WAS HIJACKED BY TERRORISTS. AT THIS MOMENT WE ARE UNCLEAR WHAT THEIR MOTIVES ARE, BUT MY OFFICERS AND I ARE BEING HELD HOSTAGE AT GUN POINT. THEY HAVE TAKEN OVER THE NAVIGATION OF THE SHIP, BUT WE STILL REMAIN ON OUR ORIGINAL COURSE. FROM WHAT I UNDERSTAND, WE WILL STILL ARRIVE IN THE BAY AREA JUST AFTER 7:00 A.M. UNFORTUNATELY, THE TERRORISTS ARE FROM OUR SHIP’S OWN SECURITY CREW, SO WE HAVE NO PROTECTION FROM THEM, NOR DO WE HAVE ANY OPTION BUT TO COMPLY WITH THEIR DEMANDS. THEIR LEADER HAS ASSURED ME THAT NOBODY WILL BE HARMED, AS LONG AS EVERYONE REMAINS CALM AND DOES WHAT THEY SAY. LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY IN YOUR STATEROOM, PLEASE RETURN THERE NOW. IT IS 11:45 P.M. AND THEY HAVE TOLD ME THAT ANYONE SEEN IN A PUBLIC AREA LATER THAN MIDNIGHT WILL BE SHOT ON SIGHT. SO ONCE AGAIN, PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR STATEROOM IMMEDIATELY AND STAY THERE UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT APPLIES TO ALL CREW MEMBERS AS WELL, PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR QUARTERS IMMEDIATELY. ONCE AGAIN, THIS IS NOT A DRILL. ALL PASSENGERS AND CREW, PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR ROOMS IMMEDIATELY AND STAY THERE UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION.’

   “I knew something was wrong,” Scott said as he was getting dressed. He’d jumped out of bed as soon as he’d heard the words ‘hijacked’ and ‘terrorists’.

   “I’m scared Scott,” Tiffany said
as her body shook.

   “
Dinnae worry babe, there’s nae anything going tae happen tae yer, I’ll make sure of that,” he replied as he returned to the bed and held her close.

   “So what are you going to do?”

   “Can yer remember Brandon and Shara’s room number? I’m pretty sure the internal phones are still working!”

   “
Yeah, they were earlier this evening, I talked to her before dinner. They’re in 935.”

Just as Scott was about to make the call, the cabin phone rang. He picked it up.

   “Hello,” Scott answered.

   “
Scott, this is Brandon. What’s going on man?”

   “I was just aboot tae call yer. Can yer come u
p here to our cabin, bring Shara too. We’re in 1008, near the front, starboard side.”

   “Yeah,
we’re on our way.”

A few minutes later there was a knock on the door. Scott looked through the peephole before letting Brandon and Shara into the cabin. She immediately made her way over to the couch, where Tiffany was sitting and hugged her. Brandon stayed by the door with Scott.

   “So did yer see any of them on yer way up?” Scott asked.

   “No, it’s still a couple of minutes to midnight though. There were just a few passengers hurrying to their rooms. We did only come up one floor though. We’d
only just got back to our cabin a couple of minutes before the announcement was made.”

   “Are yer ready tae take the ship back?”

   “Absolutely, how many of them do you think there are?” Brandon replied excitedly.

   “
When Raju was on here, he told me there were 12 security guards on the ship. The terrorists came onboard on Saturday evening when we were in Mexico. They replaced  security guards so I’d imagine there’d be a similar number of them. I got a text from Raju before the phone signal went out. I think the chief security officer may be involved too. He’s a Chinese guy, I dinnae know his background. I saw three of the guys earlier today, they were all Middle Eastern. I’m presuming they were a sleeper cell based in Mexico.”

   “Okay, well it seems like an Al-Qaeda operation. If there are only 12
of them, then it’s a big ship for a dozen people to cover. And, if they’re covering all 14 decks then they’ll have to be alone, or in pairs at the most. We should be able to get around without being seen.”

   “Aye, that’s what I was thinking.
Plus there’s another four decks lower doon that they’ll have tae keep an eye on. I wish we knew what kind of weapons they had though!” Scott said, as he tried to work out a plan in his head.

   “Yeah,
speaking of weapons, we need something too. What about if we head down to the restaurants? There have to be some steak knives lying around in there!

   “Aye,
that’s a guid idea.”

   “What about cameras though? If they’ve taken over the bridge, they’ll be able to see us moving around,” Brandon
said sounding concerned.

   “I’ve been in the Bridge viewing area a few times. All I ever saw on the screens up there were outside camera shots from Deck 4 where the promenade deck is, and up top on Deck 14. I never saw any internal shots. Although I’m sure there must be a few cameras, especially in and aroond the casino.”

   “Okay, well it’s after midnight now, shall we head down and see if we can find some knives?”

   “Aye, and hopefully we can see what we’re up against,” Scott replied as he walked over to the couch where Tiffany and Shara were sitting. He bent down on his knee and took Tiffany’s hand.

   “I’m going oot with Brandon fer a wee bit, we’re going tae see what’s going on. Dinnae worry, we know what we’re doing! Shara will be here with yer, and dinnae open the door tae anyone unless yer check and see that it’s us,” he said before kissing her hand.

   “Please be careful, Scott,” she replied with tears in her eyes.

Tiffany was upset, Shara was too, but she’d been in this position many times before. Brandon had been deployed several times since they’d been together. She didn’t like it, but she was strong, she’d help Tiffany cope.

   “Guid luck mate,” Scott said to Brandon as they walked towards the door.

   “You too bud, I think these guys have made a big mistake.”

   “Aye, they definitely picked the wrong ship at the wrong time. It’s nae going tae be easy but there’s nae way I’m letting them mess with my family,” Scott said defiantly.

   “The only easy day, was yesterday!” Brandon replied smiling as he offered his hand to Scott.

   “Who dares wins!” Scott replied shaking his hand.

  
The guys left the room and entered the long corridor. There was one corridor on each side of the ship, on the decks where the passenger’s cabins were. The vast majority of cabins had balconies, there were hardly any inside cabins. So, most of the internal rooms on these floors were for cleaning supplies and maintenance. They both knew that being spotted in one of these long corridors would be ‘bad news’ as there would be no escape from the terrorist’s bullets. They moved quickly to the stairs. There were four different flights of stairs on the ship. Spaced equally along the length of the vessel, each one had a bank of elevators close by too. Scott and Brandon were at the stairs near the bow of the ship.

   “So what do you think they plan to do with the ship Scott? It’s not like they can crash it
into a building!” Brandon whispered as they began to descend the stairs.

   “I would nae be surprised if they’d got the ship wired with explosives. They could blow a hole below the water-line and sink it. If that’s the case though then surely they’d do it
when we’re way offshore. Instead of after we arrive in San Francisco. Yer know what Al-Qaeda are like, they want maximum loss of life and destruction.”

   “Yeah, you’re right.
Although if they were going to do that, and they had control of the ship anyway. Why wouldn’t they have just done it? Why even force the captain to make an announcement?”

   “Guid point, I really dinnae know. Let’s just get a couple of knives and see if we can find one of them.”

  
They were soon down on deck 1. The ship was eerily quiet, like a ghost town. They made their way back carefully towards the aft of the ship, heading for a restaurant. Within a few minutes they’d both found more than adequate weapons in the deserted galley. It was half past midnight. They hadn’t seen a single person since they left the cabin. They’d already walked the length of the ship and seen nobody, so they climbed the stairs at the back of the ship, moving to deck 2.

   They started to make their way forward. Once again, it was completely silent and deserted. As they passed each bar and room, they checked for signs of life. It seemed as if everyone was taking the captain’s advice. About a third of the way along deck 2 was another staircase. Scott took a brief glimpse up the stairs, but didn’t see anything. They continued to move along, quickly arriving at the nightclub. Scott opened the door and went inside, it was quiet but the ‘disco’ lights were still on, flashing colors across the dance-floor. There was nobody in the club.

   Brandon moved forward down the corridor, closely followed by Scott. About 50 feet from the door to the nightclub, there was a woman’s black high-heeled shoe, just lying on the floor. As they passed it, they started to hear the faint sounds of what seemed to be someone crying. They moved towards the next flight of stairs and elevator bank, the crying was now louder, and there was an occasional scream. It was definitely a woman’s cries, and they were close.

   Scott and Brandon moved quickly to the doorway that led to the elevator and stairs. They got to the corner and peered around. It was one of the terrorists, and he was dragging a woman by her hair, towards the stairs. It looked like it was Lauren. She was crying and screaming. Her dress was ripped and she’d lost a shoe as he violently pulled her along. He had, what looked to be, an automatic rifle slung over his shoulder. They waited for a second to see which way the terrorist was going to go. He started to walk down the stairs, dragging her along behind. He had no regard or concern for her as she bounced down the stairs. He didn’t even look behind him as he pulled her along.

   Scott and Brandon had seen enough, they moved quickly and quietly to the stairs, checking to see if anyone was around. There wasn’t, so Scott quickly descended the stairs and prepared to jump the man from behind. He was being extra careful to try and avoid Lauren, but it wasn’t easy. Brandon was right behind him too. Scott threw himself on to the back of the terrorist and clamped his arm around the man’s throat. As he did this, he partially spun the terrorist around. The man’s arms were flailing as Brandon plunged a knife into his torso, under the ribcage and up into his heart. He was dead within seconds. Lauren was free. She was in shock, scratched and bruised, but hadn’t been seriously hurt. It was obvious that she’d been drinking though.