Bad Soldier: Danny Black Thriller 4 by Chris Ryan Read Free Book Online Page B

moved. It was up to Tony to help the remaining kids out of the hull.
    ‘We should check Santa and Rudolph are secure,’ Caitlin said.
    Danny didn’t take his eyes off Spud and Tony. ‘They’re not going anywhere,’ he said. ‘The Marines can take care of them for a bit.’ He raised his weapon and directed it down on to the Ocean Star . As he did so, he could feel Caitlin’s eyes on him.
    ‘It was just an accident,’ she said, rather uncertainly. ‘Tony wouldn’t—’
    ‘Tony wouldn’t what? There’s nothing Tony wouldn’t do. You should remember that. And don’t take your eyes off them, OK?’
    Danny was only half aware of the movement of personnel behind him on deck. He trusted the Marines to keep the frightened migrants in order. He stood like a grim statue, looking down on to the Ocean Star , the beam of his Surefire torch diffusing into the rain-filled night. Caitlin was three metres to his left, doing the same. Down on the deck of the smaller boat, Spud had got the remaining children to sit cross-legged by the wheelhouse while he stood sentinel beside them, as motionless as Danny, his weapon pointed towards the open section into which Tony had disappeared.
    Five minutes passed. There was no sign of Tony, and no word from him. The sea state was getting rougher. The rain harder. Danny couldn’t have been wetter if he’d jumped into the ocean. But still he didn’t move. What the hell was taking Tony so long? From his vantage point, Danny saw the occasional flicker of Tony’s torch down in the hull. How long could it take him to search such a small area?
    Tony suddenly appeared back on deck. The unit leader looked across at Spud, then up at Danny and Caitlin, who had their weapons trained on him. Danny couldn’t see Tony’s expression, but there was something in the way he hesitated for a moment that told him he knew he was being observed.
    ‘ Smells worse than an anchovy’s cunt down there ,’ Tony’s voice came over the radio, ‘ but it’s clear. Start sending them back down. ’
    Danny barely moved. He just turned his head to look at Caitlin. ‘Do it,’ he said. Then he went back to covering the Ocean Star in general, and Tony in particular. He didn’t care if it looked suspicious that he had his rifle aimed at his unit leader. And he didn’t care that Caitlin had to help the terrified migrants back down the precarious rope ladder by herself. Spud had asked him to watch his back, and he was going to do just that.
    It took a full thirty minutes to cross-deck the migrants again. It was grim work. None of them wanted to get back on to the Ocean Star . Many were sobbing. Some implored Caitlin to let them stay on the naval vessel, but they had their orders from Whitehall: every last migrant was to return to the boat. It left a bad taste in Danny’s mouth watching Tony force the kids back down into the dark, cramped hull. He wondered if Tony gave a shit, and as he kept his rifle trained on Tony’s back, he found his forefinger twitching occasionally on the trigger . . .
    ‘That’s the last of them,’ Caitlin said, as a tearful young woman made her way down the rope ladder. Danny glanced over to the isolation area. Sure enough, it was empty. Down on the Ocean Star , the crowd of migrants were face down on the deck again, being pelted by the rain. They were caught, surely, in the middle of their worst nightmare. Danny found himself hoping that they hit land safely, and soon. But he reckoned some of them wouldn’t make it through another night.
    It was time for Spud and Tony to get back on to the Enterprise . Spud climbed the ladder first. Tony stood at the bottom looking up at Danny, who made no attempt to hide that he was aiming his weapon directly at him. Once Spud was safely over the railings, Danny felt himself relax, just a little. His mate was out of Tony’s reach, for now. Danny kept watching Tony, though, as he pulled a knife from his ops waistcoat and with several easy slashes