Running Dark by Jamie Freveletti Read Free Book Online

each swell. Their superior speed ensured that they would always keep up with the larger craft, but their heedless trajectory caused the boats to buck. The pirates bounced along with each crashing wave, and the man holding the grenade launcher was hard-pressed to keep it on target long enough to fire with any accuracy.
    Sumner waited until the Kaiser Franz reached its lowest point, then began its roll up. He fired when the boat was halfway to its peak. A large hole bloomed on the shoulder of the man holding the rocket launcher. He went down. Sumner could hear Block hooting through the windows. At least he thought it was Block—he didn’t bother to look up. The first cigarette boat veered off, racing away from the Kaiser Franz. The second also started to loop away. Sumner targeted the second boat’s captain. Waited for the roll, squeezed the trigger. The man flew forward with the force of the bullet that entered his back, high, at the shoulder. Sumner watched the passenger scramble to takeover steering the boat, and then he swung back to aim at the first boat, but it was out of range, retreating as fast as its engines would allow. He watched the boats until they were once again tiny dots in the distance.
    Block jogged over. “Hot damn! You can sure as hell shoot, boy, and that’s the truth. I’ll bet that’s the first time you shot a man, right?”
    Sumner put the gun back in its titanium case. Closed it and twirled the combination lock. He straightened to look at Block.
    “That’s the first time I shot a man without killing him,” he said.
    Block’s mouth fell open.

8
    CAPTAIN WAINWRIGHT CLAPPED SUMNER ON THE SHOULDER. “Good job. How long do you think it will be before they come back?” Sumner watched Block blanch. The possibility that they’d come back must not have occurred to him. But Sumner had no doubt they’d return. The Kaiser Franz carried rich passengers and a casino filled with cash. They’d take the money, kidnap the passengers, and strip the boat for its parts.
    “A little before dawn, I would think. And I have bad news. I saw radar equipment. Can you switch off yours and alter course? Take a less familiar route?”
    Wainwright pondered the question for a moment. “I hate to turn off the beam. It will help the Redoubtable find us.”
    “And the pirates,” Sumner said.
    Wainwright nodded. “As for the route we take, I don’t even know how long we can continue. Depends on how bad the damage is. I’ve got the engine crew checking into it now. If we’re taking on water, we’ll need to put into port as quickly as possible.”
    “Back to the Seychelles?” Sumner said.
    Wainwright shook his head. “Last radar showed the pirates were massed between us and the islands.”
    “They’re herding us.”
    Wainwright’s expression was bleak. “They seem to be.”
    “In which direction?”
    Wainwright grimaced. “Somalia.”
    “Somalia? I didn’t pay thousands of dollars to go to Somalia.” Block’s voice was loud and scared. Sumner thought the man had a right to be frightened. Somalia was one of the most dangerous places on earth. Mogadishu’s port bustled with commerce, most of it illegal. It was likely that the pirates originated from there. Sumner would have preferred Mombasa, Kenya, although that country was in the midst of its own problems.
    Wainwright turned on Block. “Mr. Block, leave the deck. Now, please.”
    Block looked like he wanted to argue. Sumner frowned at the man. Block glanced at the titanium case still in Sumner’s hand, closed his mouth, and left the deck.
    Wainwright turned to his first officer. “Let me know if there are any injuries, and tell me the minute you get a report from the engine crew. Radio the Redoubtable and tell them we’ll need an escort to the nearest port.”
    After the officer left, Wainwright sighed. “This cruise line serves a very wealthy, very pampered clientele. Any number of bad elements in Mogadishu will see them for what they are: easy