“Where were you while almost everyone on this ship was coming here?” Kaan snarled.
Ben held the man’s eyes and saw he had another of those twitches. He’d pushed the arms dealer to his limit. Shit. It was too late to do anything about that.
He took a deep breath and smiled. “Just calling a friend.”
Kaan looked at him in confusion and opened his mouth to say something when the yacht vibrated from the huge roar of an explosion.
The arms dealer’s eyes widened, and he pointed at Ben as he addressed three of his men who pulled their shock sticks out. “If he moves, take him!” Then Kaan rushed away toward the rear of the ship.
Ben put his hands up and looked at the angry guards. “May I sit down?”
“No!”
Ben sighed. They looked like they were itching to stun him into oblivion, so he just shrugged and waited.
He knew Kaan would be back shortly.
-=-
Reaching the deck, Kaan looked in dismay at the wreckage of his pool bar. The flames were shrinking as five of his security team worked with fire extinguishers to put out the fire.
He looked up and saw the wispy remnants of a large cloud of black smoke. He froze, then rushed inside to find a comm panel. He entered the code and connected to the bridge.
“Captain! How visible was that explosion?” he snapped into the handset.
“The initial fireball after the blast wasn’t too large, but then it seemed to grow rapidly. It faded equally quick, and the black smoke dissipated quickly. I wouldn’t say it’s impossible that someone saw it, but they would likely have to be looking in this direction at the moment it went off,” the man said from the bridge.
Kaan wasn’t taking chances. “Turn us about and take us due south at top speed.”
“Sir, we have some damage. I’ve sent our crew to fix it, but we can’t turn the ship until this is done.”
“Do it quickly!” Kaan snapped into the handset.
“We’ve also lost three camo panels on the starboard side toward the stern.”
Kaan went silent for a moment as this was a very costly repair, and it put him in danger. “Can you repair this?”
“Not at sea.”
“Fuck! Get the other repairs done, and I’ll work on finding us a port to get the panels replaced.”
“Yes, sir!”
Kaan hung up and stewed for a moment. It was a stupid and risky thing Ben had done, and the chance of it succeeding was negligible, but Kaan was still a free man because he didn’t take chances. Having to reverse course would set Kaan’s timeline back by a month or two, but it was the prudent thing to do.
Finding a place to get the optical camo panels replaced would be another challenge and add a further delay.
Once more, Ben willfully interfered with Kaan’s careful planning. That was unacceptable. He would need to be taught there would be consequences for these actions. A painful lesson for Ben and a deadly result for his guests.
Time to remind everyone who was the master on this ship!
-=-
“What exactly did you see, Lieutenant?” Captain Garrick asked.
The Naval Aviator stood before the captain and fidgeted. “I-I can’t be sure it wasn’t a reflection of my flight suit off the canopy, but as I was on my final turn before heading back to the carrier, I saw… something orange on the far horizon to the south-southeast of my position. I didn’t have sufficient fuel to investigate, and by the time I got back, I wasn’t sure what I’d seen as it was so fleeting, and I only caught it in my peripheral vision.”
“Something orange,” Garrick stated.
“Yes, Captain.”
“A clementine, a Garfield hot air balloon, what?” the senior-most officer asked in frustration.
Lieutenant Bowes frowned. “No. It disappeared by the time I turned my head to look. Maybe it wasn’t something solid but an optical effect.”
The captain frowned as he thought about that. “Not a solid? Orange and not solid… fire?”
Bowes paused to consider. He nodded as it seemed to fit, but he still wasn’t sure.
“Thank you, Lieutenant. Dismissed,” Garrick said as he turned to his communications officer. “Get me General Davis.”
Moments later, the comm officer nodded to the captain, who put his handset to his ear. “General Davis, this is Captain Garrick. We’ve sent out sorties, and all have returned with no sign of the arms dealer’s yacht. Just empty open sea. The only exception was one pilot who mentioned catching a brief flash of orange on the horizon in his peripheral vision south-southeast of us.”
Davis’ voice sounded rough with sleep, but he was clear enough with his orders. “Set course for that position at your maximum speed. Ben isn’t one to sit on his hands in these situations. He would attempt to make contact in any way he could. Not sure what that flash of orange-shit! It could be fire!”
“That was my guess as well. Understand, leaving this position may cause us to miss the vessel if it’s following the course the CIA indicated,” Garrick advised.
“Understood. That information is now too old to be currently accurate. Set the new course, and thank you, Captain.”
“You’re welcome, General. I’ll contact you once we reach the new coordinates.”
They hung up, and Garrick gave the orders to the Helmsman to get them underway once more.
Garrick sighed. Now they were chasing flashes on the horizon.
At least it wasn’t a green flash at sunset.
Chapter 45
Ben grunted as his muscles complained from the abuse. Shock sticks were brutal weapons, turning your muscles against you.
He’d obviously pissed Kaan off too much, as when he’d rejoined them in the lounge, he’d immediately ordered five of his goons to shock Ben unconscious.
He ran through his stretches while staring at the ceiling as he waited. Ben was lying on his back in a tiled cell on the ship. From the ambient noises, he guessed he was below deck, and the vessel was moving but not as quickly as it could. That was interesting.
He slowly and methodically focused on each muscle group in the affected areas and did his best to stretch and relax the shocked tissues. He knew he was being observed, so he didn’t do anything that would show how much movement he had, not that he wasn’t still hurting badly.
Kaan’s threat to kill the guests weighed heavily on Ben’s mind. With his latest stunt, Ben was worried he might have pushed Kaan into taking vengeance against one or more of them. While he’d kept his word to the arms dealer by not telling anyone what the man was, he’d also done some pretty destructive things. He felt queasy at the thought of what that madman might have done.
Roughly twenty minutes later, the lock on the door opened, and Ben pushed himself to a seated position leaning back against the wall as two security thugs stepped inside, one on each side of the entrance with their shock stick’s ready. Their expressions told Ben they wanted him dead. That didn’t bode well.
Kaan stepped into the doorway but didn’t enter. “You’ve been very stupid, Ben. You’ve abused my hospitality. You put me into a position where I had to take actions the others should not have seen. You’ve sealed their fates.”
Ben’s stomach dropped. “What have you done?” he asked quietly.
Kaan smiled, but it was cold. “The guests are confined to their rooms. The doors lock electromagnetically, but I control that from my level. Each will be dealt with later once I’ve been assured by the captain we are back on track. You could have spared them-”
“You don’t need to do anything to them. I kept my word. I haven’t told anyone what you do or what you did to get me here,” Ben insisted.
“Ben, Ben, Ben. Don’t take me for a fool. Your words are lies if your actions refute them. While pretending to be a guest, you’ve damaged my vessel multiple times-”
“I just removed hidden cameras in the bedrooms and bathrooms! Where people should expect privacy!”
Kaan’s anger flared. “How I protect my investment is not for the likes of you to judge!”
“I don’t believe you have much moral high ground to stand on, Kaan,” Ben said calmly, holding the man’s eyes.
Kaan nodded as he considered Ben. “Perhaps it’s time to remove the scales from your eyes. You have this foolish hero complex, but it’s time for you to see just how little impact you actually have. Come.”
The man stepped out into the hall, and Ben spotted the other two security men waiting with stun rods poised to strike.
Ben cautiously got to his feet and grimaced from the knots he hadn’t stretched sufficiently. The guards tensed around him, but he moved forward slowly and followed Kaan down a hallway towards a wide door where two more guards waited with hands on their stun rods. Each of them looked at Ben with murder in their eyes.
Kaan caught Ben’s gaze. “You killed one of their friends, Hamza, who was next to the blast. The fireball from the flour dust also scorched his body as well. They would like to return the favor and set you on fire, but I convinced them to leave you to me. In return, they will have the Princess to play with tonight.”
“You leave her the fuck alone!” Ben growled as he surged forward and got a shock against his back.
“Stop! I want him conscious!” Kaan snapped at the guard. Then he looked at Ben. “You need to witness the truth.”
Ben glanced over his shoulder at the man who jabbed him. He memorized his features as he was going to deal with him soon.
“You were heralded as an international hero for rescuing a few children from Rachid Shakir in France. They celebrated you as if you’d actually achieved something significant. In truth, Shakir was a bit player in the underworld. His loss caused no ripples at all.” Kaan chuckled as he touched his bracelet to the sensor and opened the door.
They moved as a group into the large chamber beyond. Crates were strapped to the floor and walls.
Ben glanced at them suspiciously as their markings looked familiar from his dealings with the army.
“Yes, weapons, Ben. Part of the business you are aware of. Moving them from hand to hand is a very lucrative business,” Kaan boasted.
Beyond the crates were plastic-wrapped bales. “Drugs. Another excellent revenue generator.”