The First End
By
Victor Elmalih
Copyright 2015 Victor Elmalih
Chapter 1
“Be ready!” shouted the leader of the operation, while approaching the danger zone. The fishing boat rode the waves of the High Seas much like a rodeo rider in one of those wild fields that never fully revealed their secrets. Rusty stains marred the hull, adding more ugliness to an already ugly ship. About 40 meters in length, the converted whaler seemed alone in the sea. Indeed, if one looked closely enough, the Chinese men who manned her were not very interested in fishing. The single crane was positioned over the side and a long steel rope had been lowered into the water.
Inside the bridge, Wong Lee studied his sonar instruments carefully. He was able to keep track of his two divers as they scoured the sea bottom for technology waste. Several large waste contractors frequently disposed of military waste by sinking parts into the ocean depths.
For some time, the Indian Ocean had become a dump. Companies benefited from the chaos and anarchy in Somalia to disperse military, nuclear and other waste. Somalia had become a toxic land.
Military giants such as the United States turned a blind eye to the practice, secretly utilizing these contractors to save a dollar or two while condemning the practice from the armchair of the media. As long as the sensitive material was destroyed, who cared how it happened.
Lee had been on this assignment for over two years, and in all that time they had found little that was worth the effort. Most of the sensitive components, such as circuit boards, memory chips, and other electronic systems were so corroded and destroyed by the salt water as to be practically worthless. Still, Beijing insisted on the covert search, no matter how many useless reports he had written and sent their way. Personally, Lee felt it was better to intercept the waste contractors before they unloaded their cargo, but that would simply create an international incident.
One of his subordinates stuck his head into the cabin door. “Sir, a boat is approaching. They have ignored our warnings to ward off and are still coming.”
“Pirates?” Lee asked, his heart racing. He didn’t fear pirates. There was enough firepower on board to lay waste to a good-sized vessel, but a firefight just might relieve some of the monotony.
“Maybe. It’s rather small, though.”
Lee checked the radar screen, which confirmed the observation. The approaching craft couldn’t have been carrying more than five people. “Hold fire. Keep weapons out of sight. If anything looks suspicious, we’ll sink it.”
“Yes, sir!” The man left to relay the orders.
Lee considered his options. One could not be too careful this close to Somalia. Pirates were known to scout potential targets before trying to capture them. This small vessel could be on a reconnaissance mission. If so, a show of force might just convince the pirates to look for easier prey, but if not a show of force might be relayed to several nearby governments, effectively blowing his cover. Lee hated situations like this. It would be so much easier just to blast them out of the water and to ask questions later.
Lee made his way down to the deck and was handed a pair of powerful binoculars. He trained them on the approaching vessel. Indeed, it was small, and he seriously doubted that the vessel had a powerful engine based on its current speed. “Hold fire,” he ordered again, directing his command to his first mate, Ho Ningh. The gaunt faced man, thin as a whip, but with a temper that belied his frame, nodded, looking somewhat disappointed. “Have the divers surface on the other side of the boat. I don’t want them spotted.”
Another sailor left to carry out this command.
Lee trained his binoculars on the approaching vessel. Now he could see two young boys standing in the prow of their boat waving fruits. “Hawkers!” he yelled, informing his crew of the nature of the approaching vessel. “Orders stand!” He turned to Ho. “Keep an eye on them. Buy some fruit and then send them on their way. But if they are overly curious, kill them.”
Pirates routinely employed boys to act as spies for them, marking vessels for plunder and capture. If these two boys were other than sellers of fruit, he would kill them out of hand and be done with it.
“Yes, sir,” Ho agreed, fingering the safety of his automatic weapon. Ho was bloodthirsty, but he was also loyal. He would not disobey his orders lightly, Lee was sure.
Returning to the control tower, Lee checked on the progress of his two divers. They were still scouring the sea floor, and had made no indication of any significant find as of yet. Their air supply readings indicated that they had another half hour before they had to surface, more than enough time to get rid of the two hawkers. Because of the steep drop—nearly 800 meters to the Indian Ocean floor—they had brought along a sophisticated submersible. The unwieldy sub had to be stored in a special compartment of the ship to keep it from being visible by fellow ships.
Keeping one eye on both the radar and sonar screens, Lee flipped open his laptop and began filling out his report. He hadn’t heard from Chen yet, and frankly, he didn’t much care to. Chen’s ranking was equal to Lee’s in most respects, but while Lee reported directly to the army, Chen reported to the secret service. Chen’s shadowy and vague orders gave him much more latitude than Lee enjoyed, something that infuriated Lee no end.
As if the thought of the man conjured him, Lee’s satellite phone began ringing. It was Chen. Sighing, Lee answered it. “Lee here.”
“Wong?” Chen responded. “My agents are scouring the city, but so far we’ve come up with nothing. I’ve enlisted some of the filthy street urchins to keep an eye open, but so far we’ve only come up with a few items not completely destroyed by these idiot pirates.”
“What have you found so far?” Wong demanded.
“Most of it is naval…Indian, I think. They are the dominate power in these parts. The pirates stay away from them for the most part, but they’ve managed to capture a few pieces.” There was a pause. “I was hoping to come aboard while my agents search.”
“Stay focused, Chen. Beijing is breathing down our necks to find some US technology they can give their scientists.”
“I know why we’re out here, Wong,” Chen snapped, irritated. “I just don’t see why I have to stay in this filthy city one moment longer. The men on the ground here are perfectly capable, and you know it.”
“I can’t justify that with Beijing,” Wong lied. Beijing would never know, but Wong didn’t much care for Chen. Chen wasn’t really under his command. They possessed the same rank, more or less, and both were up for promotion. Wong was determined not to let the sly Chen get the advantage of him in this assignment. “You’re just going to have to run things from land. I’ll pass on any information you need as it comes in.”
“Wong, I don’t take orders from you.”
“True, but I don’t take them from you either. How do you propose to force me to make landfall. This is about the mission, Chen. Nothing more. Stay focused. Scour the pirate’s lairs if you must, but find something useful for Beijing.”
“This is a complete waste of time,” Chen muttered over the crackling line. “Beijing knows there is nothing out here. The US wouldn’t be stupid enough to let anything out of their sight.”
“It may be something lost in the two wars they fought here in the Middle East, fool. Who knows how much tech is just lying around in the deserts or at the bottom of the sea here! That’s why we’re here, so that’s what we’ll do.”
“I don’t much care for your tone of voice, Wong.”
“I don’t much care what you think,” Wong snapped back. “Perhaps you should start looking through the city dumps. Sifting through the garbage may help you focus on the task at hand.”
Chen muttered something very unpleasant regarding Wong?
??s ancestry and hung up. Wong sat back, deep in thought. He didn’t like Chen at all, and before this assignment ended, the two of them would no doubt have a confrontation of some sort. Wong decided that he would come out on top no matter what the risks or what he had to do.