Rogue Commander, page 18
part #3 of Titus Black Series
Black took the starboard side, while Riley took the port side.
While the deck was quiet and devoid of anyone patrolling the area, Black felt uncomfortable about the situation, worried that it was too easy. He started to wonder if Riley had guessed wrong or if Shields didn’t realize there was another ship that fit the profile Commander Longmire would’ve been looking for.
Black crouched low as he moved around a stack of sandbags. He froze when he heard the click of a gun.
“I’d hold it right there if you know what’s good for you,” a man said.
Black placed his hands in the air and slowly eased around to face his captor. “I don’t know who you are, but you need to know that Commander Longmire has some draconian plans for Washington. I can help you get out now if you—”
“Shut up,” the man barked as he snatched Black’s body cam and tossed it over the side. “You can tell the commander everything yourself. Now turn around and start walking.”
Black complied, turning to the left or right when ordered or nudged by the barrel of the man’s rifle. After a few minutes, they reached the bridge.
Commander Brad Longmire was studying a map when the guard announced his presence.
“Sir, I have someone you might like to meet,” he said.
Longmire spun around, his face transforming from a smile to a steely stare. “Who’s this?”
“I don’t know,” the guard said. “But I caught him snooping around on the deck. He tried to warn me about how dangerous you are.”
Longmire just laughed. “You—probably a black ops agent for the U.S. government—warning me of how dangerous I am? You’re subservient to the most dangerous military on Earth.”
“I didn’t come here for a debate,” Black said. “I came here to stop you from killing thousands of innocent people.”
“Try millions,” Longmire said. “However, it looks like you failed, not to mention you’re a lousy soldier. Hasn’t anyone ever told you to salute a higher-ranking officer when you enter the bridge?”
Black narrowed his eyes. “I never salute assholes.”
“Friendly chap, I see. Well, Mister—”
“Titus Black.”
“Mr. Black, I appreciate you stopping by because you’re going to be my insurance policy tomorrow just in case things go wrong. Did anyone else come with you?”
“I work alone,” Black said with a sneer.
“Of course you do,” Longmire said. “Tilley, Baker, tie him up to that chair over there. I want him to have a front row seat for the destruction of Washington. While you’re at it, remove his earpiece. And when you’re done, get a message to the president for me. Tell him the timetable has moved up twelve hours thanks to the efforts of Mr. Titus Black.”
CHAPTER 35
RILEY HEARD SHOUTING in his earpiece before the sound went out. He tried to reach Black but didn’t get any response. He crouched low as he moved around the deck of the ship in search of anyone patrolling the area. When he was satisfied it was clear, he tried Black again.
Nothing.
“Shields, are you still there?” Riley asked.
After a long pause, her voice came through. “I’m still here, but I’m trying to fix the satellite to provide you two with some support.”
“Well, I can’t reach Black. Can you hear him?”
“Nope,” she said. “His com is down according to my console.”
“Damn. I’m going to see if I can find him.”
“Good luck,” she said.
Riley had only been on a destroyer once, though he’d been briefed by Shields on the ship’s layout and how to reach the bridge with all the launch controls. As he prepared to enter the hatch, he heard whirring across the deck. He spun around to see the USS Michael Monsoor’s missile launcher slowly rise.
“Shields,” Riley said, “I need your help. Looks like Longmire is readying to fire.”
“I’ll warn Washington, but I’m still trying to get the satellite image back.”
“Fine, just hurry.”
Riley entered the hatch and found a ladder. As he ascended, he heard several men talking. With his weapon in his right hand, he eased up a couple decks until he was on the same level as the bridge. He moved through the passageway, gun trained in front of him. The voices grew louder.
Peering around the corner, he saw one man standing over the controls. Riley considered the element of surprise might be his best chance, but he also wanted to make sure he wasn’t heavily outgunned. The ultimate goal of the mission was to eliminate the threat of a nuclear missile being launched into Washington—or anywhere else. If he got killed in the process, by the time the SEALs arrived, it might be too late.
Riley assessed the situation and chose to draw out the hostiles. He hit the first man with a headshot, dropping him immediately. And that immediately drew the response Riley had hoped for.
One man stepped into Riley’s line of sight, which turned out to be a fatal mistake.
Riley used the corner for cover. All he could see were the two bodies, but he could tell there were more men.
“All right, that’s enough,” Longmire said. “You’re going to need to come in here and fight like a man. Unless you don’t care if I press this little button and turn Washington into a pile of rock and rubble.”
Riley darted to the other side of the passageway and was able to get a clean shot on another guard, felling him as well.
“Anyone else feeling lucky?” Riley asked.
“I am,” Longmire said. “So lucky that I’m going to send Washington a little present. Call it payback for what they did to me.”
Confident that only Longmire remained on the bridge, Riley poked his head inside and found Longmire with his arm around Black’s neck and a gun to his head.
“Well, hello there, old friend,” Longmire said as soon as he locked eyes with Riley. “I’m sorry it has to end like this.”
“Nothing has to end today if you just lower your gun and let Agent Black go,” Riley said.
“You think I’m that stupid?” Longmire asked with a chuckle. “You’re not letting me go anywhere. So, if you don’t lower your weapon, I’m taking you all with me.”
“I can’t do that, Commander,” Riley said. “This is your mess, and there’s only one way to clean it up.”
“If you let me obliterate Washington, we can get out of here without any repercussions. It’s the least I can do for them after what they did to me.”
Riley eyed Longmire closely. “What did they do to you?”
“The they was Clyde Underhill, the sonofabitch who framed me for a murder I didn’t commit.”
“What happened?”
“We were on leave in Okinawa and had been doing war games with some Rangers and other branches of the military. A gal at the cat house near the base wound up dead, and everybody pointed the finger at me. But I’d never even seen her before. The next thing I know, an entire group of Rangers are all testifying that they saw me with the woman just minutes before her body was discovered. I swore up and down that I didn’t know her, but it didn’t matter. The Japanese decided not to press charges, yielding their right to prosecute me if the military meted out its brand of justice. I was freed on a technicality, which pissed off the Japanese. But the concession they made was that I was to be expelled from the military.”
“And so now you want to strike back?”
“Damn right, I do. That entire bureaucratic swamp needs to be obliterated.”
“Even if that’s so, your anger is misdirected,” Riley said. “Why not go after Underhill instead?”
“Underhill wasn’t the reason my command was stripped from me.”
“It’d still be better than killing a lot of innocent people.”
“Says the man who kills innocent people for a living.”
Riley shrugged. “I’m merely the messenger. Just because I say it doesn’t make it false.”
“Save your high horse speeches for someone who gives a shit. It’s time for me to finally get my revenge.”
“This isn’t going to make things better for you,” Riley said. “You’ll still be held accountable for your actions, including the ones you’re about to make.”
Longmire chuckled and shook his head. “I can just about guarantee you that anyone who would want to hold me accountable for what I’m about to do will be dead in a matter of minutes.”
“Not that I’d even consider it, but I have family in the area.”
“What? That wench who stole your daughter from you? You wouldn’t want her to get what was coming to her?”
Riley shook his head. “You think you know just the right buttons to push with me, don’t you?”
“It’s how I got you to become a part of Leviathan, but you didn’t know you were working for me, did you?”
“Not until yesterday,” Riley said. “But consider this my two-week notice.”
Longmire laughed. “I’ll give you a nice bonus if you put your gun down and walk away. Besides, I’m only doing what you’ve done plenty of times before.”
“That’s in the past.”
“The past, as in a week ago?”
“Enough talk,” Riley said. “Release Agent Black, and step away from the controls.”
Longmire shuffled with his prisoner along the bank of controls before he came to a stop. He used his gun hand to quickly turn a key, which he yanked out and put in his mouth. Swallowing hard, he glanced back at Riley.
“The launch sequence has begun, and there’s no way to stop it.”
Riley squeezed the trigger on his gun, clipping Longmire in the shoulder. He moaned in pain as he dropped to the floor. Black broke free and rushed a few feet away to take cover.
Longmire dove underneath the control panel and then fired a couple of shots in Riley’s direction. However, they were all off target.
Riley crept around the room to get a better line of sight on Longmire.
“He’s in the corner,” Black shouted. “Be careful.”
As Longmire came into view, he held his left hand against his right shoulder, applying pressure in an attempt to stop the bleeding while still clutching his gun in his right hand.
“So this is goodbye?” Longmire said. “I always liked you, Riley. You were my best assassin.”
“I’m just finishing my final assignment,” Riley said as he loomed over his target.
“Kevin Reid, that bastard. He got what he deserved, but it looks like he still got me in the end.”
“Goodbye, Commander,” Riley said as he prepared to pull the trigger.
“Before you get rid of me, think anyone will care that you ended my life when Washington is burning? I just swallowed the key and good luck getting it out of me in time.”
“I’m betting there’s another way,” Riley said.
Then he pulled the trigger, shooting Longmire in the chest.
As Longmire fought his imminent death, his weapon fell harmlessly to the floor. Riley swept the gun with his foot toward Black.
“You all right?” Riley asked the Firestorm operative.
“I hope so. Thanks for coming for me,” Black said.
“All part of the job, though if you hadn’t been in here, I couldn’t guarantee you that I’d have ever embarked on a rescue mission.”
“That’s comforting.”
“I’m not gonna lie to you.”
Before either of them could continue the conversation, Blacked yelled, “Look out!”
Another guard had stormed onto the bridge, brandishing a weapon. He didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger, hitting Riley in the back. By the time Black raised his gun, he was too late to save Riley. Black fired a pair of shots that took out the other guard before rushing over to Riley.
“I’m gonna help you,” Black said.
Riley struggled to breathe, fighting to say each word. “No, you’re not. You’re gonna stop that nuke from launching.”
“Come on,” Black said. “Let me get you stabilized. The SEALs will be here soon enough.”
“It won’t be enough time. Go stop that thing and save my daughter and Washington. And when you see Lilly, tell her how much I love her.”
Black nodded. “It’ll be my honor,” he said before reaching down and plucking out Riley’s earpiece.
“Shields, can you hear me?” Black said into the coms.
“Oh, thank God,” she said. “I didn’t know what happened to you.”
“I’ll tell you all about it later, but in the meantime, I need your help.”
“My satellite feed is still down.”
“I don’t care about that,” Black said. “I need you to help me stop the launch sequence.”
CHAPTER 36
BLACK TOOK A DEEP BREATH and stared at the console in front of him. With the door to the bridge barricaded, he had the peace of mind he needed to figure out how to stop the launch. On the control panel where Longmire had been, the countdown continued and had just dipped below three minutes.
“You need to walk me through how to do this,” Black said in his coms to Shields.
“I’m not sure I’m going to be able to help you with this,” she said.
“Why not?”
“It’s not like I can just search the Internet for the PDF of an owner’s manual. But do you see a kill switch or anything like that?”
“I do, but it requires a key, and that bastard Longmire swallowed it just before he died.”
“You don’t have enough time for that,” she said.
“I know. Any other ideas?”
"Grab Riley's body cam and show me what you're looking at."
“Hang on,” Black said as he darted over to Riley and removed his body cam. “Don’t die on me, Riley.”
“Just . . . stop . . . that . . . bomb,” Riley said.
Black held the camera over the control panel. “Anything jumping out to you now?”
“Take me closer to that kill switch,” she said.
He complied with her request.
“Okay, from what I can tell, it looks like he rerouted the circuit board to use the power for launching the missiles. What do you see on the deck below?”
Black held up the camera as he scanned the area. “I see a pair of missiles off to the starboard side.”
“Yeah, well, that’s not where destroyers fire missiles from. He’s simply stealing the ship’s power.”
“Well, that doesn’t change the fact that there’s a countdown going on right now.”
“So, you’re gonna need to get to the engine room and cut the power to the entire ship,” she said. “And you need to do it in two shakes of a sheep’s tail.”
“Wha—oh, never mind,” Black said as he tossed aside his barricade and then dashed into the passageway. He hustled down the ladder. “Can you at least give me an idea of where to go?”
Shields directed him to the engine room, updating him on how much time he had left. Once he reached his target, only ninety seconds remained.
“Now what?” he asked.
“After you get inside, I’ll walk you through how to power down the ship.”
Black put everything he had into opening the door, but it wouldn’t budge. He yanked down on the wheel again. It didn’t move.
“This isn’t working,” Black said.
Before he could try again, he heard a man yelling down the passageway.
“Dammit,” Black said. “One of Longmire’s goons found me.”
“Yes!” she said.
“I’m about to get into a gunfight and you’re celebrating?”
“My satellite feed just came up.”
“Wonderful. Personal celebrations are not what I want to hear right now.”
“How about you’ve got seventy-five seconds?” she said. “Better not wait to engage him.”
Black shouted for the man. “Hey, over here. I need help.”
The man carried his rifle trained in front of him. “Anybody up there on the bridge? I’ve got an intruder down near the engine room.”
Black remained hidden, waiting until the guard was vulnerable and an easy target. When he stepped through one of the doorways, he looked down. That’s when Black struck, hitting the man with two shots and dropping him on the spot.
“Sixty seconds,” Shields said.
Black could feel the adrenaline surging through his bloodstream, his heart pumping. Wrapping his hands around the wheel, he grunted as he pulled down on it.
Still nothing.
Black decided to put his full weight behind his efforts and stood on one of the wheel’s spokes. This time, the wheel broke free, moving ninety degrees. Black hopped down and finished opening the door.
“Okay, I’m inside. Now what?” he asked.
“There’s no shore power connected to the ship, but there are two generators in the far back side of the room that need to be powered off.”
“What do these things look like?”
“They’re very large with pipes coming out of them. There’s a gray control panel in the front with a switch you pull down to turn off.”
Black scanned the room, which about twenty meters deep. “I think I see them.”
“Hurry,” she said. “You’ve only got thirty seconds.”
Black hurdled a pipe that emerged from the floor and raced toward the generators. However, just as he was about to reach for the first lever, he heard a gunshot followed by a bullet pinging off some pipes nearby. Black dove to the floor.
“What the hell was that?” Shields asked.
“Someone’s shooting at me,” he said.
“You better hurry, you’ve only got twenty seconds now.”
Black remained prone as he searched for anything to yank the levers down with. A flashlight beam bounced around the area.
“Who’s there?” the guard yelled.
Black didn’t see anything he could use. Acting quickly, he yanked his shirt off and threw it over the lever. He yanked downward, turning off the first generator.
“One more,” Black said.
Another bullet whizzed in his direction.
“Don’t even think about touching that last generator,” the traitor said. “I’ll blow your head clean off.”
