Those In Peril Part 21

'I am so glad you came, Simon,' she told him.

When Hector and Hazel were alone they walked down the lawns and sat together on the stone bench. Hector looked up at the sky. Hazel smiled sadly.

'I'm afraid Henry isn't going to show,' she said. 'He hasn't the time to flit around in his goose persona. At the moment he has his hands too full with Cayla and Grace.'

'You read my thoughts. I was waiting for Henry,' Hector admitted. 'I think this is the first time I've seen you smile since it all started.'

'I am all cried out,' she told him. 'The weeping time is behind us. Let's leave Henry and Cayla alone for a while so they can get to know each other again.' She stood up and took his hand and they started down the mountain path to the house beside the lake. As they walked he kept glancing sideways at her face. She is not like any other woman I have ever known She is not like any other woman I have ever known, he thought. Those others would have been totally destroyed by such a cruel loss. But it is almost as if she has gained strength and resolve from it. I can see now how she has achieved so much in her short life. She is a fighter and she never gives up. She never succ.u.mbs to self-pity. She might always mourn for Cayla, but she will never let that debilitate her. She lost Henry at a critical time in her life. She misses him still but she fought on alone, and took over his legendary mantle. I feel deeply honoured to have received the gift of her love. It is my armour. With her at my side I shall never again know loneliness. Those others would have been totally destroyed by such a cruel loss. But it is almost as if she has gained strength and resolve from it. I can see now how she has achieved so much in her short life. She is a fighter and she never gives up. She never succ.u.mbs to self-pity. She might always mourn for Cayla, but she will never let that debilitate her. She lost Henry at a critical time in her life. She misses him still but she fought on alone, and took over his legendary mantle. I feel deeply honoured to have received the gift of her love. It is my armour. With her at my side I shall never again know loneliness.

Neither of them had any appet.i.te for dinner. They sent the dishes back to the chef in his kitchen. Hector opened a bottle of claret and they took it and the gla.s.ses down to the end of the jetty and sat with their legs dangling over the water. They drank the wine in silence and watched the moon come up over the lake. Hazel spoke first.

'The police have not yet been able to trace the person or persons that placed those heads of my two poor darlings for us to find,' she sighed.

'That isn't surprising,' Hector replied. 'Your security on the Houston ranch is not very tight. There are literally hundreds of service people who have access: contract gardening service teams, delivery people bringing supplies, daily hired hands, meter readers, plumbers, painters, electricians and all the others.'

'But how could Adam have reached any of them from Africa so many thousands of miles away? Surely these people are all Americans.'

'Plus Latinos, Europeans, Asians, Africans and other immigrants of twenty different nationalities ... including Somalians, from Puntland.' She turned to stare at him.

'Somalians? How is that possible?'

'Canada alone has over a quarter of a million Somalians who have entered that country legally, and the US-Canadian border is wide open. Your mother's country, South Africa, is flooded with refugees from the north of the continent. Not only Zimbabweans and Malawians but huge numbers of Nigerians and Somalians. Most of the Somalians are from Puntland and they are still under the sway of Tippoo Tip. If the police ever catch those involved in the murder of Grace and Cayla, they will be very small fish who will not even know who it was that ordered the killings.' Hector paused and put his arm around Hazel's shoulder. 'So you see, my darling, this is not the end of the business. Adam has only just begun. He has thousands of underlings to send against us. It is useless to cut off the tentacles of the Beast. They grow back swiftly. I have to go back to cut off its head.'

'Don't you see that is exactly what he is trying to force you to do? That is why he left that taunting warning about taking two more heads. You mustn't let him suck you in. You mustn't go.' She placed her hand on his forearm, and spoke earnestly and pa.s.sionately. 'If I lose you, then I have lost everything.'

'We have no choice,' he told her.

'If you go, then I am going with you.' The tone of her voice was final, brooking no argument. A short silence fell.

'No, my sweet. I can't let you come. You know how it was last time. We will be on the Beast's home ground again.'

'Send Paddy then. That's what he's paid for. That's what he's good at,' she said.

'I can never send another man to do what I am afraid to do myself. If I don't go then the Beast will come after us as he has threatened.'

'Yes, that's the best solution. Let him come. Make him meet us on our home turf for a change. This time you can be ready for him.' Hector stared at her in the moonlight.

'Yes!' he said thoughtfully, then shook his head. 'No. He'll never come himself. He'll send hired a.s.sa.s.sins after us, just as he did before. There are those hordes of religious fanatics for him to call on.'

'Then we must place irresistible temptation in his way,' she said softly, 'something so tantalizing that he will not be able to resist it.'

'Are you suggesting we lay out a bait for him? It's a clever thought.' He nodded. 'But what is there that will bring him personally into the open?'

'The Golden Goose Golden Goose,' she replied.

'My G.o.d! You're right,' he whispered. 'We know he is greedy. We know he is vindictive. We also can deduce that he is puffed up with power and self-importance by his new station in life - the Sheikh of his clan. The Golden Goose Golden Goose might be the only thing we have to bring the Beast out of his cave.' might be the only thing we have to bring the Beast out of his cave.'

Now that they had something tangible to divert them from the despair of their bereavement, both Hector and Hazel were filled with renewed energy and determination. When Hector was able to contact him, Paddy was in the final departure lounge of Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris, waiting for his flight to Dubai and the Middle East.

'Change of plans, Paddy. We want you back at the Bannock Oil headquarters in Houston as soon as you are able to get there.'

'By Jesus, Heck! Something has brought you back to life again. I can hear it in your voice. You're no longer the sad and sorry b.a.s.t.a.r.d you were when I left you a few days ago.'

'Lock and load, my old son! You and I are hitting the warpath again,' Hector told him, and his tone was crisp and incisive.

Hazel and Hector had debated making either Abu Zara or Taipei the base for the operation. In the end they agreed that both of these locations were too close to the lair of the Beast and were susceptible to infiltration by Adam's agents. Finally they decided on Bannock House, the corporation headquarters in Houston. Bannock House was on Dallas Street, down the road from the Hyatt Hotel. The twenty-fifth floor at the top of the building overlooked the park. The entire floor was Hazel's personal domain. The security was ironclad, the amenities all-embracing and the comfort hedonistic. Hazel had pondered on the code-name for the operation. She had finally decided on 'Operation Lampos'. The Greek meaning of the word was 's.h.i.+ning Light'. Lampos was not only the name of Hector's warhorse in the cla.s.sical mythology of Virgil and Homer, but it was also the name that Cayla had chosen for her favourite palomino mare.

'The connection to both you and Cayla is strong,' Hazel explained. 'But only to those who know you intimately.'

'Operation Lampos, I like it. We have a name for it. Now we need the men for it. Paddy should be here tomorrow. Then we can discuss who else we need.'

When Hector propounded Operation Lampos to Paddy, he listened without comment and even when Hector finished speaking he did not immediately reply. He went on doodling on the notepad in front of him. At last he dropped the pencil and looked up.

'The Golden Goose Golden Goose? Who thought this up?' he asked, then his eyes swivelled to Hazel who had been sitting quietly at the end of the table. 'It has a feminine flavour.'

'Don't you like the idea, Paddy?' she asked.

'I love it. It's plain b.l.o.o.d.y brilliant.' He guffawed happily.

'Who do we need to bring in, Paddy?' Hector asked.

'The fewer the merrier,' Paddy replied, still chuckling. 'Dave Imbiss for a start. He is our IT geek and red-hot on planning and procurement of equipment and materials. Then we must have your old half-section, Tariq. We need a hard warrior, a born Arabic speaker who can think like the Beast, somebody who knows the enemy and the battleground intimately.'

'Where is Tariq now?' Hector asked. 'Can you contact him?'

Paddy nodded. 'Yes. Tariq and I have worked out a call sign. He is still undercover in Puntland but I can get him out very quickly.'

'Very well. So far it's Hazel, me, you, Dave Imbiss and Tariq. Who else do we take on board?'

'That will do for a start. The way I see it is that the four of us, and of course Hazel, will brainstorm the basic plan. As we add refinements we may have to call in experts to deal with the details. How long do we have before the Golden Goose Golden Goose is ready to sail?' is ready to sail?'

'She is scheduled to take on board her first load of natural gas from the Abu Zara field at the beginning of October,' Hazel answered.

'Four and a half months from now. We must move quickly,' Paddy said.

'Get Dave and Tariq here as soon as you can,' Hector ordered.

Dave Imbiss and Tariq Hakam came into Houston four days later on a flight from Dubai and Paris. Within an hour of their arrival the first planning session of Operation Lampos was under way on the top floor of Bannock House. Hector outlined the basic concept for them.

'The object of the exercise is to entice Adam out of the fortress at the Oasis of the Miracle. It will be easy enough to suck in his underlings, but if we are going to bring an end to this blood feud he is waging against us then we have to take him out.' He looked around their faces. They were all intent and serious. 'We know that the campaign of piracy being conducted against all foreign maritime traffic in the Indian Ocean is orchestrated and controlled by Sheikh Adam Tippoo Tip. This campaign has intensified and become more sophisticated since Adam succeeded his grandfather as Sheikh.' Hector pressed the control switch on the table top in front of him, and the screen on the wall facing them lit up and displayed rows of dates and figures. 'These are the statistics for the number of pirate attacks in the last year of his grandfather's rule. As you see there were twenty-eight attacks on s.h.i.+pping and all of these were localized to the Gulf of Aden. Of these only nine were successful, but they reaped ransom money of an estimated one hundred and twenty million dollars.' He changed the display on the screen.

'These are the statistics for the last twelve months.' David Imbiss whistled softly with surprise, and Hector went on, 'You may indeed whistle, Dave. One hundred and twenty-seven attacks, ninety-one of which were successful. The ransom money collected was an estimated one point two-five billion dollars.' They were stunned into silence. 'Yes, that's a lot of money. Almost all of it goes into Adam's coffers. The interesting thing is that Adam's attack boats are now operating as much as a thousand nautical miles offsh.o.r.e. And they are doing so with impunity. With all the cash he has Adam can now operate mother s.h.i.+ps for his attack craft. We know from Tariq that he is using captured Taiwanese and Russian trawlers for this purpose. These all carry sophisticated electronic equipment, but more significantly he has built helicopter pads on their decks. He now has two, or possibly three, Bell Jet Ranger helicopters in service. This enables him to scour the waters for hundreds of miles around, to spot both dangerous naval wars.h.i.+ps and fat and juicy mercantile targets.'

'Why don't the navies of the Western powers destroy his attack boats wherever they find them?' asked Dave.

'Two reasons,' Hector replied. 'First off, it's not easy to find a small boat in hundreds of thousands of square miles of ocean. To do this effectively the cost of the surveillance a.s.sets they would have to deploy would be prohibitive. And even if they were able to find them, they would have to catch them actually red-handed in an act of piracy. They cannot simply blow Adam's s.h.i.+ps out of the water as they lie at anchor in Gandanga Bay. They are hamstrung by the complex laws of the sea, and the old-maidish sensibilities of many of the stridently socialistic countries, who are more concerned with the human rights of pirates captured in the act of seizing s.h.i.+ps on the high seas than they are for the victims. They fret that a captured pirate may not receive a fair trial, indeed may be shot out of hand. It's so big-hearted and politically correct of them. Meanwhile, Adam rampages across the oceans and puts billions of dollars into his piggy bank.

'The crews of the merchant s.h.i.+ps are unarmed, in accordance with the terms of the owners' insurance policies, which forbid them to take up arms, and their own sense of self-preservation which tells them that if they shoot first the pirates are going to shoot back and they will have superior fire power. For Adam it's open season, Christmas and New Year every day of the week.' Hector let them think about that for a moment. 'So what are we going to do about it? Dave and Tariq, you have missed out on what has been decided so far, so I will go over it for your benefit.' Briefly he explained what they hoped to achieve by Operation Lampos.

'As you know, my wife has suffered the murder and horrible mutilation of both her mother and her only daughter. Tariq has also lost his wife Daliyah and their son at the hands of Adam's thugs. Adam has placed a price on the heads of my wife and myself and sworn an oath before Allah that he will have us killed, just as he killed the other innocent members of our families. We seek retribution for the dead, and we seek safety for ourselves and for all other law-abiding men and women who ply the oceans. We have been lulled into a false sense of security, believing that we were protected by distance from his little empire in Puntland, and protected also by the law enforcement of this land in which we live. Adam has shown us that he has the power to strike at us wherever we may be. He has left us no alternative but to kill him before he kills us.' They all made sounds of agreement.

'After much discussion it has been decided that we should not mount an expedition against Adam in his stronghold at the Oasis of the Miracle. We have tried that once already and we lost most of our good men, including Ronnie Wells. Tariq was lucky to survive the experience.' Hector smiled at him. 'How has your wound healed?'

'Very pretty scar,' Tariq said grimly. He no longer smiled readily.

'If we go into Puntland there will be too many imponderables. We have to get Adam and his lieutenant Uthmann Waddah to come into the open. We have to set a baited trap for the two of them.' Even Paddy who had sat in on the earlier discussions was intrigued by hearing it all set out in such orderly detail. He was nodding his agreement with the others around the table. 'We have considered what form of bait Adam will not be able to resist. My wife has suggested that we use the Golden Goose Golden Goose.' Dave and Tariq both looked mystified. Paddy spoke for them.

'I think you have got Dave and Tariq flummoxed, Heck. I know what you're talking about. Security in the Osaka s.h.i.+pyard is my responsibility, but you will have to explain it to them.'

Hector turned to Hazel. 'The Goose Goose is your baby. Do you want to tell us about it, please, Hazel.' is your baby. Do you want to tell us about it, please, Hazel.'

'Okay, let me explain,' she said eagerly. 'It's quite simple, really. Bannock Oil is in the process of building one of the largest and most valuable vessels ever to sail the seas. It is a supertanker for the transport of natural gas. It has already been launched and has been moved to Taiwan for the final fitting of its equipment. So far we have managed to keep the project under wraps, which is why even you are in the dark. The s.h.i.+p has been named the Golden Goose Golden Goose. She has an insurance value in excess of a billion dollars.' Even Paddy looked deeply impressed. It was the first time he had been told the figures. 'Now Hector will tell you the rest of our plans.'

'Once the Golden Goose Golden Goose is ready for her maiden voyage we will arrange ma.s.sive publicity, including coverage on Al Jazeera Arabic TV which must go straight to Adam. The first voyage of the tanker will be to France from the new gas fields in Abu Zara. The is ready for her maiden voyage we will arrange ma.s.sive publicity, including coverage on Al Jazeera Arabic TV which must go straight to Adam. The first voyage of the tanker will be to France from the new gas fields in Abu Zara. The Golden Goose Golden Goose is far too large to negotiate the Suez Ca.n.a.l so it cannot take the route through the Gulf of Aden under Adam's nose. However, we have already discussed Adam's use of mother s.h.i.+ps for his attack boats and search helicopters, so we know he has the capacity to operate his attack boats as far as twelve hundred nautical miles off the Great Horn of Africa. The route the is far too large to negotiate the Suez Ca.n.a.l so it cannot take the route through the Gulf of Aden under Adam's nose. However, we have already discussed Adam's use of mother s.h.i.+ps for his attack boats and search helicopters, so we know he has the capacity to operate his attack boats as far as twelve hundred nautical miles off the Great Horn of Africa. The route the Golden Goose Golden Goose must take to reach the Cape of Good Hope from the mouth of the Persian Gulf will bring her as close as three hundred nautical miles from his base at Gandanga Bay. We will make sure that Adam knows when and where the must take to reach the Cape of Good Hope from the mouth of the Persian Gulf will bring her as close as three hundred nautical miles from his base at Gandanga Bay. We will make sure that Adam knows when and where the Golden Goose Golden Goose will sail past his stronghold. He will know the value of the s.h.i.+p, and who the owners are. The opportunity will be irresistible. He must strike, and we will be ready for him.' They considered the enormity of the plot in silence. Then Tariq spoke softly. will sail past his stronghold. He will know the value of the s.h.i.+p, and who the owners are. The opportunity will be irresistible. He must strike, and we will be ready for him.' They considered the enormity of the plot in silence. Then Tariq spoke softly.

'Adam will not come. Men say that he has grown cautious with wealth and power. He will not place himself in danger. He is a cowardly swine who delights in the torture and killing of women and children, but he no longer takes any risks himself.'

'You think that he will not attack the Golden Goose Golden Goose?' Hazel asked.

'No, he will not. Because he is a coward. Neither will Uthmann Waddah because as Hector knows well Uthmann is afraid of the sea. Adam will send his uncle Kamal Tippoo Tip, who is the commander of his attack flotilla. But Adam will not come himself to the seizing of the Golden Goose Golden Goose. He will remain safely at Gandanga Bay until they bring the prize to him. Only then will he go aboard to take possession of it.' The men sat back in their chairs uneasily, and Paddy and David exchanged glances. Hazel went to the window and stood looking down at the park. There were children frolicking on the lawns watched over by their doting parents and a marching band practising on the playing field. It all looked so peaceful and commonplace; so different from the savage reality they had been discussing. Hazel felt the sorrow of her bereavement welling up inside her once again, but she forced it down and turned back to face the men at the table.

'Very well. We must let Kamal capture the Golden Goose Golden Goose and take her into Gandanga Bay.' They went silent and still, staring at her in blank astonishment. She began to smile, and suddenly Hector burst out laughing. and take her into Gandanga Bay.' They went silent and still, staring at her in blank astonishment. She began to smile, and suddenly Hector burst out laughing.

'So! Hector's warhorse, Lampos, becomes the Trojan Horse! You are going to send Adam a little bit more than just a billion-dollar s.h.i.+p and a million cubic metres of natural gas.' At this Paddy slapped the table top and laughed out loud.

'Lovely! Only you could have dreamed that up, Mrs Cross. You are going to have to watch this lady wife of yours, Hector. Duplicity thy name is woman!'

Then Dave Imbiss saw what was happening, and he laughed along with Paddy. 'You are going to hide our men somewhere in the s.h.i.+p until Adam comes on board, then we all jump out shouting "Surprise! Surprise!"' he chortled. 'Once we have captured Adam we can launch a landing party. They will destroy all the pirate mother s.h.i.+ps, the helicopters and the flotilla of attack boats. They will free all the captured foreign seamen from the stockades. We will put them on board their own s.h.i.+ps, and we will cover them while they escape out to sea.'

But Tariq looked dubious.

'We will need a hundred or more men to do all these things that you are planning. Is there s.p.a.ce on your s.h.i.+p to hide so many?'

'Tariq, this is probably the largest cargo s.h.i.+p ever built,' Hector explained. 'Wait until you see her! We could hide an army on board her.'

'By G.o.d! That gives me an idea. We can arm her with a concealed battery of artillery, just like the old Q-s.h.i.+ps of the Second World War.' Paddy was exultant. 'We can bombard the town and sink any other vessels that try to resist or run from us.'

'No!' Hazel said sharply. 'No bombardment of the town. There are hundreds of women and children living there in makes.h.i.+ft houses. It would be a ma.s.sacre. It would make us worse than Adam. However, I agree that we will have to send a landing party ash.o.r.e to free the captive foreign seamen.'

'How much water will the Golden Goose Golden Goose draw when she is fully loaded?' Hector asked, and answered his own question. 'Probably more than a hundred feet. The pirates will not be able to bring the draw when she is fully loaded?' Hector asked, and answered his own question. 'Probably more than a hundred feet. The pirates will not be able to bring the Goose Goose within a mile of the beach. We can't send small boats in from that distance. They would be exposed to fire from the sh.o.r.e all the way in. It would be suicidal.' within a mile of the beach. We can't send small boats in from that distance. They would be exposed to fire from the sh.o.r.e all the way in. It would be suicidal.'

'If the s.h.i.+p is that big, we could conceal a couple of AAVs in her holds,' David Imbiss said thoughtfully.

'AAVs?' Hazel asked. 'What are they?'

'Amphibious a.s.sault Vehicles is the official designation. They are the new generation of the swimming tanks, like those that reinforced the Allied Forces when they went ash.o.r.e on the Normandy beaches in 1944.'

'Is it possible to launch them from a high-sided s.h.i.+p?' Hazel persisted.

'Absolutely. They can make a splash entry from a height of thirty feet,' Dave a.s.sured her.

'Even fully laden the freeboard of the Goose Goose will be greater than that. And then how would we recover them again?' Hazel wanted to know. will be greater than that. And then how would we recover them again?' Hazel wanted to know.

'We will equip the s.h.i.+p with hydraulic cranes on travelling gantries that lie inconspicuously flat on the cargo deck until they are deployed out over the s.h.i.+p's side. The AAVs can leave the Goose Goose and return to her by this arrangement,' Hector said without looking up from the sketch of the idea he was drawing on his notepad. and return to her by this arrangement,' Hector said without looking up from the sketch of the idea he was drawing on his notepad.

'Right on!' Dave agreed. 'You wouldn't want to abandon the AAVs when we pull out of Gandanga Bay. They will cost a couple of hundred thousand dollars each.'

'Describe one of these toys to me,' Hazel said.

'It looks very much like a conventional battle tank with tracks and a turret, except it has much taller sides. The type we need is the personnel carrier, which can carry twenty-five fully equipped infantrymen, plus the crew of three. Its turret is armed with ring-mounted .50-calibre heavy machine guns and a grenade launcher. Its armour is proof to rifle and heavy machine gunfire. On land it has a speed of twenty-five miles an hour and on the water it is capable of almost ten mph.'

'Can you get a few of these machines for us, Dave?' Hazel wondered.

'It would be very difficult to get our hands on one straight off the factory floor. But I'm sure I could find a couple of them that have been in service for a few years, but which have been well maintained and are in good running order. South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia and a number of other countries in the Far East all have them in use. I should be able to cut a deal with one of them.'

Hazel looked at Hector and Paddy. 'How many do we need?' she asked.

'If we can achieve complete surprise, and get fifty men ash.o.r.e, we can take and hold the town for at least a day until the enemy are able to regroup,' Hector replied. 'Two AAVs should do it.'

'That leaves no lat.i.tude for mistake or accident,' Paddy demurred. 'Three vehicles and seventy-five men would cover all possible eventualities.'

'Paddy often p.i.s.ses iced water.' Hector apologized for him.

'It's chilly on the w.i.l.l.y, but at least it keeps me alive.' Paddy grinned back at him.

'Dave, please find Paddy his third AAV. We want him to go on staying alive.' Hazel laughed with them.

I am so proud of her strength and resilience, Hector thought with delight, she has come alive again. She can laugh. The hurting has been thrust aside to make way for constructive thought. It will never go away completely, but now she has it under control. If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same; old Rudyard could have written that with her in mind. she has come alive again. She can laugh. The hurting has been thrust aside to make way for constructive thought. It will never go away completely, but now she has it under control. If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same; old Rudyard could have written that with her in mind.

Then he grew serious again. 'I think we have reached the stage when we need to call in a team of the Chinese design engineers from the Taipei s.h.i.+pyard, so we can reconfigure the Goose Goose's hull,' he said.

The three engineers arrived five days later bringing with them all the working drawings of the Golden Goose Golden Goose in a number of large black plastic tubes. Once the client's requirements were made clear to them, Hazel gave them a suite of rooms on the floor below hers and they set to work on the drawings with enormous single-minded energy. On the tenth day they re-emerged to present their new designs for consideration. in a number of large black plastic tubes. Once the client's requirements were made clear to them, Hazel gave them a suite of rooms on the floor below hers and they set to work on the drawings with enormous single-minded energy. On the tenth day they re-emerged to present their new designs for consideration.

The empty gas cargo tank nearest to the high superstructure in the s.h.i.+p's stern was as cavernous as a large aircraft hangar. The designers had part.i.tioned this off from the rest of the s.h.i.+p to form a covert area. Then they had divided this s.p.a.ce laterally into three separate levels. The uppermost level was allocated to the storage of military supplies including munitions and firearms that would need to be unloaded swiftly. They had included a single smaller cabin, twelve feet square, in which were two narrow bunks one above the other, and a toilet and shower cabinet beyond a connecting doorway. This cabin was for use by Hazel and Hector. Next door to this was the open parking s.p.a.ce for the three AAVs. Directly overhead the shuttered roof opened to allow the vehicles to be lifted to the deck above on a hydraulic hoist. This hoist was mounted on a travelling gantry which could carry the AAVs one at a time to the s.h.i.+p's side and lower them to the surface of the sea. Within fifteen minutes of opening the overhead hatch all three AAVs could be on the water and heading for the beach at ten miles an hour, carrying seventy-five heavily armed men to the attack.

The second level of the covert area of the hull comprised the men's living and sleeping quarters, the mess and the ablutions, the toilets and the air-conditioning units to maintain a constant supply of fresh air to all areas. Also on this level was the a.s.sembly area from which the men would disperse to their action stations. The bottom level would house the kitchens and refrigerated storage for foodstuffs. But most of the s.p.a.ce on this level was taken up by the operational situation room and the electronic equipment. In every part of the s.h.i.+p above them concealed CCTV cameras and listening microphones would be installed. There was not a corner of the entire s.h.i.+p, from the bridge to the bilges, which could not be monitored from this position. One of the cameras would be sited on the stubby radio mast on top of the bridge. It would afford the men in the situation room far below a panoramic view of the s.h.i.+p's surroundings and her horizon.

Radiating out from the a.s.sembly area on the second tier was a network of hidden tunnels and ladders. They would be cunningly built in behind the bulkheads. By means of these tunnels combat-ready men could swiftly reach every part of the vessel without exposing themselves until they burst out of the disguised hatches to take the unsuspecting enemy off guard.

The five of them - Hazel, Paddy, Dave Imbiss, Tariq and Hector - sat at the long boardroom table facing the three Chinese and debated the merits and demerits of the planned layout. One of the considerations that received their full attention was the soundproofing of the clandestine s.p.a.ces. One hundred and twenty-five men living in confined metal compartments would make some noise even simply moving around. These sounds could alert the enemy to their presence on board. Ceilings, bulkheads and particularly the decks would have to be lined with thick tiles of sound-proofed polyurethane. Every moving part within the covert area, the doors of the microwave ovens and the refrigerators, even the water taps and the flus.h.i.+ng mechanisms of the toilets, had to be completely m.u.f.fled. The men would eat off paper plates and use plastic mugs and utensils, so there would be no clink of metal on china. They would wear only soft-soled boots. When the order for 'Silent s.h.i.+p' was given they would speak only when absolutely necessary, and then in whispers. The electronic equipment would all be muted, and the operators would wear headphones to listen in on all sounds in the other parts of the s.h.i.+p. The gas circulation pumps in the neighbouring cargo tanks would be automatically set to operate in continuous relays, so that they would drown out any small noises from the covert area amids.h.i.+ps. Once all had been done to a.s.sure quiet operation, they turned their attention to the fitting of armaments and observation equipment. The CCTV cameras had to be completely disguised or concealed, but placed where they were able to cover every part of the s.h.i.+p. The same considerations applied to positioning the listening microphones.

The s.h.i.+p's bridge was at the very top of the stern tower almost one hundred feet above the cargo deck. It gave the captain, navigation officer and the helmsman a clear 360-degrees view all round. On the tier below the bridge was the captain's accommodation, the communications and navigation room and the luxurious owner's suite. On the tier immediately below that were the cabins of the junior officers and s.h.i.+p's engineers, the s.h.i.+p's kitchen and mess. The designers proposed building an additional tier on top of the existing bridge and converting this upper level to become the main bridge, leaving the deck below empty. This empty s.p.a.ce was to be sealed off entirely. The only access to it would be via the ladder tunnel leading up from the covert area below the main deck. Behind the blank steel walls of this upper deck would be mounted a pair of MK44 Bushmaster 40mm automatic light cannon capable of a rate of fire of 200 rounds per minute. At the throw of a handle the concealing panels dropped down and the cannons were unmasked and ready to go into immediate action, bringing their devastating fire power to bear on any hostile target.

Once all the plans were approved the team dispersed. Dave Imbiss flew out to South Korea where within three weeks he had procured as ex-army stock three AAVs and the pair of Bushmaster cannon. All this equipment was already en route to the port of Chi-Lun in Taiwan where it would be fitted into the covert areas of the Golden Goose Golden Goose. During the voyage from Taiwan to the Abu Zara gas field the drivers and crews selected to operate the AAV would be trained in the operation of these c.u.mbersome-looking but extraordinarily effective machines. On the same leg of the voyage the gunners would be trained to serve the Bushmaster cannon.