Marauder (The Oregon Files, Band 15) - Softcover

Cussler, Clive; Morrison, Boyd

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0593087933 ISBN 13: 9780593087930

Verlag: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2021

Inhaltsangabe

It's up to Juan Cabrillo and the crew of his ship, the Oregon, to stop a terrorist plot to release a deadly chemical weapon across the globe in the explosive new novel in Clive Cussler's #1 New York Times bestselling series.

While interrupting an attack on a Kuwaiti oil tanker, Juan Cabrillo and his team discover something even more dangerous: a ruthless billonaire's dying wish has allowed a paralyzing chemical to end up in the hands of a terrorist group. When an Oregon crew member falls victim to the poison, Juan Cabrillo will stop at nothing to find an antidote before it is too late. He and his team must connect an ancient mystery with a cunning modern enemy in order to save millions of innocent lives, including their own.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Clive Cussler was the author of more than seventy books in five bestselling series, including Dirk Pitt, NUMA Files, Oregon Files, Isaac Bell, and Sam and Remi Fargo. His life nearly paralleled that of his hero Dirk Pitt. Whether searching for lost aircraft or leading expeditions to find famous shipwrecks, he and his NUMA crew of volunteers discovered and surveyed more than seventy-five lost ships of historic significance, including the long-lost Confederate submarine Hunley, which was raised in 2000 with much publicity. Like Pitt, Cussler collected classic automobiles. His collection featured more than one hundred examples of custom coachwork. Cussler passed away in February 2020. Boyd Morrison is the coauthor with Cussler of the Oregon Files novels Piranha, The Emperor's Revenge, Typhoon Fury, Shadow Tyrants, and Final Option, and the author of six other books. He is also an actor and engineer, with a doctorate in engineering from Virginia Tech, who has worked on NASA's space station project at Johnson Space Center and developed several patents at Thomson/RCA. In 2003, he fulfilled a lifelong dream by becoming a Jeopardy! Champion. He lives in Seattle.

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One

 

Strait of Malacca

 

Captain Omar Rahal tracked the small boat racing across the placid waters of the narrow strait. It was approaching his California-bound oil tanker from dead ahead, and far too quickly to be a fishing boat. He'd tried to raise them on the radio, but there was no response. It meant only one thing.

 

Pirates.

 

Using his binoculars, he could see that the boat was full of men armed with guns, but there was nothing he could do to avoid them. The Dahar was more than 300 meters long, and the strait between Malaysia and the Indonesian island of Sumatra was barely three kilometers across at its narrowest point. The ponderous ship would be impossible to turn around, and the speedboat would easily outmaneuver any attempt to ram it.

 

"Increase to full speed," he nevertheless told the executive officer. "We're not going to make the Dahar an easy target." Such high velocity for a ship as big as theirs was risky in these tight confines, even with calm seas, but he couldn't let them hijack his ship without doing something.

 

As the XO ordered full power, Rahal activated the shipwide intercom. "Now hear this, men. We have hostiles off our bow. They are armed and mean to board us. Initiate emergency lockdowns and go to your action stations. Do not, I repeat, do not attempt to fight them." He didn't want any crew members to die on his watch.

 

The boat passed behind the bow of the Dahar so that Rahal could no longer see it. He went to the port bridge wing so he could watch for it over the side of the ship.

 

They came back into view, and he could now make out seven men clad in T-shirts and armed with automatic rifles. There had to be an eighth driving, hidden by the roof of the tiny wheelhouse. The boat circled around so it could match the tanker's speed. Rahal spied a man holding an extendable ladder.

 

He called to the XO. "Activate the SSAS alarm."

 

The XO flipped open a safety cover and pressed a large red button. The Ship Security Alert System was a silent alarm that contacted the ship's base of operations to inform them that a hijacking was in progress. It ensured that the hijackers would not be warned that help had been summoned.

 

A few seconds later, the bridge phone rang. Rahal picked it up.

 

"This is Captain Rahal on the Dahar."

 

"Captain, this is operations headquarters. We are calling to verify that you have an emergency in progress."

 

"Affirmative. This is not a false alarm." Rahal recited the code sequence verifying his identity. "Seven or eight armed men are preparing to board us."

 

"Understood. We have your position and will contact the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency and the Indonesian Sea and Coast Guard. Stay on the line as long as you can. Are there any ships in your vicinity that could render aid?"

 

"What do we have on our radar?" Rahal asked the XO.

 

The XO peered at the radar screen and shook his head in dismay. "The closest vessel looks to be a freighter thirty kilometers behind us."

 

"Even if we stop, it would take her two hours to get here," Rahal spoke into the phone. "What's my ETA on the Coast Guard?"

 

"The MMEA is scrambling a helicopter in Johor, but the soonest they'll make it to you is ninety minutes. Stay calm and do not resist the hijackers. Help is on the way."

 

Rahal smirked at the XO. "'Help is on the way,' he says."

 

"We're going to need it," the XO replied, pointing down at the deck.

 

The top of the ladder poked above the railing. Rahal dropped the phone and ran out to the bridge wing again. While some of the hijackers had their weapons trained on the railing in case anyone tried to push it away, others began climbing up, several of them carrying large backpacks in addition to their weapons. When seven of them were on deck, they ran toward the superstructure at the rear of the ship.

 

Rahal got back on the phone. "Headquarters, I have to hang up now. The hostiles are approaching the bridge."

 

"Good luck, Captain."

 

Rahal tried to calm himself for the sake of the rest of the bridge crew, but his insides felt like pudding. He hadn't been this shaken since the Iraqis invaded his native Kuwait when he was a teenager working on a fishing boat.

 

A few moments later, he heard feet pounding up the stairs.

 

"No sudden moves," Rahal said to his men.

 

The door was flung open, and three Southeast Asian men burst onto the bridge with their weapons at the ready.

 

"Don't shoot," Rahal said in English with his hands in the air. "We're unarmed."

 

A lean and wiry man with scarred flesh where his left ear should have been stepped forward with a menacing grin. He didn't have the rotted teeth of a drug-using robber. This man was a trained professional.

 

"You are Captain Rahal?" the man said in Indonesian-accented Arabic.

 

"Yes," Rahal replied in the same language, surprised that the man knew his name. "What do you want?"

 

"I want your ship. Now I have it."

 

"And my crew?"

 

One of the hijackers went to the controls and set the engines to full stop.

 

"If you and your crew behave, you will depart the ship with me, and we will ransom you. If no one pays, then we will kill you."

 

Rahal nodded. "We'll cooperate. And my company will pay your ransom."

 

"That's very good to hear," the scarred hijacker said. "Because if you give us any trouble, I'll leave all fifteen of you on board, and you can go down with your ship when I blow it up in the strait."

 

Two

 

Ravenhall, Australia

 

April Jin paced around her beat-up Ford as she waited in the parking lot of the Ravenhall Correctional Centre. Although the asphalt was already baking from the morning sun, there was no way she would set foot inside the prison doors again. She'd been coming here for three years now on weekly visits, and the sterile white walls inside reminded her of her own two-year stay at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre for women. Bile rose in her throat at the thought of ever walking back into the place.

 

The front doors of Ravenhall's main entrance finally opened, and she smiled when she saw Angus Polk strut out with a hardened look in his eyes. His erect posture and cropped hair hinted at his military background, marred only by the presence of a light beard. In his jeans and stretched T-shirt, he displayed a newfound bulk, thanks to his daily workouts in the yard, which had added definition to his tall frame. His face softened into a broad smile when he spotted his waiting wife.

 

Jin met her husband and melted into his arms. He lifted her from her feet as if she weighed nothing.

 

"You've lost weight," he said.

 

"Morning runs to stay in shape and light rations while dining alone."

 

Jin had a slim, slightly muscular figure. Her straight black hair was worn short, highlighting her lean face and dark, probing eyes.

 

After she gave Polk a long kiss, she said, "I can't believe they let you out."

 

"Free at last, thanks to my new favorite words-'early release.' Apparently all that good behavior inside paid off." They put their arms around each other and walked toward the car. "Thanks for coming to meet me," he said. "I'll be glad to get home . . . wherever that is."

 

"You may not like our flat much better than your...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: G.P. Putnam's Sons
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2021
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0593087933
• ISBN 13: 9780593087930
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 496
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Friedensallee 273; Hamburg; 22763; Deutschland