Scorpion's Reach 'Killer Instinct'

Welcome back

From the Author

Welcome back, sorry there was a bit of a break last week, seems I ran out of week before I ran out of things to write, or at least put together.

In the last episode, we left off where Joey and Sandy had reached the two cops and managed to free them just before the rest of the team brought 'Hellfire and damnation' to the drug gang.

But they're not 'out of the woods' (or in this case off the Island) yet!

There's other things going on, and 'bigger fish to fry'

so let's see where the story takes us this week shall we?

"Friendlies and a 'Volunteer'"

“Joey,” Jacko came over the network they were using, “you've got friendlies inbound south of you, ten minutes, it's the ‘60’ with the local armed offenders squad, bring 'em and whichever pilot volunteers for some fun ASAP”

“Roger that boss” Joey replied.

“We've got more bandits headed our way,” Jacko went on, “make sure the friendlies follow your lead, we should have the bandits dealt with by the time you get here!”

“What about the chopper boss? We need it?”

“No, but we'll need the pilot though, I'll explain when you get here” Jacko cut out.

Joey was confused, he'd thought the plan was for them to go and 'assist’ taking down the ship, for that they needed the chopper, now Jacko was saying no to the chopper, and he'd explain 'When they got there’. 'Situation normal, a hair-brained scheme in the works’ he thought, 'I’d bet a million quid on it if I had it that is’

Even Jacko wasn't totally sure they could pull it off! A great con if they could, and it just might give them an advantage they needed, but the risks?

The other chopper was almost on them, coming in to land, expecting to pick up their people,'straight in and out’. The 'boys’ had other plans.

“Ready boys, here they come” Jacko spoke softly into the radio. He raised his arms and turned the torches on, effectively telling the pilot where to land, they wouldn't wait for shutdown.

The aircraft banked and came in, turning on the landing lights at the last minute, the pilot saw nothing strange, he kept coming in, the skids gently gently settled on the sand, as soon as it was down Jacko gave one 'blink’ of the right hand torch, a signal asking the pilot if they can approach.

Mac and Smithy were both ready, Mac would go left, Smithy right, Jacko got the pilot.

The landing light blinked the 'ok’ “Let's go boys” Jacko whispered into the mike. The pilot was expecting them to be carrying weapons, so he thought nothing of armed men approaching, that was a mistake.

"No, I just volunteered to piss you off!"

“We're here to, WHAT THE HELL?” he was staring down the barrel of a Glock 17, he slowly raised his hands.

“Shut up and shift your arse out of the plane, MOVE” Jacko snarled, swinging the door wide open he hit the release on the pilot's five-point harness, grabbing the man, hurled him out of the seat, onto the sand, “on your feet”. He hauled him up and began frogmarching him to the front of the helicopter. Mac and Smithy had flung the back doors open, no one was there, but that didn't stop a thorough search, eventually, Mac reported in.

“All clear boss, where's Joey?”

The blades had stopped, the pilot having put the brake on just before his nasty surprise, but the engine was still turning over as Joey and the rest approached, there were seven from the AoS and the pilot, then there were the two cops, finally Sandy was bringing up the rear.

“Boss” Joey began the introductions, “this is Senior Sergeant”

“No time for that” Jacko cut him off, looking down the line he shouted, “where's the pilot?”

“Here,” a voice came back, a youngish looking officer stepped forward, “flight lieutenant Carol”

“We'll do intros later” Jacko steamrollered her, “can you fly this thing?”

'Carol’ looked the big oaf in the eye, she was about four inches shorter than him, but the tone of voice said it all. “No, I just volunteered to piss you off” she pushed him out of the way, grabbing the door handle, she climbed up onto the fuselage and into the cockpit, “of course I bloody well can, I take it you want me to take you boys somewhere right?” She reached up to release the brake, the rotors slowly began turning, she looked back down in them, “well come on then, get your arse into gear.”

There aren't many people can silence Jacko, but she did, if only for a few seconds. “Guess that's not going to be a problem then, I'll explain where we're going in a min”

“No need,” she cut him off, “machines got a Doppler navigation system, I'll just punch up the last set of coordinates, there we are, thirty-six miles out to Sea right?”

“I've no idea?” Jacko replied truthfully, “suppose it's not safe to ask how are you landing on a ship, maybe as small as a superyacht?”

“No worries,” she broke a smile, “done a few hair-raising ones in my time, mostly oil rigs, but we'll be fine.”

“Good,” he turned to the rest of the team, “climb on board, hey wait a minute,” he went to physically restrain Hene and Sam, “not you two!”

"Don't even think of trying to stop me soldier boy!!"

The female cop had a fat lip, her left eye was half closed, she was moving with difficulty, there's no way she was ready for what they were about to do, she just stopped, looked at Jacko and said, “don't even think of trying to stop me soldier boy!”

The acid in the comment was so potent, all five of them winced, unsure of what might come next.

“We came here to rescue you,” Jacko replied, “I'm not putting you back in harm's way again, especially in the condition you're in!”

“I'm going with, that's final” Sam replied and started to climb in, Jacko blocked her path, “out of my way soldier, or I'll tie myself to the bloody skids!” She actually got a length of nylon rope out and began wrapping it around the struts.

“I'm with her” Hene spoke up, he was doing the same.

“Boss” it was Sandy broke the impasse, “we might actually need them anyway, S.I.S want this by the book, that ship's in a marine sanctuary administered by New Zealand, we need a cop presence for any arrests and the like”

“We'll have the Navy for that”

“They only get to take pictures, they've no power of arrest, that is until the ship is in international waters!” Sam cut in, “you need us two cops.”

Momentarily he was flummoxed, but it seemed the rest of the team were reasonably okay with the idea, not that it made it any easier to handle, after all they had been originally tasked with getting these folks back, not putting them in any more danger.

“The flight will give me time to check their injuries.” it was Mac spoke up, “and besides, they’ll be encased in Kevlar, they’ll be virtually bulletproof!”

That much was true, the Kevlar ‘vests’ were much more than just a normal vest, they stretch all the way down from the neck, protecting all the vital organs, even the ones in the groin, going halfway down the thighs, they protect even the femoral artery most of the way, with Kevlar most of the way down, and where the Kevlar isn’t (in the legs) you’ve got a ‘compression suit’ that helps hold anything in if you do get hit.

Bullets might not penetrate the suit, but they still hurt big time, and something like a round from an AK47 from as far away as two hundred yards will still break bones, with the sheer force it hits you with, but that’s so much better than the alternative, a body bag!

“Okay,” Jacko finally relented, “You’re on the chopper, but no all clear from Mac and you stay there, UNDERSTAND?”

Neither replied, they just smiled and climbed on board. Jacko turned and was about to finish briefing the Sergeant from the AoS.

“I’ve already got my orders Sir” the Sergeant cut him off, “Hold the perimeter until the others from the Regiment get here, they’ll do the search of the Island, only after that’s done can I call the drugs squad in to sort the rest of the bloody mess out, by the way, How much do you think we’re talking about, just out of curiosity?”

Jacko jumped into the chopper, he started sliding the door shut, but stopped half way through, he paused for a moment then said, “I think you’re gonna need a forklift to get it out, they were doing stuff on an industrial scale, using this place to resupply the whole South Pacific, and I mean Aussie as well!” with that he slid the door closed and gave the thumbs up to Carol.

As soon as the Sergeant was clear they were up and away.

"Hare-brained schemes"

“We’re en route to the second target now.” Sandy had Mildred on the Sat Phone, “Should be there in about twenty minutes!”

“Thanks for the update, I’ve got the RHIBs on the radio at the moment, texting you the frequency now, any luck with entry?” Mildred asked, the one part of the plan that still needed a lot of work was how the heck they were going to get onto whatever ship was out there, the support vessel, so far, the only plan they’d come up with was using the firepower of the RHIBs and literally blasting their way in, but that ran the risk of sinking the ship and losing any intel they might gain, not to mention the possible loss of life to the Navy and themselves, no one gave a damn about the other guys, they got what they deserved as far as Jacko and the team were concerned!

“Yeah” Sandy began, she looked around the cabin slowly, “About that, we’ve got a bit of a plan forming here, we’re in the chopper we captured on the beach, that’s why we needed the pilot!”

“That figures” they actually heard Mildred laugh, “That’s why I got you, Carol! She been stroppy with you yet?”

“Let’s just say one officer with his tail between his legs” Sandy replied, half joking, “Guess she’s good for the job then?”

“Carol’s a reservist, flies commercial choppers for the oil rigs out of New Plymouth normally, she was in the area doing some work for me, she’s used to landing the damn things on a postage stamp, and in a full-fledged cyclone if she has to!” the translation really was that Mildred had expected this might be a possibility and had her pilot ready ‘just in case’, “She’s perfect for it”

“That’s good,” Sandy came back, “We’re going for a Trojan horse approach, have the RHIBs stay within a couple of hundred yards, but out of sight, have them ready to move as soon as we say so!”

“I take it you want their frequency?”

“Would be easier, if we were in the driving seat.” This point was delicate, no one really likes to ‘hand over control’ of any operation, and one this huge was going to either make or break a lot of careers tonight, the slightest thing going wrong could end up with them all getting the sack, if not going to prison for attacking an innocent ship, not that anyone believed their target, not for one second.

“Okay” Mildred took a moment to reply, “I’m sending them right now, I’ve put both in, one for the RHIBs and one for the Wellington, as soon as your helo drops you off, I want it outta there, preferably with those two coppers on, got it!”

That's all for this week folks

There aren't too many episodes left at the moment, but yes, they're going to be storming a superyacht on the high seas with the Navy as support!

By the way, this is the kind of things that SAS and Navy SEALs train for all the time, what was a big surprise for me was just after I'd finished writing this chapter, the national news had an item on the news about the biggest drug bust in Australian history where a total of over a BILLION Australian dollars (about $950 million US) was taken in the raids ON A 16 METRE BOAT!!!

I'll put a link to the newspaper article below. but suffice it to say, I thought I was stretching the limits of believability when I wrote the story, apparently not!

Enjoyed the story, then leave a comment, but before you go, I've also put a link to my blog site so that you can keep abreast of what's happening and where we're going with the writing.

At the moment I'm learning some about marketing, and how to do it properly.

See you there.

The Biggest Drug bust in Australian history, and it was at sea!

• Australia's biggest drug bust: Billion dollar meth haul - NZ Herald
  Almost 1.2 tonnes of methamphetamine was found on a boat in Western Australia.