The Pirate:. Katherine Garbera

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СКАЧАТЬ transport expert. There wasn’t a machine that Laz couldn’t make work.

      “As long as we can keep the lines open, I’m happy. Do you need me to leave another man on the tanker?”

      “No. Hamm and I have it covered. Besides, at this point, if we had another man I think the crew and our passengers would question it.”

      “I agree. Who are the passengers? Your message was a bit garbled…you said doctors?”

      “Yes. They are going to Somalia, so we are going to take them close to the shore and they will take one of the speedboats there.”

      “Who came up with that plan?”

      “Their group. The plane they’d chartered was sabotaged.”

      “Why didn’t they turn back?” Savage asked.

      Laz shrugged. “I didn’t ask. But the fax I got from Maersk said that they were needed in Somalia to relieve the group of doctors who are already there.”

      “Will they get in the way?”

      “I don’t know. I’m hoping we can deliver them before we lure the pirates to the tanker.” Maersk was a shipping line and not a passenger fleet.

      Savage shook his head. “We can’t count on that. I’d recommend locking them up at the first sign of trouble so that we can keep them all alive.”

      “Yes, sir.”

      “Laz? You here?” Hamm said through the wireless earpieces they all wore.

      “Yes, what do you need?”

      “One of the men is up on deck.”

      “On my way. Savage, do you need anything else from me?”

      Savage shook his head. “Mann?”

      Laz heard the conversation via his earpiece.

      “We’re done. As soon as the deck is clear, we’ll meet you on the boat.”

      “Sounds good. We’re running silent now,” Savage said.

      Laz left his team leader and went back down to the deck to see what his crew member was doing at this time of night.

      The ship was always active and this time of night was no different. It had taken a lot of careful planning to make sure the deck would be empty when Savage and the team arrived.

      He wasn’t bothered that Daphne had been up on the deck tonight. He remembered his first time on the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden. He’d been anxious to see how these seas were different than the ones back home.

      And he had found that for all that he was on the other side of the world there was sameness to the oceans. A feeling of home that came to him only when he was on the seas.

      And like that feeling of home there was now the familiarity of having to deal with a fractious member of his crew. Since they’d left port in Madrid, Fridjtof had been running around making trouble.

      Laz knew it was past time that he stopped it.

      Tankers were like a city at sea and he was the man in charge. Laz hated the bureaucracy that went along with being the captain. He wasn’t sure how Savage put up with it. Laz laughed to himself. Savage put up with it by ruling with a iron fist.

      More than once the Savage Seven had had a knock-down, drag-out fight to settle differences of opinion. Violence was its own kind of peacekeeping method for their team. And right now Laz was running high on testosterone. He needed to get rid of his excess energy. He couldn’t take it out on the small crew they had on the tanker, though.

      They were running with a small crew on this trip because of the recent piracy. Maersk and their clients wanted the pirates stopped, which was why they’d agreed to allow Hamm and Laz to infiltrate the crew. The rest of the Maersk Angus crew totaled ten men.

      Fridjtof was the one man who made Laz uneasy. He was always poking around where he shouldn’t be. And twice Laz had caught him coming out of the radio room. The crewman was a loader so he had no business in the radio room.

      Laz had already had a run-in with the man once before when Fridjtof was bullying one of the rookie crewmen. He was a tough man who only respected brawn. He wasn’t the type of man that you could talk around—fists worked best for him.

      Laz rubbed the back of his neck. Or was that his wishful thinking coming into play? He needed the release and sparring with Fridjtof that would do that.

      And now he was on deck in the middle of the night when everyone else was sleeping. Well that wasn’t true, Laz thought. Daphne had been up here but somehow he didn’t think she might be working a double-cross on the tanker crew. To be honest he did believe that Fridjtof had two bosses.

      “Fridjtof? What have I told you about being on deck after hours?”

      “Ah, sorry about that, Captain. Just needed to get out of my bunk for a few minutes.”

      The night was calm and clear and not the type of weather for the men to stay belowdecks, but the dangers of the waters they were traveling through had made the “no deck” rule that Laz had put into place viable to the men.

      “No exceptions,” Laz said.

      “I thought I saw a woman up here. Was she an exception?”

      “She’s none of your damned business. You will do what you’re told,” Laz said, pointing his finger at Fridjtof’s chest.

      The other man took a deep drag on his cigarette and blew smoke back in Laz’s eyes. “I guess if I had boobs you’d feel different.”

      Laz punched the other man on the shoulder. “Watch it. Our guests will be treated with respect.”

      “Yeah, I know. They are off limits as well but not for you, eh, Captain?”

      Laz narrowed his eyes on the other man. What had he seen? Maybe it would be simpler to simply take Fridjtof captive and send him with Savage and the rest of their team.

      Daphne? How long had Fridjtof been up here? He didn’t really like the thought of this man talking about Daphne.

      “She isn’t used to life at sea the way a seasoned crewman like yourself is.”

      “I just think if I were curvy you’d be treating me differently.”

      Laz shook his head. “Regardless, get below.”

      Fridjtof looked like he was going to argue and Laz took a step toward the man. His command had to be absolute; there was no time to argue or run the ship like a democracy. “Or I can put you in lockup.”

      Fridjtof held his hands up. “I’m going, Cap.”

      Laz watched the other man disappear.

      “Damn it, I don’t like that guy,” Hamm said, joining Laz at the railing.

      “I СКАЧАТЬ