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“If we stay on the same heading, we’ll catch them,” said Rick.

“Right,” said Charlie. “I’ll let the captain know.” He ducked upstairs, and a moment later, the boat’s engines increased in revolutions.

“We found the workboat,” said Ali. “I thought you’d died with them.”

“Died?” asked Mike.

“Someone torched it,” said the chief, who had helped them out of the water. “It was still burning when we moved on.”

“Double-crossed by the Koreans,” said Rick.

“Most likely,” replied Mike. “Can’t say I feel sorry for any of them. Chief, can we head up and meet your skipper?”

“Yeah, there’s a Mountie up there with some questions,” the man replied.

“No doubt,” said Rick. “We’ve got a few of our own.”

Chapter Twenty-One

“How fast can this bucket go?” asked Charlie as Rick and Mike joined him on the bridge of the rescue boat.

“Fast enough,” said the captain as he studied the navigation radar. “I’ve got two contacts on scope. One of them is on the same bearing as us. She’s about eight nautical miles out, but we’re slowly pulling her in. The other looks to be stationary, about twelve miles out. She’s a bit bigger, possibly a freighter.”

“Thanks for the save, Cap,” said Mike as he and Rick made their introductions to him and the RCMP Officer, who was also on the bridge.

“All good, eh. It’s what we do.”

Mike gave the bridge the once-over, noting the digital interfaces, radar screens, and infrared cameras. “This is one high-tech bit of kit,” he observed.

“Launched last year. Makes our job a hell of a lot easier, especially the radar and the FLIR. We picked you three up on the camera long before we would have spotted you with a light and binos.”

“Is she armed?” asked Rick.

“Negative, we’re not a law enforcement service,” said the captain. “That’s why we’ve got Thomas along,” he shot the police officer a nod.

“I’ve called it in,” said Thomas. “BC is trying to whip up a chopper, but we’ve got a big narco raid going down in Calgary and all our tactical teams are deployed there.”

“The guys on that boat have got at least five sub-machine guns,” said Rick.

“Yeah, but I’m betting they don’t know we’re not like the US Coast Guard,” said the skipper. “And this thing has got one hell of an air horn.” He turned to Thomas. “I’m willing to bluff the bastards if you are.”

Thomas nodded. “Right on. Let’s scare the shit out of these thieving bastards.”

It took a little under half an hour for the Coast Guard to close within five hundred yards of the North Korean vessel. They shadowed it for a few minutes, observing the craft through the FLIR camera.

“Only one guy out on deck, the others must be in the wheelhouse,” said the captain.

“Do you think they’ve spotted us?” asked the cop.

“I don’t think that boat has radar,” said Rick.

“I’ve got a visual on a merchant ship,” the chief said from up on the flybridge, where he was using a night-vision device to scan the horizon.

“That’s where they’re heading.”

“We need to move fast,” said Mike.

“Fast we can do,” replied the captain. He activated the intercom. “All hands, brace for a sprint. I say again, brace for a sprint.”