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“Missile away,” Eric said. “Twenty-five seconds to target.”
Too long, Max thought as he saw another round splash into the water, this one much closer to the lifeboat. He turned to Hali at the comm station. “Tell Eddie that the cavalry is coming, but it may not arrive in time.”
• • •
“ACKNOWLEDGED,” Eddie said in response to Hali. “We’re not sticking around.”
The lifeboat was far enough from the Magellan Sun that it was out of reach of the cargo ship’s lights, and cloud cover momentarily obscured the half-moon, cloaking them in darkness. The gun had to be aimed by radar.
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He looked at MacD and Murph. “Time to go, gentlemen.” He opened the rear hatch.
MacD tied off the steering wheel so that it was locked in place, and he shoved the throttle to its stops. He and Murph went to the back of the lifeboat, and they all put on life vests.
“After you,” Eddie said to Murph, who jumped through the door. MacD followed. Eddie was the last into the water.
The lifeboat continued motoring forward, quickly leaving them behind.
Eddie saw another flash of light from the Magellan Sun.
“Incoming!” he yelled.
They covered their heads, but the gesture wouldn’t do much if the gunner’s aim was off. A hit in the water anywhere near them would crush their bodies to pulp.
A second after it fired, the shell whistled overhead and landed right on the lifeboat. It blew apart in a hail of fiberglass. Pieces of it peppered the water around them, but none of them were big enough to cause injury.
Eddie thought that would be the end of it, but, a moment later, yet another round fired from the deck gun.
“Another incoming!”
“What the . . . !” MacD shouted.
“They should think we’re dead,” Murph said at the same time.
The round landed halfway between them and the lifeboat, rattling Eddie’s teeth, and showering them with water. The next one would blow them away.
At that moment, Eddie saw a red flame shooting toward them, from the direction of the Oregon, just feet above the surface of the ocean. The roar of the rocket engine reached them just before it screamed by at nearly supersonic speed.
The three of them pumped their fists and shouted as the Exocet slammed into the center of the Magellan Sun directly under the gun that had been firing at them.
The explosion rose in a fiery plume over the midship deck, surrounded by a cloud of black smoke. It was almost immediately followed by a secondary explosion. The missile must have hit the cannon’s ammunition magazine.
The gun mount was tossed into the sky and overboard, landing with a huge splash. Containers on the deck were crushed like aluminum cans and somersaulted across the deck.
But that wasn’t the end of the explosions.
Juan had mentioned over the radio that a large part of the shipment on the trucks was plastic explosives. The blast of the shipboard ammo must have been enough to set off the Semtex remaining on board because a huge explosion lit up the night sky.
Eddie could feel the heat on his face as the Magellan Sun was ripped in half as if it were made of cardboard. The entire topside was engulfed in fire.
Simultaneously, the bow and stern sections rose out of the ocean as water gushed into the exposed holds of the ship. They pointed skyward for a few seconds and then slipped beneath the surface, leaving only a burning oil slick to mark the cargo ship’s passing.
The Gator’s cupola rose out of the water next to Eddie. Linda waved from the cockpit for them to come aboard.
“Get inside, you guys,” she said. “The Chairman is in trouble.”
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