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“Understood,” Juan said. “I’ll keep you posted.”
Overholt hung up, and Juan called Eric.
“There’s a ship anchored in Sydney Harbour. It’s called the Centaurus. Is there a way to see it?”
“It shouldn’t be too hard to tap into the cameras used by the harbor’s vessel tracking system. Give me a few minutes and I’ll get back to you.”
Two minutes later, Eric called.
“Got it. I’ll put it up on your screen.”
Although it was nighttime, there was enough ambient light to make out the ship’s silhouette easily. It was a break bulk freighter with four cranes mounted along one side of the ship.
“The Centaurus looks a lot like the Shepparton, doesn’t it?” Eric said.
“Yes, it does,” replied Juan. “That has to be Polk’s ship. I’ll tell Maurice to put more coffee on. We’ve got a long night ahead.”
* * *
—
Planning each component of the operation didn’t allow for much sleep, so there were a few bleary eyes when Juan called everyone to the boardroom for the group’s mission briefing the next evening.
“We all know what’s at stake in this operation,” Juan said, glancing at Murph. “Because of our late arrival in the Sydney area, we’re not going to be able to begin the assault until 2330 tonight. That gives us only a half hour before the scheduled midnight launch of the rockets. Our objective is to get on board the Centaurus, secure the antidote, and disable the rockets if possible. We’ll use a similar boarding tactic to the ones we used with the Dahar and Shepparton.”
“But with no tranquilizer darts,” Linc said. “I used the last one on April Jin.”
“What are the rules of engagement then?” Raven asked.
“We’ll have to go in fast and hard,” Eddie said. “Based on the man who fell overboard, we believe that the crew is made up of mercenaries who are military veterans. According to the manifest filed with the Sydney Port Authority, there are eleven crew on board. Polk might bring some people with him, so we’re hoping to encounter fifteen or fewer hostiles. We can’t afford an alarm to sound, so we’ll be taking out each of them as quietly as we can. We’ll be armed with suppressed weapons, but don’t use them unless you have to.”
MacD, whose arm was in a sling, turned to Raven. “Ah will let you use my crossbow one more time if you promise to bring it back in one piece.”
“I will treat it like it’s my own,” Raven said.
“But to be clear, it’s not.”
Raven simply shrugged, her lip curled in amusement at his possessiveness.
“I will be leading the mission,” Juan said. “Raven, Eddie, and Linc will be joined by Eric and Sylvia.”
That raised some eyebrows.
To head off their questions, Juan continued, “We don’t know what kind of weapons system Polk is using to activate the missiles, so we need technical experts on site to give us the best chance of disarming them. Normally, that would mean Eric and Murph.”
“Unfortunately, my hover chair isn’t ready yet,” Murph said.
“Sylvia has similar expertise as her brother, so she volunteered her services for this operation. Instead of our custom earpieces, she’ll be wearing a comm headset. She will also be unarmed, so I’m assigning Linc to stay by her side.”
Sylvia looked sheepish. “I may do research for the Defense Department, but I don’t work with small arms. I never actually fired a gun until Eric took me to your shooting range this morning.”
“She was a pretty good shot,” Eric said.
“But I’m not trained in handling them like you all are,” Sylvia said. “I wouldn’t want to shoot one of you by accident.”
“Max will take command of the Oregon,” Juan said. “Polk might recognize the ship, so we’ll plan to stop seven miles outside of Sydney Harbour and come in on the Gator.”
Linda raised her hand. “I’ll be piloting this time.”
