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It was unbroken, just like all the others.
“This is the antidote,” Juan said. He looked at Linc and Eric. “Hopefully, you won’t be in this condition for very long. As soon as we get back to the Oregon, we’ll give these to Julia. She’s going to have a busy night.”
The fireworks kept going, the pops and bangs a familiar and heartwarming sound.
“When you told us to sink the ship,” MacD said, “Ah was sure we wouldn’t be seeing y’all again. Ah didn’t like being the one sending you to the bottom.”
“That’s the Chairman’s Plan C for you,” Eddie said. “Victory snatched from the jaws of defeat.”
Juan nodded. “Max is going to read me the riot act when we get back.”
“Speaking of jaws of defeat, what happened to Polk?”
“I don’t know.”
“I do,” Sylvia said. “He went down with the ship.”
“What did you do to get away from him?” Juan asked.
“I gave him a taste of his own medicine.”
Something caused her to jolt. She fished around in her pocket and pulled out a phone. She let out a sigh of relief.
Juan was curious about what could be so important about her phone. “Did you miss a call?”
“This is Polk’s phone,” Sylvia said. “I used the face unlock feature while Polk was unconscious. It’s still open.” She tapped on the screen.
“Ah have that model myself,” MacD said. “It’s waterproof down to two meters.”
“When I was looking through it earlier, I flipped through his open apps hoping to find one that controlled the rockets. I didn’t have any luck, but something in the notepad app caught my attention.”
She turned the phone around to show Juan the screen. There were two lines.
CroesusCoin account number
9038 4734 2218 0635
“Remember when April Jin was drugged,” Sylvia said. “She told us that a cryptocurrency account would be unlocked after the attack was successful. She said it contained nine hundred and eighty million. She even gave us the password.”
“Enervum143,” Juan said.
“The only problem is, to unlock the account she said ten news sites had to carry stories about the attack.”
The word “attack” reminded Juan of another terrorist incident they’d foiled recently. It gave him the inkling of an idea, but he didn’t want to get everyone’s hopes up if it didn’t work.
MacD looked around as if he were searching for harbor traffic, but the area around the Gator was clear. All the boats were gathered by the Sydney Harbour Bridge to watch the fireworks, which continued to light the sky in a festive display.
“We can’t stay here forever,” he said. “I expect we’ll see the Sydney Police and Port Authority boats making their way in this direction any time now. We’re probably on camera right now.”
“I’m sure we’ve got a few minutes,” Juan said, leaning back on his elbows. “And we’re too far away to be identifiable by the port’s cameras in the dark. We’ll see the boats coming and be submerged by the time they arrive. Until then, let’s just rest for a few minutes and enjoy the show. I have a feeling it’s going to be a very happy new year.”
EPILOGUE
MALAYSIA
TWO MONTHS LATER
Juan had a tradition when the Oregon was getting ready to embark on a new voyage after a long stint in port. He liked to do a walk-through just to keep himself familiar with every corner of the ship and connect with the entire crew. Sometimes, like today, it took a few hours. It was a big ship, and his people were proud to show off their individual domains to him.
