Targets Entangled (30 page)

His muscles relaxed and he took a deep breath as he heard the conversation flow around his teammates. It was over an hour before Starr announced that she’d given the go ahead for the captain to make the announcement. Daegan thought of Ferrin and what her reaction would be to the directives. She would know immediately that this was what he’d been referring to for the past couple of days. It wasn’t even close to shift change, which was when the team would have preferred to do this due to when they thought their target was on duty. Starr had already prepped the department supervisors to monitor those crewmembers still on duty for any odd or erratic behavior. Trigger would have Diesel with him as the two of them walked the passageways along with Gunny and Doc. They’d already made their way down the ladderwells, leaving Starr and Stick to man the weather deck.

“Good morning, crew.” Captain Hensel’s commanding voice came over the 1MC. “The following announcement is for all hands. All crewmembers
not
currently on duty are to report to the weather deck immediately for an all hands formation. Those of you that are on duty must remain in your designated areas. Agent Joel, the federal agent in charge of the investigation into the murder of crewmember Tami McDaniel, will be arriving aboard
The Promised Land
momentarily. I repeat, all crewmembers not on duty will report to the weather deck immediately while those on shift will remain on watch with their supervisors. This is for your safety.”

Starr had done well in prepping the captain on what to announce. He made it apparent that there was an arrest imminent without actually saying it. Trigger and Gunny were letting it slip to the crew coming up to the weather deck that the DNA results had come back and that the person responsible was about to be detained. Word would spread like wildfire and all the team could hope for was that the target didn’t question why he or she hadn’t been put into the brig prior to Agent Joel’s appearance.

“You know as much as I do, Lieutenant Irvine.” Daegan smiled upon hearing the conversation between Starr and Irvine. The man was clearly pissed that he hadn’t been kept in the loop. Daegan would have loved to have the man in the sight of his scope to watch his reactions, but crewmembers were now filing out of the watertight hatch behind him, around the winch housing and out onto the open weather deck directly below the flight deck. He kept his sight trained on each and every one as they trailed out onto the open deck to form up into a three-sided horseshoe shaped formation. According to standard operating protocol, the ship’s company formed up by sections. S-1 and S-2 on the starboard side facing port. S-3 aft facing forward. S-4 through S-6 were on the port side facing starboard. Thus the crew formed around the main hatch cover, allowing the captain to use it as an elevated podium. Worry and concern were etched in most of their faces, whereas excitement was visible on the others. “Agent Joel should arrive within the half hour and then we’ll see what comes of this.”

The other team member’s conversations filtered through, but nothing stood out as a red flag. Daegan continued to survey the crewmembers from his concealed area, his sight landing on each and every one of them. Ferrin had yet to come through the hatch, but if she’d still been in the infirmary she would have had one of the longest paths to travel back through the ship and up onto the weather deck. It had already been predetermined that Matthew Bell shouldn’t be moved with the concussion he’d received and the ship’s doctor would remain behind with his patient and a single nurse with the duty corpsmen.

Five minutes passed and then ten, without a word from any of the department supervisors. The majority of the off duty crewmembers were now on the weather deck, facing Starr and Lieutenant Irvine. Doc was across the deck, observing the crowd. Gunny, Stick, and Trigger’s voice would come across the receiver every now and then, but it was quiet for the most part. Daegan was born and raised in Nebraska, so he knew very well how still and calm it could be before the storm. It was only a matter of time before the shit hit the fan.

‡

F
errin and Nina
had just been about to leave the radio room when Captain Hensel had made the all hands announcement that all off duty crewmembers should report to the weather deck for formation. She spent the last hour or so talking with Matt and obtaining answers to her questions. He’d been apologetic that he ever made Ferrin feel in any way frightened of him and he’d only been coming to see her because of her change in attitude the day before. As for running after her, he stated he’d panicked at the thought she would start yelling for help when he hadn’t done anything wrong. It had all been a major mistake on his part and one that could very well have ended badly for everyone involved. As it was, he had a whopper of a headache and guilt had started to settle into her over the mistake she’d made. She could have easily killed him.

Ferrin’s hands still trembled every once in a while, reminding her of what it felt like when she thought she’d been in the crosshairs of a killer with her adrenaline flowing. Nothing better could happen than Agent Joel coming aboard and arresting the person responsible. Ferrin never wanted to be placed in that type of situation again. Captain Hensel’s directives had to be what Daegan had been referring to for the last couple of days.

“Do you think they really know who killed Tami?” Nina asked, pushing away from Ferrin’s desk. The two of them had stopped in so that Ferrin could speak with Chief Jackson about what had taken place this morning and also to see if Monte was still on duty. He’d had extended his shift from zero six hundred and had to be damned tired, but Jerry had relieved Monte of his duty during shift change. Roger had also been called in early and Monte had already left the radio room for his cabin. That left Roger, Jerry, Chief Jackson, Nina, and Ferrin behind when the captain had made his announcement. “If so, this can finally be over with once and for all.”

“I was up on the bridge and heard that the DNA results came back,” Jerry said as he took his time filling up a Styrofoam cup full of hot coffee. Ferrin and Nina were the only ones that needed to report to the weather deck. Roger, Jerry, and Chief Jackson would remain behind as directed. “The scumbag who made it look like it was Chuck deserves to have his or her ass thrown overboard. They can feed him to the sharks for all I care.”

“We’re going to head up to the weather deck,” Ferrin said, patting Jerry on the arm as she walked by him. Nina was already by the hatch and eagerly waiting to see what would happen once Agent Joel arrived. “I’ll take a Motorola with me and keep you updated as things happen.”

Ferrin had turned back to Jerry to ask him to hand her the extra battery that he had on his desk when a muffled gunshot echoed throughout the compartment. Nina screamed while tremors of fear shot through Ferrin’s body. As if in slow motion, Jerry’s cup of coffee fell to the ground where it sprayed the steaming brown liquid all over the deck. He wasn’t far behind as he collapsed in front of her, revealing Roger standing there with a smoking handgun with a long suppressor on it. It struck Ferrin as odd that a silenced pistol was in fact still quite loud.

“You touch that sidearm, Jackson, and you’ll be the next one I ventilate.” Roger stepped sideways so that he could see all the occupants in the room.

“Run, Nina!” Without thought Ferrin had shouted the words and immediately fell to her knees. She placed her hands on Jerry’s wound to stem the blood flow. He wasn’t moving and from the sound of his breathing and where the bullet had entered, she assumed it had hit his lung. She didn’t turn around to see if Nina had done what she said…it was obvious from Roger’s expletives that she’d managed to duck out of the radio room before he could stop her. Ferrin felt like she’d been sucked down the rabbit hole and all the oxygen had been sucked away along with her. She couldn’t take her eyes off of the blood that was now coating her hands. Jerry’s eyes were wide and in shock as he tried to draw in air. Her pleading for his life wasn’t going to affect Roger in any way, but she had to try. “Jerry’s going to die if we don’t get him help. He’s bleeding really bad and—”

“Then that’s one less person I have to worry about.” Roger was struggling to maintain his composure and it was evident that the captain’s announcement had thrown him into a panic. “Chief, I want you to remove your weapon with two fingers and drop it to the deck. Move over to your desk, place your radio on it along with your hands. Fingers spread and palms facing downward…lean on them hard.”

“Roger, you don’t have to do this,” Chief Jackson said calmly, his voice almost like molasses as it coated Ferrin’s nerves. She looked into Jerry’s eyes and saw the fear of death in them. A sob rose up in her chest at the helplessness and she couldn’t prevent the tear that escaped. She wiped it on her sleeve without removing the pressure she kept on the wound and gave him the most reassuring smile she could manage and whispered to him that it was going to be okay. “We’re on a ship in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. From the announcement that was made it’s clear that Agent Joel knows that you are the one responsible for McDaniel’s death. The best thing you could do at this point would be to lay down your weapon and turn yourself in.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I’m not you then, isn’t it?”

Ferrin finally tore her gaze away from Jerry and looked up to find that Roger kept looking at the open hatch, as if he knew that at any moment someone would be walking through it. Nina had to have made her way to someone who could alert the captain, Starr, or one of the team members that they had a hostage situation in the radio room. It was selfish, but Ferrin didn’t want it to be Daegan who first peered around that open hatch and end up like Jerry.

“What is it that you’re hoping to gain, Roger?” Chief Jackson kept talking, as if doing so would keep Roger occupied long enough for reinforcements to arrive. The wheezing coming from Jerry practically drowned out the Chief’s words and caused Ferrin to press harder on the wound. Her fingers were slick with blood and what she really needed was a pressure bandage or something else to stem the blood flow. She looked around for anything that would help while Chief Jackson continued. “What is it that you want?”

“Hewitt, stand up and then turn to face the hatch,” Roger ordered, paying no attention to the chief whatsoever. Ferrin once again felt a sob heave in her chest at having to leave Jerry in this condition. “Now!”

Ferrin lifted her hands and witnessed the blood pool over Jerry’s chest as she stood. She kept whispering her apologies as she did as Roger instructed and turned her back on him. Within seconds nausea hit her when his suffocating body heat covered her shoulders and neck as his strong arm drew her to him. His sweat smelled of fear and his arm reeked of burnt gunpowder. He placed the still warm end of his suppressor to her temple and then shuffled her forward.

“Chief, you make any move toward me and I’ll put a bullet in her head quick as you please. Hewitt, this is what we’re going to do,” Roger said, the vibrations of his voice grating her ear and causing her to turn her head as far away from him as she could. He shifted them sideways as they got closer to the hatch and much to her relief she saw that Chief Jackson was bent over Jerry, taking her place. “We’re going to step out into the corridor and make our way down to the flight deck.”

Ferrin tried to swallow but the knot in her throat prevented her from doing so. Roger’s hold on her was damned tight and there was no way she could pull out of his grip without the chance of his weapon firing. When she did as she was told and stepped out into the passageway, she had to place her hand on his arm when he swung them to where his back was against the bulkhead to prevent him from choking her. She quickly looked both ways, feeling relief when she saw Gunny not twenty feet away.

“You make one move and I’ll put a bullet through her head. You got that?” Roger didn’t seem too concerned that a man a third larger than him might get too close, which only proved that this man had reached his limits. “Feel free to follow us down to the flight deck, but you might as well alert Agent Joel now that I’ll be needing that helicopter.”

Had Roger not been holding on to her so tight, Ferrin wasn’t so sure she’d still be standing. Her legs felt like rubber and she was relatively sure the rest of her had gone numb. Where was Daegan and what would happen should he try to stop Roger from reaching the helicopter? She doubted that neither Agent Joel nor the team would allow this deranged man to leave this ship.

“Roger, we’ve worked together for months. You don’t want to hurt me.” Ferrin stumbled a little as he kept forcing her across the passageway, his back still against the bulkhead so he could see in both directions. She did her best to clamp down the fear that was rising within her with each step. “Why are you doing this?”

“If you’re offered enough money, you do anything it takes,” Roger said, his hot, rancid breath against her cheek and causing her stomach to lurch. “This should have been a simple assignment but you just kept fucking things up for me.”