Another Cobalt Capture
Jacob looked around Wyatts office, and nodded in agreement, " Armed is always a good idea in my opinion,especially since Jack chose to nail the submarine to the seafloor. That event, clearly told the C B that we were on to them. I do not believe the core of their organization knows it yet, but they will, soon enough."
"The Navy has two salvage vessels and four teams of divers working on cleaning up every scrap of debris from the seafloor. The submarine was blown in half when her magazine went up and the more intact parts of the sub are providing information that we need to track down these criminals. The wreck is being described as a maritime disaster and a tight news blackout is covering it all up."
"We were sure that someone was manipulating the Kraken.and we knew it could only be some form of piracy. Now we know that it was a secret society, and we have a better idea of how they were gathering their haul. The halves of the sub are being examined in a floating dry dock at a secure location."
"We have a small surprise party planned for their sub tender when it comes to find out why their "booty collector" has not checked in. A Navy fast attack submarine will be waiting in its place. We expect a fight but there are some surprises that they will NOT expect. I will tell you everything that I can; when I can."
Two days Later Jack escorted Susan and another cargo blimp on a short run with a valuable cargo. Susan flew Ajax, the other blimp following her with Kraken Bane guarding them both from behind.
The run was uneventful and a half hour from port, Jack was wondering if the Kraken menace had abated, when he saw a Kraken emerge from a thin cloud bank. Jack sent a wireless message to Susan and left their small formation to dispatch it.
The Kraken was a small beast and jacks port side gunners round nearly smashed it from the sky. We can come back and look for it later, thought Jack. He was about to say as much to Chandler as he turned the cutter back to the convoy. Suddenly Brad yelled a warning and Jack turned to see two sky blue airships diving fast on the two cargo blimps. They had come from up high and out of the sun.
Jack put Bane into a steep climb as he pushed her throttle to its stop. The fast and agile cuter arched over the top of the cargo blimps and into the attackers.
As soon as jack could put them in range his gunner began pouring round after round into the other airships. One gas bag began to collapse.
Brad yelled, "Give em hell, Ajax ! "
That was when he saw that Susan was hammering round after round into the gondola of the other airship. Two rounds each, alternating. Double tap one attacker, then the other. Jack saw that the attackers had stopped firing and were trying to escape.
Jack followed them but they were only going down, and still his gunners hammered then without letup.
Jack held up his hand and sounded a cease fire order, "Don't shoot unless they fire on us. I wan't to take anyone we can for questioning. Gunners, prepare to board, and take care. Side arms at the ready. I want them alive if we can, but take no chances."
Both airships rested on the surface and Jack descended between them
Chandler: "I see no sign of life. I have the ship covered. The gasbag is flat on the water, belly down. The gondola is under it. There is no sign of movement and no one in the water.”
Jack ordered, “Keep it covered unless I call for you to help.”
Jack swung Bane to port and and concentrated on the other airship. It was on it’s side and the gondola door stood open.
Brad: "I see two men in the water, in life jackets. Airship is sinking."
Jack said, " Throw them a line. Keep them covered with your sidearm. I am covering then as well. Chandler, stay on your gun and watch the other ship."
As soon as the two attackers were taken aboard, searched and secured, Jack dropped ballast and began to rise, powered up and began a steep ascent back to the two cargo blimps.
Susan was calling him in the wireless, "Jack, what happened? Are you hit? I saw you chase them down."
"We did not take a single shot, but they sure did. Between that wicked gun of yours and our canon they took a beating. Both airships are dead on the water and sinking fast. They have a Kraken beacon on them so they won't be hard to find. We have two prisoners. One of them took one of your bullets, Chandler is working on him, it does not look good. We will be at Hollywood Airport in 30 minutes. Deliver your cargo and meet up at the secure hangar with Jacob and a team of interrogators. This was no ordinary Kraken attack, this was an assassination attempt. I want to know what they know."
Bane was parked in the hangar, Ajax had delivered its cargo and everyone had eaten. Brad and Chandler had gone home to their families and Jacob had joined Susan and Jack in the small lounge area.
"The doctor was right, the wounded prisoner was not strong enough to withstand the truth serum", said Jacob,.
Susan asked if he gave up any useful information.
"He did, he held up for about an hour. The Doctor is going to file charges on Susan. She did threaten to shoot him, after all. The captain of the airship talked and babbled like a brook, but we can't tell if it was all true or false flag stuff that he had been fed. What little we got from his gunner it seems to corroborate the captains statements."
"It really is unfortunate that the gunner died." Susan sipped her beer and smiled.
"I really would like to have killed him later."
“I didn’t say he died. He couldn’t withstand the interrogation, but he is in a coma. His death is yet in question.”
Susan eyes brightened and she broke into a broad smile.
Jacob stared at her for a second, shook his head and and resumed speaking, "We have a set of coordinates for their base and we are doing a high altitude flyover in about an hour. We will know more then. It will take a day or two to prepare for the assault, with which they will be hit. I am hoping we will nab the sub tender before that happens. It may provide some intelligence, and we need all the information we can gather."
The room was quiet for few seconds and Jack said, "If it were not for the Tong family, and their understanding the importance of that odd leaf, we wouldn't have discovered any of this."
Susan nodded and said, "Who can know how long they would have gone on preying on airship cargo. How much loot have they already accumulated? I have to wonder if they were in it as simple piracy or if this loot was collected to foster some other agenda; political perhaps."
Two days later the sub tender made it's appearance over the site of the last Kraken attack.
To be continued
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