Shadow Tyrants (Oregon Files 13)

Tao went over to Barbanegra, who was still holding the gold brick in one hand, and said, “I’m Captain Tao. Welcome aboard.”

Barbanegra, a tall man whose loose clothes hung on him like he was a scarecrow, stood and feebly shook Tao’s hand. “Thanks for coming to our rescue. We didn’t think you were going to stop.”

“We thought your ship was a derelict. Your radio signal was so weak that we almost didn’t pick it up. This is your whole crew?”

“Half. We lost the rest in the fire.”

“Do you need medical attention?”

“The food and water are enough for the moment. We’ve got a more urgent matter to take care of.” Barbanegra glanced at the ingot. “You’ll help us recover the rest of the gold before she goes down? We’ll give you twenty-five percent of the value.”

So Barbanegra was still well enough to negotiate. Tao had to admire his guts.

“Why shouldn’t we take it all for ourselves?” Tao asked. “You’ve abandoned ship, and given that you’re flying the Iranian flag, it’s reasonable to assume that your cargo is being smuggled. We’re not going through Lloyd’s of London for the salvage contract, are we?”

“That’s true,” Barbanegra said. “But the bars are well hidden aboard our ship, which is taking on water and will probably go under within the next twelve hours. Then neither of us gets the gold.”

“If it is gold,” Tao said. He took a folding knife from his pocket and drew the blade across the ingot’s face, leaving a golden trench in the soft metal. It was definitely not plated lead. He picked it up and guessed the weight at twenty-five pounds. Tao tamped down his excitement at getting so lucky.

“See!” Barbanegra said triumphantly. “It’s real, just like I told you. And there are nineteen more just like it over on the Goreno.”

“Where?”

“Do we have a deal?”

Negotiating was pointless since these men would be dead within the hour anyway, but Tao had to give the appearance that he was reluctantly coming to terms.

“Fifty-fifty,” he said. “That’s our price.”

Barbanegra looked at his crew, who all nodded their agreement.

“You’ve got a deal,” Barbanegra said. He pointed at a huge black man. “Franklin here, my chief engineer, will show your men where they are.”

Tao ordered half a dozen of his men to go with Franklin in the lifeboat, leaving him with eight crew on board. Given how haggard these men were, they’d be no threat.

“Have you had enough to eat and drink for now?” Tao asked.

“Yes, thanks,” Barbanegra said.

“Then you can all join me on the bridge so we can observe the recovery operation.”

Tao glanced at his XO, who silently nodded in reply. When they had the gold in hand, the weapons would come out. Better to have all of their captives in one place when that happened.

By the time they got to the bridge, the lifeboat was approaching the Goreno and soon idled next to it as they latched a rope ladder to the railing. Franklin and five of Tao’s six men climbed up to the deck while the remaining man stayed in the boat. Franklin pointed, and they disappeared into the superstructure.

Everyone on the bridge waited in silence for a radio report that they had reached the gold. Barbanegra, who was beside Tao, collapsed down to one knee. He looked ashen, but he put up a hand and said, “I’ll be okay. Got light-headed. Just give me a second.”

Tao shook his head at how easy this was going to be and went back to watching the Goreno.

A second later, to his utter shock, he felt a pistol’s muzzle pressed against his temple by Barbanegra. The other four men from the Goreno overpowered his bridge crew and took the handguns from their waistbands. It happened with such lightning speed that only the XO was able to fight back and he was knocked down with one chop to the throat. The rest put up their hands in surrender when they saw the guns trained on them.

While his men were being trussed up with zip ties, a stunned Tao gasped, “What are you doing?”

“Shut up,” Barbanegra said, his accent gone. He looked at one of his men. “MacD, once you’ve finished securing them, take your team to search the Triton Star for any stragglers.”

“Aye, Chairman,” replied the man, who suddenly seemed energetic and alert instead of haggard and weary.

Then the man called Chairman spoke to seemingly no one. “We’re secure over here, Max. Take ’em.”