Marauder (Oregon Files 15)

A rusty old cargo freighter with four cranes was rounding one of the islands at a leisurely pace. MacD recognized it instantly as the new Oregon.

He knew that the chameleon-like paint scheme that allowed the ship to change appearance from a brand new vessel to a decrepit tramp steamer at the push of a button was not her only upgraded feature. The Oregon was less than two miles away, and MacD could see a turret rising from the bow deck. The barrel of the ebony gun rotated until it was pointed at the fishing boat.

The weapon was a rail gun, but MacD hadn’t seen it in operation until now.

Unlike a cannon that propels its shell with gunpowder, the rail gun used a powerful electromagnet to accelerate its rounds to hypersonic speeds. Although the shell was inert, its velocity of more than five thousand miles per hour gave it the same explosive energy as the warhead of a Tomahawk missile.

As another puff of smoke indicated the mortar was letting off another round, the rail gun fired. Instantaneously, the fishing boat was ripped in two from stem to stern as if it were made of tissue paper, detonating the mortar rounds in a fireball. The two halves of the fishing boat sank into the sea, leaving nothing but burning oil on the surface.

The last round it fired, however, landed only a few yards from where Raven and the two families had been running away from the previous blasts.

The smoke from the explosion concealed them, so MacD couldn’t tell if anyone had been injured. He looked out and saw the rail gun descend back down into the Oregon’s hull, where it was covered by a retractable deck plate. A huge white crest at the ship’s bow showed that it was speeding away around the far island to get out of view of any curious onlookers.

Eddie and Linc had also disappeared in the mortar cloud. A moment later, the smoke cleared, and MacD could see Eddie and Linc kneeling over two prone figures.

Eddie called on the comm system.

“MacD, get down here pronto,” he said with a grim tone. “We’ve got casualties.”

SIXTEEN

Raven, lying on her back, grimaced as Eddie put pressure on her shoulder wound to stanch the bleeding. She’d taken a piece of mortar shrapnel from the last round. It didn’t look too serious as long as she didn’t lose much blood.

“How are you feeling?” he asked her.

“I’ll live. Is anyone else hurt?”

“Just one.”

Emily Schmidt and her boy Kyle stood to the side, shaken up but unscathed. Oliver Muñoz, however, had taken a hit in his chest and was in shock. Linc tended to him while Muñoz’s daughter Elena knelt beside them, crying.

“Please be okay,” she sobbed. “Is he going to die?”

Linc shook his head. “Not if I can help it. But we need to get him real medical attention as soon as possible.”

“It’ll take an hour for an ambulance to get him to a hospital,” Eddie said. “We’ll have to take him by air.”

MacD arrived sopping wet from his ride down the slide, and Eddie handed Raven over to him.

“You’re a mess,” MacD said as he pressed his hand on her shoulder.

She rolled her eyes. “Nothing a little needle and thread won’t fix.”

Eddie called Juan, who was in the Oregon’s operations center.

“What’s the situation?” Juan asked.

“We’ve got two wounded. Senator Muñoz’s husband took part of a mortar shell in his belly, and Raven is also injured. I recommend we get them to the Oregon’s infirmary right away.”

“Gomez is on the flight deck with the turbines at full speed. Doc Huxley is coming with him. Can you get Muñoz to the parking lot?”

Eddie scanned the area and saw an abandoned ice cream cart on wheels. They could lay Muñoz across the flat surface on top.

“We’ll meet you there,” Eddie said. “ETA three minutes.”

They hoisted Muñoz onto the cart. Linc pushed while Eddie steadied the patient, and Elena held his hand. MacD pulled Raven to her feet and supported her as they walked, herding Emily and Kyle with them. Linc tried to steer over the smoothest patches of pavement, but every bump caused Muñoz to groan in pain.

They avoided the crowded main entrance and steered toward an emergency exit. By the time they reached the parking lot, Eddie could hear sirens in the distance. Thousands of guests had jammed the exits as they fled by car and on foot. Muñoz might be dead before the ambulance could even arrive through that chaos.