Marauder (Oregon Files 15)

Even though it wasn’t dusk yet, the harbor was in the shadow of the island behind the Marauder, giving the scene an eerie cast.

“What makes you think I want to send you to prison?” Juan said, getting out of his command chair. He took Hali’s headset and switched to its audio mic, but the entire op center could still hear Jin.

Her crew was lined up on the deck outside, but she was sitting in her own high captain’s chair on the bridge, talking with the phone in her palm and watching the Oregon. The image was enlarged enough that he could see her hair blowing with the breeze through the broken windows. It seemed as if she were looking directly at him.

“I’m glad to have someone to talk to at the end like this,” Jin said. “I wish I knew what you looked like. You have a nice voice.”

“That sounds like a woman who doesn’t intend to be taken alive,” Eric said.

Sylvia gasped. “Can you put that infrared video feed back up?”

Juan nodded, and Eric switched the camera to the black and white image of the Marauder. The highlight at the stern was now fading as the engines cooled, but the center of the ship was almost white with heat.

“I thought we destroyed the plasma cannon,” Hali said.

“Just the gun,” Murph said.

“The power generator underneath is what builds up the energy to launch the projectile,” Sylvia said. “She’s deliberately overheating it. When it reaches the redline, it’ll detonate.”

“April,” Juan said, “it looks like you’re building to a generator overload. You need to power down now.”

“I have to admit, you people are good,” Jin said. “Sorry. I’ve put the cycle on automatic. Nothing can stop that now.”

Juan looked at Sylvia, who nodded in agreement. He mouthed “How long?”

“Two or three minutes, max.”

That didn’t leave them enough time to get aboard and evacuate Jin before the trimaran exploded.

Juan put his hand over the mic and said, “Stoney, move us away from the Marauder.” He removed his hand. “April, there’s still time for you and your men to get off the ship.”

“No one is getting off this ship. It would jeopardize my husband’s mission.”

They wouldn’t be able to question anyone. Jin would go down with her ship, and they would be left no closer to finding out what the target of Polk’s mission was.

Juan could keep her talking, but he’d never get the truth out of her, not without their tranquilizer darts like the ones Linc had . . .

That thought gave him an idea. Linc was the best marksman in the crew.

“Get me Linc on another line,” he told Hali.

Juan had just come up with one of his infamous Plan Cs. This one was a literal longshot.

* * *

—

When Juan called, Linc was sitting with his back against a concrete slab, drinking from his water bottle and arguing with MacD about how long the surrender would take.

“Linc here, Chairman.”

“Is your tranquilizer sniper rifle intact?”

“Yes.”

“I need you to use it immediately.”

Linc frowned. “On who?”