Clive Cussler’s Hellburner by Mike Maden EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available For Free Download
- Author: Mike Maden
- Language: English
- Genre: Suspense Action Fiction
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Price: Free
THE NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN
180 MILES OFF THE COAST OF SURINAME
That’s his third course correction, sir,” Santos said. “There’s no doubt
he’s chasing us.”
Captain Calvera heard the tension in his first officer’s voice. They were
both hovering over a military-grade electronics suite—something his
commercial fishing trawler El Valiente shouldn’t have but did.
Calvera stood scratching his beard, a nervous habit. It didn’t make any
sense. According to the automated identification signal, they were being
chased by an Indonesian-flagged vessel, the Sungu Barat, a 590-foot breakbulk carrier scheduled to arrive in Caracas in two days. Santos had
examined its shipping records. The unremarkable cargo ship had been built
in 1971 and had exchanged ownership at least thirteen times over the
decades, most recently a month ago. Judging by its Vesseltracker photo, it
was a floating wreck. Its hull, bridge and cranes were streaked with rust and
grime. It was better suited for a trip to the breaker yard than sailing the open
water.
The slow-moving vessel hadn’t caught anyone’s attention over the last
few days, but Santos had programmed their search radar to pick up on
behavioral anomalies. Three hours ago, the Sungu Barat triggered an alarm
and Calvera initiated course corrections to see if the radar’s warning
software had made a mistake.
It hadn’t.
Stranger still, the Sungu Barat was over twice the length and double the
weight of El Valiente and yet the broken-down cargo ship not only kept
pace but was actually gaining on them. Now it was just a little over two
kilometers behind and closing in
“Who do you think it is?” Santos asked.
“Your guess is as good as mine. If anything, I’d say it might be pirates.”
But even as he said it, Calvera shook his head in disbelief. “But sailing an
old rust bucket like that? I doubt it.
“What do you want to do, sir?”
Calvera frowned, thinking. There were only three choices ever available
to a captain in his position: run, hide or fight. El Valiente was indeed a
commercial fishing vessel, but it had been modified to function as a covert
smuggler. He and his crew had spent years perfecting the art of hiding in
plain sight, plying the fishing waters and port cities of the Atlantic and
Mediterranean for over half a decade. Not being noticed was their first and
best defense
Apparently, the Sungu Barat had breached that first defense. Now the
options were either to run or fight. His eyes quickly scanned the radar
screen again. They were the only two ships within five hundred kilometers,
which meant they had this patch of the ocean all to themselves. A gun battle
wouldn’t be noticed.
For More Read Download This Book
EPUB