Robert Ludlum's (TM) The Janson Option (Paul Janson) Read Online Free

Maxammed the sat phone.
    “Who did you call?”
    “Who do you think?”
    “Tell him, for chrissakes!” shouted the owner. “You’ll get us all killed.”
    “I called the United States Navy.”
    “Did you give them our position?”
    “What do you think?” the captain asked sullenly.
    “I think you put a lot of innocent people’s lives at risk,” said Maxammed. He turned to Farole and ordered in Somali, “Load the captain and his crew into a tender. Take the boat’s radios and wreck the motor.”
    “You’re letting them go?”
    “We’ll keep the rich people.”
    “But the rest of them?”
    “Too many to guard and feed. Plus, we’ll look good on CNN.”
    Farole grinned. “Humanitarians.”
    “Besides, who would pay big money for crew?” Maxammed grinned back. The practical reasons were true, but there was more that he did not confide to Farole. This rich prize of a ship and wealthy hostages would make him a potent warlord in his strife-torn nation, more than just a pirate. A pirate who freed innocent workers and held on to the rich was a cut above—a Robin Hood, a man of consequence.
    “Give them plenty of food and water, but don’t forget to wreck the motors. By the time they’re picked up, we’ll be safe in Eyl.”
    *  *  *
    A LLEN A DLER WAITED to make his move until the pirates got distracted launching the tender. Putting the tender in the water involved slowing Tarantula to three knots, and opening the sea cocks to flood the well deck, then opening the stern port so the tender could drift out. It could all be done from the bridge, where the release controls were stationed by the big back window, if you knew what you were doing. To his surprise, they did. Sailors were sailors, he supposed, even stinking pirates. They turned on the work lamps, bathing the stern in light, and went at it as neatly as if Captain Billy were running the operation.
    Adler edged toward the stairs.
    What the pirates didn’t know, what no one else on his ship knew, not even the captain, was that Tarantula had in the bottom of her hull a one-man escape raft that could be launched under the ship in total secrecy and inflated on the surface. The raft carried food and water for a week, as well as a radio, GPS, and a sat phone. The reason no one knew was that there was no point in having a secret escape hatch if it wasn’t a secret; otherwise the crew would be fighting to get inside it. He had rehearsed this move numerous times, sometimes for real, sometimes in his head. It was vital not to panic and to remember to lock doors and hatches behind him as he ran.
    All the pirates and all his guests were watching the release of the tender in the work lights. The stern port opened. The boat started sliding out the back and into the water behind the ship. Adler ran.
    Maxammed and Farole saw him reflected in the glass, whirled as one, striking on instinct as cats would claw at motion. Maxammed fired two shots before he realized the fool had nowhere to go. It was too late. Shatteringly loud in the confined space, they knocked Adler’s legs out from under him. He skidded across the teak deck and crashed into the railing that surrounded the stairs.
    “I hope you didn’t kill him,” Maxammed said to Farole.
    “We both shot him.”
    “No, I pulled my gun up. Only you shot him.”
    Farole shook his head, knowing that was not true. He changed the argument, saying, “But you said you didn’t need him.”
    “To frighten him, you idiot. He’s the richest of all.”
    “We still have the ship.”
    “If the ship is worth half a billion dollars,” Maxammed asked scornfully, “how much is its owner worth? Pray you didn’t kill him.”
    Adler clutched the back of his thigh in both hands and tried to sit up. His face was slack with shock. He looked around the bridge, cast a disbelieving look at the pirates and hostages grouped at the aft windows. Then he sank back on the deck, still holding his leg.
    Maxammed watched the rich