Chapters (96)
- Cover
- Berkley titles by David Ricciardi
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- CHARACTER LIST
- PROLOGUE
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- SIXTY-ONE
- SIXTY-TWO
- SIXTY-THREE
- SIXTY-FOUR
- SIXTY-FIVE
- SIXTY-SIX
- SIXTY-SEVEN
- SIXTY-EIGHT
- SIXTY-NINE
- SEVENTY
- SEVENTY-ONE
- SEVENTY-TWO
- SEVENTY-THREE
- SEVENTY-FOUR
- SEVENTY-FIVE
- SEVENTY-SIX
- SEVENTY-SEVEN
- SEVENTY-EIGHT
- SEVENTY-NINE
- EIGHTY
- EIGHTY-ONE
- EIGHTY-TWO
- EIGHTY-THREE
- EIGHTY-FOUR
- EIGHTY-FIVE
- EIGHTY-SIX
- EIGHTY-SEVEN
- Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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But manpower was only half the battle. To succeed, the next generation of pirates had needed modern training and weapons. And while most of the objects of their desire were available on the black market, in other cases they’d simply adapted the military tactics they’d learned to dual-use civilian equipment. The goal had never been to match the world’s navies but merely to leapfrog the shipping industry’s security measures—to hit the ships so hard and so fast that the world would never learn how the pirates had done it. The world’s navies couldn’t respond to a threat they didn’t understand.
—
NACAY UNROLLED A waterproof map and a paper schematic of the ship atop a large folding table, scrounging rocks from the camp building’s dirt floor to hold down the corners.
Obtaining the plans for the Saudi tanker had not been difficult.
It was one of a series from a South Korean shipyard, and Nacay had asked a contact in the shipping industry to acquire the drawings for one of the sister ships under the pretext of potentially purchasing it. The ship broker had initially demurred, until two days later, when he’d received a dozen photographs of his eight-year-old daughter in the mail. The pictures had been taken at her school while she’d been studying, outside her home while she’d been playing, and from the foot of her bed while she’d been sleeping.
They received the plans the next day.
“Why are we hitting this piece of junk?” the Turk said as he examined the plans. The Saudi ship was about twice the age and half the size of their recent prizes.
Nacay glared at the Turk, and there was no further discussion of the topic.
“The target will be exiting the Persian Gulf in six days,” Nacay continued. “We’ll head east while it heads south, and the intercept point will be here, around 13 north latitude and 72 east longitude, on the core route from the Strait of Hormuz to the Strait of Malacca.”
Nacay drew a red circle on the surface of a map.
“Will we be tracking her on AIS?” asked the Kenyan.
“I doubt she’ll be transmitting,” said Nacay.
A ship’s automatic identification system was meant to improve safety at sea by transmitting a vessel’s name, type, and location to everyone monitoring the system, but participation was voluntary and, not surprisingly, smugglers and pirates were not heavy users. It was another data point that told the men this wouldn’t be a normal takedown.