THE SERPENT'S LAIR: Gripping action adventure fiction by Riall Nolan

Author:Riall Nolan [Nolan, Riall]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: THE BOOK FOLKS bestselling thriller publisher
Published: 2023-11-21T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“Hey, Johnnie, how you doin’?” The big Indian stepped over the gunwale with a smooth, practiced movement, holding his weapon easily in a big hand. It was a 9 mm Czech Skorpion, just the thing for close work. “I’m Vish,” he said. “Captain Vish.”

He was about thirty, I estimated, big-boned and well-fed, but I was willing to bet that there wasn’t much fat on him. I watched him carefully as he came toward me, trying to figure out a way to keep us from getting killed in the next few minutes.

I grew up reading Robert Louis Stevenson and watching Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis at the movies at the Embassy on Saturday afternoons, cheering with the rest of the kids as the good guys swung down from the ratlines, swords in hand, wading into the pirates as they swarmed aboard the ship.

Like most folks, I kind of assumed that piracy was where we’d been, not where we were going. But a few years in Southeast Asia had knocked that silly notion out of my head once and for all. Piracy was a growth industry out in that part of the world, and a while back I’d had some hands-on experience of my own up in a muddy river estuary on Malaysia’s east coast. Since that time, my respect for pirates had increased in inverse proportion to my liking for them.

Modern piracy is a filthy business, practiced mainly by seagoing psychos who wouldn’t last ten minutes on dry land, given their overall set of attitudes and operating procedures. They get away with it mainly because the seas are vast and empty, and because the victims are usually helpless and weak.

Anybody with a basic knowledge of the wind and the waves, a propensity to murder innocents, and a total disregard for his own life can be a successful pirate. Especially if you don’t care who you rob and kill. Stranded sailors, boat people, and shipwrecked passengers make the easiest pickings, of course. Merchant ships can be good, if they’re carrying something valuable that’s small enough to be easily handled. Drug-runners used to be excellent targets, although lately they’ve gotten more willing to slug it out.

Pirates aren’t much interested in fighting, though. They’re interested in stealing, and anyone who’s likely to give them a hard time usually gets a wide berth. Pirates go for the easy, soft pickings.

They go, I thought, for folks like us.

Vish stopped a few feet away from me, his bright black eyes darting this way and that, checking us out. The Delphine had no below-decks, and what you saw was what you got, so he was making sure he saw everything before he made his next move.

“Got engine trouble, Johnnie?” He smiled, his wide mouth revealing teeth stained red with betel juice.

“Yeah,” I said. “No oil pressure. I think the engine’s seized.” I glanced sideways as I spoke, noting the position of the two spearguns lying against the forward bulkhead. He caught the eye movement and moved smoothly sideways, placing himself between me and the wall.

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