The Bouncing Buns Gentleman's Club

Chapter 19

Kevin glanced at the radar screen one last time before they closed on the other boats, just as all hell broke loose. He quickly looked up to visually confirm what the scope was telling him, and what everyone's eyes were already fixed on in amazement. A puff of white smoke could be seen followed by the roar of diesel engines at full power.

"The Azimut's making a run for it!" Kevin yelled what the others were gathering breath to speak. "It's headed right for one of the patrol boats that have been circling it. Throttle down, Heather; just fast enough to maintain steerage. Hold your present course for now. That's right, easy does it."

Suddenly, a man came up from one of the Azimut's forward hatches with what may have been an assault rifle. As soon as he was on deck, flashes could be seen from the rifle's muzzle, its delayed sound muffled by the remaining half mile or so between them.

"He's shooting at a patrol boat and I think one of the crew has been hit." Heather yelled as a crewman could be seen slumped on one of the rails encircling the boat.

"A lucky hit for him, but the poor guy is down just the same," Tom said. "There's no way he can accurately aim that rifle with all the movement he's subjected to. He obviously knows it and hasn't been aiming at all, just spraying fire from hip level."

As quickly as gunfire started coming from the Azimut, small arms fire was directed from the cutter and patrol boats toward the lone gunman on deck. His head jerked back as a round fired by a sharpshooter with a more stable shooting platform on the cutter found its mark on his forehead. After that, the only sound heard was the roar of the Azimut's diesels as it continued on a course directly for the patrol boat he had been shooting at until the inevitable crash was heard.

The patrol boat helmsman had seen it coming and tried to maneuver away. He was successful in preventing an outright ramming, but was not able to totally avoid contact. The bow of the Azimut grazed the aft end of the thirty-five foot boat, riding up on it slightly as it went by. The smaller boat listed violently and pivoted in a clockwise direction from the sudden weight bearing down on its aft right quarter.

Whether the crew member was wounded and clinging to the rail or dead and lying over it was not known at the time, but the impact and sudden pivoting of the vessel dislodged his body and violently flung it into the sea.

"My God! That poor man was thrown off the boat," Beverly gasped as other members of the boat's crew could be seen frantically doing what they could to get to him.

"What a stupid move!" Kevin said. "Surely they didn't mean to actually hit that patrol boat. Maybe they were just trying to run it out of the way so they would have more room to escape. Fiberglass against aluminum isn't a fair match and the Azimut has most likely been severely damaged. You'd think they would have known better."

Tom grabbed the radio handset, "Lieutenant Murrain, what's your status? We think we saw one or more of your men hit."

"Yes, sir. One man appears to be seriously injured or dead and in the water. Two others have minor wounds. I've sent one of our patrol boats out to keep the Azimut in sight and radioed for another to come out and pick our guys up. We can stabilize them in the sick bay here, but they'll need to be taken ashore for more specialized care."

"What about the condition of the patrol boat and the Azimut after the collision?"

"The patrol boat is dead in the water, but the Azimut is likely much worse off. Our boats are small relative to the Azimut, but they're rock solid heavy aluminum plate boats made for combat. The Azimut is a very well made boat, but its hull is fiberglass and could be punctured. I'd wager they're taking on water now, and plenty of it."