“Between the third and fourth boats?” J.B. asked.
“Yeah.” Ryan squeezed off a shot, missing the outboard engine on the third boat from the left by inches. The water spumed up a foot high. He fired again, getting closer, then waited a moment as J.B. buried the speed controls.
Chapter Thirty-Four
The sixty-foot powerboat lunged forward again, the prow lifting even higher from the river.
Ryan fired three more times, believing he hit the outboard engine at least twice. It ruptured, catching fire in a small explosion. But the gasoline spread, pooling in the bottom of the boat and catching fire, as well. The pirates broke ranks and evacuated the boat, diving into the water.
The one-eyed man yelled a warning to Jak, Dean and the Foundation men, sending them to cover, then he doubled over and butted into the padded console of the vessel himself.
The impact screamed as Fiberglas slammed against Fiberglas and shuddered through the sixty-foot powerboat. The collision also hammered Ryan against the console. Despite the padding, the wind left his lungs, and his face smashed into something hard and unyielding. He tasted blood, felt a tooth loose in its socket.
Then they shot past the blockade.
Looking back, Ryan saw the twisted wreckage of two boats in their wake, one of them in flames. The other boats in the blockade created a trap for the remaining craft trying to get out of the harbor.
Donovan joined Ryan and J.B. on the flying deck. “We didn’t put as many of them down as we’d hoped,” the Foundation man said.
“Mebbe we got enough,” Ryan replied. “We’ll see how things go up ahead.” The trap with the six machine-gun-outfitted boats waited around the second lazy curve of the river.
For now they had the jump on the pirates, and the sixty-foot powerboat had more speed than Ryan had hoped. He retreated down the ladder to the stern to help defend against the front line of the pursuing pirates.
GLANCING AHEAD as they rounded the second curve of the S, Ryan saw the tattered green shirt flying from an oar on the east side of the river. He lifted the Steyr and fired off three rounds, signaling the shore teams to get the first phase of the trap ready.
Ryan had chosen the spot when he’d first seen it. Leafy trees hung low, out over the river, providing plenty of cover for anyone coming from the north against the current. Three of the boats occupied either side of the river, their motors running.
After the sixty-foot powerboat rushed through the area, a span of fishing net lifted in the water. The net held remote-controlled plas-ex packs J.B. had put together from supplies the Foundation people had back at the dam site. One of the Foundation sec men in the six boats held the remote control in case Ryan and the others hadn’t made it back out.
The first pirate water bike hit the net and instantly got tangled up. It flipped end over end, spilling the rider into the river. Two more rammed into the net, as well, with the same results. The fourth water bike managed to curve away in an effort that left a white roil of water in a semicircle that washed through the fishing net.
The first boat crashed through the net, tearing it free, pulling it along.
“Open fire!” Ryan roared. Even though the range wasn’t the best, and the uneven jarring of the flagship’s deck made marksmanship impossible, they laid down a heavy firezone, burning through ammo. The noise of the attack, with the gunshots rolling over the flat planes of the river, covered the sounds of the machine guns mounted on the Foundation powerboats when they started firing.
Caught in a vicious cross fire between the .50-caliber machine guns, the pirate boats became confused, bumping into one another. Even more confusion ripped through their ranks when the remote-controlled plas-ex blew.
Giant spumes of white water twisted high into the air over the group of pirates with enough explosive force to twist the water into a brief tsunami. Several of the craft turned over or submerged. Three of the boats and two of the water bikes were caught outright and destroyed in the string of explosions that went off in a prolonged sequence.