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Tao’s hands were tied behind his back, but he hadn’t been put on the floor with the rest of his men He watched as his crew on the Goreno was marched out of the superstructure with their hands in the air They were accompanied by a dozen men and women with automatic rifles who aimed them at the man in the lifeboat until he was taken captive as well

“Good job, everyone,” the Chairman said “Not a shot fired” He stepped back fro Tao could now see that Barbanegra had a prosthetic limb equipped with a hidden compartment, which the Chairman closed

Tao gaped at the man who’d taken over his ship with such ease “Who are you people?”

“It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?” the Chairrin as he removed the patch to reveal a second sky

blue eye “Peg leg? Eye patch? Come on You should know a pirate when you see one Especially when you’re slers yourselves”

“II don’t knohat you’re talking about,” Tao stammered

The Chairman raised his pistol and airin disappeared, replaced by a deadly serious gaze

“We knohat your secret cargo is,” the Chairman said “We just don’t knohere it is, and this is a pretty big ship you’ve got here So tell me, Captain Tao Where did you hide the chemical weapons?”

FOUR

Rasul Torkan, Asad’s identical twin brother, looked out the cabin porthole at the Triton Star crew being o ship by armed men and women and knew they had to be here for him He had only minutes to hide himself or the operation would be a complete failure

There was only one place on the ship where he was sure they wouldn’t find hi seen would be a challenge, but he had the skills to do it Rasul and his brother had risen through the ranks of Iran’s secret service together, their coents in the MOIS While Asad’s specialty was sabotage, Rasul had excelled as an assassin, racking up fifteen successful kills during his stint as a government operative Fed up with the bureaucracy and restrictions placed on them, they decided to retire and strike out on their own Sometimes they worked as a team, other times on separate—and, in this case, complementary—missions

Rasul was er aboard the Triton Star Tao would eventually give him up, but the hijackers wouldn’t see his na for hi quarters with two other crew s in with theirs He couldn’t reh

He descended two flights of stairs and heard footsteps pounding behind hih the outer door onto the weather deck He crouched against the bulkhead, ready to silence anyone who e to the lower decks

His destination was the last row of containers Between hiap between the containers and the superstructure that would leave him visible for a few seconds, but he had to risk it He bent low and crabwalked until he was behind the stack

No sirens, no shouts He hadn’t been seen