Cruise

With the exception of quotes used in reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, by any means, including mechanical, electronic, photocopying recording or otherwise without prior written permission of the publishers. For information contact: Pink Flamingo Publications www.pinkflamingo.com P.O. Box 632 Richland, MI 49083 USA Email Comments: comments@pinkflamingo.com Preface If you think piracy, kidnapping and deadly violence on the high seas should be punished by a slap on the wrist and with the perps sent home, don’t bother to read this book. Who ever thought that in the twenty-first century, the world’s oceans would once again hold the threat of piracy and human slavery? Who ever imagined that the great powers of the globe: Russia, Germany, China, Japan, the United States and others, would dither and procrastinate about how to deal with piracy at sea? Heaven forbid that anyone attempting to highjack any vessel on the high seas might be shot or simply thrown over the side. Due process? Who is kidding whom? You attempt to take control away from the duly authorized operators of any vessel and you do so at your own extreme peril. But, alas, we live in a time of political wimps and so, it is incumbent upon any captain to protect himself, his crew and his vessel. Who would have imagined that daring dolts from third world countries with little more than small arms and tiny boats would succeed in holding major nations hostage while demanding huge ransoms for the vessels they attacked and abducted? While the world seemingly ignores these foolish brigands of the sea, lives are lost and millions of Euros and dollars are handed over to arrogant and dangerous little men who have learned that few nations’ leaders have the moral integrity or courage to take steps to stop them. “Oh, it’s a very complicated matter of international law,” the fools in national capitals say. How sad that we no longer have Teddy Roosevelt, Churchill or even Stalin around to give these pirates their deserved reward: a resting place at the bottom of the ocean with a few ounces of lead in the head to make sure they stay there. Mega-Yachts such as Altuna are common on every sea and ocean. These days, many of them are well armed and, aside from the occasional warship on patrol, still pose the only real threat to pirates. For that reason, it is only the foolish and unwise who challenge these multi-billion dollar private vessels at sea. In this story, one might find a model script for how pirates and slavers could effectively be dealt with and wiped out in a short time, if only the great nations had leaders who would courageously demonstrate that no vessel under their flag can be taken by force and no crew held for ransom without fearing immediate and deadly retribution, political correctness be damned. Prologue Who the Hell is Bibi Lynx? Bibi, whose real name was Bibita Wolf Lynx, 26, easily could have walked away with the Miss Germany title any year she entered. She was exactly what most foreigners thought every German Frauline should look like. She was nearly six feet tall, medium boned, with a well-muscled body devoid of fat. Men immediately focused on her rather large and assertive 38DD breasts that more often than not were unbridled by anything as pedestrian as a bra. These assets were complemented by a narrow waist, no visible belly, reasonably wide, but well proportioned hips and long legs that tapered up to meet her shoulders…or at least seemed that way. Bibi usually scared off prospective suitors just by looking too good. Most men assumed that anyone who looked like her could not possibly be interested in an ordinary man unless he matched her looks and poise. So, inevitably, she often dated men at both extremes of the spectrum. On occasion, she ended up with the glamour guys who were married to their mirrors, deeply dedicated to their own looks and wanted a prize package of a woman on their arm. Now and then, really for fun, she accepted the invitations of rich men or even the occasional royal who assumed that they could buy anything or anyone they wanted. She was seen, on rare occasions, at The Regent or the old Adlon in Berlin, The Mandarin Oriental or Marks in Munich and the Frankfurter Hof in Frankfurt. Her closest friends knew that the way to charm Bibi was to take her to a sumptuous five or six-hour dinner at Fischers Fritz, Tantris or Sonnora, the hidden and most exclusive, Michelin Star restaurant in the far west of Germany. Bibi knew her food and wine, but was equally comfortable in some dingy cellar bar in any city. Most often, for company, she sought out the smart, quiet guys who were computer wizards, math or physics majors in university and who thought dining out meant having a meal at the hofbrau house every six months or so. None of these choices suited Bibi and she spent a great deal of her personal time traveling when and where she could afford it, riding her pride and joy 1500 cc Yamaha road bike and staying fit. For hobbies, during the warm months, she would visit nudist camps and beaches where she was usually left alone, again intimidating those who figured that she was out of their class. To balance this, she studied languages and several different types of martial arts, from classical judo to Karate and Tae Kwon Do, intent on protecting herself and others around her if the need arose. She had enough belts of various colors to impress anyone except herself and always figured that self-defense was really only last-ditch defense. Her instructors and competition audiences loved her, especially when, in a tense contest, Bibi might inadvertently suffer what the media called a “wardrobe malfunction.” Unknowing and unwise observers, on occasion, teased her, calling her a “studio manikin” because they felt that although she was good at drills and competition, they doubted she had the mental conditioning to use the killing arts on anyone for real. But her instructors knew that in real life situations, she was fast and adroit at using deadly force. She continued to practice and amazed most instructors and her peers with her strength and ability to smash both live and inanimate things with a single blow. “It’s not strength,” she would say. “It’s the ability to focus.” Few people were ever inclined to test this theory with Bibi. For more about Bibi’s adventures, see the von Stuka novel, AFTER SCHOOL, also from Pink Flamingo Publications