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RPGs are preparing to fire on the ship.”
    “We’re on our way. Six hours.”
    “Hell, we’ll be dead in six hours,” Block said. “Let Sumner here shoot ’em!”
    Sumner had his binoculars out. He watched the pirate put the RPG back on his shoulder. “They’re getting ready to fire.”
    Wainwright turned to the crew member manning the LRAD. “Put it on the highest level. Hit them three times, four seconds apart.” He handed Sumner some earplugs. “They’re close enough now that this level will damage their eardrums. We’re behind the beam, so it won’t be as bad, but no sense taking a risk.” Sumner shoved them into his ears.
    “What about me?” Block sounded petulant.
    “Use your hands,” Wainwright said. Block covered his ears with his palms.
    The LRAD blasted. The two pirates in the second boat grabbed at their ears, covering them, but the pirate in the first boat, the one holding the RPG, didn’t flinch. He aimed and fired.
    The grenade slammed into the side of the ship, high up, above the waterline. It shuddered with the impact. Sumner didn’t stay to watch any more. He sprinted off the bridge, back down the stairs, and ran belowdecks.
    He ran through the halls listening to the voice blaring over the intercom, instructing all passengers to head to the casino immediately. The voice repeated the information in calm, slow tones. The casino was located in the ship’s center, hemmed in by hallways on either side. Like all casinos, it lacked windows, so the gamblers would not be distracted by the rising or falling of the sun.
    Sumner fought his way past frightened passengers who streamed through the narrow corridors. He ran past closed stateroom doors but stopped at the entrance to the casino. The majority of the Kaiser Franz ’s 350 passengers huddled in the interior space. They lay on the floor, arms over their heads. Cindy Block sat nearest the door. Through force of habit, Sumner looked for the German family. He found the girl under a roulette table, shivering in a fetal position next to her mother, who had her arms wrapped around her. The father was absent. Sumner scanned the room, looking for the Russian and his mistress. The Russian sat at the bar swallowing a shot; the mistress sat next to him, looking terrified.
    He continued down the hall, opened his cabin door, and slipped inside. He pulled a case from the closet. Made of titanium, it looked like a rectangular violin case with a webbed carrying strap. Sumner threw the strap over his shoulder and plunged out the door, running.
    A second explosion rocked the Kaiser Franz. Sumner careened into a wall as the vessel pitched. Screams of terror echoed from the casino. Sumner’s heart pounded in his chest, and he ran faster, with renewed urgency. He retraced his steps, past the casino entrance, up the stairs, onto the deck, and up the ladder to the bridge. A second RPG flew atthe ship. This one was aimed high, at the bridge. It overshot and kept flying out to sea.
    Sumner crouched on the deck surrounding the bridge and lowered the titanium case before him. Block, Wainwright, and the crew were back in the bridge. They watched him through the windows. Sumner set the code on a small padlock before flipping open the case. A Dragunov rifle with a telescopic sight nestled in the box’s protective lining. Sumner pulled it out, checked the chamber, and crab-walked to the deck’s side. When he was within three feet of the railing, he dropped to his stomach and crawled the last few inches, dragging himself by the elbows. He settled into position. He peered through the scope, targeting the pirate manning the RPG, and reined in his anger.
    The shot was a difficult one. The Kaiser Franz churned through the ocean, slicing the waves, rising and falling with each swell. Wainwright kept the boat at an angle to the waves so as not to have to fight them the whole way, which would only serve to slow the ship. In contrast, the cigarette boats slammed head-on into