Laura 01 The Jaguar Prophecy by Anton Swanepoel Page A

is not seen, removes his pack that he brought with him and hid under the canvas cover.
    Opening the waterproof bag, he feels inside and removes an envelope. On opening the envelope, Russtoff removes 16 sheets, each containing a printout of a deck plan for one of the ship’s levels. After studying the engineering deck plan, he starts to make his way to the engine room. Russtoff comes to a watertight outside door marked “EB5 Employees Only,” where he rechecks that he is at the correct door according to the plans, and then proceeds to enter the engineering deck. He is careful not to allow anyone to notice him while he moves towards the main control panel for the engines.
    Upon reaching the main control panel, he quickly removes a one pound block of C4 plastic explosives and detonator from his backpack. Carefully, he inserts the detonator into the explosives, and then sets the timer for five minutes.
    The explosion will be large enough to totally destroy the control panel, rendering the ship disabled, yet not large enough for the distance it is from the ship’s hull to breach the hull. He knows that the blast will also take out the controls to the backup generators, leaving the ship without electricity, thus the ship will have to be towed to port. With Grand Cayman being only hours away it is the most logical choice, giving him a chance to escape.
    Russtoff carefully places the explosives on the panel, and then activates the timer before starting to walk away. The digital timer starts counting down the five minutes. Russtoff is only 20 feet away when he turns back and deactivates the timer. He needs at least five minutes to clear the area, but decides that leaving the explosives in the open for that long is risky. He has no more explosives and if someone finds them and deactivates them, he will have missed his chance to disable the ship.
    Looking around, Russtoff notices a lunch box standing on the ground next to the control panel. On opening it, Russtoff finds sandwiches and a flask. He quickly places the explosives under some of the sandwiches and reactivates the timer before closing the lunch box. Carefully, he replaces the lunch box next to the control panel and quickly makes his way out of the room, while eating a sandwich he has taken from the lunch box. The timer counts off the seconds.
    It takes Russtoff four minutes to get to the door leading to the outside, where he quickly looks around to make sure no one sees him before opening the door and carefully peering outside.
    Upon finding the walkway empty, he silently slips out and closes the door behind him. 40 seconds remaining. Russtoff then runs up the stairs only 30 feet from the door and reaches one of the open decks of the ship. Russtoff smiles as he stops at the railing. He will have a nice view of the ocean as the ship comes to a halt. 30 seconds remaining.
    Russtoff is in a good mood; he has the microchip with all the data he wants and more, and he will soon be off the ship. He is unaware however that an engineer has just reached the control panel to check that all is ok. The engineer has 12 years experience and only needs 10 seconds to give the electronic monitors an overview to know all is running smoothly. Just as the man turns to walk away he notices the lunch box on the ground. 15 seconds remaining.
    “Samuel’s left his lunch box lying around again,” he mumbles to himself as he picks the box up and starts to walk to an exit door. The door is a little ways away and leads to the parts room where they store spare parts for repairs and maintenance of the ship’s engines. To get to the door, the engineer has to walk around some water cooling pipes and along a narrow pathway close to the ship’s hull. Five seconds remaining.
    Russtoff takes a packet of Marlboro cigarettes from his front jacket pocket and removes one. While placing the cigarette in his mouth, he simultaneously looks at his watch.
    “Should be close now…”
    An explosion below him