214: Chapter 212 Choose for Yourself 214: Chapter 212 Choose for Yourself Cui Bo fired the third shot, a tracer round that landed beside the speedboat, yet the speedboat showed no signs of slowing down.
At this moment, without waiting for Gao Yang to speak, Glolov immediately opened fire with a burst of bullets.
Since the main purpose was to issue a warning, Glolov’s machine gun belt was loaded with a combination of three regular bullets and one tracer round, creating a conspicuous barrage.
As the barrage hit the bow of the speedboat, stirring up a series of splashes, that speedboat finally began to slow down, its speed gradually decreasing.
However, after the speedboat in the middle slowed down, the other two speedboats showed no intention of slowing down at all.
The other two speedboats were now very close to the tanker, only three to four hundred meters away, when Cui Bo shouted loudly, “Should we start firing at the ship?”
After hesitating for a moment, Gao Yang still replied in a deep voice, “No ship owner wants to make an enemy of pirates, they still have to frequently traverse this route in the future, we can’t cause them any trouble.
Let’s not fire at the ship for now.
Toad, Frey, you two go to the gangway and stand guard, if the pirates try to board the ship, shoot them down, but as long as they don’t come aboard, don’t be hasty to open fire.”
After arriving at the Gulf of Aden, every captain that Gao Yang had come in contact with had mentioned the same thing to him: if it’s not necessary, try not to make an enemy of the pirates.
They all frequently sail this route, and it wouldn’t be good news for them if they caused casualties among the pirates and incurred their deadly vengeance.
At present, there are dozens of naval warships of various sizes escorting vessels through the Gulf of Aden, but despite the large number of warships, when dispersed across the vast ocean, they still seem too few.
Relying solely on naval escorts is simply not realistic.
Even with the considerable number of warships currently escorting through the Gulf of Aden, hijackings of merchant vessels are still not uncommon.
If those merchant vessels want naval protection, they must first submit an application, and wait to form a large convoy before they can sail together with the warships.
Although this method is safer, it wastes a considerable amount of time, and they’re not guaranteed an escort every time.
After all, the primary duty of each country’s warships is to ensure the safety of its own commercial vessels.
Vessels registered under Panama, for example, can only depend on luck to receive naval escorts, so they would rather pay for armed guards.
But even with armed guards, if one were to incur the deathly enmity of pirates and thereafter be targeted by them, harassed on and off, that’s something no ship captain can tolerate.
The main reason why merchants with armed escorts are still in trepidation, fearful of attracting pirates’ attention, actually lies with the armed guards themselves.
The business of private armed escort services is dominated by British security companies, which hold over half of the market share, and this is already after American and Middle Eastern security companies entered the field in the past two years.
Before that, British security companies accounted for over eighty percent of the private armed escort business.
With more ships in need than available personnel, it created a seller’s market for private armed escorts.
Those Brits would gather some shipowners, prompting them to bid against each other – the higher the bid, the better the escort service offered.
However, even after taking the money, these British men lacked professional ethics.
If pirates launched a full-scale assault and genuinely began to overpower them, those British security guards would inevitably surrender.
It’s not exactly fair to say those British guards lacked professional ethics, for when reaching agreements with shipowners, they would always include a clause – their primary responsibility is to ensure the safety of the guards, not necessarily the security of the commercial ships.
Therefore, if those British guards felt their lives were under threat and unable to continue the fight, they had the option to surrender.
This stipulation was clearly written into the contract, so even if those British guards chose to surrender, it couldn’t be said that they breached the contract.
With pirates looming beneath the ship and the paid armed guards onboard likely to surrender at any moment, who could trust such protection?
Although in most cases, if pirates realized there were armed guards on board, they would retreat on their own, no merchant would dare to form a deadly grudge with pirates.
The reason is simple: what if the next time they crossed the Gulf of Aden, the pirates really fought desperately, and the armed guards refused to accompany them to the bitter end?
Who would still be the unlucky ones?
A five-person combat team enlisted to guard a ship is paid a daily salary of five thousand US Dollars, but the six of them, including Gao Yang, receive a daily salary of fifteen thousand US Dollars – and that’s after splitting the fee with the security company they collaborate with.
Why, for the same task, is there such a significant difference in remuneration?
The reason is quite simple: Gao Yang and his team undertake missions that guarantee absolute safety of the merchant vessels.
The British security companies may abandon the escort mission when they deem necessary, whereas Gao Yang and his team can’t let the pirates board the vessel as long as they are alive – that’s why they earn more.
Now, the problem was that Gao Yang and his team had to protect their client’s ship at all costs, and the ship’s captain was aware of this.
However, it’s also true that the ship might not be under Gao Yang’s protection the next time.
Teams like Gao Yang’s, that fiercely protect merchant ships to the end, are far too scarce.
The majority are British teams who take money in preparation for surrender and prefer an amicable relationship with pirates.
As long as the ship’s captains can’t be certain of securing the unwavering armed protection that Gao Yang’s team provides each time, they would never risk forming an irreversible feud with the pirates.
Gao Yang had to consider the client’s interests and couldn’t just attack the pirates at will, but if the pirates really started boarding the ship, there would be no need for politeness – the response would be to fight fiercely to the death.
After Li Jinfang and Frey secured the position at the main gangway, the two speedboats, without stopping, turned left and right, heading towards the bow and stern of the oil tanker.
The colossal oil tanker moved at a very slow pace, allowing the pirates in their speedboats to completely disregard its speed.
By then, Gao Yang and his team could clearly see the people on the speedboats, waving their AK rifles, and some even brandishing large machetes, wildly shouting and gesturing at Gao Yang and his team.
If the speedboats managed to reach the other side of the tanker, Gao Yang and his team would have to split up to keep watch.
Seeing the pirates ignore the warning shots and continue to gesture threats, Gao Yang couldn’t help but get angry, shouting, “Don’t let them get around us, put a few holes in their boats.”
Cui Bo immediately fired a shot at the speedboat heading towards the stern.
The tracer round hit the middle of the boat near the gunwale, punched a hole, and then, without losing much force, penetrated the bottom of the boat.
After waiting just a moment, the pirates who realized their boat was taking in water began to panic.
The reason for targeting the speedboat near the stern first was because there was another gangway on the other side of the oil tanker’s stern, which, although a backup, was only three meters above the water.
With ladders on their speedboats, the pirates could easily board the tanker.
Gao Yang didn’t necessarily fear the pirates boarding but preferred to scare them off and save some trouble.
After the bottom of their boat was pierced, the speedboat near the stern immediately turned away, heading in the direction away from the tanker.
At the same time, Glolov’s machine gun also roared to life.
The speedboat heading towards the bow was peppered with splinters flying from its head, and though the bullets did not hit below the waterline, Glolov’s gunfire finally intimidated the pirates.
The shooting from Cui Bo and Glolov caused both speedboats to turn away, no longer attempting to get to the other side of the tanker.
However, the pirates did not leave; the middle speedboat began to approach the tanker again, but at a slow pace, and someone on the boat was continuously waving a stick.
Gao Yang curiously asked, “What are these pirates trying to do?
Are they looking to negotiate?”
Gao Yang then picked up a pair of binoculars to observe the middle speedboat and was surprised to find the person at its prow appeared to be shouting with one hand waving a white flag and the other brandishing a stick topped with a skull.
Seeing the skull being waved, Gao Yang was not frightened, only amused.
“What are these idiots up to?
This is getting more interesting.
It looks like our opponents are some non-mainstream pirates, haha.
Are they planning to hijack the ship with sorcery, or are they thinking about surrendering?”
While speaking, Gao Yang fired a shot, which hit the gunwale of the boat, but the speedboat, showing no signs of stopping, steadfastly continued to approach them.
Gao Yang thought for a moment and then decided to let the speedboat come closer to the tanker, prepared for the possibility that the seven or eight pirates aboard might suddenly open fire.
When the speedboat was only twenty or thirty meters from the tanker, it turned its bow and started advancing parallel to the tanker.
The black man holding the skull-topped stick then put down the white flag, picked up a megaphone, and bellowed loudly.
“We are the Skull Gang, we can let this ship go, but you must give us one hundred thousand US dollars, or else, we will start attacking!
You have five minutes to decide, better think it through.”
Though the man’s English was strange, it was still understandable.
Gao Yang was about to tell the pirate to get lost when he heard Bruce’s grave voice, “The captain is here.”
Gao Yang turned his head and saw the captain and a crew member rushing towards them.
No wonder there had been no urgent voices over the radio lately—the captain had come in person.
In fact, as soon as it was confirmed that they encountered pirates, the captain had started running towards Gao Yang and his team on the deck.
But the tanker was so large that by the time the pirates reached the side of the ship, the captain had just managed to arrive alongside Gao Yang’s group, in time to hear the pirates’ threats clearly.
“Ram, is this how you plan to handle it?
Can you assure us the pirates won’t board the ship?”
The tanker’s captain was an Iranian in his fifties, with a big belly and an expression of calm, though his slightly trembling voice betrayed his emotions.
Gao Yang looked at the nervous captain, smiled, and said loudly, “What we do actually depends on you.
Sink their boat and kill them all, or scare them off, you choose.” (To be continued.
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