The yachtsman couldn't communicate with Fu Tianlai in the same language, but he understood money. He immediately picked up the money, put it in his pocket, and headed towards the western waters of the Gulf of Aden.
Sometimes, money is more persuasive, direct, and powerful than words.
As Gao Yuzhen turned over the water, she felt somewhat confused and afraid. Although she desperately wanted to rescue her father, she was, after all, a girl who had never experienced danger before.
Zhou Xuan could understand her feelings. Before he experienced those dangers, he was no different from her. Now he was more experienced because he had more experience, and most importantly, he had ice energy within him, which was the most confident reason for his confidence.
Brooklyn and Thomas discussed the matter and came up with two action plans: first, to search for traces of pirates in the western Gulf of Aden; and second, to search several deserted islands more than 200 nautical miles away in the western sea, where Fu Ying's rescue team might encounter pirates and become stranded.
Zhou Xuan considered whether the speedboat could support such a long voyage, but Brooklyn pointed to the two oil drums on the stern of the speedboat. The yacht mechanic had already anticipated this and always carried two drums of spare oil when going on long journeys.
Kenya is a neighboring country of Somalia, and their waters are naturally adjacent. Basically, once you leave the coastal waters, you enter Somali waters.
Brooklyn, Thomas, and Fu Tianlai's bodyguards all drew their weapons, loaded them, and prepared to engage in combat. Pirates could appear at any moment, and Somali pirates were known for their ruthlessness; once encountered, there was no room for reason, and a firefight would ensue. Somali pirates had a history of encounters with international naval vessels, but they typically used their hostages on the deck as shields. If the naval vessels took a hard line, they would kill the hostages. To protect the lives of their captors, international navies often yielded, emboldening the Somali pirates.
Driven by profit in recent years, pirate gangs have even engaged in smuggling, drug trafficking, arms dealing, and human smuggling with international organizations.
As the net entered the Gulf of Aden, it encountered a pirate gang that had converted a small fishing boat. The yacht driver was very experienced and changed course when the boat was about 400 or 500 meters away. The fishing boat chased after it for a while and even fired a cannon. The shell landed in the sea between the two boats and exploded into a high spray of water.
Zhou Xuan was still trying to determine if they were really pirates, but since they had opened fire, they definitely were. However, their wrecked ship wasn't as fast as theirs. Although the pirates outnumbered Zhou Xuan's crew, their fishing boat was much slower. Later, they even launched a two-person speedboat from the fishing boat, which was much faster.
Alright.
Brooklyn picked up the rocket, adjusted the coordinates, aimed, and fired. The shot went slightly off course, landing between the ship and the speedboat. The explosion sent up a wave seven or eight meters high, capsizing the speedboat and throwing two pirates into the water. They were then rescued by pirates on the wrecked ship. Before Brooklyn could fire a second shot, the group of pirates turned their ship around and fled in panic.
If the pirates encounter someone stronger than them, they will choose to flee. Under normal circumstances, no one will relentlessly pursue them.
Just then, the satellite phone in Fu Tianlai's small backpack rang. It was Johnny calling!
Volume One: The Lotus Buds Just Begin to Emerge, Chapter 179: Crossfire
Xin Chi spoke with Johnny for a while, then his expression turned serious. After a long pause, Fu Tianlai said, "The one who kidnapped my son and wife is the biggest pirate gang. They've already contacted my nephew Johnny to negotiate. Their negotiator has admitted his identity!"
Zhou Xuan gritted his teeth and pondered for a while. Then he asked him, "Did they mention Yingying and the others? If they've fallen into their hands, they should have brought up the ransom. These pirates' main business is business, and they need ransom. If they haven't mentioned it, I guess Yingying and the others are in danger, but haven't fallen into the pirates' hands yet!"
Fu Tianlai frowned deeply and said thoughtfully, "Johnny is very experienced and adept at business negotiations. Of course, he would try to probe this matter indirectly. However, the Somali sailors' negotiator did not mention it at all. The only hostages are the crew members on the ocean liner and my son and his wife. Originally, the pirates did not know my son's identity, but a few scared crew members on the ocean liner revealed it. So the pirates delayed the negotiations for a few days because they were also discussing how to set a price!"
Zhou Xuan understood this. The second-generation head of the Fu family conglomerate was a rare commodity, and he was worth a lot of money. The amount of ransom he needed to pay was not easy to determine. Too much was fine, but too little would not be worthwhile. Kidnapping such a person would be far more profitable than kidnapping dozens of other ordinary hostages!
However, there was one advantage: Fu and his wife were at least temporarily out of danger. Their situation was even much better than that of ordinary crew members; if the pirates exerted pressure, they would only target the ordinary crew members!
“That’s what I think too!” Fu Tianlai said, frowning. “But Yingying has been out of contact with me for four days. If she’s not in the hands of the Somali sailors, where could she be?”
Brooklyn asked Gao Yuzhen to revise his work. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Mr. Fu, I have carried out many missions in the waters west of the Gulf of Aden before, so I am quite familiar with that area. That area is also the activity range of Somali sailors. I estimate that there is a very high possibility that your granddaughter has been stranded on those deserted islands!"
Fu Tianlai paused for a moment, then asked, "How can you be so sure? Couldn't they be on the Somali coastline? Besides, they haven't been in contact with each other, so how can you be sure they won't fall into the hands of other pirate groups?"
Brooklyn chuckled and replied, "Mr. Fu, of Miss Fu's twenty mercenaries, at least seven are my former comrades. Their abilities are far beyond what ordinary pirates can handle. I imagine their firepower is quite formidable, right? Besides, the place where they lost contact with you is the western Gulf of Aden. Apart from Somali sailors, other pirate groups wouldn't be able to operate from that distance, as it's over 200 nautical miles from the coast. Furthermore, since no other pirate group came forward to negotiate a ransom, it's highly likely that Miss Fu's team didn't fall into the hands of pirates. I estimate that after a firefight with pirates at sea, the ship was damaged and the communication equipment was lost. This is the most probable outcome!"
Zhou Xuan also felt that Brooklyn's idea made a lot of sense. If the pirates in the Somali region were all organized by refugees and ordinary people, even if they were ruthless, they would not have strong individual abilities. He knew very well about Yingying's skills.
Instead of aimlessly wandering in the vast ocean, Zhou Xuan nodded to Fu Tianlai and said, "I think Brooklyn's suggestion makes a lot of sense. Why don't we look for something on those deserted islands in the western Gulf of Aden first?"
Fu Tianlai thought about it and agreed to the plan. After Gao Yuzhen translated it into English, the yacht operator adjusted the course. He was still willing because his yacht was fast, but encountering a large number of fishing boats, speedboats, or pirates would be troublesome. If they were surrounded, bullets and cannonballs would be faster than his speedboat. By sailing hundreds of nautical miles away, the chances of encountering pirates would be much lower, since ordinary pirate gangs don't have such a wide range of operations.
The voyage we just made was only twenty or thirty nautical miles from the coastline, where the chances of encountering pirates were highest. The pirates on the fishing boat we encountered first were clearly a small, insignificant group, and they fled as soon as they sensed trouble.
The yacht captain steered further and further into the distance, getting farther and farther from the coast. After two hours of sailing, they were 150 nautical miles from the shore, surrounded by a vast expanse of sea with no trace of land in sight.
Zhou Xuan had never actually been to the deep sea. Back in Chongkou, which was by the sea, even when he was on a boat, he had never strayed more than twenty miles from the coast. Later, after going to New York with Fu Ying, he practiced diving a few times near the coast, but those were only twenty or thirty miles from the shore, not far at all. This time, however, he had truly entered the vast depths of the ocean.
Of the group, only Gao Yuzhen was truly terrified during the firefight with the pirates. She even lay trembling on the speedboat's deck in a disheveled state.
After traveling for another hour at a speed of over 70 nautical miles per hour, Brooklyn used a GPS device to determine his location and adjusted his direction as he went. Since encountering the fishing boat pirates, they hadn't encountered any more pirates. Gao Yuzhen's tense expression gradually relaxed.
Thomas observed through his binoculars, then pointed ahead and said, "An island has appeared ahead!"
The group immediately perked up and sat up straight, looking in the direction Thomas pointed. On the vast coastline, they could only vaguely see a tiny black dot, which was almost invisible if one wasn't paying attention.
This distance is estimated to be at least ten miles.
The yacht operator slowed down, and at that moment, Fu Tianlai received another call from Johnny. Johnny revealed that the other side of the negotiations had presented a video showing Fu Meng and his wife, along with some of the crew. The hostages were temporarily safe, but the other side was insisting on a ransom of one billion US dollars, the highest ransom ever demanded for a Somali pirate kidnapping, attracting significant attention from all sides, so both sides were very cautious.
Johnny still couldn't get any information from them that was even remotely related to Fu Ying's group.
Fu Tianlai put down the satellite phone and looked ahead again. The shape of the island was already very clear. It was all smooth and rocky, just like a rock protruding from the sea.
The closer the yacht got, the larger and wider the rocks appeared.
Brooklyn explained, "This island is a dead island. It's about a thousand square meters in size and is made entirely of rock, so no plants or animals can survive there."
Following Brooklyn's instructions, the yacht operator circled the island once. Thomas, Zhou Xuan, and several others carefully examined the desolate rocky island with binoculars to confirm that no one was on it before instructing the yacht operator to continue.
It was half an hour later when we found the second island.
The second island is a small island covering several kilometers. The mountain is covered with trees and the old mouth is sunny... 8. o... (fishing book hollow) It's a different kind of island! It's impossible to see clearly whether there are people on the island from the outside. I also looked around the island again.
Brooklyn and Thomas were the most experienced in this regard. The two of them observed with binoculars for a while and found no trace of human activity. However, they could not conclude that there was no one on the island, because Fu Ying's group of mercenaries were all elite veterans. Their abilities were extraordinary, and hiding their figures was just child's play for them.
As Brooklyn and Thomas were discussing their plan, they suddenly heard a series of rattling sounds.
The yacht driver exclaimed in surprise!
"Pirates!"
Zhou Xuan couldn't understand what he was saying, but judging from his expression, he knew that the people on the yacht immediately bent down and looked back. Several hundred meters away, there were two speedboats that could carry more than ten people each, and four motorboats nearby. Two of them were already flanking their yacht from the left and right.
Brooklyn immediately ordered the yacht operator to quickly move closer to the island and find a convenient spot to dock. Meanwhile, he and Thomas grabbed their semi-automatic rifles, lay down at the bow of the boat, and fired a shot at the approaching motorboat.