Betrayal Book 04

That set the pattern to be repeated over the next two days, forenoon and Paddy would take her below and fuck her, while I remained on watch and then we reversed the roles. Later in the day she would suck me off while I was at the helm and she would demand that Paddy fuck her while she did so. I was relieved to see that he was no bigger than me in the cock department, but she was insatiable and couldn't get enough.

Our frolics came to an abrupt end when a tropical storm blew in. All hands were needed to keep us running before the wind until after twenty hours, it blew itself out. Once the storm was over, it was a lot cooler and we had a lot of running repairs to do. Amanda and I were too exhausted to make love, or at least I was. I awoke later that night to find myself alone. I was still a bit groggy with sleep and it took me several seconds to realise that what awoke was the sudden change in motion as TAGHTA must have caught a wave wrong or something and I jumped up on deck to see what the fuck was going on. I found Paddy fucking Amanda in the arse and they were both totally oblivious to the fact that TAGHTA was broaching. I slapped his arse and ordered him to jump to it and reduce sail. I must have startled him as he withdrew from her with a plop audible above the noise emanating from the wind and sea. I soon got TAGHTA back on course, but I made my feeling known to both of them in no uncertain terms.

Once we had TAGHTA back on course and underway again, I ordered Paddy to take the helm and Amanda to get herself below deck. I sat her down and read her the riot act. My anger was such that I could barely contain my desire to physically harm her. I have never in my life felt such a strong emotion as at that moment. I know this is irrational behaviour, I had condoned her and encouraged her to fuck him, but what she had just perpetrated felt like a betrayal. She left our bed and went to him without my knowledge and that is what hurt most. When I explained this to her, she became angry with me and accused my of double standards. I guess to an extent that she was right but I had to find out why she needed to go to him and desert me? I asked, "Have you fallen in love with him?"

"Of course not, I love you, with him it's just fucking, you know that I love having a cock inside me. You were sleeping, he was awake and I was feeling slutty, so I went to him and he just scratched my itch, the rest you know."

She clearly felt no remorse and could not see the distinction between fucking him with my full knowledge and consent and deserting me to fuck him without my knowledge! Hell, I wasn't sure that I understood the distinction myself, but I did know that it was there and that I felt betrayed.

I told her that from now on, no more fucking Paddy or our short remarriage was over. She promised me that she would never let him have her again. Events were to happen the following day that ensured that they would never have the opportunity again! The only good news that night was that they had the sense to switch off the cameras before they started, but there again, that had become second nature to us all by now.

We rounded the Horn of Africa and into the Arabian Sea, sometime in the night, passing between the mainland and the large island of Socotra. There were a few other islands in this passage so, this was a calculated risk as it placed us further from our support vessels, but the intelligence people assured us that the pirates preferred to make their forays nearer to dusk.

Our route took us past the islands and were beginning to think we had passed the main danger point of the day, when Paddy raised the alarm. A fairly large dhow was on an intercept course and Paddy dived below to alert out support. There appeared to be about ten armed men aboard that we could see, but maybe more. We were ordered to heave to and when we failed to show any inclination to do so, a man wielding a Rocket Propelled Grenade fired on us. The round passed through our mainsail leaving a small but rapidly expanding hole as the wind caused the sail to start tearing. We had no option but to comply. Paddy briefed us and told us, "We need to delay them as much as possible, it will take our support ten minutes or so to be in a position to come to our aid."

The sea was a bit lumpy and TAGHTA was pitching about a fair bit and I hoped that would delay their boarding. It certainly helped, but we soon found ourselves facing four armed men on our deck too quickly for my liking. Paddy had disappeared below decks as per our rehearsed plan, Amanda had only her bikini on and she was certainly giving the leader of the boarding party quite an eyeful. Her charms had no effect on this guy however, I thought he must be gay, but his fellow pirates had their attention firmly on Amanda. She was standing at the stern rail and I at the helm, so the pirate's attention was fixed towards the stern and Amanda's charms. The problem was that one of the pirates was standing on the roof of the deck housing effectively blocking Paddy's prime approach route. We needed to keep them distracted and allow the Navy the full ten minutes to get into position, so I tried a bit of bluster. "What's the meaning of this, we are in international waters! You have no right to board us and I insist you leave immediately or I will call the British Embassy and lodge a complaint!"

Their leader was clearly amused by this and laughed so hard I thought he would do himself and injury. No such luck and as raised his AK47 in the air and let off a short burst. "This is all the authority I need and you are now my hostages. Where is your third crewman? And don't try lying to me, we know you left Djibouti with a crew of three, so tell me or I will start hurting your pretty wife here!"

"He's below decks, he injured himself in the storm," Samantha improvised quickly. "Do you have a doctor aboard your boat, because I'm starting to get worried that it's more than a broken rib or two?"

"Ah, Mr and Mrs Cairns, or can I call you by your first names, Bill and Samantha, you are really quite famous you know. Even here in Somalia, we have access to U-tube and your rescues have made you famous. I think we will ask for £1,000,000 each for your safe return and another £1,000.000 for your beautiful yacht, what's it called again.... Ah I remember TAGHTA. An unusual name, what does it mean? But we have plenty of time for such questions when we are safely ashore."

With that he motioned to two of his men to get themselves below and check on our crewmate. As they dropped into the cabin, I caught a glimpse of Paddy emerging from the forward hatch cover. Luckily, when we had been forced to heave to, I had just let the foresail lie on the foredeck covering the fore hatch. This enabled Paddy to emerge undetected by the pirates on board TAGHTA. He was exposed to watchers on the pirate dhow and it was a few seconds before they raised the alarm. Their cries were quickly silenced but the alarm was raised.

The two pirates still on Taghta's deck whirled round and started to raise their weapons, I pulled Amanda down onto the deck and scrabbled to find my pistol hidden in the map drawer below the compass and instrument panel. Paddy let off a short burst, catching both pirates in the chest and he started to move towards us in the stern to make sure they were dead when a head popped out of the forward hatch and quickly dropped back down. Paddy must have sensed the activity as he started to turn and face this new danger, but before he could raise his weapon the pirate stuck his AK47 out the hatch and release a random spray of fire in Paddy's general direction. Paddy fell to the deck, blood blossoming from a wound that had gone clean through his leg. The other pirate must have assumed that the threat was from Paddy because he jumped from the main hatch and turned to face Paddy and hands shaking with fear, I shot him twice in the back before he could do any further mischief.

That left only the fore deck pirate and as pulled himself through the forward hatch, Paddy shot him twice, once in the head and once in his chest. I jumped forward to check the two pirates that Paddy had cut down first, when one of them shot Paddy in the chest and he went down hard. I shot that one as well, twice for good measure. Amanda was getting to her feet and trying to come to terms with what had transpired, I told her to get below and bring the First Aid Kit, but in my heart I knew it was hopeless, Paddy had taken at least one round in the middle of his chest and the exit wound had left a huge fist sized hole in his back.

I turned my attention the Dhow and was relieved to see several figures clad in black wet suits looking down on us. "It's all right matey, the Navy's here."

"How's Paddy?" one of them called down.

I just shook my head and said, "I'm sorry, he's dead!"

A few seconds later there was an eerie sound of rushing water as the submarine broke surface. This must be HMS Astute a brand new Fleet Submarine. After that, it was all a blur of activity, the pirate's bodies were removed and taken back aboard the Dhow and Paddy was taken away in a body bag and placed aboard the submarine.

Gordon McLean appeared and transferred from a RIB onto TAGHTA. He took us both down into the cabin and another bottle of brandy appeared from his case. Stiff shots all round and he then proceeded to tell us the plan of action. He wanted Amanda and I to transfer to HMS Daring, a Type 45 Destroyer that was supporting our mission. He said they had better facilities on board for debriefing and planning the next steps. TAGHTA would resume her course manned by the SBS. He gave us an hour to get our gear together, not that we had much. My wardrobe consisted of a pair of old jeans and only one shirt with a collar. Most of our clothing had been left behind in storage when we left Sharm. He said that we would not be returning to TAGHTA in the immediate future, as the risks had proved far greater than anticipated. They were not expecting such a large vessel or so many men to be employed by the pirates against a single yacht. Their intelligence was that the pirates preferred method, up until today, was to use small inflatable craft similar to RIBS with no more than four or five pirates aboard.

We asked about the cameras and what would happen to them and he told us that the recording of events would continue and that we should provide any voice over required to explain what we were viewing. This was part of the methodology used in the previous series, so we were well used to doing this. The sound quality on board varied, depending on weather conditions prevailing at the time, so voiceovers were normal practice.

So it was that we left TAGHTA behind and I was surprisingly upset by having to leave her after such tragic events. As we sped away, I turned to watch TAGHTA sail away and saw the pirates Dhow going up in flames, so no prisoners there either and somehow, I was glad that they had met their end violently, that's what they had planned for us if they had succeeded, of that I was sure.

About hour later, we were aboard HMS Daring and allocated a cabin normally occupied by two officers. Amanda was withdrawn and very pale and the first thing I did was to ask one of Daring's female officers to show her how to operate the shower to let her try and wash the smell of spent ammunition and blood that seemed to cling to our clothing. I inspected myself and was surprised by the amount of dried blood on my clothing and skin. Most of it was Paddy's acquired when I tried to help him, but some was from the pirates as well.

I also made good use of the showers and had changed into something more presentable, provided by the crew of Daring, essential for walking around one of Her Majesties ships. In any case, the Air Conditioning aboard Daring provided a distinctly colder environment than what we had been used to over the last few months. Shirt, Jeans and even a sweater were needed. I didn't have that type of clothing aboard with me, but the Navy thinks of everything. Amanda returned with her new friend and she had been kitted with similar clothing to me and certainly far better than the bikini and blouse she had worn when we transferred across. She looked much better, with some make up and freshly washed hair, but I could see that she was suffering.

Gordon visited with us and took us both up to meet the Captain on the bridge. He made us feel very welcome and even asked if he could have my autograph. He told me it was for his son, who had followed our adventures avidly on the TV. After the social formalities had been completed, he escorted us to the Officers mess, specially cleared for the occasion and we sat and watched the events as they unfolded. Gordon introduced us to various politicians and the top brass back at Northolt, linked live by satellite but there were so many names that I forgot their names instantly. We sat and watched the events again. It was only the deck cameras and I couldn't credit just how quickly the whole thing was from start to finish. I checked my watch, 14 minutes, from boarding to the bloody ending!

Amanda broke down when we sat through the bit where Paddy met his end and thankfully Gordon called for a short break and refreshments. I realised that it was nearly eight PM and we had not eaten since our light lunch many hours ago. The Captain's steward had rustled up some sandwiches and tea, god bless the Navy, tea strong enough to stand your spoon up in, and that tea more than anything revived both Amanda and myself. Our debrief continued and Gordon recounted how the SBS had taken the Dhow after emerging from the escape hatches of the Astute. He was at pains to explain to the politico's that the hatches were designed with operations like this in mind. More questions were fired at us from all angles. So many questions were fired at us that I started to lose track of reality. At one point I remember an American officer asking for confirmation that it was me who had shot and killed two of the pirates. I wondered what difference it made and he just made a note and moved onto another question, but not before glances were exchanged between him and the man I took to be the Secretary for Defence. Just as we were winding things up, the PM appeared from the back of the room and personally thanked Amanda and me for our courage and patriotism in helping them rid the seas of the scourge of piracy.

Cynical me, thought it was a good sound bite and really should have been released to the press. I only found out later that an edited version of the final part of the debrief session was to be used to brief the media, but only for publication when the mission had been completed. Gordon told me that the mission would continue for another week and that the media had agreed to a total news blackout until given the nod from Downing Street.

We were allowed to contact Matt and let him know that we were safely aboard HMS Daring, but that was always the plan, and he was totally ignorant about our direct involvement in the events today. The blackout applied equally to Inter-video, so we gave him an edited version of the last week or so. He was clearly concerned about our safety and health after the trauma we had endured, but at the same time he was eager to see the footage. He was excited about the possibilities for another series and our first hand involvement would ensure it would be huge success.

Life aboard Daring was very pleasant and all we had to do was watch the new footage streamed from TAGHTA as she continued her mission without us. In all, over the next five days, she was involved in two more successful pirate interdictions and coupled with similar successes by the Aussies and US missions the overall mission was an unqualified success.

The success knocked the piracy problem in the area for six and it would be another twelve months before they had the nerve to try and resume their piratical life. By that time, the US had shored up the Somali government and provided them with training and ships to police their own waters effectively.

In due course, Inter-video released a new series of programmes featuring TAGHTA and yours truly. Naturally some of the footage was never released to the public. The death of Paddy for instance was not transmitted, the film stopped just before the moment of impact. Similarly, the shooting of the pirates was also blanked, but their outcome was revealed by the body-bags used to transport them to their final resting place. The series was a massive international success and Amanda and I travelled extensively promoting the series and the mandatory book. This time, Amanda did the majority of the writing and I think she made a far better job than I could have.

TAGHTA was shipped back to the UK for us and we still sail her in the Solent every summer, but our days of adventure are over for now. We have bought a villa in Portugal and spent most of our time there, but just occasionally I yearn for the open sea, but Amanda soon puts a halt to any notions I have in that direction.

When things with the new series settled down, Amanda and I both had therapy to help address the trauma of those horrific events and I found the sessions of great value. They would never stop the nightmares completely, but I could now rationalise the events and as with all things, time proved to be the best remedy. Amanda continued her sessions far longer than me and I never enquired into why this was. The one change I did notice though was that her fantasies did not just disappear, but her desire to live them out did. Our sex life continues to be active and I have never regretted our second marriage.

We attended Paddy's funeral and we met his wife and family. We didn't know that he was married until Gordon informed us when we were aboard HMS Daring. He received a posthumous Conspicuous Gallantry Medal for his actions during the mission.

Amanda and I were invited to attend the Palace where I received the Queen's Gallantry Medal from the Her Majesty. It was a great honour and I was astonished when she told me she and Prince Phillip had watched both series with great interest. She was very knowledgeable about what actually happened or had been well briefed because she asked some very pertinent questions.

So that's it. The End, or is it, that wanderlust feeling is growing again and I have been trying to persuade Amanda that I would like a shot at going round the world, but in something a little bigger than TAGHTA bless her. We have friends who own a very large catamaran and who are looking for some help in crewing her. So maybe there's another TV series in there somewhere. Who knows????