Chapter Thirty Two
0245
The plan was nearly a duplicate of the one the pirates used to get on board Altuna, but the raiders this time were fewer and had to rely on surprise and stealth if they were to succeed. No one knew exactly what the freighter had as defensive equipment or weapons, but it was, as Bibi said, a given that the pirates had means of repelling boarders if they had to. The trick, she pointed out, was to get abroad and not activate any defenses at all until it was too late.
Silently, with Norquist’s still secret engine mufflers operating beautifully, Fast Boat crawled up the freighter’s wake and slipped under the overhanging stern. The single grappling hook arced up silently from its catapult and grabbed the first time. Then everyone waited to see if the hook had alerted
