by Sean Blaise
Sophia tried not to smile at the look on John’s face. That was exactly the reaction she was hoping for. She was impressed when John stood up and pulled the chair out for her. It was definitely a date.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” she said, sitting at the table.
“I can’t imagine looking like that is easy. You look amazing by the way. Had I known; I would have dressed up more.”
“You look very nice as well,” Sophia said smiling at him. The waiter came over and Sophia spoke quickly in a burst of French. It was sexy as hell. “Do you mind if I order?”
“I am secure in my masculinity, please do. Anything fresh and seafood and I’m good,” John said.
The French back and forth between the waiter and Sophia continued. John admired the view of her as well as the background. It was a gorgeous sunset, looking like a pastel painting. If God was a painter, it seemed like he always started dumping in the pink at sunset.
“I want to say something before we begin talking about the safety procedures on Troy,” Sophia said.
“Oh, that’s right. I totally forgot that’s what we were doing.”
“I wanted to say.” Sophia paused as if searching for the right words. “I’m not always a bitch.”
“That’s a huge relief!” John said laughing.
“I would like to apologize to you. The day we first met; I was not having a good day. Someone important to me betrayed my trust and I took it out on you. It was unfair to you.”
“Apology accepted.”
The wine arrived. The waiter poured their glasses.
“I would like to start over. My name is Sophia Bisset.”
“John Otter, at your service,” he said toasting her glass.
“Otter like the animal?”
“Yup, it’s a long story, it was Otterstrance from Germany and many years and immigrations ago it somehow became shortened to “Otter.” I have no idea how.”
“How interesting. Do you mind if I ask you some questions?” John shook his head no. “Have you worked for Alexi long?”
“A couple years.”
“And before? More yachts?”
“Some but right before I took this job, I was actually Captain on a school ship called Beagle. We were teaching college kids how to sail on an around the world voyage. I worked for the World Ocean School.”
“For how long?”
“You do ask a lot of questions.” John said. Sophia pulled back at that statement.
“I’m sorry I was just trying…” she said.
“No, no, it’s my fault. It’s just a bad memory. I only worked at the World Ocean School for a month. Just a single journey from South Africa to Brazil.”
“So short.”
“Yes, well something terrible happened on board my ship and the voyage was cut short. There was a murder on-board.”
“Mon Dieu!” Sophia said as she leaned back putting her small hand over her mouth. “I think I have heard about this.”
“Yes, it made headlines everywhere. It was an awful, tragic experience. I almost didn’t sail again. Alexi pulled me out of the depression of that. I’ve worked for him ever since. Enough about me tell me about you. Why were you pissed the day we met?”
“A man’s promise that wasn’t kept.”
“Let me guess, he worked on a yacht!” Sophia laughed at this.
“You are a detective. Yes!”
“Well thank god we’re here going over safety procedures and not on a date!” John said.
Sophia smiled her green eyes glimmering in the fading sun. The meal was placed in front of them and the conversation waned as they dug into the gourmet spread. The food was exquisite. John look at Sophia and realized that he could move on from Claire. It was time. His life was moving, and he had to keep letting people in it, that moved him.
John never saw Ingrid walking by the restaurant and watching him smile at Sophia. He never saw the pain on Ingrid’s face when she saw them together. She had waited the whole passage from Mumbai to Tahiti trying to feel out John and give him the idea that she was open to something more with him. She hadn’t wanted to reach out to him too quickly, because of Claire. She wanted to give him time for closure.
After the attack Ingrid had decided to try again with John, to finally open herself up to something that could be real with him. In order to do that, she needed to give up control, which was not something she did easily. Seeing John with Sophia she realized she had waited too long. She felt tears welling up in her eyes. She wiped her eyes quickly and walked back to the Ivana steeling herself once more. It was not meant to be.
Chapter 103
The next day, Troy slipped past the light zone into an eerie darkness. They plummeted into the depths at an accelerated clip that made John's stomach a little uneasy. Sophia was stoic in her concentration as she adjusted the ballasting for the small craft. John could almost feel the crushing wall of water above his head. He looked directly up and saw nothing but black, if not for the instruments, he had no way of knowing which way was up. He turned to his left and watched her in her chair. It was obvious she lived and breathed her job. And he used to think he was "one with the sea."
The small overhead air-conditioner and filter was trying to cool down the inside of the little bubble with little luck. John was sweating up a storm as his anxiety level was beginning to get to him with each foot as they fell toward the bottom of the abyss.
"You are scared?" she said almost as a fact, instead of a question.
"Considering there is over a mile of water above my head at this point. You're damn right I'm scared!" He said with a nervous smile.
Sophia turned and flashed him a brilliant smile, her eyes mockingly arched in surprise.
"I would think the big strong American was afraid of nothing." She reached over and grabbed his shoulder and gave him a squeeze.
John smiled nervously. He hadn't seen this part of her before. It was as if the wall of water pressure made her come alive.
"You'd be surprised at what makes me nervous," he said slowly, looking in her large green eyes.
Sophia felt his meaning and averted her eyes back to her gauges nervously. She could feel her pulse quicken, and she was suddenly very aware of how sexually charged the situation was. They were hours away from surfacing, and they were alone, no one but the radio to call for help. Normally, she was alone at these depths and now she was thinking about everything but her work.
"We are crossing the 3000-meter mark, John," she said pointing at the gauge. Suddenly a massive sea worm came into the halogen lights of the submersible. John jumped back in his seat. Sophia laughed loudly.
"It's just a worm!"
John watched as the translucent worm became entangled around one of the submersible's arms. It glowed an eerie white and green and it was more alien than anything humans had imagined from outer space. They were entering the life zone, where the heavy nutrient rich sea water became filled with minerals from the geothermal vents that was Sophia's passion.
"It’s incredible," John said as he leaned forward to look at it closer. "I've been a diver my whole life, but never seen this kind of life before.”
"The deep sea is a different world. Like a new planet," she said, watching him as carefully as he watched the worm. He was so damn attractive when he smiled, she thought.
John could feel her watching him and he didn't know what to do. He turned and looked at her.
"It is beautiful," he said, looking at her directly and holding her eyes. "How long until we hit bottom?"
Sophia knew what was about to happen and she was already incredibly turned on. She realized she had wanted to from the first day she met him.
"30 minutes," she said softly looking at him to make a move.
"And do you have to drive the whole way?" John asked letting her know his thoughts.
"No, we're just sinking on our own now," she said. John watched a drip of sweat as it slid from Sophia's thin neck down between her brown breasts. Her nipples wer
e visibly hard underneath her tank top from her arousal. John looked back into Sophia's eyes.
His eyes changed and she saw his lust, and she knew he was going to take her. She pointed to the roof of the submarine and her ear and flicked off the microphone feed to the Ivana. John reached his hand out and cradled her face as he leaned in and kissed her. John could feel her soft lips and felt her push her tongue into his mouth.
Sophia suddenly pushed John back into his chair, and he thought maybe he had misread the situation, when she put her small foot on his chest holding him off. Slowly she started to pull her tank top down, teasing him, and revealing dramatic tan lines where her bikini normally covered her breasts. No one spoke, but the sounds of their fast breathing filled the little submarine with palpable heat.
John could feel his pulse racing as he watched her slowly pull down the shirt, her brown nipple, perfectly round and incredibly hard finally popped free of her shirt and he could wait no longer. He pushed her leg down and sucked her nipple into his hot mouth. Sophia gasped as his rough palm cupped her other delicate breast making it seem tiny in his large hands. He used his tongue to trace the underside of her pert tits before sucking each nipple back into his mouth.
Sophia swallowed hard to contain a gasp, as she soaked her panties. She saw the large bulge in his shorts, and she needed to have it.
"Please, John," she said, rubbing him with her hand through his board shorts.
John sat back in his seat and slid his shorts down. He barely had them around his ankles before Sophia had leaned over from her own chair and taken him into her mouth. John groaned while Sophia worked on him. He watched in amazement as Sophia lifted her butt up and removed her own shorts without missing a beat with her mouth.
John couldn't take it anymore. He knew if he wanted to last at all he had to get inside her. John leaned over Sophia's chair, and picked Sophia up from her chair like she weighed nothing and sat her down on his lap. She was so wet; he buried his entire length on the first stroke.
Sophia arched her back as John filled her completely. His big hands grabbed her ass, and she felt him lifting her up easily with each stroke before dropping her back down on him. The pleasure was excruciating. John was relentless in his rhythm, lifting her and dropping her, getting deeper with every stroke. His mouth hungrily sucked each of her engorged nipples, until she couldn't contain the orgasm rocking her body. Sophia felt John stiffen and push her down with one final stroke that was the deepest yet, barely moving. He looked into her eyes for a second, then she felt him pulsating inside her. John squeezed his eyes shut as he was rocked with one of the best orgasms of his life. John was still shaking when Sophia dropped back into her seat.
"John? John?" Alexis voice boomed over the speaker as if he knew.
Sophia flicked on the microphone feed.
"Yeah, I'm here,'" John said out of breath.
"Are you ok? You sound…." Alexi let the accusation hang.
"Yup, yup, just fine," John said, as he shook his head smiling at Sophia.
John would have preferred a nap after the incredible sex, but there wasn't time.
Thirty minutes later Troy touched down on the seafloor. A tuft of dust clouded their view momentarily, before clearing quickly in the surprisingly fast, undersea current. Small sharks swam the floor; as well as ghastly translucent fish that looked like a sci-fi writer's wildest imagination.
"Truth is stranger than fiction," John said.
"What?"
“Nothing, it’s just these fish, they are something you couldn't make up."
"What was the position of the wreck again?" Sophia asked.
"Four hundred yards to the north."
Clouds of sea floor dust exploded as the Troy's thrusters pushed the craft forward towards the sonar ping from the sonar transponder that the C-Legend had dropped on possible targets. The bright halogen lights desperately tried to show the way on what was the world’s darkest highway. But the lights barely penetrated the cold ocean black. John could only imagine the shock of these fish upon seeing so much light after a lifetime of darkness. It must be truly jarring.
"Two hundred meters now, dead ahead," John said.
John felt like he could see something ahead, but nothing materialized. Again, he caught a glimpse of something, but wrote it off as a figment of his imagination. This had happened before on watch on the bridge of the Ivana. Long hours of watching in the pitch dark had a way of creating mirages that didn't really exist.
Sophia kept the submersible creeping ahead slowly, until out of nowhere the light hit the unmistakable prow of a ship.
"Mon dieu!" Sophia shouted. "Is this it?"
"No, it's steel. But pull closer."
Sophia maneuvered the Troy closer in a wide circle. The halogen lights finally had something other than cold black water to reflect their light beams and suddenly the whole area was glowing with light.
"It appears to be World War II." John said as the name HMS Downey was becoming visible on the bow of the ship.
"It's amazing it’s not more covered in barnacles," Otter said "You can still read the name so clearly."
"This deep there is no barnacle, or algae growth. Those require sunlight and we are over three miles from the sunlight. The cold temps, and limited oxygen also keep decay of metal to an extremely slow rate. We, and all around us, are entombed in an area of the sea that prevents decay. In one hundred years this ship will probably look exactly the same."
John nodded, now wondering how his bomb would look if they ever found it.
Chapter 104
A few days later, the small device that Sweeney had found in the dock line had been forgotten about. It lay on the bridge helm where he had left it in Mumbai. It was transmitting audio recordings of the bridge once per day to Pyongyang, as well as position reports. Bae knew the Ivana was getting close to finding the bomb. They had been diving repeatedly over the last few days. Bae’s radio operator had also intercepted the encrypted UHF radio transmissions between the Ivana and her survey support vessel, C-Legend. Bae was able to listen to everything that was being said between the two ships.
"We got confirmation, John. The ROV we sent down today, picked up definite radiation spikes on her Geiger counter at that location I just sent you," said the C-Legend’s Captain.
"Did you actually see the bomb?" John asked.
"That's a negative boss. Too much mud restricting our visibility. Our ROV doesn't have the electrical power to run lights as big as Troy. In fact, I would suggest you rig up stronger lights if possible. The current was kicking down there and we were using the thrusters damn near max to keep her in place. There's a lot of mud in water, visibility can’t be better than 5 feet."
"Thanks for the head’s up."
“We dropped a sonar beacon on the spot; when you get close just follow the ping to the location.”
“Roger that.”
"We are headed into port. The guys have been going non-stop and I think our work is done. Can you confirm?"
"You guys are good to go," John said. “Thanks for the help.”
"When are you planning on going down?"
"Tomorrow night if the weather holds. Once this is closed, we'll get you guys back out there and looking for the real Pearl."
"Roger, Roger. Call if you need anything."
Bae now had the time. Tomorrow night. Bae picked up his transmitter and sent the encrypted signal message over short wave radio to the North Korean submarine standing by. It was outside of the territorial waters of France, so as not to arouse any suspicion. Once the recovery was imminent, they were going to relocate to a closer position to meet Captain Bae’s ship to remove the plutonium and take it off his hands. Maybe he would get his medal right then?
Bae gathered the commandos and told them the time frame. Tomorrow night. It was time to be ready.
Chapter 105
Abdul's five hundred dollars to the Pink Coconut bartender had worked its magic. He got the call that the rowdy Americans from th
e survey ship were in port and drinking up a storm at the bar. Abdul left his hotel and made his way down to the bar.
The survey vessel men were loud and obnoxious, and the steady stream of drinks were working their magic on their tongues. Abdul overheard more than enough to realize that their task was completed. That meant the recovery of the bomb had to be imminent.
At around two in the morning, Abdul waited outside the sleazy Top Island motel, smoking his cigarette when the first hooker he had hired to loosen the crew’s tongues, approached. Abdul paid her. It felt good using the Sheikh's money.
"What did you find out?" Abdul asked her.
"He said he won’t have to work for a week. They are going after whatever it is tomorrow night. He promised to use me again."
"How nice for you," Abdul said. "How much for me?"
"Since you've been so nice, another 50."
Abdul didn't move, just unzipped his pants.
"What on the ground?" She said, disgusted looking at the gravel floor of the parking lot.
Abdul's cold look shut her up instantly. She'd been around enough hard men in her life to know when to keep her mouth shut. She knelt down, the rough gravel floor cutting her knees and she began working.
The second hooker walked up mid blow job. Abdul looked at her holding out the money he owed her. She looked at her friend working and took the money quickly.
"Tomorrow night it’s happening, is what the captain said."
Abdul nodded. Loose lips sink ships. They also earned 50 euro he thought as he looked down at the girl on her knees.
"Remember, if you say anything," Abdul took his thumb and ran it slowly across his neck in a cutting motion. Both girls nodded.
Not one hundred feet away, Pierre sat in his car, and watched Abdul with the hookers. It was the second time Abdul had ventured out, but he had never gotten closer to the Ivana than the Pink Coconut. Ever since the Ivana had been offshore the past week, Abdul had barely moved. Pierre knew he was running out of time. Frances was badgering him for a status update, and he was getting impatient. Pierre could be recalled home at any time. But Pierre was sure that the right move would be to keep an eye on Abdul from afar, for the time being. And see what his next move was.