by K. B. Wagers
Chapter 49
“Sector fifty-seven is clear,” Jenks said with a sigh. She leaned back in her seat and rubbed at her burning eyes.
“Swap out with Sapphi,” Rosa replied, and Jenks stood, gratefully handing over the tedious search to her teammate.
“I’m going to go give Nika a call, get him caught up.”
Rosa nodded without looking away from her screen. Jenks left the bridge and hauled herself up the stairs to the common room, collapsing into the worn couch in the corner. Ma was sleeping. Tamago was flying the ship over the endless black water of the Atlantic. The lost signal was about as much help as trying to find a flag on a buoy you’d planted an hour previously. They had a general idea of where to look, but that was it.
She’d sent Nik a message just before they’d taken off, a short and to-the-point note about what had happened, but it had done next to nothing to keep him from trying to figure out more. The newest message from Luis said that Nika had shown up at HQ with a very beleaguered nurse in tow.
Jenks took a deep breath. “HQ Control, this is Petty Officer Khan with Interceptor Zz5, can you put me through to Commander Nika Vagin?”
“Can do, Petty Officer. Please stand by.”
The screen in front of her went black and then Nika appeared. His hair was disheveled and his face even paler than normal. His left arm was covered by the dark blue hoodie he was wearing, but the right sleeve was pinned up and Jenks had to tear her gaze away from it before the pain swallowed her whole.
“Jenks.” His eyes narrowed. “You look like shit.”
“Pot and kettle,” she replied. “Shouldn’t you be at the rehab facility?” She wondered why he didn’t have his prosthetic on but couldn’t bring herself to ask the question.
“Thank you!” came someone’s voice from off-camera and Nika’s grin flashed bright for just a second.
“Captain Merlo agrees with you. But I got discharged from the hospital for good just after the Games, so he’s only around because I’m letting him annoy me.”
A handsome man with a neatly trimmed beard poked his head into the frame. “Enrique. Hi, Jenks. ‘Discharged’ doesn’t mean running around at all hours of the night. Maybe you can talk some sense into your brother.”
“Don’t count on it,” Jenks replied. “His head’s as hard as a rock.”
“Are you two finished?”
“Not hardly.” But the captain smiled at her and mouthed He’s all right before he pulled his head back out of the frame.
“I don’t have any good news for you,” Jenks said, rubbing at her face. “We’re going over the area where Max’s signal was last seen but it’s a lot to cover.”
“That’s all right, you’ll find her.” Nika smiled, then winced as he shifted. “We’ve got some stuff here. Hey, Enrique, go get Luis, will you?”
“Don’t fall out of your chair again while I’m gone.”
“Again?”
“He’s joking.” Nika shook his head. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not. Damn it, Nika. You should be in bed. What’s going on?”
“My body didn’t like the fake arm, or the stress caused a reaction. I’m fine,” he repeated, his blue eyes filled with a familiar annoyance. “If you think I’m going to lie in bed while Max is in danger you’ve been kicked in the head one too many times.”
Jenks blinked at the fury in his voice and her next words were softer. “Nik, you know she’d be the first one to tell you the same thing.”
“I know.” He sighed. “But she’s a Neo, which makes her family.” He smiled softly. “I can’t sit here and do nothing, any more than I could if it were you out there.”
His answer wrapped around her heart and Jenks closed her eyes for a moment at the surprising tears that threatened. “I know you would. Where do you think I learned that kind of loyalty from?”
Luis appeared in the frame, settling into a chair next to Nika. “Hey, Dai.”
“What’ve you got?”
“Slowly piecing things together here. Bosco and Ria seem to have decided to grudgingly cooperate now that a Carmichael’s life is actually on the line.”
Jenks raised an eyebrow at the bitterness in his voice but didn’t comment.
“Your target is Sammi Gerard. I’m sending you a file on her, but the important detail is that she’s apparently the great-granddaughter of Thomas Gerard, who was a partner of Alexander Carmichael’s. We don’t know if she’s in charge of the dupe LifeEx operation, but it seems likely. Ria thinks she’s been brainwashed by stories of how Carmichael somehow cheated Gerard out of a stake in the company.” He shrugged a shoulder and glanced off-camera with a frown.
“We’re just finding this out now?”
“I know.” Nika shook his head. “Pretty sure that’s not the only secret they’ve kept from us.”
“Great—a fight between rich people.”
“The story I’m getting from Ria, with a great deal of pushback considering her sister’s in danger, is that Alex wanted to use the less risky version while Gerard wanted to lie to the CHN about the dangers of the original serum. He was apparently something of a Populationist.”
Jenks winced. Populationists were hard-liners. People who believed that the unchecked spread of humanity had caused the Collapse and that the only way to prevent a second disaster was draconian population control. They’d lost favor and ground in the centuries since the Collapse, but there were still some cells left who hadn’t bred themselves out of existence.
“Alexander turned him in to the Coalition government, there was a fugitive hunt, and he died when his vehicle exploded.”
“There are some massive holes in that story,” Jenks replied.
“Starting with the fact that he had no family. So where did his great-granddaughter come from?” Luis rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “I’m leaning on Ria as much as I can, but it’s difficult with Bosco running interference and Stephan reminding me that she’s not a suspect.” He gave Jenks a rueful smile. “Not gonna lie, I kind of wish you were here instead of looking at a whole lot of water.”
“Tell me about it.” Jenks made a face. “Though experience tells me that would just end in me getting demoted again.”
Nika chuckled. “We’ll handle it. I’m about to go in and play up the wounded Neo bit, see what we can’t shake loose.”
“You don’t have to do all that much playing,” Jenks replied. “Luis, if he’s not back in the rehab facility after he gets done with Ria I’m holding you personally responsible.”
“Understood.”
“Really?” Nika looked at Luis, who shrugged.
“Sorry, Commander. I’m way more scared of her than I am of you. Plus, I’ve got Captain Merlo on my side.”
“He does!”
Jenks chuckled at Enrique’s interjection and waved goodbye before she closed out the connection.
“How’s Nika?” Rosa asked as she came up the stairs.
“He looks awful, and he’s at HQ.”
“What?” Rosa stopped on her way toward the kitchen.
“I know, maybe you can call back and yell at him. There’s a nurse with him, though, and I just threatened Luis with bodily harm if he didn’t take Nika back to the rehab facility right after Nik talks with Ria. Who’s not being particularly cooperative, by the way.” Jenks pushed to her feet.
“I need coffee and for you to start at the beginning,” Rosa said, and continued to the kitchen.
Rosa started a fresh pot of coffee, grateful that Jenks got the hint and was quiet for as long as it took to brew and for Rosa to pour herself a cup.
“Luis said Ria isn’t being as forthcoming as he’d expect her to be given that Max is in danger. Bosco is also—” Jenks paused as she rolled a few word choices around in her mouth before she picked something surprisingly diplomatic and brought Rosa up to speed.
“Ria knew this whole time just who could be responsible for the dupe.” Rosa sipped at her drink, swallowing down her bitter cu
rse along with the coffee.
“The more I learn about her family, Commander, the more I dislike them.”
“I’m in agreement with you. I trust Nika and Luis to get what they can from her. That’s all we can do for now. We’ll—”
“Commander, get on the bridge!” Sapphi’s call echoed up from downstairs even as it came through the com channel, and Rosa muttered a curse that would have earned her a slap from her mother.
“Pick one or the other, Ensign!” she hollered back, grabbing her coffee and rushing down the stairs with Jenks on her heels.
“Sorry, Commander. I got excited. Look, I was tired of staring at nothing at all, so I decided to play with the filters some to see if anything unusual would pop up on the scans.” Sapphi tapped at the console as rapidly as she spoke. “Ultraviolet filters, extra CO2 output, any variation in the heat would have even helped, but nothing. So instead I started pok—”
“Sapphi, I need you to focus,” Rosa said, “and just tell me what you found.”
She blinked. “Right, sorry again. I found that.” She pointed at the screen.
“And what is that?”
“An underground lab that used to belong to LifeEx Industries.”
“Why the f—” Rosa cleared her throat. “Why didn’t we know about this from the outset?”
“It’s not on the list of properties owned by the company,” Tamago replied before Sapphi could. “Saph and I were talking about how rich folks never put all their things on paper and we got to wondering if there would be something up here. You know, because of the seaweed.”
“And again. How did you find the location?”
There was a moment of silence. Then Sapphi smiled a smile Rosa knew all too well. “I’m not saying I did, but I may have hacked into LifeEx’s archives for the location.”
Rosa closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“It was just the archives. Their security is good, but I’m better, and I figured—”
“Sapphi, it’s fine,” Rosa said. “I think we’ll come up with some other reason for finding it, though. If you can stand not to brag about it.”
The ensign mimed locking her mouth shut and tossing the key over her shoulder.
“So, do we think she’s in there?” Jenks asked.
“We’re going to find out. Go wake Ma up and get prepped. Sapphi, get us a reading for the water so we can sync our gear. I’m going to put in a call to HQ.” Rosa headed for the side console as the others scrambled to follow orders.
“Hey, Rosa.” Nika was sitting shoulder to shoulder with Luis when he answered the com. “What’s up?”
“I’m told you’ll be going back to the rehab facility when you’re finished there.”
“That’s the rumor.” Nika grinned. “Mom.”
“Commander Mom,” she corrected absently. “And good. We found an underwater lab.”
“What? How?” Nika asked, Luis’s words tumbling over the top of his.
“Sapphi. I’m sending you the coordinates and the specs. What I need is for you to get someone at the NeoG station off the coast of Scotland to give us permission to go in. You’ve got ten minutes until we get to the site.”
“They’re going to want to send their own people in, Commander.”
Rosa glanced at Luis. “I know, but forward them on to me if you need to. We’re here. It’s my crew in the water. We’re going in, with or without permission.”
“I’m scrambling two more Neo teams from here. I want you to have backup. There’s no way of knowing what you’ll be facing down there,” Luis said.
“I’m not going to wait, Luis.” She watched the expression race across his face before he shook his head.
“You should, Commander.”
“You’re sure Max is in there?” Nika asked.
“It’s the only thing even remotely close to where her signal vanished,” Rosa replied. “And I’m not letting her be someone’s prisoner one second longer than I have to.”
“Okay,” Nika said with a nod. “We’ll make it happen. Got it. I’ll call you in ten.”
Rosa tapped a fist to her chest. “You got my back.”
“You’ve got mine,” Nika replied. She saw his hesitation as he tapped his own chest with his left hand, but he leaned forward to touch his forehead to the screen.
Rosa nodded once and the screen went dark.
Chapter 50
The best thing about the Interceptor ships was that despite their primary use in space, whoever had designed them had decided to stay as close to their Coast Guard roots as was possible and made the ships multipurpose. They could run in space, in atmo, or underwater.
“We’re on the surface, nose in the water. Beginning propulsion swap.” Ma nodded to Tamago and the petty officer hit the switch.
“Captain Russo, Commander Uli, we are beginning descent,” Rosa said to the other two Interceptor boats from HQ who’d pinged them just moments ago.
“Roger that. We are about half an hour behind you, Commander Martín. Save some for us.”
“No promises.”
Jenks couldn’t remember the last time they’d taken Zuma underwater and so she had to struggle to keep her foot still and not rapidly tap it on the floor as the propeller section on the back of the ship slid out. The impulse engines kicked over, shutting down their outside ports as the propellers rose. Their energy would feed into the propellers instead, pushing the ship silently through the water.
“Propeller section locked.”
Jenks exhaled. “That’s one,” she muttered, ignoring Rosa’s amused look.
The next test was the pressure. Interceptors had a design depth of fifteen hundred meters in the waters of Earth and various ratings for the atmospheres of Jupiter and Venus. Jenks wasn’t even going to apologize for being nervous about taking Zuma out of her normal element and into the dark waters that were lapping against the main window. It wasn’t the water that bothered her; it was that everything failed eventually.
“Go on, Ma,” Rosa said.
Zuma’s Ghost slipped into the ocean without a sound. “Lights on.”
“They can’t see us coming, right?”
“Shouldn’t be able to,” Rosa replied just behind her shoulder, and Jenks looked up. “We’re shielded, running silent.”
Ma piloted them along the ocean floor.
“And it’s just a laboratory anyway.”
“It’s an evil lair,” Jenks shot back at Sapphi. “If I was in there I’d be keeping an eye out for someone coming to rescue the person I’d kidnapped from NeoG headquarters.”
Rosa put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed lightly before releasing her. “Then we’re all glad you’re in here with us.”
“Yeah, me too.” She rubbed her tongue over her teeth and glared out at the darkness on the other side of the window. “I’ll be better when Max is safe, though.”
“Right there?” Ma pointed off to his right and Sapphi looked up from her console.
“Yes. Schematics say there’s an airlock just fifteen meters away. The wreckage over there will help hide us.”
“Wow,” Jenks breathed into the air as the hulking remains of an ocean vessel loomed up out of the darkness. “Do we know what ship that is?”
Sapphi tapped on her console. “There’s a few in this area from the early days of the Collapse wars—could be HMS Queen Elizabeth, guessing from the size.”
Jenks swallowed down the impulsive question about going to look for the name. Her teammates wouldn’t think she didn’t care about Max; they knew better, and her random fascinations were hard enough to manage without something as amazing as an actual relic of the early Collapse wars. But the other two Interceptor teams Luis had scrambled were also on the line as they flew in and she didn’t know them at all.
“Someone make a mental note to plan some kind of diving trip for Jenks the next time we’re on leave,” Rosa said, and Jenks grinned as the others chuckled.
“All right, we’re down. Doge, you’re i
n charge until we get back.” Ma grinned at Sapphi’s look. “I’m kidding. Doge, the ensign is in charge.”
“Roger that, Master Chief,” Doge replied over the team channel. “Ensign Zika is in command.”
Jenks patted Doge on the head as she stood. “Behave yourself, pup. We’ll bring the lieutenant back.”
Doge bumped his head into her leg, same as he did before any mission, and then took up a spot next to Sapphi’s chair.
“Let’s go,” Rosa said with a nod. Jenks echoed it and followed her to the airlock. Ma and Tamago got in behind them and they slipped their helmets on, the soothing sound of checks and double checks filling Jenks’s ears before Rosa gave a thumbs-up. Jenks gave her own and the commander turned back to the panel.
“Cycling the airlock now, Sapphi. Brace, everyone.”
Jenks grabbed for the bar behind her as the water started bubbling up from the vents in the floor. Within moments the airlock was filled with seawater.
“Opening the outside door.”
“Roger that, Commander. We’ll keep the lights on here for you,” Sapphi replied.
Jenks hooked one hand around the strap of the pack on her back, reaching for the opened doorway with her other and flipping on her helmet lights as she followed Rosa into the blackness.
They headed through the dark, weaving their way across the wreckage-strewn ocean floor, following the map Sapphi had synced to their DD chips.
“You almost into the system, Sapphi?” Rosa asked. “We’ll need someone to open the door for us and I don’t think that the current occupants will be all that helpful about it.”
“I’m in. Trying to figure out how to isolate that airlock so it doesn’t show on the internals. But here, watch a show while you’re waiting.”
Jenks blinked as the security camera feed came online in front of her eyes and immediately zeroed in on Max, zip-tied at wrists and ankles. There was blood on her shirt and her nose looked broken, again, but otherwise she was unharmed. A slender blonde whom Jenks assumed was Sammi Gerard was talking animatedly to her while perched on a nearby table. “Saph, do we have more channels?”
“You’ve got the whole package, just flip through.”