Pandora

by Joshua Grant

  Its bodies tremored in anticipation.

  Chapter 5

  In Transit

  “Twelve minutes out.”

  Jack’s declaration over the headset radio nearly made Aubrey jump. It had interrupted the long silence of the morning helicopter ride. Well, near silence. The chopper blades made a deafening drone as they beat the air around them into submission. No one in the large Seahawk was in the mood for a conversation. Each quietly contemplated the risk of what they were about to undertake.

  Some prayed. Aubrey just gazed out at the ocean hundreds of feet below. She could hardly see the gray waters through the heavy fog the sea had mustered up. The cool wind rushing through the open side hatches whipped her hair every which way, which didn’t help either. She tried to imagine jumping through that hatch onto the rushing hulk. The butterflies pounding at the inner lining of her stomach tried to stop her.

  You really screwed up this time Aubrey. Next time a candy gram comes knocking at 3 am, say no!

  “Your first time on a chopper?” Tom’s gruff voice crackled over her headset. He sat to the right of her, closer to the maw of the hatch.

  “That obvious is it?”

  He offered her a friendly smile. “Don’t worry, it’s my first time jumping from one. When we get back from this, I’ll buy you a drink.”

  It wasn’t some shallow come on. Tom was a nice guy. Between the beard and the well-cultivated mustache, he was like a big snuggly teddy bear.

  “Can I take mine in advance?”

  Tom laughed, a nice jolly guffaw. He hid his nerves well. They all did. Probably came with the job. But part of Aubrey’s job was reading people, both ancient and modern. The thing they all had in common was a fear of dying, a very likely outcome on this half-cocked endeavor.

  “Try not to look so nervous.” The speaker this time was to her left. Olga met her gaze with a playful half smirk. “You’re going to make us girls look bad.”

  Aubrey smiled back. “Yeah, I’ll try not to look anxious when I get pasted on the deck of the ship.”

  “Just focus on the people that are important to you. It helps me get through every time. I think of my beloved Sasha and how he’d never get by without me. He’s kind of a big klutz—“

  “You’re transmitting to everyone dear,” Sasha said with mock annoyance. “You’d think my brilliant communications expert of a wife would know that.”

  “I love you too dear.” Olga patted him affectionately on the leg before returning her attention to Aubrey. “I also think of our beautiful baby boy, Jura. We do this job and he’ll never want for anything again. Do you have any children?”

  Aubrey’s throat clenched up. The butterflies in her stomach ignited. She returned her gaze to the ocean mists beyond the threshold of their chopper knowing that if she held the woman’s gaze for a second longer she wouldn’t be able to hold back the dam of tears--

  --and once again caught Julian’s subtle gaze. He quickly turned his attention to the soupy sky as well. How long had he been observing her? It wasn’t the usual “checking the goods” look she sometimes got from men.

  He knows something, she reaffirmed. It was time he shared with the rest of the class.

  “No,” she answered Olga, “I don’t have any kids.” She unstrapped herself before the woman could continue down that dangerous conversation line and clumsily stumbled across to where Julian was sitting. She plunked down next to him before he could protest.

  “Enjoying the ride Doctor?” he asked innocently.

  “The inflight meals suck but the company’s not so bad,” she replied. Olga winked from across the way and Tom tossed her a friendly salute.

  “You obviously haven’t been sitting next to Mac this whole time.”

  “Hey, that hurts my superior intelligence.” The electrician held a gloved hand to his heart as if he was wounded.

  Aubrey took a deep breath and thumbed her headset off. This was either a very bad idea, or a worse one. Carver believed that there was a saboteur, or spy, or Satan himself amongst them. If Julian knew something, and she believed he did, then she could very well be tipping her hand to a very dangerous person. Better to discover it sooner than later I guess.

  Julian took her hint and switched off his communicator as well. They had to lean close in order to hear each other over the throbbing of the propeller. The tips of his spiky hair lightly brushed her forehead, electrifying her already jumpy senses.

  “You sound like you trust these people,” she probed. She practically had to yell over the chopper’s relentless howl.

  Julian knit his brows together. It wasn’t everyday someone started a conversation that way. “They’ve been my team for years. Of course I trust them.”

  “With your life? I mean every one of them?”

  It was only for an instant, but she saw the flash of doubt in Julian’s green eyes. She was right. He knew something, and her gut instinct told her she had better figure out what it was. Her very life could depend on it.

  He looked around briefly to make sure no one was overly interested in their private conversation. “Do you ever get that feeling like you’re being played?”

  Aubrey’s heart began to race. “What do you mean?”

  “Well you see, just before the briefing I—“

  The chopper bucked hard on a bit of turbulence. The captain’s voice crackled over the speaker. “Look sharp people. We have a visual.”

  Everyone’s eyes shot to the open hatches. Aubrey held Julian’s gaze momentarily, but they both knew their little sharing session would have to wait. They had a ship to catch. Reluctantly, she moved her view to the world beyond the hatch. Several tantalizing seconds of hazy nothingness crawled by…

  …and then it came into view—the Emerald Rose, a dark mass gliding through the stillness like a ghost ship right out of the storybooks.

  They shot right over the wreck and circled back to get a better look. The reanimated corpses of Aubrey’s scorched butterflies began to squirm and twitch once more. They’re all dead. Nothing’s alive down there!

  She tried to shut that line of wild speculation down before her zombie butterflies developed stingers but she couldn’t help but think it when looking at what was left of the Emerald Rose. The satellite photos didn’t do her justice. Shattered glass and blackened holes announced where windows once were. The ones that remained intact watched her menacingly, their dark glare offering no secrets as to what they contained below deck.

  The Lido deck was a tornado trail of debris. Railings were rent. Deck chairs were thrown every which way. As the satellite had shown, the waterslide had partially collapsed into the Forward Atrium. The cage-like dome of glass had exploded inward offering a partial glimpse into the nine story lobby beneath. Between the fog and the lack of light within the ship, she couldn’t see much, no movement anyway.

  It’s what Aubrey felt that truly bugged her. The place was unnaturally still. It was holding its breath, anticipating their arrival. Like the pitcher plant, it wanted them to come closer, right into its jaws where it’d digest them, slowly.

  Keep it together Aubrey.

  A sideways glance at Julian gave her little comfort. The ship’s malevolent nature obviously wasn’t lost on him. He looked like he’d seen a ghost, again wetting her appetite for whatever secrets he’d been holding back.

  The chopper bucked again, harder this time.

  “We’re getting some electrical disturbance,” Jack informed over the staticky headset. Aubrey could hear the strain in his voice. “We’re gonna have to do this quick.”

  The captain emerged from the cockpit. “Jack is bringing us aft. We’re probably only going to have one chance at this so you need to be ready.” Aubrey got the impression he was directing the last comment at her.

  The team gave him a trite nod and moved into their positions near the open hatches. Harnesses already on, they strapped themselves into the repelling apparatus embedded in the helicopter’s roof. Julian moved close to Aubrey. Th
e two of them would be jumping tandem. He attached a connecting carabiner between her harness and his.

  “Okay, just like we discussed. Deep breaths,” he instructed.

  She nodded nervously. What the hell, Aubrey, what the hell?

  “Hey.” Julian placed a hand on her shoulder. Despite his earlier trepidation, he was so steady and calm now that she wanted to collapse into him. She met his eyes. “No matter what, I’m not going to drop you.” He glanced around briefly and then focused on her. “I still have to tell you my big secret, remember?”

  Aubrey smiled, just a nervous twitch, and so did Julian. Maybe it was just nerves or the adrenaline of the moment, but it was such a nice smile.

  The aft Lido deck, their target drop, suddenly loomed into view bringing her back into a much unwanted reality. Being the largest open space on the top of the ship, it was but a pinprick in the ocean. Comforting Julian or no, they were in for a rough ride, a long shot, and probably a swift but painful death.

  “Try not to put us in the pool,” Konesco ordered.

  “I’m trying not to put you in the ocean,” Jack replied tersely.

  Intense gusts of wind burst through the open hatches, physically punching into Aubrey and threatening to knock her over. She held on tightly to Julian for stability. The chopper bucked more rapidly now. Aubrey tried to ignore the cockpit lights blinking in and out. Static discharged over her headset to the tune of the buffeting chopper.

  They were mostly over their target now, the chopper occasionally teetering over the aft edge of the ship every time a piece of turbulence hit.

  Just thirty feet. No problem. It’s like jumping from a three story building. God why didn’t you just apply for another research grant?

  “The controls are getting sluggish. If you’re going to do it then you’d better go now!”

  Jack didn’t have to tell her twice. The chopper felt like it was riding through a melon patch. Aubrey had to marvel at the universe that could make jumping through open air attached to nothing but a flimsy rope seem safer than staying in the vehicle. Konesco kicked a large black duffel bag that was also attached to a repel line over the edge. Tom did the same to an identical one on the other side.

  “Let’s go!” Konesco leapt and the team followed. Aubrey’s stomach shriveled inward.

  Oh shit, here we--

  “Deep breaths!” Julian shouted—

  --and yanked her out with him.

  Shit! Shiii—

  Aubrey felt the pulse-quickening tingle of gravity pulling her into a freefall. Surprisingly, she didn’t scream. In fact, the descent was almost peaceful. She heard the chopper blades distantly above, desperately beating against the mist in a failing attempt to keep her airborne. The ship’s propeller churned gurgling water somewhere far below. And in-between, nothing but Julian’s quick breaths and heartbeat accompanied by her own.

  Aubrey was counting the beats without realizing it. Four, five, si—

  Her feet smacked the deck hard and she crumpled over Julian. She didn’t mind the bursts of pain sent up from her protesting ankles. They proved that she was alive. A quick glance around showed that they all were.

  Thank God!

  Mac hobbled to stand over them. “Well, I guess this is going to be a pleasure cruise after all,” he taunted, raising a brow at the intertwined couple.

  “Shut up Mac and help us up,” Julian commanded.

  The team slowly peeled themselves off the deck. Most of them moved to the duffel Konesco had kicked out. It lay across a crushed deck chair. They began to unpack its contents, mostly guns and ammo, some other equipment Aubrey didn’t know the purpose of.

  “Sir, the other duffel,” Tom reported from the bent aft railing. He looked down into the trail of disturbed foam twelve decks below. “It went over the side.”

  “Damn,” Konesco said plainly. “We’ll have to make due with half clips.” He turned his attention skyward. “Good work Jack, you had best move off.”

  Static roared over the headset.

  “I didn’t copy that last.”

  “…losing…can’t maintain…I—“

  The team watched in horror as the hazy figure of the chopper bucked one way, began to spiral erratically backwards, back behind the ship!

  No!

  “Pull up Jack, you’re too low!” Julian advised but it was already too late.

  The chopper careened downward, its screeching wale slamming into them. It missed the ship by mere feet, blasting them all with a gust of rushing air. Its chaotic twists left spirals in the mist as if the very environment was shoving it down. The team rushed to the aft railing just in time to see the helicopter chassis crunch into the gray ocean with a painful vroosh.

  Oh God!

  Aubrey could only stare as it was almost instantly sucked under and lost to the erasing mists and waves. The static over the headsets eerily died off, the quiet panting of their own breaths an ominous reminder of what had just happened. They watched the gurgling ocean, waiting, searching for any sign.

  Come on you sick bastard, swim out, Aubrey commanded, but deep down she knew it had already been too long. A crash like that, there wouldn’t be much left of Jack to swim. But even if he had somehow miraculously made it, the ship had already moved on and there was nothing they could do about it, the gurgling crash already fading into the backdrop of white and gray. Their pilot and their only ride out of here were no longer in the program.

  All fell to silence.

  Holy shit! He’s dead! Aubrey tried to breathe slowly as she stared into the blank white pallet behind them. She had just seen someone die, someone she had talked to minutes before. Get it under control, she commanded, trying to steady her trembling hands, to breathe in deep gulps. It’s not the first time. Get it together.

  She remembered Jenny, all the crushing waves of that coming back to her, the weight of the memory threatening to push her to her knees. Her little girl was alive, so vibrant and talkative as she always was, and then she got so quiet. Aubrey sat there counting the beats in her little chest, counting the dwindling seconds until—

  She clenched her jaw staring down at the ocean that had just swallowed their only way off this ship. Jack was dead, but she would live. She would live.

  “So what the hell do we do now?” Sasha asked angrily. The muscular bear of a man looked like he was about to smash something. Jack wasn’t the most liked person but he was still a member of the team and their only chance of evacuation should something go terribly wrong.

  Go terribly wrong? That was the understatement of the century. This mission had already taken a nose dive into the shitter. It really couldn’t get any more wrong than it already was.

  Konesco turned to Sasha, his expression somehow as collected as ever, though Aubrey suspected he felt the loss as deeply as everyone else, maybe even deeper. “Our job.” He hoisted up his lightweight machine gun from the duffel and slapped in a clip. “In less than eighteen hours this ship will be coming into harbor. I intend to be in control of it by then.”

  The others stared at him briefly and then nodded. Each busily went about collecting their gear. Aubrey marveled at their quiet efficiency. It gave her some hope. As botched as this mission already was, they’d find some way to turn it around. Having something to do would at least offer a much needed distraction from the tragedy they had just witnessed. Geared up now, they turned to face whatever unpleasant surprises the ship had waiting for them.

  Chapter 6

  Lido Deck, Aft

  Julian watched the dark opening to the aft Lido lobby with renewed anxiety. The once fine glass doors had since been obliterated. They lay in a thousand sharp pieces spread out across the pool deck. From the spray pattern, they appeared to have burst from within, however the hell that happened. The lobby they once protected looked just as uninviting. Without power, the elegant elevator receiving space now appeared dingy and forgotten, a breeding place for less than nice things. Nothing moved in the gloom. A stairway on either side led
down into the dark.

  Mac continued muttering quietly to his right. “…and not to mention that helicopters don’t just crash themselves, Jules.”

  “Shut up Mac,” he hissed and strained his ears.

  Nothing.

  The mist would be a problem. It distorted sound. The watery haze also left a fine sheen of wetness on the deck slats. Could get slippery in a firefight.

  “I’m just saying it’s a little weird,” Mac persisted.

  Tell me about it. Weird hardly did this one justice. The crashing of the chopper rubbed Julian the wrong way too, beyond the painful fact that they had lost Jack. The Seahawk was a top of the line piece of equipment. Only three things could have made her crash: pilot error, in Jack’s case a near impossibility; sabotage, Julian didn’t even want to think about that one; or a massive directed electrical disturbance, in which case the supposed pirates they were up against had capabilities far beyond anything he had ever faced before.

  Julian eyeballed Aubrey. He was so ready to reveal to her his strange encounter in the locker room this morning. But what did he really know about her? The doctor was definitely an odd choice to be placed on the front lines like this. Perhaps he would have to reevaluate that decision.

  “Cut the idle chatter Mackenzie,” Konesco hissed to the left. He gestured to the members of B Squad clustered nearby. This was where they’d part. B Squad had a short trek straight down twelve decks to the engine room. A Squad would traverse the outer Lido deck and then make their way down to the bridge on Deck 8.

  “Be safe,” Olga whispered to her husband and lightly kissed him.

  “I’d never sink so low,” he whispered back and offered her his scoundrel’s grin.

  Tom nodded to Julian as the members of B Squad—Tom, Harry, and Sasha—pressed into the opening, crunching on glass as they went. Konesco waited just long enough for them to disappear down the shadowy staircase before turning his attention to his own squad.

  “Keep it tight. Our entrance wasn’t exactly subtle. If the pirates are down there, they’ll be waiting for us. Julian, take point. Doctor, you’re with Olga and me. Mackenzie will bring up the rear.”