“I don’t think so,” Dillon replied. “We’ll spare ourselves the show and I’ll go first.”
“Good call,” Quax said.
Shaking his head, Dillon took a step forward, still glued to the wall. The only weapon he had was a metal pipe. Quax could, of course, put on some moves but only as a last resort. The robot was a little shy.
The sound continued, coming from around the corner. Clang, clang, clang…
There was no water on the ground so it wasn’t from a leak of any sort. Was someone trying to open another pressure door? What else could the sound be?
Well, he wasn’t going to find out hiding behind the wall. He was going to have to step around the corner to find out what the sound was.
Taking in a deep, sucking breath, Dillon turned the corner to find the sound was only a wrench, tied to a rope that was swinging off a hatch. Even though there was no one around, someone had to have set that wrench in motion.
Dillon swung around, looking for any evidence of a saboteur but found none.
“Quax can you do a thermal scan?”
“Of course,” Quax answered.
Why hadn’t Dillon thought of that before? It would have saved him quite a bit of stress.
“No one in the area, but the metal walls do limit my range,” Quax admitted.
Dillon put his hands on the hatch’s lock. It was jammed closed. Of course it was. They needed to get through here to get to the pressure doors just down the hallway. This hatch couldn’t hold back a huge surge of water and they really needed to hold back a huge surge of icy water.
“Quax, can you give it a try?”
The robot made Dillon feel like a wimp. Quax didn’t even have to put his back into it. With a flick of the wrist he opened the hatch.
“Watch out!” Dillon yelled as a man rushed from around the corner, a pipe in his hand, over his head, ready to swing.
Unfortunately or fortunately depending on which side of the fence you stood, the man hit Quax in the back and Quax didn’t even flinch. Dillon swung his pipe, hitting the man right in the gut.
The guy was decked out in Russian Navy attire, right down to the weird little white hat. He was dedicated to the cause, that was for certain.
Doubled over, the man tried to bring his pipe back up, but Quax snatched the piece of metal right out of his hand.
“I think I’ll be taking that,” Quax huffed, then rubbed his back. “I am going to have to buff that out.”
Dillon pushed the guy up against the wall. “What are you doing here?”
The man rattled off in Russian.
Quax started translated in Dillon’s dad’s voice.
Dillon put a hand up. “Maybe some other accent?”
Quax nodded and this time gave the translation in an odd French voice. Still better than his Dad’s voice when his Dad wasn’t around.
“This place is cursed. We are all cursed. Best to all die than let what we have created into the sea.”
Then the guy clamped down his jaw, hard.
Dillon couldn’t believe it. These things didn’t really happen in real life did they? He pried the guy’s mouth open.
“Quax, get whatever was hidden in his tooth.”
But it was already too late. The man frothed at the mouth, convulsing. Dillon was helpless as the man died, right in his arms. Disgusted, Dillon pushed the man away from him.
Fanatics, man.
They’d had a few terrorists try to blow up Salechii before it opened. That gave Dillon pause though. Maybe that hadn’t been such a bad idea. Imagine how many lives it would have saved.
Had this guy really been on the side of the angels? Trying to stop something much more horrible from happening?
“It wasn’t your fault,” Quax stated.
Dillon reached out his hand and let his friend pull him up. “I know. I just can’t help think but something bigger is going on here…”
“It would seem that greater forces are in play than we had been led to believe back in Seattle.”
“The question becomes, did the Navy know about this or were they in the dark as well?” Dillon proposed.
Quax tilted his head side-to-side as if changing position helped him think. Tonaka did a great job of imprinting odd human behavior into the robots. Or was it Shalie’s emotional chip? Whichever, even all silver without skin, Quax looked pretty darned human.
“Guess all that can wait. We’ve got some pressure doors to lock,” Dillon stated, opening the hatch.
Instead of stepping into a metal hallway, the passage beyond the door was a glass tube. Just like back at Salechii.
Dillon’s heart nearly stopped. Terror, wonder, panic and hope surged through him, negating themselves in his bloodstream.
The sight before them was beyond beautiful. Soft lights illuminated the waters around them. Fish darted in and out of view. An octopus had attached itself to the glass and was slowly making its way along the side.
All of it was amazing, but made no sense.
“Why would there be a pressure door on the other side of a glass tube?” Dillon asked.
“I do not know. Structurally the tube would break at a pressure far below that in which the hatch we just walked through.”
Which meant the plans for the station were incorrect.
What exactly were the Russians hiding?
* * *
Shalie checked and double-checked the screen. She should be getting something, anything by now. She had the microwave receiver set up correctly. She was getting some chatter from a base in Alaska. So why wasn’t she getting anything from the QXs out in the field?
Then, suddenly and all at once, the twelve screens bloomed to life. One of the robots was apparently watching a security feed. The SEAL team was in trouble, that was for sure. They seemed trapped in a bathroom.
Tonaka was speaking rapidly to Callum. Shalie turned on her lip reading application to translate. “The gas generators are down on level 1, don’t ask me who put the station’s emergency power down there, but that room must be flooded because I can’t remotely start them.”
Callum cocked his head to the side.
Tonaka seemed to understand Callum’s body language better than Shalie did as the robotics expert continued. “And I can’t override the batteries either. It is built into the inverter to shut off power to the hot water heater in case of low power.”
She did some simulations. They must have tried to feed warm water into the bathroom to keep the SEALs from going hypothermic. A pretty brilliant move that seemed to be reaching its end.
While the safety features of the inverter made perfect sense from an engineering perspective. In a low energy environment, no one in the world would think that someone needing to take a hot shower was a priority. They obviously did not imagine this scenario.
“Then what are we going to do?” Tonaka asked.
Nami shrugged. The lip reading app translated, “Pray?”
Tonaka frowned. Shalie knew her boss wasn’t big into Western religion.
“I have run out of tricks. Nothing left up my sleeve,” Callum responded. “That room is going back to ambient temperature in a few minutes.”
Tonaka typed on the keyboard, sending out what Shalie assumed was Morse code for “turn off the faucet.”
She watched the monitors through her QX as Nassar did as instructed. He turned to look into the camera.
If there was ever a picture of a man in despair it was this one.
Shalie silently sent a prayer for him and his men, because Lord knew she didn’t have anything else to give them.
“Did you see that?” Tonaka asked pointing to the sonar.
Glancing over to the feed from another QX, Shalie didn’t see anything. The screen’s green line swept around and around without any blip.
“I don’t --” Nami said, then abruptly cut herself off.
Then it happened, a ping. It was bright and moving fast. Too small for a rescue sub. Too fast for a submersible. And all of the
station’s boats and subs had been scuttled.
So what the hell was it?
* * *
Nassar tried to keep treading water, but his legs cramped up. The cold sapped every last bit of strength from him and even though his motto was “never quit,” he was having trouble living up to it right about now.
His men were in various stages of hypothermia. Ajax was doing his best to keep the men’s spirits and temperatures up, but one man can only do so much in this much cold water.
A loud impact shook the room. Nassar spun around. The metal wall was still vibrating and the sound echoed in his ears. It couldn’t be Callum, otherwise they probably would have said something other than “turn off faucet.”
But who else could it be?
It definitely was something as metal scraped against metal.
“Is it the Russians, sir?”
At this point Nassar didn’t care who it was as long as they got them out of there alive.
A section of the hull glowed red. More than likely from an arc-welding tool.
Their savior knew their power equipment.
Soon that section of metal melted away, leaving a small hole that led out to the sea. The temperature immediately dropped but Nassar didn’t care. Suddenly his legs had all the power he needed.
Even Troy perked up, able to keep himself moving without Ajax’s help.
The arc torch cut a large circle out of the metal.
Nassar went over, kicking at the center of the wall, knocking the piece out, then swam into the bracing ocean waters.
Before them was a small repair submersible. There was no way they could all fit inside. The man, a dark Latino waved to the multiple arms that sprang out of the sub.
Nassar gave a thumbs up “Grab hold!” he yelled, making sure all of his men were attached before slapping the side of the submersible.
The man, it looked like he had on a Special Forces uniform, put his hand up to his face, like a telephone. Nassar put five fingers up on one hand and two on the other.
“Great!” an enthusiastic voice came over the line. “I’m hoping there is a swimming bay up top.”
Shivering, his teeth chattering, Nassar replied. “There is. And who do I owe this rescue to?”
Nassar swore he could feel the man’s smile in his reply. “That would be Corporal Ricardo Lopez!”
“Lopez?” Ajax asked. “No freaking way!”
“Yes, way,” was the man’s response.
“Shut up!” Ajax shouted.
“Everyone’s been trying to get me to shut up for over three decades, but no one has succeeded!”
Laughter filled the channel.
Everyone giddy that they were saved.
* * *
Callum stared at the cameras. The submersible didn’t look like it was doing well. It kind of listed from side to side. The SEALs were hanging on for dear life as the vehicle struck for the upper level.
“They must be heading to the swim grotto,” Tonaka said, clearly well versed in the station’s schematics.
Those SEALs were going to need medical attention. Callum grabbed the medical kit. Pointed to himself, Tonaka and Nick, indicating they were to go and everyone else to stay.
Nick held up his hands. “Sure. Fine. Why not?”
Callum looked to the monitor. The failing submersible was nearly to the bay. They had best hurry if they were going to be there in time.
Callum indicated to a couple of QXs standing nearby.
“Let’s do this,” Tonaka said climbing on his.
Callum wasn’t all that fond of jockeying a robot, but he’d learned how valuable the QXs could be. Especially with lives on the line.
The QXs set off at a full run. Callum had to grab hold of the QX’s dorsal ridge to hold on. That was an improvement from the last models. Nice little handholds all along the QXs back.
“Like it?”
Callum nodded. Tonaka really had thought of everything.
They made great time down the corridors and got to the bay just before the submersible broke the surface of the Arctic blue water.
Men jumped away from the sub’s many attachments and threw themselves toward the edge, scrambling up the gentle slope of the side.
Callum jumped down even as the QXs were helping the men up. Tonaka and Nick went to the wall, grabbing down emergency warming blankets and thermal packets. The Russians were at least prepared for hypothermia.
The SEALs were shivering and the sound of teeth chattering filled the bay.
Callum helped the captain take off his dry suit and took one of the warming blankets, crinkled it up to activate it and wrapped it around the man’s shoulders. The guy’s lips were blue.
“Thank you,” he chattered.
“Ta da!” a man said as he hopped out of the submersible, looking for all the world like a magician that had just pulled a rabbit out of a hat.
Which he kind of had.
The man jumped down from the submersible, easily clearing the water, landing on the deck. “How can I help?” he asked, rubbing his hand together.
Callum nodded to one of the men not yet being helped.
“Cat got your tongue?” the man teased at the same time as he picked up a blanket and got the man under it.
“Any major wounds?” Callum asked and his QX translated. He wasn’t sure he liked it better without his voice or with it. Either way it was weird to speak and have everyone look to another source for the content.
No one said anything or at the least they didn’t cop to any major injury. Callum knew men like these. Their spleen could be hanging out and they wouldn’t make a peep. He was going to have to go man to man to make sure they were okay.
The man who drove the sub came over and put out his hand. “Corporal Ricardo Lopez at your service.”
Callum shook the hand. “Dr. Callum McClay.”
Before the QX translated, Lopez nodded. “I speak a little Russian so we are cool,” Lopez stated looking Callum up and down. “Although you certainly don’t look the part.”
Hardy-har-har, but not even Callum knew how to say that in Russian.
Another man, Ajax, Callum believed, came running over from the other side of the bay. “Lopez! My man! Hombre!”
Lopez turned in time to catch Ajax mid-air and swung him around. Now that was a bromance. The two men slapped backs, and hugged it out.
“I can’t believe you are here, man. How the hell did you get here?”
“Pleeeeaaaaassssseeee,” Lopez said, letting the word linger. “When I got your text, I was in… well, one of the Koreas, I’ll let you guess which one.” Lopez said with a wink. “Anyway, weaponized sharks? That is like a lifelong dream of mine. And a once in a lifetime opportunity. My CO said, go, I think mainly because he just didn’t want to hear any more about how much I was looking forward to Sharknado 2.”
Yes, Callum was already getting the picture that Lopez could be a bit talkative.
Lopez shrugged. “So I found a repair submersible, liberated it from its owner and headed on out.”
“But that’s before we put out any distress beacon,” Ajax stated.
“Me? Wait for a distress beacon? Come on, you know me better than that!” Lopez swung around, spotted Nick and nearly had an apoplectic fit. “Nick Flack? Like the Nick Flack?”
Nick blushed, extending his hand. “In the flesh.”
“Oh my God,” Lopez gushed as he shook Nick’s hand…hard “it was completely unrealistic but the action in The Honduras Incident was off the hook.”
Ajax laughed. “And if Lopez says it was unrealistic!”
The two men chuckled together, then Lopez turned back to Nick. “Weaponized sharks and my favorite action hero, I think I’ve died and gone to heaven!
The two men clasped hands and brought it in for a proper bro-hug.
Callum didn’t think he had any relationships that close with any woman, let alone a man and a near stranger at that.
Nick seemed a little shaken by the hug, b
ut kept that Hollywood smile on his face.
He looked back at the camera and gave a thumbs up to Nami.
Tonaka came over. “So might this vessel get us to shore?”
Lopez turned around and assessed the older man. “Sorry, doc, but no.”
“I did not inform you that I was a doctor.”
The man laughed a hearty laugh. Clearly he hadn’t been on this station long enough to have his delight wiped clean by blood. “If you weren’t a doctor I would have seriously paid you a month’s salary. Come on, you totally look the part. You’ve got that doctoral worry line in the middle of your forehead. No worries, bro, it’s all good.”
Tonaka still seemed a little put out though. Apparently the man thought he looked hipper than a doctor? Callum wasn’t sure, but the robotic expert seemed a little shaken. “And why is the sub not operational?”
“Oh didn’t I say? I ran out of fuel like twenty miles ago. And I think I blew a rod of some kind and I pretty much destroyed the baffles, but hey, I’m here!” Lopez reached out and patted one of the submersible’s arms. “My Amphitrite got me here on fumes.”
Pretty much how they all felt, thought Callum.
CHAPTER 12
Nami felt a warmth start at her heart and go outward of her sternum. The SEALs were safe. Dillon had been able to shut nearly all the pressure doors. The threat of imminent flooding was gone. Most of the injured Russian survivors were doing better as well.
“I want to thank you,” the woman said, looking refreshed as well. It was amazing what a little hydrogen peroxide and a Band Aid could do. “I am Zoya, happy to meet with you.”
Nami shook her hand. “I’m glad we found you guys. Now we just have to get out of here.”
The woman’s expression soured. “They do not want us off.”
Like Nami needed anything else to be worried about. “Who is ‘they’?”
“My government,” Zoya stated pointing to herself. “Your government. No one wants us off this station. To tell of what happened here.”
Nami tilted her head. “I get your government not being too hot to have the world know about the tragedy here, but my government, why would they care? Doesn’t it make the Russians look bad and us good?”
Apex Predator Thriller Series Collection (Including the blockbuster new shark park thriller, Salechii) Page 41