Zoya shook her head. “We must let him do this. He must regain his pride.”
That made absolutely no sense to Dillon, but little of this Russian station did. Instead he did the only thing that did make sense to him. He went over and hugged Nami who was still protecting the girl and the dog.
For a girl who said she wasn’t very brave at all, she had turned out to be the bravest girl he’d ever met. He kissed her on the top of her head.
With any luck, this nightmare was over so they could get on with the business of survival.
Dillon looked around the room. No one was taking Pietrov’s intentions at face value. Until he was dead and sunk to the bottom of the ocean, he was still a danger. The men had slung their guns onto their backs, but that didn’t mean they weren’t on high alert.
“He’s out,” Tonaka stated. “He is swimming away from the station.
Without a dry suit, the guy probably had another few minutes tops.
He held onto Nami, guiding her head down to his chest.
“There’s a Greenland,” his father said, pointing at the screen.
Dillon was almost glad he wasn’t over there to watch. He really didn’t need to see another human eaten by a shark.
“Oh no!” Nick yelled.
That’s when the blast wave hit.
* * *
Nami clung to Dillon’s dry suit as the room rose up, tilted wildly, throwing people around like they were dolls. She banged her head on a cabinet. The dog slipped from her grip, tumbling over, running into her father’s leg. He reached down and grabbed the dog’s collar keeping him from sliding across the room.
Even Quax and the other robot were knocked from their feet. Quax grabbed hold of his companion and Tonaka, saving them from a falling beam.
Pietrov, rather than being eaten, must have detonated his bomb.
The station rocked violently. You could hear the ocean splashing up against the sides. Nami closed her eyes and buried her face against Dillon’s chest.
Slowly the room rocked less and less.
Unfortunately, that is when a wall burst open and water sprayed in.
Panic filled Nami’s chest. They were sinking. It was all over. She clutched to Marie. Nami had tried so hard to save her and to have it all end this way was totally unfair.
Zoya jumped up, sprinting across the lopsided room. “Main water valve!”
No one else seemed to know what she was talking about.
Slipping and sliding, Zoya made her way across the room. Nami’s father finally seemed to understand what the Russian wanted. He dove for the far wall, righting himself on a stack of boxes. Her father found the large wheel and turned it to the left. Water sprayed faster.
Come on, Dad, lefty loosy, righty tighty.
He seemed to realize his error and started cranking to the right. The water slowed then finally stopped.
Zoya, panting, hands on her knees, told them, “Hot water tanks. We do not have a leak.”
Nami leaned into Dillon. Their first bit of good luck.
“Not so fast,” Tonaka stated. “We have several smaller leaks at the corners. I give us an hour maybe two before we take on too much water to stay afloat.
So much for wishful thinking.
* * *
Shalie bit her nail down to the cuticle. She’d only gotten bits and pieces of what was going on and she didn’t like any of it.
The station was going down. After that explosion, Shalie ran several simulations, all of them ended up with the station filled with water within a few hours.
She glanced over to another set of screens. These showed the various official rescue operations.
The American sub was perhaps the closest, which didn’t make it very close at all. The Americans were at least five hours out. The Russians were still locked down by that Siberian storm and the Japanese had barely headed out to sea.
Her team’s only hope was if a boat heard their SOS call and was nearby. But since they hadn’t gotten any response, that seemed highly unlikely.
And here she was, safe and sound in Seattle. Staying behind had not decreased her stress level one bit. She felt like she had abandoned Callum and Dillon to their fates. How had she thought this was going to work?
Well, she thought they’d get over there, check things out then get the hell out. She really, really, really, should have gone with them. She’d rather be dying by their side than sitting here worried about them.
All she could do was pray for a miracle.
CHAPTER 24
Tonaka stayed still amongst the chaos that surrounded him. Nassar had given the order to pack so they were ready to leave before the station sank. Everyone was getting dressed in their warmest gear. That meant about ten layers of clothing.
The poor little girl, Marie was dressed in adult clothing which seemed to swamp the child. Even the dog had on human clothes that had the sleeves cut off to accommodate his body. The two looked like quite the misfits.
Everyone was packed down to the maximum. The robots were probably carrying about at a ton of supplies each. The soldiers were weighed down with three or four packs on their backs.
Tonaka had his gear at his feet. He would be ready when the time came, but for now they needed his brain working overtime rather than his body. Topside survival was going to be a hundred times harder than in the station.
Up there they had the winds to contend with and the snow. If he did not figure out how to build some type of shelter out of the wreckage, they might not last any longer up top then they would down here.
Lopez trotted back in the room. “We are pretty clear to get to the upper hatch, but the rest of the block is flooded up to hip height.”
That was what Tonaka had feared. All projections were based on very limited and antidotal evidence. The station was sinking faster than anticipated.
“I don’t think we can wait,” Callum stated.
Nassar looked to Tonaka. The plan had been to stay inside for as long as possible, only moving topside at the last moment, conserving their strength and their warmth.
However, now the last moment might come at any time. There was no predicting when the station would sink. They had learned all too painfully that hatches could break. Metal seams could burst. And then where would they be?
Drowning before they could get this many people out.
“I gotta say,” Lopez stated, “You guys sure know how to put on a party.”
Tonaka wasn’t quite sure about that, but finally he nodded.
“All right, this is going to be a nice, orderly, safe evacuation,” Nassar stated, giving an extra glare at Lopez. “Everyone is going to keep to a walk, and stay in step with the person in front of you. I don’t want any panicking.”
Given their track record, Tonaka wasn’t quite sure if even he could promise that.
* * *
Zoya stayed a step behind Nick. Her body thrummed with excitement. It was a nervous energy though, not filled with hope. How could she hope when her best friend had been the one to kill his countrymen?
All for some sharks. She didn’t speak her mind because she knew how Dr. McClay and his son felt about them, but she had no love loss for the prehistoric creatures. Each and every one of them could die for all she cared.
Nick’s hand extended backwards.
Despite her inherent distrust of Americans, and movie stars in particular, Zoya took his hand. Even she needed some human contact in this hasty retreat.
However, true to Nassar’s command, the evacuation had been proceeding in an orderly fashion. They were already halfway up the steps.
Nick’s hand squeezed hers. He was an anomaly, this man. She was having a hard time reconciling the movie star from the American with the man whose hand she held.
Zoya could not discount his genuine bravery, but there was still something entitled about him. Something so deeply ingrained in the American psyche. That not only did they deserve to be rescued, but that they deserved to be happy. Such a foreign
concept to a Russian born and raised in Siberia.
Others were deported to the harsh land. Whereas, she had been born there.
Ahead a clang announced that Nassar was unlocking the hatch.
“Hang on!” the captain yelled.
As the hatch opened, a pop sounded then the howl of the wind filled the stairwell.
That did not sound good. And she should know.
Zoya had been topside when a supply submarine had surfaced. Before her crew could unload the crates, two of the men had been swept out to sea by the winds and the slick ice underfoot which did not allow for any purchase.
Most of the survivors had snow spikes attached to their soles, but so had her men that were lost.
Just one more danger of the Arctic. Drown below. Drown above. Nature didn’t seem to care which. It only wanted to claim them all.
* * *
Dillon and Quax helped Nami and her little brood out of the station and onto the ice. Metal creaked and screamed as their little room broke off from the ice flow. A few small steel buildings still stood on the ice flow.
They were mainly equipment shacks and such. They provided very little room for any humans.
“I need to go help Dr. Tonaka,” Quax stated.
Dillon nodded without even asking what it was about. He trusted his friend. As the robot walked off, Dillon concentrated on huddling with Nami to try and protect the girl and dog from the howling winds.
Despite having on seven layers of clothing, Dillon felt like he had on linen pants and tank top. The shivering had started already. This was not going to be fun.
Nick and his father piled on as did the rest of the survivors. They were all like chicks huddled together for warmth. He could only imagine what they looked like.
Quax and the QX were stripping the outbuildings of their metal and bending them to create what looked like a geode.
Tonaka pointed his gloved fingers here and there, directing the robots. They might actually have a bit of shelter in a few minutes.
Dillon wouldn’t mind that at all.
“What’s that?” Lopez asked, pointing to the sky.
“It can’t be…” Dillon’s father breathed out.
“It is,” Nick said. “It’s a helicopter!”
No, it wasn’t just one helicopter. It was three. They were spread out on the horizon, flying far enough apart as the wind jostled them up and down, side-to-side. They had to fight the wind to race towards them.
“It’s a rescue then?” Nami asked her eyes sparkling with tears. Tears of joy this time.
“I think so, yes,” Dillon said hoping he wasn’t lying.
* * *
Nassar watched the helicopters strive to fly through the gusting, unpredictable winds. He felt like he was willing them forward with his mind alone. Nassar knew they were probably low on gas. Wherever they had launched from, it had to be far and they were burning through fuel fighting the weather like this.
“Come on, come on,” he encouraged before anything else happened.
That was about when a huge, like six-foot tall dorsal fin sliced through the waters to his left. He backed away from the edge of the ice.
“Everyone to the center!” he yelled.
“I thought, I killed that thing,” Lopez shouted pointing to the Megalodon.
“You did,” Zoya responded. “We had a breeding pair.”
“Great info to have,” Lopez said as he grabbed a hold of a piece of metal scaffolding.
People scrambled, but it was too late. The Megalodon hit the flow, tipping it at an angle. One of the robots and the female Russian survivors slid right off the ice and into the shark’s gaping mouth.
* * *
“No!” Dillon screamed, sliding down the ice, trying to reach Quax. He hadn’t been taken yet, but he was at the edge, trying to save the other robot.
Then the huge jaw with its rows of sharp teeth came crashing down. Dillon pulled Quax back as the Megalodon sank back under the water. For a shark that big, it wouldn’t be satisfied until it had them all for lunch.
Lopez appeared to think that since they were out of the water, his gun would be more effective and fired into the retreating shark. They weren’t as concerned about attracting other sharks with the blood now.
“Ha! Take that!” Lopez yelled even though Dillon didn’t think that the shots had really fazed the shark at all.
“Watch out,” his father yelled. Dillon turned to find the Megalodon coming up from the other side, right behind him. The thing leapt in the air. Granted it only got about a foot out of the water, but it was enough to clear the ice.
The Megalodon slid across the ice, aiming right for Nami and the rest.
There was no escaping the clutches of those jaws. Dillon dug in trying to get to them in time, but it was useless. He fell to his knees as he watched the giant mouth aim right for the love of his life.
* * *
Nami held onto the girl and the dog. If they were going to die, they were going to die together.
She watched those horrible teeth coming at her. Nami wasn’t going to shy away. She found strange comfort in her own impending death. Lord knew she had been preparing for it for a long, long time.
Nami was so glad that Dillon wasn’t here. He deserved to have a long life. He was so kind and smart. He would find someone else. He still had a chance at happiness.
The ice tilted under the Megalodon’s weight. They slid toward the gaping jaws.
The helicopters were so close that Nami could hear them. Yes, rescue was that close.
The world seemed to move in slow motion. Dillon’s look of desperation. Her father’s expression of horror. She glanced down at Marie and smiled. The little girl smiled back to her, hugging her tight. It was like she was saying that she appreciated everything that Nami had done.
If only she could have done more.
Nami looked up, expecting to find them surrounded by teeth, but they weren’t. The shark had stopped, like dead stopped. Nami didn’t think something that weighed that much could just stop like that. Especially on the slick ice.
But it hadn’t been the shark that stopped itself. It was the giant squid that had hold of the Megalodon’s tail. Suction cups lined the shark’s back, all the way up to the dorsal fin.
The Megalodon thrashed, trying to get away, tilting the ice up and down.
“Nami!” Dillon screamed as Quax dug his metal toes into the ice, reaching out for her. She grabbed the titanium appendage, and the robot pulled them out of harm’s way, right into Dillon’s arms.
Right where she should be.
* * *
As the giant squid buried its beak into the shark’s back, the helicopters hovered just out of range of the shark. Ladders were thrown down, dangling just above reach.
Nassar waved to the pilots to come a little closer. He knew how dangerous that was, but without those ladders this rescue would be a bust.
Slowly they descended until Nassar could grab the last rung.
“Everyone! Up!” he screamed against the wind.
Ajax turned, his weapon up. “Sorry, can’t let you do that.”
Nassar’s gun was on his back. Lopez’s gun was raised, but Ajax could certainly shoot Nassar before Lopez could do anything about it.
So he was going to have to talk his way out of his one. Hopefully it turned out better than Pietrov.
“Dude, what the hell are you doing?” Lopez asked before Nassar could say anything.
“What can I say? The Russians pay better than Uncle Sam.”
“It isn’t about the money,” Lopez said as he took a step forward. The ice bobbled and shifted as the shark and squid still went at it. “It’s about the thrill.”
Ajax took a step back to keep his distance from his “friend.” “It’s going to be thrilling to be the only one to survive this mess.”
Lopez cocked his head and shot.
Even Nassar jumped. It just winged Ajax’s arm. “You’re going to have to develop a better
aim.”
“Oh, I hit you right where I wanted to,” Lopez said with a smile.
Why was the infernal man smiling? Why?
Then Nassar saw it.
A huge tentacle came out of the water, grabbed Ajax around the waist and tugged him off the ice into the water. Ajax didn’t even get a shot off.
“That giant squid,” Lopez said, resting his rifle on his shoulder. “He is quite the multi-tasker.”
Nassar blinked several times to be sure that he had actually seen what he thought he saw. Sure enough, there was just a little blood splatter where Ajax used to stand.
He looked over at Lopez. For such a happy-go-lucky kind of guy, he’d taken his friend out without hesitation.
“Let’s get moving,” Callum said from behind Nassar.
Nassar stepped out of the way, allowing Callum to help get the civilians up first as Ajax’s betrayal sunk in. It had been him who had rigged Nami’s chute. He had purposefully mis-identified the Greenland shark to prevent them from retrieving the explosives. It had been Ajax all along, trying to sabotage their rescue mission.
Well, now he was in the belly of the squid.
Sometimes karma did work.
* * *
Tonaka skidded as he tried to get onto the deck of the helicopter. Quax stabilized him and pulled him aboard.
After a little excitement down there, the bucking, groaning helicopter was a veritable Zen garden.
The rest were coming up quickly. Dillon got Nami and her survivors up onto the first helicopter. Callum, Nick, Zoya and the other female Russian were on another helicopter. Whereas, the military men got onto the last one.
They were ready to take off.
When a tentacle lashed out of the water, grabbing one of the skids on the helo carrying Nick and the Russians.
“Dad!” Nami screamed, rushing for the door. Quax stopped her.
As much as the pilot tried to get away, the squid pulled it down, jerking it from the sky.
“No!” Nami moaned.
The others were trying to hack away at the squid’s tentacle, but they didn’t have the tools they needed.
If something wasn’t done ASAP, the helicopter was going down.
* * *
Apex Predator Thriller Series Collection (Including the blockbuster new shark park thriller, Salechii) Page 51