“I haven’t had a chance to tell you about the two bodies we discovered on the way in,” he said.
“What bodies?”
Jack took the next few minutes and explained about Kennedy and the tactical release key. Needless to say, Niles Compton was about to explode, without any nuclear key being inserted.
The creature was watching the shipboard activity through the port window. Sarah entered the lounge area after Jack had gone out to contact Niles. The animal became still as it recognized her face from the diving bell. It then saw Sarah turn and leave, disappearing through the hatch. The creature became agitated once again as it shook its massive head. Then it dove and streaked to the other side of the boat by swiftly passing beneath it. The animal was by no means enraptured by Sarah; on the contrary, it was interested in her because it couldn’t figure out how she had transferred from the diving bell into Teacher.
Sudden movement caught the beast’s eye at the stern section of the hull. A black form was barely visible there. The beast could see it was alive—an intruder. It kicked out with its legs, and the mighty fins of its feet stirred an invisible vortex through the water as it was propelled at a fantastic speed through the lagoon.
The man felt movement as it passed by and turned, but the creature was already around him and turning back. The animal stilled its actions for a moment. It watched as the intruder rose two feet in the water until he could see inside one of the submerged windows. That was when the amphibian charged through the water straight at Rosolo, who was blessed with a thief’s instincts to know when something wasn’t right. He turned just before the beast struck. His eyes wide, he tried desperately to swim away.
“The SEAL, Kennedy, had a tactical nuclear arming key on his body, Niles, and he was contaminated with radioactivity, according to the autopsy. So whoever ordered them in here with a tactical weapon more than likely gave them orders to blow up the mine. I need you to find out why they would risk these kids like that.”
“I’ve been on the Kennedy investigation for hours, and so far Pete and I are drawing a blank.”
“It has something to do with whatever else is in that mine. I can’t believe they would risk a nuclear incident just to protect gold. Find out whose game we’re involved in and get it stopped, sir, or we may be up a creek here.”
“I’ll do my best, but for right now, get our people out of there, Jack; do you understand, get them out. But I have to ask that you and Carl stay to get Helen’s team out if at all possible.”
Sarah, who had listened in on this part of the conversation, patted Jack on the back and left the communications center to go aft into the lounge once again.
Jackson suddenly noticed the sonar was on the wrong setting. “Major, we have contact, bearing two nine-seven and coming on fast, thirty-two knots and closing!” he said as he reached out and turned the audio alarm back on.
“Niles, we may have a situation here; I’ll try and get back to you. It seems our animal friend may be paying us another visit.”
“Animal? You mean the goddamned stories are real? That breaks it, Jack, get the hell—”
Niles was cut off as Teacher was jolted by a massive explosion amidships. The detonation sent everyone sprawling to the floor. Teacher immediately started listing to port, taking on two tons of water a minute as her composite hull split and buckled in the very section where everyone else had gathered. The lounge.
The creature took Rosolo by the neck and rammed him straight into the water jet of engine number two, momentarily knocking him senseless. He tried to gather his panicked thoughts when he felt the beast’s webbed fingers close once again over his head. Just as his attacker drew back to slam Rosolo’s head into the stanchion, the underwater world was rocked by a violence the animal had never encountered before. It released the Colombian and sped away, grasping its head against the pressure wave that slammed into it. Rosolo, lucky beyond measure, was tossed about like a twig in the roiling currents that gripped the waters surrounding Teacher. His very own bombs had saved his life. He shook his head and made for the shore and the mine beyond.
Mendenhall and Corporal Shaw had been working on the damaged engine when the explosion knocked them from their feet. A large piece of composite hull exploded into the engine room and caught Shaw in the chest. Acting like a buzz saw, it sank through his body to his backbone. Mendenhall raised his head out of the water that was quickly filling the bilges and rising above the grated floor. He looked around for Shaw and saw he was dead. The sergeant had been protected from flying debris by the damaged engine they had been working on. However, although he shook his head to clear it, he knew he was partially deaf, as he had heard nothing after the loud roar of the explosion. He looked for the source of the blast and saw a six-foot-diameter hole blown in the aft side, half above and half below the waterline.
“Help me before we sink!” he shouted.
At that moment Sanchez entered quickly through the hatch and then sealed it closed. Looking around, he saw Shaw’s body floating and Mendenhall struggling with the diving bell, which had come loose from its cradle.
“Help me!” Mendenhall repeated.
Sanchez moved quickly through the rising water and helped the sergeant, as he realized in an instant what it was he was trying to do.
The bell was swinging back and forth in front of the damaged hull. Sanchez and Mendenhall needed literally to cram the round bell into the smaller hole in the boat’s side to stop the flooding. Sanchez knew immediately that the sergeant wasn’t going to have enough play on the umbilicus to reach the damaged area, and splashed though the water to the main control.
Mendenhall doubled his efforts to keep the one-ton bell swinging while Sanchez tried to time its movement. It would come close to the hole and then swing backward, always about a foot short of wedging itself in. When he thought he had it timed, Sanchez hit the descend switch that operated the winch, but nothing happened. Then he realized the winch was moving, but very slowly. The bell swung back out again and this time as it started forward, with Mendenhall pushing, he hit the emergency release for the winch. It broke free from the umbilical lines and slammed hard into the hull. The hole exploded with water one last time as the bell settled and successfully blocked most of the damaged area.
“It worked!” Mendenhall screamed for all he was worth. Then he saw Sanchez start stuffing everything he could find into the gaps where the bell hadn’t blocked the inrushing water.
They were still sinking, but now they would have an extended life of maybe twenty minutes if they could get under way.
Amidships, all hell had broken loose. Jenks fought to get his head above water but his foot was trapped underneath one of the couches. The master chief thought his leg might also be broken from having been hit sharply by a fallen monitor. He cried out and swore when Professor Keating floated by, face down, in the rising waters. He knew his beloved boat had been dealt a death blow and that he would more than likely go down with it. He struggled but his foot was wedged in good. Every time he moved his leg, he screamed in pain and frustration.
Three feet away, Virginia surfaced. Blood was flowing freely from a broken nose, and at first she thought her left arm was gone. She felt relief when she raised it and saw it still attached, although cut very deeply. She felt a hand on her other arm and saw Danielle surface, choking and coughing up water. Virginia saw crew members’ bodies were being tossed like bathtub toys by the incoming tidal wave that was rushing through the damaged hull. Three of the lab technicians were clearly dead; they had been standing right where the explosion had disintegrated the composite material. Then she panicked as her eyes fell on Jenks just as the water started to cover his head.
“Chief!” she yelled, and pushed Danielle forward. “Help me with him!”
They both dove under and were instantly grateful that the lights had remained on. Virginia went low and Danielle high as they both pulled on Jenks’s broken leg. He screamed but his foot came out from under the couch and they all
surfaced.
As the master chief came up, spitting out dirty water, he saw immediately to what degree they were in trouble. The water was coming in too fast, which told him that whatever had happened had mostly occurred below the water line. He saw Ellenshaw was trying to open the latch to the next compartment.
“No, Professor, no!” Jenks screamed loudly over the noise of the incoming flood. “Stop him! We can’t flood the aft areas; we may already be taking in water!”
Danielle broke free and quickly swam over to grab the old man. He turned to her in shock, and for a moment could only point mutely toward the glass porthole of the hatch.
“That section is taking on water, Sarah’s in there!” he finally croaked.
Danielle threw the professor aside and looked through the port. Sarah was lying against one of the underwater viewing ports where the damage was sustained; it was cracked and shooting water into that section. Sarah looked unconscious; the water, though not filling that section as fast as the lounge area, was slowly creeping up to the level of her neck.
“Chief, we have to get in there,” Danielle said.
The master chief, in much pain and assisted by Virginia, inched his way through the chest-high water to look for himself through the porthole into the next section.
“Okay, the hatch on the far side of that section is sealed; we’ll flood only that area. Go ahead, get her!”
The Frenchwoman pulled up on the handle and the hatch exploded outward. The room flooded immediately and Sarah went under. Danielle swam her way over and reached for the young second lieutenant. Her hand came into contact with Sarah’s hair and she pulled. Then Danielle pulled Sarah free of the aft section and dragged her into the lounge.
Jenks yelled for Virginia and Ellenshaw to get him to the cockpit.
“What about the rest of them?” Virginia asked.
“They’re dead, Doctor, can’t you see that? Now move or we’re going to go down. Look at the list!”
As Virginia followed his eyes, she could see that Teacher was leaning at least forty degrees to port. That sight was enough to start her pulling the master chief forward toward the sealed hatch that led into communications.
As Danielle reached the lounge area, holding the young woman under the arms as she treaded water, she saw Sarah’s chest rise and fall more rapidly as she started to awaken. At that moment, the hull section split along the area already heavily damaged by the explosion. Danielle was pelted by sharp-edged pieces as the creature breached the hull and came up through the neck-high water. She screamed. Virginia, Ellenshaw, and Jenks turned just as the beast reached for Danielle and Sarah. Danielle kicked out at the creature but lost her hold on Sarah as she did so. She then watched helplessly as the beast took Sarah by one arm and raised her up out of the water. The animal roared, swiping at Danielle and making a grab for her also. The sound was hoarse, but loud enough to shock them all as the overhead light caught its greenish and gold features. Unable to reach Danielle, it took Sarah below the surface of the flood and then out through the split in the hull.
Jenks felt absolutely helpless as Sarah was dragged out. Virginia screamed with rage as she ineffectually shoved the master chief forward with her good arm. Danielle could only stare at the spot where the beast had been only a moment before.
Jack fought his way out of the communications room after quickly tending to the injuries of Stiles. Jackson had been killed when an overhead power box had ripped free of its mountings and struck him in the head, but Stiles was still moaning from an electrical shock that coursed through his body when the radio blew up. His face had been struck by several large pieces of glass and steel.
Jack next made it into the companionway and saw Carl, or at least his legs. The lieutenant commander was struggling, trapped underneath the overturned navigation table. Jack told him to hold still.
“Hurry, Jack, this thing is about to snap both of my legs!”
Jack reached the large table and lifted as much as he could, but one corner had been blown off its mountings and had sunk deep into the deck where water was oozing around the steel frame. Then another loud groaning sound was heard as Teacher suddenly shifted and then listed crazily ten more degrees, making the weight of the table shift just enough for Carl to hurriedly pull his legs free.
“Drop it!” he yelled as he backed his way to the bulkhead.
Jack let go of the heavy table and jumped back quickly onto dry, nonconductive floor as it shorted out when the electronic package hit the puddle of water. Then he began to make his way toward Carl, when he heard pounding coming from the closed hatchway behind him.
“The lounge, Jack. There’s people trapped in there!” Carl said as he struggled to his feet by himself. Jack splashed to the door as the incoming water beneath the table rapidly spread.
A woman’s hand was pounding at the port glass set inside the aluminum door. Jack saw it was Virginia; on the other side of the door, the water was lapping at her chin. Caught in the crook of her arm was the master chief, just barely keeping his head above the surface.
“Carl, make your way into the cockpit and get ready to slam that door,” the major yelled over his shoulder. “I have an idea. Call engineering and see if the engines are still above the waterline.”
Carl limped as fast as he could toward the cockpit and tried the intercom on the bulkhead. It started shorting out as soon as he hit the plastic button. On the overhead speakers he could barely make out a shouting voice; he thought it might be Will Mendenhall, but he wasn’t sure. Then the intercom shorted out one last time and died. All he knew now was someone was alive back there and hadn’t drowned yet. He quickly looked out of the cockpit and saw that the nose of Teacher was starting to rise out of the water.
“Jack, were going down. I don’t know if it’s the stern or if we have so much flooding amidships that she’s bending at her gaskets!”
Jack thought he heard Carl hollering but ignored it as he fought with the latch for the lounge section. Virginia was pushed aside and then the master chief’s angry face appeared at the glass. He was shaking his head no and pointing behind Jack, who could barely make out Jenks’s voice as he shouted, “Beach her!” The old seaman quickly pointed at the hole the explosion had made and made a swimming motion. Jack finally understood: the survivors in the lounge should escape through the damaged section and swim for it. He grimaced, not liking the plan, but the master chief was right; he wouldn’t be able to close the hatch because of the pressure of the water behind it, and, even if he could open it, the cockpit would be flooded and that would ensure that Teacher foundered. He quickly turned away and started for the cockpit.
“You and Ellenshaw swim for the breach, Frenchie,” the master chief yelled at Danielle. The professor was having a hard time keeping his head above water, but obeyed. “Okay, sweet cheeks,” Jenks winked at Virginia, “I hope you can hold your breath, because this section is now below the surface of the lagoon and she’s bending like a fishing pole!”
“I’m not going without you, Jenks,” Virginia said, taking a mouthful of water as her reward for speaking.
“You watch too many movies; I’m not the hero type. Follow me, doll,” he ordered, as he dove under just as the flooding reached the overhead lights, shorting them out and sending a cascade of sparks over the surface of the undulating water.
Virginia dove with the master chief. She accidentally took in another mouthful of foul-tasting water when she ran into the torn body of Professor Keating. Then she shoved him out of the way and swam, trying desperately to get out of the nightmare she now found herself in.
Jack pushed past Carl, who was leaning heavily on the bulkhead and trying to figure out what Jack was doing.
“What about those people?” Carl yelled, pointing toward the flooded lounge.
“They’re going out another way. The chief said for us to beach Teacher before she founders.” Jack reached for the start switch and prayed the engine would fire. As he turned it, he heard a soft rumble cou
rse through Teacher and he throttled her forward. She was heavy as at least one, maybe two, or even three sections were fully flooded. Then he tried to turn her by using the rudder control on the armrest. Nothing happened; Teacher continued straight on toward the right side of the falls.
“She’s not turning!” Jack said frustratedly as he again pulled the hand toggle to the left but Teacher continued going right.
“The main jets must have been damaged; they’re frozen in position. We’ve got to get this thing grounded somewhere, Jack.”
The major thought quickly. “The mine! We can get her into the mine and beach her there, it’s our only chance!”
“Shit,” Carl exclaimed as he rolled into the copilot’s chair and quickly buckled his harness. “Go, Jack, go,” he yelled as he braced himself against the glass.
Jack pushed the throttle all the way to its stops and Teacher struggled forward, her midsection below water and her aft end sticking up, her water jets and damaged rudder barely beneath the surface. He had a hard time seeing, as the boat was bowing up at both ends. Teacher started to gather forward momentum and Jack felt her start leaning to the right as the water in her flooded sections shifted.
“Oh, shit; can you at least center her with the middle of the falls?” Everett asked as calmly as he could.
“We have no steering at all!”
Jack pulled back the throttles but it was too late. Teacher was under the crushing falls, and the weight and fierceness of the water forced her nose down beneath the foaming tumult. Then they felt the impact as Teacher slammed into the outside wall of the cave opening, tearing the right-side cockpit glass away and sending a ton of water into the bridge, hitting Carl so hard it momentarily stunned him. Suddenly there was a wrenching impact abovedecks as the mainmast was torn out of its mountings. Jack could only pray that there had been no one on or near it. The fall of the tower was heard as it struck the upper deck of the last five sections, ripping a massive gash in the superstructure as the weight of the aluminum tower rocked her from side to side. Then Teacher shot through the falls and into the dark interior of the mine. She immediately rammed the solid rock wall inside the cave, tearing a section fifty feet long along her right side.
Legend: An Event Group Thriller Page 37