Survival Instinct (The Adventures of Eric and Ursula Book 2)

by A. D. Winch

  On the radar, the six objects promptly stopped. They were only fifty metres away. Captain Wang’s feeling of unease changed to one of genuine concern and she sounded the alarm.

  Keiko was the first on deck, followed promptly by the rest of the crew and then Alexander. Andrea left the galley to join them.

  There was an eerie calm on the Irish Sea. Waves lapped at the hull, and a light breeze brought a chill to the air.

  Captain Wang stood by the wheelhouse door and explained what she had seen off the port side before asking if anyone had any ideas what it could be. She stole a glance at the radar and made sure that there was no more movement.

  Keiko spoke first, “It isn’t dolphins. They don’t behave like that.”

  Kim-Ly joined in, “I agree with Keiko. I don’t think it is any kind of sea creature. Even if they were feeding on something, they would still be moving in some way that the radar would pick up.”

  “If we were on a navy ship, I would have suggested that it must be torpedoes but torpedoes only stop when they hit something,” Arjuna paused. “Could it be pirates?”

  Nobody answered, and all eyes were staring out to sea from the port side. Waves broke against the trawler and the breeze whistled. No one heard the helicopter rotor blades cutting through the air.

  Eric and Ursula joined them on deck. Their eyes were bleary and their hair a mess. They were dressed only in their pyjamas and trainers. It was obvious that they had not been expecting the cold as both soon began to shiver.

  Alexander moved towards them and removed his jacket. He handed it to the children and Eric snatched it from his hand.

  “Something’s not right,” Alexander said to them softly and looked up at Captain Wang. “Did anything else happen?”

  “What are you thinking?” she replied.

  “Anything out of the ordinary? Anything unexpected?”

  “I received another SMS from an unknown number.”

  “What did it say?”

  She read from the phone, “The spears of crimson-suited war, The long white-crested waves of fight, And all the deadly fires which are, The torches of the lords of Night.”

  “It’s a warning. The OSS?” he whispered to himself before shouting, “Prepare to be boarded.”

  For a moment no one spoke, and only the sound of the helicopter could be heard.

  “Boarded by who?” shouted Captain Wang. “We’re a research vessel. We have nothing of worth on board.”

  Alexander moved closer to the children, “Yes, you do.”

  “They’re on the move,” Captain Wang announced after glancing at the radar.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Alexander ordered.

  Captain Wang started the engine. It chugged into life and sent black smoke into the dark blue sky. The engine drowned out the sound of the approaching helicopter.

  A Black Hawk was flying close to the sea, and they watched it rapidly coming nearer. When it reached them it hovered above the trawler, close enough for the force of the air to make it difficult to move across the deck.

  “Do you have guns?” yelled Alexander above the helicopter noise.

  “Of course not. We’re a research vessel,” Kim-Ly replied.

  “But we have flares,” Keiko added calmly and she led Alexander to a box at the stern.

  Alexander unclipped the buckle and opened the lid. Inside he found six flares. Keiko took one out, aimed it at the helicopter and fired.

  The flare shot into the air, leaving a smoky trail behind it. It zoomed past the helicopter and continued into the sky. As it fell slowly back to earth it covered the helicopter in a purple glow. The pilot watched the flare and then took the Black Hawk to a safe height, beyond its reach.

  Keiko took out one more as Alexander aimed another flare at the helicopter, but it was pointless. He knew they had missed their chance.

  “They’re here,” screamed Kim-Ly.

  Six black shapes appeared in the light around the trawler. The crew stared as the divers swam under the hull and did not reappear.

  “They’ll come back. Don’t let them board,” ordered Alexander, running between port and starboard as he tried to get a glimpse of the OSS. Fear replaced any feeling of nausea he had had.

  All at once, six grappling hooks were thrown over the port side and attached to the gunwale. Alexander tried to get his fingers under one and throw it off, but it was firmly attached.

  “Cut the ropes,” he yelled but it was too late.

  Three agents were climbing onto the trawler. The other three remained in the water and held harpoon guns that they pointed towards the deck.

  “Summon the dolphins,” Andrea whispered to Keiko and she manoeuvred the children towards the starboard side.

  Keiko looked out at sea. She didn’t think the dolphins would be near, but she did as she was asked and started to bang the hull with her pincer hand. The noise of the helicopter drowned out the sound but Keiko didn’t care; it was the vibrations in the water that were important.

  Meanwhile, Alexander took two flares guns and handed one each to Arjuna and Andrea. The four adults stood in front of the children as one-by-one the three OSS agents boarded the boat. Each agent held a harpoon gun.

  Andrea whispered to Alexander, “This will not end well. Our success lies in the element of surprise. Fire on my signal,” she pointed in the air, “and then push the children overboard.”

  “Needs must,” he replied.

  “Cut the engines and come down here!” shouted the shortest agent.

  Captain Wang did as she was told but said, “You’re committing an act of piracy by boarding our research vessel.”

  “We are only committing piracy if we take your trawler or items from it and we don’t want either. We don’t even want to take you hostage. We just want the children. Hand them over!”

  Nobody moved except for Alexander, who shifted closer to Eric and Ursula. They were now both fully awake, and reacting differently to the situation they found themselves in. Ursula looked around her, trying to plan ahead and to look for somewhere to escape to. Eric was staring sternly at the three blacked out faces in front of him. His fists were clenched, and he was looking forward to a fight.

  “Put the flares down! We don’t want anyone to get hurt,” the shortest agent said.

  Andrea stepped forward and made sure she blocked the agents’ view of Eric and Ursula.

  “We do not want anyone to get hurt either. We do not want you to fire your harpoons nor do we wish to fire our flares,” she pointed in the air and in doing so made the signal.

  Alexander shot his flare and then dived towards Eric and Ursula. He pushed them both off the trawler and into the Irish Sea below.

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  ***

  Chapter 26 – Irish Shores

  Time seemed to slow down when Ursula and Eric fell off of the trawler. The clouds turned from grey to purple as flares lit up the night sky and the Black Hawk above them. The noise of the helicopter seemed to quieten for a few seconds then shouts and screams filled the void. Alexander leant over the side of the Orca yelling something that neither Eric nor Ursula could make out and pointed into the distance. He then spun away from them and vanished from sight just before they hit the water.

  The shock of hitting the Irish Sea was immediate. Both of them wanted to scream from cold as they sank below the surface. Their pyjamas soaked up the icy water and clung to their bodies. Eric tried to recall what he had learnt on his PADI course about how to deal with cold water. One instructor had told him that a quick way to warm up was to pee in his wetsuit. Even though he was not wearing one, Eric tried but the water was just too cold. He headed for the surface, but he was wearing trainers, rather than flippers, and it was significantly harder than he was used to.

  As he swam upwards, Eric looked around him. The underwater lights lit up the sea near the trawler brighter than day. He could see Ursula only a few metres away. She was swimming upwards too. Worryingly, he could also see the agents
approaching from under the hull. What worried him more was that they were pushing dive scooters in front of them. As soon as they turned these on, and the blades started to turn, it was inevitable that they would be caught. Eric knew he was a strong swimmer, but he was realistic enough to know that he could not out swim machinery.

  The two of them broke back through the gently rolling waves just as all the lights on the trawler went out. The noise of the helicopter grew louder. There was a sound of something hitting the trawler’s deck and then the Black Hawk flew away.

  “What do we do now?” sputtered Ursula, her teeth chattering as she spoke.

  They both sensed the agents were getting closer.

  “Swim!” Eric said sternly.

  He powered into a front crawl towards the shores of Ireland. There were small lights in the distance, and he estimated that they were about five kilometres away.

  We won’t make it, thought Ursula following him as best she could.

  But I’m going to try, thought Eric, his strokes increasing in speed.

  Behind Ursula, underwater torches were switched on. They lit up the water in long, bright lines and scanned the sea for the two children. It didn’t take long to locate them, and one of the beams fixed onto Ursula. This increased her sense of alarm even more. Her legs and arms moved quicker, but her technique was poor. She was wearing trainers, and she was wasting her energy. The agents were approaching fast, and they had yet to turn on the dive scooters.

  Ursula continued to swim while weighing up her options. If she tried to return to the trawler, they would catch her. If she stopped swimming or swam deeper, they would catch her. If she continued to swim, they would catch her. There was no positive outcome. It was a hopeless situation.

  Suddenly she felt something bang into her hip and then playfully nuzzle against her stomach. It was one of the dolphins and, from the way it was clicking excitedly, Ursula sensed it was agitated. She placed her hand on its head and slowly stroked along its nose. The dolphin moved until its dorsal fin was under Ursula’s hand. She realised what the dolphin wanted and gripped the fin. They began to swim away, and Ursula looked over her shoulder. The agents had switched on the dive scooters, and they were being pulled quickly through the water. However, their speed was not quick enough, and they were being left behind.

  Water splashed in Ursula’s face as she zipped across the sea with the dolphin. They briefly dived under the water and then rose above it, but Ursula held onto the dolphin for dear life. When she could, she opened her mouth wide and took deep breaths. However, there were times she was left choking as the sea water filled her mouth.

  It doesn’t matter, she thought to herself, as long as I hold on.

  Breathe in when Fred breaks through the surface, she heard Eric think and followed his advice.

  She stopped drinking sea water, but it still wasn’t easy to travel holding onto Fred’s back. The sea was cold and took her breath away. Additionally, Fred gave little warning before diving under the waves and when he was under it was sometimes to the limit of Ursula’s lung capacity.

  Every dive put a greater distance between them and the OSS. The agents were not as fast as the dolphins, even with the dive scooters at maximum speed. Ursula looked behind them and could see the beams of light getting further and further away. She soon caught up with Eric, who was hanging on tight to Ginger’s dorsal fin. When they broke through the waves together, Ursula could see that, despite their situation, Eric had a large grin.

  The lights from the shore came closer, and both children started to feel hope returning. If they could just reach a building and people, they might stand a chance.

  “They don’t stand a chance,” Agent Angel said to Agent Hoover. “I bet you a dollar they’re already ours.”

  Agent Hoover declined the bet. He had just seen the second Black Hawk take three of the agents from the trawler to the beach where the targets were heading. They were joining a group of twelve highly trained Special Ops’ soldiers who had already been placed on the sand by the first Black Hawk. Agent Angel called them his ‘insurance policy,' in case the targets managed to flee the trawler, and he had been right.

  It was almost daybreak, and the eastern sky beyond the beach was gradually turning from dark blue to orange. It improved visibility and meant that all personnel on the ground had to hide to ensure the targets walked into the trap. Fortunately, Black Queen and White King were heading for a secluded bay.

  The fine sandy beach was surrounded by steep, tree-covered hills which hid the bay from nearby buildings. The only risk to the OSS mission was a beachside cottage at one end of the bay, beyond some car-sized rocks. It was a white brick building with a large garage situated about one hundred metres away from the sea. Despite the two helicopters dropping off personnel nearby, no lights had come on in the cottage. Either the occupants were extremely heavy sleepers or it was unoccupied. Agent Hoover hoped for the latter.

  When the dolphins got within five hundred metres of the beach, they stopped. Agents Hoover and Angel watched from cameras mounted on the Special Op soldiers’ helmets.

  They saw Eric and Ursula stroking the dolphins’ noses, before swimming towards the shore. The dolphins dived under the waves and swam back out to sea.

  The cloud began to clear and, using satellite heat cameras it was easy to spot the Special Op soldiers and the three agents hiding behind rocks, bushes and trees. Agent Hoover knew they were all dressed in black from head to foot. No one had expected that they would not complete their mission before daybreak.

  The cold sea was biting into Ursula’s skin as she swam. Her teeth were chattering, and goosebumps covered her body. Eric felt slightly better. He had enjoyed their journey with the dolphins so much that he had temporarily forgotten the cold.

  They neared the beach and were able to stand in the shallower water. Their trainers protected their feet from sharp rocks, and they were able to walk without much difficulty. The air temperature felt the same as the water temperature, but their pyjamas were sticking to their bodies and felt cold and clammy. Also, there was something hard resting against Ursula’s hip. She touched it warily with her hand. The phone she had used to call her grandparents was still in her pocket.

  Well, that’s useless now, she thought to herself.

  The sun was now visible over the horizon but not high enough to provide any real warmth. Ursula shivered, and Eric pretended not to.

  Under their feet, the rocks and pebbles were replaced by sand and they were soon out of the water.

  “To the house,” Eric said and began to run.

  They had not gone far across the sand when a soldier stepped out from behind a rock and pointed a submachine gun at them.

  Neither of the children broke stride. They launched themselves into the air, extended their legs and kicked the soldier on either side of the head simultaneously. He fell heavily to the ground. Eric picked up his gun and continued running.

  The other OSS soldiers and agents appeared from their hiding places around the bay. They formed a large ring around the children and three of them blocked the children’s route to the house.

  “Keep running,” shouted Eric. “Let’s get to that outhouse!”

  He pointed to a small white building. They altered their course and reached it before the OSS. It was made from timber and in need of repairs. The paint was peeling, there were holes in the walls and people had scratched the names of those they loved into the timber.

  Across the wooden doors, were a rusty bolt and an old padlock. Eric took the gun and violently rammed the gun’s butt against the bolt until the nails fell out of the rotting wood, and he could open the doors. They dived inside, and Eric pulled the doors shut behind them.

  The outhouse had once been someone’s workshop. Eric placed the gun on the floor and frantically looked around. One wall was covered in tools, and he pulled them off the wall, trying to find something but without success. Frustratedly, he kicked away buckets and scrambled under the work bench
. Bits of machinery and spare parts were piled up under the bench. Eric scattered them as he searched.

  Ursula stood in the centre of the workshop, trying to avoid standing on something. Nails, screws, pipes, hoses, paint tins and jerry cans littered the dirt floor. Amongst them were buckets and, in a corner, an old white bathtub. They had all been positioned under holes in the roof, and all were full to the rim with water.

  Ursula looked around. There were windows on every wall. Some panes of glass were missing, others were cracked and the rest were covered with sea salt.

  The door creaked on its hinges as the wind pushed it open. They both froze and looked through the gap. Three soldiers were walking towards the garage with their guns raised.

  Eric reacted first. He grabbed the gun and made sure the soldiers saw him with it. The soldiers stopped. Eric slung the gun onto his back, closed the doors and dived back under the work bench. He threw things out wildly; his search having become more urgent. He found an old hand mirror and handed it to Ursula.

  “Use it to look out the windows, tell me what they are doing,” he instructed.

  Ursula ducked down beneath the first window and raised the mirror so she could see outside.

  “There are one, two, three soldiers. They are lying on the ground and not moving. Their guns are pointed this way, and they’re only about twenty-five metres away.”

  She scurried to the second window on all fours.

  “Three soldiers and they are in the same position,” she told Eric and moved to the third window.

  “Three again and they are in the same position. With the four at the front, we are surrounded.”