What just happened? wondered Coleman. What stopped him leaving?
Christov’s trench knife slid back along the floor.
Coleman snatched it up and braced himself for whatever was coming through the doorway.
A tall man stepped into view.
‘You!’ croaked Christov in surprise, struggling for breath, trying to regain his footing.
Blood stained the man’s white uniform all over. Much seemed to be his own. Bandages covered both his hands, his arm and his torso.
None of the wounds compared to the damage Coleman saw in the man’s eyes.
Coleman knew that look. This man had lost a loved one.
Although they’d never met, Coleman recognized this man.
This was First Officer Ben Bryant.
Ben carried a bright red fire axe.
Before Christov could rise, Ben took three running steps and swung the axe down at Christov’s right ankle.
Coleman heard the grisly sound of bones breaking and cartilage grinding together. Ben hadn’t used the axe’s sharp blade. He used the back of the axe like a giant hammer.
Christov cried out as his ankle bones splintered apart.
But that was only the start.
In a frenzy of attacks, First Officer Ben Bryant began hammering the axe down onto Christov again and again.
Christov hollered in agony, trying to roll away, but Ben just followed and kept swinging.
His ankles. His knees. His hands. His elbows. Ben pulverized all Christov’s joints, delivering as much possible pain as he could without actually killing the man.
Whatever horrors Christov had visited on Ben Bryant, he was paying for them now.
Ben suddenly stopped attacking.
He wrenched a piece of equipment off Christov’s body armor. The foot-long shaft of stainless steel was some kind of complicated tool. Ben stepped back, breathless, and then spat on Christov.
He studied the tool for a moment.
‘Did you find it?’ Ben demanded. ‘Did you find your precious acid drive?’
Christov was in too much pain to answer.
Bryant shook his head. ‘You wouldn’t still be here if you found it.’
Ben threw the axe. It hit the observatory’s glass wall. The glass panel smashed. The axe fell away down to the ocean.
He bent and grabbed Christov’s broken ankle.
Christov shrieked in agony as Ben dragged him to the gaping hole in the observatory. Ben pulled something from his shirt.
It was a photo.
He knelt with one knee on Christov’s chest and held the photo before Christov’s face.
‘Look at her.’
Christov turned his face away.
Ben grabbed Christov’s hair and wrenched his face toward the photo.
‘LOOK AT HER!’ Ben shouted in Christov’s face. ‘You murdered her! You made the last moments of her life pure hell! You threw her from a helicopter!’
Ben tucked his head down, as though the memory was overwhelming him. He looked up again and met Christov’s eyes.
‘What do you think is worse than trying to fly without wings?’
Christov just shook his head, in too much pain to answer.
‘When you tied me to that chair, I had time to think about it. I had time to think about what I was going to do to you. You know what I think? I think trying to swim with broken limbs would be worse. Your suffering will last longer. Every move you make to keep your head above water will be agony. I want you to think about Karen until your last breath.’
‘Wait,’ begged Christov, speaking through the pain. ‘If you do this, how are you different from me? What does this make you?’
Ben brought his face close to Christov’s.
‘It makes me a husband.’
Ben rolled him over the edge.
Christov shrieked in agony as he tumbled down into the frothing water below.
A second later, his trench knife followed him.
‘There,’ yelled Justin. ‘I see three people!’
Craigson steered the lifeboat toward the bridge.
Justin had spotted three figures on the bridge. Two were standing. One was sitting.
Please let that be Mom, thought Justin.
Craigson shaded his eyes. ‘The water’s full of debris.’
‘Go right through it!’ yelled Justin.
‘He’s right,’ agreed Myers. ‘That’s what the lifeboats are designed for.’
Craigson plowed the lifeboat straight into the floating debris field, smashing through like an icebreaker.
‘Mom!’ Justin yelled when he saw her face.
She yelled his name back.
Only the front section of the bridge remained above water now, but not for long.
‘Hurry,’ Justin yelled at Craigson. ‘Get us in there!’
Craigson wove the boat around the larger obstacles and knocked aside the smaller. He expertly guided the boat right up to the survivors as the entire bridge began submerging under their shoes.
Captain Coleman lifted Justin’s mother over. Justin and Myers pulled her onto the lifeboat.
Her legs were covered in blood-soaked bandages.
‘There,’ she pointed. ‘Put me down there, Justin.’
‘What happened to your legs?’ he asked.
‘It’s nothing,’ she said. ‘I can barely feel it.’
Justin lowered her onto the seat, but he couldn’t stand up. She was holding him too tightly, kissing his hair.
‘I thought I’d lost you,’ she cried.
Justin hugged her back. ‘I told you I’d get you off the ship.’
His mother cupped his face. ‘And you have. Just like you promised.’
Coleman climbed into the boat after First Officer Bryant.
‘Shut the windows and strap yourselves in,’ ordered Bryant. ‘Everyone put on a life jacket.’
Craigson relinquished the pilot’s seat to Bryant.
Justin reached above his mother and checked their windows.
The entire lifeboat suddenly lurched. Everyone either jerked in their seats or stumbled on their feet.
‘What was that?’ asked his mother, strapping on her life jacket.
‘It didn’t feel like anything hit us,’ replied Justin. ‘It felt like something pulled us.’
Coleman and Bryant both looked at Justin. They obviously sensed the same thing.
Craigson pointed out his window. ‘We’re too large to get pulled down with the ship, right?’
Bryant strapped himself into the pilot’s seat and said, ‘The water around the ship is full of ropes and cables. They could pull us down.’
Justin felt the boat lurch again. This time it lurched backward.
‘Damn it,’ cursed Bryant. ‘Everyone hold on. Something has tangled our propeller.’
Bryant pushed forward on the throttle.
The lifeboat’s engine revved.
The boat didn’t move.
Not forward anyway.
The rear section of the lifeboat began tilting downward. Justin felt himself tilting backward in his seat.
‘It’s pulling us down,’ Justin yelled. ‘We have to get off!’
As the boat’s rear deck was pulled down, the front lifted straight up and out of the water.
Justin unclipped his seatbelt. Yet again he had to escape a lifeboat, but this time he needed to get his mother off too.
We’ll have to go out the window. Right now, before the entire boat is dragged under water.
The lifeboat stood almost vertical in the water now, like a rocket ready to take off.
Coleman leaned across the aisle and pressed Justin back into his seat.
‘Bryant,’ Coleman called. ‘Are you sure it’s tangled around the propeller?’
Bryant sat above everyone now. He turned in the pilot’s chair. ‘It’s dragging us backward. It has to be the propeller!’
Coleman nodded.
‘We’re staying in the lifeboat,’ he announced. ‘Everyone
buckle up and hold on. Bryant – put the engine in reverse and give it everything you’ve got. Maybe we can untangle whatever has us.’
‘The engines won’t last long,’ warned Bryant.
‘I know,’ replied Coleman. ‘Just do it.’
Bryant shifted the engine into full reverse.
Justin refastened his belt.
The engine roared. The entire boat shook. The window beside Justin slid underwater. Their lifeboat was now halfway submerged. Justin and everyone else lay backward in their seats like astronauts prepped for take-off. Through the front windshield Justin saw the sky and clouds and then...
Spuuuush!
Water blasted into the lifeboat from a hundred different places.
‘Stay in your seats!’ Coleman instructed. ‘No matter what happens, everyone stay in your seat. It’s our only chance.’
The engine suddenly cut out.
Justin saw water engulf the front windshield. The lifeboat and all its passengers were completely underwater now.
‘I’ve lost the engines,’ yelled Bryant. ‘We’re still tangled!’
A large chunk of window seal burst free beside Justin. More water came spraying in, stinging Justin’s skin with the force behind it.
‘Justin!’ Coleman ordered. ‘Brace that window with your hands. Push against it! Everyone. Push against the windows. Don’t let them collapse into the boat!’
The entire lifeboat groaned around them as the water pressed relentlessly inward.
Justin heard his Mom over the noise. She reached back between the seats and grabbed his leg.
‘I love you, Justin.’
Justin couldn’t answer. All his strength was focused on bracing the window from collapsing into the lifeboat.
But human hands couldn’t overcome the incredible pressure bearing down on the lifeboat as it descended deeper into the ocean.
CRRRAAANNNCH!
The terrifying sound came from behind Justin.
The sound could only be the rear section of their lifeboat collapsing under the pressure. Water would engulf them in seconds.
Justin took a deep breath and braced himself in his seat.
Here it comes....
Justin was thrust back into his seat as the lifeboat suddenly jolted forward.
Water didn’t flood the cabin.
The loud noise wasn’t the lifeboat tearing open.
It was the propeller tearing right off the boat.
Justin realized Coleman had been waiting for this.
The boat shot upward through the water like a missile.
‘This is it,’ Coleman yelled. ‘Everyone brace yourselves!’
Justin grabbed the back of his mother’s chair as the lifeboat launched from the water and flew into the air. He felt weightless for a few seconds and then...
CRASH!
The boat slammed back down into the water.
The impact tossed Justin around as the boat pitched and rolled violently underneath them.
Bryant looked over his shoulder.
‘Everyone all right?’
Justin nodded. Everyone else seemed okay too.
Bryant pointed at Myers. ‘Climb on deck and launch the inflatable raft. Justin, get your mother on deck in case we need to abandon ship. Captain Coleman, please start broadcasting our coordinates on the emergency frequency.’
‘What are you doing?’ asked Coleman.
‘Starting the pumps,’ answered Bryant.
‘Are we sinking?’ asked Justin.
‘It depends how much of our hull tore away with the propeller,’ replied Ben.
Myers called from the outer deck. ‘Captain. Quickly. I see other boats!’
Both Ben and Coleman reacted. Ben grabbed a pair of binoculars. Craigson helped Justin move his mother onto the outer deck.
Less than half a mile away, dozens and dozens of lifeboats were cruising toward them.
‘I thought we left them behind,’ said Coleman.
‘I turned the ship around,’ explained Ben. ‘Before they set off the explosives, I plotted a new course back to the lifeboats.’
Justin looked at all the wreckage bobbing on the surface.
‘It’s hard to believe the ship is really gone,’ he said.
‘It’s for the best,’ said Coleman. ‘What happened on that ship can never happen again.’
Ben nodded.
Justin knew it wasn’t that simple. He watched his mother. She was studying her wounded legs.
She thinks that any chance of her walking again was lost with the ship, Justin realized.
He pulled the acid drive from his pocket. The countdown read:
Remaining Time: 00h: 04m: 12s
He held it up for everyone to see.
‘I found this among Elizabeth’s belongings in the hospital, Mom.’
His mother shielded her eyes. ‘What is it, Justin?’
‘It’s the acid drive that Christov was searching for. All Elizabeth’s research is on it.’
Everyone turned to stare at the small silver tube in Justin’s hand.
‘You’ve carried that since the hospital?’ asked Coleman.
‘In my pocket,’ explained Justin. ‘I had it when Christov took me prisoner.’
‘Oh, my God,’ said Justin’s mother. Obviously neither she nor any of the Marines knew Justin had been captured by Christov or what he’d been through.
‘You’re lucky to be alive,’ said Bryant emptily. ‘He murdered my wife looking for that.’
Coleman held out his hand. ‘Hand it to me, Justin.’
Justin didn’t move.
He met Coleman’s eyes.
A tenseness fell over the deck.
‘No,’ responded Justin, shaking his head. ‘I kept this safe on my own for a reason.’
Coleman looked at Craigson and Myers.
Craigson looked at the deck.
‘We lost him,’ admitted Myers. ‘The boy went through hell and back to get here. Probably more than any of us.’
Craigson nodded, although he glanced at Bryant.
Losing a loved one was a different kind of hell.
Coleman drew his hand back. He didn’t look angry.
‘What do you want to do, Justin?’
Justin remembered the moment when his mother had discovered the feeling returning to her legs. Her face had shone with astonishment and hope. Only his mother had experienced the true effect of the drug. She had experienced everything the drug could do, both good and bad. As far as Justin was concerned, she was the only person qualified to decide what should happen next with Elizabeth’s discovery.
‘It’s not up to me. I kept it for you to decide, Mom.’
He handed the drive to his mother.
She studied the drive. ‘What are these numbers?’
‘A countdown,’ explained Justin. ‘When the countdown reaches zero, acid will wipe all the data from the drive.’
‘That’s in just over two minutes,’ said his mother.
Justin looked across to Bryant. ‘Not necessarily.’
Bryant pulled the tool from his belt. It was the tool Christov had carried to reset the drive. Justin had spotted it when they’d picked up Bryant.
‘This can reset the timer,’ explained Bryant. ‘Is that what you want?’
Justin watched his mother turn the silver tube over in her fingers.
‘It could make you walk again,’ said Justin.
His mother nodded. She ran her thumb along the smooth steel for a few moments before looking up at Bryant.
‘On three?’ she asked.
Bryant nodded.
‘One.’
‘Two.’
‘Three.’
Neve and Bryant pitched the acid drive and Christov’s tool into the ocean.
Splash! Splash!
Justin breathed a sigh of relief, along with just about everybody else on the boat.
Not far from where the silver tube had broken the water, a huge brown head broke the surface.
Water sprayed from the animal’s huge nostrils.
An enormous eye studied everyone on board the lifeboat.
Craigson grabbed Myers by the arm and pointed into the water. ‘Look. You were right.’
‘He made it,’ pointed Myers. ‘I knew he was following us.’
Justin studied the huge turtle, glad it had survived. Hopefully most of the sea life in the ship’s aquarium had done likewise.
Myers smiled as the turtle took one last look before diving away.
Coleman turned his gaze out over the debris-covered water. He wasn’t smiling.
‘We’re still down three people. I hope they reached a lifeboat in time.’
Justin hoped so too. He stared at the approaching lifeboats. One lifeboat broke from the fleet.
‘Can I use those?’ he asked Ben.
Accepting the binoculars, Justin followed the trajectory of the lone boat.
‘I can see them,’ Justin said, handing Coleman the binoculars. ‘I can see Erin and King and Forest. They’re alive.’
Coleman lifted the binoculars. ‘Where? On the lifeboat?’
‘No,’ replied Justin, repositioning Coleman’s binoculars slightly. ‘They’re floating on that bright red sports car.’
Twenty-three seconds later, two slim vials of fluorosulfuric acid ruptured inside the rapidly sinking acid drive. Christov had designed them well. The super acid flooded over the drive’s circuitry, corroding the hardware and destroying the data within seconds.
Two hours later
The First Lady of the Sea sank elegantly.
For the first thousand meters she descended in much the same position she had submerged.
By slow degrees her hydrodynamic bow dropped lower than her stern. At the two thousand meter mark the ship pointed straight down, bow first.
At three thousand meters, the ship scraped the protruding edge of a continental ridge before continuing her plummet into the abyss.
Her final three thousand meters of travel passed in total darkness, total silence, witnessed only by the creatures of the deep.
At six thousand meters, the ship struck the vast abyssal plane like a three-hundred thousand ton spear stabbing into the seafloor.
For eight minutes her mighty structure stood completely vertical in the water column, like a building erected on the ocean’s floor.
HAYWIRE: A Pandemic Thriller (The F.A.S.T. Series Book 2) Page 30
