Z-Boat

by Suzanne Robb

  Ally hated being in this type of position. She didn't trust most people, and now the life of most of the crew hung on her ability to feel right about something. Another thing to stress about, because she obviously didn't have enough on her plate at the moment.

  ***

  Iain finished up his recording to his kids.

  "Just wanted you to all know I love you guys, and out of all the things I've done, you are what I'm most proud of."

  Iain shut the recorder and grabbed the chip, placing it in his communication panel. He programmed it to send the message as soon as the sub surfaced. He knew it was a long shot, but he had to try something.

  Looking at the time, he knew he had to move. His first stop was Ally, then the diving room for departure. He wasn't looking forward to it. In fact, if he was honest with himself, he was terrified.

  He reached under his tattered mattress and pulled out a gun. Since most people were spies, he was certain that being armed was the smartest move he could make. Standing slowly, he popped one of the pills Maxine gave him.

  Walking up the stairs, he hoped Ally had good news for him, but he wasn't counting on it. He hoped Ivan had repaired the suits correctly, but he doubted it. Lastly, he hoped the operation they were about to perform went off without a hitch, which he knew was unlikely.

  Entering the control room, he saw Ally's profile and noticed the determined set of her jaw. Good. He also saw the tension lines around her eyes. Not so good.

  "Ally, I'm just going to cut to the chase. Did you get to look at the bomb?"

  Ally turned in her seat and stared at Iain with an expressionless face. She nodded, taking a few seconds to decide what to say.

  "Iain, it's bad. There's enough G-Tex to blow us to the moon, there's a laser grid protecting it, and it's linked into the air tanks on the sides. I'm going to need time, but it's possible."

  "How much time?" Iain felt his stomach tie itself into a knot at her news.

  "I have no idea. I can tell you this, though: As soon as you leave, I'm heading down there to start defusing it. That's the best I can do."

  "That's all I can ask. I'm going to make the announcement. I want everyone aboard the submersible in fifteen minutes."

  "Iain, one more thing. What's the name of the sub we're going over to? It never came up."

  "I don't know. They told me it was classified. Ivan would have the specs."

  Ally watched as Iain hit the button on the control panel and made his announcement. Terrified was the best word to describe her current state. Classified meant firm issued, meant far worse than anything the government would do. She needed to see Marcus before he left. A bad feeling had firmly planted itself in her gut, and this time, she wouldn't be there to protect him.

  ***

  Marcus finished up what he could do before handing over the remainder of the list to Dutch. He heard the announcement and headed straight for the control room. He wanted to see Ally before he left. He knew he needed to give the suits a once-over, but Ally was his priority right now.

  Tossing his tool belt to Dutch, he ran up the stairs. As he entered the control room, he almost knocked Ally over in his haste.

  "I was just coming to see you."

  "Hi."

  "So you know to be careful, don't play hero, and come back to me, or I reserve the right to kick your ass."

  "God, Ally, I didn't want it to be like this or do it like this."

  "What are you talking about?"

  "I love you, more than anything. I want you to be the only woman who gets to reserve the right to kick my ass."

  "Marcus, I don't get where you're going with this."

  Reaching into his pants pocket, he pulled out a modest-looking pouch. He undid the strings and turned it upside down to reveal a ring. Looking up at Ally, he smiled.

  Ally trembled. She tried to stop but couldn't. Was he actually proposing? Now of all times? She didn't know whether to be mad, scared, or happy. When she saw the modest ring, so representative of Marcus, she went with happy.

  "Kick my ass forever?" His face full of hope and a bit of fear.

  Ally smiled. "Gladly."

  He slipped the ring on her finger, and they both leaned in to an intimate kiss full of promises.

  "I hate to do this and go, but..."

  "I know you have to check the suits."

  "I'll be back."

  "Marcus, the sub is classified, means it's firm owned and operated, which translates to off the books. No one but whoever those spies answer to know we're here, and I'm sure their bosses don't really care what happens in the long run."

  "No worries. It'll be okay, I promise."

  They kissed one more time, then Marcus was out the door and running down the aisle way towards the dive room. Ally stared at the ring on her finger, and for the first time in her life, the idea of committing didn't seem so scary to her.

  ***

  Marcus got into the diving room just as Ivan hefted one of the suits.

  "Hold on, let me give those the once-over to make sure they're okay."

  Ivan laid the suit down with relief. He thought Marcus was going to be too late, and he wasn't sure if he'd done everything right. Watching as Marcus worked methodically but quickly, he was glad he'd waited as long as possible to load them.

  Marcus made several adjustments to both suits and changed two wires that most likely would have caused the air intake system to burn out. When he finished, Marcus hefted a suit over his shoulder and passed it to Nina, who waited at the other end of the passage.

  Ivan grabbed the other suit and handed it over to Iain who was already on board the submersible. Marcus entered, and Ivan followed him. They were the last two to board.

  Every face in the tiny area was full of tension. They knew they had an additional five thousand feet to dive, and then they ha to dock with a sub with unknown problems. The fact that spies were involved was an additional bonus in the stress department, Ivan guessed.

  Nina hit the communication panel to talk to Ally.

  "Ally, this is submersible. We are good to go. Please initiate detach sequence."

  Initiating sequence. Please remember the umbilical is only five thousand five hundred feet long.

  "Acknowledged." A beep sounded, indicating they were now separated from the Betty Loo.

  "See you when we get back."

  You better.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Ally shot out of her seat as soon as the submersible detached. She raced down the aisle way to her quarters, where she removed a small bag from the bottom of her closet.

  At first glance, it appeared to be full of women's products, stuff she knew Marcus would look at, then put down. Underneath, however, hid an emergency collection she'd set up for occasions such as this.

  Nothing fancy- a couple of guns, some chip decoding units, a small pick set, and most importantly, a scope tool set, which would help her defuse the bomb.

  She grabbed the gear and ran out of the room and down the aisle way in seconds. Within moments, she was in the below deck area, mentally preparing for what she had to do. She briefly wondered if she should disengage the umbilical, and then thought better of it. She had a different idea.

  Poking her head out of the area, she yelled, "Dutch!" A second later, the old man showed up and looked at her with an odd expression.

  "Ally, you gonna disarm that thing?"

  "I'm going to try, but I need you to do something for me."

  "Anything, just name it."

  "This bomb has a twenty-second delay on it so that, should something accidentally trigger it, like turbulence, they could turn it off remotely. As far down as we are, they can't turn it off now, which means if I trigger it, there's nothing I can do."

  "Okay, I follow so far, but what do you need me to do?"

  "If you hear me yell cut it, you need to detach the umbilical. It means I screwed up and we're going down. I don't see the point in taking the submersible with us."

  Dutch bowed his head
solemnly at Ally and nodded. "You can count on me."

  "Good."

  Ally ducked back under the floor panel, took out her tools and began the process of navigating through the laser grid to get to the control box. With steady hands, she focused on the ring for a second before going to work.

  ***

  Nina navigated the submersible with Ivan at her side. They were two thousand feet away, and other than the small amount of light they put out, utter darkness surrounded them. She sent a message every thirty seconds to the sub they approached in hopes someone would answer, but no one did. The channel only sent bursts of static back to them.

  Ivan, beside her, prepped the systems to scan for survivors, hot spots, possible leaks in the engine core, and any weak signals transmitting, and finding the best place to dock.

  ***

  Kramer and Maxine watched each other out of the corners of their eyes. It was obvious neither one trusted or liked the other. Kramer wanted to get in and out. Maxine, on the other hand, wanted to do her job, and nothing would get in her way.

  ***

  Iain wondered what the hell they were going to find when they got over there. He watched the way people interacted and wondered if now was the time to drop the fact that he knew about the bomb, to see if someone might know about it, or if he should finish the operation first.

  His question was answered when Ivan sat up straighter and started talking rapidly.

  "Whoa, slow down. What are you talking about?" Nina was obviously concerned about what Ivan had said.

  "I am getting several reads on movement, but they are difficult to track, because they are almost the same temperature as the sub."

  "Maybe they're just cold, hypothermia setting in."

  "Unlikely after six months. This is something else. Their movements are almost invisible, but I can see they seem to be moving to the docking bay."

  "Makes sense if they want to be rescued." The fear was evident in Nina's voice.

  "Maybe. I still think we need to enter carefully and use a secondary point. I do not like the way they have gathered."

  "Our only alternative is the hatch from the control room."

  "Do it."

  Nina did as instructed while Ivan turned in his seat and looked at the others in the submersible with him. The only two he trusted were Nina and Marcus. He was still unsure of the captain. Having to play along for now, he lied through his teeth.

  "I know most of you are scientists, doctors, mechanics, and whatnot. The sub we are going to is called The Peacemaker."

  Kramer spoke up first. "The Peacemaker? That sub was supposed to be impervious to everything... What the hell else don't we know?"

  Maxine then shared a few words. "How can that be? Ivan, are we safe? Something catastrophic happened, right? And if so, what the hell can we do about it?"

  Ivan let his eyes fall on everyone around him, knowing he couldn't trust the majority of them. He decided not to share anything. They had been briefed by their bosses and most likely had a better idea of what they were about to face than he did. The Russians hired him to destroy the sub and make sure whatever was on it didn't make it to the surface.

  "Ivan, we're about to dock with the hatch for the control room. You need to take over, since you know the specs and passwords for the opening and locking mechanisms."

  Turning in his seat, Ivan said nothing; he simply did his job. Three minutes to get the grips to unlatch and then latch onto the submersible. After he punched the codes in, the latch opened and they were granted access to the sub.

  "Before we go in, make sure you are careful and stay with who you are assigned to. Look for survivors, help those you can, and get back here as soon as possible."

  Ivan finished his speech and headed down the hatch. The sound of him gagging could be heard.

  "What is it?"

  Yelling up to them, Ivan said, "Bring flashlights and prepare for something horrible."

  ***

  Ally turned off the laser grid and worked on trying to defuse the first box. She knew there would be another one. This was simply the decoy, but it still needed to be dealt with.

  She unscrewed the cover and examined the wires inside. She could see a small sensor and no timer. Fairly simple in design, which meant the second box would be the problem. Cutting the blue-and-white wire, she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

  She removed the smaller box from the area in which she worked. Left now with the main box and the G-Tex. They'd put it behind the air tank, and she would have to use a mirror to help see what she was doing.

  She was tempted to remove the explosives first, but she knew it was too risky, in case they had a weight sensor or a wire linked to them. Instead, she focused on the last box in front of her.

  There were well over two-dozen wires, all different colors, a timer, and several internal sensors, one of which checked temperature variation. She couldn't leave her fingers in there for too long; the risk of raising the temperature was too dangerous.

  This would take a bit more work than she anticipated. She began to slowly cut the wires leading to the other air tanks, as well as the removed decoy box.

  When finished, she was left with thirteen wires to deal with.

  Removing her fingers, she took a breath and tried to think how she would have done this if it were her bomb. It was her only hope at getting any further.

  She sent out a quick prayer for Marcus, hoping he was safe and not in harm's way, then went back to work.

  Chapter Twenty

  Ivan watched Marcus, the last one off the submersible, come down the thin ladder into the control room. Closing the latch and securing it, Ivan hoped it was enough to keep whatever was on this sub off their only means of escape.

  Some of the others still gagged at the smell and sights as they roamed around with their flashlights. Kramer shone his light on a half-eaten decomposing corpse with a hole in its forehead.

  Ivan counted eight dead bodies in the room, all of them with severe damage to the head. Gnaw marks on the skull indicated to him that brains were the popular meal of whatever they brought on board. The bodies were also missing most of their internal organs. Their eyes had dried out weeks ago, leaving whitish raisins in their sockets.

  Blood covered most of the floor, leaving it sticky. The walls and ceiling were also liberally coated with the gooey substance. Ivan clenched his jaw. Whatever they'd found here had nothing to do with alternative fuel or food. They found something horrible, which ended up killing them all.

  ***

  Maxine glanced around the control room, determining which would be the quickest route to the research lab. She hoped she would be able to lose Nina. It probably wouldn't be hard. She patted the bag at her side reassuringly.

  ***

  "Listen up. As you can see, something terrible occurred here. What, I have no idea, and it is not our job to figure it out. All we are supposed to do is find survivors, bring any back, and that's it." Ivan took a breath as he visually inspected the room. Something was watching them.

  "Kramer, you and the captain go for the samples you have been tasked to retain. Maxine, you and Nina will look for and tend to any survivors. There seems to be a large collection of them near the diving room of this sub. I would like you to wait until Marcus and I check it out. Once it is cleared, you can go in."

  Maxine chimed in. "Well, what the hell are we supposed to do while we're waiting? It seems like a waste. If Nina and I separate, we can look in other areas for survivors."

  Ivan stared at her for a moment. He knew she wanted to separate for a specific reason. He also knew she would do it even if Nina had to die in order for it to happen.

  "Fine, but stay in radio contact in case something happens."

  Ivan wanted to slap the smile off the supposed doctor's face. He restrained himself and continued on despite the rising bile in his stomach.

  "Afterwards, Marcus and I will look around for what might have caused the sub to shut down, and t
ry and get communications and lighting back on." He didn't mention the fact that life support still worked, which was odd and highly unnerving. He felt as if they were expected.

  He handed out the schematics panel and a flashlight to everyone but Marcus, then watched as they left to go and do what they were told. He pulled out a gun and handed it to Marcus.

  "You will most likely need this. I have no idea what we are going to find, but I know that whatever did this isn't going to be reasoned with. Shoot to kill."

  Marcus took the gun and followed Ivan to the diving room. He'd seen the images on the submersible. He knew where they were headed was full of bad things, monstrous things that ate people and left trails of blood and gore. Marcus gripped the gun tightly and wished he knew how to use one properly.

  ***

  Iain followed Kramer closely. He didn't trust the prick, but he was a little more unnerved by all the blood and bodies they passed. Some were half eaten, limbs strewn about and obviously gnawed on. The smell was horrific; Iain had a hard time holding back the gorge rising in his throat.

  The wall was covered in bloody smears and handprints, and unreadable messages written in Russian. The flashlight cast shadows and revealed things Iain wished he could erase from memory.

  ***

  Kramer, for his part, played it cool. To an outside observer, he was fine, just another day at the office. He was supposed to be familiar with situations such as these. In all his years, though, he had never seen anything remotely close to the carnage that had taken place here.

  Something on board ate the damn crew, and he feared for the sanity of the survivors. He also wondered if the survivors were the ones who had eaten the others. He'd seen people do strange things when exposed to new oceanic phenomena.