by Rachel Grant
Luke had to act now or watch everything he loved be destroyed.
Which could be how Parker felt too.
It was never a question of whether Luke would volunteer for this. It was the only way to make sure Parker disposed of the bomb. The only way to be certain Undine and even his mother and brother, both living in coastal cities, would be safe.
“I can do this alone,” Parker said.
“No. You’ll drive. I’ll defuse. We’ll have about thirty minutes before the Osprey picks us up, and if that fails, I’ll keep trying while we’re in the air. Letting the bomb drop is the last resort.” And he’d stay with the bomb until the final moment. He wouldn’t give up. He couldn’t.
“You just can’t let someone else be the hero, can you, Luke?” Parker asked. But his tone was congenial. Friendly. Even if a bit irritated.
“Nope. But I’m willing to share the glory.”
The Interceptor reached the ferry. Luke turned to Boatswain’s Mate Shales. “Find Undine on the top deck and bring her down.”
The man gave a sharp nod and hurried up the steps. A loading ramp was stretched between ferry and Interceptor and the Coasties maneuvered the bomb into the bow of the small boat.
“Thank you for volunteering, both of you,” Martinez said to Luke and Parker.
They both nodded. Luke could share his suspicions about Parker with the commander, but not only would that waste time, it would mean the commander would have to order someone else to go with Luke, and if Parker was willing to die for this, why ask someone else? For himself, there was no question that he’d perform this service.
He’d promised Keith he’d protect Undine, and he wasn’t an oath breaker.
He was in it to the end. He always had been.
Parker fixed Luke with a steady gaze. “I want you to know, this isn’t a suicide mission for me. I have every intention of making it back alive and basking in the glory of being a hero.”
“I do too,” Luke said. He turned toward the sound of footsteps in the stairwell. Breathtakingly beautiful in her knockout evening gown, Undine entered the car deck. “I have everything to live for,” he added.
Undine wanted to beg Luke to stay, to let someone else volunteer, but that was not only selfish of her, it wouldn’t be Luke. He’d never make that choice, and he’d only resent her for asking. No way in hell would she mar this good-bye with resentment.
She gripped the lapels of his blood-soaked uniform. “I’m going to be so pissed if you don’t come back.”
He smiled. “You know I can’t let Parker be the only hero.”
She let out a laugh even as a tear spilled. “You’re not an asshole, you know. You never were.”
“Shhh. Don’t tell anyone. I have a reputation to uphold.” The arm around her waist cinched her tightly to his chest. “I love you, Undine. I’m not going to die tonight. I’m coming back, and I’m going to marry you. I want to go scuba diving with you every day and make love to you every night. I want to be the father of your children. We have a whole lifetime ahead of us, and it starts tonight.”
Her heart fluttered in an erratic beat. “Was that a proposal?”
“Yep. So how about it?”
She swiped away another tear. “Are you going to want me to go running with you every day?”
“You can have weekends off.”
“What about when I’m pregnant?”
“We’ll walk.”
“Will you always ruin bacon with Brussels sprouts?”
His smile widened. “As long as I don’t have to give up Brussels sprouts, you don’t have to give up bacon.”
She could live with that. “Where do you stand on red meat in general?”
“You can have it all you want, but I limit myself to prime rib on major holidays.”
She pulled his face down to hers. “Okay. I’ll marry you.” She kissed him. Tears rolled down her cheeks and her heart pounded. This was strangely like the panic attack she’d experienced weeks ago with Parker, but instead of wanting to flee, she wanted to crawl into a dark space with Luke and never let him go. “I love you,” she said against his lips.
“I don’t have a ring to give you. For now…” He unpinned one of the medals from his uniform. “Keep this.” He pressed it into her palm and wrapped her fingers around it. “You’re mine, Undine Gray. And I’m coming back for you.”
She nodded and let him go. She stepped back as he walked to the edge of the car deck and jumped into the boat with Parker. In the breadth of a heartbeat, he transformed from lover to special forces operator. Instructions were given and received. Lines were released, and the boat shot out into the Salish Sea. Luke didn’t smile. Didn’t wave. Didn’t so much as look at her.
She understood why.
He was an operator on a mission that required every ounce of focus.
She opened her hand to see the medal in her palm. She’d been mistaken. It wasn’t a ribbon or an award; it was his trident, the insignia he’d earned when he became a SEAL. She closed her fist around it and held it against her heart.
Now the waiting would begin.
Chapter Forty
The Interceptor took the wave head-on, dropping hard in the trough. Luke gripped the rail, but his ass flew off the bench and slammed down hard. The bomb, at least, was tied down and not in danger of flying overboard. Luke, not so much.
Water splashed over the gunwale and filled the bow. He was fucking freezing, but at least he’d donned a survival suit right after they set out, so he was mostly dry. He cursed into his headset. “Take it easy, Parker. I’m trying to operate on a nuclear bomb here.”
“Sorry! It’s hard to see the chop with your fat head in the way.”
Luke couldn’t help but smile. Suspicions aside, Parker reminded him a lot of one of the guys who’d been on his SEAL team.
The screwdriver slipped as he tried to fit it into the shiny new Phillips-head screw that held the lower panel in place. Yuri had replaced the screws, meaning this had to be the access point for initiating—and hopefully deactivating—the timer. “What’s the ETA on the Osprey?” Luke asked. He hoped to hell he could get this thing defused before they had to go for a flight. Dangling from a plane that could fly like a helicopter wasn’t his favorite thing in the world. At least they’d be pulled inside so the Osprey could fly at airplane speeds to get them past the subduction zone.
Luke’s work studying the effects of sonar on marine mammals’ ability to navigate meant he’d spent a lot of time on a boat out in the subduction zone. Even beyond the horrors of the potential for earthquakes and tsunamis, he felt dread at the idea of what a nuke would do to sea life. He could envision the destruction, and just the thought brought bile to his throat.
There were dog people and cat people. Luke was more of a seahorse person. He treasured everything aquatic. It was no wonder he’d fallen in love with a mermaid.
All at once, the engine cut off. Luke looked up sharply, meeting Parker’s gaze through the windshield of the tiny cabin. “Is the Osprey here?” he asked using the radio. He didn’t hear the telltale whirr of an Osprey engine.
“They’re ten minutes out,” Parker said.
Luke cursed, looking at the timer on the bomb. They had less than an hour. “Why are we stopping, then?”
“I have an idea for how we can turn off the bomb.”
Luke stiffened. “An idea?” He clicked his mic when his voice didn’t carry and realized Parker had shut off the radio at the console. Unease slid down his spine. “Why is the radio off?”
“More than an idea.” Parker left the small cabin and joined Luke in the bow. The way he moved, the way he spoke, even the look on his face sent up red flags everywhere.
“What’s going on, Parker?” He inched his hand toward his holstered pistol.
Parker had his gun pointed at Luke before he touched the grip. “I didn’t want to do it this way. If you’d just let me come out alone, we’d have been fine.”
Luke’s hand tightened aroun
d the screwdriver. He could disarm Parker and ram it into his jugular. Parker had no idea how skilled Luke was in hand-to-hand combat. “I’m not going to let you set off this bomb, Parker.”
“I don’t want to set it off. My orders are to disarm it at all costs. Even if I have to kill you.”
“Your orders.”
“Yes. My orders.”
“Not from Commander Martinez.”
“No. I have a different superior.”
“Ukrainian?”
“No. Russian.”
“Bring in a TV. Let me see the news,” Yuri said. “Then I will talk.”
“No,” the FBI agent said. “We’re not going to feed you. But you should know that both the man and the woman on the ferry were caught.”
Yuri shrugged. “They knew the risks. My guess is Mykhail destroyed the engine, stranding the ferry, and Irina set off the charge to get everyone’s attention, or you wouldn’t be here. Even now, your Navy and Coast Guard are gathering around, news helicopters flying above. The whole world is watching the beginning of the end.”
“The bomb is no longer on the ferry.”
“Making a run for the ocean? That is even worse.” He grinned. “The subduction zone is an even better target.”
“How did Mykhail turn on the bomb, Yuri?”
“With a key.”
“No. The bomb is covered in corrosion. The keyholes aren’t even visible. To use keys, the corrosion would’ve been chipped away. The holes would be obvious.”
He’d expected this question. He would have used keys if he had them, but the paperwork from Object 221 had offered another way. He’d give them the truth…of a sort. “There were two bombs in Magnum’s torpedo tube. Do you know what they were for?”
“You told Ms. Gray the Soviet plan was to plant them off West Point, in Seattle.”
“That was the plan for one of the bombs, yes. The other was…trickier. When Magnum first set out, she had a tracked vehicle attached to her back, the kind that can ride up on shore. Tracks of similar vehicles were found years ago in Scandinavia and presumed to be from Soviet incursion during the Cold War. They made similar incursions here.
“The first bomb was to be buried underwater, but the second was headed for the Seattle World’s Fair science exhibit. The exhibit closed that very week, and the Soviets had a worker in place who was part of the breakdown crew. He would have planted the bomb amongst science exhibit materials, the items that were going into long-term storage as they transitioned into a permanent science museum. It would have looked like a very elaborate prop—1962 world of tomorrow at its best.”
“And?” the FBI agent asked impatiently.
Yuri kept the smile from his voice. This was useless information by now. It would merely distract them as the bomb counted down. “Because the second bomb wouldn’t be planted underwater, it was designed to be activated by radio signal.”
“You’re going to have to shoot me before I’ll let you touch this bomb, Parker. And I’m just as lethal with a screwdriver as I am with a gun.”
“I don’t want to shoot you. We’re on the same side.”
“If you’ve been spying on the US for Russia for several years, we’re not on the same side.”
“I reported nuclear sub movements through the strait. Data that can be gleaned from the Internet, but for some reason, my superiors wanted it firsthand.”
“So you sold out when you were stationed at Neah Bay?”
“No. I was stationed at Neah Bay because I am a Russian operative in deep cover.”
Sonofafuckingbitch. They’d had a Russian at the table at every single meeting. And on the boat when he dove with Undine. And—
Luke lunged for Parker, taking him by the throat.
Parker didn’t expect the move, and his gun dropped from his hand. Luke had him pinned in the puddle that filled the bow and squeezed his throat. “This is for Annie.”
Parker thrashed beneath him, but he was no match for Luke’s strength or rage. The glow of the light mounted to the front of the cabin gave just enough light to see Parker’s eyes bulge and his face go from red to blue.
“Kkkggeeee.” It was more noise than formed word, and the only sound Parker could make. “Kkkkkgggg…”
Luke loosened his hands. He still needed this asshole’s help if they were going to get this boat past the subduction zone. He’d have to hold a gun on him the entire time and forget trying to disarm the bomb.
“Key…” Parker gasped. “I have the keys. We can turn the bomb off.”
Luke kept his hands on his throat. “Where did you get the keys?”
“From the case, but I didn’t—”
Luke’s hands closed again.
“….kkkkgggg.”
Parker clawed at his wrists, shaking his head. “Dddddnzzz.”
Luke let him take a shallow breath. “Didn’t kill,” Parker said as he bucked upward.
Luke released his throat. If Parker really had the keys, it was a bad idea to kill him before getting them. He could kill him after. “Where are the keys?”
“In my pocket. Get off”—he took a heaving breath—“and I’ll show you.”
Luke inched off him, retrieving the screwdriver and holding it in a clear threat. “If you didn’t kill her, then how is it you have the keys?”
“She wasn’t there when I took the case. The museum was still open. It was before the storm. Yuri must have heard about the case and that it was at the museum after I took it. He killed Annie when he didn’t get it.”
Luke sat back, and Parker pulled two small stainless steel keys and what looked like a coin from his pocket. “The case had these two keys and this coin in it. My contact at the GRU tracked down information on the two bombs, once we knew what Yuri was looking for.”
Luke knew the GRU was Russia’s largest foreign intelligence agency. Parker had access to information directly from the source. “You knew there were two bombs.”
“Yes. It’s why I insisted on being on the ferry detail tonight. I knew it wasn’t over.”
Luke would have been happy to strangle the man again. “You might’ve given a heads-up. This whole nightmare could have been avoided.”
“My job is to make sure the bomb doesn’t go off, not to blow my cover and spend the rest of my life in a US prison.”
“You’re a real fucking hero, Parker. Or whoever you are.”
“My real name doesn’t matter. I’ve been Parker Reeves for more than half my life.”
“Cry me a fucking river. Now let’s shut off this bomb, then I’m hauling you back to your station mates so they can tear your ass apart.”
“I’m not going back with you. If you’d just let me come out here by myself, this could have been avoided.”
“Shut up and give me a damn key. We turn them at the same time, I assume.”
“Yes.”
“Where are the keyholes?”
“There are two panels—one on each end, on opposite sides.”
“How the fuck were you going to turn them both yourself?”
“I would’ve told the Osprey crew I found the keys inside and had one of them help me,” Parker said.
Luke found the first panel and used the flat-edged screwdriver to pry it open. The rusted metal snapped and shattered, but eventually, he got it open.
And swore.
The entire mechanism had corroded inside. He had to chip away at the corrosion to find the keyhole—and pray the lock mechanism still worked. He did the same with the second panel, not trusting Parker to wield the screwdriver, even though it wasted precious minutes.
“I need to radio the Coast Guard,” Parker said. “They’ll be wondering why we stopped.” He returned to the helm and used the built-in radio—which Luke couldn’t access through his dead headset. “Lt. Sevick had an idea for disarming the bomb, but it required we stop. If it doesn’t work, we’ll continue on course to meet the Osprey.”
The lie came so smoothly, and yet that shouldn’t surprise Luke. H
e’d been lying for so long, the truth would probably be far more difficult.
Luke had no choice but to keep working on the keyholes. He’d deal with Parker later. Once both keyholes were cleared and ready, Luke checked the countdown. They’d been stopped in the strait for ten minutes.
If this didn’t work, those ten minutes could cost thousands of lives.
He and Parker took their positions and counted down, then turned their keys simultaneously. Luke checked the timer. Nothing happened.
“Fuck!”
“Do it again. Maybe our timing was off.”
By their fifth attempt, sweat was pouring down Luke’s face, and he was in the middle of the damn strait on a cold November night. “The keys are useless. It’s too corroded. It sat rotting in the sea for over fifty years. It’s a wonder the timer even works at all.” But then, Yuri had been able to rewire that part of the mechanism. He’d probably had schematics for the bomb all along.
“Go back to trying to disable the timer,” Parker said.
“Wait. Let me see the coin.”
Parker shrugged and handed it to him. There was writing on each side. One side had “150” etched above “4-2-5” and the other said “3” above the letters “CCCP”. He knew what the letters stood for, but the rest was a mystery. He tucked the coin in his pocket. “Fine, I’ll work on the explosive, you get us farther down the strait.”
He took his seat again and resumed his efforts to remove the lower panel with fresh screws, hoping the surgery wouldn’t blow them all to hell. He’d just removed it when the Osprey was overhead. The tiltrotor aircraft was in helicopter mode so it could hover.
“Turn the radio back on, Parker!” he shouted. “I need to talk to the pilot.” No way could Parker hear him over the noise of the Osprey.
Even so, his radio came to life. “Interceptor to Osprey,” Parker said, “We’re having trouble with our radios. Lt. Sevick’s is down. Over.”
