Mega 3: When Giants Collide (Mega Series) (28 page)

“We don’t know,” Cougher said. “I sent some of the crew down below to look for breaches, but they haven’t reported any yet.”

“Good,” Ballantine said, “because we need the ship in working order. I don’t know how much time we have.” Ballantine looked up at the sky and noted how the sun was slowly dipping towards the horizon. “The strike will come while it’s still daylight so the blast can’t be seen miles away.”

“Awesome,” Max replied sarcastically, “thanks for the nuke update. Now, how about someone go get my fucking uncle and love of my life, please!”

“Take us to the ship,” Ballantine said to Mike. “Then we go get them.”

“Will do,” Mike said.

“Hey!” Max shouted over the com. “You’re wasting time! Just go get them!”

“Dude,” Shane said, “we saw what just happened. We don’t even know if they’re still alive. Lucy is bleeding out and Sis has a concussion. We’re bringing them and the civilians back to the ship, then I swear I’ll get in that water myself and grab that shark by the fucking tail if I have to.”

“They’re still alive,” was all Max said. “They have to be.”

***

The Zodiac was crushed easily and Darby had just managed to get free of it before the shark’s jaws closed fully and swallowed the raft whole.

“Commander!” she called out. “Thorne!”

“Here,” Thorne replied from below her in the water. “Come on.”

He tapped her ankle and pointed towards the gate controls that were about a hundred yards away. Darby nodded and swam as fast and hard as she could after Thorne. She never looked back, knowing that she didn’t have the luxury of time to check on the shark’s location.

She was about halfway to the gate controls when she felt herself start to tire. Then the throbbing began and she looked down to see the gash across her right thigh.

“Fuck,” she said, “I got nicked.”

Thorne reached the big, red button then turned and looked back at Darby.

“That’s more than a nick,” he said. “Ingrid? Can you hear me?”

“Yes,” Ingrid replied, “I see her vitals and I’m adjusting the suit to help.”

Darby moaned as the compression suit tightened about her right leg and hip. Thorne swam out to her and helped get her to the gate controls.

“You going to make it?” he asked.

“I think so,” Darby said then shook her head back and forth. “Yeah. I’ll make it.”

“Good,” Thorne said, “because we have a job to do.”

They both looked at the massive shark that had finished with the Zodiac and was swimming back and forth between the lagoon and the B3.

“What’s it doing?” Darby asked.

“It’s your blood,” Thorne said. “Its instincts tell it to follow the scent trail to you, but its programming says to go after the ship.”

“It’s stuck in a loop,” Darby said.

“Yes,” Thorne replied. “It doesn’t know which way to go.”

***

Ballantine stepped onto the bridge with Dr. Morganton and Boris while Ronald stood outside on the landing.

“Hello there, Ingrid,” Ballantine said. “This is Boris and our hairy guest there is Ronald.”

Ingrid stared with her mouth hanging open.

“Yes, that’s generally the reaction,” Ballantine said as he snapped his fingers in front of her face, “but you’re going to have to save being stunned for later. Right now, we need you to send that shark into the lagoon so we can be on our way before the ICBM turns this area into a radioactive mess.”

“Yeah, sure,” Ingrid said as she had to force herself to look away from Ronald and down at her tablet. “Right. Shark. Send shark.”

“Good girl,” Ballantine said. “Now, if my ear heard right, the shark doesn’t know whether it wants to eat Darby or attack the ship, yes?”

“Yes,” Ingrid nodded.

“Is that Bigfoot?” Cougher asked, not having to turn his attention away from Ronald at all. “That’s a fucking bigfoot, isn’t it?”

“I am not a fucking anything,” Ronald frowned and he leaned down so he could look through the bridge’s hatch at Cougher. “I am a gigantopithecus, an ancient and noble line of hominids.”

“Wow,” Cougher stared. “Bigfoot.”

“Well, you’re a rude one,” Ronald said and left the landing to walk up to the observation deck.

“Did I piss it off? Is it going to eat me?” Cougher asked.

“Yes, to both questions,” Ballantine said with a smirk. “Now, call down to the galley and have them bring up every bit of meat we have, will you?”

“Meat?” Cougher asked.

“Meat,” Ballantine nodded.

***

“Set her there!” Gunnar yelled as Shane and Darren carried Lucy into the infirmary. “Scrub up, because I’ll need your help!”

“I need to go and help Uncle Vinny and Darby,” Shane said.

“I have to go get Kinsey,” Darren said, “she’s still up on deck.”

“Fine,” Gunnar said. “Shane, you go get your uncle and Darby. Darren, you’re staying here. Kinsey will be fine, but Lucy may not be.”

Darren started to argue, but Gunnar held up a bloody hand.

“Do what I fucking say, D!” Gunnar snapped. “I’m Chief Medical Officer on this ship and during a medical emergency. You do what the fuck I tell you to do!”

“Yeah, right,” Darren nodded as he hurried over to the sink. “Sorry.”

Gunnar looked over at Shane. “Go. We have this. Bring Vincent and Darby back to us.”

Shane nodded and took off out of the infirmary.

***

Blood, the ever pulling call.

The shark swung its head about and began to swim towards Darby and her irresistible wound. Its tail whipped back and forth, as it built up speed and came at the woman in a frenzy of evolutionary instinct and pure will.

Then the splashing began and the scent of more blood, more meat, and more food. There was no longer a decision to be made. Meat, blood, and a target were right behind it. The scent of the meat and blood wasn’t as fresh as it was coming from the other way, but it was still the scent of blood.

The shark turned itself quickly and shot towards the B3.

***

“Here it comes!” Ingrid cried. “Get ready, everybody! If the pineapples don’t work then it’s going to hit us hard!”

“Great,” Cougher said, “just great.”

Ingrid watched the shark approach as it moved at a speed she really never thought possible. Just before it reached the pineapples closest to the ship, she pressed the button on her tablet and waited.

Everyone waited.

“What’s happening?” Darby asked over the com.

“Is it turning back to you?” Ingrid asked.

“No!” Darby said.

“Shit,” Ingrid replied, “shit, shit, shit.”

“Hold on,” Darby said. “Wait. Oh, wow…”

“That’s high praise indeed,” Ballantine said. “A Darby ‘oh, wow’ means quite a lot.”

***

The sensory assault was beyond torture for the massive creature. It felt as if its own teeth had punctured its brain, sending bolts of pain shooting through every nerve ending. The shark turned and fled, forgetting the lure of the meat, forgetting the lure of the blood, forgetting the target that waited in the water, ripe and ready for destruction.

All the shark wanted to do was escape the agony that threatened to overwhelm it.

Then the agony built and built. Every direction it went it was tormented by its own senses; senses that had never let it down before, never betrayed it in such a way that all it wanted to do was dive down to the bottom of the ocean and die.

Then the pain leveled off and the shark found a window of relief just ahead. A sanctuary where it could retreat from the brutal torture that the open ocean hammered down on it.

The shark aimed itself for the lagoon and put every ounce of energy it had into getting away from the never-ending sensory overload.

***

“There it goes!” Ingrid cried over the com. “It’s coming for you!”

“We see it,” Thorne said. “Trust me, we see it.”

Thorne looked over at Darby and was alarmed to see the woman barely conscious. She floated in the water, her legs and arms moving just enough to keep her in place. At that moment, Thorne’s respect for the woman as a warrior grew. Not that he needed to see anything more to prove that Darby was the most skilled and determined on his Team. The fact that she refused to succumb to her wound and situation made him smile.

If he could smile around the rebreather mustache.

The shark rocketed towards the lagoon.

Thorne watched it rush at him and for a split second, he almost lost his resolve. The beast didn’t look like it was headed for the lagoon’s opening, but right for him and Darby. Maybe the blood was what it wanted most after all.

“Darby,” Thorne said, “we may need to move.”

“Fuck...that,” Darby said as she reached out and placed her hand on Thorne’s as it rested on the bug, red button. “It’ll turn.”

The shark came at them, its mouth open wide. Thorne pulled his channel pistol and took aim, knowing that the weapon would do almost nothing against a creature that size.

Then the monster seemed to shudder and suddenly adjusted course. It aimed itself directly into the lagoon and before Thorne knew it, the creature had passed him and Darby and it was through the gate.

Darby’s hand weakly pushed down on Thorne’s and they both pressed the button, activating the lagoon’s containment gate. Before the gate was even closed, Thorne had one arm under Darby and was swimming them both away from the lagoon and up to the surface.

“Hold on,” Thorne said. “You stay with me. We’ll get you on board and Gunnar will fix you up.”

There was no reply and Thorne looked over at the woman. Her eyes were closed and her head bobbed loosely in the water.

“Oh, fuck,” Thorne said as they broke the surface.

Hands grabbed at him and he started to fight, and he then saw the Zodiac and his nephew Shane above him.

“I don’t know if she’s breathing!” Thorne yelled as he pulled the rebreather from his mouth. “She’s lost too much blood!”

“I got her,” Shane said as he pulled Darby up into the Zodiac. “Get your ass in now, Uncle Vinny.”

Thorne grabbed onto the side of the Zodiac and hauled himself up just as Mike swung the raft around and gunned it back to the B3. He slumped into the raft and looked over at Darby’s sheet white face.

“Somebody better tell Max,” Thorne said.

“He’s listening,” Shane replied as he put pressure on Darby’s wound. “He’ll be waiting for us.”

Thorne leaned back against the Zodiac and closed his eyes for just a second. He needed to catch his breath, to get just a small respite from the chaos of the moment. He was getting too old for the Team shit and the old SEAL adage of “sleep when you can” was no longer going to be enough for his body.

When they got back to the B3, no matter what Darby’s outcome, Thorne was going to make a few changes.

Chapter Ten- Under Their Own Power

Ballantine stood on the upper deck next to Thorne as they watched Darby be carried through the hatch and down into the ship.

“She’ll make it,” Thorne said.

“Yes, I am sure she will,” Ballantine replied.

“She’s strong,” Thorne said.

“The strongest person I have ever known,” Ballantine responded.

“You going to be okay?” Thorne asked.

“I’ll be fine,” Ballantine said.

There was a sharp ringing from Ballantine’s pocket and he pulled out a sleek, black sat phone.

“Is that a different phone?” Thorne asked as he looked at the phone. “How many of those do you have?”

Ballantine gave him a sly grin. “As many as I need.”

“Of course,” Thorne nodded. “You better get that before they hang up.”

“Oh, this person would never hang up on me,” Ballantine said, “but if you’ll excuse me.”

Ballantine walked a few feet away and took a deep breath.

“William,” he said as he answered the call, “what do you have for me?”

Thorne didn’t bother to pretend he wasn’t listening as he watched Ballantine closely. Nor did Ballantine pretend he was been listened to.

“That close? Right, no, I see… No, the ship is crippled… Yes, I understand and I appreciate it. You’ve risked everything to help me out and it won’t be forgotten… We can try, but I’m not sure the facility’s vaults will be enough to save us… Yes, quite unfortunate. Has Protocol Fifty-four been fully implemented? Good. The company is liquidated? Excellent. Thank you for overseeing that part… Yes, yes, I know... I can’t say it hasn’t been fun, William. Give my best to your wife and little Kristi and thank you again for everything… Hey, hey, cheer up, man. I’ve had a great run and the people I’m with are professionals. When you watch the satellite feed, be sure to say a prayer for us.”

Ballantine gave Thorne a wide grin then wiped it from his mouth so it wouldn’t be reflected in his voice.

“Right, how stupid of me, of course the satellites have been retasked. Can’t have any record of an illegal nuclear detonation anywhere on the servers. The international shitstorm that would happen if those records were leaked would be catastrophic to the United States’ intelligence community. God knows those people don’t need more of that.”

Thorne furrowed his brow with worry, but Ballantine gave him a wink and a thumbs up.

“William, again, thank you,” Ballantine said. “I wish you all the luck in life. Goodbye, friend.”

Ballantine ended the call then threw the phone over the side of the ship.

“I’m sure you have another one,” Thorne said. Ballantine shrugged.

“We have about an hour before the ICBM reaches the island,” Ballantine said to Thorne. “Not much time to get away, but it should be enough with Moshi’s modifications.”

“What the fuck was that all about?” Thorne asked. “We are not on the island and the ship is not without power.”

“Well, duh,” Ballantine replied, “but they don’t know that. I just provided all the cover we need for our deaths.”

“For our what?” Thorne exclaimed. “Our deaths?”

“It’s the only way to get governments and certain organizations to leave us alone,” Ballantine shrugged. “We have to die in order to be free. They will hound us to the ends of the Earth if we don’t take ourselves off the board.”

“So we fake our deaths and then what?” Thorne asked. “We spend the rest of our lives in hiding on this ship?”

“What? No, don’t be stupid,” Ballantine said. “Do you know how valuable we’ll be as an outfit when we become ghosts? I have more than a few aliases I can use to secure us employment when needed. We’ll be active and alive, just the only people that will know it.”

“You’re insane,” Thorne said. “This should have been something we discussed before you pulled the trigger. You had no right to do this to everyone, Ballantine.”

“Bullshit, Vincent,” Ballantine replied as he turned and looked out at the island. “I had every right. This is what you signed up for back at that cabin on the California coast all that time ago. You knew who I was then and you know who I am now. I’m the man that kills us all, but makes us more alive than any of us have ever been before.”

Thorne started to respond then just shook his head.

“You’ll see,” Ballantine said, “it’ll all work out just fine.”

Far off, in the island’s lagoon, the massive shark surfaced for a second then disappeared below the water once more.

“I will miss the sharks, though,” Ballantine said. “That baby is the last of her kind. We’re done with the things from here on out. When this island is obliterated, that shark will be as well. Pretty much anything within a mile radius will be vaporized. Oh well, sharks aren’t the only adventures out there, as you well know.”

“You crazy fuck,” Thorne said. “I’m going to go check on my daughter.”

“Good thing to do,” Ballantine said. “I’m going to make sure we turn this ship around and get away from this doomed island as fast as possible.”

“Yeah, you do that,” Thorne responded as he walked off.

Ballantine watched the man go then turned and hurried to the steps and up to the bridge.

***

Sweat dripped from Gunnar’s forehead as he finished suturing Darby’s leg. He’d managed to stop the bleeding, but she’d lost so much blood that keeping her stable was the real trick.

“Can you dress that?” Gunnar asked Darren as he stepped back from the table. “My eyes are about to cross.”

“Yeah, I got it,” Darren said. “Check on Lucy, then sit your ass down.”

Gunnar gave him a weak smile then started to move over to the table that Lucy lay on, but shouting from out in the passageway got his attention and he turned towards the door.

“That was something you should have accounted for, Carlos!” Ballantine roared. “That is why you are still employed by me! So that you can predict technological issues like this and fix them before we have to escape nuclear destruction! Is that too much to fucking ask? Is it?”

Carlos and Ballantine hurried past the door just as Gunnar got there. He looked into the passageway and saw Shane and Mike rushing towards him along with several members of the support crew.

“What is going on?” Gunnar asked.

“That device of Moshi’s that makes the engines go way faster won’t work if the engines are shielded with Carlos’s metal shit,” Shane said as he skidded to a stop. “We’re all heading down to the engine room to strip off the shielding so Moshi can get her thing running again.”

“The engines are running fine now,” Gunnar said, “what’s the problem?”

“The problem is we have an ICBM headed straight for the island and if we don’t get clear we’ll be crispy critters in about forty-five minutes,” Shane said.

“Plus the surge from the blast,” Mike added. “These waters are about to be hell. The nuke could produce fifty foot waves, easy.”

Shane looked in at Darby and Lucy. “You better secure them and do what you can now while we have power,” he said, “because even if we get clear of the blast radius, we’re going to be dead in the water as soon as the EMP hits us. Ballantine doesn’t think we can outrun that.”

“Fuck,” Gunnar said then waved at Shane and Mike. “Go help. Do whatever you can.”

The two men nodded and sprinted away. Gunnar was about to turn his attention back to his patients when he heard Max call out.

“Care if I sit with you guys?” Max asked as he limped down the passageway. “I’m not going to be much use to anyone else. I’d rather hang in the infirmary with you and the ladies.”

“How’s Kinsey?” Gunnar asked as Max hobbled through the door. “Do I need to go up there and check on her?”

“There’s no one up there,” Max said. “Ballantine had all the upper decks cleared. Hatches are being battened and shit secured. Even if we live, things aren’t going to be fun.”

“Have they ever?” Gunnar asked.

Max looked from Gunnar to Darren and couldn’t help but smile. “Well, yeah. I’ve never had more fun in my life. Haven’t you guys been having a total blast?”

“Nope,” Darren said.

Gunnar sighed. “No.”

“Alright then,” Max said and pointed at a stool. “Set that by my lady friend, will ya? I need to take a load off this leg. Hey! Darby and I will have matching leg wounds!”

“Not quite,” Gunnar said. “Yours wasn’t nearly as life threatening as Darby’s.”

“Do me a favor and don’t tell her that, okay?” Max said. “I want to milk the whole wounded together thing for as long as I can.”

“Jesus, Max,” Gunnar said, “you really have no idea what you’re doing, do you?”

“What? What do you mean?” Max asked.

“Never mind,” Gunnar said as he plopped a stool next to Darby’s table. “Just sit down and rest that leg, and rest that brain. You may have overloaded it today.”

“You’re the doctor,” Max smiled as he sat down.

***

Carlos’s shielding was torn free of the engine equipment and tossed out into the passageway. Men hauled it as far away from the room while Moshi squatted inside, her hands working as fast as possible to get her device hooked back up.

“You can’t blame me,” Carlos snapped at Ballantine as they stood over Moshi and watched her work. “I did what you said and created shielding for the engines. You never said it had to work with Moshi’s booster. Not once did you mention that.”

“We are done discussing it, Carlos,” Ballantine replied, “not another word on the subject.”

“There,” Moshi said quietly.

“It’s finished?” Ballantine asked. Moshi nodded. “Excellent. Thank you for doing your job, Moshi. It’s greatly appreciated.”

He tapped at the com in his ear.

“Cougher? You set up in the auxiliary bridge?”

“Yeah, I’m set up,” Cougher said.

“Then push this ship to its limits,” Ballantine ordered. “You red line these engines as much as you can and get us as far as you can, do you hear me?”

“Yes, I hear you,” Cougher said. “You’re talking in my ear. All ahead, full steam.”

“Thank you,” Ballantine said, “now, patch me through to the ship’s PA, will you?”

“I’m not the communications officer,” Cougher said.

“Just do it,” Ballantine snapped then looked at Moshi again. “Why can’t everyone be as agreeably silent like you?”

Moshi just shrugged.

***

“Attention crew of the Beowulf III,” Ballantine’s voice rang throughout the ship. “As all of you have heard by now, there is a nuclear missile coming to destroy the island we were just by. While I had intended to use the missile as a way to fake our deaths and free us from the pursuit of our enemies, there have been some unforeseen technical issues that could derail that plan and it may lead to our actual deaths. For this, I apologize.

“Now, let me just say before everyone panics that my gut is telling me we will survive. Unfortunately, my gut is also telling me that we will not survive unscathed. The ship’s engines have been modified and we are currently moving at sixty knots. That should get us clear of the blast radius, and hopefully, any dangerous waves that are produced by the blast, but it will not get us clear of the EMP that the blast will produce.

“Carlos has been working hard to shield what equipment he can, but in order for the engines to work at the capacity we need them, they cannot be shielded. That means once the EMP reaches us, it is highly likely that our engines will be fried. Will they be too damaged to repair? That I do not know, but let me assure you that I have the utmost confidence in this crew that we have the skills and expertise needed to get us up, and going as soon as possible.

“Until that time, I ask that you remain at your stations or in your cabins. Strap yourselves in and hang on. If you thought life with me was bumpy before, it’s about to get a whole lot worse.

“Thank you for listening. Ballantine out.”

***

“Well, that was a bunch of crap,” Thorne muttered as he sat next to Kinsey’s bunk and held her hand. She muttered something back, but he couldn’t make it out so he just leaned in and kissed her brow. “I think you could have done a better job at a rally speech than that.”

He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. All there was left to do was wait.

***

The missile soared above the ocean, racing at over 15,000 miles per hour. The water that was only twenty feet below it, spread out in a wide fan in the wake of its passage.

The island, its target, lay before it, thirty miles away, then five, and then none.

The missile impacted on the beach that connected with the dock. Both beach and dock were gone in less than .05 seconds after impact. The entire island was gone in less than .1 seconds. All that was left was a massive fireball and mushroom cloud that reached far up into the late afternoon sky.