Shiva (68 page)

Fucking bull sharks. Great whites usually
accidently
bit you. They wanted seals. Once they took a bite and figured out you tasted bad, they were more than likely to spit you back out
,
giving you a chance to survive.

The bull shark? No such luck. They bit and held on
—
tight. If they did happen to let you go
,
it was only for a moment. They latched right back on. They were ferocious and committed to eating whatever they had caught.

Not a good combination.

“
It
’
s working!
”
Levont announced
,
and sure enough
,
the back of the plane wasn
’
t quite as underwater as a moment before.

But then the water churned as several dorsal fins cut the water. Rebecca clung to Brandt as Lopez
’
s head popped above the waves. Just as a shark lunged for him, Lopez hit the shark square in the nose with a pack. The beast reeled away as Lopez tossed the bag onto the plane.

Brandt rushed over to help Levont haul the corporal out of the water, while Davidson filmed it all
,
of course.

Lopez pulled a string of life vests after him as well.
“
I
’
ve got four vests that
—
”
Another shark jumped out of the water, snagging the last vest, cutting the line, taking his prize with him.
“
Make that three vests.
”

“
Ricky!
”
Rebecca chided him, helping him climb f
a
rther up the plane.

Lopez shook off all the help
.
I
nstead
,
he dropped to his knees and opened the gear that he
’
d salvaged. It was a pack of two rather large lifeboats. He pulled the cord and they began to fill with air.

“
What the
…?
”
Levont said
,
dancing back from the inflating rafts.

Lopez shook his head, spraying water on all of them.
“
Please, these experimental planes crash as often as they land. They
’
ve got the most sophisticated emergency rescue equipment on the planet.
”

“
You are expecting us to take those out…in those waters?
”

It wouldn
’
t be long before sharks realized that rubber was not tooth-proof.

“
Nah,
”
Lopez stated.
“
Levont
,
let
’
s put those muscles to work.
”

Actually
,
it took Levont, Rebecca
,
and himself to maneuver the first life raft under the wing and secure it. The second was easier to position. Suddenly
,
their sinking plane was now floating peacefully on the sea.

Lopez grabbed two paddles and held them up.
“
Who wants to row?
”

* * *

Frellan breathed in the stale oxygen of his face
mask. The pilot and copilot were both dead
,
along with two of their men. The rest braced themselves against the back of the chairs, keeping their heads above water.

The water was surprisingly warm, almost soothing. God
’
s small gift to them.

“
We
’
ve got to find a way out,
”
Monnie complained
,
as was her want.

He indicated out the window where a shark tail glided past.
“
Feel free.
”
Because beyond the sharks were bright flashes of red and orange. As a matter of fact
,
their jet had gone down nose first into a lava flow. Slowly
,
they drifted down the molten slope.

So perhaps he should not have characterized the pilot and copilot as dead. They were more dissolved down to their elemental components than simply deceased.

“
I do have to say,
”
Benedicto said, pulling his mask away for a moment
,
“
t
he Disciples know how to treat a guest.
”

“
How long will the oxygen last?
”
Monnie asked.

Frellan did not bother to answer her. Their SOS had gone out. They were only a few miles off the coast of Israel. I
f
there was anywhere to crash
-
land into a volcano surrounded by sharks
,
it was here.

He looked over to Mikhal
,
who stood stoically as always. Without even a mask on. Frellan would never speak it aloud, but standing here, waiting while sharks circled, he began to understand
t
he sniper perhaps a bit more.

“
We can
’
t have more than a half an hour of oxygen,
”
Monnie informed the group.

Ah, dear sweet innocent Monnie. Now she had stirred fear. Fear he would now need to extinguish. He gave the slightest nod to Mikhal. Three muted
pops
sounded and half of their mercenaries slumped forward, abandoning their now useless oxygen masks.

Monnie sucked hard on her mask, those pretty green eyes of hers dilating. She did
,
however
,
quiet.

Sometimes stillness did win the game.

CHAPTER 26

═══════════
═══════

Undisclosed Location

3:27
p
.
m
.
(
EST
)

Bunny burst in to find the attic in just as much disarray as she had left it. Stark
’
s mom was right behind her.

“
Oh
,
honey,
”
she chided
,
“
h
ow many times have I told you to bring your dishes downstairs?
”

“
Mom!
”
Stark exclaimed
,
pointing to the all the red flashing lights.

The woman gave out a heavy sigh as she sat down at a workstation.
“
All
’
s I am saying is a messy desk leads to a messy mind.
”

“
I
’
m sorry,
”
Prenner said, shaking his head as the woman logged in.
“
But we can
’
t have a someone without the proper
—
”

Stark stood up.
“
Look. My mom might or might not have been on the FBI
’
s most wanted cyber crimes list during the
nineties
. She may or may not be in the Witness Protection Program. She may or may
not
be foreign royalty.
”
He put his hands on his mom
’
s shoulders.
“
What I can say for sure is that she is the best damn hacker I know. If we want to save Brandt and the rest, we
’
ve got to let her help.
”

Finally
,
Prenner nodded.

Stark
’
s mom patted her son
’
s hand.
“
That was so sweet, dear. However
,
it isn
’
t going to get you out of trouble for laying down such sloppy code. Your reliance on spaghetti code is really not doing you any good.
”

“
Mom
,
”
Stark complained as he sat down at the desk again.

Bunny looked up as footage of a volcano played out.
“
What
’
s that?
”

“
Oh,
”
Emily chimed in,
“
t
here are now four volcanoes in the Mediterranean, Rebecca
’
s plane crashed
,
and Vakasa
’
s micro-tremors have stopped.
”

“
Oh, is that all?
”
Bunny groaned. She just went downstairs and maybe grabbed a Tab cola, but that was it.

Stark
’
s mom nodded to the screen.
“
Hon, you worry about where that little girl got off to. I
’
ll handle this hacker punk.
”

Immediately
,
the red flashing lights faded out as the normal lights came back on
,
and then there was silence. No alarms. No buzzers. No klaxons.

For the first time in two days, Bunny felt like they might actually be in control.

* * *

Brandt sloshed through the shoreline waters of Palmahim, a small Israeli beachside resort. He carried Rebecca in his arms. Not that she was injured, they just needed her to look injured.

The other men followed along
,
abandoning their floating plane. They
’
d hit the shore just in time
,
as the hold
had taken
on too much water for even the lifeboats to hold up. A crowd met them at the water
’
s edge.

Davidson explained in Hebrew that their plane had been downed by the volcano and that Rebecca needed immediate medical help. For once
,
it was a good thing there wasn
’
t a doctor in the house.

One of the older men pointed to his old beat
-
up Hyundai pickup truck. He handed the keys off to Davidson. That was the kid for you. Even scarred up
,
he could charm the coat off an Eskimo.

Brandt loaded his fiancée into the back as the other men piled into the cab. He hugged Rebecca close as Lopez pulled them out of the seaside parking lot and onto the road. Not until they turned the corner, heading east toward Jerusalem
,
did Brandt let her up.

“
Great job.
”

“
I didn
’
t have to dig all that deep to play injured.
”

They both watched the new volcanoes sputter and spew. They were throwing up more ash than lava now. The sky becoming a dark
-
gr
a
y smudge. The sun barely peeked out from the horizon, flaring its last rays. If these explosions were anything like the Icelandic
Eyjafjöll
eruption, they wouldn
’
t be seeing the sun for a few days
,
if not weeks. More than likely
,
air travel all over Europe and the Middle East would grind to a halt. Perhaps as far as Western Asia and Northern Africa.

Even if command wanted to send them support, they were shit out of luck now.

As the sun set on the glowing volcanoes, Rebecca looked toward the east.
“
Do you think Vanderwalt would really hurt her?
”

Frowning
,
Brandt sighed.
“
A few hours ago
,
I would have said no way, no how. Of course
,
at that point
,
I thought Talli was a sniper too.
”

Rebecca lightly punched his leg.
“
No
,
you didn
’
t.
”

He couldn
’
t help but smile.
“
I guess that one didn
’
t come as a complete shocker.
”

She snuggled up against him as they finished their most unusual pilgrimage.

* * *