EDGE OF SHADOWS: The Shadow Ops Finale (Shadow Ops, Book # 3) (32 page)

“Not without you.” Eve grabbed Rose’s arm as Rose pushed her out of the compartment.

“Stop!” Teresa’s shout carried above the noise of the boat being wrenched apart. She stood over the open section of pipe, holding a glass flask from one of the containers. “Go out that door, Rose Prospero, and I’ll kill them all.”

Rose didn’t have time to think. If Teresa dropped that flask of toxin into the water surging through the pipe, it would end up expelled out the other end, miles away, aerosolized, killing everyone in its path. She couldn’t risk it.

Not even to be with Eve.

“I’m not leaving without you,” Eve repeated, tears clouding her words. Rose pulled her close into a hug.

“I love you.”

Then she pushed Eve away and slammed the hatch shut between them. Shutting Eve outside where she could escape. Where she could live.

Eve pounded on the glass. Rose ignored her and turned to Teresa. “Just you and me, now. Why don’t you give me that flask?”

<><><>

The FAST boat was as good as its name, reaching the Lafayette in a few minutes. There was no sign of the Coast G
uard boat. Just a small motorboat at the dock and a dredging boat in the middle of the channel.

Billy borrowed the SEALs’ binoculars to scrutinize both vessels. There was one man visible in the launch, but he couldn’t see below deck. The dredger was pivoting, operating as it should, nothing suspicious about that, except for the three men in the cabin toting machine guns. Bingo.

“That’s our target,” Billy told the SEALs.

Before they could respond, there was an explosion, followed by the sudden appearance of a small whirlpool alongside the bow of the dredger. The ungainly vessel shuddered and tilted to one side as water churned into a hole in its hull.

The men on deck yelled and ran out to look. One of them spotted the SEALs and raised his weapon. Last thing he ever did. As the SEALs opened fire, the others took cover and returned fire.

Two forms appeared in the middle of the whitewater. “Help!” Jay called.

Billy shed his weapon and ballistic vest then dove overboard. Jay held KC, but it was clear she was in dire straits. Billy took her and swam back to the boat—the SEALs bringing it closer, positioning it to shield the three in the water from the gunfire.

“I have to get Chase,” Jay shouted and swam back toward the dredger. Billy handed KC up to one of the SEALs and kicked hard to follow Jay. The boy vanished as he dove beneath the surface. Billy hauled in a deep breath and followed blindly.

<><><>

Rose edged past the emergency gear hanging on the wall, aiming toward the turbine. If she disabled the powerful fan propelling the slurry, she could render the toxin harmless to anyone except her and Teresa. She spotted the breaker that controlled the power to the turbine and made her move.

The boat wrenched and twisted once more. Rose stumbled, thrown off balance. The bow dropped even further, and she skidded past the turbine, crashing into the forward hull. She looked back to see that Teresa had also been toppled by the abrupt movement—thankfully away from the pipe and against the outer hull.

Teresa stared at Rose in horror. Then down at the broken flask in her hands. Then she screamed.

The toxin was loose.

Rose held her breath and reached for the nearest emergency mask. She donned it. The respirator would provide her with a few minutes of air, but she still had to worry about absorbing the toxin through her skin. She yanked one of the survival suits off the wall. They were intended to keep sailors warm if they fell into cold seas, but their thick layers should provide her with some protection—more than her bare arms or cargo pants.

As the dredger lurched, she climbed into the suit, fastening it, trying hard not to look across the compartment at Teresa’s writhing body. It was a blessing she hadn’t reached the turbine and turned it off—the powerful fan blowing away from her was helping to slow the toxin’s dispersal in the compartment.

Teresa still screamed in agony, although only bloody froth came from her mouth. Like EZ, her eyes and nose were bleeding, but she also had blisters bubbling up all over her exposed skin.

Once she had the protective suit on, Rose turned to the door. Her only escape. Eve was still there, watching in horror, her fists pounding against the glass, her mouth making words Rose couldn't hear.

Then Rose stopped. She couldn’t open the hatch—if she did, she’d release the toxin, expose Eve. She had to wait until the toxin was rendered inactive. What had Dr. Rayburn said? Twenty minutes?

She wasn’t sure if she had that much air in the small, emergency respirator. She turned to gather the other masks, hoping she could swap out their respirators, buy herself more time, when the dredger heaved and bucked, metal groaning.

Rose was thrown to the deck once more. The bow angled down so sharply she had to cling to the braces supporting the turbine to keep from sliding away. Water began to leak into the forward part of the compartment.

There was a loud crash, and the turbine stopped, the compartment growing eerily silent for a moment.

Then the pipe below her ruptured, spewing the thick slurry of sand and ocean water into the compartment, flowing so fast it quickly covered Rose’s body where she lay on the deck.

Chapter 34

Under the water, Billy and Jay found Chase struggling to gain the surface, dragged down by the weight of his cast. Together, they each grabbed one of his arms and kicked up. When they broke the surface, Chase gasped for air, then said, “Eve and Rose, they’re still on board.”

Billy glanced at Jay. “Can you get him to the boat?”

Jay nodded, wrapping his arm around Chase’s body so they could swim in tandem. The sounds of gunfire still echoed above them, so Billy swam for the far side of the dredger’s bow. The front quarter of the boat was submerged, making it easy for him to climb on board. He came up behind the final gunman, moving as silent as his years of urban combat had taught him, and used his knife to finish the man.

He had one of the SEALs’ waterproof comm units. But before he could signal the all clear, Eve raced up from the deck below. “Billy! You have to get her out of there. She’s dying!”

Billy clambered down the ladder. Spun and came face-to-face with Rose. She was behind a locked hatch, wearing a mask and respirator, water filling the compartment behind her.

His gaze met hers. He tried to fake a smile, but it was dragged down by despair. All he could do was plant his palm against the glass separating him from her.

“That woman, Teresa, she’s dead already. Released the toxin into the compartment,” Eve said in a rush. “I thought Rose was okay, but she wouldn’t leave, and then all the water started pouring in.”

The boat stumbled, listing more toward port. Rose disappeared for a moment, then returned. Her expression was anxious, and she was pointing at Eve. Billy didn’t need a translator to know what she wanted.

“Eve, you need to go.”

“Not without Rose.”

Damn, the girl was stubborn. Thankfully, one of the SEALs appeared at the top of the ladder. “What do you need?”

“We have a toxin exposure, but it’s contained for now.” Christ, how could he be describing Rose’s dying in such sterile words? “Remove this civilian and wait on your boat for my orders.”

The SEAL, no dummy, quickly assessed the situation then jerked his head in a nod. “Standing by. Holler if you need us.”

Eve tried to protest, but she was no match for the SEAL. He hauled her up the ladder without any trouble, giving Billy a quick salute before they vanished.

Billy turned back to Rose.
How long?
he mouthed.

She held up four fingers. Four minutes. They needed sixteen more for the toxin to be rendered safe. At the rate that the compartment was filling with water, Rose didn’t have sixteen minutes. He glanced at the respirator attached to her mask. For emergency use only, it held at most ten to fifteen minutes of air.

Still leaving them short. Unless she could hold her breath for several minutes.

She rapped on the window, her expression strangely calm. Serene even. She mimed blowing him a kiss, then pointed to the ladder behind him and waved good-bye.

He shook his head. “No!” he shouted, not caring that she couldn’t possibly hear him. “Don’t you dare give up on me! Don’t you dare!”

The boat shuddered and rolled, sending Billy careening into the hatch, hanging onto its hinges to keep from being swept away by water that began to pour in from the submerged bow. The vessel was being torn apart, the hatch that once was vertical, now lying at a thirty-degree angle, almost parallel to where the deck should be.

Rose swam back to the window. Because of the change in angle, she was now completely underwater.

Which meant the toxin was as well. More diluted, plus there was the entire bay to further decrease the concentration—could he risk releasing it to save her?

No-brainer.

Because of the higher pressure pushing against the hatch from her side, he’d be unable to push the hatch open even if she did unlock it. Maybe he didn’t need her to unlock it. He scanned the corridor. The hatch on the other side of the ladder was marked
Maintenance Equipment
.

He gave her a thumbs-up, ignored her puzzled expression, and crawled away to the other compartment. Its hatch was now above him, so he took care to be behind the hatch when he opened it, allowing any loose items to fall out without hitting him.

He was rewarded with a regular Home Depot of tools and equipment. He rummaged through it, tossing aside wrenches and electrical tools. Give me a break, they had to have one, he thought, his movements growing anxious as the ship continued its downward spiral.

The bay’s depth here was only about thirty-feet. But deep enough that if he didn’t get Rose out soon, he’d need diving gear to get to her once the boat completely capsized and became submerged.

Then he saw a familiar case. Even the same brand he’d used with Delta. A Broco magnesium cutting torch, exactly what you needed to cut through steel reinforced doors and windows for midnight raids—or to cut the hinges off a steel hatch.

He returned to the hatch, cutting torch in hand. A few inches of water swirled over the hatch, but it had stopped rising. For now. He quickly set up the torch—it was designed for SWAT and rescue operations, so it didn’t take long. He lit it, rejoicing in the bright flame of the magnesium, and held it up to the window for Rose to see.

She was gone. Vanished in the swirling maelstrom of sand and saltwater.

<><><>

When Billy vanished, Rose felt a curious sense of lightness. As if she weighed nothing, her final worry relieved.

The dredger rolled, the current taking her with it, and this time she didn’t fight it. Billy had given her a thumbs-up. Meaning he was going to be okay. He’d make sure Eve was taken care of. Meaning it hadn’t all been for nothing.

She wished…well, there was a hell of a lot that she wished for. But she’d never had a place in her life for regrets before, no reason to start now.

The water that tore at her from one direction to the next slowed, the compartment finally filled. Her mask was almost useless in the murky, thick salt-sand slurry; she might as well have been blind.

Maybe there was one regret. That she had been blind to Billy’s true feelings for so long. Wasted time… That she’d never told him how she felt about him, how he’d saved her life in Razgravia, been her lifeline out of that hellhole.

She fell against something solid. The turbine’s outer casing. Good as place as any. She swung an arm through one of the support struts—used to be vertical, but now it was horizontal—stretched out her legs and allowed the water to buoy her. It was kind of nice, relaxing, nothing to do or think about… Was this what taking a vacation felt like?

Billy had promised her a beach and sand, the ocean. Closest she was going to get. Her pulse sped a little, and she realized she was probably getting a bit punch-happy. Carbon dioxide narcosis, which meant the respirator was failing.

She should be worried about that, she knew, but somehow, she just couldn’t be bothered.

Stray beams of bright light, as if the water was on fire, danced in the distance. Pretty. She settled in, watching, mesmerized. Her vision filled with spots, and her chest hurt. She pushed the pain aside. Eve’s face flitted through her mind. She was going to be okay. Rose only wished she could have been around to see her grow into the beautiful, capable woman she knew she would be.

Billy. No worries there. He was Delta, prepared for anything. Even this.

KC, Chase, Lucky, and the rest of her team flowed past, old friends saying good-bye. She smiled, totally calm, and closed her eyes. Surrendering. She’d never, ever surrendered to anyone or anything in her entire life. Not to her father. Not to grief or pain or fear. Not even to Grigor.

Funny, it wasn’t as terrifying as she’d expected…

The water rushed past her once again, followed by a huge thud that rocked through her like an earthquake. She didn’t bother opening her eyes; she just didn’t care.