Kronos (25 page)

He’d seen failed tests of cavitating torpedoes on one of his post-SEAL, top-secret Navy projects. His job had been to assess the lethality of the weapons and gauge any environmental impacts the warheads might have. A cavitating torpedo pushes water away from the projectile, allowing it to move through a pocket of air, reducing friction and allowing it to move at incredibly fast speeds. An underwater missile. The ones Atticus had seen worked, but the high speeds made the trajectories erratic, sometimes veering off target. Until guidance technology caught up with the speed, they were unpredictable at best. But the consistency of these torpedoes made it clear that Trevor had overcome the technological hang-up.

Kronos neared the surface and picked up speed, but the torpedoes closed the distance with ease. A wail tore through the ocean following the first explosion. Each torpedo found its target, and they were hurting the creature.

Giona…

Atticus focused his vision on the bow of the
Titan.
He had to put a stop to this. He had to save his girl. By the time he parked the sub and sprinted up countless decks, he’d be too tired to stop anyone, and the hunt would most likely have come to a conclusion by then. He knew Trevor was driven, but he’d also proven himself to be sensitive, or a very good actor. Still, he might negotiate.

With the surface fifty feet above, Atticus saw only one chance to reach Trevor in time. He positioned
Ray
at a forty-five-degree angle, heading straight for the
Titan
’s bow. Then he crammed his thumb down on the yellow button, activating the sub’s auxiliary thrusters. If
Ray
was as aerodynamic as he thought, his plan might work. If not, he’d give the
Titan’s
side
its first blemish on the otherwise pristine hull. As the sub’s speed built far beyond the rate at which it had gone the first time Atticus had pushed the button… for just a moment, he saw an explosion of bubbles burst from the sub’s nose.

Ray
could cavitate!

Before Atticus checked the sub’s speed, the air bubble at the sub’s nose, burped into the open air. As the ship rose higher and higher through the air, the white hull of the
Titan
loomed. Rising quickly, the airborne
Ray
shot toward the figurehead, a shouting Viking woman brandishing sword and shield. She threatened to put a quick end to Ray’s first flight, but merely managed to scratch the sub’s white underbelly.

As the sub leveled out, Atticus got a clear view of the
Titan.
The first thing he saw was a massive cannon aiming out to sea.
Where did that thing come from?
He thought. Then his eyes widened as he saw the bridge come into view.
Ray
plummeted straight for it. Atticus quickly located his seat belt, yanked it tight, and waited for the head-on collision that would end his life and save his daughter’s.

38

The Titan

After the depth-charge-spewing machine known as a hedgehog spat out its barrage of the underwater incendiaries, the group on the
Titan
’s bridge had turned their attention back to the viewscreens. The pictures provided by
Ray
’s several cameras provided a perfect view for what was about to transpire.

Atticus and the beast had both become aware of the falling depth charges, but neither had reacted quickly enough to escape the thunder that followed. The water around
Ray
had become a cauldron of bubbles, pushed and shoved by the tumultuous force of the explosions. The group watched in rapt attention as Atticus steadied himself in his seat and managed to lift off the seafloor with the help of a nearby explosion that almost knocked the submersible on its back.

Trevor clapped gleefully. “That’s it, Atticus old boy! Make a run for it! Show us what you’ve got!”

And Atticus did.

Trevor’s eyes remained fixed and unblinking, absorbing every detail of Atticus’s ascent, commingling with that of the beast. Mortal enemies locked in combat only moments before, now fled together, moving about each other like participants in a well-choreographed dance.

Trevor realized that they were two of a kind. Top predators each. For a moment he felt sick to his stomach, wondering if attacking so abruptly had been prudent. Atticus remained a dangerous man, and it became quite evident he might survive the depth-charge assault. Would he understand the decision to attack? Perhaps from a military point of view. But with his daughter alive inside Kronos, Trevor doubted it. Then he remembered who he was and that it was his God-given right to do whatever the hell he pleased.

His fear turned to excitement when he realized that for the first time in ages, he actually felt fear. A smile spread across his face, and he laughed as Atticus neared the surface and parted ways with the creature.

Turning to Remus, he said, “Launch four torpedoes from the
Titan
at once and take aim with the cannon. I want you to take the first possible shot when Kronos breaches the surface.

Remus relayed the command to fire torpedoes one through four, then sat behind a console featuring a targeting screen with a crosshair at its center. Gone were the days of entering coordinates to aim the cannon. Using the
Sat-Optics Hawkeye
system procured by Trevor, Remus could aim using the screen, zooming in up to 100x optically on a target to ensure accuracy. Or he could uplink to a satellite and select the target with the click of a mouse; like a video game if the target was in range, the cannon would adjust and fire. He was using the optic option at the moment, watching for some sign of Kronos’s body to swell out of the ocean.

“Torpedoes away.” Trevor stood over Remus’s shoulder, watching the screen, waiting for the torpedoes to finish Kronos off. A rising mountain of water told him the first torpedo had found its target.

Having heard the explosion near the surface, Andrea began struggling and shouting obscenities. But nothing could pull Trevor’s attention away from the task at hand.

“Almost, my good Remus,” Trevor encouraged with a whisper. “The time to act will soon be at hand.”

A second plume of water burst to the surface as another torpedo exploded. It was followed by a swell of water, forced up by a massive body rising from beneath. Remus steadied himself for the kill.

“Holy shit! Is he insane?” O’Shea’s voice instantly caught Trevor’s attention and threw off Remus’s aim. He whirled around, found O’Shea’s eyes upon the video screens, and looked to them. Three of the four screens showed nothing but blue sky. The fourth revealed an image of the ocean, shrinking away. And the fifth showed Atticus, face set with a solid gaze, finger still gripping
Ray
’s booster trigger. The man had flown
Ray
right out of the ocean!

Remus turned and looked at the screen. “What the hell?”

As all eyes were locked on the strange spectacle of Atticus flying through the air, each pair widened as the front view from
Ray
leveled out, and they saw the bridge of the
Titan.
Trevor whirled around and saw for himself that it was true. Atticus had not only taken
Ray
airborne, but he’d also aimed it straight for the bridge. It seemed the man was so angry about Trevor’s disregard for his and his daughter’s lives, that Atticus embraced the way of the kamikaze.

As Trevor shifted his weight, about to break for the exit, he noticed the targeting screen for the cannon. Rising out of the water was a large hump of sleek, dark flesh. Kronos had risen. “Fire, Remus! Fire!” he screamed.

It only took a fraction of a second for Remus to look at the screen, see that his aim was true, and fire the big gun. The shock wave of the cannon rocked the bridge and sent hands to ears. The projectile exploded faster than the eye could follow, passing just beneath the flying submersible’s belly. The only evidence Trevor had that something had issued from the cannon was a brilliant splash of red in the distance.

Blood.

Success!

Remembering his own dire predicament, Trevor moved his eyes from the screen to the view outside the bridge window. Expecting a sudden death, he was pleased to see the curvature of
Ray
’s design and the wind pushing against it, direct the sub in a downward motion. With a thunderous boom that shook the bridge,
Ray
careened into the deck below the bridge and behind the cannon.

Trevor returned his eyes to the cannon’s viewscreen. He saw a pool of red where Kronos’s body had once been. They’d hit the creature and pierced its armor. Twin explosions sent water skyward as the second and third torpedoes found their mark. Trevor waited with great anticipation for Kronos to rise again. He longed to take a second chunk of flesh from the beast’s hide.

But the beast remained below the surface.

“It’s moving away,” Remus said as he watched the sonar screen displaying the creature as it was tracked by the network of sonar buoys they’d laid down. “But not fast.” He met Trevor’s eyes. “It’s hurt”

Trevor was about to order the helicopter in pursuit, four more torpedoes fired, and the hedgehog reloaded with a fresh volley of depth charges, but a series of small explosions gave him pause.

Someone was firing a gun.

Atticus.

The explosion from the cannon as
Ray
soared above it snapped Atticus’s jaw shut so fast that one of his molars cracked and fell apart into his mouth. But there wasn’t time to give the shattered tooth a second thought as the sub’s nose pitched forward, partly in response to the shock wave emitted from the cannon, and dived toward the deck just below the bridge.

Atticus braced himself just before the submersible made contact with the
Titan
’s hull. The impact wasn’t what Atticus thought it would be, and though the jolt was severe, he managed to stay conscious. As
Ray
slid across the deck, he realized that the sub’s forward momentum was much greater than its downward, so when it hit the deck, the energy was expelled through a grinding, screeching halt that was sure to sully Trevor’s immaculate deck permanently.

With a final jerk, the sub lurched to a stop. Wasting no time, Atticus jumped down from the chair and unlatched the lower hatch. He shoved down, but it was stuck tight, wedged by the weight of
Ray
upon the deck.

He was trapped.

Atticus growled in frustration and began pacing the small craft like a desperate lion in a cage. His eyes fell on the lexan bubbles that provided Ray’s eyes and pilot viewing ports. Simultaneously, his hand fell to his hip, clutching the .357 magnum.

Drawing the weapon, Atticus moved beneath one of the windows. He knew the polycarbonate resin used to make the windows would withstand the bullets, even those sent screaming from the magnum. His hope was that the braces used to attach the window were more suited to withstand the massive pressures of the ocean out than the striking force of a hand cannon’s projectiles trying to get out.

The true danger lay in one of the bullets ricocheting off the window and striking Atticus, but the only other choice he had was to wait for Trevor to free him. That wouldn’t be until after Kronos had been killed, which was precisely the enterprise Atticus intended to disrupt.

Atticus hid behind a seat, reached around with the .357, and took aim. He pulled the trigger six times in rapid succession. When he was done, his ears rang from the booming reports. Shaking his head free of the disorienting effects, he stood and looked to see the lexan window still in place.

About to curse the God of all living things, Atticus paused when he saw a sliver of blue sky forming a crescent where the glass met the hull. He jumped into the chair and pushed up on the glass bubble. It gave way slowly, then, all at once, burst away from the sub’s hull and rattled to the
Titan
’s deck.

After hoisting himself out of the sub and sliding down to the wooden deck, Atticus freed his SEAL dive knife from its sheath and ran toward the bridge. He knew he wouldn’t be able to accomplish much with the knife, especially if he found the bridge well guarded, but he’d dispatched enough enemies using a blade during his time with the SEALs to know he wouldn’t die alone.

Images of Giona’s darkened form moving inside the belly of the beast flashed through Atticus’s mind, lending him strength, purpose, and determination. As he found his feet striding up the stairs that led to the bridge, Atticus offered a small prayer to the God he was about to curse just moments before. “Give me strength.”

With that, Atticus burst through the door and with a snap of the wrist, sent the knife soaring.

39

The Titan

After the burst of gunfire from the submersible sitting on the
Titan
’s front deck, Trevor realized two things: Atticus was coming…and he was pissed. He leaned forward and peered out the bridge’s front window, taking in a view of
Ray
resting below. He could see Atticus pulling himself through one of the lexan viewing ports. Atticus slid onto the deck, reached down, and pulled a long knife from a sheath attached to his belt.

“Oh hell,” Trevor whispered to himself.

He had no illusions about what Atticus could accomplish with the single blade. And he felt sure that the instrument of death would find him first if the attack on Kronos persisted. He was, of course, the man who had given the order to attack while Atticus was in the danger zone and his daughter…

Yes, he’s coming for me,
Trevor thought.

Remus took a look through the bridge window as well and immediately took action. He drew a 9mm Beretta and snatched Andrea by the hair, pulling her roughly into the center of the bridge. Andrea let out a squeal of pain, but she was manhandled so roughly that the words she tried to form were knocked out of her along with her breath.