“Why?” Gunnar asked.
“I’m guessing because of that,” Ballantine said, nodding at the pallet of cocaine. “But I don’t know why.”
“I think I’m close to finding out,” Gunnar said. “I can’t leave now. And I can’t let them take the cocaine. I have to run more tests.”
“Your dedication to science is admirable,” Ballantine said. “But your safety is more important.”
“So is hers,” Lake said, nodding his head towards the unconscious Lucy he held. “She could use your help, Doc.”
“Leave her with me,” Gunnar said. “Set her over there. I’ll check on her and make sure she’s okay.”
“Come on, come on!” Popeye said, hopping from one real foot to one prosthetic foot. “I can hear gunfire! They’re on deck!”
“Doctor?” Ballantine said. “Let’s go.”
“I’m staying,” Gunnar said. “I can put the lab in contagion lockdown. They won’t be able to get in.”
Ballantine studied the man for a second then nodded to Lake. “Set her down on that table.”
“You have to be kidding?” Lake snapped, looking from Ballantine to Gunnar. “Both of you! They’ll get in here and kill you!”
“I’ll stay,” Mike said. “I can help fight them off.”
“How?” Lake asked as he walked in and set Lucy down on the table. He turned and looked at Mike’s wheelchair. “No offense, but you aren’t exactly in fighting shape.”
“You’re wrong there,” Mike smiled. “I may be missing my legs, but I can still fight. Trust me.” Mike nodded at the Desert Eagle sticking out of Lake’s waistband. “Can I borrow that?”
Lake looked at Mike, over at Gunnar who had started to check on Lucy, and back at Ballantine, then finally at Popeye.
“Give it to him,” Popeye said. “The guy wants to fight then the guy can fight.”
“Fuck,” Lake said and handed the gun over. “I don’t have any extra magazines.”
Mike popped out the magazine, checked how many rounds were inside then slapped it back.
“This will be plenty,” Mike said. “If they get in here they’ll be bringing me more guns anyway.”
Lake snorted then shook his head. “Be careful.”
“We will,” Gunnar said. “Now get out so I can lock things down.”
“How is she?” Ballantine asked.
Gunnar looked up from Lucy. “Bad concussion. But she looks worse than she is.”
“Good,” Ballantine said. “I’ve changed my mind. She’s coming with.”
“She’s what?” Gunnar asked. “Why?”
“Trust me,” Ballantine said. “CO Lake? Would you mind doing the honors again?”
Lake did his look at everyone thing again then shrugged and picked Lucy back up.
“One more thing,” Ballantine said. “There’s a panel to the right of your workstation, Gunnar. Doesn’t look like much, but place your hand against it and it should open for you.”
“What’s in it?” Gunnar asked.
“Help. So pay attention,” Ballantine smiled as they left.
***
El Serpiente made his way to the bridge and steeped up to the control panels. He grimaced at what the monitors said.
“Lockdown,” he snarled, turning to the armed men that followed him in. “Fix that.”
“Sir? How?” one of the men asked. “We would need their code.”
Diego’s snarl turned to a smile and the men flinched. “Does C4 need a code?”
“Uh, on?” the man replied.
“Then that is how you will fix it,” Diego said. “Blow the hatches one by one. Get me where I need to go.”
“We could blow up the ship,” another man said. “With us on it.”
“I don’t care about the ship,” Diego explained. “I care about the product. We know it is here because the tracker on the sub is here. If the tracker is here then the sub is here. If the sub is here then the product is here. Find me the product. That is your job. If the ship sinks then it sinks. Who am I to stop fate?”
“Yes, sir,” the men said and hurried from the bridge.
Diego turned his attention to the different monitors and started to go through each system to see what wasn’t locked down.
***
Kinsey saw it coming for her, pulled her channel pistol, and fired.
But she missed as the shark dove quickly, avoiding the round that came at it. Before it was lost from sight, Kinsey saw there was a huge chunk missing from its snout. Her dad had nailed it, but not enough to stop it.
She kicked her feet and swam to the surface, breaking the surface and gasping for air in front of Shane.
“You see it?” Shane asked. “It was just here. Dorsal fin was coming at me then it dived.”
“I shot at it,” Kinsey said. “But it fucking dodged the bullet!”
“The things are smart,” Shane said. “Where are the others?”
“There!” Kinsey said, pointing towards where Thorne and Max bobbed up and down. “I don’t see Darren!”
Kinsey closed her eyes and shook her head as a wave of dizziness hit her.
“You cool?” Shane asked. “What about your side?”
“I’m fine,” Kinsey said. “Just a shitty day.”
“Tell me about it,” Shane said. “Lost my rifle.”
Kinsey couldn’t help but smile. “Asshole.”
Shane winked at her then looked down in the water; his eyes searching for the monster that he knew would be coming for them. He looked back up and was glad to see Thorne and Max swimming over to them.
“Weapons check!” Thorne ordered as soon as he was close enough.
“Pistol,” Kinsey said. “Dive knife.”
“Me too,” Shane said. “Lost my rifle.”
“Shut up,” Kinsey said. “Max?”
“I lost my rifle, but I have my pistol,” he said as he reached below the water and slapped at his belt. “Or not. But I have my dive knife.” They watched as he tucked his legs up and reached for his ankle. The look in his eyes told them it wasn’t there. “Uh…I don’t have anything. What the fuck?”
“Pistol,” Thorne said. “That’s it.”
“Probably would have been a good idea to keep the rebreathers on,” Max said. “Live and learn.”
“Fuck learning,” Thorne said, his face twisted with aggression and anger. “Living is all that matters.”
Then he was lost from sight as he dove.
***
An explosion rocked the ship then another and another.
“They’re blowing the hatches,” Lake said as the group, having added another four crew members, hurried from one passageway to the next on their flight to the Toyshop. “That means Gun is fucked.”
“He can handle himself,” Ballantine said, placing his hand against a biometric scanner set into the wall by the next hatch. It slid aside and they all hustled through. “He’s a resourceful man.”
The group hurried down the passageway as more explosions made the ship shudder.
“Resourceful doesn’t do shit against explosives,” Lake said.
“You never know,” Ballantine said as he stopped by a blank wall. “We’re here.”
The whole group looked at the wall then at Ballantine.
“You must have hit your head pretty bad, Mr. Ballantine,” Popeye said. “That’s a wall right there.”
“Yes, it is, Popeye,” Ballantine said. “But not all walls are actually walls.”
They waited by the wall, but nothing happened.
“I don’t mean to argue, Mr. Ballantine,” Popeye said. “But I’m thinking this is actually a wall. Just like it looks.”
“No, it’s not,” Ballantine said. He stepped forward and smacked both hands against it.
“We can’t wait here,” Lake said. “We need to move. If we get to the mini-subs, we can get all of us off this ship. It’ll be a tight squeeze, but between the Wiglaf II and Wiglaf III we can fit.”
Ballantine frowned and turned away from the wall. “That could present a problem.”
“How do you mean?” Lake asked. “We have ten here. There’s room.”
“But there’s only one mini-sub,” Ballantine admitted. “The Wiglaf II isn’t here anymore. Or shouldn’t be.”
Another explosion echoed through the ship, much closer than the previous ones.
“What aren’t you telling me?” Lake asked. “Out with it, Ballantine.”
“Darby has left the ship in the Wiglaf II,” Ballantine said, holding up a hand to ward off more questions. He leaned back against the wall, suddenly very tired. “I’m not going into details, so don’t ask. We can get six out in the Wiglaf III. Maybe eight if two lay on the floor. But the oxygen will be depleted quickly so the escape will have to be fast and then you’ll have to surface.”
“There are ten of us,” Lake said, nodding his chin at the still unconscious Lucy in his arms. “But you aren’t coming with, are you? And she’s staying too, right?”
“Right on both counts,” Ballantine said. He kicked back against the wall with his heel in frustration. “Leave Lucy here. You go. You know how to pilot the mini-sub.”
“I’m staying with you,” Lake said. “Popeye can pilot it.”
“I hate those little subs,” Popeye replied.
“But you know how to pilot them,” Lake said. “Since Darren isn’t on the ship then that makes me acting captain. I stay.” He focused a harsh gaze on Ballantine. “Unless you object to my being captain?”
Ballantine shook his head. “No objections here, Acting Captain. Except that I’d rather you left.”
Lake looked at the men and nodded down the passageway. “Go. I’m staying.”
They all just stood there.
“That’s an order!” Lake roared.
Popeye nodded then gestured for the men to follow him. They hurried away, turned a corner, and were lost from sight.
Lake watched them go then turned back to Ballantine.
“How about we get to the real entrance of the Toyshop?” Lake said. “I’d like to set her down.”
“No point,” Ballantine replied. “Carlos won’t let us in there.”
“Why not?”
“Because I ordered him not to,” Ballantine said. “Security precaution if the ship were ever taken over. If I go to the real entrance then he has orders to stay sealed shut.” Ballantine rested his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. “This is the backdoor. Carlos knows to be looking for me here. Or anyone I send. If he isn’t opening up then something is wrong.”
Lake didn’t respond.
Ballantine opened his eyes and looked at the acting captain.
“Sorry, but I don’t know what else to tell you,” he said and pushed away from the wall. “We need to shelter somewhere else.”
Another explosion. And another.
“Don’t think so,” Lake said, his jaw hanging open.
Ballantine slowly turned and grinned at the sight. The wall was nearly transparent and there stood Carlos and Ingrid, both holding very large automatic rifles.
Ballantine waved and part of the wall slid aside.
“I didn’t bother you two, did I?” Ballantine said as he pushed past Carlos and Ingrid into the Toyshop.
“Carlos forgot which wall it was,” Ingrid said.
“I did not,” Carlos argued. “I narrowed it down between two walls.”
“He forgot,” Ingrid said, hurrying Lake inside. She pressed on the wall and it sealed then turned dark, looking like a normal ship’s wall.
“Set her on that long cart,” Ingrid said. “I have a prototype med bay in sector eight I can wheel her to.”
“For the record, I did not forget,” Carlos announced as Ingrid wheeled Lucy away.
“Don’t care,” Ballantine replied. “We need guns.”
“We have those,” Carlos said, holding out the rifle to Lake.
“No, I’d prefer a pistol,” Lake said. “The bigger the better.”
“I’ll get your usual,” Ingrid said.
“Point me to the control station,” Ballantine ordered Carlos as he looked at the many rows of equipment that surrounded them. “And two of whatever weapon Lake gets.”
“This way,” Carlos said and turned right. Then stopped and turned left. “This way.”
***
Her systems told her she was past the Mexican naval blockade, but that didn’t ease Darby’s tension. She looked at the coordinates of her destination and was not happy with the amount of open water she’d have to move through to get there.
That left a lot of space for a shark to come at her.
She knew the risks of what she was doing, but it didn’t make it any easier. Her paranoia was ratcheted up all the way and her eyes kept moving from the windows in front of her to the sonar to the radar to the navigation system and back to the windows.
She took a deep breath and slowly let it out her nose. There was nothing else she could do, but keep going and hope the sharks were occupied.
***
Espanoza’s men ran through the passageways, their Ak-47s barking lead as they killed anyone that was unlucky enough to be in their way. The crewmembers of the Beowulf III, men that had signed on knowing there would be danger and that the B3 was a very different ship, fled from the death that stalked them.