She shook her head. “I’m not interested in placing blame or performing an autopsy on our fuck-up. Where is it, and how do we get it now?”
Noah and Zoey entered, along with the other thralls, one at a time through the rapidly cooling opening they’d made. Gabe moved farther in, giving them space, and crossed his arms. “It will be out at sea by now.”
“GPS?” Ryan suggested. “It must have monitoring systems. We hack into WHOI and—”
“Even if we could, we’d have to hijack it off its boat.”
“Take the boat itself? Get out there by chopper, a small team, and intercept?”
“And do what with the crew?”
“You know what.”
Cally left them to it, walking farther in.
Three weeks wasted, and back to square one.
She paused in the center of the space. She would’ve been standing inside Alvin, if it had still been there.
How long now until they could get Antoine out? They didn’t have a backup plan. This had been the best shot.
Damn it.Whyhad Alvin been taken early? Their information had been from official sources. They should’ve had time.
She kicked at a loose bolt that went skittering across the grimy floor to clang against metal.
It wasn’t just Antoine. If they couldn’t find a solution within two weeks, Gabe would have to feed from her again. That would absolutely cement his bond—if it wasn’t already too late.
She stared at nothing, blinking back tears of failure.
So it took a moment to realize what she was looking at.
“Gabe!” she snapped out, cutting through their finger-pointing and strategizing, her voice carrying enough weight to turn heads. She pointed to the far wall. “What are those?”
Half-hidden behind the crates, two hulking humanoid shells loomed dormant in the murky shadows, rounded limbs and torsos, like metal bubbles pushed together.
“Get a light in here!” Gabe ordered, stepping forward. “We’ve just found our solution.”
“Exosuits?” Cally asked, knowing he could see them clearly even in the dark.
“Atmospheric Diving Suits,” Noah said, approaching with a light bar that lit up the whole area and sent dense shadows jittering on the wall behind. “Zoey? How deep?”
“A thousand feet, maybe.”
“And Antoine?”
“Don’t know for certain.” Zoey grimaced. “Less than that, or we have a problem.”
“They’re our only option,” Gabe said. “Get them loaded up.”
Cally hugged herself as the thralls sprang into action, opening the roll-up door from the control panel within and shoving crates out of the way. Work lights were brought in, illuminating the whole warehouse, but she only had eyes for the two imposing suits. From outside came the distinctive, rhythmic beep as a thrall backed the semi into the lot.
Noah joined her. “Back on plan.”
She nodded once, eyes fixed on the thralls who were carefully clearing a space around the two suits.
“This is better in some ways,” he said, watching as they worked. “No GPS tracking on those things, and easier to hide. Less chance WHOI will call in the Navy to get them back.”
“If they can go deep enough.”
