"Just riding the wave, going with the flow."
I told the squad leader to "Put the gun down, let her go, and you can walk out of here.”
He laughed. "You expect me to trust you?”
"What choice do you have?”
He didn't buy it for a second. He wouldn't have let us live, so he didn't think it was possible that we’d let him go.
Elana’s face twisted with terror.
The squad leader dug into his pocket and pulled out a remote. He clicked it and held his thumb on the button. It was a silver, metallic device about the size of a key fob. "This is a dead man switch. If my finger comes off his trigger, a bomb will detonate in five minutes on the habitat.”
He could have been bluffing, but I didn't think so.
"I'll let her go, and you give me safe passage to my submarine.”
"Where's the bomb?”
He laughed. "I'm not telling you.”
It was at that time another tremor rocked the habitat. It rattled the bulkheads and fractured a seal around a porthole in the moon chamber. Water hissed, splashing against the deck.
The momentary distraction gave Elana a chance to put an elbow into the goon’s rib cage. She spun away and darted across the compartment.
As a reflex action, the squad leader took aim at her.
With no choice, I squeezed the trigger twice. It pelted the scumbag in the chest. A geyser of crimson spewed.
He flopped back against the deck, and his pistol clattered away. His thumb let go of the detonator.
I raced to him, keeping my weapon aimed at the dirtbag.
When I reached him, I kicked his pistol away, then lorded over him with my rifle still aimed. "Where's the bomb?”
He laughed, coughing up blood as he sucked for breath. The wounds in his chest gurgled.
The scumbag bled out, his eyes fixed on the ceiling.
I looked at my dive watch and noted the time. We had under five minutes to find the bomb before it put a hole in the hull.
40
"Where's the bomb!?" I shouted, but the dirtbag was gone.
The location died with him.
Jack climbed out of the sub and hopped to the deck.
"Okay, people, we've got four and a half minutes to find that bomb, or none of us will see the surface again," I shouted.
Water still gushed from the flange around the porthole. At the moment, it was the least of our concerns.
I told Elana to get the others.
She nodded, then darted through the habitat to find the rest of the crew.
JD, Flynn, and I searched the compartment. I wasn’t exactly sure what we were looking for, but I’d know it when I saw it. Probably some type of limpet bomb attached to the hull. That would do the most damage. I shared my thoughts with the others, and we narrowed our search.
