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Machado sighed. “Fine. Tell me what to do.”
“You need to come up on deck with us. When we get there, I’ll have my team initiate the distraction.”
“Okay, I’ll be back in a minute. Meet me at the Slipstream.”
“Where are you going?” Juan asked.
“I have to get something from my cabin,” Machado said as he backed down the corridor. “You can’t be seen there.” Then he disappeared around the corner.
As Juan walked back to the room where the drone was on display, he said, “Omega, this is Alpha. Be ready to go in two minutes.” Once he and Eddie were up on deck with Machado, he’d work “dead quiet” into the conversation to signal Gomez to set off the quadcopters carrying the mini-bombs and smoke.
He waited. No answer. That wasn’t like Linda.
“Omega, this is Alpha. Acknowledge.”
Still nothing.
He tried twice more, but all he heard was silence. Possibly a technical malfunction with the comm equipment. They had a backup signal for just such an event. When they were outside, Juan would stretch his arms, and that would be the signal for Gomez to begin the quadcopter attack.
When he reached the drone room, Ferreira wheeled around.
“So what do you think of our other toys?”
“Very impressive,” Juan said. He glanced at Eddie, who gave him a barely perceptible shrug. He hadn’t heard from Linda, either.
Ferreira smiled. “Then why don’t we talk deal? Mr. Chen and I have come to an agreement very favorable to both of us. I will be happy to offer you the same terms.”
Before he could answer, he heard Linda’s voice inside his head. She sounded terrified.
“Juan!” she screamed, using his real name in violation of protocol. “Chairman! They’re coming for us!”
Juan couldn’t answer her, not with Ferreira and his seven men listening. He tapped three times with his tongue to tell her not to do anything.
Her voice sounded desperate. “We need to go now!” It was completely out of Linda’s nature to panic.
“We can’t,” Juan said to Ferreira, but he meant the message for her.
She was sobbing now. “There’s no time!”
Then, through the hull, Juan was shocked to hear the sound of one of the mini-bombs detonating.
8
Linda felt like her brain was shrieking at her. She ripped off her headset, but it didn’t help. Something deep inside her told her that extreme danger was coming. The image of tentacles, slimy and covered with hungry suckers, filled her mind. She had to escape no matter the cost. Although she knew the Chairman was counting on her, the urge to flee was even stronger.
Gomez babbled behind her, flailing at his controls, trying to attack some unseen enemy.
“I’ll get them!” he yelled. “I’ll get them all!”
Quadcopters around the yacht erupted in flames and smoke in haphazard fashion. She didn’t know who Gomez was targeting, but it wasn’t the right enemy. A giant squid was coming for them. The drones couldn’t do anything to stop it.
Murph clawed at the hatch, trying to open it, as he blubbered about the gremlins coming out of the sub’s batteries.
“We have to get out of here!” he cried as he yanked at the hatch’s wheel.
Gomez tackled him, shouting, “Don’t be a fool! You’ll let them in!”
Linda had to do something or the squid would catch the Gator and crush it. Then it would pry the sub’s skin apart like an aluminum can and eat them all.
