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“Nothing detected, sir,” he reported.
“Prepare to board the vessel,” I said through the comms.
“Roger that,” Z responded. “On our way.”
Kodiak and I swam in the direction of the patrol boat. Once it was in sight, I signaled our ascent. I released the expanding gas monitoring my speed. Once I was within five meters and saw Kodiak was as well, I performed my safety stop. We breached the surface and pulled ourselves up on the dive platform.
I sensed Z’s presence but ignored him. There’d be time for whatever disciplinary actions he intended to take once we knew the status of our other team members. I’d grown weary of repeatedly offering to resign. If he wanted me to, he could bloody well say so.
Attempts at makingcontact with anyone believed to be on thePernicioushad gone unanswered. While disarming the explosives was no easy feat, I was certain, like me, everyone else on the team feared what we’d find once on board. There was a very real possibility we’d find everyone deceased.
I was the first to board. Ares was directly behind me. Nem and the others followed him. We split into three groups. Ares, Tank, and I remained on the lower level while the others went to the two decks above. We announced through the comms as we cleared areas.
“Cayman?” Ares said from the starboard side.
I knew from the tone of his voice he’d found someone.
“It’s Zig,” he said, leaning down to feel for a pulse even though it was clear he’d been dead for several hours at least. His body had been riddled with what looked like machine-gun fire.
“Dammit,” I heard either Blackjack or Atticus say. I couldn’t tell which. “It’s Drita,” said Nem. “And it’s bad. It looks like whoever killed her had Uzis.”
Frick Ziegler and Drita “Qetë” Hoffman were on the Albanian task force with Magnet and Verity. My stomach lurched with the idea we may have lost them too.
We finished clearing the cabins on the lower deck. There was no sign of anyone else on board. The other two groups reported the same.
“Wait,” said Nem, joining the three of us in the main salon. She walked through the galley to one of the heads. “In here!” she shouted.
I was the first to the hatch.
“It’s here somewhere,” she said, feeling along the wall.
“What are we looking for?”
“There’s a safe room below this deck. It’s soundproof, so anyone in there would have no way of knowing we’re here. And vice versa. They also can’t send or receive messages. O showed me a control panel, but I can’t remember where it is.” She tapped twice more, and a small hatch opened. She pressed a button.
“Oleander? Nemesis here. All’s clear.”
While there was no response, another hatch opened. It sounded pressurized, like a submarine. The first out was Magnet. “Zig and Qetë?”
“I’m sorry, Mag.”
“I will kill those motherfuckers with my bare hands,” he roared, climbing the rest of the way out from below. He ran through the salon and up the steps to the next deck.
Poseidon followed. Oleander was right behind him, as was Zeppelin.
“What happened?” Nem asked.
“They came at us from all sides. We were outnumbered four to one at least. Zig and Qetë started firing even after Magnet gave the order to stand down. I knew we had no hope, so I told the others to get below. Magnet remained above deck for as long as he could. Once it appeared they would board, he came down as well.”
“I’m surprised they didn’t blow us up,” said Poseidon.
“They meant to. Except, I think they were waiting for the rest of us to arrive.”
Oleander’s eyes met mine.
“I received a message from you, requesting we meet you at your yacht’s coordinates. We sensed something was off.”
“So we went into warfare combat-diving mode,” said Ares.
