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“Do that. And be ready on my mark.”
An hour ago, Monk had informed the bridge crew of the threat patrolling the waters under them. He had shown them the glimpse of the Chinese submarine. Captain Henry Stemm had served in the Australian Navy for two decades before retiring and signing on to this project. He had enough encounters with trespassing Chinese subs to recognize the fin assembly on the sonar. He deemed it likely to be a Yuan-class diesel-electric boat, a hunter-killer of the Chinese submarine fleet.
Monk had also shared with the captain his concerns about what lay six miles under them and its relation to the spreading quakes and eruptions. Someone had to go down into the trench and take another look.But first, theCormorantneeded to slip past that steel shark. Adam and Phoebe had volunteered, both to take that risk and to face the danger in that bottomless trench.
Monk had wanted to go, too, but he knew someone had to guard these waters. It would do no good if the others were successful, only to be apprehended or destroyed upon surfacing. Monk’s role in the hours ahead was to play defensive lineman. He stared at the rest of his team, which included the captain and the five bridge crew.
Us against the Chinese Navy.
Monk shrugged. Not the best odds, but as someone once said,you go to war with the army you have.
Monk felt and heard the engines cut off.
The next part was risky.
Twenty minutes ago, Monk had sent theTitan Xinto a slow circle, stirring and rumbling the ash-choked waters. He hoped that the noise had lulled the submariners into complacency. Until now, he had wanted no outward indication that anyone aboard the yacht was aware of the boat below.
What came next was an entirely different tactic.
He turned to Captain Stemm for an update. The Aussie’s lips were bloodless lines of tension. “Eight kilometers,” he reported from the radar station. “Are you certain it’s the Chinese?”
“With this entire region burning, all military forces are likely bogged down in rescue operations. Including the U.S. Pacific Fleet. So, that’s no random ship, especially coming at us so fast. It’s gotta be hostile.”
Monk had expected Chinese reinforcements. He had been waiting for them, but he had hoped for more than an hour’s reprieve. He hated to rush Bryan in re-outfitting theCormorant, but he had no choice.
On the screen, the pilot ushered Adam and Phoebe through the DSV’s upper hatch. The submersible still hung by its chains.
Monk raised the radio to his lips. “Now or never, Bryan.”
The pilot was too busy to respond, at least over the airwaves. Bryan lifted an arm toward the CCTV camera and flipped him the bird, then dropped after the others. He yanked the hatch closed over him.
Monk turned to Captain Stemm and held the radio at his lips. “On my mark!” His instruction was for many listeners, not just the bridge. “NOW!”
The captain shouted to his crew. “Starboard bow thrusters! Portside stern thrusters! Full power!”
TheTitan Xvibrated hard as the maneuvering thrusters on both sides of the yacht fired up simultaneously. With a great surge, the ship started a slow turn while still holding its position, making an eighty-thousand-ton pirouette.
Monk imagined that burbling cacophony if heard from below.
But that still wasn’t enough to satisfy him.
A moment ago, his command had also reached the lone technician in the DriX control station in the stern hold. The man set both units to pulsing their sonars in a continual cavalcade of pinging.
On the CCTV monitor, theCormorantdropped from the A-frame and crashed into the water. There was no time for a gentle lowering into the sea. The craft bobbed up once, then quickly plunged away.
Safe travels, Monk wished them.
But he should’ve saved some of that hope for himself.
Captain Stemm swung around. “Picking up another bogie! At the outer reach of our radar. Coming in at eight hundred kilometers an hour.”
The captain had barely finished his warning when something shot over the yacht, low enough that it swept ash from the top of Science City in its wake. The bandit tilted its nose up and blasted into the ash layer and vanished.
“Lost it,” the captain shouted over.
Monk had briefly glimpsed its triangular shape, the V of its wings.
A stealth drone.
