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Probably a Hongu Sharp Sword or maybe a Flying Dragon.
Either way, it was likely heavily armed.
He stared to the west, from the direction it had come. The boat speeding toward them couldn’t have launched it. The drone had to have come from another, likely larger, ship out there.
Monk stared at his toes.
Maybe I should’ve gone with them.
7:43A.M.
Adam pulled himself fully back into the rear seat of theCormorant. The jolt—as they struck the water, bobbed back up, then plummeted into the depths—had left his heart pounding in his throat and his stomach somewhere near his knees.
But it wasn’t just the impact that had him shaken.
He glared at the seat ahead of him.
Dr. Datuk Lee had braced himself, with a grip on his chair and a palm on the curve of titanium overhead. The only evidence of their hard plunge was that the man’s eyeglasses had slipped to the tip of his nose. With theCormorantstabilizing into a steadier fall, Datuk settled into his seat and secured his glasses.
“What is he doing here?” Adam called forward to Phoebe and Bryan.
“I asked him to join us,” Phoebe said.
Bryan nodded. “I agreed to it, too. I added three more ballast weights to our exterior, but we could use every extra ounce. The heavier we are, the faster we’ll fall.”
Adam swallowed and gazed out at the dark water.
When he had entered the submersible behind Phoebe, he had found Datuk already seated there. Busy elsewhere, Adam had failed to note the Malaysian biochemist boarding the craft. By then, it had been too late to protest. Bryan had clambered in after them, took his seat, then ordered the crane’s emergency releases to be blown, dropping them into the sea.
Bryan was now checking theCormorant’s systems. His board was all green, except for two dark lights. The repair crew had swapped out the fried circuits, refitted in new oxygen tanks and batteries, and inspected the rest. Still, Adam knew Bryan wasn’t happy.
I’m not either.
Phoebe must have noted his anger at her invitation. “We don’t knowwhat we’ll be facing down there,” she explained. “We need all the expertise we can scrounge. We’re lucky Datuk was willing to risk this descent.”
Adam wouldn’t call it luck.
Phoebe rolled her eyes and turned to Datuk. She knew what worried Adam and addressed it point blank. “Dr. Lee, are you a Chinese spy?”
The man stiffened, looking aghast. “What? Me? Why would you ask me that?”
Phoebe turned to Adam. “See. Nothing to worry about.”
She returned her gaze forward, clearly settled on the matter.
Adam, though, was not persuaded by Phoebe’s interrogation methods in the least. But there was no going back.
Bryan reminded them of the more immediate danger. “Maybe we should all keep quiet for a few minutes rather than squawking about.”
All eyes turned to the windows. Phoebe picked up the acoustic headphones and donned them. She winced at whatever she heard.
Adam stared up. Monk had offered them plenty of sonic cover to make their escape. Between the thrusters, the rumbling waters, and the sonar pinging, the hope was to mask their descent, to momentarily blind and distract the hunter-killer.
But was it enough?
They needed to reach six hundred meters. After that, the sub—even its torpedoes—could not travel any deeper.
Or so we had better hope.
