Phantom Prospect - Alex Archer [104]
Annja glanced over at Cole’s body. Jax and Holly knelt close by, holding him so he wouldn’t flop around. They held on to each other for support.
“Hell of a ride,” Jax said. “Now I know why I hate submarines.”
Dave grinned. “You ought to try getting shot out of a torpedo tube some time. It’s a blast.”
Jax groaned. “That was too horrible even for you.”
“Probably.”
Annja peered through the viewfinder again. Ahead of the shark, she could see the massive wall of water that seethed and boiled as if there were two converging storm fronts buried deep under the ocean.
“I can see the entrance to open water,” she said.
“Better hang on,” Dave said. “The ride’s going to be brutal.”
Annja looked at him. “Just how much explosive did you use on that mine?”
Dave smiled. “P for plenty.”
“D for dead,” Annja said. “You might have killed us.”
“We aren’t dead yet,” Dave shouted over the building roar of water as they shot toward the wall ahead of them.
Annja risked another look outside. She could see the current actually twisting like spun steel cords, warping in on itself and torquing around as they got caught up in a jet-stream-like funnel of water.
The shark started to shake and rattle. Bits of metal came off the instrument panels. The bridge area shook and rumbled. Pings and clangs sounded everywhere. And, near the fused metal panels, small fountains of water started spraying everywhere.
“It’s going to break apart,” Annja shouted. “We’re never going to make it out of here.”
“She’ll hold,” Dave said. “She’ll hold.”
The rattling increased and the entire shark assembly started to rumble. Annja felt as if she was trapped in an aluminum can that someone was slowly starting to crush with their hand, twisting it as they did.
She grabbed the closest grip and held on for dear life.
“Here it comes,” Dave said. “Hold on!”
The roar exploded in her ears and Annja thought that they were surely about to die. The shark seemed to accelerate forward and then slam right into a solid wall before again being ejected forward as if spit from the mouth of the cavern.
And then the roar died almost instantly.
The creaking stopped.
They were through.
The fused panels seemed to regain some of their structural integrity and the water leaks ceased for the time being.
Annja glanced at Dave, who seemed very pleased. “We made it.”
She smiled. “Thanks to you.”
He shook his head. “Thanks to us all. This was a hell of a ride.”
“You’re telling me.”
Jax got to her feet and helped Holly. “We’ve got an injury here.”
Annja looked at Holly and saw that she had a golf-ball-size lump on her head. “Anything serious?”
“Nothing that a little time on the ship won’t cure.” Jax laid Holly down and set about taking care of the swelling.
Annja looked at Dave. “How did you get down here, anyway?”
“I came down with Cole and the others, but I got off before they motored into the dock. I always prefer going in alone if I can. Anyway, I arranged with them to hold back until I got myself infiltrated and able to store that little improvised explosive in the bomb. Cole told me all about it, so I figured that Henderson might want to take it back. May as well give him his dearest wish.”
“You did. A good one, too, by the looks of it.”
“And then it was just a matter of slinking back into the water at the dock and waiting. I couldn’t stop Henderson from shooting Cole—I would have been too exposed.”
“So you rigged the mine?”
“Not until the sub was under way. I had to set the timer and hope that you knew you had to get out of there.”
“I did, but not because of your mine. Although I did see the bomb. It toppled over and I saw your present.”
“Yeah, I was hanging on when that happened. What the hell went down in there, anyway?”
“Just a little struggle for control,” Annja said. “But as soon as I saw it I knew I had almost no time to waste. I got out of there as fast as I could.”
“Good thing,” Dave said. “If you’d have stayed any longer, you never would have made it out in time.”
Annja frowned. “You were willing to take that chance?”
Dave smiled. “I had