Temple of the Gods - Andy McDermott [123]
Eddie shifted the arm to keep their attacker in view. The diver was fumbling with his gun, changing the large and awkward magazine. ‘He’s reloading – we’ve got a few seconds.’
‘I dunno how much I can do in that time, mate!’ Matt told him as he took the sub into the gap. Mangled metal clawed at them from all sides – and something larger hove into view across their path, a twisted steel beam. ‘Hang on!’
He jammed the controls hard over – and rolled the submersible on to its side.
Loose objects clattered across the cabin, Nina only holding herself in place by grabbing Matt’s chair, while Eddie thumped painfully against the wall. The beam swept past, scraping along the Sharkdozer’s fibreglass upper bodywork. There was a sharp crack as something was torn away, the sub slewing sideways . . . then they were clear.
Matt rolled the vessel back upright. ‘What’s that drongo behind us doing?’
Eddie found the diver again, who had now reloaded the gun and was following the sub through the passage. ‘Still gaining.’ He looked ahead. The Sharkdozer was coming to the end of the mangled tunnel. ‘Matt, as soon as you get to the top, go hard right.’
‘But that won’t—’
‘Just do it!’ He worked the manipulator arm again, extending it further out – and back.
‘Turning now!’ Matt warned, pushing the controls over to their limit. The Sharkdozer’s thrusters pivoted, throwing the craft into a tight turn.
Eddie opened the claw and swung the arm round as the sub emerged from the Evenor’s ruined deck. He searched for the pursuing diver’s lights.
They reappeared on the monitor, much closer. He pushed and twisted the joystick as if trying to guide a giant robot’s punch, closing the claw again—
It clamped round the deep suit’s chest section.
Eddie thumbed the control harder and the claw tightened, the diver’s limbs flailing as he struggled to break free. If he could crush him, or at least puncture his suit, it would make the fight slightly less one-sided . . .
The man brought up his gun – but didn’t point it at the submarine. Instead, he aimed at the arm itself. Jets of gas burst from the muzzle as he fired more nail rounds, clanks echoing through the metal into the cabin – and a light on the console flashed urgently. ‘Matt, what’d he do?’
Matt checked the instruments. ‘He’s shot out the claw’s hydraulic line!’
‘You mean it’s jammed?’ The camera now showed the trapped diver turning his gun round to bash at the arm with its stock. Without hydraulic pressure, the claw would soon be forced open.
And once he was free, the diver would resume his attack – from almost point-blank range.
Eddie considered using the arm to slam the man against the wreck, but the Sharkdozer’s momentum had carried it away from the angled deck. Instead, he flicked the switch to engage the secondary arm. The view on the monitor changed from the main manipulator to its smaller counterpart. He extended the arm. The paralysed claw and the man clutched within it came into view.
The diver’s face was now visible inside his helmet. He looked up in surprise – then his expression turned to shock. He turned the gun back round, but by the time it was pointing the right way the mechanical hand was right in his face . . .
Eddie didn’t waste time trying to grab him. Instead, he pushed a button marked ‘Drill’.
A tool smoothly pivoted into place from the manipulator’s wrist, the hand itself folding downwards out of its way. The diamond tip of the eight-inch tungsten carbide bit scraped the diver’s bubble helmet, scratching the tough material.
Before the man even had time to scream, Eddie started the drill.
It took under a second for the high-powered mechanism to chew through the polycarbonate helmet. Now the man screamed – and was abruptly silenced as water exploded into the deep suit with the force of an artillery shell. The transparent bubble filled with a churning pink froth.
The extra weight of the water inside the suit finally overcame the crippled claw’s grip. The dead man broke free, falling away into the wreckage of the Evenor.
Eddie nodded in satisfaction. ‘That