“Much as I’d like to,” Austin replied, “that’s not my choice to make. Don’t count on going back to Yemen, though. I’m thinking the World Court or some American military base.”
“I will not be put in such hands!” Jinn shouted.
“Then show yourself and let’s finish this man-to-man.”
Jinn could see Austin in a reflection. He was hidden around the corner of the steel bulkhead. Jinn had no shot. If he stood, Austin would cut him down. If he hid, Austin or some member of Austin’s team would soon flank his position.
“I have a better idea,” Jinn said. “I will now teach you a lesson about power and its proper use.”
He glanced at the laptop. A blinking green box on the screen told him his instructions had been sent and received. He could now take action.
He slipped the pistol from his holster, pressed the safety with his thumb until it clicked and held it tight to his chest.
“Time’s about up,” Austin informed him.
Jinn knew it was.
He placed the barrel of the pistol against the back of Otero’s skull and pulled the trigger. The muffled explosion blasted the computer programmer and what was left of his head out into the open space of the floor. Jinn’s second shot shattered the laptop, sending bits of plastic and microchips in all directions. He fired again just for good measure, destroying the laptop’s screen.
He tossed the weapon away. “I surrender,” he said, putting his hands up.
SHIELDED BY THE BULKHEAD, Kurt watched Jinn in the same reflection that Jinn had caught sight of him. Something didn’t add up. He’d seen Jinn pull the weapon and expected the man to go down swinging, but the bullet to Otero’s head and tossing the gun aside were suspicious actions to say the least.
Zarrina tossed out her weapon and put her hands up. She and Jinn stood slowly and Kurt leveled the M1 carbine at Jinn’s chest.
“You flinch, you die.”
Kurt stepped in the room. Paul and Tautog came in next. They fanned out.
Kurt sensed a trap. With his rifle still leveled at Jinn, he checked the dead men: Jinn’s guard, Matson, what was left of Otero and the radar operator.
He found nothing out of the ordinary, but the smug look remained on Jinn’s face. Like he’d just palmed a card or gotten away with something.
“What did you do?” Kurt whispered, waiting for a booby trap to spring or an explosion to go off. “What did you do?”
Jinn said nothing. Kurt noticed the shattered laptop. He realized that Jinn had just executed Otero, the programmer. The two things had to be connected.
Shouts drifted in through the open door from down below. They came from Tautog’s men on the zero deck.
“Something’s happening,” one of them called out. “The sea has come to life!”
Kurt stepped outside. Through the fog of the night he could see the water churning.
“Marchetti, get the lights on!”
Marchetti ran to the control panel and started throwing a bank of switches. All around the island, sections of the ocean lit up as Marchetti switched on floodlights both above and below water. Instantly, Kurt saw what was happening.
The water was stirring almost as if it was boiling over. The horde surrounding them had come to the surface and was surging toward the island.
“He’s called them in,” Marchetti whispered fearfully. “He’s called them home.”
Jinn began to laugh, a deep laugh that was sinister, sadistic and utterly filled with an egomaniac’s pride.
“You will now understand what I mean by power,” he said. “Unless you release me, the horde will consume you all.”
CHAPTER 55
KURT AUSTIN HAD KNOWN THEY WERE IN DOUBLE TROUBLE as soon as he heard the madman laugh. He stormed back into the control room and jammed the barrel of the carbine against Jinn’s face right between the eyes.