Shadow Tyrants (Oregon Files 13)

“That’s why Linda and I are going in. Maybe we can also find some information about this ship’s purpose. Once we take a look at the other side of the hold, we’ll suit up.” They were recording Little Geek’s feed, so even if they didn’t notice anything of use now, they could scour the video for clues later.

She turned the ROV toward the port side of the ship, careful to avoid the cables and pipes that had been jarred loose by the explosion and sinking. Seeing the effort put into designing and building this unusual vessel, along with the time and money spent to construct the prison on Jhootha Island, it was even more obvious that the people responsible for Project C had virtually unlimited resources at their disposal.

Little Geek reached the opposite end of the hold, and now they had enough video to simulate the hold in 3-D. This would help them to better figure out what was going on. Linda turned the ROV around to follow its umbilical back the way it had come.

As Little Geek maneuvered past the damaged vat, its wake was strong enough to cause a pipe hanging by a thread to detach from the tank and plummet to the bottom.

The video feed went black. An instant later, it was followed by the sound of an enormous explosion that rocked Nomad. Eric was secure in his pilot’s seat, but the rest of them were thrown to the deck.

Juan, whose ears were ringing from the blast, got up and said, “Everyone all right?”

They all said they were okay.

Eric backed away from the hole in the ship. “No damage to Nomad. We’re lucky that the detonation occurred on the other side of the ship.” Then Juan heard him say into his radio headset, “Yeah, Max. We’re fine down here. It came from the wreckage. No, we don’t know yet. We’ll keep you posted.”

“Run the video back,” Juan said to Linda.

She rewound the recording unti

l it showed the pipe falling.

“I’ll zoom in on the bottom to see if we can tell what it hit.”

She ran the video in slow motion until they could see the steel pipe bounce on the deck and careen into the exterior bulkhead. It hit a red box no bigger than a carry-on suitcase, and that’s when the video went blank.

“That red box wasn’t just lying there,” Juan said. “It looked like it was welded to the hull.”

“Some kind of self-destruct bomb?” Linda wondered.

“That’s how they got rid of the evidence at Jhootha Island,” Juan said. “They might have done the same thing with this ship.”

“So either they sank the ship on purpose, but the portside explosive didn’t detonate until now,” Eric said, “or the starboard one went off by accident.”

“Or it was sabotage like Linda thought,” Juan said. “We won’t have any idea if we can’t at least figure out where this ship came from.”

As Nomad rose, they could now see past the top deck. The explosion had done more than tear apart the interior of the ship. Part of the hardened lava ridge was now gone, collapsed in an avalanche caused by the blast.

Molten lava was now pouring through the gap toward the ship.

“That’s not good,” Julia said.

“How long do you think we have before the ship is covered?” Juan asked Eric.

He could see the naval genius doing calculations in his head as he watched the flow of hot liquid rock cascading over the breach.

He finally said, “At this rate, I’d say an hour before the hull is too hot to go near. Maybe less.”

Juan looked at Linda. He didn’t have to ask if she would volunteer for the hazardous dive. She simply nodded and started donning her dive suit. He did the same.

“You’re not seriously diving with that coming our way?” Julia asked in disbelief as she pointed at the ropy lava coursing like a river in their direction.

“We need answers, Doctor,” Juan said, shrugging the suit over his torso and pulling the air tank and cooling pump onto his shoulders. “Once the lava reaches the ship, the hardened rock will make it impossible to enter the crew areas even after it has cooled. If we don’t go into that ship now, we never will.”

THIRTY-SIX

MUMBAI

After circling the ballroom, Eddie returned to the area farthest from the bar, where Raven, MacD, and Linc were doing their best to avoid engaging with the other guests.