Shadow Tyrants (Oregon Files 13)

The small room contained a desk, two chairs, a file cabinet, and a large safe. The safe still shut meant the captain didn’t have enough time to retrieve its contents before abandoning ship. But, it did mean that there might be other important items in the office that the captain had neglected to recover.

He started with the desk and rifled through the drawers. They were locked, but his small pry bar was strong enough to lever them open. It was in the third drawer that he found the captain’s log. He simply shoved the leather-bound notebook into his drysuit pocket and went over to the file cabinet to see what he could find.

As soon as he opened the top drawer, there was a rapidly growing roar coming from outside the Colossus 3, which started shaking violently.

Juan had the odd sensation of being tossed around by the water inside the ship. He raced back to the bridge.

“What’s going on out there?” Juan asked over the deafening sound.

“Oh, no!” Julia shouted.

“Brace yourselves!” was all Eric could get out before Juan and Linda felt something slam into the shipwreck.

With a thundering crash, the Colossus 3 rocked to the side and felt as if it were going to keel over. After a few seconds, the roar subsided, and the ship stabilized.

“You okay?” Juan said to Linda, who had dropped the bag she’d been filling.

“Yes. Just a little shaken up.”

“Nomad, what’s your status?” he said. “Eric, Julia, are you all right?”

There was a moment of silence. Then he heard Eric’s voice, tinny and distant.

“Chairman, do you read me?”

“We’re fine in here,” Juan said. “How’s Nomad?”

“We got a good rattle, but we were able to avoid any damage.”

“What was that?”

“Avalanche. That explosion must have destabilized the side of the seamount more than we thought.”

“Then we’re getting out of here before we get hit by another one,” Juan said.

“Chairman, that’s going to be a problem.”

“Why?”

“The avalanche swept across the deck of the ship,” Eric said. “The door you entered is now covered by a ten-foot-high pile of rocks.”

THIRTY-EIGHT

MUMBAI

The voices Eddie heard had been two women, possibly maids because he could hear the sound of a cart being rolled down the hall. Then he heard an elevator ding, and the voices disappeared.

He pushed open the door and saw that the lavishly appointed corridor was empty.

“Now where to?” he asked Murph. He moved his head around so Murph could see the view from his glasses.

“Should be straight ahead two doors down on the right.”

Eddie walked casually just in case he ran into anyone. He could always claim he exited the elevator on the wrong floor and got lost.

The door to the office was open, and Eddie slipped inside. The room was filled with artifacts from the Mughal dynasty, paintings of emperors on exotic thrones, and antique furniture made of Indian teak. The enormous desk held only two items: a jewel-encrusted lamp and a sleek laptop.

Eddie sat at the desk and flipped open the computer. The screen showed a prompt for a password. Eddie plugged in a device that was wirelessly connected to Murph’s computer back at the hotel.