Final Option (Oregon Files 14)

“I don’t see a leak, but the kerosene might also be sensitive to vibration.”

“Not to mention a spark,” MacD added.

Juan nodded. “We don’t want to give it a static shock. Let’s back out of here slowly.”

As they eased away from the torpedoes, Juan said, “Did you find anything?”

Raven shook her head. “Seven more bodies. No papers, except for a few personal letters and some novels.”

“Then let’s hope Murph and Eddie have had more luck. In any case, we’re leaving in five minutes no matter what.”

As they walked back toward the control room, Juan noticed for the first time the bodies that Raven mentioned. All of them were lying in bunks that he had raced by.

Juan went toward the stern, past the captain’s minuscule

cabin, and found Eddie and Murph going through the crew’s lockers.

“Anything?” he asked.

“A lot of clothes and personal effects,” Eddie said, “but nothing related to the sonic disruptor.”

“There’s got to be an operator’s manual or plans, or something,” Murph said, frustrated at coming up empty.

“They wouldn’t have kept something that valuable in the open where anyone in the crew could get to it,” Juan said.

“And they’d want it to be watertight.”

“Somewhere only the captain, and maybe one other person, would have access to it,” Eddie said.

Juan went with them back to the captain’s cabin, and they ran their fingers along every joint and seam.

Finally, Murph yelled, “Eureka!”

He pulled a panel open to reveal a hidden compartment. Inside was a stack of notebooks.

Murph opened the top one and said, “I’ve never seen this language.”

He showed it to Juan, who spoke Spanish, Russian, and Arabic, but he didn’t recognize the finely printed words, either.

Murph pointed his phone at the page and snapped a photo. “Just using my translation app.”

After a few seconds, he said, “Hungarian. According to a rough translation, the first sentence reads ‘Notes for the producing of sound systems to advance mind revision and conduct by Istvan Horváth.’”

“There’s German words there,” Eddie said, pointing at two scrawled at the bottom of the page.

Irre Waffe.

Murph translated again. “Crazy weapon.”

“This is what Tate was trying to keep secret,” Juan said. “Pack it all up, and we’ll decipher it back at the Oregon.”

He went back to the control room and smiled at Bradley. “We found what we came for. It was hidden in the captain’s room.”

Bradley sighed in relief. “I’m sorry Jiménez couldn’t be here to see this. You’re going to find Tate and bring him down, aren’t you?”

“That’s the plan. But I don’t think you can be part of it.”

Bradley nodded. “It’s time for me to go home.”