For seven hours, I’d permitted Michaels to try to put me back together. I rested at his instruction, I ate what he ordered, and swallowed medicine he concocted. I even submitted to the braces and slings he dressed me in to start the lengthy recovery to full mobility for the parts of my body I could no longer feel.
While he tended to me, I sent Selix off to tend to his own superficial wounds and to sleep. Staff kept me updated on what Pim ate, when she’d fallen asleep, and if her rest was peaceful or full of nightmares.
I hated that I wasn’t up there with her, but I preferred the black tomb of the garage. It was fitting for the undertaking job I was about to perform.
The main engines stopped whirring as Jolfer held us stationary and Selix appeared from my wake-up call.
I’d given Jolfer extra instructions tonight: turn off all lights. Disable the radar. I wanted to be as incognito as possible.
We truly were a phantom, a ghost, a death ship that needed to stay hidden. Two kilometres was a long way down, but I wanted to be sure no one would investigate the coordinates or concern themselves with why we’d hovered over the abyss for longer than normal.
I hobbled over to the van, tossing Selix the keys. Night once again blanketed the horizon. Yet another evening spent dealing with Chinmoku, and the last one I ever wanted to waste. “Ready?”
He yawned. “Yep.”
“Good. Let’s get these bastards off my ship.” Moving toward the back of the garage where a wall with fortified seals and waterproofing hid yet another submersible entrance like that with the Viper submarine, I entered the code and waited for the lengthy process of hydraulic bolts and locks to unfasten.
Once the seal broke and door opened, Selix hopped into the van and drove it into the specially designed cube. He parked the heavy van full of Chinmoku on the correct fulcrum point for ease of tipping.
Killing the engine, he tossed the keys back inside and slammed the door. Together, we opened the double doors of the vehicle and braced ourselves against the reek.
Disgusting body excretions and rigor mortis by-products had been contained thanks to the plastic bags. At least, my ship would remain sanitary from their decay. The plastic would also act as a sarcophagus and prevent any lightweight items such as credit cards and driver’s licenses from floating free. Identities and mementoes would remain in their pockets, never seeing the light of the surface or shore again.
We had deliberated, in the seven long hours it took to sail here, if we should cut off their fingers and remove their teeth to ensure they forever remained John Does, but neither Selix nor I had the stomach for more gore, especially seeing as our enemy had already fallen.
We’d won.
We didn’t need to dismember the dead to confirm such a grisly conclusion.
Besides, by burying them all together, we removed any need to attach heavy weights or other methods to keep them submerged. All we’d need to do was crack a couple of the cab’s windows and punch perforations into the panels of the van to ensure seawater filled up the vehicle and it sank like a boulder.
Funny to think, as I stared at the ragdoll pile of useless limbs, that somewhere in there was Daishin. He didn’t have prime real estate rotting on top of his men. He could be on the very bottom or face down in someone’s asshole.
He’d been the leader for decades.
And now he was nothing more than fish food.
I didn’t smile, knowing he was dead. I didn’t celebrate or dance on his grave. I only felt empty and tired…so, so tired.
“Let’s get this over with.” Slamming the doors, I ensured they were latched and locked before winding down the windows for the upcoming seawater. Once completed, I looked back at Selix.
Without waiting for instruction, he disappeared into the garage and the well-stocked tool kit we kept for our mechanics. He came back with a sledge hammer, a chisel, and a sharp knife.
Handing me the knife, he headed to the old delivery logo on the van and held the chisel against the metal. With a hard whack, he hit it with the hammer and broke through the thin metal in one strike.
The noise boomed around us, joining more and more, louder and louder as he made his way around the truck, hitting holes that were too small for evidence to float out of but big enough for small fish and seawater to dissolve the contents inside.
While Selix tweaked the vehicle, I took the knife and slashed all four tyres.
No point in having anything that had air while sinking to the bottom of the sea. We wanted this bitch to plummet not dawdle.
My back fucking killed from bending over, but it didn’t take long for the loud hissing of escaping air to deplete, leaving us with suspenseful silence.