Final Option (Oregon Files 14)

“Five . . . four . . . three . . . two . . . one . . .”

There was a series of bright flashes visible through the canopy, and the surroundings swayed from the blasts.

But that wasn’t all. A moment later, a huge fireball erupted in the same spot, throwing whole trees into the air. The immense shock wave pummeled the helicopter, and Tate had to hold on to keep from falling out the door.

“What was that?” he yelled at Li.

Li, wide-eyed at the result of his handiwork, shrugged helplessly. “It shouldn’t have been nearly that big of an explosion.”

“I bet I know,” Ballard said. “It’s a U-boat, right? Maybe they had some torpedoes left.”

Tate nodded as he thought about it. “That must be what happened.”

“It made the job easier for us,” Farouk said. “There won’t be much left of it now.”

Tate breathed easier when he realized Farouk was probably right.

“Still, we should go back and make sure.”

“Yes, Commander,” the pilot said. He turned and headed back to the site of the explosion.

When they arrived, the foliage was still aflame. Smoke drifted into the sky, marking the location for anyone who might see it.

Tate wasn’t worried about that. As long as the U-boat was destroyed, all that curious locals would find was charred wreckage.

They hovered out of the smoke, and Farouk inspected the screen.

“Is there anything left?” Tate finally asked.

“Not much that I can see,” Farouk answered. “There’s a huge crater where the bow used to be. Most of the rest is just twisted metal.”

Since some of the trees had fallen over or had been blasted in half, Tate could now see some of the debris. It was now unrecognizable as a submarine. Large pieces of the hull were ripped to shreds, and anything flammable in the interior was burning.

“Good work, people,” Tate said with a big grin. “I’m buying dinner tonight.”

The pilot banked to the side and began the flight back to the heliport.

“Commander?” Farouk said in a hesitant voice. “There’s something wrong with the recording.”

“Like what?” Tate asked with a chuckle. “Did we get the wrong U-boat? There can’t be that many stuck out here in the Amazon jungle.”

“It’s not the U-boat.”

“Then what is it?” Tate demanded. Farouk was really starting to ruin his good mood.

“I was looking more closely at the images from when we first found the U-boat, to compare them to what we’re seeing now.”

“You’re testing my patience, Farouk.”

“I zoomed in on the video,” the Egyptian engineer said, turning in his seat, an expression of dread on his face. “It’s pretty faint, but I think there were people coming out of the sub.”

46

Juan opened his eyes and wiped mud from his face as he coughed and gasped for breath. His chest reverberated from the explosion that had thrown him into a bog. He and the others had taken cover a hundred yards from the Bremen, and it had barely been enough distance between them and the now smoldering wreckage of the U-boat. Just how close Juan had come to dying was represented by the jagged piece of steel that was embedded in the tree next to his head.

He pushed himself to his feet and called out, “Everyone all right?”

He’d been the last one out of the U-boat when they’d heard the helicopter passing overhead. He’d made the mistake of thinking they were safe crouching behind trees surrounding the Bremen. It wasn’t until he saw the bricks of C-4 falling from the sky that he ordered the team to run for it.