Even with hands pressed tightly over his ears the blast thundered inside Maddock’s head. It felt as if his brain had suddenly become too large for his skull. He wanted to scream against it for long seconds after his brain stopped rattling against the bone plates encasing it.
The door was still closed, but Professor was on his feet and pushing it open on the deserted corridor beyond. It crashed on the wire-grille floor. Maddock hauled himself to his feet, helping Bones to lift Shaw. Nate didn’t look good, bringing his head up slowly. “I’m tired, man. Just… leave me here. You go, get out.” Maddock could see the life gently ebbing away from the SEAL.
“We’re not leaving you,” Maddock said.
Shaw fixed him with a level gaze. “Even if you get me off this thing, you’ll never get me back to the ship. I’ll just hold you back.”
“Yes we will,” Maddock agreed. “And we’ll do it because you’re one of us.” He started to drag-carry him toward the door. The man was a dead weight even with two of them trying to move him. He grunted in pain with every step, face twisting as he fought not to let it show.
“When those charges blow it’s not going to take long for the engine room to fill,” Professor said.
Maddock knew what the man was saying. If they didn’t get out of there quickly, none of them would. He wanted all of them out. But he couldn’t force them to all move at the pace of the slowest man. That would be murder.
“Go on ahead,” he said to the others. “Get the hatch open and get out of here. Get as far as you can across the ice. Don’t stop. Don’t turn around. Don’t look back. Just keep running. That’s an order. Even you, Bones.”
They didn’t need to be told twice, even though Bones was clearly reluctant to leave Maddock and the dying man.
“We won’t be far behind you,” Maddock promised.
He didn’t say any more than that. He knew that Bones didn’t believe him. But the big Cherokee also knew that at least one of them had to survive to make sure the mission was completed. He was pragmatic. This was Maddock’s choice. He respected that. Rolls reversed, Maddock liked to think he’d afford his friend the same respect, but he wasn’t sure he could.
Boots clattered as the men ran up the incline, covering the distance as quickly as they could. Maddock watched them fade into the gloom of the poorly lit corridor.
They limped on.
“Seriously, Maddock. Go. I’m done. Get out. It’s senseless both of us dying here. I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but you’re an idiot,” Shaw said.
“It’s my call,” Maddock told him.
Shaw had to rest twice before they’d crossed the wire-grille bridge over the reactor. There was no way he was going to make it to the conning tower and the hatch.
Maddock didn’t hurry him.
They moved slowly back to the galley where Bones waited in the doorway.
Maddock stared to yell at him, but Bones shook his head.
“It’s not dumb loyalty, Maddock. No one is getting off this boat. We should have done a better job getting rid of that metal bar. The Russians haven’t taken any chances. They’ve locked us in here. We’re going down with the sub, and our one hope is getting out through the blast hole when those charges go off.”
They both knew that their core temperatures would fall too low for them to be able to survive the sea without help, even if they were able to beat the water pressure and find their way out from under the ice. There were no cabins here. No fires to warm themselves against. And there was no way Shaw would make it.
An idea occurred to Maddock. “What about the torpedo tubes? Can we get out that way?”
“Too narrow,” Bones said. “Even if we were buck naked we’d never get through. Not even a skinny runt like Professor. Besides, if I’m going to get naked it’s not going to be with a bunch of dudes.”
They were well and truly trapped in this tin can.
Footsteps along the corridor heralded the return of Professor and Willis. If they were going to die down there then they would die together.
“I could go back in there, see if I can loose another charge — assuming it costs another five minutes, it might make a difference. I ain’t sure how much of one though, but anything is better than nothing, right? We might be able to blow the hatch.” Willis suggested.
“How long have we got left?” Maddock asked.
“Eight minutes,” Willis replied. “Less when I get in there.”
“If we lose another five minutes when you do…” Maddock didn’t need to spell it out. Three minutes to get out of there, cover the distance to the hatch and blow it before the charges in the engine room went off. “Professor?”
“Willis is faster than me.”
Maddock considered the idea. It wasn’t enough time. Or was it? “Do it.”
Willis set off running. He was back soon, charging along the corridor with Bones and Professor right behind him. Maddock tried to help the injured Shaw back to his feet, but the man was done. He couldn’t even begin to help himself.
“I said leave me,” Shaw rasped. “It’s over, Maddock. Even if he manages to blow the hatch there’s no way that you’ll be able to get me there and out of this thing before it gets pulled under.”
“Of course we will.”
The man shook his head. “I’m not a child. I know what’s happening here. Let me go.”
Maddock knew that Shaw was right, but he couldn’t just leave him behind.
“Let me help you,” Shaw said. “Prop me up against the door. I’ll keep it closed, so even if the engine room fills quickly I’ll buy you a few more seconds. That extra minute or two might make all the difference. Let me die trying to save you. OK? Let me do that.”
Maddock wanted to argue. The blast from the hatch shook the sub, earning deep groans from the hull as it shivered against the ice.
“Cheer up, it might never happen.” Shaw managed a wry smile.
They were both going to die down here. Another howl of metal tearing came from deep within the submarine. The entire structure groaned around him.
“Go!” Shaw pressed himself up against the door.
A second blast thundered.
Maddock didn’t move. He knelt down beside Shaw. The solider had his eyes closed. He reached into his thick jacket and snapped off his dog tags. “I’ll make sure these get home. I promise.”
Shaw didn’t say anything.
He didn’t need to.
There were no words.
Maddock pushed himself to his feet and ran for the middle of the sub and the hatch that would take him up to the surface. The Echo II shook and groaned with every step, the incline increasing second by second as she started to tear free of her icy prison. He didn’t look back. He didn’t want to see Nate Shaw slumped against that door. Maybe he’d be able to hold the relentless rush of the tide back for a few seconds, no more than that, surely? But Maddock couldn’t let him die down in the cold and dark in vain. He’d use those seconds because they’d come at such a staggeringly high price.
The dim light flickered on and off around him, plunging the corridor into darkness and the submarine slipped another inch, then there was a sudden lurch as she dropped a foot. Maddock lost his footing, thrown forward. He hit the deck hard, and reached out for support, on his feet again only to stumble and sprawl over one of the dead Russian submariners as the lights flickered back into life.
“It’s no good,” Bones shouted to him as he closed the last few feet. “It won’t budge.”
So that was it.
It had all been in vain.
Willis and Professor dropped back down, finding a place to plant their feet without treading on corpses. They both looked dejected, completely without hope. There had to be something they hadn’t tried. Something that could still get them out of there. They only had seconds before the submarine slipped down into the water where no one would bother trying to salvage it.