He took it down and opened it.
“Sat-phone!”
“Charged?”
“Always the worry-wart, aren’t you, Keith?”
And then the ship canted sideways until it lay nearly flat on the side where Maddock had blasted a hole.
“Let’s leave these guys and get outta here! Half of this ship is underwater.”
“Hold on.” Maddock hit the power button on the sat-phone and grinned as it lit up. “It’s got power. Thank you, captain. You and your crew are free to go. Stay out of our way and we’ll leave you alone.” Maddock drew his K5 and aimed it at him as if to underscore this fact.
The captain and first mate scrambled to leave, warily stumbling past Maddock and Bones and then negotiating the exit to the bridge, which now lay sideways and partially submerged. Maddock handed Bones the sat-phone and removed his backpack.
“Hold this, I need to get the number.”
He removed a small address book from one of the pockets, handed it to Bones, and took the phone. “Here, read me each number from the top of the pages.”
“What?”
“I wrote down the number one digit at a time, each on a separate page at the top, so in case someone gets a hold of my address book the extraction number won’t be so obvious.”
“I doubt this little black book has much value, knowing your lack of game with the ladies. My personal Rolodex, on the other hand, would be worth—”
“Bones! C’mon, man! We’re sinking here!”
“Right. Okay, start dialling. First number: 8.”
In this manner, Maddock input the entire phone number into the satellite phone. He had just entered the last digit when Bones put the book back into his pack for him and said, “Here it comes!”
A rush of water flooded into the bridge as the ship fell lower into the lagoon. Maddock held the phone up with an arm. “Still have to hit send!”
“Let’s climb out of here before it floods.”
But it was already too late. Both SEALs were stunned at the suddenness with which the ship succumbed to the sea once it began to flood. They realized now that it must have been flooding belowdecks the entire time they were climbing the ladder to get back aboard. Maddock held up the phone as high as he could as a new torrent of water came gushing in, threatening to sweep them off their feet.
Although he remained standing by gripping a high-backed chair in front of the console, Maddock quickly found himself submerged in water over his head. He fought to keep the phone above the inrushing deluge. He felt Bones’ powerful grip steadying him, then pushing him toward the exit.
Maddock hopped up to get a breath, choking out the words, “Need to hit send!”
Bones didn’t bother to reply since a new rush of water threatened to whisk them away. He managed to pull himself and Maddock through the doorway, which was now oriented sideways, confusing him as to which way was which. He didn’t really care which way they were going as long as it was toward higher ground and air.
Outside the bridge they found themselves in a flooded area with ladders oriented horizontally. Bones looked around and saw a spot where they could climb on top of the superstructure’s side, still awash but now the highest remaining point of the ship.
“This way, Maddock!” They swam for a ladder that they could stand on even though it lay sideways, Maddock only able to use one hand while the other held the sat-phone high. They reached the structure and Bones climbed up onto the ladder.
“It’s going down, Maddock. Jump. Now!”
Bones climbed atop the wet side of the superstructure and reached back down to haul Maddock up.
“Forget me. Make the call!” Maddock held out the phone. Bones took it. He glanced at the display, saw the numbers queued up. He located the send button. Just as he brought his finger over the keypad, about to press the button, he felt a powerful swirl of water pulling around his feet as the ship went completely under.
The sat-phone display winked out as the phone was covered with water a split second before Bones’ finger pressed the Send button. He had time to curse once and then Bones was lifted off his feet.
Chapter 32
The next few seconds were a chaotic whirlwind of black rushing water, bumps and bruises, unintelligible shouts and sudden, stomach-churning drops. Every time Bones tried to kick, his feet or shins painfully collided with hard steel. He was not yet free of the ship, now totally submerged. He had no idea where Maddock was.
He pushed off something firm toward a glimmer of light. The moon. His head finally broke the surface and he started to swim toward what looked like open water. He looked down as he swam and saw the side of the ship only a few feet under. He thought maybe the ship had too much air to sink, that it was floating there, but then realized that the shallow lagoon they were in was only about thirty feet deep here, about the height of the ship.
He swam over the underwater obstruction, seeking open water. He was surprised to see many people in the water ahead of him. Saddened, too, when he realized that not all of them were still alive. He pushed past the floating corpse of a Mizuhi crewman and swam to what he thought was a safe distance beyond the shipwreck. He turned around and looked back at the sunken ship.
He didn’t see Maddock. Panic welled within him as he turned in circles, looking for his friend, one question refusing to vacate his mind: What if he didn’t make it out of the ship? He eyed the blurry form beneath him. How many of the crew didn’t make it out and were entombed down there now?
He called out Maddock’s name in several directions, not caring who heard. Bones had no doubt that if Maddock had made it out, he would be equally concerned about him. He looked back toward the island where the first of those who escaped from the ship were straggling onto the beach. He was sure Maddock wouldn’t have gone there without locating him first. He started to swim slowly around the wreck, looking carefully, swimming close to each person he saw, even helping a couple of dazed crewmen briefly by pointing them toward shore. He didn’t want to, but crossed over the sunken ship again, mindful of the protruding wreckage. He cast his eyes downward, dreading the sight of a body.
He didn’t see one though, and soon he had reached the open water on the other side of the wreck. He was about to concede that there was nothing more he could do other than to swim toward shore and search for Maddock along the way when he heard a voice call out.
“Fancy meeting you here.”
Bones spun around to see Maddock’s face grinning at him from only a few feet away.
“Where’d you come from? Been looking all over—”
“I got washed down to the far end. Took me a bit to figure out the lay of the ship underwater. Then I thought I’d see if you stuck around near where we went down.”
“And to think you’re okay. I could have been relaxing on the beach all this time.”
Maddock glanced over at the shore. “Speaking of the beach…”
“Let’s go.”
“You didn’t get the call off, did you?”
Bones slowly shook his head. “Phone’s toast.”
They began swimming across the lagoon toward shore, avoiding the more direct route crowded with survivors and skirting the long way around. They could hear many anguished cries, angry yells and just plain shouting, all in Japanese, as they traversed the lagoon.
They made good time across the calm water, not bothering with stealth since so many others were now making the same trek to shore. When Maddock could see individual palm trees on the beach he stopped swimming and let his feet hang down, rejoicing in the feel of the sandy bottom. Land. They waded ashore and sat behind a clump of palms while they watched the Mizuhi personnel make their way up onto the beach. Behind them, the island was still on fire. The scene looked like something out of a disaster movie.