"Here we go," Dothan announced through the headset.
The engine started to sputter as he flooded the mixture with too much fuel and not enough oxygen. The descent wasn't as bad as Sean had thought, which made him think this wasn't the first time his pilot had performed the maneuver.
Dothan tilted the plane to the right, away from the front side of the island where the Mark V would be anchored. Though the boat wasn't visible, both men aboard the plane knew it was there, waiting menacingly.
"If they start firing their guns, take her around to the rear of the island, and drop me off there. I'll figure out another way." Sean's words brought a twinge of concern on the pilot's face, but he pressed on.
The Mark V was outfitted with a pair of 7.62-mm M134s, based on a Gatling gun and a couple of .50-caliber machine guns. The combined firepower would rip the plane to shreds in seconds if it got too close.
As they approached, however, the boat did not open fire, which meant they hadn't seen or heard the plane, there was no one on board, or they were waiting on orders from the admiral. The pilot had rigged a kill switch for the lights on his wings and underbelly so he could fly almost invisible in the night sky when the situation called for it. Sean wondered how many times he'd used that in the past. In any case, Sean wanted to make sure he got into the water as fast as possible to keep Dothan from danger. He might have been a smuggler, but Sean's assessment of the pilot was that he was a good man.
The pontoons under the plane began to scrape the tops of the ocean waves. The plane vibrated harshly for several seconds before the floats settled deeper into the water. Sean opened the side door and waited for the plane to slow down enough so that he could exit. He gave the gear bag one last tug to make sure it was secure and then hefted the sea scooter off the floor, bracing himself with his free hand on a rung positioned to the left of the doorway. Icy-cold air blasted through the opening, stinging the exposed portions of his face. He flinched but didn't turn away. When he got into the water, it would be nearly as cold. Might as well get used to it now.
Dothan throttled down the plane's engine and brought it to a near stop, letting it idle slowly through the choppy water. Sean gave a last, grateful nod to the pilot and eased quietly into the water, stepping down onto the pontoon and then into the dark sea.
The moment he was off the plane, Dothan throttled back up, and the engine began running normally again. Sean floated in the water for a minute, watching the shadowy outline of the seaplane as it turned away from his position and accelerated toward the south, ever increasing the distance between it and the dangerous special forces ship that lurked off the island coast. Sean turned around and marked his destination in his mind.
The clouds that had been covering the sky for the majority of the day had dissipated, and the pale light of the moon began to peer through the cracks in the soupy gray above. With the extra illumination, Sean could make out the outline of the navy ship, about three hundred yards away. If there was anyone aboard, they would have heard the plane and reported in and likely pursued the pilot until he was out of range. Unless, of course, their little ruse had worked.
He switched on the scooter and began kicking his feet. The Sea-Doo underwater scooter was also equipped with lights, but Sean kept those off for now. He would need them once he reached the shoreline and started exploring the cliffs, but for now, his approach needed to be as stealthy as possible.
The little motor hummed quietly under the surface, zipping Sean through the breaks faster than he'd expected. He'd never used one of the scooters before and questioned whether it would have enough power to effectively transport him quickly over a decent distance. So far, he was pleasantly surprised.
He steered the scooter to the right, aiming it at the coast to keep from being spotted by any crew on the Mark V. As he got closer, he could see the dim red lights inside the ship's cabin, along with a black silhouette. From the looks of things, they'd only left one man aboard. Of course, there could always be more in the other parts of the ship, but something told Sean that Admiral McClain had only left one man aboard as a precaution, electing to take the rest with him to help with whatever they discovered inside the island's bowels.
A hundred yards from shore, Sean slowed the scooter and angled it downward. The machine pulled him under, and he maintained the low speed until he'd reached twenty feet below. He switched on the lights, and the eerie blackness of the sea became brighter. The water in front of him was clear for the most part. He could see the huge mass of land, presenting itself as a massive shadowy object just beyond the line of the light's beam. The scooter hummed quietly in front of him, pulling him quickly toward the island's foot. The lights reached the rocky shoreline and revealed more details of the brownish-black jagged surface.
He slowed the scooter's speed when he got to thirty feet from the underwater cliff, and turned left. According to his memory and where the Mark V was parked out in the open water, the location from the painting had to be nearby. He trolled slowly along the shoreline, scanning the rocks for signs of anything unusual.
It didn't take long. After only a few minutes, Sean slowed the scooter to a halt and hung in the water for a moment. He turned the machine, pointing it at a gargantuan cavity in the side of the rock. The blackened cave entrance was easily sixty feet across and fifty feet from bottom to top. The upper lip of the oval-shaped entrance was under the surface of the water by a good ten feet, which meant it was invisible from above the water line.
Sean took a quick look around to make sure none of McClain's men were lurking in the shadowy depths and accelerated into the abyss. He kept his speed low, progressing carefully forward. His eyes observed the sides of the cave's walls, and he deduced that while the opening had originally been a natural occurrence, machinery had come through and hewn out more rock to accommodate something huge, like a submarine. He wondered what kind of machinery they'd used to carve out the ancient rock.
Up ahead, he noticed the pitch black of the cavern was changing to a dim, yellow glow. Sean switched off the scooter's lights as he crept forward. Fifteen seconds later, the cave opened up, and he emerged from the tunnel into an underground harbor. Over to the right, a massive object appeared in the water. Its metal exterior was dark gray. The long, tubular shape extended eighty feet ahead to the far wall where the water reached an abrupt end. He could make out the shape of people moving around above, but it was hard to see through the water. He searched the area to the left, away from the U-boat and where he assumed McClain's men were working.
Steering the scooter in that direction, he made his way to the far side of the cavern and discovered a narrow ledge a few inches under the water's surface. He pulled himself up onto the platform and found that it was the first in a progression of steps. Sean kept his eyes on the other side of the cavern as he carefully lifted the scooter out of the water and placed it against the wall on the step.
When he removed his goggles, the entire scene came into clear view. The U-boat was enormous and appeared to be remarkably intact, even after seventy years. The upper part of the hull was dry and showing signs of rust here and there, but overall the submarine looked like it might well be fit enough to take out into the open sea. On top of its stern, an 88-mm gun sat silently, pointing forward at the rocky wall. Behind that, the tower rose toward the cavern's ceiling. One of McClain's men stood atop it, behind the railing, keeping watch over the work that was being done. He'd not noticed Sean as he slipped onto the far shore where the lights attached to the wall barely reached.