“A loudspeaker on steroids,” Dirk said, rubbing his ears.
“Pretty much. Jack and I borrowed it from a friend at the Naval Research Laboratory.”
Jack Dahlgren, the burly marine engineer who was old friends with Dirk, approached carrying an assault rifle. “Glad to see you boys happy and healthy. Rudi, we best move to the bridge. Does anybody know how many commandos are aboard?”
“I counted nine.” Giordino picked up one of the Cuban guns. “You keep that ear blaster away from me and I’ll back you up.”
Gunn passed some small headphones to Dirk and Giordino. “These will help.”
He reactivated the system and led his armed companions to the forward superstructure. The ship’s bulkheads acted as a deterrent to the MRAD system, so Gunn didn’t hesitate, scrambling up the companionway and bursting onto the bridge.
The remaining four commandos were on duty and alert to the commotion on deck. Two were standing watch with assault rifles and instantly turned toward Gunn. He dove to the floor, holding the MRAD paddle aloft. Dahlgren and his partner turned the corner and fired. Their aim was true and they took down the two shooters.
The other two Cubans, unarmed, had fallen to the floor during the audio bombardment and now climbed to their feet. They raised their hands as Dirk and Giordino entered with their weapons drawn.
Dirk stepped over and helped Gunn to his feet. “Rudi, are you okay?
“I’m good. Is everybody on the ship safe?”
“They won’t be for long,” Giordino said. “Word is, our friends planted explosives on the ship and were about to send her to the bottom.”
He stepped to the smaller of the two Cubans. Grabbing him by the lapel, he raised him off the floor and ground his teeth in the man’s face. “Where are the explosives? Dónde están los explosivos?”
The soldier saw the unflinching determination in Giordino’s eye. “La sala de máquinas,” he grunted.
“The engine room,” Dirk said. “Let’s go.”
He and Giordino sprinted from the top of the ship to the bottom, reaching the engine room two minutes later. They didn’t have to search long before finding several crates of explosives positioned aside a seawater induction valve. It would have quickly flooded the ship.
Giordino found a simple digital timer wired to a detonator that was packed into the high explosives. He nervously removed the detonator. “Two more hours and she’d be on her way to the bottom.”
“Good thing Rudi and Jack arrived when they did.”
They climbed back to the main deck and released the crew from the two labs, but not before Giordino flung the timer and detonator over the side. They helped Dahlgren lock up the surviving Cubans, then rejoined Gunn on the bridge.
He stood over a communications console, shaking his head. “The satellite communications system was destroyed in the shoot-out.”
“We’ve still got marine radios,” Giordino said. “By the way, how’d you find us?”
“Tracked you with satellite imaging, until we left Bimini on the NUMA research ship Caroline. Fortunately, you hadn’t moved by the time we crossed the straits.”
“Where’s the Caroline now?”
“She’s holding in friendly waters, about ten miles due north.” He gave Giordino a studious gaze. “I’ve been afraid to ask. Where’s Pitt and Summer?”
“As of two days ago, a mining ship called the Sea Raker,” Giordino said. “They were abducted aboard the Starfish while investigating the subsea mining. The Sea Raker was operating at the site of the Alta’s sinking. We need to find her and fast.”
Gunn nodded as he took the helm and dialed up the ship’s engines. He stabbed a finger at a horizontal radar screen that had survived the shoot-out. “If the Caroline doesn’t find her first,” he said in a determined voice, “we will.”
74
Fifty feet beneath the hull of the Sea Raker, an electrical charge ignited a lead azide detonator. The small primary detonation instantly ignited the eight hundred pounds of TNT packed into the sleeve that dangled from the bulk cutter.
A shock wave rippled through the water as the explosion created a large gas bubble in the depths. The bubble rose rapidly, expanding in size and power as it ascended through less dense layers of seawater.
On board the Sea Raker, the shock wave was felt first, rattling through the ship like a burst of thunder.
“What was that?” Díaz asked as the deck shuddered beneath his feet.
The chief mining engineer shook his head. “I don’t know. There should be no impact to the ship at this range.”
Pitt smiled at the two men and pointed to the video screen. “Perhaps your explosives got tied up below.”
Díaz looked at the screen. The video feed from the bulk cutter had gone blank.
“What have you done?” he screamed at Pitt. He turned and grabbed an assault rifle from one of the guards.
Pitt didn’t have to answer. A second later, the explosives-induced gas bubble struck the underside of the Sea Raker like a boot to the belly. The ship’s midsection was driven almost out of the sea, its keel fracturing in three places. Hull plates ruptured along the vessel’s spine, allowing the sea to flood in from stern to stem. Alarms sounded throughout the ship as power from the main generators was instantly severed.
On the bridge, shipboard diagnostics told the captain his worst fear. Flooding was pervasive and there was no hope of staying afloat. He issued the order to abandon ship, which blared through the vessel’s PA system on a recorded message.
In the control room, everyone had been knocked off their feet. The electrical power had vanished, pitching the bay into total darkness. As Díaz climbed to his feet still clutching the rifle, emergency lights slowly flickered on, casting the room in a red glow.
The chief mining engineer stood and grabbed Díaz’s arm. “Come, we must get out of here.”
Díaz shook his head, his face a mask of rage. He knocked the engineer away and swept the room with his weapon. “Where is he?”
His anger magnified when he realized that Pitt was no longer there.
75
Pitt was already on the run to save his daughter. His only hope, albeit a slim one, was with the auxiliary cutter machine that was aboard the ship. If he could quickly lower and drive the cutter to the Starfish, he might be able to latch onto the submersible and raise it to the surface.
It was a big if.
Crawling out of the blackened control room, he found an early state of chaos on deck. There was already a panicked exodus as the crew flocked to the lifeboats. Shouts and curses filled the air as the soldiers, most with no prior seagoing experience, ran about searching for the boats. Whatever loyalty the soldiers owed to Díaz had vanished in a sudden effort to save their own skins.
Pitt realized he was on the opposite deck from the auxiliary cutter and sprinted across an amidships passageway. He stopped momentarily at the rail and radioed Ramsey, requesting he return with the Gold Digger to pick up survivors and make an emergency call for a deepwater submersible rescue. He knew the chances of the latter arriving in time were minimal.
As he raced forward across the deck, he saw the Sea Raker had generated a noticeable list but seemed to be settling slowly. She was going to afford Pitt a few minutes afloat.