No, there it was, hanging from a tangle of slings and cables just a few feet below. Ignoring the pressure building in his ear, he gripped one of the straps and pulled himself to it.
How do I make it work? Before, it had simply come over him like a fainting spell, no rhyme or reason. Maybe if he could touch it….
He tore at the slings, trying to find the stone orb nestled within. His fingers grazed something hard and smooth to the touch. He pressed harder against it.
“Take me there,” he screamed. His words, his last breath rushed out in a cloud of bubbles. “Take me back, damn you.”
Darkness swelled around him, and he sensed that he was almost there.
Jade dropped from the top of the submersible and into thigh deep water that was rising fast. Part of her couldn’t believe she was doing this, risking her life to save the woman who would….
I can’t judge her for what she might do, Jade told herself. Yet if she saved Ophelia now, and every dire part of that future came to pass, it would be her fault.
What good was knowing the future if you couldn’t do a damn thing to stop it?
But she couldn’t just let Ophelia die. That wasn’t in her nature.
She spied the RIB, swamped by inrushing water, but still afloat at least for a few more seconds. The davits were already under water and in a moment, they would pull the inflatable boat down, too. Ophelia was a motionless heap sloshing in the bilge space. There wasn’t time to rouse her and Jade didn’t think she could swim back to the QED dragging the woman along, so instead she drew her knife and cut the boat free of the davit with two quick slashes. With one hand gripping the RIB, she started swimming back toward the submersible.
The water was lapping at the open hatch cover by the time she reached it, which made dragging Ophelia from the RIB and dropping her in a lot easier. Unfortunately, water was already beginning to pour down into the craft.
She could see Professor below, waving to her urgently. “Come on!”
“I have to cut us loose,” she shouted back.
He started to say something but then just nodded. He knew.
She wrestled with the hatch cover until it fell into place, shutting off the cascade of seawater into the submersible’s interior. The water rose to cover the flywheel even as she was spinning it to seal Professor and Ophelia safely inside.
And herself out.
She rolled off the submersible and swam down to where a couple of heavy-duty ratchets secured it to the deck. She sawed through one. The submersible shifted, like a dog straining against its leash, but like that dog, remained fixed in place. She kicked to the other strap, started cutting.
The pressure in her ears was tremendous. She worked her jaw trying to equalize it so she could keep working, and tried not think about how fast the ship was sinking or how long that last breath she had taken would last.
Or whether she would be able to swim to the surface.
The strap parted with an audible snap and the QED shot up like a bottle-rocket. The sudden displacement of water created a cavitation wave that tumbled Jade over, disorienting her for several seconds, and when she finally stopped spinning, the submersible was gone and the surface seemed so very, very far away.
EPILOGUE
Professor gazed up at the banner stretched across the front of the awning, directly beneath the bright orange neon letters that spelled out the name of the iconic Duval Street establishment: SLOPPY JOE’S BAR. The banner, which looked brand new, proudly declared “Grand Re-Opening!”
He knew all about Sloppy Joe’s, the famous bar where Ernest Hemingway and Habana Joe had hung out in the 1930s, though few tourists were aware that the establishment had moved from that original location, long after Papa shuffled off the mortal coil. This was Professor’s first visit to the notorious Key West bar. Although he had spent several weeks in Key West prior to leaving for Mexico, Sloppy Joe’s, like most of the rest of the tourist friendly island, had been closed for repairs. In the short time he’d been away, Key West had claimed back some of what the Dominion had taken when it had unleashed a tsunami against the island. Sloppy Joe’s was open for business, and the grand re-opening party was in full swing.
As he shuffled inside, still leaning on his cane a little, though he didn’t actually need it anymore, he couldn’t help but notice people quickly looking away as if his gaze might turn them to stone.
Whatever.
He headed for the bar where Tam Broderick was waiting with a piña colada in one hand, and an ice-cold Bud Light long neck in the other. Tam caught his eye in the reflection of the mirror behind the bar and slid the beer his way.
“You remembered.” He had to shout to be heard over the music. On the main stage, someone was singing a Jimmy Buffett song, and Professor was pretty sure that it was actually Jimmy Buffett.
“Remembered that you’re a cheap date? Honey, how could I forget that?”
He eased onto the stool next to her, smiling to hide the twinge of pain that shot through his leg. Tam wasn’t fooled. “It’s good to have you back,” she said, her tone more sober. “I’m sorry about…everything.”
Her vagueness was understandable. He had not told her very much, and for good reason. When Tam had begun recruiting agents to fill the ranks of the Myrmidons, she had relied on a simple litmus test of hatred for the Dominion, a test that Brian Hodges had passed with flying colors. Now they knew that there was another player in the game, and despite their shared enemy, the Norfolk Group was not looking to align itself with the Myrmidons. Hodges had just been one man in the right place at the right time to take action; there was no telling how many other Norfolk Group agents might have been seeded into the Myrmidons.
That was why he had chosen this very public, very noisy spot to make his report, and to tell Tam why he wouldn’t be coming back.
“I don’t want to lose you,” she said when he finished, a concerned expression clouding her brow. “If we’re going to root these bastards out…” She stopped, frowned, and Professor knew she was mentally writing an IOU to her personal swear jar. “I’m going to need agents that I actually can trust beyond any doubt.”
“I know,” he replied. “But that’s exactly why I can’t be a part of the investigation. They’ll know that I’m gunning for them, and that will make them go turtle whenever I’m around. You’ve got a much better chance of smoking them out with me out of the picture.”
She mulled that over for a few minutes. “And what about you?”
He told her.
She mulled this over even longer. “Any way I can talk you out of this?”
“No. But if you think about it, this is a win-win. I’ll still be doing the same thing as before, and I think you’ll agree, it’s a job that somebody needs to do.”
Tam inclined her head. “I can’t disagree with that. What’s in it for you? Aside from a nice government paycheck?”
“I’m surprised you have to ask.” He drained the contents of his bottle in a gulp and set it down on the bar. “If you need some time to think about it—”
“I don’t. Like you said, it’s a win-win.”
“I’m glad you feel that way. Listen, there’s one other thing.”
Tam raised her empty glass to the bartender to signal for a refill, then returned her attention to Professor. “Can’t wait to hear it.”
“You need to back-channel a request, or a warning or whatever you want to call it, to restrict travel in the area south of Greater Abaco Island. I hope that thing is so deep that it won’t be a problem to anyone, but just to be on the safe side, you should make sure that planes and ships give it a wide berth.”