“Destroy her,” Jack said with a smirk. “But now you find yourself at cross purposes, don’t you?”
“Yes, I would indeed like to survive this, but it is not my highest priority.”
“This has nothing to do with the phase shift experiment, does it?”
All eyes went to Jack, curious at the question he had just asked. Carl even stepped closer to the Russian.
“You’re out to protect the way in which that material was stolen originally. Not only that, you’re here to stop us from finding out those sources are still active within our government, possibly even our military. That’s why you didn’t sink Simbirsk during your egress into the hurricane. You needed to know just what it was that we knew.”
“You Americans love your conspiracy theories, don’t you? This is not one of your films where the hero always figures out the dastardly scheme of the evil man. This is real life, Colonel Collins.”
“Yes, it is.” Jack turned to Kreshenko. “Captain, did you confirm with Moscow the colonel’s orders?”
The Russian captain just nodded.
“And where did that confirmation originate? Moscow?”
“No.” Kreshenko looked at Collins and shook his head. “Colonel, you are placing me in a difficult situation.”
“Yes, Captain, I am. You have close to five hundred men you’re responsible for, just as Captain Johnson does. We need to know if the only enemy we have is out there.” Jack pointed to the open sea. “Now, this man knows why the Simbirsk was targeted and why they tried to get belowdecks. We need to know why.”
All eyes again went to the Russian colonel.
“You weren’t sent to destroy Simbirsk; you were sent to salvage her and bring her home to the motherland, right?” Jack smiled as he knew he was getting warm to the truth — the same truth that Niles Compton and British MI6 wanted to get at.
“What is that?” Kreshenko asked. “What could possibly be here that Russia needs?”
“Industrial blue diamonds,” Henri answered for Jack.
“And he should know. He’s stolen enough of them from us to make the identification,” Carl said as he too eyed the Russian.
“The misguided captain is most assuredly correct, Colonel. I do know my diamonds.” Henri turned and looked at Kreshenko. “In ten years, the most advanced nations of the world will be fighting over this very limited resource for energy purposes. These fine fellows have come to utilize them in the most industrious of ways. I see them as money, but you men see them as power. Why they abound in this world and not our own will have to be explained by a geologist”—he looked at Jack and their shared memories of Sarah McIntire—“but I suspect that is the reason we have the company of your presence.”
Jack smiled and nodded at the Frenchman, who dipped his head at the colonel’s favored look.
“Speculate all you want, Colonel. My superiors want their ship and their experiment back,” Salkukoff said. “And as for your question, yes, we have recovered Simbirsk before. In 1989, she reappeared in the Black Sea with several of those disgusting creatures on board. Before we had a chance to recover her, she vanished once more. Three hundred of our men went with her. We did recover some of these from her superstructure before she did her disappearing act. Failing to recover our property will lead us to destroying her. Even with you on her, Colonel.”
“Who do you work for? Whoever they are must think you are expendable, because without your Simbirsk, you’re as stuck as we are,” Jack persisted.
“I work for my government, of course.” Salkukoff never allowed his eyes to leave Jack’s.
“The orders, as confirmed, never originated in Moscow, Colonel. I must insist you answer Colonel Collins’s question,” Kreshenko said.
Salkukoff stepped back and then looked at all of them. “I work for my government.”
“President Putin is not the head of that government, is he?” Henri asked.
“Does it really matter, Colonel Farbeaux?”
“Colonel, you have to see this,” Charlie said as he came forward with Jenks in tow. The master chief was also holding a small fire extinguisher. Ellenshaw saw the serious faces of the men standing in an angry circle, and he and Jenks stopped. “Uh, we’re all still friends here, right?” crazy Charlie asked, lowering the rag he had been trying to show Jack.
“I have a feeling we’re not, Professor,” Kreshenko said, but he was not looking at the Americans. He was staring straight at Salkukoff.
Carl turned to Charlie. “What have you got, Doc?”
Ellenshaw was silent at first as he caught the heavy vibes streaming off the angry men.
“Doc?” Everett asked again.
“Oh, this.” He held out an old red rag. It had a clear substance dripping from it. “It was recovered from the stern decking, and we suspect it was how the fire was started. Chief?”
Jenks nodded. Ellenshaw allowed the rag to drip onto the old wood decking of Simbirsk. Then Charlie eased over to Jenks and accepted a small square of steel.
“As you see, this substance doesn’t burn the wood deck, correct? Now watch this,” Ellenshaw gingerly laid the small piece of steel onto the substance. Suddenly, the liquid activated, and a magnesium-type of flare-up happened. The steel melted right before their eyes, and then when it touched the wooden deck, it slowly fizzled to nothing.
“Damn,” Carl said as he kneeled to examine the spot. “Chemical?”
“Organic,” Jenks said. “In the late ’70s, I heard rumors that the navy was experimenting with the glands of certain fish and other sea life, and they were amazed to find some of these same properties. This stuff more than likely originated with some kind of fish — clam, who knows? But it was a substance that was harvested, to be sure.” Jenks looked over at the assembled men. “Evidently, our aggressive friends from the sea are a little more knowledgeable than we gave them credit for.”
Without warning, Jack quickly reached out and deftly removed Salkukoff of his holstered weapon and then tossed it to Everett. Kreshenko looked momentarily shocked, but Salkukoff did not.
“Easy, Captain,” Henri said as he stepped up beside Kreshenko.
Everett looked from the Russian captain to Jack. Then he went to Kreshenko and handed him the Russian pistol.
“Captain, I suggest you place this man under arrest until such a time as we can get the hell out of this screwed-up world,” Collins said.
Kreshenko shocked them all by handing the pistol back to Salkukoff. “Consider yourself under arrest, Colonel. You still have the privilege of defending yourself, but you are hereby prohibited from venturing belowdecks of Simbirsk.”
“A wise decision, Captain,” he said as he holstered the pistol.
Jack looked at the two Russians and shook his head and then turned away, followed by Carl and Henri.
Ellenshaw looked at Jenks.
“We have got to start being in on these meetings.”
“Yeah, we end up missing the good stuff.”
Master Chief Jenks easily tossed Kreshenko the fire extinguisher and left with Charlie.
Just after 6:00 A.M., alarms were sounded again on all three ships. Men crowded around the railings and watched as the alarms died down to nothing as the fleet of villagers started to sail by on their small wooden ships. With their brightly colored sails pushing them through the strangely colored sea, sailors from both nations watched them go by. There were catcalls and whistles when the men of both navies saw the women inside the boats as they prepared their fishing nets for the day.