“Personally, I think we should leave the bastard here with his fish-faced pirate friends,” Jenks said as he unceremoniously lifted Salkukoff from the deck. The children, with their natural instincts, moved away from Salkukoff and went to Charlie for their protection.
“Charlie, get the children to the empty armory; that will provide them with the best protection when and if this thing goes off.”
Charlie started herding the children away as Jenks pushed Salkukoff toward the hatchway. The Russian stopped and with manacled wrists shook off Jenks’s hold and turned and faced Jack.
“Even if you manage to control the phase shift, do you think bringing me back in chains will do anything to stop our movement?”
Jack smiled as he watched the caged rat before him. “We have some pretty dedicated people from both sides of the Atlantic that will do just that. These men are pretty good at exposing things. I guess we’ll just have to see how your countrymen feel about it when this whole thing goes public.” Jack turned away and then stopped and faced Salkukoff once more. “That is if your own sailors don’t string you up first.”
Salkukoff was about to say something when he noticed the men of his own nation’s navy were staring at him. They had murderous eyes, and their intent was clear. Salkukoff decided to stay quiet. He was pulled into the hatchway by Jenks.
“You know, someday our luck is going to run for cover the way we push it,” Ryan said as he joined Jack.
“Commander, I think our luck ran out when we lost so many during Overlord. I think we’re due a break where luck is concerned.”
“You have a point.”
Farbeaux joined them, and Jack saw the pistol in Henri’s right hand. He charged the weapon as he fixed Collins with that glare that was quickly becoming famous. He could see that the Frenchman was ready to fulfill the task he had been given by the American president and the head of MI6.
“I don’t know if you gentlemen have noticed, but we seem to have developed a rather strange weather pattern in the last half hour.”
Jack and Ryan looked around them and saw that vapor was rising from the sea and going straight up into the air. Before Jack could comment, he got a call on his radio. It was Captain Thorne. Collins lifted his radio and then turned and saw Thorne atop the Houston’s conning tower.
“Collins,” he said.
“Colonel, we are picking up a rise in ambient water temperature. Electrostatic discharge is increasing. From your brief, these look like the same readings we got the last time that shipwreck started to speak.”
Jack looked into the sky and saw that the rate of darkness was increasing. “As of right now, we believe the phase shift engine is disabled. We should know more in the next few minutes. Captain, is Houston capable of diving?”
“Negative. We shot our wad just getting up here. Houston’s diving days are done for now.”
“Captain, we need to get Houston tied down to Simbirsk. When this thing pops, it could crush your boat with her expanding wave of electromagnetic discharge.”
“That doesn’t sound fun. I agree. We can’t take another shot like the first one. This time around she’ll just buckle.”
“How many survivors can you take on from Peter the Great and Shiloh?”
“Hell, we can fit two hundred if we have to. We’re not diving, and our fighting days are done. Too much damage to our systems. We can shove survivors into torpedo tubes if need be.”
“Good. We’ll start transferring men over in the next few minutes. We can’t have everyone in one basket. No personnel above decks or near bulkheads when the phase shift happens.”
“Roger, we’ll be here. Thorne out.”
Jack lowered the radio and saw Captain Johnson approach. Everett was shaking his head as he brought up the rear.
“Why did I just have to order my crew off Shiloh?” Johnson asked. “We can still save her.”
“Captain, I appreciate your position. I know your ship is just as important to you as was Peter the Great to Second Captain Dishlakov, but she would never be able to stand the pounding of the shift. You’ll lose her. We already have a sub that can’t dive that may be blown apart by the power of this engine.”
“But—”
“Sorry, Captain, but this is my call. No more is to be risked.”
“I have one request, Colonel Collins,” Dishlakov said, breaking into the objections by Johnson. Jack waited. “My men and I will take full responsibility, but we cannot allow that man to return with us.”
“By ‘that man,’ I suppose you mean Salkukoff?”
“Yes,” came the blunt and angry answer.
“He’s needed back home, Captain.”
Dishlakov was angered, but his objection was interrupted by Charlie as he broke from the hatchway. He was gesturing wildly as he ran toward the officers.
“Get everyone below!”
“Doc, calm down,” Carl said as he took hold of Ellenshaw.
“Europa was smashed during the battle, and she’s not in control of the phase shift engine. The master chief says she’s about to blow her top. She’s getting ready to transition again.”
“Damn it,” Jack said as he raised the radio and handed it to Johnson. “Order Shiloh abandoned, now.”
Johnson saw the fear in the colonel’s eyes and accepted the radio and started giving orders. Then he handed the radio back, and he and Dishlakov ran to expedite the order themselves.
“Captain Thorne, this thing is about to blast off, and we are nowhere near ready. Do you have a working torpedo?”
“One and one only. We lost the ability to get air pressure into the tubes on our latest ascent. But yes, we do.”
“As soon as the all clear is given, put one into Shiloh.”
The silence from Thorne was long. Jack knew the captain was having a hard time coming to grips with scuttling the proud missile cruiser.
“I wish you had given me any order but that one.” Again, silence for thirty seconds. “Will do. Awaiting signal.”
A streak of lightning illuminated the darkening skies. As they watched, the clouds began circling at a much faster rate.
“Jesus!” Ryan yelled as he quickly removed his hands from the steel railing. “Electricity is coursing through this ship.”
“We don’t have the time we need,” Jack said as he faced Everett and Henri. “Get everyone belowdecks.” He raised the radio. “Plans have changed, Captain. Get your crew belowdecks and into the most protected areas you can. Captain Thorne, abort the plan; Shiloh has to ride out the storm.”
The wind picked up by forty miles per hour as the still-flaming Shiloh started sounding her emergency warning horns. Jack saw the crew of Shiloh start to abandon their fire hoses and start belowdecks. There were still over a hundred men aboard her.
“Jenks, where do we stand?” he asked into the radio.
“This thing is ramping up, and there is nothing I can do to stop it. It’s like it has a mind of its own. I’ve pulled every coil I could, but that didn’t buy us any time. She’s powering up, and there’s not a damn thing I can do to stop it short of sinking this relic.”