You’re outnumbered. Will you be better off if you’re armed or unarmed?”
“I’d take the rifle over my bare hands any day. But you have to remember, he’s outnumbered. So far, he’s tried to be sneaky, to avoid a frontal attack. Shooting people would give away his position, maybe trap him someplace.”
Campbell was a SEAL again, confident and matter-of-fact.
“So he doesn’t have to use it,” I said. “But he’d at least want it around in case he did get cornered. He could do a lot more damage that way.”
From the aft battery bay came a crescendo of engine noise cut short by the clang of a hatch. Campbell spun into a crouch, bringing his rifle up in a fluid arc. Then he relaxed.
“Where’s Miller?” Larsen said, stepping into the compartment.
“Over here,” I said as Campbell pointed toward the oven. When Larsen saw the body, an unreadable expression flashed across his features.
“How did he die, Myers?”
“Strangled, it looks like. I’d need an autopsy to confirm.”
“So all these broken bones and shit…”
“Occurred after he was dead. Probably inflicted in an effort to fit him into the oven.” The alternative, that the wounds were the result of violence for violence’s sake, chilled me.
“Who could have done this?”
“A strong man. It takes less to create these types of wounds than it does to twist someone’s neck 180 degrees.”
“You have a theory about what happened?”
“It’s all speculation. There’s no useful time frame, no evidence other than what we see here on the body. You want some guesses?”
“I want whatever you can give me,” he said, his voice as calm and pleasant as it had ever been since I’d met him.
“Well, let’s see,” I said, kneeling next to the corpse. “Look at his fingernails here. They’re clean. No blood or bits of flesh… that probably means he didn’t fight back. Which is odd, considering the marks on his neck. He was strangled from the front, like this,” I said, choking an invisible target. “These are some serious bruises, too, so we’re talking about a bunch of force applied. Miller likely was unconscious within seconds.
“Now, what else do we know? Nothing conclusive. But there is one more interesting fact to note: Miller’s rifle was removed from his body and stashed in the oven with him. As I told Campbell, if you were trying to sabotage a submarine’s mission, why wouldn’t you take any firearm you could get your hands on? Especially when you know you’re facing armed opposition?”
“Put it together for me.”
“There’s nothing to put together. I’m sorry. He probably was surprised but was attacked from the front. Don’t those sound mutually exclusive? He was killed and disarmed, but his rifle wasn’t taken. Counterintuitive again. And wait,” I said as Larsen began to give an order to Campbell. “One other important thing. Both of these bodies were concealed. Whoever is doing this wanted to keep their deaths a secret. Why? There is no chance the disappearance of two of your men would go unnoticed, whether the bodies were found or not.”
“I appreciate your help, Dr. Myers. But what you’ve given me is one big question. It’s time we start searching for an answer. Campbell, are these two rooms secure?”
“As far as I can tell, sir.”
“Good. I’ve got point. Campbell, cover our flanks. Myers, you stay between us. We’re going to the control room.”
At the hatch between the battery bay and the engine room, however, we stopped. Larsen opened the door, wincing at the pounding machinery, and waved the SEAL guarding the door into our compartment. After closing the door, he spoke.
“Shut all the hatches to the engine room. They are to remain closed at all times. You stay on the lower level and keep your weapon on this door,” Larsen said, pointing to the portal between the battery bay and engine room. “If it opens, you shoot whoever comes through.”
“Aye-aye, sir,” the SEAL said. “No one gets through.”
“That’s what I want to hear. Now let’s go.”
As we moved through the engine room, I watched the SEAL Larsen had spoken to spread his instructions to Young and the other soldier using signals and pantomimes. All three moved with a gravity and assurance that suggested anyone who tried to capture their compartment would see blood spilled.
The electrical compartment was filled with more unasked questions. The SEALs worked without speaking, but their postures and glances still gave away their mood. Larsen ignored them as, one by one, we maneuvered through the hatch to the control room.
He walked to the center of the room, resting one hand on the attack periscope. The soldiers made no attempt to act disinterested. I wasn’t sure anyone was breathing.
“Sir, we don’t-”
“There is no uncertainty: we have an enemy combatant onboard,” Larsen said, cutting off Matthews. He glanced around the room, craggy features now adding to his air of authority. “He is stealthy. He is strong. He has killed two of us, and he’s going to pay for that.
“Our primary mission is to deliver the Dragon into American hands. And we will. But we no longer can afford to be reactive. Lieutenant Matthews?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Order all the compartment hatches sealed. No one is going to enter or leave their area without notifying the control room first.”
“Aye-aye, sir.” Matthews slouched over to the intercom, dodging low-hanging pipes. “Attention, all compartments: secure and seal. Remain in place and call the conn if you have to leave station.” He turned back to Larsen.
“Yes. Wait, leave that one open,” Larsen said as one of the SEALs near the forward hatch moved to close it. “We’ll be dealing with the doctor a lot from here on out. Campbell, you’re attached to her permanently.
“Gentlemen, as soon as we switch to electric power, this guy isn’t going to have any noise to hide behind. And that’s when we’re going to go get him. For now, sit tight. And Dr. Myers, head back to the officers’ mess, please. I’ll need to speak with you in a moment.”
I made eye contact with Campbell. He seemed to have recovered a little more of his military demeanor, giving me a slight nod when I gestured toward the open hatch.
In the hallway on the other side, I ducked into the captain’s room.
Campbell followed me without speaking.
The keys sparkled as I held them up to the light, rippling reflections across the walls. I felt gleams of hope flutter through my chest in response and realized that my outlook had shifted. This was no longer an abstract investigation. It was a search for safety in the face of a brutal enemy.
The third key I tried turned in the lock, and the door swung open, revealing two shelves stacked with papers and folders. I grabbed them all and tucked them under my arm.
“Don’t you want to take pictures or anything?” Campbell said as I stood up. His monotone suggested he already knew the answer.
“No time. If Larsen’s going to go after the saboteur, we need to give him as much information as we can. This ‘serpent’ thing clearly is the motive for everything that has happened on this boat. Finding out what it is now, for our own sake, is a bigger deal than wondering later whether we documented everything perfectly when we found it.”
“What if it’s not in there?”
“Then we hold out until we hit the shore, then tear apart the sub rivet by rivet until our questions are answered.” I walked out of the room and down the hall to the officers’ mess. Pushing the evidence on the table to the side, I spread out the documents from the safe.
Campbell took a seat across from me.
“Lot of reading material,” he said.
“What I need you to do is glance at all the labels, all the headers, and look for key words: ‘serpent,’ obviously. But also things marked ‘top secret,’ ‘confidential,’ and so on. Words that tell us there’s something important inside. If there’s a ship’s log in here, we’ll want to read that, too.”