A 20-mm explosive air-bursting round greets the mechanical embrace, turning the computer’s mechanical hand into hot fragments of steel.
Gunnar fires another round at the shoulder girdle, blasting it into a smoldering heap of molten metal and flaming circuits.
The remaining robotic arm cowers back.
Gunnar staggers to his feet, wheezing a shallow breath. He aims the OICW machine gun—
—the sudden grunt at his back startling him. Gunnar spins around.
The automatic weapon is quivering in Abdul Kaigbo’s mechanical arms.
KILL GUNNAR WOLFE NOW.
“Nnn … no—” The African’s face contorts in agony, a frothy, white spittle oozing from his lips. He squeezes his eyes shut, blood dripping from his nostrils, then shoves the gun into his mouth and fires.
Blood, brains, and bone fragments explode out the back of the African’s head.
Gunnar wheels around quickly, greeting the incoming mechanical arm with an explosive 20-mm round. The enormous claw shatters, its steel-and-graphite bones transformed into razor-sharp shrapnel, which strike his flesh in a dozen places.
Gunnar wipes blood from a deep gash along his forehead. All that remains of the mechanical arm is a mangled elbow joint, still attached to its shoulder assembly.
The mine first, then Rocky …
He slings the OICW weapon over his shoulder and limps back to the prototype. On all fours, he crawls beneath the Hammerhead’s belly and releases the platter charge from its two claspers. Standing, he drags the manhole cover-size explosive toward the sealed hangar door and aims the OICW gun.
DO NOT FIRE. I HAVE COMMANDER JACKSON.
Gunnar fires.
An ear-shattering explosion as the watertight door is blown clear off its frame.
I WILL TORTURE COMMANDER JACKSON UNLESS YOU DISARM IMMEDIATELY.
Gunnar ignores the unnerving, almost-humanlike threat as he drags the mine into the corridor. He pries open the explosive’s four seals, then looks up at the nearest scarlet orb. “Pay attention, Sorceress. This underwater mine is essentially a small, tactical nuclear device. It’s powerful enough to vaporize this entire compartment and most of the rest of the ship.” Gunnar unscrews the plate, revealing the internal components of the explosive. “As you can see, I’m setting the timer to detonate the charge in seven minutes. You either release Commander Jackson and Sujan Trevedi immediately, or I will allow this explosive to detonate, destroying the Goliath and everyone … every thing on board.”
WORDS WITHOUT MEANING. YOU ARE A PARROT, GUNNAR WOLFE, A HARMLESS PARROT SPOUTING WORDS WITHOUT MEANING. YOU WILL NOT DESTROY THE GOLIATH. YOU WILL NOT KILL YOURSELF.
“I … am a United States Army Ranger. When it comes to freedom, a Ranger is ready and willing to sacrifice his life to achieve it.” He glances down at the digital display. “You now have six minutes and twenty seconds.”
Leaving the mine, he starts up the access tube’s ladder to rescue Rocky.
The two Kurd brothers are lying on their backs beneath one of their bunks, attempting to kick the steel frame loose from the decking.
Jalal.
The computer’s voice, disguised as Simon’s.
“Simon?” The older brother glances up.
GUNNAR WOLFE HAS ESCAPED. HE HAS MURDERED DAVID PANIAGUA AND ABDUL KAIGBO AND MEANS TO DESTROY THE GOLIATH.
The lock unbolts, the door to the stateroom swinging open.
“Why should we trust you?” Jalal asks. “You’ve kept us prisoners—”
DAVID PANIAGUA’S ORDERS. THERE IS A PLATTER CHARGE IN THE HANGAR BAY. YOU MUST DEACTIVATE THIS DEVICE, OR ALL OF US WILL PERISH. KILL GUNNAR WOLFE. YOU MAY DO WHAT YOU LIKE WITH COMMANDER JACKSON.
Rocky is on her stomach, immobilized on the stainless-steel operating table, her muffled screams mere echoes in her anesthetized brain.
As one surgical arm prepares the portable MEMS unit, Sorceress manipulates the other appendage over the back of the woman’s head. Rotates a razor into position. Deftly shaves a four-inch square from her straw-colored hair, revealing a pale patch of scalp.
The explosion rocks the surgical suite.
Through half-closed eyes, Rocky sees the watertight door collapse inward, Gunnar moving toward her as if in a dream.
In slow motion, she sees him aim a huge machine gun and fire, the stream of bullets tearing apart the surgical drones. Hot debris rains across her exposed flesh, the pain helping her in her struggle to remain conscious.
Gunnar tosses the smoldering remains of the two targeting drones off Rocky’s back, then pulls the gas mask from her face. “Come on, snap out of it—”
She sucks in several quick breaths, the anesthetic fog slow to clear. “Gunnar?”
He examines the shaved back of her head. “You’re okay, but you may need a hat.” He winces in pain, leaning against the operating table, barely able to stand.
“You look like held.”
“Sorceress used me as a Ping-Pong ball. We’ve got to hurry. I set the charge.”
“Wait.” She leans over and kisses him tenderly on the lips. “Okay, let’s get off this death ship.”
Rocky nearly buckles beneath his body weight as she helps him into the corridor.
The two Kurd brothers are waiting, the barrels of their Kalashnikov assault rifles aimed at Gunnar and Rocky.
Masud takes the OICW gun from Gunnar.
Jalal eyes Rocky lustfully. “I’ll take care of these two. You deactivate the explosive.”
The younger Kurd nods, then hurries down the corridor.
Jalal aims the assault rifle at Gunnar.
Rocky jumps in front of him. “Wait! Simon’s dead, the computer’s running the ship now. Kill us, and you’ll die, too.”
Jalal smiles. “I’m not going to kill you, I’m going to kill him.”
Machine gun fire erupts from down the corridor.
Jalal turns. “Masud?”
Sujan steps out from the galley, a crimson stain spreading across his shirt.
Jalal raises his gun,
—as the blade edge of Gunnar’s hand strikes him in the throat, crushing his windpipe.
Sujan staggers forward, coughing up blood.
Rocky rushes to him, catching him as he falls, guiding him to the deck.
“Sujan—”
He grimaces, choking on a smile. “Go.”
Rocky kisses him on the forehead as he dies.
Gunnar grabs the OICW machine gun and drags Rocky toward the access tube. Gripping the outside of the steel ladder with their hands and feet, they slide straight down the chute to lower deck forward.
Gunnar checks the underwater mine. 2:35 … 2:34 … 2:33 … “We have to hurry—”
And on that, their world goes topsy-turvy.
The enraged computer restarts the Goliath’s engines, driving it away from the ocean floor and sending it into a looping wingtip-over-wingtip maneuver.
Gunnar and Rocky are tossed about the corridor as if caught in a washing machine.
The turbulence pummels the frozen ocean surface, cracking it open like an eggshell.
“He who is hated by the people as a wolf is by the dogs: He is the free spirit.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher
“I had hated and been hated. I had my little world to keep alive as long as possible, and my gun. That was my answer.”
— Charles Starkweather, mass murderer, after his weeklong rampage