They were suddenly interrupted by the speaker next to Borger’s laptop. It was Tay.
“Will! Are you there?”
Borger grabbed the mike and held it to his mouth. “Yeah, I’m here.”
“Are you guys okay?”
Borger shook his head. “It’s not good. But the captain’s orders are for you to stay down there and keep on that drill. We may not get another shot at this!”
When there was no reply, Neely looked at them
“You know whoever they are, they’re coming here.”
Borger and Lee both nodded.
She turned and looked back at the test tubes stacked neatly in the refrigerator behind her.
“We need to hide them,” Borger said.
Neely shook her head. “There’s no time.” Instead she moved to her desk and pulled one of the drawers open. She reached inside and withdrew her 1911 nickel-plated 9mm Sig Sauer handgun.
She looked solemnly at the gun, given to her by her father, then to Borger and Lee. “You two better get out of here. Get to the lower deck. They’re only after what’s in this room.”
“You can’t be serious.”
Neely reached down and pulled the slide back, chambering a round.
“Neely,” Lee pleaded. “Let’s all go. Let them have it. We’ve got the rest — the plants, and Africa.”
She stared at him in a moment of listlessness and nodded. “Africa.” She blinked and shook her head. “We can’t give this up. Not like this. What’s in these tubes is more important than any of us.”
Borger stepped forward. “Neely. If they reach this lab, they’re going to get it. That’s a fact. One handgun is not going to stop them. All its going to do is get you killed.”
“We can’t just let them have it.”
“This is not a chess match. This is you and us, being dead if we don’t leave right now.”
“My father died protecting this,” Neely replied.
“No, he didn’t!” Borger said, raising his voice. They were getting closer. “He died protecting us! All of us. To fight another day. And you need to do the same thing!”
There was a short lapse in gunfire outside, and she stared hard into Borger’s eyes. Then it hit her. She had an idea.
Elgin Tay was staring at the giant drill in front of him and Lightfoot. The new bit had just made contact with the alien hull, sending waves of bright light rippling outward as the drill slowly dug into the gray wall.
“Okay. Roger that,” he finally answered. “We’re not going anywhere for the moment,” he said into his helmet. “But you should know that we’re two men down.”
“What?”
“I said it’s just two of us down here now. Me and Lightfoot.”
“What about Corbin and Beene?”
“They’re gone.”
“What do you mean, they’re gone?”
“When they heard all the commotion they dropped their weights and headed back to the surface.”
On the Pathfinder, Borger shook his head. “Why in God’s name would they do that?”
All three suddenly jumped at the sound of one of the lab’s doors opening behind them. Neely instinctively raised her gun and pointed it at the figure in the doorway. First Officer Harris was holding an M4 carbine in his hands, looking at them with fierce blue eyes. “We have to get you out of here.”
89
Admiral Langford picked up his phone on the first ring and heard Defense Secretary Merl Miller’s voice cut in immediately.
“The Pathfinder is under attack.”
“What?”
“Right now, as we speak.”
“Son of a bitch!” Langford gritted his teeth in frustration and forced himself not to smash something. “We need to get the president.”
“Already done,” Miller said. “We’ve got a call in one minute.”
“What do we know?”
“Not much. We’re capturing from satellite right now. Likely a small precision strike since no sign of an accompanying ship or aircraft.”
“They came in on a sub.”
“Most likely.”
“What about the oil rig?”
“Nothing we can see yet. But they’re aboard the Pathfinder.”
“They’re going after the bacteria.”
“Exactly.”
Langford leaned back into his chair and closed his eyes. “Son of a bitch.”
The president leaned into his speakerphone. “This is Carr. Who’s on?”
“Miller.”
“Griffith here.”
“And Langford.”
“Mason, are you there?”
Carr’s Chief of Staff answered. “Yes, Mr. President.”
“All right. What are we looking at here?”
Miller spoke up. “The Pathfinder is under attack. We’ve got a live feed, but we can’t contact them. Something is cutting off our communication with the ship.”
“How many?”
“It’s most likely a small force. Maybe eight to twelve. We’re guessing Russian. Chinese subs aren’t quiet enough, which means we’re probably looking at a Spetsnaz team.”
“Admiral? Options?”
“I just spoke with the Navy and Army chiefs. We have a team of rangers in Panama and a SEAL team in the Dominican Republic. Either of which can be there inside of two hours. As we all know, the Pathfinder’s location is not ideal.” Langford paused. “The alternative is an air strike.”
No one spoke after the admiral’s last comment. An airstrike on the Pathfinder was a desperate measure, and they all knew it. There was nothing surgical about it. Instead of retaking the ship, it would instead be an effort to destroy the entire vessel and its cargo. Something not altogether different from what the Chinese had done to their own ship off the coast of South America. And for the same reason.
National Security Advisor Stan Griffin cleared his throat. “Just how the hell did they get on our ship?”
“We’re not sure,” Miller said. “Our best guess is by submarine.”
“Right under our noses,” Griffith said.
“It appears so.”
“What are the ship’s chances?” asked President Carr.
“Hard to say. There is one thing in their favor,” Langford replied dryly.
“What’s that?”
“We didn’t leave it completely defenseless,” Langford said. “We have the dive team we brought in, under a man named Gorski.”
“Who is Gorski?”
“Gorski is a world expert in diving and underwater recovery operations. He’s worked with the Navy for twenty years, almost exclusively with our Special Forces teams. Including Navy SEALS. Two of whom are working with him right now on that oil rig.”
“Wait a minute,” the President said. “Are you telling me we have two active SEALS in the middle of all this?”
“That’s exactly what we’re saying. Their names are Corbin and Beene.”
90
Les Gorksi was staring over the water toward the Pathfinder with a look of utter horror. Even at a distance, he could easily hear the gunfire from the oil rig, where he remained the only one aboard. The rest of the team had been ferried to the ship only hours before to assist with the drilling effort.
Now Gorksi watched helplessly as the attack ensued near the ship’s stern.
And if not for the reflection on the water from the Pathfinder’s glaring lights, he would never have noticed several figures moving in the water below him, toward one of the rig’s four giant pillars.