Someone joyfully patted him hard on the shoulder, and he almost missed a series of unusual markings that were embedded in the gravel. His stomach instinctively tightened, his pulse quickened, as he closed in on these markings and found them to be an exact duplicate of the amphibious trail that he had previously viewed in such diverse places as San Francisco Bay, and most lately under the blue waters of Kwajalein Atoll. For this was the unique trail left behind by the mysterious tracked mini-sub that he had spent over a year of his life so desperately searching for!
His hands were slightly shaking as he addressed the keyboard and instructed the ROV to follow this track.
CURV proceeded less than one hundred feet when the screen suddenly filled with an object that caused Mac to gasp in wonder. Lying overturned on the floor of the channel was a strange-looking vehicle, part submarine, part amphibious tractor, the very vessel responsible for the tracks! And Mac could only shiver in awareness with the realization that his long search had finally ended.
Totally unaware of the elation that Sea Devil was causing in the surrounding waters, Yuri Sosnovo leadenly crawled away from the bulkhead. The candle was almost burnt out now, and with its wick sputtering in the foul air, he locked his glance on the red striped box that was set into a nearby console. Inside this glass cubicle was a single switch. All Yuri had to do was smash the glass with his palm to activate this device and detonate the series of explosive charges that ringed Sea Devil’s hull.
Ever since his captain had left him, Yuri had decided against swallowing the cyanide capsule just before he was to hit the scuttle mechanism. He would much rather die in the true manner of the Spetsnaz than take the cowardly course of suicide.
The merest movement of his broken limbs sent an excruciating pain surging through his body. Yet so strong was his will that he pushed himself onward until he was less than a half meter away from the scuttle switch. To reach it, he needed to lift himself up, and it was this effort that dislodged a bank of loose equipment that went cascading downward in a deafening clamor. When this racket finally faded, Yuri went to lift himself upward once again. Yet much to his shock, he found his numbed lower torso completely buried in a weighty mass of twisted steel and broken glass. Unable to push this debris off of him, the chief engineer could only look up in vain at the red-striped box that he was so determined to reach. And it was only then that Yuri Sosnovo resolved himself to the fact that he’d never be able to carry out his captain’s last order after all.
The sun was high overhead as Mikhail Borisov gratefully pulled himself from the water. His bruised body ached, and the swim shoreward had drained him of his strength.
Luckily for him, the tree line here extended right down to the gravelly shore, and he was able to crawl up into this cover and take temporary refuge. He lay exhausted on his back and struggled to calm his heaving lungs. Only when he successfully managed to catch his breath did he sit up and look out to the waters of the channel that he had just transited.
One of the first things that he spotted was the rounded black hull of a submarine. Appearing sleek and lethal, this vessel floated on the firth’s surface, apparently at anchor. Several seaman could be seen on its deck, and Mikhail had no doubt that they were positioned directly over his doomed command.
A large helicopter circled noisily overhead, and Mikhail could only pray that Yuri Sosnovo had been able to activate the explosive charges of Sea Devil’s scuttle mechanism. Otherwise, the Imperialists would soon have an intelligence field day as they salvaged the mini-sub and learned its many secrets.
Certain that his loyal Chief Engineer wouldn’t let him down, Mikhail turned his thoughts to more immediate concerns. For he now found himself in a strange country, thousands of kilometers from home. Yet as a Spetsnaz commando this was but another average day’s challenge, and he picked himself up to begin the long trek back to the motherland.