“Do you have any idea what submarine this is, Nina? Oh my God, you are going to love this… we are currently traversing the North Sea in the legendary HMS Trident, doll!” Gretchen shrieked excitedly.
“Trident,” Nina repeated, trying to register the name in her historical archives. “Was it not the U-boat that had a baby doe onboard during the Second World War?”
Gretchen looked at Nina with an uncertain amusement, “Eh, what?”
“Yes, the HMS Trident was given a reindeer doe as a gift by the Russians. I shit you not,” Nina smiled. “It was some diplomatic gesture to celebrate the Russian and British alliance during the war. They kept the little doe as a pet on this very submarine, if it is indeed this one. Most of them were decommissioned, sold for scrap, or destroyed by now, though. Are you sure?”
“Hell yes! See? N52, the Trident’s number,” Gretch giggled, and tossed her the logs of the navigator in charge of bearing and attack strategy. “And… ” Gretchen grinned, “in there it says Commander James Gordon Gould was CO of this machine when it departed from Oban for its first patrol on 27 October 1939!”
“What? Really?” Nina marveled. “Imagine if he was related to me. I’d have to look into that, Gretch! That is just fucking awesome!”
“Precisely! How is that for coincidence? It’s a surreal synchronicity across decades, I think. The very submarine he commanded happened to be secretly hidden under the very house you happened to buy without even knowing anything about it!” Gretchen exclaimed with a whimsical smile.
Nina was dumbstruck, and intrigued in a good way, for a change.
On the outside of the beastly steel vessel, eerie clanking sounds constantly startled the occupants, testing their nerves with unfamiliar habits. They had no food and very little to drink, thanks to Nina’s quick thinking to grab the six pack of Purely Scottish Natural Mineral Water she had on the kitchen table before they went to retrieve the books in her attic.
“Our own fuel is running very low. Where are we now?” she asked Gretchen.
“By what the instruments indicate… and I don’t know how effective they are… we should be just past the north point of Kirkwall now and then I’ll take her south toward the mainland,” Gretchen explained in all sincerity.
Nina thought about the route. It would be futile to carry on to Tórshavn just to fly to Amsterdam, where they were first headed before realizing the distance was simply too great. It would be better to stay out of the icier waters and stay in the familiar currents of the North Sea. She blinked rapidly as her mind map worked out their best route.
“If we can make it to Aberdeen, we can make a plan to get diesel to get to Amsterdam, right?” she asked.
“It’s a reach, doll,” Gretchen replied. “With Sam’s injury and no food, not to mention cabin fever and nightmarish noises we can’t investigate, I’d advise against it. I suggest we dock at Aberdeen and charter a Cessna to fly to Italy. No hassles with connection points.”
Nina took her words to heart. Gretchen supported her argument with some good facts.
“They will see us on the radar anyway. You do realize that we’re not in international waters, plus, we are in an aquatic assault vessel, complete with torpedoes I bet!” she told Nina in a nonchalant announcement that reminded both women in what level of trouble they really were.
“Jesus, they’ll bombard us if we don’t answer their radio contact. Do we have functional communication?” Nina asked. “I don’t know how much longer I can stand being in this tin can, you know? God, I’d kill for a fag.”
“You and me both,” Sam said from behind her. He was limping and his face was a moist pallid mess of pain, but he was optimistic. “I second Gretchen’s plan. I’ll take care of the charter. I have contacts,” he flashed the self-assured boyish face, although he was visibly deteriorating.
Chapter 35
“Where is Richard?” Nina asked.
“Sleeping. I have never seen anyone so immersed in a log book before, but ultimately I think it took its toll and he clocked out,” Sam said. “He is hoarding your books like a madman, Nina. Maybe you should sell them to him. You’d make a fortune.”
“Ha! Those books are all I have left of my dream house,” Nina replied, but she suddenly realized that her infamous house had now become a crime scene and there was no doubt that it would be off limits to her. Most of the money she had saved up through the years was sunk into that property and apart from the financial catastrophe it had dumped her in, she was now homeless.
“This was going to be my clean start, you know,” she lamented to nobody in particular. Nina almost became utterly melancholy, now that there was time for what happened to really sink in. Maybe she was so used to running for her life that she did not realize the true loss she had suffered until now. “I was going to renovate it, make it mine, and live in my old town. I was going to be insignificant and invisible.” Her voice cracked a little at the sudden flood of emotions. Gretchen hugged her, facing Nina toward Sam.
“You can never be insignificant, Dr. Gould,” he told her firmly in a soft voice that teemed with admiration and affection. Nina forced a smile as Sam winked at her. His body was shaking terribly under the reeking blanket he had around his shoulders.
“Sam, are you all right?” Nina asked. Her expression changed into one of serious concern as the tremors took to Sam and his eyes rolled back in their sockets. “Oh God, Gretch, help me!” she shouted as Sam’s knees gave way under him and he sank to the ground in a quivering heap.
“His fever is sky high, doll! Let’s get him up on the bunk!” Gretchen cried. “Richard! Richard, some help over here, please!”
“Fuck! We’re down to one bottle of water to make everything worse!” Nina seethed as she flew into the space where Richard had just woken. He rushed to help Gretchen with Sam while Nina got the last bottle of water they had.
“He is in shock,” Richard remarked, as he laid Sam’s strained and shaking frame on the bunk almost entirely by himself, alleviating Gretchen’s burden. “Get more blankets, Nina.” The gaunt lecturer looked up at Gretchen. His countenance was unnerving.
“Is he going to be okay?” Gretchen asked Richard, just as Nina returned with blankets stacked in her arms.
“If we don’t get him to a hospital soon, he will die. The infection has not subsided, and the medi-kit has no more ointment or dressings, as if it even helped in the first place. Everything in here is simply too old to be of any use anymore, I fear. Sam might not make it this time,” he bemoaned his helplessness.
“Hey! Hey!” Nina hissed as she briskly wrapped Sam in another layer of smelly blankets. “Fuck that! He will be fine, you hear me? I don’t want to hear any of that shit from anyone!” she shouted defensively at her companions. “Sam just needs some rest,” she uttered softly, stroking his wet hair and his brow gently. “Just needs rest, that’s all.”
The other two exchanged worried looks. Suddenly the U-boat was struck by something massive and immovable, sending Richard and Gretchen sprawling on the floor and Nina fell off the bunk. Sam’s body jerked against the wall beside the bunk, but he was out cold. The electrical current was interrupted, the lights flashing, and it was followed by a bone-chilling sound that reverberated through the very metal of the vessel.
Sam opened his eyes weakly. He listened intently, but only heard the other three people scuffling, gradually getting back up with befuddled looks. Nina held her ankle, Gretchen nursed her shoulder, and Richard ignored his bloody nose to concentrate on the sounds that pulsed about the outer hull, just short of the bilge keels. The four terrified occupants of the HMS Trident sat stunned, listening to the ghastly scratching noises, as if metal hooks of impressive size were challenging the tactile strength of the submarine.