AFTER LEAVING THE SICK bay, Ethan made his way towards the aft deck of the vessel. As expected, he found Chloe continuing to work on fixing the Sedna. She gave him a quick, acknowledging glance before crouching back down and using a hydraulic jack to finish attaching a modular pod underneath the submersible’s hull.
Ethan scratched his chin, not fully knowing what to say next before he leaned back casually on the sides of a workbench at the opposite end of the semi-enclosed room. “How’s it going?”
Chloe no longer shed any tears, but her eyes had reddened from the constant strain of work and grief. “I’m almost done. Give me another hour, and once I’m in the water, you can turn this boat around and head on home.”
Ethan bit his lip. “Chloe, can I have your attention for just a minute, please?”
She continued to look at the dangling wires in front of her. “I’m really busy. You can have all my shares in the company. It ought to be enough to pay for the Sedna and any other losses you took.”
“Chloe, I talked to the others. It’s unanimous. We’re with you.”
Gasping in surprise, she turned and looked at him. For a brief moment her knees felt wobbly, and Chloe’s chin trembled again before she recovered. “This is my fight. You don’t have to put all your lives in danger on account of me.”
Ethan took several steps forward until she could see the light brown irises of his eyes. “We’re family, and we’re all in this together, Chloe. If I leave you out here by yourself to face that thing alone my wife will never forgive me, and I don’t think I’d forgive myself either.”
Chloe let out a pained sob as they both hugged. “I’ve… I’ve got to do this, Ethan. I hope you understand.”
Ethan rubbed her back and kissed her on the cheek. “I get you, babe. Nobody believes us. The only way we’ll bring the Morgenstern Group to its knees is to get some proof, and the one way to do that is to kill that son of a bitch monster that’s out there and bring a piece of it back.”
Chloe smiled faintly, feeling invigorated. “Thanks, Ethan. I-I don’t know if we can even pull this off.”
“You got a plan?”
Stepping back, she pointed towards the submersible. “The Sedna really doesn’t have any weapons, but I was thinking I could maybe fashion a spear on her nose or something. I’ve also rigged up an explosive charge.”
“You’re just gonna ram that thing like a kamikaze? I think you’ll need a better plan than that.”
Another voice came from the open side of the deck. “Knowing those scumbags at Morgenstern, they’ll try to bring that monster back to Typhon alive.”
Ethan and Chloe turned. Izzy stepped out from the shadowy deck and stood beneath the lights coming from the overhanging roof. They had all read the entries from Sandor’s stolen phone and were able to copy most of the device’s contents before it went into a remote security lock. Gordon had also taken a hard drive from one of the computers in the habitat and had stashed it inside his escape suit. The information contained on all those devices was enough to paint a picture of the thing they were up against.
“The reason why Clive Liger’s dive team operated independently was because they were trying to track the creature down after it got loose,” Izzy said. “When I was working for Morgenstern, all I heard were bits and pieces, but after reading the emails on Sandor’s phone and the files Gordy had with him, their whole scheme is now crystal clear to me.”
Ethan pursed his lip. “They must have a plan of their own to do that, right?”
Izzy nodded. “One of the emails I read said something about a huge shipment of cyanide drums being delivered to the work barge.”
Ethan raised an eyebrow. “Cyanide? They’re going to poison it to death?”
“Not quite. Cyanide can stun fish. My guess is they’ll try to lure the monster towards the work barge and then dump the chemicals on it.”
Chloe scowled. “Lure? How?”
“I don’t know, that part wasn’t spelled out,” Izzy said. “But if they’ve found a way to attract it, then all we have to do is be there when it happens.”
Ethan nodded. “And kill it while it’s knocked out. I’ll tell Deke to take the Wanderer in at full speed and lights blazing, to create a diversion. Meanwhile we take the Sedna underwater and stab that sleeping sea dragon till it bleeds to death.”
Chloe glanced in his direction. “I’m taking the Sedna out alone, Ethan. It’s too dangerous for you to be with me.”
Ethan frowned. “Like hell, Chloe! I’m not going to make you go out there by—”
“Excuse me,” Izzy said, interrupting them. “I’ll be going with Chloe.”
Chloe shook her head. “I can’t take you with me either.”
“I’m a damn good operator for the gear you’ve got in your submersible, Chloe,” Izzy said. “And like you, I’ve got a score to settle.”
“What about your family?”
Izzy gave an audible sigh. “It’s true I have a family waiting for me back in Florida. But the Aurora, the people who worked with me for years, they were my family too. And that included Gordy. Now they’re all gone, and I’m the lone survivor. I owe it to them to make things right.”
“If you go with me this could be a one-way trip,” Chloe said.
“Yeah,” Izzy said. “I’ve already composed an email for my husband in case I don’t make it back. I’ve got to do this, or I won’t be able to live with myself for the rest of my life.”
Ethan rubbed the back of his neck. “Okay, Izzy. I’ve heard of your legendary skill at operating ROVs, so you’ll be giving us the best chance for success.”
“Alright, so that’s settled,” Chloe said. “Now I just need to sort out what else the Sedna needs to carry.”
“I suggest you keep the wet welding torch on her,” Izzy said. “That device is hot enough to cut through anything.”
“Okay,” Chloe said before she turned to face Ethan once more. “If anything happens to me, please make sure Gordy’s remains make it back home.”
He gave her a playful slap on her forearm. “No more negative talk, okay? If there’s someone in this entire ocean who can take on that creature and survive, it’s you.”
49
DUSK HAD COME AND GONE, and the night sea seemed to hold its own breath, as if in anticipation of a titanic clash within its watery depths. The swells had calmed to the point where the surface seemed but an invisible barrier between liquid and air. Even the once volatile evening breeze had apparently subsided, as if ready to carry the whispers of unseen gods who would be observing the succeeding events with great interest.
The semi-submersible barge had begun to drift, as the vessel’s entire array of external lights had been activated to full power, illuminating both the night sky and the near opaque waters around it like a gigantic, golden beehive.
Several meters underneath the mammoth structure, the Deep Dog continued to drift lazily beneath the water’s surface, one of its manipulator arms holding on to the egg canister while the vehicle made a slow circle around the nearby submerged pontoons of the barge.
Liger kept his hands on both the joystick and throttle controls while focusing his attention on the constantly pinging sonar monitor. “Why didn’t we just wait until the morning to do this? I can barely see a damn thing beyond the floodlights.”
Yamamoto sat to his left, and he started shaking his head. “This kaiju only comes out at night. During the day it mostly hibernates in the deeper waters to conserve its energy and stay hidden in the darkness.”