SEVERAL METERS BELOW the water’s surface, the Sedna continued to drift just underneath the partially submerged diving bell. Chloe wanted to make doubly sure that they wouldn’t be detected by the Queequeg’s forward sonar, so she had maneuvered the submersible just underneath the wrecked capsule in order to hide them.
Izzy sat in the cockpit’s forward seat, looking up towards the sea’s glassy surface. Seeing the dim lights heading their way, she pointed towards it. “There she is.”
Chloe’s left hand immediately activated the Sedna’s thrusters, making the submersible shoot up close to the surface. She then angled the control stick until her vessel came in from behind the Queequeg, before accelerating to full speed.
Izzy activated the mechanical arms inside one of the pods, extending the grasping limb, trying to reach out towards the Queequeg’s exposed rudder. She knew the unsuspecting ship would accelerate again once she maneuvered around the submerged diving bell, and she had but scant moments to get hold of it.
Chloe struggled to stay just behind the Queequeg as the vessel made a sudden turn to the left, but she was able to compensate by using one of the side thrusters to stay on course and remained in close range, right behind the ship’s propeller, effectively hiding the submersible from any sonar detection.
Licking her lips, Izzy’s face became a mask of intense concentration as she continued her attempts to grab hold of the Queequeg’s rudder. The churning propeller behind the control surface was very distracting, yet Izzy retained her laser focus as she tried to clamp the grasping claw shut, only to narrowly miss it as the rudder shifted again.
Chloe gritted her teeth. She didn’t want to use the turbo boost, because once it activated, there was no way to turn it off. By now the Queequeg had begun to increase her speed, and the Sedna’s underwater thrust wouldn’t be able to keep up. “She’s starting to pull away. Hurry.”
“Come on,” Izzy whispered as she once again steered the grasping claw towards the rudder and pressed the button. This time, the mechanical limb did manage to grab onto the side of the control surface and finally secured a solid grip on it. “Got it!”
Chloe let out a deep breath as the Queequeg tried to turn her rudder, but their attached submersible now made it a much harder task. “You go, girl.”
Keeping the claw in place, Izzy switched controls as the arc welder jutted out from another pod just beneath the Sedna’s hull. “Going hot.”
Chloe smiled grimly as the welding rod ignited, and Izzy started cutting the Queequeg’s rudder into several pieces.
INSIDE THE Queequeg’s wheelhouse, the helmsman uttered a few Russian curses while he struggled with the controls. “Something is wrong, she’s not turning!”
Rudenkov had a look of dismay as he stared at the instrument display. “Did we hit the submerged bell? I didn’t feel anything.”
“I don’t think so, sir. I know we got around it.”
“What’s the matter then?”
“I don’t know.”
Rudenkov grabbed the microphone and activated it. “All crew at the aft deck, see if you can check what’s going on at our stern. Something’s messed up the rudder!”
Less than a minute later, another crewman’s voice came over the loudspeakers. “Captain, I can see something glowing just beneath us, like some sort of underwater flare.”
Rudenkov cursed. The Wanderer’s submersible. It has to be. “Throw grenades! Blow that thing out of the water!”
IZZY YELPED WHEN SHE heard the first underwater explosion, then felt it when the Sedna rocked from side to side. “What the hell? Are those depth charges they’re hitting us with?”
Chloe had already maneuvered the Sedna away, and now the submersible was drifting right underneath the Queequeg’s bow. The pressure wave from multiple explosions was intense, and even a near miss would cause severe damage to the submersible. Fortunately the small detonations were a nearly full ship’s length away, but the muffled bangs still rattled her ears.
“Just grenades, I think,” Chloe said. “We have maybe time to do one more weld before we have to get out of here.”
“I think we’re at the right spot.”
“Okay, but if I see anybody looking down at us, then I take her deep.”
“Fine by me.”
“We’re set.”
“Going hot,” Izzy said as she reactivated the arc welder and began to cut right underneath the Queequeg’s bow.
LEANING OUT PAST THE railings of the bridge wing, Rudenkov began shouting at the six men standing by the Queequeg’s stern. “Did you see anything?”
One of the men turned around. “We threw a few grenades into the water, and the lights stopped shining.”
Maybe we got them or they ran away, Rudenkov thought. If they tore the ship’s rudder off, then we’re pretty much stuck out here until repairs are made.
No sooner had he begun his thoughts than Rudenkov heard the sounds of grinding metal. The entire ship seemed to groan.
Turning around, he poked his head back into the wheelhouse. “What is going on now?”
The helmsman had a frantic look on his face as he checked the displays. “Sir, I think we’re starting to list!”
Rudenkov cursed again as the entire deck began to shudder. Gripping the steel railings, he leaned out as far as he could and began looking out into the water. There seemed to be some sort of faint illumination near the prow of the ship.
They’re on the other side, he thought as he ran back into the wheelhouse and grabbed the microphone once again. “I want all crews to search the waters around the entire vessel. If you see something glowing beneath the surface, use your grenades!”
CHLOE KEPT HER EYES at the water’s surface, and she could see that the dancing shadows on the ship’s deck above her had multiplied. “We don’t have much time left. I think they’re onto us.”
Izzy continued to slice through the Queequeg’s keel. “Almost done. Just a few more seconds.”
“Hurry!”
Izzy kept her concentration as she ran the burning torch along the rusty metal, making a deep, jagged cut across the steel. “Five seconds.”
Chloe bit her lip as she saw a looming shadow above them. She had positioned the Sedna directly underneath the stricken boat, but if a grenade exploded just a few meters away, it would prove catastrophic.
RUDENKOV RAN DOWN ONTO the Queequeg’s main deck. Grabbing a grenade from one of the other crewmembers, he raced towards the bow of the ship, before looking over the starboard side.
The dark waters below the vessel resembled a solid black, impenetrable mass, but when he squinted, he could see faint traces of illumination below. Pulling the pin from the grenade, he leaned out and swayed his hand slightly, making minute adjustments to where he would drop it. When he guessed the right angle of attack, he let it go.
Less than a minute later, the sounds of a muffled explosion and the churning of the water’s surface indicated that the grenade had detonated.