BLACK COBRA (Aaron Quinn thriller series, No. 2) (22 page)

Jason found his feet and spotted Aaron. He fired and missed.

Aaron had a clear shot and pulled the trigger, but his gun just
clicked
.

Jason knew it immediately and turned to fire.

Aaron dove underwater and came up catching him from behind. They tumbled into the water and Jason grabbed Aaron by the hair and held him down, leaning hard, using his full weight to shove him deeper underwater. Aaron kicked and twisted, unable to catch a breath, hair tearing from his scalp, but his opponent was too powerful.

Suddenly something struck Jason on the back of his skull, shattering his vision with a burst of blinding white light. Dazed, he lost his grip on Aaron and turned in time to see Katya taking another arcing swing at him with her heavy pipe. He caught the blow with his hand and wrenched the pipe from her grip, knocking her backward into the black, swirling water.

Aaron surfaced, sputtering and coughing, while behind him Jason raised the pipe high.

“
AARON!
” Ashley shouted through the din.

Aaron looked up just as his mother tossed the pipe wrench, catching it with one hand, while Jason’s blow glanced painfully off his shoulder. He spun around with all the force he could muster, smashing Jason high in the throat. Blood spewed from between Jason’s clenched teeth as reflex sent his hand to his crushed larynx. In disbelief he looked squarely at Aaron, then his eyes rolled up, and he fell face first into the rising water.

Chapter 63

Katya and Ashley stood dazed, waist deep in bloody seawater, being hit from all sides by the relentless, freezing spray. Aaron gathered them into his arms and held them for a long moment.

Just then the lights went out. Katya screamed, cowering back in disgusted horror. Something in the dark water had bumped into her hip.

The lights blinked on again, and Aaron saw that it was Fagan’s dead body, its flesh gray and swollen. He tried to turn Katya away, but she saw it and screamed again, causing Ashley to scream as well.

“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Aaron shouted through the deafening spray, and at last they headed out of the Aft Torpedo Room.

---

Aaron swung the watertight hatch cover closed, sealing them off from the massive flow of water, but the Electric Motor Room was flooding as well now. Sparks arced and spit from the huge motors and control panels, and Aaron was concerned that they would all be electrocuted.

They moved on, passing through the Engine Room and Machinery Control Room before climbing the short stairway into Compartment Four, where they were out of the deepest water for a moment. Boxes of rice and other food items floated in the water near the Galley, as they moved along the tilted corridor.

---

They stepped through the watertight hatch into Compartment Three, and Aaron closed and sealed that hatch as well.

For a moment he just stood there, looking around the Control Room, casting desperately about for an idea — any idea. There
had
to be a way out of this. The air was thick and heavy, smelling of diesel oil and burnt wiring, becoming more and more difficult to breathe.

He looked up into the conning tower, but he knew that with the weight of half the bay sitting on top of it, he’d never be able to get the fin hatch open without first flooding the submarine to equalize the pressure.

Just then the boat shuddered as its bow rose slightly. The stern was filling with water, leaving an air pocket toward the bow. Aaron knew they would have air as long as they kept moving toward the front of the ship.

He saw a coil of rope hanging near the chart table, and suddenly an idea came to him. It was crazy, and extremely risky, but it was all he had.

He steeled himself and grabbed the rope, draping it over his shoulder. Then he looked at the shivering girls.

“I think I have a plan,” he said, sounding as confident as he could. “Are you guys ready to get out of here?”

There was a light in Aaron’s eyes they hadn’t seen in a while, and they nodded hopefully.

“All right,” he said. “Follow me.”

Chapter 64

The second their flight touched down at San Diego International, Harness placed a call to Naval Command in Point Loma.

“Who did you say this was?” the receptionist asked, her tone arrogant and patronizing.

“I’m Detective James Harness,” he repeated, slower this time. “I work in a small precinct on the East Coast.”

“And what’s this regarding?” she said.

“I’d rather speak to someone higher up. This is a matter of national security.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t transfer you till I know what this is regarding.”

“It’s about a possible assassination attempt on the President,” Harness said impatiently. “We’re wasting precious time here. It’s happening as we speak!”

“Hold please,” the receptionist said, and she was gone.

Harness waited for what felt like an hour. He was just about to hang up when the receptionist returned to the line, sounding like a digital recording. Harness could not get a word in edgewise.

“We appreciate your concern,” she said. “However, I’ve been instructed to assure you that sufficient security has been arranged for the President’s visit. If you have any further questions or concerns you may try our website at ...” She gave Harness a complicated website address and hung up.

“
Damn it
,” Harness mumbled to himself. “I’m an officer of the law ... and they couldn’t care less.”

He briefly considered calling the SDPD, but he knew that dealing with another bureaucracy and another patronizing receptionist would cost him valuable time. And he’d lost too much time already.

---

Darkness had settled on the city when Harness and Holt took a cab from the airport to the Maritime Museum of San Diego, and when they jumped out and ran down to where b-39 should have been, they were surprised to see nothing but a huge, white plastic tarp.

“What the hell is this all about?” Harness said.

They crossed the wooden gangplank, and when they pulled back the flap they discovered that the entire submarine was
missing
.

Very clever
, Harness thought, admiring the ingenuity.
Enclose the sub in a weathertight shelter, and no one will ever know you’re gone.

He spotted the Zodiac tied up to the dock and threw a glance at Holt.

Holt gave him a look that said,
No way, Detective. I’m not going out on that huge bay in the dark in that thing!

“If you’ve got a better idea, I’m all ears,” Harness said.

Holt didn’t.

“After you,” Harness said.

They stepped into the Zodiac and headed off across the black waters of San Diego Bay.

Chapter 65

The ship continued to tilt upward and to the side, and as Aaron, Ashley, and Katya moved toward the bow they faced a steep, awkward incline. The sub was almost totally flooded now, and it seemed that no matter how high they climbed they were always waist deep in seawater.

At last they reached the bow of the ship, and the hatch leading to Compartment One, the Forward Torpedo Room. They ducked inside and Aaron cranked the hatch cover closed.

---

The water was only knee deep there, and at first Aaron thought it wasn’t rising, but he was wrong. It was rising faster than ever.

Aaron found it harder to breathe in there, as well, as if all of the bad air from the entire submarine had been compressed into the small space they were in. He tried to breath only through his mouth, but it didn’t work.
We’re running out of oxygen
, he thought, panic teasing his insides.

He looked around and found the Submerged Escape Apparatus hanging where he and Uri had seen it earlier. He removed it from its hook and turned to the girls.

“Here’s the plan,” he said. “This is a rescue breather — a lung for breathing underwater. We’re going to use it to swim out through the torpedo tube.”

The girls looked at him as if he’d gone completely insane.

“Can we
do that?
” Ashley asked.

“To be honest, I’m not really sure,” Aaron said quickly. “All I know is, I read about a guy who did it once and lived to talk about it.”

The freezing seawater had risen to waist deep, and the girls huddled together in a vain attempt to keep warm.

The lights continued to flicker dangerously, threatening to cut out once and for all. Aaron knew that if he and the girls were plunged into total darkness before he was ready, they were done for.

He checked the lung; the gauge indicated that it still had a small amount of oxygen in it. “This lung is very old, and won’t be very effective,” he said. “So we’ll have to move fast.”

“Th-that’s the only one?” Katya said, shivering uncontrollably now.

“Yes,” Aaron said. “You two will have to share.”

“But what about you?” Ashley said.

“I’ll be fine,” Aaron said quickly, and he could only pray that that was true.

He gave the girls a quick demonstration on the use of the lung. “Just breathe into this mouthpiece. The air will come automatically.”

The girls looked at the device doubtfully.

“And no matter what happens,” he said, “don’t follow me into the tube until I signal you, okay?”

The girls nodded.

---

Aaron showed Katya the button that would open the torpedo tube’s outer door. “Remember, don’t open the door until the seawater level reaches the top of the tube,” he said. “We have to fill this compartment enough to flood the entire tube, if we’re going to have any chance of equalizing the pressure.”

“Understood,” Katya said.

The water level was rapidly rising, and the lights continued to blink off and on, making it nearly impossible for Aaron to concentrate. He handed one end of the rope to Ashley, tying the other end around his waist, and then, saying a quick prayer, crawled into the tube.

---

Space was tight there in the tube. The only thing Aaron could get a grip on were the thin lands, raised strips of steel running the length of the tube. He muscled his way to the muzzle end and grabbed hold of the crossbar that stiffened the tube’s outer door.

At last the water in the torpedo room reached the level of the tube. Aaron felt the change in pressure in his ears, and what little light he had was pushed out as the cold bay water rushed in, filled the tube, chilling him to the bone.

He took one last breath and held on to the crossbar as the water swirled in over his head. The darkness was complete.

Press the button
, he thought.
Come on Katya, the tube is full, girl ... I need for you to press the button
.

The cold, watery blackness inside the tube was intolerably close. Panic gripped Aaron’s heart and tried to rip it from his chest, and he was certain this hellish, black-steel tube would be his grave.

Suddenly, with banging rush, the muzzle door opened. Aaron held tight to the crossbar and he was drawn part way out of the tube's mouth. Lungs bursting, he thrust his arms outside and pulled his body through into the dark freezing waters of the bay. It had been half a minute since his last breath.

The girls had climbed up the torpedo rack in order to breathe in the small pocket of air that remained.

Ashley felt Aaron tug on the rope. “
That’s the signal!
”

Suddenly the Forward Torpedo Room went dark as the last of the reserve power shorted out.

The two women groped desperately for each other in the terrifying blackness, the choking seawater up to their necks.

 At last Katya’s hand found Ashley’s face. “
Are you with me, Ashley?
” she cried, spitting water by the cupful.

“I’m here,” Ashley coughed. “
Let’s do it!
”

Summoning every last ounce of their willpower, they gulped what would likely be their last breaths and ducked under the icy black water.

---

Darkness covered the entire bay now. Harness could barely see ten feet in front of the Zodiac.

They had decided to head for the nuclear submarine base at Point Loma first, but they had motored almost all the way to Ballast Point without seeing
anything
. And as they cruised past the row of bait barges, little did they know that forty feet below them, Aaron, Katya, and Ashley were fighting for their lives.

 The men continued on out toward the mouth of the bay, venturing a short distance into the Pacific Ocean.

To the south, a few miles off shore, they could see the distant lights of a cruise ship, most likely heading for Cabo, but the USS
Hampton
was long gone, and Cobra was nowhere to be seen.

Holt’s head hurt from peering into the darkness. “It’s been an hour already and I ain’t seen nothin’,” he said.

“You’re right,” Harness said. “Let’s head back up the bay and take one more look.”

And at that point they turned around.

---

Katya went first, feeling her way into the dark, narrow torpedo tube, blindly following the rope, while clutching the rescue breather to her breast. Ashley scrambled in immediately behind her, and she, too, used the rope as her only guide.

Aaron’s head and lungs were about to explode, his eyes close to popping from their sockets. But he held tight to the rope.

Come on guys
, he thought desperately,
You can do it! Be strong, ladies! Be strong!

Katya squeezed as far into the tube as she could, waiting for Ashley’s hands touch her feet, and then she tugged hard on the rope. Aaron quickly took up the slack and then braced his feet on the sub’s outer hull. Then, with everything he had, he started pulling the rope toward himself hand over hand. It had been over a minute since his last breath.

At last, just as Aaron was about to black out, Katya emerged from the tube holding the lung. She took a quick breath and then feeling in the dark she passed the lung to Aaron, who took two quick breaths before passing it back and pulling Ashley through. Katya took another big hit and then she found Ashley’s face and pressed the mask over her mouth, forcing her to take a lifesaving breath of her own.