Enemy Invasion (23 page)

“Five seconds!”

The shape on the sonar screen was practically touching the centre…the point of impact…

“Two seconds!”

Rachel took a breath and grabbed the side of the table.

Kaminski yelled, “Brace! Brace! Brace!”

Every person in the war room clung on to something for dear life. Rachel closed her eyes…

And then opened them again. Nothing had happened. No explosions. No sound of the hull being opened like a tin can. No rushing water. Kaminski stared across the table at her and then down at the
sonar screen.

The object had disappeared.

“Where did it go?” Wisher said, wiping away the sweat dripping from his face with the back of his hand.

Kaminski shook his head. “This doesn’t make sense.” He looked back at Rachel. “Nothing can pull up that fast. Can it?”

“We’re not dealing with anything we’ve seen before, Lieutenant,” she replied. “Assume it’s moved under the ship.”

Wisher gave a spluttering laugh. “Under? The ship?”

There was a groaning sound from deep within the
Ulysses
, as if the metal of the hull was being gradually compressed. The floor rocked and anyone who had relinquished their handhold was
thrown to one side. Computer screens flickered around the room – one of them exploded in the corner, sending up a shower of sparks.

“That is not good,” Kaminski muttered.

“Bring up the external view,” Rachel ordered and the lieutenant changed the table screen to shots of the
Ulysses
’s exterior. Two giant tentacles – black, metallic
and segmented – were rising out of the sea on either side of the flight deck and starting to wrap around the body of the ship. As they smashed down on the deck, the entire ship vibrated
again. Crew members up top went running as the tentacles drew tighter, crushing the frame of the
Ulysses
as if it were cardboard. Another metal tentacle rose into view, further down the
ship, and started to wind around the bow.

“It’s squeezing us!” Wisher exclaimed.

Kaminski raised an eyebrow. “It could have torn us apart in one go.”

“It looks as if it wants to play with us before the kill,” Rachel said, reminding herself that this was Bright’s revenge on them all for defeating him twice: once in Australia
when he was under the command of Colonel Moss, and a second time in Russia when he tried to betray them after they defeated Makarov. And he would want his revenge to take time. She just hoped
against hope that the delay gave Sarah the time she needed to get there.

Enhance,
Sarah ordered and a magnified section of the heads-up display opened, showing a clearer view of the action. One of the tentacles swiped through the air at a hovercopter, swatting
it the length of the deck. The flying machine skidded across the landing strip and flew off into the ocean. More hovercopters circled, firing at the writhing tentacles with tracer bullets that
merely glanced off the surface of the alien metal.

“They’re not even scratching it!” said Louise, who had appeared in the cockpit doorway.

“Let’s see if we can do any better,” Sarah said. With her mind, she adjusted the tactical HUD, focusing on a tentacle waving near the stern of the ship. A red targeting
reticule flashed madly as it locked on.

Fire,
she ordered.

Two missiles flew from the underbelly of the stealth jet, casting parallel white smoke trails in the sky as they zoomed towards the target. Seconds later, they hit the tentacle simultaneously,
creating a massive fireball. The tentacle jerked back from the impact, but then rose again, unharmed.

“They didn’t even make a dent,” Wei said. “How do we stop it?”

“I don’t know,” Sarah said, sending the jet in a wide arc around the
Ulysses
. She didn’t want to get close enough for one of the tentacles to knock them out of the
sky. “But we have to find a way, or everyone on that ship is dead.”

Up close, it was clear to see the
Ulysses
was listing dangerously to one side, as if the squid intended to pull it over and drag it to the bottom of the ocean. As they watched, a tentacle
sliced across the flight control tower rising from the deck. The top of the tower flew away, casting bodies into the sea with it. Hovercopters rushed in to distract the squid from its attack, but
were efficiently knocked out of the sky by the tentacles not engaged in pulling the ship over.

“What do we do?” Louise asked.

“Can’t land on the ship,” Sarah said, looking at the listing flight deck, which had four of the tentacles wrapped across it. “And our firepower isn’t
working.”

“We need to get closer.” They all looked round, surprised to see Robert appear beside Louise. His face was ashen and he seemed to be having problems just staying on his feet, but his
eyes were determined. “I can get Louise and Wei down there.”

Sarah gave him a stern look. “I thought we had you strapped down.”

“You can’t hold me that easily, sis,” he said with a grin. “You know it’s the only way.”

“You’re too weak,” Sarah argued, but her brother shook his head.

“There’s hundreds of people down there. We can’t just let them sink with that ship.”

Wei rose from his seat and went to stand with the other two. Robert took Louise’s and Wei’s hands in his. It was decided.

“Okay, okay,” Sarah said. “Just be…”

Robert and the other two dematerialized.

“...careful.”

“We’ve got multiple hull breaches,” Kaminski said, examining a diagram of the ship. More and more areas flashed red by the second, indicating water rushing in from rips in the
hull. “Too many to contain, sir. We’re going down.”

On another of the screens there was an explosion as another hovercopter got hit.

“Our pilots are getting killed up there,” Rachel said. “Order them to pull back, Lieutenant.”

Wisher gave her an outraged look. “But they’re our last line of defence!”

“We have no defence,” Rachel said, picking up the ship-wide comm. “This is Colonel Andersen. I’m ordering a full evacuation. Repeat, all remaining stations, abandon ship
immediately. Good luck, everyone.” She killed the comm and looked around the war room at the operatives manning the defensive systems there. “Get to the boats. We’ve done all we
can here. Move out!”

As the HIDRA personnel went for the door, Kaminski pointed at something on one of the screens. “Look!”

On the flight deck, three figures had appeared: Robert, Louise and Wei.

“What do those kids think they’re doing?” Wisher said.

“What they always do,” Rachel replied, “saving our backsides. Let’s get out of here while we still have the chance.”

As they hurried across the tilting floor, Wisher asked, “Isn’t the captain meant to go down with the ship?”

“To hell with that,” she replied, pushing him into the corridor.

Debris from crashed hovercopters lay all around, and black, acrid smoke hung thick in the air. Here and there the bodies of crew members lay abandoned as the survivors desperately tried to make
it to the escape boats. Sirens wailed.

Up close, the alien tentacles were massive and imposing – the impenetrable black surface so shiny it was reflective. The ones wound around the ship itself were as thick as a man was tall.
The others, waving high in the air above the deck, towered as high as skyscrapers, ready to smash any resistance.

How’s it looking down there?
Sarah asked from the jet as it swooped low across the starboard side.

Scary,
Wei replied.

One of the tentacles swiped at the plane, making the barest contact, but it was enough to send the jet flying off course. It swung round and out of danger as Sarah expertly managed to keep it in
the air.

It’s scary up here!
Sarah said.
Just try to keep the squid busy while the crew gets off the ship
.
And don’t take any chances.

Right,
Robert said as one of the tentacles began to swiftly descend towards them.
Watch out!

They scattered. The tentacle slammed down before them, jarring the entire deck. As it rose again, Robert heard the sound of people crying out for help from the remains of the flight control
tower. It had been cut in half earlier, but there were clearly people trapped inside still.

“You two keep it occupied,” he said to Louise and Wei. “I’m going to get those people out.”

He disappeared. Louise held up a hand as the tentacle descended again. It took all her mental strength, but she managed to hold the tentacle several metres above the deck. It writhed like a
snake trying to escape from an invisible fist, but Louise wasn’t about to let it go. The end of the tentacle was flattened and wide to allow greater damage when it struck – it hovered
above Louise, ready to squash her like a bug.

“Wei!” she cried. “Heat it up!”

The Chinese kid unleashed a wave of flames along the length of the trapped tentacle, but this had no more effect than the bullets or missiles had. Then he focused all of his power, refining the
flames to a single heat beam of incredible strength. He aimed his beam on a point of the tentacle halfway down. The metal began to glow red as it became superheated to an unbelievable
temperature.

“That’s it!” Louise said. With all her power, she wrenched the tentacle round with her mind. There was a terrific tearing sound and it ripped apart at the point Wei had been
heating. With a cry, Louise cast the severed section of tentacle to one side, where it landed in the sea with a crash of water. Wei looked at her with wide eyes.

“We did it!”

Another tentacle smashed into the deck between them and burrowed into the ship. Seconds later it whipped backwards, tearing away a giant section of deck and almost taking the two kids with
it.

“I think we just made it mad,” Louise said as it came in for another strike.

As they fell back, the tentacle ripped open another great tear in the surface of the
Ulysses
. The stealth jet tore overhead on a pass through the waving tentacles, momentarily distracting
the attack. As the arms of the squid tried to catch the jet, Louise focused her attention on two of them, bringing them together and twisting them round. Wei instinctively knew what to do: he fired
a burst of heat along the tangled length of the tentacles, fusing the alien metal, reforming it. Cooling in the air, the melted-together tentacles gave a terrible groaning sound and then crashed
down onto the deck, immovable.

Good work!
Sarah’s voice rang in their heads as the jet flew over again.
Weld it to the ship!

Wei used his heat beam to melt the surface of the deck, while Louise reshaped the heated matter with her mind, forming great loops of metal around the tentacle. Now the squid was linked to the
sinking
Ulysses
…

The five remaining arms of the squid now turned their attention towards Louise and Wei, but as they towered in the air, explosions erupted around them. The remaining hovercopters were firing
upon them. The squid swatted at the tiny attackers, giving Louise time to grab another pair of tentacles and twist them together.

“The HIDRA crew are off the ship,” Robert said, materializing beside Louise as Wei melted the tentacles together. “Time to leave.”

“But we’re winning!” Louise said.

Robert shook his head, having to lean against her for support. His face was ghost-white. “No, the ship is sinking. We can’t prevent that.”

Louise caught his arm and held him up. The black mark on his neck seemed to have spread even further. The entire ship rocked to one side as it went into the terminal stages of sinking into the
ocean. A great plume of water, hundreds of metres high, exploded off the starboard bow and the bulbous body of the squid rose, its huge shining eye reflecting a distorted view of the ruined
Ulysses
.

“We have to get back to the jet,” Wei said, helping Louise hold Robert up.

“Wake up!” Louise said, shaking Robert. “We have to get out of here!”

He nodded weakly and grabbed their arms as the deck tilted dangerously to one side…

...and they were inside the stealth jet again. Wei grabbed Robert and moved him to one of the leather sofas lining the main cabin. Louise ran through to the cockpit.

“Is Robert okay?” Sarah asked, not looking round from the controls.

“Wei’s looking after him,” Louise said, transfixed by the awesome sight outside the cockpit window. The tentacles of the squid were wrapped around and melded to the body of the
Ulysses
, which was now beginning to resemble a twisted lump of metal, kept afloat only because it was held by the monster. The head of the squid lay alongside the ship, giant eye facing
upwards. On the other side of the
Ulysses
, a flotilla of yellow escape boats powered away from the wreck as fast as possible.

A howl split the air, audible even through the walls of the jet. The squid ripped one of its damaged tentacles free, and smashed it down into the sea, sending tiny boats flying.

“It’s not dead yet!” Louise exclaimed.

“It soon will be,” Sarah said, swiping her hand across a section of the HUD. The computer began to analyse the now-exposed head of the squid. The red reticule flashed around its
eye.

Weakness detected.

Target all missiles,
Sarah ordered.
Fire everything.