The Storm
Authors: Clive Cussler,Graham Brown
Tags: #Fiction, #Action & Adventure, #Suspense, #Thrillers
THE STORM
DIRK PITT
®
ADVENTURES BY CLIVE CUSSLER
CRESCENT DAWN
(with Dirk Cussler)
ARCTIC DRIFT
(with Dirk Cussler)
TREASURE OF KHAN
(with Dirk Cussler)
BLACK WIND
(with Dirk Cussler)
TROJAN ODYSSEY
VALHALLA RISING
ATLANTIS FOUND
FLOOD TIDE
SHOCK WAVE
INCA GOLD
SAHARA
DRAGON
TREASURE
CYCLOPS
DEEP SIX
PACIFIC VORTEX!
NIGHT PROBE!
VIXEN 03
SHOCK WAVE
RAISE THE TITANIC!
ICEBERG
THE MEDITERRANEAN CAPER
FARGO ADVENTURES BY CLIVE CUSSLER
With Grant Blackwood
THE KINGDOM
LOST EMPIRE
SPARTAN GOLD
ISAAC BELL NOVELS BY CLIVE CUSSLER
THE THIEF
(with Justin Scott)
THE RACE
(with Justin Scott)
THE SPY
(with Justin Scott)
THE WRECKER
(with Justin Scott)
THE CHASE
KURT AUSTIN ADVENTURES BY CLIVE CUSSLER
With Graham Brown
DEVIL’S GATE
With Paul Kemprecos
MEDUSA
WHITE DEATH
THE NAVIGATOR
FIRE ICE
POLAR SHIFT
BLUE GOLD
LOST CITY
SERPENT
OREGON FILES ADVENTURES BY CLIVE CUSSLER
With Jack Du Brul
THE JUNGLE
THE SILENT SEA
CORSAIR
PLAGUE SHIP
SKELETON COAST
DARK WATCH
With Craig Dirgo
GOLDEN BUDDHA
SACRED STONE
NONFICTION BY CLIVE CUSSLER AND CRAIG DIRGO
THE SEA HUNTERS
THE SEA HUNTERS II
CLIVE CUSSLER AND DIRK PITT REVEALED
BUILT FOR ADVENTURE: THE CLASSIC AUTOMOBILES OF CLIVE CUSSLER AND DIRK PITT
®
THE STORM
A NOVEL FROM
THE NUMA
®
FILES
CLIVE CUSSLER
AND
G
RAHAM
B
ROWN
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
NEW YORK
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
Publishers Since 1838
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
•
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Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Copyright © 2012 by Sandecker, RLLLP
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors’ rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
ISBN: 978-1-101-58500-9
Printed in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
BOOK DESIGN BY LOVEDOG STUDIO
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
While the authors have made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the authors assume any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content
ALWAYS LEARNING
PEARSON
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
PROLOGUE
INDIAN OCEAN
SEPTEMBER 1943
THE S.S.
JOHN
BURY
SHUDDERED FROM BOW TO STERN AS it plowed through the rolling waters of the Indian Ocean. She was known as a “fast freighter,” designed to accompany warships and used to traveling at a decent clip, but with all boilers going full out the
John Bury
was moving at a pace she hadn’t seen since her sea trials. Damaged, burning, and trailing smoke, the
John Bury
was running for her life.
The ship crested a ten-foot wave, the deck pitched down and the bow dug into another swell. A wide swath of spray kicked up over the rail and whipped back across the deck, rattling what was left of the shattered bridge.
Topside, the
John Bury
was a mangled wreck. Smoke poured from twisted metal where rockets had pounded the superstructure. Debris littered the deck, and dead crewmen lay everywhere. But the damage was above the waterline, and the fleeing ship would survive if it avoided any more hits.
On the dark horizon behind, smoke poured from other vessels that had been less fortunate. An orange fireball erupted from one, flashing across the water and briefly illuminating the carnage.
The burning hulks of four ships could be seen, three destroyers and a cruiser, ships that had been the
John Bury
’s escort. A Japanese submarine and a squadron of dive-bombers had found them simultaneously. As dusk approached, oil burned around the sinking vessels in a mile-long slick. It fouled the sky with dense black smoke. None of them would see the dawn.
The warships had been targeted and destroyed quickly, but the
John Bury
had only been strafed, hit with rockets and left to run free. There could be only one reason for that mercy; the Japanese knew of the top secret cargo she carried and they wanted it for themselves.
Captain Alan Pickett was determined not to let that happen, even with half his crew dead and his face gashed by shrapnel. He grabbed the voice tube and shouted down to the engine room.
“More speed!” he demanded.
There was no response. At last report a fire had been raging belowdecks. Pickett had ordered his men to stay and fight it, but now the silence left him gripped with fear.
