Клайв Касслер - Typhoon Fury

“Have to agree with you there,” Linc said over the menacing snarl of the gaining Kuyogs.

“Get ready, Chairman,” Linda said.

Juan watched the Gator’s hatch. “We’re ready. You first,” he said to Linc. “Just don’t get stuck.”

They tossed their guns away, but Juan kept his pack with the Kuyog imaging sensor inside.

The supply ship loomed ahead and the Gator suddenly straightened out. The hatch flew up, and Linc lunged for the opening. He neatly slid inside, and Juan quickly followed, tumbling down as his feet slipped on the metal hull. He tucked and landed in the cabin.

Eddie sprang up and slammed the hatch down, whirling the wheel to seal it. When it was tight, he said, “Buttoned-up.”

Linc pulled Juan to his feet. Juan went forward to the cockpit and said to Linda, “Now turn us toward the supply ship.”

She yanked the wheel to port, aiming the Gator in the direction of the supply ship’s stern while continuing her evasive maneuvers.

Juan stuck his head into the cupola and looked back. The Kuyogs were no more than twenty yards behind them.

“When should I dive?” Linda asked, her hands tight on the wheel.

Juan turned and pointed at the supply ship. “Get as close to her as you can.”

• • •

TAGAAN WATCHED with a grin as the strange vessel aimed straight for the supply ship on what seemed to be a suicide mission. He didn’t really care if they wanted to kill themselves, since the supply ship was no longer of any use to him with the Magellan Sun on the ocean floor. He was more excited to see the performance of the Kuyogs. So far, they had outdone even his lofty expectations.

Then his grin vanished when he saw the fleeing boat plunge beneath the surface like a diving dolphin. With a surge of white water, it disappeared, leaving the pursuing Kuyogs with no target.

No, they did have a target. The sensors were programmed to reacquire the target as quickly as possible if they lost their lock.

So the supply ship directly ahead of them became the target.

They reached the stern of the supply ship simultaneously, detonating just as Tagaan had designed them to do.

He flattened himself on the dock as a hail of debris fell around him. The stern of the supply ship erupted in a geyser of flames, its fuel tank ruptured and burning. The crew fled the bow superstructure as the ship began to sink.

Tagaan blinked and stood up. He searched the water for signs that the submarine-boat had been damaged or destroyed by the explosions, but he saw no telltale slick or debris, though he didn’t know if they’d be distinguishable from the remains of the supply ship. He had to assume that the daring maneuver had worked and they had got away.

But even if the sub hadn’t escaped disaster in the sudden dive, the mystery cargo ship speeding toward them was still a threat. If it had more missiles or other weaponry on board, it might use them on the trucks loaded with half the shipment he’d come to collect.

Only now he noticed his mechanic still cowering on the dock with his hands over his head.

“Get up, you imbecile,” he said.

The mechanic gingerly got to his feet and surveyed the supply ship that was now partially underwater. He smiled timidly at Tagaan. “At least the Kuyogs worked.”

Tagaan gave him a withering look and barked at him through clenched teeth, “We’re leaving. Now! Get the drivers to their trucks.”

“Yes, comrade.”

While his orders were being carried out, Tagaan checked the approaching cargo ship on the feed from his airborne drone, which was following her on autopilot. Now that she was closer to coming around the point of the bay, he could see how dilapidated the ship was. If she was equipped with a missile battery and carried a submarine, he wondered what other secrets she held. If only he had more Kuyogs with him, he’d test out her defensive capabilities.

The mechanic came running back to him.

“Comrade Tagaan, the lead truck’s radiator is damaged, and the fuel tank is punctured. It will take an hour to fix them enough to drive.”

“We don’t have time for that.”

“Should I move its cargo to another truck?”

Tagaan grabbed the mechanic’s shirt and screamed in his face, “I told you we’re leaving this minute!” Then he shoved the man away. He hated to leave so much of their precious cargo behind, but he couldn’t risk losing the entire shipment instead of just half. He’d also have to abandon the drone.

Tagaan took one last look at the unassuming cargo ship racing toward them and said, “Now, get me a lighter.”

• • •

TEN MINUTES LATER, the Oregon stopped just long enough for the Gator to surface inside the moon pool and to pluck Eddie, MacD, and Murph from the water. Juan was the first out and he made a beeline for the op center, with Murph tagging along behind, still turning the Kuyog imaging sensor over in his hands. He reclaimed his chair from Max, who returned to his customary position at the engineering station. Murph handed the sensor to Eric and sat at the weapons console, tapping away at the tablet holding the data from the Magellan Sun ’s navigation system.

“What’s this?” Eric said, inspecting the object.

“That’s one of the items in the shipment,” Juan said.

“Imaging tech,” Murph added absently without looking up from his handheld computer. “Chinese-made. Can’t wait to take it apart and check out what they came up with.”

“Anything salvageable from the Magellan Sun ?” Juan asked Max.

Max shook his head. “Went up like a Roman candle. Linda said you found Semtex on the truck. That must have been what cut it in half. Straight to Davy Jones’s locker.”

“Then that’s our only insight into the Kuyog’s design,” Juan said, first pointing at the sensor, then nodding at the big screen.

The feed from the deck camera showed the dock and road where he and Linc had infiltrated the truck. The supply ship was gone, and so were all but one of the trucks. The remaining truck, still parked near the end of the road, was ablaze. The Semtex wouldn’t be detonated by the fire, but it would probably burn brightly all through the night, reducing the truck and its contents to molten slag.

Max raised an eyebrow at Juan. “Please don’t tell me that’s the truck you planted the tracker on.”

“Okay, I won’t,” Juan said with a resigned look.

“But it is.”

Juan nodded. “So we have no way to follow where those trucks are going.”

“That’s a bigger problem than you think,” Max said.

“What do you mean?”

“Raven called a few minutes ago. She said Locsin kidnapped Beth Anders.”

While Max summed up what happened to Beth and Raven, Juan rubbed his temples, sick at the thought of what she must be going through.

“And now we have no way to find him,” Juan said.

Murph cleared his throat. “Actually, we might.”

“I like your timing,” Juan said, glad to get some good news.

“I was able to extract the GPS logs from the Magellan Sun and create a map of her shipping courses over the last month. We’re looking for an islet, right?”

Juan nodded. “Dr. Ocampo told us Locsin had a dig going on somewhere in the Philippines, but he didn’t know the exact location, just that it was a small island. There are thousands in the country that could fit that description.”

“Well, most of the Magellan Sun ’s stops were either in Chinese or Filipino ports. Or right here, of course, when she was off-loading her illicit cargo. But there was one small island where she made multiple visits.”

“Put it up on the screen so we can see where we have to go,” Juan said.