Клайв Касслер - Marauder

“I’m glad to have someone to talk to at the end like this,” Jin said. “I wish I knew what you looked like. You have a nice voice.”

“That sounds like a woman who doesn’t intend to be taken alive,” Eric said.

Sylvia gasped. “Can you put that infrared video feed back up?”

Juan nodded, and Eric switched the camera to the black and white image of the Marauder . The highlight at the stern was now fading as the engines cooled, but the center of the ship was almost white with heat.

“I thought we destroyed the plasma cannon,” Hali said.

“Just the gun,” Murph said.

“The power generator underneath is what builds up the energy to launch the projectile,” Sylvia said. “She’s deliberately overheating it. When it reaches the redline, it’ll detonate.”

“April,” Juan said, “it looks like you’re building to a generator overload. You need to power down now.”

“I have to admit, you people are good,” Jin said. “Sorry. I’ve put the cycle on automatic. Nothing can stop that now.”

Juan looked at Sylvia, who nodded in agreement. He mouthed “How long?”

“Two or three minutes, max.”

That didn’t leave them enough time to get aboard and evacuate Jin before the trimaran exploded.

Juan put his hand over the mic and said, “Stoney, move us away from the Marauder .” He removed his hand. “April, there’s still time for you and your men to get off the ship.”

“No one is getting off this ship. It would jeopardize my husband’s mission.”

They wouldn’t be able to question anyone. Jin would go down with her ship, and they would be left no closer to finding out what the target of Polk’s mission was.

Juan could keep her talking, but he’d never get the truth out of her, not without their tranquilizer darts like the ones Linc had . . .

That thought gave him an idea. Linc was the best marksman in the crew.

“Get me Linc on another line,” he told Hali.

Juan had just come up with one of his infamous Plan Cs. This one was a literal longshot.

—

When Juan called, Linc was sitting with his back against a concrete slab, drinking from his water bottle and arguing with MacD about how long the surrender would take.

“Linc here, Chairman.”

“Is your tranquilizer sniper rifle intact?”

“Yes.”

“I need you to use it immediately.”

Linc frowned. “On who?”

“On Jin. She’s on the bridge of the Marauder . Can you make the shot?”

Linc didn’t ask the Chairman why. He snatched up the rifle, loaded a dart, and knelt behind the broken slab he’d been leaning against.

He put the scope to his eye. At this range, the back of Jin’s head was a pinpoint.

“She’s three hundred yards away,” Linc said. “That’s beyond the spec range of this rifle, but I can try.”

“You’ll only get one attempt,” Juan said. “If she sees a stray dart fly by her, she’ll duck down, and you won’t get another shot.”

“Doesn’t matter. I only have one dart left anyway.”

“Then make it count. We don’t have much time.”

“Understood.”

Linc threw some dust in the air. The wind was blowing slightly right to left. He made an adjustment on the scope and lined up the shot.

He held his breath and hoped that Jin didn’t move. He squeezed the trigger.

The rifle bucked, and he saw Jin go down, but he couldn’t tell if it was because she was hit or missed.

“I took the shot,” Linc said.

“I saw,” the Chairman said. “I’ll let you know in a couple of minutes whether it got her to talk.”

—

For a moment, the line to the Marauder was silent.

“April, are you with me?” Juan asked.

“I’m here,” she answered.

At least she was still on the line. Either the dart hit her or it didn’t.

“What’s Angus Polk’s target on New Year’s Eve?”

“Sydney,” Jin said, slurring the S. Linc’s aim had been right on the money.

“Who in Sydney?”

“The city.”

“I know that’s a city,” Juan said, exasperated.

“I think she means the whole city,” Sylvia said, blanching at the idea.

“Do you actually mean you’re going to use the Enervum gas against the entire city of Sydney?” Juan asked.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“The global expansion of China. And money from my stepfather Lu Yang, nine hundred and eighty million dollars in a locked cryptocurrency account. Passcode Enervum143. Don’t have the account number memorized. Where’s Angus?”

“He’s gone.”

“Gone to Sydney,” Jin said as if just realizing it.

“Yes. How will the attack happen?”

“What attack?”

“The attack on Sydney. Focus, April.”

“Timer set to launch rockets at midnight. They explode all over Sydney. Millions paralyzed overnight. Ten major newspapers cover the story the next day. That unlocks the account and we get the money.”

“Antidote,” Murph said.

Juan nodded as he saw the white spot on the center of the Marauder growing brighter by the second.

“April, do you have any of the Enervum antidote?”

“Not in me.”

“I mean, did you make any of the antidote?”

“Yes. Enough for nine thousand people total. Half on the Marauder , half with Angus. Angus is in Sydney.”

“Where does Angus have his batch of the antidote?”

“On the cargo ship in Sydney.”

“Where are the rockets?”

“On the cargo ship in Sydney.”

“Anytime now,” Sylvia said as she watched the overheating trimaran.

“What’s the name of the cargo ship?” Juan asked Jin.

“The—”

Her voice was cut off as the plasma cannon power generator went critical. A massive fireball tore the trimaran in half, causing the screen to go white with the heat bloom. A second later, the shock wave rattled the Oregon .

Eric switched the view back to the color camera. The burning bow and stern were the only surviving parts of the Marauder . They went under mere seconds later.

Juan checked his watch. They had just over twenty-four hours before the midnight fireworks show the next day.

He threw the headset back to Hali. “Tell Max to pick up the shore party and get back here on the double. Eric, as soon as the doors of the moon pool are closed, set course for Sydney, maximum speed.”

SIXTY-FOUR

SYDNEY

Polk’s plane landed at Kingsford Smith International Airport at sunset, and when it was taxiing on the tarmac, he noticed a voicemail from his wife, which was unusual because she preferred to text him. He listened to the message, perplexed and concerned by the odd tone in her voice and by some of the things she said. He was upset she wouldn’t make it for the New Year’s Eve rocket launch, but he’d be sure to record it for her.

When the plane reached his waiting car, they unloaded four large aluminum boxes containing the Enervum antidote. Each held a thousand vials of the serum in packs of twelve. Given the sales estimates, every pack represented a value of six hundred thousand dollars, which meant he had to keep the cache in a safe place aboard the Centaurus where sticky hands couldn’t get to it.

He was driven to a dock at Walsh Bay, where a speedboat was waiting for him. His crew transferred the cargo and cast off, almost immediately passing under the world-famous Sydney Harbour Bridge. Polk could make out tourists wearing blue and gray jumpsuits walking along the girders below the bridge, on their way to climbing up the arched truss that spanned the structure. Tomorrow on New Year’s Eve, the Bridge Climb would be closed down in anticipation of the colossal fireworks show that would be launched from the arch at the stroke of midnight.