The Last Odyssey (Sigma Force #15) - James Rollins Page 0,24
Elena’s party into the glacier.
Joe stood up and stamped out his half-smoked cigar, which he only did in the direst circumstance. “Kid, I’m going with you.”
Maria turned to him. “Joe—”
He waved away the rest of her words. “Damned if I’m gonna sit around and do nothing but listen to the wind try to rip the roof off this place.” He faced her. “If there’s even the tiniest of a chance those guys are alive, I’ll dig them out with a backhoe if I have to. They’re the only ones who know what happened to your friend.”
She reached out and touched his arm. “I know. I was about to say that I’m coming with you.”
He stiffened. “Wait. That’s not what I meant. Maybe it’s best if—”
She cut him off and stood. “Nope. Your reasoning was very convincing.”
Joe stared hard at her, clearly judging how far to push it. He came to the right decision and simply shrugged.
Jørgen looked between the two of them. “You’re both crazy.”
“I’ve been called far worse.” Joe waved to Nuka. “Show us what you got, kid.”
Nuka headed toward the door. “Let’s go. I know my grandfather is still alive. But not for long if we don’t hurry.”
“You’d better be right.” Joe clapped the boy’s thin shoulder. “I’m not freezing my ass off for nothing.”
12:22 P.M.
“We have to risk it,” Mac said.
Standing waist-deep in frigid water, he slid the bronze bar away from the door of the captain’s cabin. He turned to John, who nodded.
Better to die on our own terms.
Half an hour ago, a massive explosion had rocked through the glacier. Mac had expected to be crushed under tons of ice. But as echoes of the blast died away, he and John found themselves still alive. Then the waters began to flood into the cabin, indicating the meltwater river had been dammed up by a collapse of ice from the blast.
Mac could guess what had happened. The bastards must’ve blown the entrance into the glacier, slamming the door on their way out.
Rather than allowing them to drown, like two trapped rats, Mac took a deep breath and pushed the door open. It took effort due to the rising waters. He cringed, expecting to be ambushed by hordes of fiery crabs. Instead, his flashlight revealed half of the stern was gone. The remaining hold was a smoldering ruin lit by a few fiery timbers. Flames also pooled in rafts atop the water.
Through the dense smoke, handfuls of crabs glowed ruddily in the darkness. They crouched on blazing bits of flotsam or sat atop boulders of ice. A pair even rode a corpse floating in the water. Most appeared not to be moving, their fires ebbing. A few scrabbled feebly.
Whatever volatile compound it was that fueled the creatures, it seemed to be losing its potency. Mac searched for the rest of the mass of crabs, but they were nowhere to be seen. Maybe the sudden flooding was too much for them to handle, and they all drowned away.
Still, as he led the way slowly into the hold, he warily kept his distance from those he could see.
John tapped Mac’s shoulder and pointed to where a section of the hull had broken open. He then pointed up. Mac nodded.
We need to get out of this water.
Both of them wore dry suits under their outerwear, but it didn’t stop the cold from penetrating down to their bones. Mac clenched his jaw to keep his teeth from chattering. His legs and feet were already numb, making it hard to traverse the uneven floor hidden under the black water.
Finally, they reached the breach in the hull and climbed the ship’s broken ribs, steering clear of any timbers that still burned. Once up top, they found that the forward half of the deck was still intact, the nose of the ship still solidly imbedded in ice.
From this high vantage, Mac surveyed his surroundings. As he did, a slab of ice broke off the roof and crashed into the water. A huge wave sloshed against the side of the ship, stirring the flaming pools and washing more bodies into view.
Mac tried not to think about his friend Nelson.
Now’s not the time for mourning.
The icefall was a reminder of a more immediate danger.
While holed up in the cabin, secondary quakes and thunderous cracking had continued sporadically as the weight of the glacier pressed down upon this fragile pocket. Mac knew the truth. After a decade working up here, he could read ice like a book.