And once he was free, the diver would resume his attack – from almost point-blank range.
Eddie considered using the arm to slam the man against the wreck, but the Sharkdozer’s momentum had carried it away from the angled deck. Instead, he flicked the switch to engage the secondary arm. The view on the monitor changed from the main manipulator to its smaller counterpart. He extended the arm. The paralysed claw and the man clutched within it came into view.
The diver’s face was now visible inside his helmet. He looked up in surprise – then his expression turned to shock. He turned the gun back round, but by the time it was pointing the right way the mechanical hand was right in his face . . .
Eddie didn’t waste time trying to grab him. Instead, he pushed a button marked ‘Drill’.
A tool smoothly pivoted into place from the manipulator’s wrist, the hand itself folding downwards out of its way. The diamond tip of the eight-inch tungsten carbide bit scraped the diver’s bubble helmet, scratching the tough material.
Before the man even had time to scream, Eddie started the drill.
It took under a second for the high-powered mechanism to chew through the polycarbonate helmet. Now the man screamed – and was abruptly silenced as water exploded into the deep suit with the force of an artillery shell. The transparent bubble filled with a churning pink froth.
The extra weight of the water inside the suit finally overcame the crippled claw’s grip. The dead man broke free, falling away into the wreckage of the Evenor.
Eddie nodded in satisfaction. ‘That’s what I call getting the bit between your teeth.’
Nina gave him a look of distaste. ‘At least you didn’t say “You’re screwed!”’ She looked back at the LIDAR screen. A large part of the scanner’s field of view was now obstructed by the sunken ship, the second deep-suited diver hidden somewhere behind it.
But the Mako’s blip was still visible, changing course to come after them.
‘Eddie,’ Matt said urgently as he headed away from it, ‘use the other main arm and reach underneath us. If we can drop the ballast slab, we’ll be on the surface in three minutes.’
Eddie did so. The Sharkdozer rocked again as the port arm extended. Nina’s gaze switched between the LIDAR and Eddie’s monitor. ‘Can you see it?’
‘Just a sec . . . there.’ The submersible’s underside came into view as the claw twisted round. The iron slab was still wedged in place by the bent skids. He moved the arm closer—
It jerked to a stop. ‘What’s wrong?’ Nina asked.
‘I dunno.’ He tried again, pushing the controls harder, but the arm still stopped short. ‘Matt, I can’t reach it.’
The Australian quickly checked the monitor. ‘That’s as far as it goes – try the secondary arm, see if that’ll reach.’
‘You don’t know?’ Eddie said, incredulous.
‘It wasn’t designed to scratch its own belly! Or dodge torpedoes, for that matter.’
‘Speaking of which,’ Nina said in alarm, ‘I think he’s about to fire another one!’
A trill from the LIDAR confirmed her fears. A new blip appeared in front of the other submersible – drawing closer each time the display refreshed. Matt turned again, but the damaged Sharkdozer was even slower to respond than before. ‘Shit! It’s going to hit us!’
Nina braced herself, but knew the effort was pointless. The Mako’s first torpedo had destroyed Hayter’s vessel and killed everyone aboard with a single direct impact, and there was no reason to think theirs was any stronger. She stared helplessly at the LIDAR display as the projectile raced at them—
Eddie abandoned his attempt to release the ballast – and instead swung the arm up at the torpedo.
The Sharkdozer’s occupants were thrown bodily against the cabin wall as the shockwave of another explosion pounded the sub like a strike from a colossal hammer. An air line burst, compressed gas shrieking into the crew compartment. Debris pounded the outer hull.
More alarms sounded, the instrument panel now a battery of flashing red lights. Matt clambered back into his seat and struggled to regain control of the tumbling submersible.
Nina pressed a hand to her forehead, feeling the warm dampness of blood against her palm. ‘What happened?’ she asked Eddie.
‘I caught the torpedo,’ he said. The manipulator arm was visible through the left viewport – or at least, what was left of it. The metal limb had been severed at the wrist, control cables and hydraulic lines hanging like torn tendons from the shattered stump.