Since the water was Marlon's only escape, he dashed across the vehicle hangar, only to meet Niles' chief diver known as Salt. He was lean and bitter, and when his eyes fell on Marlon, Marlon knew he had his hands full—not to mention that Rob was still pursuing him and others were gathering.

  Salt's fist bounced off Marlon's dive mask, which sent Marlon staggering into the arms of two technicians. Rob sliced at him again, cutting instead one of the men from collarbone to ribs. Marlon dodged then fell to his knees and crawled toward the edge of the deck. Others clawed at him, but he kept moving, his dive suit too tight for their fingers to find purchase.

  "Stop!" Niles yelled.

  At the edge, Marlon was ready to slide into the sea, but he heard the hammer pull back on Niles' gun—the only gun now on board, he guessed. Stopping, Marlon looked up at Niles as the man approached. The others crowded in as well, scowls on their faces rather than joy at seeing him alive.

  "So, you and Patrick have a few tricks!" Niles shook his head, smiling down at Marlon as if Marlon were a prized fish recently landed. "What are you thinking, Marlon? The years we served together!"

  "That didn't stop you from trying to have me killed!"

  "He knocked me out upstairs!" Rob held his head with one hand, the knife in his other. The man he'd sliced was being tended by others who scowled at Marlon as if he'd injured the man himself.

  "And he demanded I go with him!" Sam folded her arms. "He said Interpol was all over us."

  "Interpol?" Niles laughed, and the others joined. "Where's Interpol, Marlon? And where were you going? Swimming to Gilgal? Go ahead. You'll save me a bullet. Better yet, I'll send you on your way. Someone get me chains and some weight!"

  Two men went into the vehicle hangar, and Marlon heard chains rattling. He had to get off the ship now!

  "Is it true?" one of the scientists asked. "Could Interpol be onto us?"

  "It's not likely." Niles holstered his gun. "Marlon's just trying to take Gilgal from us. He and Patrick have been working together. I think that's obvious, now."

  "Where is Patrick?" Marlon asked. Without a gun on him, his leap overboard was all that waited. They still didn't know he had a bag full of dive equipment waiting for him.

  "In Gilgal. They're stuck inside, at our disposal. We've won. I just returned to pick up Stajner. Now, the two of us can take Gilgal easily."

  "Patrick won't allow it." Marlon scoffed. "You don't know who you've crossed this time, Mr. Niles. You think I would've defected if Patrick weren't for real? Look what the man's done in just a few days! You're all going to prison."

  "Hold him down!" Niles ordered as the men approached with a piece of iron and thirty feet of chain. "If he wants to go to Gilgal, we'll send him to Gilgal!"

  Stajner moved forward first, then Rob with his knife. Marlon gulped a breath of air as he dove for the water. A few seconds later, he was under the Materia and untying his gear from the access door. Once again, Marlon was faced with the choice to either swim to safety, or stay near the Materia to help Patrick—unless the mysterious agent man was already lost . . .

  *~*

  Chapter Ten

  Everything in Gilgal that could be tied down and secured was done so by Nicholas Astroff's able men and women. With battery reserves nearly fully powered, Gilgal was ready to relocate.

  "This is all my fault," Nathan mumbled. "If I would've bound Niles' hands or something, none of this would be necessary."

  Chen Li, seated beside him on a sofa in the living quarters of Gilgal, took his hand in hers. Though they'd just met, it seemed a natural gesture—especially if Nicholas really was intent on keeping them in Gilgal for however long they were in water too deep in which to swim. And the disabled submersible port door made an escape impossible.

  "I've been in hopeless places before," Li said. "I was a little girl in Hong Kong. No family or anyone to look out for me. Looking back, I see how God brought me up, provided people, and eventually I met Corban Dowler."

  "I'm not disagreeing with you about God," Nathan said, "but we're three thousand feet under water. The only people who know Gilgal exists are outside trying to kill us. And once we relocate, even our killers won't know how to find us, let alone our friends."

  "Patrick, I've been here for two months waiting for rescue. The Gillies always knew they could relocate, so it wasn't like a prison to them. They accepted what situations arose, and that included me. I was given a place, mostly taking care of the kids, but I'll tell you this: it was a lot harder being here as the only outsider."

  "Two makes it better?" Nathan sighed and smiled at her. "You're right. I'm overlooking the good, I guess. I mean, who wouldn't dream of being trapped in an underwater city with a coworker and a bubble full of isolationists?"

  "Coworker?" She tilted her head and elbowed him. "You sure that's the word you want to use to describe the beginning of our relationship?"

  "Relationship?" Nathan sat up straighter, his eyes wide.

  "We're stuck in Gilgal, Patrick. Together. You figure it out."

  She stood and strode away, leaving Nathan feeling like an insensitive lug. It wasn't the first time he'd misunderstood a woman's signals, but any other time, people could get away from one another. In Gilgal, there was no getting away. Were they a designated couple now in Gilgal? Would Nicholas preside over a marriage ceremony and expect them to live happily ever under water? Sure, Li was a catch, but this wasn't how Nathan had imagined he'd settle down.

  "We're lifting!" someone announced.

  Nathan didn't know what to expect, so he moved off the sofa and sat on the floor. Gilgal shuddered and vibrated, and Nathan stared up at the dome, half-expecting it to implode. At least then, he thought, Li would be spared from marrying him. He was an international operative, not husband material! Bad guys and bullets were his forte, not betrothals and babies.

  "Vertical drive is operable!" someone voiced. "Commencing horizontal propulsion . . ."

  Something fell off a shelf and broke. Gilgal vibrated more, and a child whimpered.

  "Shut her down! Shut her down! We've got debris in the drive!"

  Whatever motors were engaged were shut off abruptly, and Gilgal slammed down onto the ocean floor. Women muffled their screams and more children cried. Nathan gasped for air, realizing he'd been holding his breath while praying.

  As Gilgal settled again, Nathan climbed to his feet and walked to the central console.

  "It's the horizontal drive," an engineer explained to Nicholas. "It's either been damaged intentionally, or there's natural debris in her."

  "How can we fix it?" Nathan asked. "Can we access it from inside?"

  "Patrick! Not now!" Nicholas held up his hand. Nathan took a step back. More Gillies gathered to hear the news. "How bad is it? We came back down pretty hard."

  "We're on different ground." The engineer rubbed his jaw. "Those few seconds of lift shifted us in the current only a few feet, but it was enough to put us on an uneven plain. We had the luxury of originally founding Gilgal on an even plain when we could shift her with the help of the submersibles.

  "Tell me our options."

  "Well, we've got vertical drive, due to buoyancy, but nothing horizontal."

  "Then go vertical," Nathan suggested, "and let the current carry us away. We can relocate that way."

  "That'd be pure death!" The engineer gasped. "What if we're carried farther off the continental shelf into deeper waters? When our power runs out, we'd try to set her down and realize her dome isn't built for greater atmospheric pressure."

  "The dome would collapse," Nicholas said in simpler terms for Nathan. "Would you please let us discuss this?"

  Again, Nathan had been rebuked, but he felt indebted to help them find a solution since he'd blown the rescue. He was about to say more when Li moved to his side and shook her head. Did no one trust him at all?

  "If we remain here," Nicholas said, "we're certain to be captured or worse. We'll have to take our chances in the current."

  "Okay, Nick." The engineer checked a gauge. "We'll have about ten hours of vertical drive power to find an even plain within our atmospheric limitations. Beyond that, we'll have to set her down wherever we end up and recharge."

  "Even a couple miles away should be enough." Nicholas set his hand on the engineer's shoulder. "I know we'll be flying blind except for sonar until we can send up a buoy that isn't jammed, but even that isn't an option, anymore. We don't want to be tracked. Just do your best with what you have."

  "I will, Nick."

  "All of you, listen up!" Nicholas clapped his hands three times. "We're going to find a new location for Gilgal, but it'll take some drifting in the current to get there. We can only control our vertical depth. It may get bumpy. I suggest we break up into prayer groups while Mr. Monroe prepares for another lift, this one more prolonged."

  Fearfully, the Gillies separated into groups to pray. Nathan felt more of an outsider as he and Li were left aside, but then Li started to leave to join Lana Astroff and three children who were kneeling nearby.

  "Wait." Nathan took her by the wrist and drew her aside. "I have an idea that doesn't risk the lives of everyone in Gilgal. Well, not as much, anyway . . ."

  "Patrick, seriously." She smiled, her hand on his arm. "Mr. Monroe is one of the best engineers probably in the world. If there's a safer way, he would've thought of it."

  She left him to kneel with the others. Wandering over to Monroe, Nathan browsed the console and studied the screens.

  "All automated, huh?" He fingered a red switch labeled ENGAGE.

  "Don't touch that, please. Haven't you done enough damage, sir?"

  "Sorry." Nathan moved around the circular console, feeling that edgy sensation deep in his gut when a plan began to formulate. He came to a keyboard and screen clearly identified as the vertical drive control. The computer was set to maintain a height of thirty meters off the ocean floor, meant to interface with Monroe's sonar program, which he was calibrating.

  Touching a couple keys, Nathan found a calculation entry still possible. By a depth gauge, he saw Gilgal was 2,987 feet below the surface. For the automated vertical drive, he set it to ascend and stop at only forty-five feet under the surface.

  "Very nice system, Mr. Monroe," Nathan said over the console. He could see only the technician's head. "You must have security available as well, right? You wouldn't want one of the kids to implement the vertical drive in the middle of the night, right?"

  "Yes, there's security, Patrick, but we have no enemies here. Let us work."

  "Security . . ." Nathan scanned a menu of options. "Let's see here. Locking. Ah, yes."

  The secure function could be locked according to a number of variables. Nathan set it for uninterrupted operation, until otherwise commanded. When the locking prompt appeared, he typed in his own name for the password—followed by three random numbers. He closed the window and continued around the console. Peering over Monroe's shoulder, he noticed the sonar program was ready.

  "Engaging vertical lift!" Monroe punched the red switch. "Hang on! God help us . . ."

  Nathan stepped away, that reckless feeling expanding to his chest, but it felt better than the hopeless and helpless feeling he'd felt earlier.

  Gilgal trembled, and the Gillies prayed louder. Nathan set a hand on a support beam that led to the water treatment section. Deep down, he felt as if he'd taken advantage of the Gillies, but being unreasonable was no way to function. His idea hadn't even been explored—until now.

  "We've reached adequate drifting height!" Monroe announced. "We're in the flow of the current. Wait . . . We're still ascending! This isn't right. How can this be?"

  "What is it?" Nicholas joined Monroe. "Is the sonar malfunctioning?"

  "No, the vertical drive accelerated beyond the maximum setting I set for our height off the ocean floor. We're one hundred feet up! One-twenty . . . and increasing! We could go all the way to the surface!"

  "Stop it!" Nicholas ordered. "We can't surface! They'll be able to attack us at will! Our submersible chamber is still jammed open. We won't be able to keep them out!"

  "I'm trying!" Monroe went to the vertical drive control. "The settings have been changed. Looks like we're set for . . ."

  Monroe's eyes met Nathan's.

  "What's wrong?" Nicholas demanded.

  "Patrick has changed these numbers. We'll rise to within forty-five feet of the surface. That is, Gilgal's foundation will be forty-five feet under water. The top of the dome will be only five feet under the surface."

  "How could you do such a thing?" Nicholas shook a finger at Nathan. "Switch it back, now!"

  "Not a chance." Nathan crossed his arms. "Go ahead, Mr. Monroe. Tell him why I may have just saved everyone's life."

  Monroe's face went from fury to enlightenment.

  "That's it! In shallow water, we can repair the horizontal drive ourselves!"

  "Yeah." Nicholas scowled. "A by-product, no doubt, of Patrick leaving. He's only thinking of himself. Patrick, if we're attacked or damaged up there, it's on your head!"

  "That was a dumb move." Li nudged Nathan's arm. "You're not familiar with Gilgal's controls."

  "It was worth a try." Nathan watched Monroe monitor their ascent. "Trust me, you don't want to be partnered with me for an indeterminate number of years."

  "First, we were coworkers. Now, we're partners?" She shook her head. "Maybe a couple more missions together and you'll actually figure out who we are to each other."

  She left him again, but Nicholas was quickly before him.

  "I won't lie to you, Patrick. I'll be glad to get rid of anyone who doesn't want to be in Gilgal, but only if we can do it safely. Do you have a plan? This Niles character is no fool."

  "We need to wedge open the inner submersible door just enough to get me into the chamber. I know, we'll get flooded a bit, but it'll be for only a few seconds. Once in the chamber, I can close the outer port and empty it of water."

  "There's no dive gear in the dome. It's all in the dive chamber. You'll have to hold your breath for as long as two minutes in there!" He sighed, seeing Nathan wasn't declining. "Okay, then what?"

  "Then I come back in here and you can decide who will fix the horizontal drive. You'll have your dive gear by then, right?"

  "Mr. Monroe will do that part. Fine. What about you and Li?"

  "Well, we're only about five miles from the Reef Islands. If we aren't too close to the Materia, we can surface without attention and swim for land."

  "Your contacts can have Niles and his crew arrested?"

  "That's my plan."

  "Patrick, I'm not looking for a headline." Nicholas moved closer. "I don't want anyone knowing where we are."

  "Where you go after I'm gone is your business."

  "How long until we reach the intended shallows, Mr. Monroe?"

  "Less than five minutes."

  "I want to do this as quickly as possible. Get the tools, men! We have to open the submersible door as soon as we're in place. Everyone, we're about to make a mess in here; expect some flooding."

  "Are you sure about this?" Li asked as Nathan joined the procession to the submersible chamber door. "You can hold your breath for two minutes—while active? Your stunt may just drown you."

  "Don't worry, Li. I won't leave without you." He smiled down at her. "We have this companion thing to work out."

  That made her laugh—a sound that Nathan made a mental note to hear again very soon. But for now, he oversaw the selection of potential tools that Nicholas had available for opening the chamber door by force. Two of the sturdier men selected thick metal rods, and another man held an actual seal-spreader that looked like a pair of giant scissors with flat ends.

  "We're there!" Monroe called from the console, though the mid-morning sunshine was obvious through the dome ceiling and the five feet of water overhead. "Gilgal is holding depth. Go!"

  Teams with towels backed the men with tools. Nathan took off his shirt and shoes to leave them with Chen Li. Li stared at his chest, then reached out to touch one of his scars on his torso.

  "So many . . ." Her face saddened, but then reversed, and a smile crept across her lips. "You're no beginner, Patrick Gibson. You're one of the men Corban Dowler told me about a couple years ago."

  "If you've learned anything from my antics," Nathan said for her ears only, "then you'll know I'm nobody special, but it's a good thing God is a big God to fix my blunders."

  The children were on the other side of Gilgal, far away from the certain intake of water. Nathan rubbed his hands together and nodded at the men. Li moved aside with several other women. With no more time to prepare himself, he stood over the man with the seal-spreader.

  "I'm ready." He flexed his fingers, ready to grab the edge of the door to draw himself through as it opened. "Let's do this!"

  They inserted the spreader into the seam, assisted by a couple swift kicks. A trickle of water seeped through. The men with rods were ready to insert their braces.

  The spreader opened the door one inch. The direct burst of water hit the man so hard, his head snapped back and he lost his grip on his tool as he flew into the flood control crew. The door slammed shut. The man covered his eyes with his hands and Nathan understood instantly what had happened. The water was so pressurized, it had shot under the man's eyelids. Nathan moved to speak privately to Nicholas.

  "We're inside three atmospheres of oceanic pressure. It's going to take some ingenuity to beat physics here—and maybe some brute force."

  "Two men on the spreader!" Nicholas ordered. "Stand aside from the spray when it opens again. Patrick, brace yourself!"

  Again, they spread the door an inch. Water shot into Gilgal. The men with the rods inserted their tools and forced the door wider, wider . . . Other men joined in the effort, holding the workers' legs, supporting them. Nathan knelt under one rod holder, trying to avoid the gush of gallons pouring in.

  "A few more inches!" Nathan yelled over the noise. "A little more! Come on! Nick, push me through!"

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31