Silent Thunder

"A life of indentured servitude to a bunch of eggheads. Oh, wait." He clapped his head in mock distress. "What am I thinking? You're no good to me. You're an egghead, too!"

"You were damn grateful I was an egghead when I was working with you." They high-fived each other as she climbed aboard.

Tanbury was a bear of a man in his early fifties, with thick red hair both on top and curling out of the neckline of his T-shirt. He gestured down to Kirov. "Who's your friend?"

"Another egghead. Captain Earl Tanbury, meet Nicholas Kirov."

Kirov climbed aboard and shook hands with Tanbury. "Delighted to meet you, Captain Tanbury."

"At least, an egghead with ma

She nodded. "I need to talk to you about a mutual friend of ours."

"Who?" he asked warily.

" LISA ."

Tanbury smiled. "A subject near and dear to my heart. Would you like to see her?"

"Very much."

"This way." Tanbury led them to the ship's stern, where a two-man submersible was suspended on a winch. "There she is. LISA-Lateral Intake Submersible Application. She still works as well as she did the day you left her with us."

Ha

"Looks good," Ha

"Her," Tanbury corrected. "We've been taking good care of her."

Ha

"And she's been taking good care of us. She gets a little prickly when you try to overwork her, but overall she's a good gal."

Kirov turned toward her with lifted brows. "See?"

"Men and the sea…" Ha

Tanbury chuckled. "Aw, I'm just trying to get under your skin. I know how you feel about this stuff. Seriously, though, she's as reliable as any submersible I've ever known. There may be newer ones out there with more bells and whistles, but she's a great little performer. The institute has a mile-long list of research groups waiting to lease this boat, and LISA is a big reason why. You did good, Ha

"Glad to hear it," Ha

"Shoot."

"I want to borrow LISA for a day."

Tanbury smile faded. "I'd call that a damn big favor."

"It gets bigger. I can't tell you why I need it, and no one off this ship can know I have it."

Tanbury shook his head. "I have people from the institute on board who expect to use it all day tomorrow."

"I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important to me. I need this, Tanbury."

He studied her expression. "Yeah, I can see it means a lot to you. Can't it wait a day or two? Maybe I can work it."

She shook her head.

"Tough." He thought for a moment. "Let me put on my bullshit hat for a second. What if I tell them you had concerns about the structural safety of the pod and needed to take it away to conduct some tests? That will satisfy the people on board. But after that, when word gets back to the institute and manufacturer…"

"I'll handle it. Stick by your story, and I'll take the heat."

"You'll have to." He grimaced. "Because this is the kind of caper I could lose my job over."

"I appreciate it. You won't lose your job. I'll make sure of that."

"I trust you. There's not many people in this world I'd trust with my livelihood, but you're one of them, Ha

"We'll do an underwater tow from the stern. The winch will support it."

"I guess so, as long as the weather holds." He turned back. "Jesus, Ha

"You're the only co

He sighed. "How did I get so lucky? Oh well, we're about to have di

"The sooner we leave, the sooner we'll have your submersible back to you," Kirov said.

"In that case, cancel the di

It took Tanbury's crew ninety minutes to replace LISA's depleted power cells and attach it to the rental boat's winch. Soon after dark, Ha

Kirov scribbled on the chart he had spread out on the interior cabin's dining table. "Perfect. We should make it there just before dawn."

Ha

"It's very elegant, very clean, and utterly confusing to those who don't take the time to understand it completely." He smiled. "I think it made us feel like we were members of an exclusive club. But snob appeal aside, it takes me back to a different time."

"What time?"

"When I was in the academy, the world was a simpler place. Or at least it appeared to be. We had a country we could be proud of, and we believed our navy was second to none."

"It's a fine navy," Ha

"Don't believe the propaganda. There were fine people in it, and I'd trust my life to almost any of them. But do you know how much of the time U.S. military vessels are at sea? Sixty-five percent of the time. Do you how much of the time Russian boats are out there? Only fifteen percent, all due to mechanical and efficiency problems. Our average was a bit better in my day, but not much."

"It's a country in upheaval."

"There needed to be upheaval. It took me a while to realize it was necessary, but the reality set in soon enough." His lips twisted. "It was forced on me at the point of an AK-47. So here I am drowning in reality and trying to make clarity out of the chaos of my life."

"By killing everyone who caused that chaos."

He smiled. "Trust you to simplify and rid me of any false rationalizations. You're right, of course. You're a very unusual woman, Ha

Christ, she couldn't look away from him. She felt… She finally managed to tear her gaze away from his. Crazy. Block it. Ha

"It wouldn't make sense. Pavski obviously has a copy of the video. Otherwise, he would have wanted that music player. We know that it's at least five days old. Why would he have bothered with the Silent Thunder, Co

Ha

4:45 A.M.

Ha

"Good morning," Kirov said. "Please return your seatbacks and tray tables to their normal and upright position."

"Are we there?"

"Just another few hundred yards. No sign of Pavski or anyone else."