Poseidon's Arrow

A

He fired back in the blink of an eye, backhanding her head and sending her sprawling against the container. He grabbed her cuffed wrist and pulled it to the deck, where he latched the cuff’s free end to a loop at the base of the container. “I’m sorry things didn’t work out,” he said. “Be sure and wave to your friends.”

He turned and moved along the deck, ducking when there was a loud plink on the container behind him. He increased his pace and looked back to see a man at the rail of the Adelaide, firing a pistol at him. Pablo sidestepped down a row of containers and out of sight as two more shots followed.

Dirk lowered the SIG Sauer with disgust as his father caught up with him at the rail. They had shed the cumbersome Hazmat suits, which had left them both drenched in sweat.

“There’s a woman tied to that shipping container,” Dirk said. “I took a shot at the guy who put her there but missed.”

Pitt spotted a woman with short blond hair lying at the base of a container. “That’s A

Any relief at finding A

“Let’s see if we can get to her.” He took off ru

Pitt threaded his way through the shredded steel until he could drop onto the Salzburg’s deck. He ran aft across the ship, snaking around the scattered containers, until reaching A

She looked at him in disbelief as he waded up to her. “What are you doing here?”

He gri

She was too frightened to smile. “Can you free me?”

He sloshed through the water to take a closer look. She was seated on the deck with her hand pi

“It’s a handcuff?” Pitt asked.

She nodded.

Dirk approached, and together they looked for something to free her with. Somewhere on the ship would be tools, but they had no time to search. The ship was already half underwater. And so was the container.

“It’s going to go over the side any minute,” Dirk whispered. “I don’t see how we can get her free of it.”

Pitt nodded and gazed up briefly at the Adelaide. “You’re right,” he said, a glimmer in his eye. “I reckon we’ll have to save them both.”

74

THE ADELAIDE, LIKE THE TASMANIAN STAR IN Chile, was equipped with its own conveyor for loading and off-loading cargo. The Adelaide’s system was mounted on its starboard beam, right above where Pitt stood.

Climbing up the ore carrier’s shattered bow, he raced to a control station next to the conveyor. The collision hadn’t damaged the ship’s auxiliary power, and a generator below deck hummed when Pitt tested the hydraulic controls. The conveyor consisted of a sliding belt that could be moved alongside each hatch. Hopper cranes were fitted on the opposite side of the deck, which would pull the ore from the hold and deposit it onto the conveyor.

Pitt engaged the belt and moved it forward to the number 1 hold. He experimented with the controls until he figured out how to pivot the conveyor. Rotating it out from the Salzburg, he aimed it at A

Standing next to A

Pitt jammed the end of the belt ahead and below as far as it would go and engaged it. Looking out, all he could see was a mountain of containers spilling into the water. At the stern, he saw the captain and a handful of crewmen leap for their lives.

As the ship rotated, equipment, stores, and remaining cargo tumbled and crashed. With a sudden rush, the ship broke free of the Adelaide and capsized. The inverted Salzburg drifted for a minute or two, then let out a gurgle and slipped beneath the waters of the canal.

The tip of the Adelaide’s conveyor belt dropped below water level, and Pitt thought he had failed. But the belt stammered and shook, and a beige slab appeared beneath the surface. A moment later, a shipping container emerged, riding unevenly up the belt. Pitt looked over the side to see A

As water sloshed off the belt it pulled the container up to the side rail, where Pitt powered the conveyor off.

“Nice catch,” Dirk said, “though I wasn’t expecting a dip in the bargain.” He dropped to the deck as A

“You okay?” Pitt asked A

“I thought my arm was going to leave its socket, but, yes, I’m all right.” She shook the water from her hair.

“Hand me the gun,” Pitt told his son.

Dirk pulled the SIG Sauer from his waist and handed it to his father. Pitt shook it to clear the water and held the muzzle to A

“Would have tried that earlier, but you were too far underwater when we found you.”

“But then I would have missed the ride.” A

“They’re not going to get it now,” Pitt said.

“But they still have the plans,” she said. “I saw them in the boat with Pablo.”

Pitt nodded. He had seen Bolcke and Pablo flee in the boat while he tried to save A

Dirk was already crossing the deck to an inflatable secured beneath a tarp. In minutes, he had it winched over the side and lowered into the water with Pitt and A

The canal curved past Gold Hill, a small bluff that marked the continental divide and its deepest area of excavation. Just beyond it, the canal straightened, and the Pedro Miguel Locks appeared two miles away. Bolcke and Pablo had already reached the lock and sailed into the north chamber, whose gates had been opened in preparation for the Salzburg.

Pablo docked the boat against the center island, which bisected the lock’s two chambers. He assisted a pair of canal workers in attaching fore and aft mooring lines to the crew boat before he jumped off. With Bolcke still aboard, the workers walked the boat to the far end of the chamber and tied it off, forgoing the tiny locomotives used to maneuver larger vessels.

Pablo strode toward the control house, a multistory white structure in the middle of the island that managed the water flow for the chambers.

A gruff transit supervisor with a clipboard met Pablo. “That’s no four-hundred-foot bulk carrier.”