Gideon's War / Hard Target

Gideon nodded.

Kate wiped the slate clean, then wrote: I’LL GO LEFT. YOU GO RIGHT. LOOK FOR DET WIRES COMING OUT OF THE CONDUIT.

Gideon gave her a thumbs-up.

They began swimming away from each other. Within seconds she had disappeared in the blackness. Gideon moved forward, looking for the point where the cradle co

“Big Al,” Kate said. “How’s that steel plate coming?”

“Do

“Good. And the welding equipment?”

“We’re rigging it right now. The welder’s almost ready to drop.”

The beam of Gideon’s headlamp swept back and forth across the surface of the cradle. There seemed to be nothing there but algae. No bombs, no wires, no mines, no explosives.

“We’re both on the cradle now.” Kate continued to talk conversationally, maintaining the pretense that they were there strictly to weld the steel plate onto a weak section of the damper cradle. “You can lower the welding equipment now.”

“Negative,” Big Al said. “Timken wants me to send down his man first.”

“The sooner we get the equipment, the sooner we can fix the rig,” Kate said.

“Don’t fuck with me.” Timken’s loud voice cut into their headsets. “I’m not letting you mess around down there without someone keeping an eye on you.”

Gideon saw a big black shape looming in front of him. The first pier. He examined the joint carefully. A massive steel collar surrounded the concrete pier. A set of twelve bolts, each one the size of his wrist, secured the collar to the rim of the cradle. He carefully examined the entire joint but found no wires, no explosives, no bomb.

“I’ve got no apparent damage on this joint,” Gideon said, hoping Kate would understand what he meant.

“This one looks clear, too,” Kate said.

“Comm test,” a fourth voice said. “This is Chun, do you copy?”

“Check,” Big Al said. There was a brief pause, then Big Al’s voice came back on the intercom. “Diver0emÑ€† away.”

Gideon was following the rim of the cradle, doing his best to hurry and find the charges before Chun arrived at depth. But it was slow going. The algae was slippery, and the waves above them were so big that they caused the current to speed up and slow down even at this depth, making the already slick footing even more unpredictable.

Kate and Gideon reached the third pier at almost exactly the same time. Kate pointed at the big row of bolts and brought her fingers together, indicating they should meet in the middle. They slowly worked their way across the joint.

When they reached each other, Gideon shook his head and shrugged.

“Dammit,” Kate said.

“What’s the problem?” Timken said.

“We’re scraping off algae to clean up for the weld,” Gideon said. “I hit her with a tool.”

Gideon searched the area. Something Kate said had triggered a memory. Scraping algae. He had noticed that a bunch of algae had been recently disturbed on the first pier. He motioned to Kate to follow him, and they moved back to the other pier as rapidly as they could.

“Okay,” Big Al said. “Chun, you should be at depth soon.”

“I don’t see anything,” Chun said.

Kate and Gideon knew that Chun had been pushed by the current and would have to swim to reach the cradle. But they weren’t going to say anything. They needed as much time by themselves as possible.

The first pier loomed above them again. This time he noticed that algae on the near side had been scraped off in several places, as though a diver had kicked it off with his feet while working on something around the back side of the pier. Gideon swam around to the rear side of the pier, where he found what he’d been looking for. A bundle of white wires was secured along the pier, continuing down the side until it disappeared into the darkness.

Kate made a face as she wrote on her slate. I WAS WRONG. THEY PLACED CHARGES WHERE BRACE ATTACHES TO PIER, NOT WHERE BRACE HITS CRADLE.

Gideon wrote back. HOW FAR DOWN?

ANOTHER THIRTY METERS.

BUT TIMKEN KNOWS OUR DEPTH, Gideon scribbled. IF WE GO DEEPER . . .

Gideon shook his head. It was incredibly frustrating not being able to talk. But they were obviously thinking the same thing. Because Tim-ken knew exactly where the explosives were rigged—thirty meters farther down—he hadn’t worried about sending them to this depth. Ninety feet deeper—that was too far to fudge by saying they needed a little more slack in the umbilical. There was no way to reach the bomb without alerting Timken. Another thirty meters and the air mix would start to become an issue. At that depth they’d start getting narced—feeling drunk from nitrogen narcosis. Gideon also realized that placing the charges had been far more complicated than he and Kate had assumed. Timken must have subcontracted a separate dive team in a submersible well before the rig was seized—which would also explain why there were no divers among Timken’s men.

“How are we doing with the welding equipment?” wiÑ€†Kate said.

“I’m rigging it right now,” Big Al said. “And the plate’s cut. Soon as the welder reaches the cradle, we’ll send down the steel.”

“Copy that,” Kate said. Her voice sounded confident and in control, in stark contrast to the panic on her face. And the panic became even more acute when Gideon pointed to the dark shape resolving out of the murk. Chun was coming toward them.

Kate wiped her slate clean with her gloved hand and started to swim back around the pier toward the cradle. Gideon followed. By the time Chun reached the cradle, they were busy scraping algae off the area where Kate pla

“I’m with them, sir,” Chun said.

“What are they doing?” Timken’s said.

“Scraping green shit off the cradle.”

“Feel free to help,” Kate said, looking at Chun.

“I told you to keep your distance, Chun,” Timken said. “Just observe. I don’t want any accidents happening to you.”

Chun moved backward a few feet, crossed his arms, and stood there on the cradle, swaying slightly in the current.

“All right, guys, the welder’s coming down,” Big Al said. “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, it’s swinging like a sumbitch in this wind. It’s— Watch out!”

No sooner had Big Al begun to shout when Kate flew upward, yanked by her umbilical. She stopped suddenly after shooting upward a good twenty-five feet—almost to the level of the wave troughs.

“Kate? Are you all right?” Big Al said, the concern in his voice quickly becoming panic when she didn’t answer. “The welder snagged Kate’s line.” Big Al repeated, “Kate!”

Still no answer.

Gideon could barely see her in the dark, turbulent water. He twisted the valve on his buoyancy control and began swimming up toward her. As he rose, she continued drifting laterally. She was motionless, her arms floating. Somehow her rapid ascent had caused her to lose consciousness.

“What’s going on down there, Chun?” Timken shouted.

“Something snagged her,” Chun said.

“I’m cutting the line,” Big Al said.

Gideon's War and Hard Target

Gideon was swimming toward Kate. Again her body jerked...

Now Kate was sinking—drifting sideways and sinking. Gideon saw that not only had her umbilical snapped, but a gash had appeared in the bladder of her buoyancy control device. The BC worked by inflating or deflating the bladder with the air hose, depending on whether you wanted to float uhatÑ€†p or sink down. But her weighted belt was now pulling her downward. If she didn’t regain consciousness, she’d sink slowly to the bottom, six hundred feet below. Her helmet contained valves to keep it from venting all the air in the event of a hose failure, so she wouldn’t drown immediately. But eventually the oxygen would give out and she’d suffocate. Gideon immediately vented his own BC and began swimming down after her as fast as he could.