Dane Maddock Origins 03 Splashdown by David Wood; Rick Chesler

Author:David Wood; Rick Chesler [Chesler, David Wood; Rick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Action & Adventure, Pulp, Thrillers, Mystery And Suspense Fiction, Military
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Gryphonwood Press
Published: 2014-04-13T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Dane roved around a tall stalk-like life form growing out of the bottom and lined up his compass course toward the capsule.

“Streib said something about the Russians,” Dane said.

“Look, Maddock, I’m not sure yet, okay? It was only there for a second, and up a few thousand feet higher, too. I’m trying to remember all those signatures they showed us in training…” Bones rubbed his temples as if to coax the memories to the forefront of his mind. “It could have been a giant sea creature, an oarfish, maybe?” he hoped aloud.

“Don’t worry about it for now. Whatever it was, you said it’s up higher. I’ll boost our speed a little so we get there faster. Let’s do this thing.” Dane put the submersible’s thrusters on high and their craft accelerated over the deep mud flats.

Bones kept his eyes glued to the sonar monitor while they traversed the distance to the spacecraft, but the next thing to show up on his display was Liberty Bell 7.

“Capsule up ahead on the right,” seventy-five yards,” Bones said.

Soon they saw the looming form of the space capsule. Dane and Bones kept a sharp eye out for ROVs but for the moment, at least, they were alone.

“You know the drill,” Dane said. Bones began testing the manipulator arm he would use to grab the nuclear bomb while Dane maneuvered the sub next to the tilted capsule.

“It’s all good, ready when you are,” he said, flexing his fingers in preparation for the precision movements he would need to perform.

“Copy that, moving in.” Dane repeated the maneuvering he’d done on their first trip to the capsule, and in a few minutes he had the sub hovering once again over Liberty Bell 7’s open hatch.

Bones aimed the external spotlight into the sunken space relic, probing for the bomb. The sub lurched and they almost knocked into the capsule, but Dane corrected for the movement with a quick burst of reverse thrust.

Bones looked his way. “What’s up?”

“Sorry, got caught in some kind of downwelling. Weird. It’s been totally calm down here until now.”

Bones turned back to the window, peering inside the capsule. For one heart-stopping moment he thought the nuclear device was no longer there, but then he spotted the cylindrical form.

“There it is! It’s to our lower left.” He pointed. “I’ll need to come in from higher and to the right.”

Dane positioned the craft accordingly and Bones aimed his light again.

“Better?”

“Good as it gets,” Bones said, already priming the grab arm. “I’m going in.”

Dane kept his hands poised and ready over the sub’s controls, giving brief bursts of thrust every few seconds in order to maintain position.

They heard the mechanical whirring of the specially outfitted manipulator arm as Bones extended it into the downed spaceship. Dane could hear the Cherokee SEAL mumbling unintelligibly as he concentrated on dropping the claws around their prize. Then he heard Bones curse, mumble some more, followed by, “Got it! Do not move the sub!”

Dane complied while Bones withdrew the arm until the nuke was clutched in front of the open hatch.

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