Red Heat by Bruhns Nina

Author:Bruhns, Nina [Bruhns, Nina]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: suspense
Publisher: Berkley
Published: 2011-04-20T05:00:00+00:00

17

Nikolai didn’t have to turn; he felt the exact moment when Julie ducked into the torpedo room. The atmosphere changed. Became more charged with electricity. The air itself suddenly smelled different, the distinctive odor of diesel petrol, amines, and fuel oil at once tempered by a subtle hint of her perfume . . . though that part was possibly his imagination. His need for her may be messing with his mind.

So he didn’t turn. No use wrecking his concentration even further. While the rest of the crew secured the boat to get under way again, Nikolai and Clint Walker were in the midst of putting together a rude surprise for their Chinese stalkers.

“UUV system checks completed, Skipper,” Walker reported. “All systems go and ready to launch anytime you give the word.”

Nikolai had requested Walker’s help on this little off-book adventure. The man had reacted to his initial explanation first with hiked brows, then with a slow grin. Apparently at heart they were cut from the same cloth. Troublemakers to the core.

They’d been collaborating with Master Chief Edwards on sonar, the three of them speaking in rapid English so none of Nikolai’s crew would be involved if he was called on the carpet by his superiors. Not that he saw that as a real possibility. He seriously doubted the Chinese commander would lodge a complaint. Oh, wait. The 093 Shang class wasn’t even here in the Pacific. No problem, then, right?

“Excellent,” Nikolai responded. “Now all we need is to figure out what to blast her with.”

Back at the bulkhead there was a soft gasp and he heard Julie’s footsteps hurry toward them. “You are surely not planning to shoot at the Chinese sub, are you?” She sounded aghast.

Nikolai finally turned to face her. Her reluctance to be there, to meet his eyes, was also apparent. He wondered idly why she’d come. Obviously she hadn’t expected to see him.

“Submarines don’t shoot,” he corrected. “We use torpedoes.”

When Walker realized Nikolai was talking to someone else, he turned in his console chair and lifted his headset from his ears. “Here to watch the fun, Miz Severin?” he drawled.

“What are you two up to?” she asked, radiating suspicion, especially when neither of them looked the least bit guilty.

“No good, of course,” Nikolai answered, and Walker gave a low, villainous chuckle.

She scanned the room, taking in the console all lit up and two weps—weapons—techs manning the tubes where the torpedo-shaped UUVs sat recharging their batteries. It had taken a good forty-five minutes to hurriedly offload the morning’s science samples from one of them and ready it for another sortie after the last research run. But the delay didn’t matter. The activity topside was now finished and the scientists had hauled the last of their equipment back inside. Ostrov was ready to fire up as soon as Nikolai and Walker’s mission of mischief had been implemented.

He just hoped the 093 would get the message and take off to harass some other unlucky sub commander. He had enough to deal with from all the other shit raining down on him at the moment.

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