Renewed by Claudia Silva

Author:Claudia Silva [Silva, Claudia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

18

HENSON, MICHAEL

V0314

Ref. 06052071

* * *

The next time they took me up to the flight deck, they didn’t load me onto the familiar wire mesh platform. Instead, they took me to a helicopter. The colonel was waiting for me there—a lit cigar in his mouth.

“Easy mission, soldier,” he shouted over the whirring blades. One of his men held a map in front of my snout. The colonel pointed to a spot in the ocean which meant little to me. “We’ll drop you here. You are to find a sunken plane—a Japanese aircraft that was shot down during World War II. It was an experimental machine of some sort. I need you to take pictures.”

Before I could reply, a sailor showed me a clunky camera. “Take as many pictures as you can from every angle. Clear?”

Part of me wanted to refuse the mission. To tell him I would never follow his orders again. That I’d rather die than commit another heinous act like the one he’d tricked me into days before. But this mission sounded simple enough, and if Archie’s note was true and someone was coming for me, it would surely be easier if I weren’t locked in a room on a US Navy aircraft carrier. I was almost as eager to discover who my rescuer was as to be rescued. So I simply replied, “Yes, sir.”

Four men loaded me into the helicopter and fastened me as well as they could. The flight was longer than when they flew me from land to the aircraft carrier. It made me wonder about helicopters and their travel range. Something else I wish I could research. If only they’d allow me to use a computer or even read books. I was a scientist, and I wasn’t sure whether I missed my freedom or using my brain more. The list of unanswered questions in my mind kept growing.

The helicopter began its descent. It flew closer to the ocean surface, making the water below ripple out in concentric circles. With the noise of the rotating blades, I couldn’t hear what the guards were saying.

When the pilot gave a hand signal, the men sprang into action, unbuckling me and lifting one end of the stretcher.

I started to slide and panicked. “No, wait!” I yelled trying to grab onto something.

Too late.

I shifted to a diving position to protect my head from the impact as I entered the water. I emerged right below the helicopter. Then they threw something down.

The camera floated down with a parachute. Did they not have a parachute to lower me down? I could have broken my neck or died on impact! What would the colonel do then without his pet shark man to do his evil deeds?

I swam to the camera, unhooked it from its little parachute, and descended into the deep. The camera’s integrated light illuminated my way.

I soon saw the outline of an airplane. Looking closer, I saw its tail was missing. Sea life and rust had covered the plane. I reached

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.