Night Strike by Michael W Sherer

Author:Michael W Sherer [Sherer, Michael W]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cutter Press
Published: 2015-10-15T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 25

July 27—Bering Sea

Macready drained the rest of the bitter, black tea in his mug and carried it to the scullery in the mess. As strong as coffee, it did little to revive his senses. Lack of sleep and the stress of maintaining the charade he played took their toll. He scanned the mess, now serving first shift breakfast, but failed to spot Dudayev’s visage in the sea of faces. Sailors still jabbered excitedly about the early lifeboat drill, and their expressions mirrored their conversation. A far cry from the panic and fear Macready had witnessed earlier, especially among the youngest seamen, who’d been convinced the whistle and klaxon signals waking them meant the ship was sinking.

Noticeably absent, at least to Macready, were officers. The most senior of them had their own wardroom, but Macready would have expected more junior officers here at breakfast. The seamen seemed not to notice, or if they did were perhaps a little more boisterous because of it. Sailors aboard tightly run ships at sea took their work seriously, but on Russian vessels the mood was even more dour. The uncharacteristic scene in the mess told Macready these men were more on edge than a normal ship’s complement and needed to blow off some steam. The dearth of officers probably meant they had gathered with senior crew to evaluate the situation.

The ship’s command might chalk the fire up to an accident, but Macready had seen the concern etched on the officers’ faces, too, that morning. They had no more understood the “abandon ship” signal that had sent them all scrambling to muster stations than the sailors. They’d prepared and waited for the signal to launch life rafts when the captain had belatedly announced that the exercise was only a drill. Shortly after, the ship’s whistle and general alarm had sounded three short blasts, ending the drill and dismissing the crew.

The two incidents added up to a big problem, and Macready smelled trouble. Someone aboard had tripped two alarms, perhaps to create diversions or maybe even sabotage the ship. Bad for Macready because the captain would beef up security and the crew would be more watchful in general, making his job more difficult.

He worried about slipping up, using the wrong phrase due to his rusty Russian, or being asked some detail about his background that he couldn’t answer. Russians’ distrust of strangers worked for and against him; no one faulted him for his antisocial behavior, but he was being watched. Not being careful enough had almost been enough to get him caught a few hours earlier rifling through Dudayev’s files. He couldn’t afford another mistake like that. Dudayev had nothing to do with Macready’s mission, anyway. Macready just felt there was something off about the man.

The ship’s bell struck seven, which meant Macready had an hour before his next duty watch. Men poured into the mess for second shift, and stragglers from the early shift stuffed remaining bites of food in their mouths and hurried out. Macready joined the thin stream swimming against the tide and shoved his way out into the corridor.

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