The Pouakai by Sperry David;

Author:Sperry, David; [Sperry, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: science fiction, Action & Adventure
ISBN: 9781925148398
Publisher: IFWG Publishing International
Published: 2014-08-21T14:00:00+00:00

8

After four days underwater, we approached Nanumea. Captain Baker had been extra cautious about losing our tail, so we’d sailed the wrong way for half a day before turning back southwest. Once we reached Nanumea, he had us sit still for six hours, listening for any other subs in the area. My patience with this cat-and-mouse game had worn thin. We had a job to do too.

We surfaced two hours before sunrise. The Captain hadn’t detected any other subs in the area, but he didn’t want to be on the surface during daylight either. He would drop us off, and then stay submerged until after sunset, when he’d send the inflatable to get us.

When we popped above the surface, we had a few minutes to check the web while the sailors got the inflatable ready. All over the world, mass die-offs of the Roc had sent people into a frenzy of both happiness and worry. The news sites had reached a fever pitch; one side screaming that the Rocs were dead while saner heads said it was too early to know, but they were drowned out by the near-hysteria of relief.

Cloud cover had prevented the satellites from taking any survey photos of Nanumea. The Captain would let us go ashore, but he’d only risk his inflatables in the early morning hours, since we couldn’t be sure if the Pouakai were here or not.

Colin brought his satellite phone with him, along with a laptop, so he could continue the email discussion with colleagues around the world. The five of us, plus two sailors, slid down the side of the sub in the pre-dawn darkness, and into the inflatable boat. I stumbled on the way down, almost ending up in the ocean. Without even a cup of coffee at this early hour, I really dragged.

“How can he see where we’re going?” Steve asked in a whisper, nodding toward the sailor steering the inflatable. I shrugged. Then the sailor put on a pair of night-vision goggles, and we started on our way.

A second inflatable was tied up to the sub too. I made out the shapes of more men on the deck of the sub, lowering gear into the boat.

“What’s up with that?” I asked Colin, while pointing at the other inflatable.

“The SEALs are coming too. For our protection,” he added, rolling his eyes.

“Baker’s idea?”

“Yep.”

The sea felt calm in the pre-dawn darkness, the island a black line in the faint starlight. A quiet rush of the sea as small swells broke on the reef. The sound got louder as we passed into the narrow cut in the reef and motored into the lagoon. We pulled up to the beach behind the village a few minutes later. Somewhere to the left, invisible in the darkness, lay the wreckage of my plane, probably now corroding away in the saltwater of the Pacific.

As soon as we got ourselves and our gear out of the inflatable, it pulled back into the lagoon, headed for the Ohio. The

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.