Uninvited (Comet Clement series, #8) by George Kevin

Author:George, Kevin [George, Kevin]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2014-01-03T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Sitting in his command chair and surrounded by large monitors showing an exterior view of the seacraft, Admiral Walter Matthews concentrated on making sure they followed a clear path in the Colorado River. They encountered mostly smooth waters so far but the amount of debris in the river still made him nervous. Unfortunately, they weren’t in a position to move at slower, cautious speeds. The admiral expected waters to start receding into the oceans at any time, lowering the river’s water level and placing them in danger of running aground in a shallow area.

His remaining Navy Seal sat at computer system adjacent to the command platform, where he carefully studied the sonar, ready to change the craft’s course at the first sign of danger. Luckily, they ran across few complications so far, which allowed the admiral to worry about other matters of importance.

“Have you heard anything from the kid yet?” he asked.

The admiral was focused on the job at hand but he hadn’t ascended the Naval chain of command by failing to multi-task. And if there was one thing he learned during his years as a leader, he was only as powerful as the weakest link in his chain; right now, that link was an 18-year old kid patrolling the seacraft’s lower levels.

The Navy Seal with the walkie-talkie unclipped the handheld device from his belt.

“Not yet, sir,” the Seal said. “But he’s following your orders not to make contact unless there’s a problem. Now that everyone thinks we killed someone, I doubt any are foolish enough to start trouble. Do you want me to check on him just in case?”

Matthews had far too many important matters to start micro-managing, but kept reminding himself that Ben Coleman was just a kid and not a well-trained Navy Seal. The admiral didn’t expect trouble from the wealthy passengers held in the lower level—rich snobs love themselves too much to risk getting killed, he thought—but it still wouldn’t hurt to check on Coleman to make sure that—

Admiral Matthews thought he saw something on the screen just ahead but the water was murky and rough, silt and dirt swirling around, making it nearly impossible to see anything.

“What’s out there?” the admiral asked. “I thought I saw something a few hundred yards ahead.”

The man in control of the seacraft’s navigational system switched his monitor to display the camera view directly ahead, which showed the same image he’d seen all along: choppy, dirty water. He checked the sonar system and saw a minor change on that screen, though he was more concerned with the narrowing canyon walls than with debris scattered about.

“Sonar is picking up a small blip at about three-hundred yards, but I doubt it’s anything we need to be concerned with. Probably more debris; this river has been littered with it,” the Seal said. “What do you want me to do about contacting the kid, Admiral?”

“Leave him alone,” the admiral said, continuing to watch the screen directly in front of him, waiting for the water to calm long enough to figure out what it was he’d spotted.

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