Chapter 78 - Submergence Horizon
The *Caspian Ghost* was dying.
A massive surge of green water burst through the jammed bow doors, sweeping across the lower catwalk with the force of an avalanche. The heavy steel chains securing the exploration submersible snapped one by one with sounds like artillery fire.
Arthur screamed as a wall of freezing water hit us, tearing him from my grip. He scrambled frantically toward the open hatch of the three-man submarine, his fingers clawing at the non-skid coating of the hull.
"I'm not dying here!" he shrieked, kicking wildly behind him. "Clara is waiting in Vancouver! You won't stop us!"
He tumbled through the circular hatch of the submersible, his bloody hands hitting the mechanical emergency latch from the inside. The heavy titanium plug slammed shut with a definitive hydraulic seal.
"Commander!" Miller shouted from the upper gantry, leaning over the rail and firing his rifle at the submersible’s exterior release couplings. "The pod's engine just activated! He's launching himself out the wet-well doors!"
Through the thick acrylic viewport of the submersible, Arthur's face was visible—twisted in a manic, bloodied sneer. He raised his middle finger against the glass, believing the four-inch thick pressure hull made him invincible.
The submersible dropped into the churning pool, its twin electric thrusters spinning to life with a high-pitched whine. It rotated toward the massive opening where the Pacific Ocean raged against the dying ship, preparing to plunge into the deep underwater trench where no surface vessel could track it.
I didn't hesitate.
I slung my rifle across my chest, grabbed a heavy magnetic limpet mine from Miller's fallen tactical pack on the deck, and leaped off the catwalk directly onto the curving titanium spine of the fleeing submarine.
The freezing water slammed into me like a concrete wall. The impact knocked the wind from my lungs, the sheer velocity of the sub dragging me toward the roaring gap of the sea-doors. I dug the steel-toed cleats of my combat boots into the intake vents, fighting the immense drag of the current.
With one hand holding the emergency tow eyelet, I slammed the magnetic limpet mine directly against the submarine’s primary ballast blow-valve.
The magnetic clamp engaged with a sharp clank.
I set the manual fuse timer for forty-five seconds. Through the top viewing port, Arthur looked up. When he saw my face pressed against the glass, when he saw the blinking red LED on the demolition charge stuck to his hull, the sneer vanished from his face, replaced by a horror so absolute it rendered him frozen.
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I reached down, pulled the manual release lever for the external emergency beacon, and shoved off the submersible’s hull, kicking with everything I had back toward the interior gantry of the sinking ship.
***
