Weapon of Atlantis (30 page)

“Yeah, and then Price and Hammond will find a nice new career making license plates behind bars,” Jack joked.

“I was hoping the electric chair, but license plates are good too,” Javi grinned.

----- ----- ----- -----

Inside the control room of the Horizon…

“Sir, they’ve changed their direction. They’re now on a heading of two-four-zero degrees, speed fifty-three knots. Still ascending at a thousand feet per minute,” Agent Styles shouted loudly.

“Shit! They’ve killed Wexler,” Price blurted in rage.

Hammond nodded grimly.

“Ok, track their path. Inform the skipper. Spoon feed him vectors,” Price ordered.

“Aye aye, Sir,” Styles responded.

He flipped a switch and contacted the captain.

Price keyed the handheld mic.

“Horizon two, the spacecraft is now rogue. Stay on top of ‘em. We’ll be following in Horizon three,” he ordered. “Have your men standing by.”

“Yes Sir, we’re tracking them now: heading two-four-zero and fifty-three knots,” the pilot of the Mark-V chase vessel reported. “All stations armed and ready.”

Price tossed the mic on the table and glanced to Hammond.

“Now the fun begins,” he said, only half joking.

“I live for this shit,” Hammond shot back.

Both men bolted from the control room and headed topside. A minute later, the helicopter departed the deck of the massive container ship and sped west to intercept the spacecraft.

----- ----- ----- -----

Jack focused on the instruments inside the hologram while working the three-dimensional image of the spacecraft, maintaining his heading and ascent. Although he was getting the feel of piloting the vehicle, h
e still felt extreme anxiety and apprehension, causing him to make small mistakes. With each correction applied to his course, he overcorrected, requiring the need for further inputs. Back and forth, he steered the vehicle across his heading, struggling to maintain his selected course. Over time, the exercise was exhausting and frayed his nerves.

For the moment, he felt comfortable with their path. He wiped his brow once more and shook out his sweaty hands. After wiping them on his pant legs, he no
ticed his heading had drifted slightly. He reached in, gently clutched the 3-D image and made a slight correction to his course. Once again, he overcorrected, setting up another series of minor adjustments.

“Dammit, this thing is sensitive. I’m exhausted,” he said in frustration.

“Maybe I should give it a try,” Javi offered.

Jack shook
his head.

“That might have worked earlier, but we’re only a couple thousand feet from the surface. There’s just no time or room for you to learn at this point,” he replied.

“We should be on top in a couple of minutes. You’ll be able to rest at that point,” Javi said.

“And boy will I need it. I feel like I’ve ran a marathon,” he responded.

He added a bit of downward pressure to the digital image, causing the spacecraft to slow in its descent.

“Three hundred feet per minute,” Javi announced.

Jack nodded, his eyes darting to double-check his numbers. No sooner than he confirmed the data, Javi called out: “We’re descending again: one hundred feet per minute.”

“Dammit, this thing’s sensitive,” Jack blurted once again in frustration.

“You already said that,” Javi teased, using humor to relieve the tension.

Jack grinned but continued to focus. He lifted the digital image slightly, then studied the numbers once again.

“Four hundred feet per minute: good enough for now,” he said.

“A thousand feet till we surface. I’m starting to see light,” Javi reported.

Jack looked up through the overhead windows and smiled in relief. He glanced back down to the hologram, rechecked his numbers, then back up through the window once more.

“Ok, we definitely have light,” he said, a small smile of relief crossing his face.

Javi looked up and nodded, then considered their next action.

“How are you going to work the surface maneuver: fly up through it, then settle back down to the water; or slow dramatically, then float to the surface?”

Jack shook his head.

“Remember, this craft doesn’t care about buoyancy or aerodynamic lift. It’s strictly based on gravity,” Jack responded. “I’ll have to adjust the controls to exactly match the elevation of the water.”

Javi nodded in understanding.

“I guess I forgot about the gravity drive system. What a pain,” he responded.

“I’m sure there’s some autopilot function inside this database that allows you to follow contours of a body, but I’ll be darned if I know where it is,” Jack replied.

“If that’s the case, may
be we shouldn’t even
try
to ‘float’ on the surface. Either fly above it or below,” Javi recommended.

Jack thought about his statement. He smiled in realization.

“Good point. Why even try maintaining the surface. It means almost nothing to us at this point, other than a dividing line between seeing and not seeing. We might as well just ride above it,” he said.

“Probably a smoother ride anyway, if we don’t have to contend with waves,” Javi added.

“Ok, let’s shoot for fifty feet or so above the water. That should give me enough room to play with for overcorrecting,” he said.

Javi nodded. “Three hundred feet till the surface… about a minute or so
to go,” he announced.

Jack focused on the controls, keeping his hand steady, slowing their rate of ascent. The bright world above illuminated the interior of the cockpit, helping him to see more clearly. As they approached the surface, Javi called out their depth.

“Two hundred feet… one fifty… one hundred… fifty feet.”

Seconds later, they broke above the water and ascended into clear air. Both men breathed a sigh of relief.

“Yesss!” Jack shouted jubilantly.

“Great job, Jack,” Javi said, grinning ear to ear.

Jack moved the controls and quickly settled into their altitude.

“Looks like we’re about a hundred feet above the water,” he announced.

“Good enough for government work,” Javi joked, then said, “Now let’s get out of here. I think a westerly heading of two-seventy will get us into the Philippines.”

“I’m on it,” Jack replied.

Moving the digital image slightly, he steered toward the new heading. Suddenly, a thunderous blast rocked the spacecraft. It tumbled sideways, end over end, and descending from its altitude. Belted inside their seats, Jack and Javi were shaken violently as the vehicle rolled in the sky. Jack reached into the hologram and grabbed the 3-D image of the craft. Desperately, he fought the vehicle to an upright position.

“What the
hell
was that?” he yelled in frantic tone.

Javi searched outside the craft. His surprised expression suddenly changed to fear and all blood rushed from his face.

“It’s them. It’s Price and Hammond,” he shouted hysterically. “Get us out of here!”

“Price and Hammond? How the heck…”

Jack didn’t finish his statement. Again, another blast rocked the spacecraft, sending it tumbling through the sky once more.

----- ----- ----- -----

Inside the Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk helicopter…

“Hit ‘em again,” Price shouted into his mic.

“If they get away, we’re all finished,” Hammond added.

The crew of the Mark-V chase boat, trained their weapons on the sky above them. They watched the craft tumble through the air less than three hundred feet from their position. As their boat crashed through the waves, they locked their weapons on the spacecraft and began their attack.

Hundreds of rounds of fifty caliber bullets hurled through the air, several making contact, penetrating the spacecraft’s outer skin. Another missile was fired from the surface-to-surface rocket launcher. It streamed skyward and impacted the craft with a tremendous explosion.

Again, the spacecraft seemed to tumble helplessly in the sky.

“Stay on top of them,” Price shouted to the helicopter pilot. “If that craft goes down, we want to retrieve it if we can.”

“Aye aye, Sir,” the pilot responded.

In seconds, he increased his speed and maneuvered closer to the now wounded spacecraft. Staring out the windscreen of the helicopter, the crew watched the craft tumble into the water. It righted itself and began to stream along the top of the waves.

“I think the ship’s damaged. Hold your fire momentarily. Let’s see what they do,” Price shouted orders into his mic.

Hammond looked back to the rescue crew seated behind him.

“This could be it. Prepare for recovery,” he shouted over the engines.

Racing behind the spacecraft, the crew of the Mark-V chase boat rushed to within fifty feet of the ailing vehicle. At their close proximity, they would have little trouble hitting their mark.

“Horizon two, pull alongside
their port side. Signal them to stop,” Price ordered to the pilot of the chase boat.

Price signaled the helicopter pilot.

“Get close to their right side, just ahead of them. Try to slow their path,” he ordered.

In seconds, both craft converged.

----- ----- ----- -----

“We’re losing power,” Jack shouted. “The controls are really sluggish.”

Jack grasped the 3-D image and pulled hard up on it, hoping to gain elevation. The spacecraft lifted off the water slightly, skimming just over the tops of the waves. As he stared at the hologram, Javi tapped Jack on the shoulder and pointed.

“Look,” he shouted in frantic tone.

Jack looked to his left and spotted the chase boat. All weapons on the boat’s starboard side were train directly at them. Jack swallowed hard.

“What’re we going to do?” Javi bellowed, his fear now quickly rising out of control.

Up ahead, both men stared in shock as the Seahawk helicopter flew just in front of them.

“Jack, the
y want us to stop,” Javi shouted.

“Of course they do,”
he responded, now feeling rage inside. “But I got a better idea.”

He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out the satellite phone taken from Wexler. He smirked to Javi, then dialed.

“I knew this would come in handy,” he said, now listening intently to the ringing phone on the opposite end.

“Who’re you calling?” Javi asked, his voiced filled with desperation.

“An old friend,” Jack shot back.

A second later, the other line picked up:

“This is Inspector DiApopolus,” the familiar voice answered.

----- ----- ----- -----

Price and Hammond stared down through the windscreen and watched the actions of the spacecraft as the helicopter pilot swerved back and forth in front of its path. They looked to the side of the craft and watched the men of the chase boat make threatening gestures. Nothing seemed to alter the path of the fleeing vessel.

Turning to the pilot, Price said, “Break off a short distance. We’re going to resume the attack.”

The pilot nodded, then banked away. As he fell back behind the spacecraft, Price shouted new orders to the pilot of the chase boat.