LEVIATHAN

“Is … the captain … going to die?” the small child asked with tears forming in her eyes.

Jack knew it would do no good to lie to the child. “Yes—but she … and we … are grateful for your help. What is your name?” he asked.

“Natika,” she said, as she placed a small hand on Heirthall’s cheek. “And she is our captain.” It was as if it were that simple. Heirthall was the captain, and it could be no other way. Jack knew that, to the children, there was no other authority in the world.

Everett managed to get the hatch open, and the cold wind entered the tower. The small girl turned away, and the others followed her.

“Hey, hey,” Jack said as he stopped her and the others. “You have to come with us.”

The girl just shook her head. “We have others we have to bring out. The crew are trapped in their quarters—they will die soon. My friends are also in the mess compartment. We must help them.”

“Colonel, you have to get me to the command bridge,” Heirthall said, still held between Virginia and Alice.

“They can’t launch without the codes, right?” Lee asked.

“They can … get the … codes through … other means.”

“This job sucks,” Mendenhall said, voicing the same opinion that he had on many an occasion.

Collins made a quick decision. “Will, you and Jason go with the girl. Do what you can to free whatever crew is still alive, and be careful,” he said, taking two of the weapons from the downed security men and tossing each one to the lieutenants.

Natika seemed to like the suggestion; her smile widened. She stepped up to Mendenhall and took him by the hand.

“I guess we’re in your girlfriend’s hands,” Ryan quipped as he joined Mendenhall and the children.

“Funny man,” Will said as they left the sail and disappeared through the hatch leading down.

Jack reached for the other fallen weapons. Everett, who joined him, immediately tossed the automatic rifles to Robbins, Lee, Compton, Farbeaux, and finally Sarah, who shook her head, knowing what Jack was going to say.

“Mr. Everett, I assume the captain has a way of stopping any missile launch from Leviathan. Take her with you and find a way into that control center. Get it done.” He pulled back the charging handle of the weapon, chambering a round. “Get it done.”

“And you?” Everett asked as Sarah stepped up to Jack, shaking her head.

“I’m taking a different route.”

Jack placed his right hand on Sarah’s cheek and smiled. “Don’t worry, Short Stuff, I have an extreme desire to live. I have plans beyond today.”

Sarah was about to speak when Collins turned and went into the elevator. The doors closed and he was gone. Everett quickly stepped up and eased Alexandria from the grasp of Virginia and Alice.

“Captain, shall we try and help?” Everett asked Heirthall when he saw her blue eyes open and alert.

“By all means … Captain Everett.”

“I’m not leaving without my friend,” Virginia said, then helped Carl with Alexandria’s weight.

Yeoman Alvera sat on the edge of the captain’s bed. Her hand played over the coarse blanket as she watched two of Tyler’s men cutting into the captain’s safe. As the front of the steel safe popped free of its hinges, she stood and walked to the bulkhead. She eyed the two men until they moved away, and then she reached in and took out the safe’s contents. She tossed papers on the deck until she came to a plastic-coated envelope. She snapped the plastic into two pieces, then looked at the thick paper inside.

“NX0021-001 Heirthall-one,” she said, reading the launch codes aloud.

Alvera smiled.

Ryan and Mendenhall followed Natika toward deck five and the crew level. Ryan looked at Will as the girl started acting strangely. She placed her hands on each hatch as they passed them. She would slowly, sadly shake her head, with tears in her eyes.

“What is it?” Mendenhall asked, leaning down in front of her to bring him to eye level.

“They are all dead. They died scared—frightened at not knowing what was happening to them.”

The girl started again, passing the first, then the second, until she came to the third compartment. She stopped and her small hand wavered, then it moved higher, then lower.

“Alive,” she said, closing her eyes. “Ten—twenty—maybe forty crew—they are cold, scared—they want out.”

Ryan quickly looked at the large spot welds on the hatch wheel and the four on the hatch and frame. Then he turned to look for something, anything, to break the welds.

“Damn it, we need a cutting torch,” Mendenhall said, looking behind him, expecting Tyler’s men at any minute.

Ryan spied something on the composite hull—a fire hose and ax in their case. He ran, smashed the glass, and removed the heavy ax.

“You any good at chopping wood?” he asked Will.

“Man, I’m from L.A., I—”

“Forget it. Stand back,” Ryan said as he raised the ax and swung at the weld holding the center wheel in the middle of the hatch.

The blade struck, making an unbearably loud ping. Then he swung again, and then again. Natika was holding her hands to her ears as protection from the loud noise. Finally, on the fourth swing, the makeshift spot weld gave way.

“Turn it, Will. I’ll start on the hatch welds.”

Mendenhall cranked on the wheel. It refused to turn at first, then slowly spun in his hands.

“Got it,” he cried.

Ryan didn’t hear. He swung at the right side of the hatch and the first weld broke free. A small trickle of water started oozing out along the seal. After breaking the second and third welds, more water started squeezing between the steel and the rubber gasket as the pressure from within started to push the water out. Ryan moved Mendenhall and Natika to the safe side of the hatch, and was just raising the ax for the last weld when they were surprised.

Two men stood standing at the juncture of the companionway, pointing weapons at them. They stepped forward, coming within three feet. Will pulled Natika in toward him and stepped next to Ryan as Mendenhall, with his free hand, raised his weapon.

The two men raised their weapons. Ryan was about to throw the ax when suddenly, and without warning, the last weld broke free. The hatch gave way as the single weld was no longer strong enough to hold back the pressure of the water inside. The hatch sprang so hard and so suddenly that the two guards never knew what hit them. Their bodies were smashed as the hatch crashed into them. Water cascaded from the compartment, along with bodies, live men and women, and the detritus of the personal lives that once sat in lockers and upon tables.

Ryan, Mendenhall, and Natika were washed thirty-five feet down the companionway before the flood subsided.

Several of the crew sputtered and spat. The survivors were half-frozen, but grateful to be alive and free. They splashed through the water and looked around confusedly, helping those who were worse off than others.

“Well, they’re not much, but that’s the army we have to work with,” Ryan said as he tossed the ax in the water. “Not much of a cavalry coming to the rescue, but we do what we can.”

With that, they started explaining to the rescued crewmen what was happening, and where their captain was.

The second and deciding battle for Leviathan was about to start.