40

MITCH STOOD IN FRONT OF EILEEN, A HAMMER IN ONE HAND AND A PAIR of wirecutters in the other. In two minutes, he could turn her into a worthless hunk of metal. If he cut the right wires and smashed the camera lenses and key circuitry, the ROV would be nothing but scrap.

No one would stop him. He and Ed had been tinkering with Eileen off and on the entire trip, so the North Koreans wouldn’t think twice if they saw him “working” on her now. Once he was done, it would be impossible to retrieve missiles—or anything else—from the sea floor.

What would the North Koreans do when they found out? And almost as frightening, what would Ed do?

“What’s on your mind, Mitch?”

Mitch turned and saw Ed, a coffee mug in his hand and a suspicious look on his face.

“I was just wondering what we’re gonna do now.”

“And you were thinking of trashing Eileen.”

Mitch shrugged and looked past Ed’s shoulder. “I—”

“Don’t worry about it. I was thinking the same thing.” Mitch blinked. “You were?”

“Yeah, but—” He patted the ROV. “I’ve got a soft spot for hard women.”

“I know. I met your ex-wife.”

Ed relaxed and his face split into a gargoyle grin. “I remember. She thought you were cute. Should’ve known right then that she was a nut job.”

“You should’ve known that when she said she’d marry you.”

Ed barked a laugh and punched Mitch in the shoulder. “Seriously, don’t talk about scrapping Eileen. At least not in front of her.”

Mitch wasn’t sure whether that was a joke, so he changed the subject. “So, what are you thinking we should do?”

Ed scratched his stubbly jaw. “Here’s the thing: let’s say Eileen had a cable break underwater or something. What are we after she’s gone?”

“Uh, an ROV pilot and co-pilot without an ROV?”

Ed nodded. “And that’s just a long way of saying ‘dead weight,’ isn’t it? You know what else we are? Witnesses.”

A chill went through Mitch. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

“I kinda guessed.”

“Would it be so, you know, awful if they just got the missiles or whatever it is they want from down there? I mean, North Korea already has nukes, right?”

“Yeah, but not in America.”

“Couldn’t they just put one on a missile?”

“You don’t read the news much, do you?”

Mitch’s face got hot. “Not as much as you, but—”

“Two things. One, they haven’t been able to build a missile that’s anywhere near able to get across the Pacific, and they’ve been trying for years. Two, we’ve got all sorts of defenses in Hawaii in case they ever manage to build a decent rocket.”

“Okay, so—”

“And here’s the other thing: let’s say they manage to shoot a missile at America and it gets past Hawaii and blows up L.A. or something, what happens then?”

“Um, there’s a war?”

“Yeah, for as long as it takes for our missiles to reach North Korea. Then there’s a big, glassy crater where their country used to be.”

Mitch pondered that for a moment. “Okay, so if they’ve already got nukes and they don’t want to blow up L.A., why are we out here?”

Ed nodded and glanced over one of his lumpy shoulders, as if he felt eyes on his back. “Yeah, I was wondering the same thing. Here’s what I think: firing a missile starts a war, which they lose. But things might turn out different if they just happened to know of a couple bombs already hidden in the U.S.—not that they planted them or anything, but they know who did. They know some terrorists who know some terrorists who managed to get some bombs into the country. Something like that. And if America does them a favor or two, they’ll let Washington know where the bombs are. Maybe they even have a bomb go off first to get the country’s attention, so the U.S. will be willing to do pretty much anything to keep another one from going off.”

“Oh.” Mitch thought through Ed’s theory. It made sense. Too much sense. Then a new fear hit him. His stomach muscles suddenly tightened and the hairs on the back of his neck went up. “That plan doesn’t work so well if we’re still around, does it?”

Ed shook his head and took a swig of his coffee.

The cold realization sank into the pit of Mitch’s stomach. They weren’t just in danger once they stopped being necessary for the ROV. They were dead men walking. “So why not just wreck Eileen and at least keep them from getting the bombs? We’re dead either way.”

Ed’s eyebrows went up, making his narrow forehead nearly vanish. “Don’t be so sure about that.”

A spark of hope lit in Mitch’s chest. “Really? Why not?”

“If we can get a call out to the Navy, they can save our behinds and take care of our Korean friends.”

“But how do we make a call? They’ve got people in the radio room 24/7, and we don’t have an excuse to go in there.”

“We don’t.” Ed drained his mug. “But an officer does. I’ve seen Jenkins head up there every couple of days. I’ll bet he’s making regular reports to the company.”

“But if one of the North Koreans is always in there with him—”

“Let’s say there was a disturbance while Jenkins was in there—a fire or a fight right outside the door. I’m thinking there’s a good chance the Korean would leave, at least for a minute.”

Mitch felt like laughing with relief. “You know, that could work!”

Ed grinned. “Yeah, I do know—that’s why I suggested it. We’ll talk to Jenkins tonight.”