Chapter thirty-six
Day 35
Middle of the ocean, off the coast of California
Wolf, who was harnessed and tethered and standing in the open cargo door, watched hisjavaaneehand and ankle cuff the last of their five captives.
“Come on dude, step it up. You’re taking forever down there,” Simcosky said into the comm as Aiden staggered across the rocking deck. “We don’t have all fucking day.”
“No?” Aiden stopped moving long enough to flash Cosky another finger. “You late for date night? I’m sure Kait can find someone else to feed her.”
It was odd how the pair showed their kinship with insults and fuck you fingers.
“Guess we’re about to find out how motherfucking lucky we are,” Mackenzie muttered, leaning out the open cargo door without a safety harness or tether.
While he had hold of the corner of the door, a strong gust of wind could rip him out of the chopper and drop him into the ocean. Before Wolf could order theumbretanto harness up, Simcosky stepped in and lit into his former commander.
“What the hell, Mac,” Cosky said, turning his attention and sarcasm toward Mackenzie. “Are you taunting lady luck? One good gust of wind and you’ll be swimming. And while we don’t know whether that damn boat is infected, we do know the ocean around here is.”
“How about this? You worry about your own ass and I’ll worry about mine.”
Simcosky responded with a salute and a sarcastic, “Sure thing. Who am I to stop you from testing your immunity to the fucking nanobots?”
The taunt wasn’t inaccurate. While they didn’t know whether the surface water was contaminated, there was a good chance the water at the bottom of the ocean, particularly where the Harbinger rested, was crawling with the bots. While The Bountiful Harvest was some twenty nautical klicks from the Harbinger’s grave site, that didn’t mean the water was safe here. The ocean currents could have carried the nanobots in this direction and swirled them up to the surface.
The Shadow Mountain labs were working on a way to sample the water around the Harbinger’s grave without putting anyone in danger, but they hadn’t perfected the process yet. Until they did, the safest approach was to avoid the water.
Wolf grimaced, his mind flashing to the gallons of spray that had hit hisjavaaneeafter he’d climbed down from thewheelhouse roof. And what about the Bountiful Harvest crew? They were soaked as well. Even if an empty hold proved they hadn’t handled any fish, they could have picked up some bots from the ocean spray.
What in shadow’s name were they supposed to do with the crew now?
He had to assume the crew was infected until their behavior proved otherwise. Which meant he—or rather Aiden—had to babysit the crew long enough for the bots to seize their brains, and their behavior to change...if they were infected.
And this babysitting detail would include Mackenzie if thewoohantafell into the water.
“If you fall overboard, we will not haul you back up and risk infecting others.” Wolf issued the warning in a mild voice.
“What he means,” Cosky jumped in helpfully, “is you’ll be sleeping with the fishes. Permanently.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Mackenzie snarled, but he withdrew several steps to a safer position. “You boys are a bunch of lily-assed panty twisters.”
Wolf turned his attention back to hisjavaanee, who was finally attaching the cable to the O-ring on the hold’s hatch.
“Jesus Christ.” Mackenzie muttered. “Could he go any slower?”
Aiden straightened and stepped back. Lifting his arm, he gave a whirlybird gesture. The winch started to whine and the cable rose. Wolf waited until the hatch was standing halfway up before lifting and closing his fist. The winch’s whine stopped. The hold’s door shuddered, caught between the wind and the cable.
The position of the hatch blocked his view of the boat’s refrigerated hold. Judging by the grumbles that broke through the comm, it blocked everyone else’s view too. Aiden wasn’t helping, he just stood off to the side, staring into the hold like it held the mysteries of the universe.
“The fuckers playing with us,” Cosky snarled.
The tension in Wolf evaporated. Simcosky was right, which meant the hold was empty. There would be no taunting if the hold were full. A full hold represented too many desperate decisions.
“Alright asshole, you’ve made your point,” O’Neill chimed in. “What are we looking at?”
Aiden looked up, targeting the cargo door with a thumbs up. “It’s empty.”
As Wolf had expected. However, nobody was going to like his next decision. “We are not in the clear. You are soaked...so is the Harvest’s crew. If the water carries bots...” Through the binoculars, Wolf watched darkness spread across Aiden’s face as understanding dawned.
