Fuel lines. Valves. She stared at them. She had no timefor any real plan other than to cause chaos and disrupt this operation. Simply turning off the engine wasn’t good enough. She had to make this vessel inoperable for the foreseeable future.
Aha.
The engine cooling system. She turned all the valves that circulated coolant completely off. That was a start. It would overheat and seize up. But before that happened, she had time to do some other damage. Across the space, she spotted the main electrical panel and rushed over. Pulled breakers out. Toggled switches. Used a lug wrench from the toolbox to the right and tossed it into the box. Sparks flew and lights flickered. Shouts erupted.
Alarms sounded. Steam rose.
Cressida pulled the hose from the cooling system out, praying she didn’t get burned or electrocuted. A main lever labeled “Emergency Stop” called to her. Cressida rushed forward and pulled it down—this was the main kill switch, but she’d disabled enough that turning the operation back on wouldn’t be easily done.
The rhythm and thrum of the engines slowed ... lights blinked on and off, and the machinery powered down.
Then the lights went out completely.
In the dark, she stood still and listened to the panicked engine room crew. Exhausted and pumped with adrenaline, she swiped the salty sweat from her stinging eyes. Flashlights came on in the engine room, including hers. She raced to the exit. And just as she almost cleared it, big, strong hands grabbed her, and she shined her light up into an angry, sweaty face.
42
“Status on the comms?” Braden had made it to the main communication bay and camera-control hub to disable the cameras and onboard comms while Hawk had distracted with his drone.
Suddenly the lights went out completely, leaving him in utter darkness—above deck and below. Everything came to a stop. Chains clanked outside as even lifting the ROV had halted.
He froze and remained quiet long enough to determine he was still alone. What just happened? “Who did that?” He spoke through his ear mic. “Was that you, Cole? Because it wasn’t me.”
“Negative,” Cole said.
They’d had a short discussion about using code names, but Diggins got confused, so they ditched that idea. But who cared? Braden had nothing to hide from these jerks.
The plan was, while Hawk used the drone to distract, Diggins would plant explosives to sink the vessel if necessary—sure enough, he’d found them—and Cole would assist Braden in shutting down the rig. Braden had wantedto go in and get Cressida first, but with the crew already extracting radioactive materials, there was no time to find her first.
“Never mind who,” Hawk said. “Just go with it.”
“Heard them grumbling ... there’s an unknown in the engine room,” Diggins said.
Cressida?“I’m going in for her.”
Flicking his headlamp on, he maneuvered out of the comms room. He’d completed his task, and even if the power came back on, the crew wouldn’t be able to see them via cameras or communicate via their radios or intersystem comms.
A guard clomped toward him, his high beams blinding. Braden pressed forward and slammed his fist into the man who had looked like he planned to take Braden down first. But Braden had knocked him out cold. He tugged off the man’s outerwear and donned his cap, then secured his wrists and ankles in zip ties. He relieved the man of his Glock 19 and his Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun—now he blended in and looked like he was part of the security. Snatching his radio, walkie-talkie, and earpiece—just in case the comms were brought back online—Braden was ready to go.
The ties would slow the man down but probably not stop him.
Braden crept forward in the hall—dimly lit by emergency power that had come on—and continued to the lower deck and engine room, where he hoped to find Cressida. She might have found her way out of the engine room by now, if she was the one to cause the issue. Braden hoped and yet struggled to believe Cressida could have shut the vessel down. Then again, her father might have shared stories with her about disabling enemy vessels. Cressida was one of the smartest people Braden had ever met.
She could do it. He might be putting too much hope in this ending well, but hope was all he had, and he wasn’t letting go.
Finally on the lower deck and near the stern, Braden suspected the heavy bulkhead to the engine room would be at the end of the hall around the corner. He braced for facing off with another security guard or an engineer or any other crew members that would be present to restore power. He slowly peered around the corner.
Cressida stood over a man on the floor, who shook in pain.
She held a stun gun.
Despite the danger, he couldn’t help the smile spreading across his face as he stepped out from the side hall and strode toward her. Cressida Valentine Dane was amazing.
Eyes wide, she stared at him as if shocked to see him, then her eyes brightened. She raced to him. Jumped in his arms. He caught her. He hadn’t expected her reaction, but he welcomed it. She eased away from him and lifted her chin, and for a moment he thought she might just kiss him—but another time. Maybe they’d get their chance on the other side of this.
“I thought you needed my help,” he said.
“I do.”
