Текст книги "Poseidon's Arrow"

Автор книги: Clive Cussler

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Текущая страница: 26 (всего у книги 29 страниц)

72

THE TWO SHIPS HAD ENTERED THE GAILLARD CUT, the canal’s most dangerous section. Nine miles long, it sliced through the continental divide and had presented the most difficult challenge for the engineers who built the canal. A herculean excavation effort gouged out a trench more than two hundred fifty feet deep in some places, using manual labor and finicky steam shovels. Untold thousands lost their lives, some due to accidents and mudslides, but most from yellow fever and pneumonia.

The magnitude of the feat was obscured when the canal waters were released in 1914, flooding the deep cut. A tranquil appearance belied its tricky currents that made the narrow passage a challenge to navigate.

Pitt stormed into the cut, ignoring a channel marker that indicated a speed limit of six knots for large vessels. He occasionally felt the effects of the currents, as the stern drifted one way or another. But he refused to slow his pursuit. He had a clear bead on the Salzburg, having closed to within a half mile.

Though Pablo had ordered the captain to increase speed, it took precious time for the Salzburgto increase its pace. Peering back at the faster Adelaide, he realized he would have to take the offensive.

When Pitt noticed a few men congregating on the Salzburg’s forward deck, he passed the helm to Dirk.

“Just for the record,” Dirk said, “I’ve never piloted a vessel this size before.”

“She’s easier to handle than a Duesenberg,” Pitt said. “Just keep her off the bank. I’ll be right back.”

As they drew closer to the Salzburg, Dirk could see three men on her bow manipulating a tall object that looked like a large radar dish. The men rolled the dish alongside some shipping containers on the portside rail and positioned it so it aimed rearward—at the Adelaide.

Pitt appeared on the bridge a moment later. Dirk did a double take at seeing his father dressed in the reflective silver coating of a Level A hazardous materials protective suit. “What’s with the Buck Rogers outfit?”

“We brought them along for protection when we came aboard,” Pitt said. “Bolcke’s ships are outfitted with a microwave device called ADS that’s used for crowd control, only theirs is lethal. They likely have one aboard the Salzburg.”

Dirk pointed forward. “You mean that dish on their bow?”

Pitt saw the Active Denial System aimed directly at them and tossed Dirk an extra suit. “Quick, get this on.”

Dirk was starting to slip on the Hazmat suit when he felt a burning sensation on his back. “They must have it cranked up,” he said, quickly zipping the suit up.

Pitt felt the same sensation on his face and pulled on the matching hood with faceplate, and stepped to the helm.

“Stay behind the bulkhead,” he said to Dirk, his voice muffled by the hood.

He jammed the helm control to starboard, feeling a hot sensation on his chest and arms. Standing before the shattered bridge window, he was in the device’s direct line of fire. The Hazmat suit provided some protection but didn’t block the full effect.

Positioned on the Salzburg’s bow, the system had to fire along the ship’s port side to strike the Adelaide. Pitt could avoid the weapon’s beam by sailing to the far right of the channel and tucking in behind the leading ship. Within a few minutes, he did exactly that.

Bolcke watched as the Adelaidesuddenly altered course. “She’s veering to the bank. I think you got her.”

“The operator reports he had a clear strike on the bridge,” Pablo said.

Then they saw the Adelaidestraighten its heading. The pursuer still maintained a slight speed advantage and continued to creep closer to the Salzburg’s stern.

“I think they might try and ram us,” Bolcke said.

Pablo looked at the navigation monitor and saw they would soon be approaching the first set of locks at Pedro Miguel. “We need to dispose of them before we are in sight of the locks.” He had a few words with the captain, then departed the bridge.

Bolcke remained where he was, glued to the rear window, watching the pursuing vessel.

Pitt maintained a safe buffer with the ship ahead. He had hoped to pull alongside the Salzburgand force her into the bank, but the appearance of the ADS on the port rail had nixed that plan. He was contemplating his next move when the Salzburgheeled over in front of him.

At Pablo’s command, the captain had turned the Salzburghard to port. The ADS operators immediately aimed the beam at the Adelaide’s bridge. Pitt felt the familiar tingle on his skin, but it was what he saw next to the weapon that made his hair stand on end. It was Pablo and another man at the rail, shouldering rocket-propelled grenade launchers. An instant later, they fired the weapons.

“Off the bridge!” Pitt yelled as the grenades flew toward them.

With no time to flee, he dove to the floor, kicking the rudder to port as he fell.

Standing across the bridge, Dirk jumped into the side companionway.

The first grenade struck the steel face of the Adelaide’s superstructure just beneath the bridge. It fell to the deck and discharged harmlessly atop a hatch cover.

Pablo had fired the second RPG, and his aim was on the mark. The grenade burst through the shattered window just above Pitt’s head. Its high angle of entry sent it careening off the ceiling to the rear bulkhead, where it detonated. The entire structure shook from the explosion, which incinerated the bridge in a fiery cloud of smoke and flame.

Watching from the deck of the Salzburg, Pablo smiled to himself. No man could have survived the inferno.

73

TWO THINGS SAVED PITT’S LIFE. FIRST WAS THE bounce of the grenade, which ricocheted off the rear bulkhead and detonated in front of an engineering console. The shrapnel blew up, around, and into the console—but not through it. Lying on the other side, Pitt was spared the lethal spray of exploding steel fragments.

His second salvation was the Hazmat suit. It shielded him from the flash fire that accompanied the explosion and engulfed the bridge. The blast rattled his senses, and he struggled to breathe, but he easily climbed to his feet once Dirk returned and dragged him clear of the carnage.

“Are you okay?” Dirk asked.

His ears ringing, Pitt barely heard the words. “Yes, thanks to Buck Rogers.”

Shaking off the effects of the blast, he staggered to a nearby window. “We should be about on her.” He had to yell to hear himself.

The words barely cleared his lips when a bang arose from the bow. Pitt and Dirk grabbed at the bulkhead as the ship shuddered to a halt.

Kicking the rudder to port when he fell had turned the Adelaideon an intercept course with the crossing Salzburg. Caught in the narrow channel, the Salzburghad to hold to its attempted U-turn and hope it could slip by the Adelaide. Pitt’s action had ensured it couldn’t.

Bolcke looked on in disbelief as the Adelaide, its bridge a charred ruin, turned toward them as if guided by an invisible hand. The Salzburgwas halfway through her port turn when the Adelaide’s prow struck her amidships. Accompanied by the screech of steel grinding against steel, the charging bulk carrier cut nearly twenty feet into the Salzburg’s beam. Had the Salzburgbeen fully loaded, the pressure on her frame would have broken her in two. Still, the collision buckled hull plates all along her sides, allowing a rush of water to penetrate her interior.

On deck, the stacked cargo containers scattered like falling blocks. Several tumbled into the canal after smashing through the starboard rail. On the port rail side, a pair of the empty containers fell onto the ADS, flattening the dish and crushing its two operators. Pablo watched as another container rolled onto its side, pinning the leg of his fellow RPG launcher. The man screamed for Pablo to help, but there was nothing he could do, so he silently walked away.

Both ships were mortally wounded, but the Salzburgwas clearly in the worse condition. The ship quickly listed to port, sending more containers tumbling over the side. She settled lower as the canal waters washed over her main deck. She was sinking fast.

Pablo raced to the bridge, where Bolcke stared at the damage like a zombie. Pablo ran past him to a locked cabinet, which he kicked open. Inside was the plastic bin with Heiland’s design plans for the Sea Arrow. “Where’s the captain?” he asked. “We must get off the ship.”

“He went to check on the chief engineer.”

“There’s no time to waste, we’ve got to get to the crew boat. Follow me.” He picked up the bin and left the bridge.

Bolcke following a step behind. On reaching the main deck, they rushed to the elevated starboard rail, where Bolcke’s crew boat dangled. Pablo threw the bin aboard, then snapped at Bolcke, “Get in. I’ll lower you to the water and jump in.”

Bolcke did as he was told. Pablo took the winch controls and had started lowering the boat when Bolcke stopped him.

“Look out, on the other ship.”

At the base of the Adelaide’s superstructure, two figures appeared in silver Hazmat suits, one of them coated with black soot. Pablo saw that the other man brandished a gun.

“I know how to delay them.” He dropped the crew boat hard to the water, then tied off its bowline as Bolcke released the winch cable. Pablo sprinted up to the accommodations level and unlocked Ann’s cabin.

For once, she was glad to see him. While she wasn’t sure what had happened, she could tell the ship was sinking and feared being left to drown in her cabin.

“Let’s go!” Pablo grabbed the handcuffs between her wrists and led her down the corridor.

Reaching the main deck, she was shocked to see the towering hulk of the Adelaideenmeshed in the Salzburg’s side. The entanglement hadn’t slowed the degree of the Salzburg’s list, which was approaching a sharp angle.

Pablo led Ann down the sloping deck to the port rail, sloshing through ankle-deep water. He stopped in front of a lone container that had slid to the side, smashing partway through the side rail. It stood out from the other containers, and Pablo made sure it stood out even more. He fished for a key in his pocket and removed one of the handcuffs.

Ann relaxed, feigning submission, as he pulled her close to the container. Taking a step, she sprang her knee into Pablo, just missing his groin.

He fired back in the blink of an eye, backhanding her head and sending her sprawling against the container. He grabbed her cuffed wrist and pulled it to the deck, where he latched the cuff’s free end to a loop at the base of the container. “I’m sorry things didn’t work out,” he said. “Be sure and wave to your friends.”

He turned and moved along the deck, ducking when there was a loud plink on the container behind him. He increased his pace and looked back to see a man at the rail of the Adelaide, firing a pistol at him. Pablo sidestepped down a row of containers and out of sight as two more shots followed.

Dirk lowered the SIG Sauer with disgust as his father caught up with him at the rail. They had shed the cumbersome Hazmat suits, which had left them both drenched in sweat.

“There’s a woman tied to that shipping container,” Dirk said. “I took a shot at the guy who put her there but missed.”

Pitt spotted a woman with short blond hair lying at the base of a container. “That’s Ann.”

Any relief at finding Ann alive was dispelled by observing the Salzburg’s precarious state. The ship was sinking quickly. The gash from the Adelaidewas taking her down by the beam, and Pitt could see that the ship would capsize before she went under.

“Let’s see if we can get to her.” He took off running for the Adelaide’s bow. The whole section was mashed flat but still locked in the jagged grip of the Salzburg. The tangled beams of the sinking containership groaned as they tore against the Adelaide’s bow.

Pitt threaded his way through the shredded steel until he could drop onto the Salzburg’s deck. He ran aft across the ship, snaking around the scattered containers, until reaching Ann.

She looked at him in disbelief as he waded up to her. “What are you doing here?”

He grinned at her. “I heard you were trying to take a cruise without me.”

She was too frightened to smile. “Can you free me?”

He sloshed through the water to take a closer look. She was seated on the deck with her hand pinned low. Water already swirled above her elbow. Then the container creaked and slid a few inches over the port rail, dragging her with it.

“It’s a handcuff?” Pitt asked.

She nodded.

Dirk approached, and together they looked for something to free her with. Somewhere on the ship would be tools, but they had no time to search. The ship was already half underwater. And so was the container.

“It’s going to go over the side any minute,” Dirk whispered. “I don’t see how we can get her free of it.”

Pitt nodded and gazed up briefly at the Adelaide. “You’re right,” he said, a glimmer in his eye. “I reckon we’ll have to save them both.”

74

THE ADELAIDE, LIKE THE TASMANIAN STARIN Chile, was equipped with its own conveyor for loading and off-loading cargo. The Adelaide’s system was mounted on its starboard beam, right above where Pitt stood.

Climbing up the ore carrier’s shattered bow, he raced to a control station next to the conveyor. The collision hadn’t damaged the ship’s auxiliary power, and a generator below deck hummed when Pitt tested the hydraulic controls. The conveyor consisted of a sliding belt that could be moved alongside each hatch. Hopper cranes were fitted on the opposite side of the deck, which would pull the ore from the hold and deposit it onto the conveyor.

Pitt engaged the belt and moved it forward to the number 1 hold. He experimented with the controls until he figured out how to pivot the conveyor. Rotating it out from the Salzburg, he aimed it at Ann’s container. A separate vertical control allowed him to lower the far end of the belt, which he dropped beneath the rail.

Standing next to Ann’s container, Dirk was signaling him closer when a deep bellow sounded from the depths of the Salzburg. Containers everywhere shifted as the ship began to founder. In a slow, steady motion, the portside deck dipped toward the canal while the starboard side rose, sending the containers in a mad tumble into the water.

Pitt jammed the end of the belt ahead and below as far as it would go and engaged it. Looking out, all he could see was a mountain of containers spilling into the water. At the stern, he saw the captain and a handful of crewmen leap for their lives.

As the ship rotated, equipment, stores, and remaining cargo tumbled and crashed. With a sudden rush, the ship broke free of the Adelaideand capsized. The inverted Salzburgdrifted for a minute or two, then let out a gurgle and slipped beneath the waters of the canal.

The tip of the Adelaide’s conveyor belt dropped below water level, and Pitt thought he had failed. But the belt stammered and shook, and a beige slab appeared beneath the surface. A moment later, a shipping container emerged, riding unevenly up the belt. Pitt looked over the side to see Ann and Dirk clinging to its base, their feet dangling over the waves.

As water sloshed off the belt it pulled the container up to the side rail, where Pitt powered the conveyor off.

“Nice catch,” Dirk said, “though I wasn’t expecting a dip in the bargain.” He dropped to the deck as Ann touched her feet down beside him.

“You okay?” Pitt asked Ann.

“I thought my arm was going to leave its socket, but, yes, I’m all right.” She shook the water from her hair.

“Hand me the gun,” Pitt told his son.

Dirk pulled the SIG Sauer from his waist and handed it to his father. Pitt shook it to clear the water and held the muzzle to Ann’s handcuffs. The shot split the chain that linked the cuffs and freed Ann from the container.

“Would have tried that earlier, but you were too far underwater when we found you.”

“But then I would have missed the ride.” Ann smiled for the first time in days. She got to her feet and looked into the canal where the Salzburghad vanished. “The Sea Arrow’s motor was aboard.”

“They’re not going to get it now,” Pitt said.

“But they still have the plans,” she said. “I saw them in the boat with Pablo.”

Pitt nodded. He had seen Bolcke and Pablo flee in the boat while he tried to save Ann. “There’s only one place they can go.” Having examined a map of the canal on the Adelaide’s bridge, he knew the next lock was only a short distance away.

Dirk was already crossing the deck to an inflatable secured beneath a tarp. In minutes, he had it winched over the side and lowered into the water with Pitt and Ann aboard. Already drenched, he dove over the side of the Adelaideand swam to the side of the boat, where he was helped aboard. Pitt started its small outboard, and they were soon zipping up the canal.

The canal curved past Gold Hill, a small bluff that marked the continental divide and its deepest area of excavation. Just beyond it, the canal straightened, and the Pedro Miguel Locks appeared two miles away. Bolcke and Pablo had already reached the lock and sailed into the north chamber, whose gates had been opened in preparation for the Salzburg.

Pablo docked the boat against the center island, which bisected the lock’s two chambers. He assisted a pair of canal workers in attaching fore and aft mooring lines to the crew boat before he jumped off. With Bolcke still aboard, the workers walked the boat to the far end of the chamber and tied it off, forgoing the tiny locomotives used to maneuver larger vessels.

Pablo strode toward the control house, a multistory white structure in the middle of the island that managed the water flow for the chambers.

A gruff transit supervisor with a clipboard met Pablo. “That’s no four-hundred-foot bulk carrier.”

“We had an accident with the ship and need to make passage at once. Mr. Bolcke will pay triple your usual fee if you don’t book it.”

“Is that him in the boat?”

Pablo nodded.

“Haven’t seen him for a while.” He pulled a radio off his hip and called the control house. A minute later, the chamber’s massive gates began to close. Soon the waters in the chamber would drain out the bottom, lowering the boat for the next section of the canal.

“We’ll have you out of here in ten minutes,” the supervisor said.

Pablo glanced at the closing gates, then hesitated. A small inflatable boat was approaching at high speed with three people aboard. There were two men and a woman with short blond hair. Ann Bennett.

“Just one minute.” He pointed to the inflatable. “Those three attacked and sank our ship. Treat them as terrorist suspects and detain them for at least an hour.”

The man looked at the approaching boat. “They don’t look like terrorists.”

“There’s an extra ten thousand in it for you.”

The supervisor beamed. “You know, I might just be wrong about that,” he said. “Give my regards to Mr. Bolcke.”

All he got in reply was Pablo’s turned back as the Colombian walked briskly to the waiting boat.

75

AS THE GATES OF THE NORTHERN CHAMBER CLOSED to accommodate Bolcke’s boat, the southern chamber’s gates were opened to release a large freighter traveling in the other direction. Pitt slipped the inflatable around the wide freighter and motored into the chamber. He angled toward the control house and pulled alongside the dock, where the transit supervisor stood with two armed guards. The water level in the opposite chamber had already dropped several feet, obscuring his view of the crew boat.

Dirk jumped onto the dock with the inflatable’s bowline in hand and held the boat close while Ann stepped off. Dirk turned to the supervisor.

“The crew boat with two men aboard.” He pointed to the boat in the other chamber. “You must stop its passage.”

“I’m afraid it is you who must be stopped,” the supervisor said. “Guards, arrest these people.”

Pitt had gazed past the control house and spotted Pablo walking along the dock. Hearing the guards grab Dirk and Ann, he goosed the outboard’s throttle. Dirk let the bowline slip, and the small boat took off down the chamber.

It was five hundred feet from the control house to the forward gates, and Pablo was nearly to the end when he heard the inflatable approach. He turned and was shocked to see Pitt at the helm, holding the SIG Sauer.

Unarmed, Pablo looked back to the control house guards. They were occupied holding Ann and Dirk and made no effort to chase Pitt. Their paid loyalty would go only so far.

The crew boat was still a few yards ahead of Pablo, but Pitt angled to cut him off. On the dock, Pablo saw that a maintenance crew had been repairing a locomotive track and left behind a damaged rail. He scooped up the rail—a slim, forged steel rod about six feet long—and stepped forward.

Pitt motored past Pablo and turned the inflatable toward the dock. He didn’t notice Pablo’s makeshift weapon as he leaped from the boat and turned his gun on him.

Pitt’s reflexes were dulled by fatigue, and when Pablo swung the rail, he reacted too late. He aimed and squeezed the trigger, but the rail arrived first, slamming into his outstretched hand. The gun fired harmlessly into the sky before being knocked from Pitt’s hand and splashing into the water.

Pitt recoiled as Pablo reversed his swing, but he was still tagged in the ribs with a sharp whack that sent him reeling. He managed to stay on his feet and backpedaled as Pablo came after him again.

The rail cut the air with a whistling sound as Pablo swung it like a scythe. “You’ve come a long way to die here.”

“Not far enough,” Pitt replied.

Staggering backward to avoid the swinging rail, Pitt had almost reached the gates and the crew boat tied at the end of the dock. The chamber was draining quickly, and the crew boat had already dropped more than twenty feet. He glanced at the boat but saw it was too far to jump.

Sensing Pitt’s vulnerability, Pablo closed in for the kill, swinging the rail even harder.

Pitt saw that the weight of the rail was beginning to slow Pablo’s backswings and he decided to take the offensive. He stepped back as Pablo whipped the bar at him, but rather than keep retreating, he planted his feet and sprang forward.

Pablo reacted by pulling the rail to his chest in defense as Pitt barreled into him. Pitt managed to catch Pablo slightly off balance and he staggered to the side. Pitt pressed the charge, grabbing the rail alongside Pablo’s hands and bulling into him as hard as he could.

Pablo had no choice but to step back and try to regain his leverage. But he had been turned sideways to the dock, and when he tried to plant a foot behind him, he found only air. He tumbled backward off the edge of the dock, taking Pitt with him.

From the base of the control house, Dirk and Ann had watched the battle while the guards held them at gunpoint. Dirk saw the two men fall into the chamber with a large splash and waited for them to surface. As the water settled, he began counting the seconds—and felt a cold chill.

After more than a minute, neither man had returned to the surface.