Chapter 37 - Escape from the Deep
The secondary blast blew out the primary structural supports of the lower gantry, sending thick plumes of choking gray smoke billowing across the torpedo staging bay.
"Get down!" Vance roared, tackling me behind a heavy steel munitions crate as a hail of automatic gunfire raked the space from the upper catwalks.
When the dust settled, the mastermind was gone—dragged backward through an emergency blast shutter by his surviving security detail amidst the chaos of the explosion.
"He's slipping through the secondary sub-surface lockouts!" Lin shouted over the comms, frantically typing on her portable terminal. "They're flooding the egress tunnels!"
"We don't need to chase him through the tunnels," I commanded, pulling myself up from the deck plates with grim determination. "We have the data, we have the core server archives, and we have their entire operational infrastructure mapped. The mastermind can run all he wants, but he has nowhere left to hide."
"Torpedo tube zero-one is pressurized and flooded," Vance reported, checking his rebreather mask as he threw open the heavy breech of the underwater launch tube. "All strike teams are locked and loaded. Let's move!"
Without hesitation, our operators slipped one by one into the cramped, water-filled chamber of the torpedo tube. I took my position last, pulling my mask tight across my face and securing my helmet as the inner hatch sealed shut behind us with a heavy hydraulic hiss.
Through the thick quartz glass of the outer door, I watched the dark, churning waters of the Barents Sea pressing against the outer hull.
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Click.
The pneumatic launch sequence engaged, and with a sudden, violent surge of acceleration, we were expelled out into the freezing open currents of the Arctic trench, rocketing away from the collapsing ruins of Project Janus like arrows shot from a bow.
