Chapter 13 - The Woman on the Water
The Talon remained beneath the surface.
Through the periscope camera, Hannah watched Laura’s boat drift in heavy waves.
The cargo vessel began moving away.
A timer on Laura’s weighted chain flashed red.
Five minutes.
If it reached zero, the weight would drop and pull her underwater.
Cross looked at Hannah.
“It’s bait.”
“Yes.”
“If we surface, they track us.”
“Yes.”
“What are your orders?”
Hannah stared at her friend.
Laura had protected the surviving crew after Hannah escaped.
She endured punishment meant for Hannah.
She kept five sailors alive.
There was no tactical argument for risking the submarine.
There was only the decision Hannah had faced three years earlier.
Leave people behind to protect the mission.
Or return.
“Deploy swimmers,” she said.
Cross hesitated.
“We expose our position.”
“Deploy them from the lower lock. Keep us submerged.”
The military police officer volunteered.
So did two Navy divers.
They entered the water with compact propulsion units.
The cargo vessel’s sonar began searching.
The Talon moved deeper into the trench.
Hannah guided the divers through low-frequency pulses.
They reached Laura with ninety seconds remaining.
The chain lock was electronic.
Nightglass-controlled.
The divers could not open it.
Hannah brought Walsh to the console.
“Disable the timer.”
“I can’t.”
“Then tell me the encryption sequence.”
He refused.
Hannah looked at the ocean pressure chart.
“If Laura dies, Sloane has no reason to keep you alive.”
Walsh’s face changed.
He knew she was right.
He gave them part of the sequence.
The timer slowed.
But did not stop.
Thirty seconds.
The military police officer used a cutting tool against the chain.
The first blade broke.
The second overheated.
Laura began sinking as the weight partially released.
The officer wrapped one arm around her and inflated his emergency lift bag.
The divers rose rapidly.
Too rapidly.
Risking injury.
The Talon opened its lower rescue lock.
They pulled Laura inside with four seconds remaining.
The weighted chain dropped into the darkness.
Laura coughed seawater onto the metal deck.
Hannah knelt beside her.
Laura opened her eyes.
“You took your time.”
Hannah laughed once through tears she refused to release.
“Where are the others?”
Laura’s expression changed.
“Not on the cargo ship.”
Hannah went still.
“Sloane moved them.”
“Where?”
Laura gripped her sleeve.
“Back to the Resolute.”
The ship had never been destroyed.
It was operating beneath another name.
And it was moving toward the naval installation.
Not to attack the base.
To enter it.
Laura whispered one final warning.
May you like
“They have Admiral Calloway’s authorization codes.”
👉 While Hannah raced toward the decoy cargo vessel, the stolen warship carrying her crew was approaching the base under Calloway’s identity.
