Without the buoyancy, the chain mail weighed him down so much that he couldn’t rise to the surface. His lungs were soon screaming for air.
With one hand, he used the quick release to unclip his vest and shed his tank to free up some weight, but the exertion from fighting the croc had used up all his oxygen. It would be a close race to see if he could get light enough to get up to the surf
ace before he drowned.
Still, he had to try. He got the shredded buoyancy vest off, but he had an overwhelming urge to suck in water. His chest was burning with the need for air.
Juan felt a pair of strong hands grab his shoulders and propel him upward. Together, he and Linc broke the surface, and Juan gulped in fresh air. He looked up to see a hand reaching down to him, and he took it.
With a mighty heave, MacD and Raven yanked him up onto Nomad’s deck. They turned to pull Linc up beside him.
He sat next to Juan panting.
“Thanks, Linc,” Juan said. “I wasn’t going to make it another second.”
Linc nodded. “I didn’t think you could wait for the airlock to cycle. After that, I think I’m qualified to join the rodeo.”
“It’s good you got out when you did,” Raven said, pointing at a flotilla of crocodiles heading toward Nomad. “All that blood and thrashing has attracted attention.”
“What’s that?” MacD said, nodding at the gold relic on Juan’s hip.
“I don’t know. I found it among some broken amphorae.”
“Speaking of that,” Linc said, throwing the broken lid of the container onto the deck in disgust. “I saw the croc chomp through the container. We lost our chance to find out what the antidote’s secret ingredient is.”
“No, we didn’t,” Juan said.
Throughout that ordeal, he had never let go of what was in his hand. He held out his clenched fist and opened it. In his palm was a single green nut the size of a golf ball. It had a pattern on it that looked like the iris of a human eye.
Juan didn’t have time to savor his victory.
Eric poked his head out of the hatch with an anxious look on his face and said, “We need to leave right now. Hali says the Oregon is under attack.”
FORTY-SIX
The Norego had escaped into the narrow channel east of Adolphus Island, protected by a curtain of heavy rain, so Jin ceased firing the plasma cannon. The weapon was rendered ineffective by the showers, but it also meant that the spy ship’s laser had stopped painting her bridge with its blinding light.
“Captain,” her XO said, “the Thai Navigator is on a collision course with us.”
“Move us out of the way,” Jin said, “but don’t get any closer to the Norego. What’s the Thai Navigator’s heading?” The ore carrier wouldn’t be stopping, not with her crew incapacitated by the Enervum gas.
“Looks like she’ll hit the rocks on the west side of Adolphus Island.”
“Good. Then she won’t be in our way when she sinks.”
It would only be a few minutes before the squall passed, allowing her to press her attack and finish off the ship. But she still wanted survivors to question.
“Hail the Norego. Tell them to call our encrypted satellite number so we won’t have anyone listening in on our conversation.”
A few moments later, the XO said, “They’re calling us.”
“Put it on speaker.”
“This is the captain of the Marauder,” Jin said. “Who am I speaking to?”
“This is the acting captain of the Norego,” a woman replied in an American accent. “You must be April Jin.”
Jin controlled her surprise. “Why would you say that?”