Chapter 38 - The Sinking Serpent
The sea gates were fully open now, the entire volume of New York Harbor leveling out with the flooded dry dock.
The submarine, completely untethered, began to drift out toward the dark, turbulent expanse of the open bay.
Water was beginning to lap over the coaming of the main access hatch, threatening to flood the lower compartments.
"Claire! The ballast vents are jammed open!" Thomas shouted from the gantry above, his voice barely audible over the roaring storm. "The hull is going down!"
David Vance looked down at Claire, a sudden, crazed desperation flashing across his features.
He didn't surrender; instead, he threw himself backward down the open hatch, his body vanishing into the interior of the sinking vessel.
"David, don't!" Claire lunged forward, but the heavy steel hatch slammed shut from the inside, the locking wheel spinning with mechanical speed.
The hydraulic seal hissed, locking out the rising harbor water—and sealing everyone inside into a steel coffin.
"Hayes! Move!" Claire shouted, grabbing the Admiral by his vest and hauling him toward the conning tower catwalk.
The submarine was sinking rapidly, the water already surging over the deck plating around their knees.
"Captain, we can't jump into this current!" Hayes yelled, coughing up seawater as the freezing tide pulled at his legs. "The undertow will drag us down with the hull!"
"Miller! The hoist!" Claire bellowed into her headset.
Above them, the massive harbor gantry crane swung through the darkness, its heavy cargo hook and steel cable descending like a lifeline through the driving rain.
Master Chief Miller had hijacked the crane’s manual controls from the upper platform.
"Catch the ring, Cap!" Miller’s voice roared through the comms.
The heavy steel cargo ring swung toward them, smashing against the conning tower with a shower of sparks.
Claire shoved Admiral Hayes forward, forcing his arms through the triangular steel loop.
"Hold on with everything you have, Admiral!" she shouted, securing his carabiner to the main cable.
"What about you, Claire?!" Hayes protested, trying to reach for her hand.
"I have one more loose end!" she replied, looking down at the submarine's emergency external ballast release valve mounted on the deck.
If she didn't blow the external tanks, the submarine’s diesel generators would detonate underwater the moment the harbor pressure crushed the hull, triggering a shockwave that would wipe out the pier and everyone on the crane.
Claire kicked the manual emergency release pin, throwing her entire weight onto the heavy iron lever.
Compressed air roared from the vents in a colossal geyser of white foam, fighting against the crushing weight of the water.
The submarine lurched violently, its descent slowing, but the violent displacement created a lethal vortex that dragged Claire off her feet.
Her grip tore free from the iron rail, and the black, freezing water closed instantly over her head.
The darkness of the harbor swallowed her whole, the deafening hum of the sinking submarine’s hull vibrating through her bones.
Claire fought against the crushing down-current, her lungs burning as cold water forced its way into her tactical gear.
Her fingers clawed blindly through the blackness, searching for purchase against the slippery steel of the disappearing vessel.
Then, through the murk, a powerful hand gripped her wrist with crushing, unbreakable force.
Thomas.
He had jumped from the catwalk, his combat knife wedged into the exterior railing of the conning tower, his other hand locked around his sister's arm.
With a tremendous surge of effort, Thomas hauled her up through the churning foam toward the surface.
They breached the water together, gasping for air as the crane’s secondary cable swung within inches of their heads.
Claire reached out, locking her arm through the steel cable just as the submarine’s conning tower vanished completely beneath the black waves of the Hudson.
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A muffled, subterranean explosion shook the riverbed beneath them, sending a massive plume of white water and diesel fuel erupting into the midnight sky.
The serpent was dead at the bottom of the bay.
