Chapter 34 - Fire on the Frozen Tide
A deafening metallic clang shuddered through the deck plates as seawater rushed violently into the engine compartment below.
The floor tilted sharply beneath our feet, sliding loose ammunition boxes and charts across the soaked fiberglass floor.
"Move! Now!" Marcus roared, firing three rapid shotgun blasts through the cabin windshield toward the blinding spotlight.
The bright halogen lamp on the submersible shattered into a shower of white glass, plunging the sea back into misty gray chaos.
Heavy automatic gunfire immediately erupted from the submarine's deck, chewing through our cabin walls like angry hornets.
Fiberglass splinters and shredded insulation rained down upon us as I dragged Clara toward the rear cockpit.
Miller fell beside the stern gate, a fresh bullet wound tearing across his right thigh, but he didn't make a sound.
"Inflate the raft!" I screamed over the roaring water and the deafening clatter of gunfire.
Clara pulled the yellow lanyard on the life raft canister mounted to the transom, and it exploded into bright orange rubber.
The stern of our vessel was already dipping dangerously below the water line, seawater sloshing past our ankles in freezing surges.
"Clara, get in!" I shouted, helping her lower our crying daughter into the center of the raft.
Miller rolled himself over the gunwale, landing heavily in the rubber boat with a muffled groan of agony.
I turned back to the wheelhouse, but the bridge was already engulfed in a dense cloud of black smoke and muzzle flashes.
"Marcus!" I yelled into the blazing haze, hoping against hope that he could still hear my voice.
"Go, Jack!" Marcus's voice echoed back through the gunfire. "Take my sister away from this family!"
A blinding explosion ripped through the forward cabin as an incendiary shell struck our auxiliary fuel tank.
The shockwave threw me backward into the ocean, the freezing Atlantic water knocking the air completely out of my lungs.
I plunged beneath the dark surface, the freezing salt burning my eyes as burning debris rained down like fiery meteors around me.
Kicking frantically against the crushing weight of my sodden boots, I clawed my way toward the gray light above.
I broke the surface gasping for air, choking on diesel smoke and icy foam just three feet from the orange life raft.
Clara's desperate hands seized the collar of my tactical jacket, pulling me upward with strength born purely of sheer adrenaline.
May you like
As I rolled over the inflated tube into the safety of the raft, our yacht tilted vertically and plunged into the abyss.
***
