The Atlantis Plague(64)

“Who are you?” Rukin demanded.

“It doesn’t matter,” David said.

Rukin smiled contemptuously. “Men like you don’t win wars like this. This isn’t a world for nice guys.”

“We’ll see about that.”





CHAPTER 54


Plague Barge Destiny

Mediterranean Sea


Kate watched Shaw open another door. He was about to step through it when flames filled the corridor ahead.

“Back!” he yelled as he slammed the door.

Kate glanced behind them. Smoke drifted in at the end of the corridor. She couldn’t even see the end of it anymore. Fire was consuming the ship, bearing down on them, suffocating them.

They were trapped.

Above her, Kate heard debris falling onto the floor. She felt the heat from the ceiling. They would be crushed, or burned to death, or suffocate. There was no escape—they were too deep inside the ship.

Shaw grabbed her arm, opened a door, and led her deeper into the ship.

“We can’t go—”

“Shut up,” he said as he jerked a cabin door open and practically threw Kate inside. Chang helped Martin in behind them and the other scientist followed.

“We can’t stay here—” Kate began, but Shaw was out the door, which he slammed behind him.

Kate jerked the door handle, but it was jammed. Shaw had locked them in.





The courtyard inside the base’s citadel was almost quiet. Here and there, gun battles still raged where Immari soldiers and Berber fighters clashed. David walked behind the chief and three of her men, one of whom was pulling Major Rukin by the arm—inflicting pain with every step.

To David’s right, the massive plague barge burned on the water. Occasionally an explosion went up.

Casualties of war, David told himself. Kamau had said that they were all enemy combatants—Immari soldiers or new recruits who had pledged: loyalists. There had been no alternative.





Kate heard a series of three explosions. The room was pitch black, and inside, the only sounds were the occasional grunt or cough from Martin, Chang, and the European scientist.

Kate heard clanging at the door, and it opened just as she reached it. Shaw grabbed her arm and pulled her behind him.

She looked back, hoping Martin was behind her, but she couldn’t see anything. The smoke was too thick. It burned her eyes and filled her lungs.

She coughed and hacked as Shaw dragged her. He was going to rip her arm off.

The darkness and smoke ebbed at the intersection of the next corridor. Kate heard and felt the massive fire burning before she saw it.

The fire burned up one side of the hallway, licking the ceiling and reaching for the other side. Past the flames she could see the open air. The ship had been blown to pieces. Shaw had used grenades to clear a path. It was as though some giant creature had taken a bite out of the side of the ship, leaving a jagged hole.

Shaw pulled her toward the flames.





David leaned against the doorframe of the operations center at the top of the control tower.

One of the Berbers ripped the tape off Rukin’s mouth and shoved him toward the microphone.

Rukin eyed the chief, then David, and finally began speaking into the microphone. “Attention all Immari forces. This is Major Alexander Rukin. I am ordering you to surrender immediately. Lay down your weapons. Ceuta has fallen…”

David tuned Rukin’s words out as he surveyed the carnage the screens depicted: around the base, beyond the wall, and on the water.

What have I done? he wondered. What you had to, he told himself. Across the room, Kamau’s eyes met his. The African seemed to know what David was thinking. He gave him one slight nod.





Kate closed her eyes as Shaw pulled her past the fire, and then she was at the edge of the hall and the walls on each side of her were gone and they were falling—

She landed hard on her feet; her knees buckled and she rolled across the deck. Shaw was already getting to his feet. The guy was like a super-soldier. Above her, Kate saw Martin, Chang, and the other man fly out of the flaming opening, falling toward the deck below. They crashed down around her a second after she rolled out of the way. The three men were alive, but Kate suspected there were broken bones. She threw her backpack off and began crawling over to them, but an explosion overhead sprayed pieces of the ship into the air. The debris fell in piles, raining down on them. Kate curled into a ball, trying to protect herself.

Shaw pulled her up. “We have to jump!” He pointed at the water below.

Kate’s eyes went wide. It was twenty feet or more. A massive fire burned over the water, ringing the ship. “No. Freaking. Way.”

He grabbed her backpack and threw it over, then grabbed her arm and dragged her toward the edge. Kate closed her eyes and inhaled.