He reached the cargo hold and stopped to calm his nerves. He checked his vitals revealed on the inside of his mask. Gunner’s pulse rate was high, but his blood pressure was normal. He took a deep breath and got his bearings. He moved toward the center of the sub, ducking through two passageways in between the lower compartments. Once he emerged into the cargo hold he’d studied on Ballard’s video, he froze and scowled.
It was empty.
The racks and steel straps that had contained the titanium canisters were still there. However, all the straps had been broken loose, and the canisters were gone.
All of them.
“Bear, Cam, do you copy?”
He knew it was a fruitless effort, but he had to try.
There was no response.
At the risk of burning up his air supply, Gunner decided to record his observations aloud. If the DSC-6 needed to access the feed at some point, they might be able to.
“Well, I’ve arrived at the cargo hold. Unless I’ve gotten confused and found a second hold on this sub, somebody has beaten us to the canisters. This place is completely empty.”
He slowly moved through the empty compartment, turning his head back and forth slowly to provide the camera a number of different angles of the emptied racks. He furrowed his brow as he tried to process what he was seeing. At one point, he turned around and made his way back to the point where he’d dropped into the sub’s cargo hold.
He continued to record his findings. “I don’t know, guys. Maybe it was a mistake on my part to take this shortcut to the cargo hold, but for Pete’s sake, despite this sub being two hundred and fifty feet long, they didn’t allow a whole helluva lot of space for cargo. I’ll go back up and make my way to the conn. I’ll follow Ballard’s entry into the cargo hold to the letter.”
Gunner used his jets to propel him up through the spiral staircase shaft until he reached the top of the submarine. He followed his instincts along the passageways until he arrived at the bridge. He immediately recognized its layout from the schematics he’d been provided.
Working from memory, he found where Ballard had entered the conn from the direction of the bow and began to walk in his footsteps. He dropped from one level to the next until he reached the cargo hold again. It was still empty.
“Same shit, different day. It’s just as empty as it was when I came in from the other end.”
Gunner turned around slowly to take in his surroundings. He decided to move toward the bow of the U-boat in search of another compartment, silently cursing himself for not studying it more.
“I’m headed into the bow. Maybe there is another cargo hold and I got turned around? I’m not leaving until I—”
“Wait. I see light ahead. There’s somebody else down here.”
Chapter Forty-Three
Outside the Wreckage of German U-boat 1226
The Puerto Rico Trench
Depth: 27,840 feet
Fathoms: 4,640
The Deepsea Challenger 6
North Atlantic Ocean
“Goin’ dark,” mumbled Bear. “They may see us on sonar if they’re monitoring it like we are. But let’s not make it easy for them.”
“Killing interior lighting except for the console,” said Cam. With the lights out, the myriad of screens on the control panel emitted red, blue, and green lights that lit up their faces, creating a kaleidoscope effect.
“Interior fully dark as well,” said Bear.
“Let’s just ease on over there and see what’s what, shall we?” asked Cam.
Bear guided the DSC-6 through a current of silt. The amount of debris in the water would’ve likely blinded them temporarily had their exterior lighting been turned on.
“Temps are suddenly rising,” announced Cam. “There must be a thermal vent nearby.”
“It’s not effecting them. They’re not moving one iota.”
“It must be between us,” she said as she checked the sonar readout. “Three hundred meters and closing.”
Bear held on to the controls as the submersible was tossed about. The current lifted them briefly and then rapidly forced them toward the ocean floor.
“Dude, this sucks,” said Bear as he made frequent corrections to prevent them from being body-slammed back into the hull of the wreckage.
“Ride the current and then break out of it,” suggested Cam. “That’ll give us a run at them without having to worry about getting rolled by the ocean.”
Bear allowed the DSC-6 to drift with the current. The other submersible remained in its stationary position.
“I don’t think they’ve discovered us,” commented Cam.
“I agree,” said Bear. The DSC-6 slowed to a stop. “Okay, we’re through it. Let’s go say hello.”
He powered the submersible forward and rose above the location of the intruder. Taking the high ground in a battle was something instilled in Bear. Plus, his own short experience in the DSC-6 told him that these vessels had major blind spots to the rear and above. Based upon the direction their adversary’s lights were pointing, he had the ability to sneak up on them if they weren’t monitoring their sonar.
“Almost there,” said Cam. “Hundred meters. Eighty. We should have a good visual shortly.”
“Lights?” asked Bear.
“Hold. Sixty meters. Forty. Now!”
Bear turned the external lights on, and the other submersible was illuminated. They were able to get a good view of the much larger vessel, and the cameras were sure to record every detail.
A burst of air bubbles shot out of the back of the other submersible, temporarily obscuring their view.
“It’s gonna be on the move,” said Bear.
Cam’s voice revealed her excitement. “Shit! Look at that thing motor.”
“Should I follow?”
“Duh,” Cam replied. “We need to know what it’s up to. Go!”
Bear accelerated with all the power the DSC-6 could muster, but the other submersible was pulling
