Goliath

The earsplitting concussion rocks the entire weapons bay, sending bonerattling reverberations through Gunnar’s body. Pipe seams burst, shooting steam into the compartment. Through the din he registers a second clap of thunder—steel against steel—as the watertight door, torn clear of its frame, crashes flat onto the deck.

Gunnar pulls himself to his feet, his eyes watering, his throat aching as if it had been punched. Securing the backpack of C-4 inside his jumpsuit, he ducks beneath a flailing targeting drone, then dives headfirst through the smoldering opening. A tuck-and-roll to his feet, and he’s bounding down the steel catwalk.

The siren’s computerized voice screeches empty threats throughout the passage.

He reaches the watertight door separating the starboard wing from the main compartment—and stops.

The heavy steel door is half-open, inviting him to cross its threshold.

Gunnar looks to the ceiling, the scarlet eyeball watching him in silent vigil. Clever machine … He steps forward, baiting his jailer.

The door flies past his face as it slams shut, then reopens, whipping past him, smashing against the adjacent bulkhead to his right like a giant, vertical mousetrap.

Before he can leap through the passage, the door swings back again, closing halfway. Sorceress will not allow him anywhere near the bulkhead to plant another charge.

YOU CANNOT ESCAPE, GUNNAR WOLFE. YOU WILL NOT LEAVE THE STARBOARD WING ALIVE.

Rocky is in her stateroom. She knows Gunnar is in trouble, just as she suspects Sujan and the rest of the crew have been confined to their quarters by David.

Wedging the blade of the butter knife deeper, she grits her teeth and pushes, prying the head of the steel pin slightly higher out of her stateroom door’s lower hinge.

Dammit, Gunnar, where the hell are you?

An explosion shudders the vessel, causing her heart to jump. “Gunnar—”

She repositions the knife against the upper hinge, her instincts telling her that her man needs her.

Unable to plant a charge on the watertight door, Gunnar jogs back toward the weapons bay.

HAVE YOU GIVEN UP, GUNNAR WOLFE? Is THE GAME OVER?

“The game? Sorry, Sorceress. The game ain’t over ’til the fat lady sings.”

ILLOGICAL. THERE ARE NO FAT LADIES ON BOARD. ELABORATE FAT LADY.

Gunnar reaches the open weapons bay, coming face-to-face with the awaiting pincers of two targeting drones. Measuring the distance, he crawls into the chamber on his belly and reaches for the edge of the mangled watertight door.

The ceiling-mounted drones strain, but are unable to reach him.

He grips the panel, the metal still hot to the touch. Backing out carefully, he drags the hunk of steel down the walkway.

The two targeting drones thrash violently, appendages whistling through empty air.

THE HUNT IS OVER, GUNNAR WOLFE. RETURN TO THE WEAPONS BAY IMMEDIATELY AND YOUR LIFE WILL BE SPARED.

The watertight door separating the wing from the main compartment opens and closes faster as he approaches.

“You’re beginning to sound desperate, Sorceress. Desperation is a human trait.” Gunnar regrips the steel panel, takes a deep breath, and squats. Exhaling with a grunt, he lifts the broken steel door away from the walkway and presses it up over his head, his straining arm muscles shaking from the effort.

In one motion he staggers forward and heaves the solid steel panel at the moving barrier.

Sorceress is too fast, slamming the watertight door closed, preventing the mangled metal object from wedging open the exit.

The panel flattens against the walkway, coming to rest between the nowsealed exit and the width of the catwallc, its girth blocking the watertight door from reopening.

Gunnar steps onto it, its warm surface soothing his feet. He quickly fastens the remaining blocks of Semtex to the exit’s critical joints while the computer bashes the hinged door against the immovable barrier.

Gunnar sets the charge and retreats back down the walkway.

I WILL KILL YOU, GUNNAR WOLFE, I WILL KILL YOU …

The blast echoes throughout the ship, tearing the hinged door from the bulkhead.

Gunnar exits through the smoking doorframe and hurries toward the main compartment.

David bolts upright in bed as the lights in his stateroom flash on.

ATTENTION. GUNNAR WOLFE HAS ESCAPED FROM THE STARBOARD WEAPONS BAY.

“Dammit. Where is he?”

MAIN COMPARTMENT, HEADING AFT.

“Alert the Chalabi brothers. Have them get their weapons and meet me in the hangar. Keep Sujan and Kaigbo locked in their quarters.”

ACKNOWLEDGED.