Sea of Greed

While that information meant nothing to Priya, it struck Tessa hard. She stood up suddenly, her dark eyebrows knitting together. “Crete? Why? What’s he doing there?”

“I have no idea,” Priya said. “Paul and Gamay Trout are with him, and the quartermaster’s office confirmed the requisition for a dive boat and several deep-sea vehicles, including an ROV, a three-man submersible and two deepwater atmospheric diving suits.”

Tessa walked across the fuselage, leaned over Priya’s shoulder and read the records for herself. The look on her face was malevolent. “Find me the reason for this trip. What are they looking for?”

“I can’t access that information,” Priya said. “All the operational reports are too well protected.”

“Dig deeper,” Tessa instructed.

“I can’t get in any deeper!” Priya said. “They’ll just detect the attempt and shut us down. Then you’ll lose all access.”

“If that happens,” Tessa said, “your problems will be worse than mine.”

“Use my codes,” Joe said from behind them.

Priya turned his way.

“They’re probably still active,” Joe said. “No one rushes to clean out a dead man’s office or shut down his email or access codes. At least give them a try.”

“Do it,” Tessa snapped.

Joe rattled off his codes and Priya entered them carefully. After a short delay, the codes were accepted, giving Priya — and Tessa — access to everything in the Special Projects database.

Priya found the information their captors wanted. She began reading the transcript to Tessa, slowing as she reached the crucial information. “Kurt’s objective is coded as a deepwater wreck, identified as the INS Dakar.”

The name meant nothing to Priya, but Tessa froze at the sound of it. She read the rest of the information herself. By the time she finished, her previously smug face had been drained of color. Though it reddened quickly as anger replaced shock.

She turned to the broad-shouldered, bearded man. “Put them in the cargo compartment. Then find Volke and meet me up front. We cannot let Austin and his friends dive on that ship.”

50

JOE AND PRIYA were taken to a compartment on the middle level of the aircraft and locked inside. Both of them had their hands zip-tied and Joe’s legs were also bound, but he didn’t think that would hold them long.

“I’m sorry,” Priya said. “I shouldn’t have left the yacht. I shouldn’t have tried to place the geotracker on the plane. I was trying to help. Thought it’d be good to take some initiative.” She paused. “And I was feeling left out.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Joe said. “Disobeying orders is kind of a thing at NUMA. You’ll probably get a promotion out of it once we get back.”

Priya smiled, but it quickly disappeared into a frown. “If we get back. This is a nightmare.”

Joe pretended to be hurt. “That’s the first time a woman has ever said that about spending time alone with me.”

“You know what I mean,” she said.

“Trust me, things are looking up,” Joe said. “Tessa doesn’t know it, but she gave up some vital information. To begin with, Kurt’s alive. Something I’ve been wondering about since we were separated on that ship of hers. More importantly, Kurt is doing what he always does, making life miserable for his opponent. I have no idea what that submarine could possibly have to do with all of this, but Tessa’s face went white when you said the name.”

“But I feel like a traitor giving them that information.”

“You give something to get something,” Joe said. “You just logged in with my ID. Tessa seems like an obsessive-compulsive type. Now that she has access, she’ll probably find it hard to resist using it again… and again. Eventually, someone will notice that a dead guy is checking his email. That will tell Kurt and Rudi that she has us. Just might lead to them sending help. Assuming they can find us.”

“But if she has access, she doesn’t need us anymore.”

“She can’t know when they’re going to cut her off,” Joe said. “That should keep us alive for a while. Long enough to get out of here. Trust me, this place won’t hold us long.”

“How can you be so confident?”

“Because Tessa isn’t much of a warden,” Joe said. “She’s a businesswoman. Obviously, a brutal one at that, but she’s not equipped to keep us here.”

“We’re tied up, in a locked compartment,” Priya said.

“These zip ties won’t hold us,” Joe said, “not once I find something even moderately rough to use on them.”

“And the door?”

“This is an airplane,” Joe replied, “not Leavenworth. It’s designed to be lightweight and flexible. The skin and the ribs of the plane are strong, everything else is paper-thin. We could break that door down with one strong charge, if we wanted to. The problem is, the armed guards on the other side.”

“You’re quite the optimist,” she said. “Especially since it’s me you’re stuck with and not Kurt. I can’t exactly make a run for it, you know. And I can’t help you fight them unless you want me to trip someone or bite their ankles.”

“Tripping works,” Joe said. “Ankle biting, not so much. It’ll probably just ruin that beautiful smile of yours.”