Chapter 5 - Shadows in the Hull
The sudden pitch-black darkness was followed by the sharp hiss of industrial venting.
"Nitrogen purge valve," Agent Lin said, her voice dead steady despite the lethal implication. "They're flooding the chamber room with inert gas."
"Standard dive supply manifold is against the western wall," I said, drawing my tactical penlight. The narrow beam cut through the thickening mist of cold gas. "Help me with the pressure release bypass!"
We lunged toward the heavy brass levers mounted along the steel bulkhead. My lungs burned with the first dry inhalation of oxygen-deprived air. My fingers, still aching from the brawl on the parade deck, locked onto the emergency override lever. Together, Lin and I threw our weight against the rusted iron. With a shrieking metallic groan, the valve broke free, venting the suffocating gas back out into the open bay.
Using a heavy fire extinguisher, I smashed through the reinforced glass window overlooking the service gantry. We climbed out, coughing, weapons drawn, just in time to see a black unmarked pickup truck roaring out of Pier Delta’s security gate.
Chief Callahan was gone. But he had made one fatal mistake: in his panic to lock us in, he had left his personal hard drive connected to the auxiliary terminal.
By 0400, Petty Officer Reed had cracked Callahan’s personal email chain. The orders to vent the room hadn't come from Kitsap. They had been transmitted directly from Pearl Harbor, routed through the secure communications suite of Rear Admiral Paul Sterling, Deputy Commander of Naval Surface Forces Pacific.
"Sterling is an untouchable," Agent Lin warned me as we boarded a Navy C-40 transport bound for Hawaii at dawn. "He sits on the Armed Services procurement committee. He commands three carrier strike groups. If you accuse him without a smoking gun signed in his own blood, Mercer can’t protect you. Sullivan was a minor lord; Sterling is the king."
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"Sullivan slapped me in front of a thousand sailors because he thought his kings made him invincible," I said, watching the gray mainland vanish beneath the wing. "Let’s go see what happens when the king runs out of pawns."
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