Читаем Collapse Depth полностью

“Seven-thirty-one. The Admiral is calling an emergency meeting in the secure conference room in thirty minutes.”

Soldato hung up without saying another word and donned his uniform silently to avoid waking Cindy, who had fallen back asleep.

• • •

Angi was running. It had rained during the night, cooling the air to a perfect running temperature. It was still dark, but she planned to run fourteen miles, which would take her a good two hours, and she had timed her start so she could enjoy the sunrise as she ran. She was already nostalgic about running, knowing she’d have to give it up soon. She’d come to the sport late, never ran in high school, but took it up with a vengeance in her junior year at Vanderbilt, after completing her first 5K. Her boyfriend at the time had talked her into it, and she decided she very much liked the feeling of running by him, and those sorority girls wearing make up for a race, and, even more, those posturing fraternity boys, who gasped for breath as she glided by. She’d run seven marathons in her life, a dozen half marathons, and more 5Ks than she could count. Now it would be taken away from her. She could get one of those jogging strollers, she supposed, after the baby was born…but sometime between now and then she would just have to stop for a while. In the meantime, she would enjoy each run like it was her last.

She ran her usual route, out of her neighborhood onto Trigger Road, feeling good in her legs, with only a slight twinge in the right knee that occasionally gave her problems. She was fast and strong, enjoying the first part of the run down to the Trigger gate that was all slightly downhill, the perfect warm up. The run to the gate was about a mile and a half, just about the amount of time it took for her to begin sweating mildly, breathe properly, and to feel the soreness in her feet and hips disappear. She was alert for any sign that her pregnancy was affecting her running — or that her running was affecting her pregnancy — but so far, so good. She just felt fast. She cruised down the hill toward the gate, her stride lengthening.

There were a few cars at the gate, some government vehicles, some civilian contractors showing up early. Only two gates were open, so even though it was early, the cars were backed up, their brake lights casting long, red reflections on the damp asphalt. She approached the back of a minivan and recognized it immediately; the Soldato’s. What would bring him to base so early? She wondered. There was no telling when your world consisted of eight submarines and all that could go wrong with them.

She ran past it, and confirmed that Soldato was driving, but he was worriedly fumbling with something in his passenger seat, maybe getting out his military ID for the gate guard, and he didn’t see her. She ran about another one hundred yards to the gate and turned around, ready now to really get into the meat of her run. She was facing Soldato now.

As she neared him, he saw her, then recognized her. She lifted her hand to wave, but the look on his face stopped her cold. He looked like a man who was staring absolute calamity in the face, and when their eyes locked, she knew beyond any doubt that it involved Danny.

He drove through the gate and left her behind, standing on an empty road outside a submarine base, on the side of the gate where no one knew anything.

• • •

In Maneuvering, Duggan pulled a cloth flash hood from an EAB, twisted it a few times, and tied it around his forehead, banzai style. He pushed on the center of it, felt the blood soaking through, hoped it would at least keep the blood out of his eyes so he could do his fucking job.

He heard the twin bangs of the BST buoys as they launched, not knowing what it was: they all jumped at the sound. He knew he lacked perspective, was the least experienced guy in the maneuvering, but was certain their crisis was dire. He knew it from his training, and he knew it from the tense fervor with which the three enlisted men in maneuvering were now performing their jobs. When the odd order for the three-second emergency blow came across the 1MC, Duggan felt his heart sink. It seemed to him an improvisation, tinged with desperation.

The depth gage in maneuvering was just inches from his head. It looked like an antique, a large analog dial. But like everything else in maneuvering, Duggan had studied the gage, and he’d always taken comfort in the fact that while crude-looking, that depth gage was a completely reliable pressure gage that was attached, by means of a long, thin pipe, directly to the ocean that surrounded them. In a world of electronic and digital intermediation, his depth gage represented an undeniable, hardwired reality.

Перейти на страницу:

Все книги серии Danny Jabo

Похожие книги

Утес чайки
Утес чайки

В МИРЕ ПРОДАНО БОЛЕЕ 30 МИЛЛИОНОВ ЭКЗЕМПЛЯРОВ КНИГ ШАРЛОТТЫ ЛИНК.НАЦИОНАЛЬНЫЙ БЕСТСЕЛЛЕР ГЕРМАНИИ № 1.Шарлотта Линк – самый успешный современный автор Германии. Все ее книги, переведенные почти на 30 языков, стали национальными и международными бестселлерами. В 1999–2023 гг. снято более двух десятков фильмов и сериалов по мотивам ее романов.Несколько пропавших девушек, мертвое тело у горных болот – и ни единого следа… Этот роман – беспощадный, коварный, загадочный – продолжение мирового бестселлера Шарлотты Линк «Обманутая».Тело 14-летней Саскии Моррис, бесследно исчезнувшей год назад на севере Англии, обнаружено на пустоши у горных болот. Вскоре после этого пропадает еще одна девушка, по имени Амели. Полиция Скарборо поднята по тревоге. Что это – дело рук одного и того же серийного преступника? Становится известно еще об одном исчезновении девушки, еще раньше, – ее так и не нашли. СМИ тут же заговорили об Убийце с пустошей, что усилило давление на полицейских.Сержант Кейт Линвилл из Скотланд-Ярда также находится в этом районе, но не по службе – пытается продать дом своих родителей. Случайно она знакомится с отчаявшейся семьей Амели – и, не в силах остаться в стороне, начинает независимое расследование. Но Кейт еще не представляет, с какой жутью ей предстоит столкнуться. Под угрозой ее рассудок – и сама жизнь…«Линк вновь позволяет нам заглянуть глубоко в человеческие бездны». – Kronen Zeitung«И снова настоящий восторг из-под пера королевы криминального жанра Шарлотты Линк». – Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung«Шарлотта Линк – одна из немногих мировых литературных звезд из Германии». – Berliner Zeitung«Отличный, коварный, глубокий, сложный роман». – Brigitte«Шарлотте Линк снова удалось выстроить очень сложную, но связную историю, которая едва ли может быть превзойдена по уровню напряжения». – Hamburger Morgenpost«Королева саспенса». – BUNTE«Потрясающий тембр авторского голоса Линк одновременно чарует и заставляет стыть кровь». – The New York Times«Пробирает до дрожи». – People«Одна из лучших писательниц нашего времени». – Journal für die Frau«Мощные психологические хитросплетения». – Focus

Шарлотта Линк

Детективы / Триллер
Агент на месте
Агент на месте

Вернувшись на свою первую миссию в ЦРУ, придворный Джентри получает то, что кажется простым контрактом: группа эмигрантов в Париже нанимает его похитить любовницу сирийского диктатора Ахмеда Аззама, чтобы получить информацию, которая могла бы дестабилизировать режим Аззама. Суд передает Бьянку Медину повстанцам, но на этом его работа не заканчивается. Вскоре она обнаруживает, что родила сына, единственного наследника правления Аззама — и серьезную угрозу для могущественной жены сирийского президента. Теперь, чтобы заручиться сотрудничеством Бьянки, Суд должен вывезти ее сына из Сирии живым. Пока часы в жизни Бьянки тикают, он скрывается в зоне свободной торговли на Ближнем Востоке — и оказывается в нужном месте в нужное время, чтобы сделать попытку положить конец одной из самых жестоких диктатур на земле…

Марк Грени

Триллер