Chapter 60
Indian Ocean
Thursday
4:33 p.m. Local Time
The Vyrezka had performed flawlessly. The parachutes had deployed without a hitch, slowing the descent down. The squatty space capsule splashed down in the middle of the Indian Ocean as previously planned. The inflation devices deployed and the ship surfaced and bobbled up and down on the waves like a buoy.
It had been an endeavor to get Vladimir out of his suit. His left arm was shot up pretty badly and had stuck to the adhesive of the safety patch he’d applied during the fight. Michael had to cut most of the suit material away. He’d lost a lot of blood, but he would survive.
They had waited for hours watching through the satellite feed of the progress of the Russian and American naval ships coming for them. They were only a matter of hours away. A few times both countries had flown fighter jets over in search patterns and Michael was certain that they had been spotted.
M and V,
Time to swim.
R
Michael popped the hatch of the Vyrezka for the last time and helped Vladimir out. About ten meters away a long, gray, concrete cylinder emerged from the calm seas. The concrete submarine the multibillionaire drug lord Roberto Ibanez had built for smuggling drugs, guns, and people continued to rise to the surface. A hatch on top opened and Roberto climbed atop, waving at them.
“Time to go, gentlemen. We must hurry before company arrives!”
Michael and Vladimir jumped from the Vyrezka, falling into the small, inflated yellow life raft. Once they were clear of the spacecraft and were moored to the submarine, Michael opened a menu in his virtual view and flipped an icon from red to green.
“She was a good ship, V,” he said as an explosive charge detonated within it, blowing out the bottom.
“Yes, comrade. There will be more.”
The two men watched for a moment as the spacecraft sunk beneath the surface. They climbed aboard the submarine and greeted Roberto with handshakes.
“Congratulations! Men, you have done the impossible.”