Chapter 40
"Where's the bomb!?" I shouted, but the dirtbag was gone.
The location died with him.
Jack climbed out of the sub and hopped to the deck.
"Okay, people, we've got four and a half minutes to find that bomb, or none of us will see the surface again," I shouted.
Water still gushed from the flange around the porthole. At the moment, it was the least of our concerns.
I told Elana to get the others.
She nodded, then darted through the habitat to find the rest of the crew.
JD, Flynn, and I searched the compartment. I wasn’t exactly sure what we were looking for, but I’d know it when I saw it. Probably some type of limpet bomb attached to the hull. That would do the most damage. I shared my thoughts with the others, and we narrowed our search.
We split up and searched at a frantic pace, moving through various quarters, scanning every inch of the habitat.
I joined with the others back in the control room, filled them in on the situation, and recruited them to search. "Did anyone see the terrorists place a bomb anywhere in this facility?"
They all exchanged dumb looks.
The clock was ticking…
3:59…
Tick…
Tick…
Tick…
We scoured every inch of the habitat.
Tick…
Tick…
Tick…
We searched berthing compartments, corridors, and the engineering room where this whole adventure began.
Nothing.
In our hurried state, it was possible somebody overlooked something.
1:43…
Tick…
Tick…
Tick…
Then it dawned on me. The bomb wasn’t inside the habitat.
It had likely been placed on the exterior pressure hull. It would have been easy to deploy manually or with the mini-sub’s articulated arm.
"I think it's time we evacuate the habitat,” I said when we regrouped in the control room. “JD and I will take one of the submersibles and see if we can locate the device outside. The rest of you can pile into the other sub and clear the area.”
"Then what?" Norrington said. “Without proper decompression, we’re dead anyway.”
"I don't have time to argue about this," I said, "If you want to stay, stay. If you want to go, go. It's your call.”
JD and I hustled back to the moon pool.
Flynn and Elana followed.
"We’re going with you," she said. "That's not up for debate."
Like I said, I didn't have time to argue the finer points.
I grabbed a few bailout bottles before boarding the mini-sub with the others. Flynn sealed the hatch behind us. JD took the helm and submerged the vessel.
I racked my brain, thinking about where I would place a limpet mine if I were the enemy.
The most logical place would be over the control room.
That's where it would do the most damage and be hardest to deal with.
You could seal off ancillary compartments, but the control room was mission-critical.
It was either that or the engineering compartment.
Either one of those would essentially take out the entire habitat and its occupants in one way or another.
I told JD where to look, and he navigated the craft around the habitat to the top of the control room. The floodlights spotlit the way, and we searched the hull.
It didn't take long to find the device.
I zoomed in with a high-definition camera and recognized it right away.
I rushed to the lockout chamber, sealed the hatch behind me, and opened the bottom hatch. I put on my fins and mask, then shouldered the harness for the bailout bottle and put the regulator in my mouth. There was enough oxygen left for a short dive, much more time than I would need.
Only seconds remained as I grabbed a plasma torch and a pry bar, then plunged into the frigid water.
Cold shock rippled through me as I swam toward the device. It was an M97x—an advanced Russian design. Common among terrorist groups and non-state actors. I was familiar with the device’s layout.
This one looked a little enhanced. It had a tapered conical metallic casing.
Inside, neodymium magnets attached it to the hull with 500 kg of force.
Not something you could easily pry off. And even if you could, there was an anti-tamper plunger that would detonate once you pulled it away.
The M97x also had electronic tilt sensors that could detect removal attempts.
The device was filled with PBX with HMX or CL-20.
Perhaps C4 or even Semtex. All of which were highly stable and needed an intense shock from a blasting cap to detonate.
The plastic explosive could withstand dramatic thermal changes and casual impacts and wouldn’t explode. It took an abrupt action to trigger.
The M97x had a digital exploding foil initiator, triggered by a high-voltage pulse.
The booster used nano-thermite for faster initiation.
Inside, the whole thing was controlled by an electronic circuit board and could be fitted with Bluetooth or an acoustic modem for remote operation, most likely the latter in this scenario.
The device hinged on a power source, which would trigger the detonator, which would then cause the C4 or PBX, or whatever the hell it was, to do its dirty business.
Most limpet mines were powered by a 9V battery.
But the M97x had a sealed lithium-ion battery.
If I could disable the power source, it would render the device safe.
But that was a big if.
The explosive compound was located in the conical section.
Below it were the magnets, circuitboard, power source, and anti-tamper switches.
All of which were accessible from the faceplate on the other side.
The faceplate that you couldn't get off once it was attached to the hull of the ship or a subsea habitat.
It wasn’t the first time I had disabled one of these things. I knew the basic layout of the components. But anything can change. Customizations can be made.
I tapped the base of the device with the prybar, listening for hollow and solid sections.
I looked at my dive watch.
19 seconds left…
18…
17…
My heart thumped my chest. I breathed heavily.