Chapter 10
Kam held on to the rail in the narrow hallway as the ship pitched back and forth.
They were clearly no longer in the calmer waters of Resurrection Bay.
Out on the open waters of the Gulf of Alaska a calm day could still pitch a boat relentlessly.
If only he could find a window or stairs to the upper decks to get his bearings.
The smell of salt and diesel mixed with stale coffee as they walked into the mess hall. There were a few crew members gathered around the small tables screwed to the floor. No one paid them any attention as Katarina led them out the door on the other side of the hall.
"Those people wouldn't even look at us," Taylor whispered to him.
"Would you want to make eye contact with whoever was with her?" Kam nodded toward Katarina who was already headed up a set of stairs at the end of the hallway.
Kam peered into one of the doors that lined hall. Two bunks on either side of the room had curtains drawn to give each privacy. A small port hole between them showed the wanning light of day.
"Dvigat'sya." Katarina commanded them to keep moving from her perch halfway up the stairs.
The bridge came into view as they climbed the stairs—glass panels looked out over a restless sea, instruments glowed like constellations in the dimming light.
Looming in the distance were black outlines of islands that Kam didn't recognize from this far away.
Kam needed to see the radar to get a better read of where exactly they were in the Gulf of Alaska.
The bow of the ship dipped and rose with each passing wave, but Dasha Volkov stood resolute next to the captain at the helm. "Did you accept my offer?"
Kam squeezed Taylor's hand one last time before releasing it. "We will bring Ian to you."
"Kam, you can't…" Kam put up his hand to stop Taylor's objection.
"Good. You have forty-eight hours to bring him to these coordinates." Dasha handed him a piece of paper.
"That's not enough time." Kam took a step towards the radar screen; he needed to see where they were. The captain gave him a side eye that sent a clear warning to not come closer.
"If you can't deliver—" Dasha nodded her head and Katarina grabbed Taylor around her waist— "we will keep her."
Taylor slammed her head back towards Katarina, but the operative saw the move coming and spun Taylor up against the wall.
Kam took the distraction to strike Dasha in the throat.
Dasha stumbled back into the console gasping for breath.
The captain's elbow connected with the makeshift bandage covering the wound he earned from Katarina.
Pain exploded up his side and spots danced in his eyes, but he refused to go down.
Kam roared and clocked the captain with a solid right hook.
The captain crashed into Dasha, taking them both down.
Kam turned to find Katarina putting Taylor in a choke hold.
He took one step towards the women when Taylor flipped Katarina over her shoulder.
In the move, Katarina knocked her head on the corner of the desk along the back wall of the bridge.
Taylor heaved deep breaths as she watched Katarina's still form on the floor.
Kam came up behind her. "Let's get going before they recover."
Taylor nodded, but said nothing. They descended the stairs and made their way back to the mess hall.
The crew who had been there when they came through before were nowhere in sight.
Kam took the only other door from the mess taking them back towards the hall they first came down.
Passing the door to the space where they were held, Kam led them further into the depths of the ship.
Along the other end of the deck stretched two laboratories: one a bright, stainless-steel wet lab lined with tanks, vials, and secured equipment that rattled faintly when the waves hit broadside; another a dry lab glowing blue with computer monitors, sonar readouts, and flickering feeds from far below the ocean’s surface.
What in the world was Dasha researching?
Or was this some innocent ship that she commandeered?
Some of the crew they saw earlier manned the computers, but none of them paid Kam and Taylor any mind.
He'd have to figure out what this research ship was doing later.
For now, his top priority was to get them off this ship.
Another set of stairs took them to the upper deck and outside where the air bit into his exposed skin and the spray from the gulf soaked his clothes.
Hanging from a crane was a Zodiac and parked on the stern was a helicopter strapped down.
Kam didn't have enough time to unhook the copter, so he sent a prayer that God would protect them as he raced toward the smaller research boat. "Get in!" he shouted over the crashing of the waves.
Kam programmed the winch to lower and jumped on board.
Shouts lifted from the other side of the deck as they plummeted toward the choppy waters.
Taylor grabbed the side of the frame with one hand and clutched his waist with her other.
They splashed down and were immediately tossed by a wave.
Kam braced himself against the next wave and took staggering steps toward the helm.
The outboard engine loomed at the stern, cold and slick with spray. Kam checked the primer bulb then twisted the key—the motor coughed, sputtered, then caught with a sharp growl. A thin stream of water jetted from the side, and the hum deepened as he eased the throttle.
The Zodiac cut through the waters and skipped over the waves, sending spray over the bow as they raced towards the group of islands. Kam was able to see the Fox Islands on the map in the bridge before everything dissolved into chaos.
Taylor stepped up behind him and shouted to be heard over the engine and waves. "Where are we going?"
Kam lifted his chin toward the black silhouettes. "Those are the Fox Islands. Easternmost part of the Aleutian Islands. If we can get to Dutch Harbor, we can find help and get back to the mainland."
The wind whipped past them as he put distance between them and the research vessel. That didn't go exactly as he had planned. Life hadn't gone as planned since he proposed to Taylor the first time.
"Kam, were you really going to break Ian out of prison?"
The question pained him. "Do you think I would?"
"I would like to think you wouldn't, but you didn't even hesitate when she asked."
"I only told her what she wanted to hear. I worked too hard to get Ian behind bars to be the reason he got out."
Taylor said nothing, but leaned into him. Her quiet trust in him was enough for him to keep going. He would get them to shore and then they'd figure out a way to stop Dasha from whatever she was doing on that research vessel.
"What do you think they were researching?" Taylor asked after a few moments of nothing but the droning outboard motor and wind.
Kam didn't get a great look at the wet lab, but the dry lab housed computers with satellite images and weather tracking programs. "They were tracking something. Did you get a look at the wet lab?"
"There were tanks with rockfish in them and what looked like dirt in another. I couldn't tell what they were growing." Taylor went to the stern of the boat. Kam glanced over his shoulder. She bent over a chest next to the outboard. She dug through pulling out life jackets and a flare gun.
She returned with a grim look on her face. "Do you think that Dasha was the one funding the research or was the vessel just something she was using?"
"I'm not sure, but if she was doing the research, the better question would be why." Kam scanned the islands in front of them. He could make out Unalaska Island. Now to get on the right side to land safely.
The low whomp could barely be heard over the droning motor, but Kam turned slowly looking for the source. Off the port side of the boat a helicopter approached like a prowling mountain lion. Sleek and lethal.
"We've got incoming," Kam boomed.
Taylor's eyes widened as she registered what was coming their way. "What do we do?"
"We pray." Kam's grip tightened on the wheel. They weren't going to make this on their own. God would have to save them.
A shot pinged off the metal frame above Taylor's head.
The sea boiled around the Zodiac, each wave slamming against the inflatable sides hard enough to rattle her teeth.
Spray stung her face, sharp as needles in the freezing wind, and her fingers ached where they gripped the slick rope along the pontoon.
The chest in the back was a bust. Only emergency supplies, but no weapon. She wasn't sure what she expected to find, but they were sitting ducks in a floating inflatable. One bullet through the pontoon and they would have bigger problems than flying bullets.
"How much longer?" She raised her voice. Another ping sounded where she had been standing.
"Get down," Kam commanded.
Taylor ducked down but kept her head above the pontoon. Behind them, the horizon burned with the dying light of day while the helicopter closed in on them.
"We're not going to make it." She looked back at Kam. He stood with feet apart bracing the waves and weathering the raging storm. This was who he was—driven to lead, to protect, to face danger head-on. She didn’t know why he bore the guilt of Max’s loss, but she could see it in him—the heart of a warrior, steady and scarred.
The island crept closer, but all she could see were sheer cliffs diving straight into the sea.
No place for them to land. Kam seemed to know where they were going and that was enough to calm her nerves.
The Zodiac began to turn to the left. Was that the port or starboard?
She could never remember the difference between the two.
The sound of the rotors grew louder. Taylor could start to make out the outline of a pilot, but the wanning light was making it hard to see far. A figure leaned out the side of the helicopter, gun raised.