Chapter 4 / Page 5

Wong turned away from the monitor showing the sail camera’s perspective. “Override elevator and close the hull.” He looked across the control room. The ready board had more red than green showing. “Prepare to dive.” He looked back at the sail monitor. The elevator was not closing. A sick feeling crept into his gut. “Elevator status?”

A moment passed before a weak voice answered, “Captain, elevator is jammed open.” It came from the intercom. Wong locked eyes with his Number One. Dead men at the bottom of the elevator were piling up, and those that remained had already been poisoned.

Wong turned to his Number One. “Manual override.”

The officer shook his head. “Manual override can only take place from inside the biohazard room.” He flipped the channel switch on the monitor. “The biohazard room, Captain. Those men are dead or close to it. There’s no one left to raise the elevator.”

They could not stay on the surface. The American Navy would find them in daylight and discover the terrible weapon they had been sent to deliver.

“Take her down.”

“Captain, we’ll have flooding in the hull.”

Wong shook his head. “Secure water tight doors. Rig for shallow dive.” There was another moment’s pause, but the age-old tradition that a captain is lord and master took hold.

“Yes, sir.” Number One turned and shouted the correct orders.

He turned back to the monitor. The deck canted slightly and the 404 began to disappear beneath the surface of the Gulf. Water rushed in from the open wound in the hull. Waves flung the inert bodies about the biohazard room before the camera failed, and the relentless sea took for its own those men still clinging to life.

That was when they discovered the periscope had been hit by one of the Iraqi bullets. Water began dripping from the eyepiece, and the delicate Japanese electronics did not react well to salt water. The pressure hull integrity was compromised. A vessel that could be tracked by American sonar now made more noise than ever due to the hole in the hull.