Only Human (Themis Files, #3)(50)

—Well, it’s away from that helicopter. Central, how about some help? We’re fine in here, but the girl won’t make it if we get hit from the front. I’m running as fast as we can, but I can’t outrun a chopper, and we can’t fire with a kid in our hands. Can we get some air support?

[Negative, Lapetus. Our bird is rescue only. F7 is the closest Swedish airbase. We’ll have griffins in the air in two minutes. We’re looking at another five before they get to you.]

Central, that’s not good enough. The girl will be toast long before they get here.

[Checking with Swedish Navy. The…H?rn?sand is the closest ship to your location. She might get there faster.]

Can she blow that chopper out of the sky?

[She’s a corvette—57 mm guns on top. Be advised, Swedish forces will fire warning shots, but they will not engage unless fired upon.]

Fired upon! What the hell do you think we’ve been doing out here? He’s coming at us again. Incoming!

—Captain!

—Dammit!

—Turn us around, Bodie!

—My leg won’t move. We’re stuck in mud or something. Turn the body away.

—That’s as far as I can—AAARGH! That one hurt.

[Lapetus, is—]

We got hit in the shoulder. The girl is…She’s OK! She’s OK! I see her moving.

—Must be one hell of a ride.

—She won’t take much more of this. We need to move.

—My leg’s free. We’re moving again. Lieutenant, can you see the helo? I’ve lost it.

—I don’t see it either. Maybe it’s gone.

—I doubt that. It seemed very motivated a second ago.

Got him. He’s hiding in the sun. Coming straight at us. Oh, you think you’re clever, don’t you?

—He’s coming fast!

—I’m taking us across.

—No! I don’t think we’ve cleared the—

—He’s firing again. I’m turning.

—Ugh. Same shoulder.

—Screw this! I’m heading west.

—Captain! No! You need to clear the trench! Oh, shit.

—…

—Back us up! Back us up!

—I’m trying! We’re too heavy. The ground keeps giving under our feet.

—Back us up, Captain. Now!

—I can’t! It’s too steep.

—Keep trying, Bodie!

—I can’t do it! We’re sinking.

—Central, we walked right into the trench at South Kvarken. We’re going down.

—How deep is this thing?

—Ten thousand feet at the deepest.

[Roger that, Lapetus. What about the girl?]

I can’t keep her above water anymore. Central, we’ll lose comms soon. I have to let her go. Dammit! She’s still holding on. Come on, girl! Let go!

All right, Central, she’s all alone in freezing water. You better get someone here fast. It’s a rough sea.





FILE NO. 2157


DEBRIEFING—COLONEL SMITH, US ARMY, AND CAPTAIN LUCAS NILSSON, SVENSKA MARINEN

Location: Musk? Naval Base. Near Stockholm, Sweden —You are the captain of the HSwMS H?rn?sand, is that correct?

—Yes. Is Rear Admiral Bj?rkman going to join us?

—No. It’s just us.

—What is this? Is this an official inquiry?

—Call it what you want. We just want to know what happened.

—With all due respect—Colonel, is it?

—Yes.

—With all due respect, Colonel. You are an officer in the US Army. I am a captain of the Swedish Navy. I understand that our governments are…cooperating, but— —Captain, with all due respect, I am not asking. Let’s not waste any more time pretending you have a choice. You won’t like how this ends. Believe me, I have all the authority that I need.

—What do you want to know?

—I want to know why we have a nineteen-year-old in a coma.

—I believe her heart stopped, and she had to be revived.

—The H?rn?sand was less than five minutes away when she went in the water. She should be having cocoa right now, not lying unconscious in a hospital bed. What took you so long?

—I strongly believe I should be having this conversation with Rear Admiral Bj?rkman.

—Capt—

—He should at least be in the room.

—He was unavailable. Don’t make me ask again, Captain.

—Ask what? You said we were less than five minutes away. That’s how long it took us to get there: less than five minutes. We didn’t stop for snacks. It took us another five or six minutes to find the girl.

—Why?

—Why? You didn’t lose an aircraft carrier, you lost a tiny human in a really big sea.

—We didn’t lose anything.

—Well, your people had her, then they didn’t. You can draw your own conclusions. The waves were much bigger than she is. We were almost on top of her when we spotted her waving.

—That’s what? Ten minutes in the water.

—Freezing water. Water temperature was three degrees Celsius.

—Three degrees Celsius, that’s…

—More than two. Less than four.

—I would lose the attitude if I were you. You said she was waving at you. I take it she was still conscious.