Chapter 10
It had taken nearly two days to repair all the damage done in the circuitry room and to the boat following their drop to the ocean floor. Now that everything had been repaired and double checked they were ready to lift off the bottom and resume their journey.
"Blow all ballast tanks, Mr. Morton, 5 degrees up bubble, ahead one third," Lee ordered once he was satisfied with the status of his boat.
"Blow all ballast tanks, 5 degrees up bubble, ahead one third, aye," Chip repeated to the helmsman who in turn echoed the order. Seaview hesitated for a moment as she pushed up out of the muck then began her ascent.
"Take us to 90 feet," the captain ordered.
"Ninety feet, aye sir," the XO repeated and they began their slow ascent to the surface.
"Okay everyone keep a close eye on your stations and call out if you run into any problems. Is that understood?" Lee called out to the control room crew.
"Aye Skipper," was returned from each man.
Lee strolled back and forth in the control room stealing glances from each of the stations making sure everything was operational and safe for them to continue on. He smiled and patted each man on the back as everything appeared green across the board. "Looks like we're back in business, Mr. Morton. Well done, well done all."
Lee walked over to the periscope island and picked up the microphone. "Attention all hands, we are now fully operational and headed back home. Thank you all for your outstanding efforts to make repairs and get us back on course. Crane, out." An audible sigh of relief seemed to escape from everyone aboard at the news.
"All right Chip, set us a course for home, best speed," Lee ordered. Chip quickly acknowledged the order and provided the necessary coordinates and speed to the helmsmen.
"That takes care of one problem leaving us with one big one remaining. Now all we have to do is find that monkey." Chip said. Lee nodded grimly as he recalled the gruesome sight of Watkins lying on the deck ripped to hell.
"I don't like the fact the thing has disappeared. Security has nearly torn the boat apart looking for the damn thing and come up empty. I have no idea where else to have them look," Lee answered. "Well now that everything is up and running I'm heading to my cabin to take care of that mountain of paperwork that has been breeding in my in box. You have the conn."
"Aye Skipper, I have the conn," Chip replied with a smile. "Have fun." Lee shot him a slight scowl, waved then headed to the staircase and his cabin.
(o)(o)(o)
Two days had passed and as Fred had hoped vigilance of the security teams had begun to lessen as they continued their patrols of the corridors. They were no longer jumping and investigating the slightest noise hopefully giving him the opportunity to sneak into the vent system and steal into Crane's cabin once more.
With Cummins down in the lab with Blanchard, Amherst pried open the vent cover and hoisted himself inside. He had studied the schematics of the boat and had a basic idea how to get to where he wanted to be. He carefully pulled the cover shut then as quietly as possible began making his way towards the captain's quarters.
After nearly twenty minutes and a couple of wrong turns later he finally found himself in the vent shaft opening into Crane's cabin. As he was ready to push the cover open he suddenly froze when he heard the cabin door open and someone come in. He pushed back as far out of view as possible and watched to see who had entered. The next thing he saw was Crane moving back and forth across his cabin. A few minutes later he eventually pulled out his desk chair sat down grabbed a pile of papers from a box on his desk and began working on them.
Amherst fought hard to bite back the groan of disappointment as he watched Crane settle in for the long haul. He mentally debated whether to hang out where he was and hope the man left shortly or make the long crawl back to his cabin and try again later. After a few moments he decided that he would sit tight for the time being and pray someone paged him and required his presence somewhere else on the boat.
Fred sat quietly in the shaft watching Crane shuffle through the papers and efficiently move them from one box to another as he completed his work. As the time dragged on and he began to consider crawling back to his cabin to try later, Crane was contacted by the admiral requesting his presence in his cabin. The captain quickly returned his papers to the top box on his desk and exited his cabin presumably to see the admiral in his.
As Crane exited and the door shut Amherst wasted no time pushing the vent grate open and entering the cabin. His legs felt like wet spaghetti since he'd been sitting motionless and cramped up for so long. Returning circulation to his extremities he quickly made his way to the head and looked around. Much to his delight he spotted a discarded bandage with a trace of blood on it no doubt used to cover the gash on his forehead. He snagged the item out of the trash shoved it into the plastic baggie he had in his pocket, climbed back into the vent and made his way back to his cabin. Reaching his cabin, Amherst eased his way out of the vent shaft and just as he was shutting the grate Cummins entered.
"Whatcha doing?" Greg asked as he regarded his cabin mate pushing the grate shut.
"Nothing, I thought I heard something scurrying around inside and was just taking a peek," Amherst replied.
"You probably should've called security instead of investigating yourself," Cummins said. "The last thing you want to find is whatever tore that poor kid apart."
Fred nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you're probably right. I hadn't thought of that. I'll let one of the security guys know next time I see one. So what's going on?"
"Kevin sent me back to get you to help out with sample identification. The divers were really thorough when they collected things."
"Sure thing. I was getting kind of bored anyway," Amherst lied. "I need to use the head and then I'll go on down to the lab."
"Okay I'll see you down there," Greg replied. He regarded Amherst for a moment more, there was something going on with this guy but he just didn't know what. He decided he'd report that Amherst heard something in the vent shaft to one of the security details just to make sure they were aware of it.
(o)(o)(o)
It was just past 0200 when Amherst woke. He listened intently to his cabin mate making sure the man was sound asleep. Hearing the soft snores he figured he was out so he eased himself out of bed pulled on his clothes and exited the cabin.
As the door clicked quietly shut Cummins opened his eyes. Where the hell would he be going this time of night, he wondered. Not fully trusting Amherst, he decided it would be a wise thing to find out what he was up to now. He quickly got dressed then headed out the door to find his colleague.
Amherst had kept a close eye on the roving security patrols and knew that they had just completed their sweep of the corridors on this deck and would have moved on to the next giving him the opportunity to move to the storage room undetected. He crept silently down the passageway hoping to make it to his destination undetected.
As he rounded the corner next to the storage room he nearly ran into one of the security teams. He ducked back around the corner and froze hoping they hadn't heard him and would move on. The seconds moved like hours before the two man team continued down the passageway and up to the next deck. Amherst sighed in relief then quickly moved to the storage room and entered before the detail changed their minds.
Once inside he locked the door then waited quietly listening for anyone else passing by in the corridor. Now certain that he was alone, he moved over to where he had his stuff stashed and pulled it out. He withdrew the plastic baggie from his pocket opened it and dumped the soiled bandage into the bowl. Next he made a small cut in his finger and added his blood on top. He then removed the mingehe from its box, removed its collar and placed next to the bowl. He added a pinch of the magic powder, recited the incantation and then lit and dropped a match into the bowl and watched it flare to life. He fanned the smoke over the figurine then sat back and waited for the magic to do its work.
Again the wait seemed interminable and as Amherst shifted uncomfortably on the cold deck and began collecting his things the mingehe's eyes snapped open fixing him in its beady gaze. An evil smile spread across his face knowing this time there would be no mistake. "Go, destroy," he whispered to the thing then climbed to his feet picked up the mingehe and deposited it in the air vent. As he shut the grate he heard the unmistakable scratch of its claws against the metal beneath it as it made its way towards its intended victim.
His juggernaut dispatched, Amherst quickly collected his items and returned them to his hiding place. Hopefully after the mingehe's next kill he could retrieve them and stow them for good until they reached home. He smiled once more then moved to the door opened it and came face to face with his cabin mate leaning back against the bulkhead across from him.
Fred's look of shock could not in any way be hidden from the man standing across from him. "What the hell are you up to Amherst?" Cummins asked, his eyes narrowed.
"Uh…nothing, nothing at all. Just couldn't sleep and went for a walk," Amherst stammered.
"You can't lie worth shit you know that? So cut the crap. You don't go into a store room and lock the door because you can't sleep. You've been acting odd ever since we came aboard. What were you doing in there?"
Amherst's mind was a maelstrom of activity as he quickly tried to formulate a plan to take care of Cummins for the short term until his could sic his 'friend' on him to make sure his secret stayed safe. A plan finally taking shape, he had to act now or risk all of this coming down on him.
"Yeah, well you caught me. I traded some stuff with Dharbaka to get an odd bit of jungle magic and I was just trying it out. Come on in and I'll show you what I've been doing," Amherst replied with some embarrassment.
Cummins regarded Amherst for a moment trying to think of anything the old man had that Fred would likely be interested in. His curiosity now piqued, he wanted to see what the man had been doing. "Okay, show me."
Amherst opened the door and entered the room with Cummins following after. Cummins sniffed and wrinkled his nose at the lingering scent of the burnt offering. He watched as Amherst moved over to where he'd hidden his stash and pulled it out. He laid out the articles on top of a crate and then stepped back to allow the other man to inspect them.
"So what is it?" Cummins asked staring at the items.
"It's really quite amazing," Amherst replied. "Dharbaka gave me a doll that can be brought to life if you make an offering and say a few words of mumbo jumbo over it. I've been practicing so I can show it to my nephew when I get home."
Cummins stared at the man as if he were on drugs or crazy. After a moment he moved forward and began looking at the things Amherst had laid out; a wooden box, a bowl, a gold collar and chain, a razor and a leather pouch with some sort of powder in it. As he picked up the small box to open it Amherst attacked hitting him in the back of the head with a length of pipe he had found in the room. Cummins went down hard and immediately lost consciousness.
Amherst stood there over his victim breathing hard and shaking, shocked and amazed at what he had done. As the adrenaline surge faded he quickly surveyed the room looking for anything he could use to bind the man. His search turned up a box of large zip ties which were perfect for his needs. He grabbed a handful then set to binding Cummins hands and feet. He also spotted a roll of duct tape, tore off a length and pasted it over his victim's mouth.
That done he stepped back and looked down at his handiwork. He couldn't believe he was capable of taking the man down and the thought of that rattled him. Knowing there was no way he could let Cummins live he would give the mingehe one final task.
He dragged Cummins over to the corner of the room and moved a few boxes in front of him to keep him out of sight if someone should come into the room. He whisked everything back into the small bag and shoved it behind the boxes by the unconscious man. That done he moved to the door cracked it open and surveyed the corridor. Finding no one about, he eased his way out of the room and beat a hasty retreat to his quarters to await the sound of the alarms once someone discovered Crane's mutilated body.
(o)(o)(o)