Shadow Catcher

Shadow Catcher Read Online Free PDF Page A

Book: Shadow Catcher Read Online Free PDF
Author: James R. Hannibal
And Wulóng”—Zheng reached out his window and waved to Han, who released the bloodied guard, letting him collapse onto the gravel—“tell them that I want no survivors.”

CHAPTER 5
    T hin metal shavings rained down through the water like gently falling snowflakes, glistening in the white beam of Nick’s dive light. After less than a minute of drilling, he removed the bit from the small hole in the side of the bomb to let it cool. He could not afford to overheat the casing that surrounded the fuze. A mistake like that might end his mission with a premature bang.
    Nick lay on his side with his back pressed against the partial barrier that separated the B-2’s left bay from its right. The bomb, like its twin, rested on the closed bomb-bay doors of the left bay. Both weapons had dislodged from their rack during the last, failed salvage, arming the fuzes.
    These armed bunker busters were the main reason that Nick and Walker left the wreck alone for so long. Any shift during another salvage attempt could set one off, killing the crew and scattering the wreckage across the relatively shallow floor of the Persian Gulf, a smorgasbord of stealth materials for the enemies of the United States. Nick had to neutralize the weapons so that the team could raise the bomber to towing depth and move it out to deeper waters for scuttling. But he had never defused a five-thousand-pound bomb before. He carefully pushed the drill bit back into the hole, took a deep breath, and gently squeezed the trigger. There was a first time for everything.
    Despite the claustrophobic conditions, Nick wished that Drake could have joined him in the bay. He could use the company. But the partially open doors of the other bay, half crushed against the seafloor, left only a tiny gap. Nick could barely squeeze through, even after removing his rebreather, mask, and tanks. With his broad shoulders, Drake could not follow. He had passed Nick’s gear through the gap and then moved off to set up the air bags that would lighten the bomber for the salvage cranes.
    Nick removed the bit to let it cool again, repeating the process over and over until he reached the seven-centimeter mark, just deep enough to penetrate the fuze casing. As he removed the bit for the final time, he let out a long breath. Halfway there. Unfortunately, the most dangerous and difficult part was yet to come. It might even prove impossible.
    After a few moments’ rest, Nick cracked open a drab green case and withdrew a monitor and a set of thin, melded cables. One cable held a fiber-optic camera and light, the other, a pair of tiny hooked pincers. He carefully slid the cable through the small tunnel and into the fuze casing. As the fiber-optic light illuminated the interior of the device, Nick’s heart sank. The fuze had seen better days.
    Long ago, during either the crash or the first salvage attempt, the fuze casing’s vacuum seal had cracked, exposing the metal inside to corrosive seawater. Instead of the gleaming steel mechanism that he had hoped for, he found a rusty, brown nightmare.
    Nick used a laminated diagram to identify the safing lever—a short arm with a loop on the end. He would have to pull that lever outward to manually disarm the bomb. A little round window next to the lever showed the status of the fuze. He checked his diagram. A red flag in the window meant the bomb was armed; a green one meant safe. He could clearly see red behind the glass.
    It took several tries to get the pincers through the loop. The rusty buildup had narrowed the gap to a little wider than the eye of a needle. When he finally got both hooks seated, Nick gently pulled on the cable. The lever didn’t budge. He tried again, gradually increasing the pressure until he feared the arm might break, but it had rusted solid.
    Nick sat back in frustration. If he gave up, the team would have to attempt the salvage with at least one live weapon in the bay, an immense
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