The yacht was overtaking them rapidly, the rear deck sliding towards her.

She drew back her hand. At the speed the ship was moving, she would only get one shot…

The interior of the cabin flashed with a blue electric spark, and the lights went out. “Shit!” yelled Trulli. “I’ve lost the-”

Nina threw the hook.

It arced through the air towards the rear deck, the line whipping in the wind behind it-

And bounced off a stanchion, dropping into the maelstrom between the two vessels.

Nina watched it fall in horrified disbelief, then frantically pulled the line back in. The hook clattered against the submarine’s hull. Another wave crashed over the bow, the hatch now a circular waterfall rapidly filling the cabin. The Wobblebug’s engines were dying, and the Ocean Emperor swept past at an ever-increasing pace as the smaller craft slowed.

She grabbed the hook again, and climbed fully out of the hatch, balancing precariously on the curved hull. Below, Trulli struggled to climb out of his seat as a ceaseless torrent of water pounded down onto him.

The yacht’s stern passed Nina. She saw a surge of froth from its propellers swelling to consume them, the suction of the wake about to drag the submarine under the water-Throw!

This time the hook cleared the hull, skittering over the rear deck before sliding back as the Ocean Emperor pulled away.

The Wobblebug’s bow pitched down into the froth-The line caught.

Nina just barely had time to grip it before she was snatched off the submarine and dragged into the water behind the huge yacht.

Trulli was only halfway out of the hatch as the Wobblebug nose-dived, its stern completely clearing the water before the whole vessel plunged beneath the surface, dragged down by the weight of water flooding the cabin. Blue flashes cracked from below the waves as the massive batteries shorted out, then the sea went dark.

Nina had no time to think about the Australian’s fate. Coughing and choking as freezing spray lashed her face, she pulled herself up the line, one hand at a time. The impact of each wave threatened to rip her loose and leave her to drown in the cold black ocean.

One hand. Then another.

Little by little, she brought herself closer to the yacht’s stern. Every time her body smashed down into the froth she could feel the propellers whirling hungrily below.

The cold numbed her hands, pain the only sensation remaining. A few feet…

She gasped for air as spray exploded all around her, trying to shake the stinging water out of her eyes. The yacht’s stern was a sheer wall of white-painted steel.

But there was something off to her side, above the centerline-

A ladder!

Access to the Ocean Emperor’s swimming platform when it was lowered and the ship was stationary. But Nina didn’t care about its function-all she knew was that it was there, and she could reach it.

If she could hold on.

With a new burst of energy, she pulled herself along the taut line and finally reached the hull, her shoulder thudding against the metal. Muscles burning as she lifted her legs out of the water, Nina kicked against the stern, swinging herself sideways towards the ladder.

She was too low. Her legs dropped back into the water, the chopping waves like claws trying to drag her to her doom. With a yell, she pulled herself higher and tried again.

This time she cleared the frothing wake by inches. Feet slithering on the slick metal, Nina forced herself across the yacht’s stern. The line bit into her hands. The ladder was just a few feet away, getting closer with each footfall on the wet surface, closer…

Taking all her weight on one straining arm, Nina grasped for the ladder. It was as wet and slippery as the hull, her numbed fingers unable to gain purchase. In a moment she would lose her grip on the line…

She kicked at the hull one last time, screaming in fear and fury-

Her fingers clamped around a rung.

For a moment she could barely believe it. Then, determination surging, she swung across to dangle beneath the ladder. Her feet hit the water, dragging in the ship’s wake, but she pulled herself up and managed to hook her arm over another rung.

Shivering, she hung there for nearly a minute until sensation returned to her chilled fingers. Finally, she summoned the strength to climb the ladder, one painful rung at a time.

At the top, she flopped exhausted onto the teak decking, water streaming from her soaked clothing and hair. If anybody had been there to see her, there would have been absolutely nothing she could have done to fight him.

But the deck was empty. Slowly, Nina raised her head. Above, she could see the nacelles and tail of the tilt-rotor protruding over the edge of the yacht’s helipad.

The sight energized her. If the aircraft was here, then so was Sophia.

And Chase.

Legs still shaking, Nina forced herself to stand. Some part of her mind noted with detached irony that she was standing almost exactly where she and Chase had fought at Corvus’s party, an age ago. But this time she was here not to argue with him, but to rescue him.

She ran her hands firmly over her clothing before squeezing her bedraggled hair, trying to wring out as much of the cold water as possible. The rear deck might be empty, but the Ocean Emperor still had a crew aboard, and a wet trail through the ship’s corridors would arouse the suspicions of even the slowest sailor.

As dry as she could get, she headed for the nearest door, trying to remember the layout of the ship. Three hundred and fifty feet long, someone had told her, with six decks. Enough cabins to accommodate more than forty passengers during a cruise, in addition to all the crew quarters.

A lot of places to search.

She suddenly remembered Trulli and looked back over the stern. She had no idea whether he’d managed to get out of the submarine before it sank. For a moment, she thought she saw a small light flash amid the endless darkness of the sea, but then it was gone.

“I hope you made it, Matt,” she whispered, clutching her pendant. Then she carefully opened the door and peered through.

It was a lounge, cream leather armchairs and a small bar. Empty. Nina crept into the room, its cozy warmth hammering home just how cold she had been in the water. She shivered, rubbing her arms, and paused to work out her next move.

First priority: find Chase. Once she’d freed him, they could take care of the next steps together, which were to locate and disarm the bomb, and then deal with Sophia and anyone else helping her.

So where would Chase be? He was a prisoner, so he was most likely to be somewhere that could be locked. That ruled out the staterooms, which were like hotel rooms in that the occupant could always open the door from inside. One of the holds, maybe?

She had to start somewhere, so it might as well be at the bottom and work up. A deck plan behind the bar showed emergency evacuation routes and the locations of the stairwells. She quickly went to a door at the forward end of the lounge. An empty corridor lay beyond.

Listening for movement ahead, Nina padded down the passage until she reached the stairs. She was about to descend when she heard something over the rumbling murmur of the diesels.

A moan?

It had come from the deck above. Nina cautiously crept halfway up the stairs and stopped to listen. It sounded like a man, possibly in pain. Chase?

She held still, anxiously waiting to see if the sound was repeated.

It was.

“Oh, for-” Nina hissed in angry exasperation when she realized what she’d heard. It was a moan, but not of pain. And now it was joined by another, a woman in the throes of ecstasy. Sophia. The man she’d heard was Komosa. “Hope they both get the clap!”