Chapter Thirty-Three

 

 

 

DRESSED IN ALL THEIR afternoon finery, Alec and Isa burst into the BURR operations room. Logan‌—‌dressed in his well-tailored but unimaginative dark suit‌—‌stood alongside Shaw, Moray, Rowan, and Rip. Joining them was one Mr. Danel Guthrie, Isa’s brother. All of them bent over the large, wooden table at its center. Several brightly lit Lucifer lamps hung overhead, illuminating sheaves of paper covered in line drawings: the detailed plans for a submersible.

Shaw’s head snapped up. “A top hat to a mission briefing.” He grinned. “Classy.”

“Is it, though?” Moray’s lips twitched as he tapped his chin. “I think the brocade waistcoat takes it a touch too far.”

“But the lady looks lovely.” Rowan swept a bow. “Silk sets a refined tone our team sadly lacks.”

Isa caught at her skirts and curtsied. “Standards, gentlemen, must be raised.”

The men snickered.

“Is that a ring I spy upon your finger, milady?” Shaw’s eyes sparked with unabashed interest.

The mood in room shifted. All humor evaporated.

“Isa?” Her brother frowned.

In their haste to leave, they’d not thought to tuck away his grandmother’s pearl ring for safekeeping. No need to maintain the charade before his team. Alec pried open his mouth to say something flippant, to deny the significance of the adornment.

But Moray’s eyebrows slammed together, and he took a step in Isa’s direction. “Tell me you didn’t. I’d hoped‌—‌” He bit off the rest of his sentence with a guilty glance at Alec. He’d lied. Moray was not at all over his infatuation with his childhood sweetheart.

“What I have or haven’t done is none of your concern.” Isa lifted her chin, honoring her promise to consider his offer, to make her decision when the danger was past and her uncle behind bars. Or dead. Alec rather preferred the second option. His mind flashed to the empty cave and the certainty that there were women, possibly children, aboard the man’s submersible. Dead, provided it didn’t come at the cost of innocent lives.

In any case, he certainly wouldn’t be allaying any of Moray’s romantic concerns, not when he hoped to convince Isa to say yes, to accept his suit. Instead, he stared stonily at Moray, sending a clear message as he slid his arm about her waist and drew her tight to his side.

Mine.

There was a moment of stunned silence. Then Shaw threw his head back and roared with laughter. Rip stared in disbelief. Rowan hooted. Moray paled.

Holding up his hand, Alec caught his brother’s eyes. “Lady Roideach arrived as planned. In exchange for a death certificate, she’ll provide the details of her husband’s plans. For now, all we know is that he intends to have his OctoFinn sink the castle before the wedding.”

“Sink? We’d not considered that possibility. We’ll have to table this discussion for now.” Logan’s eyes glimmered with plans and backup plans and who knew what else. “Suffice it to say, Mr. Guthrie was good enough to share what he knows of the megalodon’s interior layout.”

Isa gaped at her brother, then swept forward. She scanned the diagrammatic sketches strewn across the surface of the table. “You built a submersible for Uncle Gregor?” Distress laced her voice.

“No,” Mr. Guthrie said. Yet shame hunched his shoulders. “But I may have accidentally helped design its mechanics, though I’ve no idea when or how the biomech aspects were incorporated.” His eyes were downcast. “Uncle Gregor came to me a year ago, wanting to discuss hypotheticals. I produced a few drawings.” He waved his hands at the papers. “A submersible modeled upon the side-to-side swing of a shark’s tail. To generate lift, the top portion of the so-called tail has to slant backward and extend past that of the bottom‌—‌”

Logan cleared his throat. “Thank you, Mr. Guthrie, for all your assistance. The information is invaluable. I’ll fill them in later. I wish I could allow you time with your sister, but I’m afraid there are now other pressing matters to which I must attend.”

A corpse, for example.

“A moment.” Isa’s brother crossed to stand before her and spoke in a low voice. “Though Mr. Black informs me you are a valued, if temporary, member of this team, I have serious doubts about allowing you to remain in their custody, particularly given this Scot appears to have asked for your hand in marriage.”

Isa sucked in a breath. “I will marry whomever I choose, Danel. And I’m here of my own free will. I’m not going anywhere.”

Alec met her brother’s stony stare. “I’ll do everything I can to keep her safe.”

“Very well.” Though Mr. Guthrie didn’t look the least bit convinced, he recognized defeat. Pressing an awkward kiss to Isa’s cheek, he said his goodbyes. “Send a pigeon if you change your mind.” The heavy iron door clanged shut behind him.

“Follow me.” Logan turned on his heel.

They marched down the long hallway to the BURR indoor training facility. Without stopping, Logan passed through the gymnasium, ignoring the curious stares of a handful of new recruits, to another hallway‌—‌this one tiled. He shoved open the door and waved them all through.

The indoor swimming pool itself was empty, a rarity. Easy to understand why men were foregoing its use. At the side of the pool sat two large, cylindrical glass tanks. A band of iron encircled the rim of each, allowing metal mesh lids to be locked in place. Each tank held a convalescing biomech octopus attended to by Roideach’s former laboratory technician.

“Welcome!” Bright-faced, Miss Lourney greeted them. Hands clasped tightly at her waist, she rocked onto her toes. “The creatures healed remarkably fast once I repaired the tips of the braided wires incorporated within their attachment appendages.” She glanced over her shoulder at the tanks. “So much so that I’ve sedated them. Catching an escaped octopus sporting two barbed legs is remarkably tricky.”

“Legs?” Shaw asked. “I thought octopuses had arms.”

“Not incorrect,” she answered. “Though it’s generally accepted that two appendages function as legs to propel them along the sea floor. In this case, those two limbs have been modified to insert and fuse with the vasculature of a Finn host expressing a blood protein designated factor Q.”

Beside him, Isa shuddered. He caught her hand in his and gave her fingers a gentle squeeze.

“Excuse me, Miss Lourney.” Logan interrupted the biology discussion, drawing everyone’s attention. “Time is of the essence. Listen closely. Regardless of how you arrived here, your participation is not mandatory. In fact, it’s probably ill-advised. Major Fernsby is on extended leave. This is a joint operation between BURR and the Queen’s agents involving two civilians. However, you will be working for me, under my command, and Queen’s agents work strictly off the record.”

The BURR team exchanged wary glances.

Logan continued, “If this operation goes bad, we’re buggered. The Queen will disavow all knowledge of our activities. We may well face criminal charges, possibly in the courts of a foreign government. If all goes well, her Majesty will look upon us fondly, but nothing will be committed to paper or placed in our files. Ever.”

The men shifted on their feet. Miss Lourney’s posture grew rigid. Isa, however, lifted her chin. Pride swelled in his chest. Like all his team members, little could make her back down.

“If we do nothing, an attempt will be made to sink a floating castle‌—‌along with all its guests and residents‌—‌into the North Sea. In our territorial waters. Under our watch. I do not have time to list the political ramifications of such an event.” Logan scanned the room. “If anyone wishes to leave, now is the time.”

The chaos resulting from such death and destruction would keep countries at each other’s throats for months, possibly years. A diplomatic nightmare. Drummond might not wish his fledgling would-be country to become involved in a war, but he might well start one.

No one moved.

“Good.” Logan nodded. “To sum up the situation. A high-ranking man in the British Navy is Finn. He‌—‌and those who have aligned themselves with him‌—‌regard themselves as a people separate from that of the general Scottish population. For several years, he has fostered a small but growing group of Finn situated on the Faroe Islands. We know his ultimate goal was to wrest control of the islands from Denmark and establish an independent kingdom.”

Isa frowned. “A goal he has been working toward for quite some time.”

“Until the royal wedding upset his plans.” Moray crossed his arms and frowned.

“Exactly. As a wedding gift, the King of Denmark promised Iceland control of the Faroe Islands. To provide his daughter with an appropriate wedding venue and later a residence, he commissioned a floating castle, currently en route to the islands as we speak. The intent is to affix the castle‌—‌via complicated engineering techniques‌—‌to the Tinganes peninsula adjacent to the capital of Tórshavn.”

“And you collected this information how?” Alec needled his brother.

“As if I would compromise my sources.” Logan fixed his intense gaze upon Isa. “Thank you, Mrs. McQuiston, for meeting with his chosen queen. I’m almost certain it was unpleasant.”

She nodded. In the warm, humid air of the natatorium, tendrils of hair that had escaped Isa’s upsweep began to curl, much like the heat in his loins. Tonight he would twist his finger through its coils and‌—‌

“I will inform my superiors of this latest development, but the Queen has indicated that Iceland and Denmark are both dismissive of her concerns.” Logan cleared his throat. “Our basic mission consists of two goals. One, board and take control of the megalodon. Two, prevent Drummond’s OctoFinn from scuttling the floating castle.”

His teammates all swore at once. It might be spring, but it wouldn’t feel like that in the waters of North Sea.

“Do we have any schematics for the castle?” Shaw asked.

“A rough approximation,” Logan answered. “With the help of whisky, one of my men contrived to coax one of the project engineers into boasting about the construction. He wrote down all such details in a notebook. I’ll have it in your hands by morning. Alec, Shaw, Rowan, and Rip. You will function at approved aquaspira breather depths beneath the pontoons that keep the castle afloat. Plan to intercept and disable any OctoFinn and/or explosive devices. Moray and Isa will attempt to board the megalodon.”

His brother glanced at him, and Alec knew. “No,” he said, his voice low and threatening.

“It’s the only chance of rescuing those aboard Drummond’s submersible,” Logan replied, his expression implacable. “No one else can dive that deep. Mr. Guthrie indicated that there are two underwater ports located on the‌—‌”

“You want to fuse a biomech octopus to Moray,” Alec concluded. It wasn’t a bad idea, but‌—‌

“Hell no!” Moray shouted, backing away.

Alec had expected exactly that reaction. What he hadn’t expected was to watch Logan’s gaze once again fall upon Isa.

She paled.

“You can’t be serious,” he said. Fury filled his chest as fratricide became a real possibility. His brother did nothing impulsively. Like a game of chess, he always thought several moves ahead, and that was why the BURR team was assembled in the natatorium beside the tanks of two rescued and repaired biomech octopuses.

His heart slammed against his sternum. Sending Isa into the icy depths of the ocean wasn’t protecting her, it was deliberately placing her in harm’s way. He could feel an artery at his temple begin to throb. He wanted to forbid her participation. The words were on the tip of his tongue when he bit them back. He’d promised to treat her as an equal, but how could he possibly view her as such? Her natural skills were breathtaking, but she lacked any military training.

“Finn men attached to an octopus can easily function at great depths with no worries of equipment failure or decompression sickness.” Logan pressed onward, seemingly unaware of his brother’s skyrocketing blood pressure. “There’s no reason to think a Finn woman less capable. The megalodon need never surface near the castle. How else do you propose we board the submersible?”

Isa placed a hand on Alec’s arm and took a deep, shuddering breath as she stared at the two tanks. “I want to help,” she said in a low voice. “Cold doesn’t affect me, nor will the depth. You’ve seen me swim. I can do this.” Stiffening her back, she faced Logan. “I’m in.”

Shaw and Rowan jostled Moray with their elbows, taunting him under their breath.

Moray’s response blistered even Alec’s ears. “Fine,” he spat out, his face red.

“There is a reason only men serve on the BURR teams.” Alec had to raise his voice to be heard over the ruckus. “In case your keen observational skills missed it, my fiancée is a woman. She lacks the physical strength to open a submersible port from the outside. She has no weapons training.”

“I escaped that OctoFinn, did I not, wielding nothing more than a dive knife?” Isa threw him a glare, then huffed. “I can learn to fire a pistol. Moray can open the hatch and steer. That megalodon is filled with my people, with women and children, hostages to make the men cooperate. There’s not a chance in the world I’m staying behind.” Frowning, she stepped away from him. “If you can’t handle working with a civilian female, I’ll work with Aron. He knows the full value of a Finn woman’s abilities.”

Oh, hell no. There was not the faintest chance of that happening. Crossing his arms over his chest, he blew out a long, rough breath as he struggled to reconcile himself. It didn’t work. Still, he had no choice. “Fine. I’ll support you. But only if you agree to an intensive training session wherein you learn the bare basics about how to pilot a submersible.”