Chapter Thirty-Four

 

 

 

THE MOMENT OF INSERTION was upon them.

Wearing nothing but a flimsy, sleeveless chemise beneath a dressing gown, Isa curled her bare toes over the rough cement edge of the BURR training pool and stared at the two biomech octopuses slinking about beneath the water. Under Miss Lourney’s close supervision, buckets of salt and a large, noisy aerator had turned the pool into an enormous aquarium.

“They seem hungry,” she murmured, watching the way they paced back and forth upon their tentacles, their eyes constantly scanning. One stopped moving, fixing its slitty-eyed gaze on her.

“They are,” Miss Lourney agreed. “Lobster‌—‌and other offerings‌—‌failed to satisfy them. Sausage casings filled with sheep’s blood settled them some but‌—‌” Her sideways glance held a note of apology. “I expect they’ve developed a taste for Finn.”

Isa’s stomach flipped and sank to her knees. She didn’t relish being thought of as a food source. The thought of letting that horrid creature touch her, of allowing it to fuse with her cardiovascular system gave her nightmares.

She glanced at Alec who stood beside her. And she worried harboring this parasite would drive the wedge between them even deeper. He’d grown distant and tense, all while imparting a barrage of details concerning submersible operations. Somewhere in the fifth hour of lectures her brain had all but shut down, refusing to absorb any additional material. A fact that Alec discovered while quizzing her.

A few feet away, Aron swore. “The things I do for my country. For my people.”

From the moment he’d agreed to raid the megalodon, every other word from his mouth had been profane, and she concurred with every sentiment.

“You don’t have to do this.” Alec squeezed her hand. “We’ll catch Drummond another way. Or Moray can handle it alone.”

“Moray prefers backup.” Aron slanted him a look. “Finn are not infallible.”

Too true. “I’m going,” she said simply. There was no need to say more. Repeated discussion had exhausted the topic. Besides, fear had all but stolen her ability to speak.

Pouring for hours over pages upon pages of schematics, the BURR men had drawn a number of conclusions. One, that despite being a marvel of Danish engineering, the floating castle could easily be scuttled with the detonation of a number of well-placed explosives attached to the pontoons that held it aloft. Two, releasing the OctoFinn from the megalodon would be best accomplished by positioning the submersible directly beneath the castle at a depth of one hundred and fifty feet‌—‌fifty meters‌—‌well below aquaspira depths.

The exit of the OctoFinn would provide an infinitesimally narrow window of opportunity for Aron and her to board the megalodon. While they attempted this daring feat, the remaining BURR men would patrol the pontoons, disabling explosives and OctoFinn.

Individual assignments were given, plans were drawn up, reports were issued‌—‌only to be shredded and tossed aside for a better scheme, the process repeating itself until everyone was satisfied. Except Alec. There were dark circles under his eyes, ones she’d put there. Isa hated that she was the cause, but she was determined to see this through.

She felt responsible for the entire situation. Without her research into Finn blood factors, biomech octopuses wouldn’t exist. There would be no OctoFinn, no captive women and children aboard a megalodon. An international alliance would have no reason to fear an underwater attack.

Not that Iceland or Denmark had taken Mr. Black’s warnings seriously. Selkies were mythological creatures. No, they would not evacuate the floating castle or delay the wedding. Had Queen Victoria lost her mind?

Aron tugged off his dressing gown and, wearing nothing but a pair of drawstring drawers, beckoned to Miss Lourney. “Do it.”

Miss Lourney flushed bright pink at his near nudity‌—‌or was it appreciation for Aron’s muscular form?‌—‌but she bent close, applying scalpel to skin. She made tiny nicks above his axillary artery and femoral vein. Aron barely flinched. The hope was that the scent of blood would guide the biomech octopus, helping it to attach quickly and accurately.

With a final string of searing expletives, he dove into the pool. The octopuses immediately moved in his direction.

Isa quickly shed her robe, lifting the hem of her chemise. Aron did not need two octopuses simultaneously attempting to attach to him.

Miss Lourney made two shallow cuts. “Good luck.”

“Opposite ends of the pool,” Alec growled, clearly unhappy with the thought of anyone else glimpsing her nearly naked form, especially Aron.

Some dark, primitive part of her relished Alec’s absurd, simmering jealousy.

He had insisted upon bathing suits, and Moray had laughed so hard he almost stopped breathing. Isa pointed out that clothing would impede the attachment process. Prudish, Scottish morals were finally satisfied with a bare minimum of underclothes.

She pulled the pearl ring from her finger and pressed it into Alec’s palm, curling his fingers about it. “Keep it safe for me,” she whispered, finding it impossible to say more. If only they’d had more time to sort out their feelings without the constant weight of everyone’s eyes upon them.

He frowned. “Don’t do this. Please. Too many things can go wrong. I want‌—‌”

Raising onto the tips of her toes, she stopped his words with the gentle press of her lips. She wanted too. Wanted to promise him everything. Love. A future. A family. But she wouldn’t promise him a future she wasn’t certain she had.

Perhaps there were other, more qualified Finn men in the Navy who could take her place, to risk their lives in her stead. But time was limited‌—‌it was impossible to know who might be allied with her uncle or under the scrutiny of Commander Norgrove‌—‌and this was personal. Her uncle had stolen her life, her research, even her husband. Everything. She intended to wrest back whatever she could manage, to fight for a future on her own terms.

She ran her palm slowly down the side of Alec’s rough, bristled cheek as he returned her kiss. Did she dare hope love was the motivation behind his almost-proposal? Did she dare place the care of her heart in another man’s hands? Searching out those answers would have to wait, but when this was over she would do her best to find out.

Taking a deep breath, she plunged into the pool. Hanging in the water fully submerged, Isa opened her eyes. A biomech octopus turned on his tentacle tips and began to slink in her direction. Surfacing, she swam to the side of the pool and grabbed hold of the ladder, gripping its rungs and bracing for the first tentative touch that would signal its arrival. She gritted her teeth against the bad memories of being held captive in Lord Roideach’s tank, of Thomas’s stick.

Hungry for blood, the creature wasted no time. Within minutes, its heavy weight settled upon her back, wrapping cold, suckered tentacles about her neck and waist. A tentacle twined about her thigh, tapping. Isa closed her eyes, fighting a desire to flee.

“One word,” Alec said through gritted teeth as he crouched beside the pool. “And I will end it.”

“No.” Her voice quivered. “This is something I have to do.”

On the far side of the room, Moray howled. And then she too felt a piercing pain, as the barbed tip of the braided wire pierced the skin of her thigh. Muscles in the octopus’s tentacle twisted and writhed, pushing the barb deeper, anchoring itself within her flesh.

She whimpered as another tentacle twined about her shoulder. Gritted her way through another piercing pain. One more time. The beak. The hirudin. She could do this. But when the octopus bit down on her shoulder, sinking its beak into her trapezius, she could hold back no longer. She screamed.

Through it all, Alec stayed beside her, steadfast and supporting, though she saw in his eyes the pain it brought him to be able to do nothing to ease her suffering.

Panting, she struggled to keep her breathing even, waiting, dreading the final stage: blood vessel fusion. There it was…‌ a curious kind of lightheadedness. The room about her wavered and shifted as her blood pressure plummeted, as the creature siphoned off a full third of her blood volume.

“Isa?”

She couldn’t answer.

Alec called to Miss Lourney. A needle pierced her arm. An intravenous saline line. But not fast enough, for stars twinkled and winked before her eyes a moment before blackness swallowed her whole.

~~~

Floating. Rocking. Drifting.

“That’s the one-hour mark,” Shaw called. “Tell him to come up and give us a report.”

Isa peeled her eyes open. Some ten feet away, the BURR man stood on the pool deck, stopwatch in hand. Another man‌—‌impossible to name as he was suited up much like Alec had been when he’d attempted to rescue her after the megalodon attack‌—‌pushed the mouthpiece of his aquaspira into place and sank beneath the water.

Aron surfaced a moment later, shaking water from his hair. “Amazing. Almost worth the pain.”

“Might turn off the women,” Shaw quipped.

“Might.” Aron’s gaze flicked in her direction. “Unless she was wearing one too.”

“Watch it,” Alec growled.

“What‌—‌?” Isa lifted her head from his shoulder.

Warm, solid and fully dressed, Alec floated in the pool beside her. Despite the biomech octopus latched onto her back‌—‌a nightmare of a dowager’s hump‌—‌his arm was wrapped about her waist, holding her tight against his side. The other gripped the pool’s edge.

“You passed out from temporary blood loss,” he reminded her.

And he’d leapt into the water to hold her head above water. Warmth spread through her. “How long have you‌—‌?”

“Two hours.” Worry filled the depths of his eyes. He pushed aside a lock of her wet hair. “How do you feel?”

“Sore.” Her shoulder throbbed, and there was a sharp pain in her thigh. She shifted. So did the octopus. Its pliant flesh brushed over hers, sending a ripple of nausea from her stomach into her throat. But it was too late for regrets; it was done. She swallowed her disgust. “Uncomfortable. But otherwise fine.”

“I hate to say it, but Moray’s results are impressive. The biomech octopus has an innate intelligence that anticipates his actions. It moves to assist him with every task. Your own octopus has kept a slitted eye on me this entire time, as if it remembers me. I’ve the uncanny feeling that with the slightest questionable move on my part, it would reach out to strangle me.” Alec’s hand slipped from her hip, trailing over the wet cotton of her chemise as he loosened his grip. “Moray has come full circle. At first he hated the creature, now he’s named it Rupert.”

Isa rolled her eyes.

“I know.” He flashed her a grin even as his arm fell away, leaving her bobbing in the water. “It’s time for you to trial any new superpowers you now possess. We’ve only a few more hours here in the pool.”

“Hours?” The schedule drawn up last night involved a full day of training exercises.

Alec’s mouth flattened into a grim and worried line. “Keeping this room on lockdown is proving difficult. A number of high-ranking Naval officers have made inquiries. One even attempted to personally gain access. My brother is worried your uncle covertly alerted Commander Norgrove. In any case, we’re being watched, and no one can be allowed to know Finn‌—‌or the biomech octopuses‌—‌exist.”

“Agreed.”

“While my brother arranged for Lady Roideach to claim her husband’s body, Miss Lourney worked with the engineers to assemble a container to transport you both to the submersible. Sea loch training maneuvers begin tomorrow.” He glanced over her shoulder, past the creature, and frowned. Isa turned. At the far end of the pool, Rip and Rowan‌—‌wearing dive suits and aquaspira breathers‌—‌slid into the water.

Ah, he was needed elsewhere. “You should be with them, training.” She gave him a light push. “Go.” The octopus perched upon her back reached out with one tentacle and poked Alec’s shoulder.

For an awkward moment, they gaped at the creature.

“I’m not certain if it agrees with you, or remembers how I brutally separated it from Jona.” He squinted. “Is it the same one?”

“Impossible to tell.” She forced a smile onto her face, not wanting to keep him from necessary tasks. Besides, he would still be in the pool, a short swim away. “I wonder what would happen if I were to kiss your cheek?”

His eyes widened.

“Go.” She laughed. “Train with Aron. There are at least half a dozen OctoFinn you will meet beneath the floating castle.”

All humor drained from around his eyes. “When this is over, we talk.”

Before she could respond, he turned, planted his hands on the edge of the pool and vaulted onto the deck. Folding her arms, she propped her chin on her hands and watched‌—‌unabashed‌—‌as he stripped away every last inch of his wet clothing, reminding her of all she’d yet to explore. Soon. The very minute this was over and her body was once again her own. He winked, then pulled on loose, linen trousers that‌—‌given the rough stubble of his dark beard and tousled damp hair‌—‌made him look like a shipwrecked pirate. On went his heavy rubber suit and the aquaspira breathing device. With a final wave, he grabbed a long stick and leapt into the deep end of the pool, ready to battle Aron and Rupert.

She dropped beneath the water’s surface and swam the perimeter of the pool, adjusting to the feel of the octopus that gripped her back. With each kick, with each stroke, the creature assisted, propelling her almost effortlessly along the bottom of the pool. Four times she circled without the slightest urge to surface for a breath of air.

Irritatingly impressive.

Sinking to the deepest portion of the pool, Isa sat. As her red hair fanned out about her in a coppery cloud, the octopus adjusted its buoyancy, coiling its tentacles loosely about her arms and shoulders. Unable to bring herself to touch it any more than so-compelled, she folded her hands in her lap as the BURR men executed training maneuvers.

Married to a military man.

She tried to envision it. Never before had she had time for romance. Perhaps there had been a brief moment of possibility with Aron years ago. Standing in the moonlight on the beach when she’d received her first real kiss. But any chance they’d had was doomed long before he had petitioned her uncle for her hand. Not with a certified, licensed Finn physician living in Glasgow pressing his suit. With the slightest nudge, she’d rushed headlong into marriage, grasping at an opportunity that promised her so much, but delivered only disappointment and heartbreak.

Marriage was a commitment she’d not intended to repeat, unable to believe that any man could possibly be worth taking such a risk again. She’d been content to live alone, carving out a new life one day at a time.

Until Alec swept into her life, taking her by storm with his easy smile and his charming, flirtatious ways. Appearing at a Finn wedding, demanding escort to examine a dead body, swimming to her boat injured, but determined to unravel the mystery. A burst of bubbles escaped her lips. How long had she managed to resist him? A few days?

Beneath the water in front of her a mock battle raged. Aron played the role of an enemy combatant. Hand-to-hand‌—‌or rather hand to tentacle‌—‌combat as the BURR team tested a variety of techniques and weapons for fighting a man hosting a parasitic biomech octopus. The creature‌—‌Rupert‌—‌had bonded with Aron, observing and responding to his body language without delay. Between Aron’s BURR training and the octopus’s assistance, he had the decided advantage.

From the very beginning, Alec had made it clear he had no interest in marriage. As had she. The sparks between them were to be fanned into a torrid affair, one that would eventually end. But somehow, despite being doused repeatedly by treachery, a stronger bond had been forged between them.

What would it be like to be married to one Captain Alec McCullough? The very moment an engagement ring appeared in his hands, her heart had begun to pound with misplaced hope.

A false engagement. A brief ruse to inject a touch of discord into a social event, just enough to ensure an overly persistent mother and daughter would allow them a few moment’s peace. She’d not expected for him to offer for her in truth, hardly dared hope that he would want more than the torrid affair he’d promised, but now she was the one who hesitated.

These past weeks had been filled with excitement and terror. When this mission was over, what then? She would never ask him to leave BURR or the Navy, but could she handle being left on shore while he disappeared on secret missions for days, weeks, possibly even months? Would the worry wear her down? Would regrets surface?

And what of her future? If she were willing to adjust to his life, would he extend her the same consideration? Standing together on the beach, he’d encouraged her dream of attending medical school. Would he do the same if she was his wife? She rather thought he might. Her heart flipped with joy. Was she a fool to hope she could have it all?

Wrapped in rubber and an alarming face mask, Alec finned to her side, pointing upward.

With a kick of her feet, she and her creature swam to the surface and joined Aron at the pool’s edge. Her octopus reached out with one arm to grip the side of the pool, holding her steady. Uncannily impressive.

The clock hanging upon the wall indicated that, though she’d spent more than two hours completely submerged, not once had she felt a need‌—‌or even an urge‌—‌to breathe. Terrifyingly impressive.

Alec peeled the mask from his face and caught her gaze. “It’s time,” he said, clasping her hand as he nodded toward the door.

With a great clanking and rattling, several men pushed forth two cast iron bathtubs with wheels affixed to their claw feet. Attached to the side of each was an aerator, frothing and churning the water within.

Mouths hanging open in shock and amazement, the men glanced at each other but said nothing, not daring to inquire about the odd, slitty-eyed octopuses that stared at them from the shoulders of a nearly naked man and woman.

“Ready for your bubble bath, Moray?” Rowan laughed.

With a smirk, Aron pointed at his teammate and a tentacle reached out to grab Rowan by the ankle and dunk him. He glanced at Alec. “That’s the solution to transporting us, tubs on wheels?”

“Parasitic octopuses are rather outside the realm of Navy preparation and experience,” Alec answered. “This will be a short‌—‌if interesting‌—‌trip to the harbor.”