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Lady Hawk was unlike any woman Shakespeare had ever met. She was beautiful in a Greek goddess way with porcelain skin and stunning blue eyes. Although none of the women wore makeup, it was more evident with the team leader because she was truly blond. Her eyelashes and eyebrows were so light they seemed to reflect the green light from the dashboard.
She was poised yet commanding. He’d grown up around girls who had been taught from birth how to stand, how to sit, how to hold their hands. Most had been taught dance from an early age and seemed to have an ingrained elegance to their movement. Lady Hawk showed many of those characteristics. Shakespeare wondered if she, too, had been raised with wealth. Had she also shunned her family’s money to risk her life in the military, like him?
The woman also had an assurance about her. He would have known without anyone telling him that she was the team leader.
Shakespeare was pleased when she sat quietly and simply observed. So many women in his life had felt the need to fill every slice of silence. Whether they were driving in a car together, hiking up a mountain, or riding in a boat, most women would ask him a thousand questions.
Maybe that was why Shakespeare loved to introduce women to scuba diving. Under the ocean was one place where they couldn’t talk. They could communicate, but useless conversation wasn’t possible. Some people thought scuba diving was quiet, but the ocean was filled with noise. Like a breeze, the current has its own particular sound that was constant or surged like a gust of wind.
You know you’re alive underwater because you hear every breath you take. Bubbles leaving your equipment always show you the way home. Those were comforting thoughts for him. He loved the world under the surface.
Lady Kite rolled over onto her side, giving him an excellent view of her perfect derrière sticking out from under the blanket. She had made sure he understood that the other women were involved with someone back home, but she hadn’t included herself in that category. He doubted she would have flirted with him if she had a man waiting for her as well. Depending on how long they were going to be around, she might be an interesting distraction.
“How much longer until we reach our destination?” Lady Hawk interrupted his thoughts.
“Perhaps another thirty to forty-five minutes.” He estimated. “If you’d like to rest, I’ll wake you when we’re closer.”
“Thank you, but I’m fine.” She checked her watch then pulled a satellite phone out of a side pocket and began texting. When the screen lit up, her smile was small and sweet. Whomever she was texting, it was personal.
The vibration of the phone shocked them both. Shakespeare could tell by the huge smile that Lady Hawk was happy for the phone call. “This is a surprise.”
“I’ve got this.” Spear pointed to the laptop.
She mouthed thank you, then walked to the stern of the boat when she carried on an animated conversation for the next ten minutes.
“Thanks for handling everything while I talked to my fiancé.” She picked up the laptop and checked their location on the navigation screen. “I apologize for taking a personal call in the middle of a mission. I was supposed to pick him up at National Airport tomorrow morning but that was before we got diverted here.”
“Not a problem, at all.” He let his gaze sweep over the empty ocean a hundred and eighty degrees in front of them. “There’s nobody here but us and a fuck of a lot of ocean.”
Her gaze shot to his. “Are you sure about that?”
Not for the first time, he wondered what he wasn’t being told.
Before he could ask the question, she sat the computer back on the chair. “I’m going to awaken my teammates.”
Shakespeare watched as Lady Hawk tapped each sleeping woman three times on her shoulder. Almost in unison, the women sat upright, eyes wide open, alert and attentive. “We should be at the coordinates in about fifteen minutes. We have work to do.”
“Let me hit the head and then we’ll see how good this new submersible really is.” Lady Kite’s boots hit the deck as she produced her own red flashlight. She said nothing to him as she passed but paused to check the computer and the nav screen.
When she returned to the main deck, Lady Kite picked up her computer and clicked a few keys, expanding the view. Their target was ahead and off to the right.
“I was wondering if it could be more accurate.” Shakespeare adjusted course, then swerved around an outcropping that, according to the depth finder, was only five feet below the surface. He’d slowed to nearly a crawl. “We’re right along the windward edge. The slope here is much steeper than on the other side.”
“Let’s cross our fingers and hope it’s not too deep.” Lady Kite voiced his own thoughts.
Shakespeare watched the numbers on his screen. A hundred feet to their port, the bottom of the ocean was over two thousand feet deep. On the starboard side, the water was only forty feet.
“Got it,” Shakespeare announced as he perfectly lined up the two dots. “We should be right over top of it.” He stared at his screen, then pointed. “I think this is your airplane.”
Smiling, she said, “Well, let’s see.” She went to the back of the boat as the other two women assembled a spiderlike drone.
Shakespeare wondered what the hell they thought they could to do with that. Applying it over the area in the middle of the night was crazy. It was nearly midnight and they were in the middle of an ocean. Even if they’d had powerful lights available to them, they would never shine deep enough to see the downed airplane.
Lady Kite opened a second compartment and pulled out what looked like a very thin rolled up piece of plastic. She unrolled and unfolded, then attached it to the case using a built-in frame. When finished, it looked like a thirty-six-inch television screen.
“Ready,” Lady Hawk announced when the other two women finished the drone assembly.
Lady Kite lifted a gaming controller from the foam. “Here goes nothing.” She dramatically pressed a button.
“It works,” she squealed as the encased rotors began to turn. “Lady Hawk, get SOCOM on the line.”
Like a gaming pro, Lady Kite maneuvered the drone to take off from the deck and circle boat.
Shakespeare crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the gunwale. If this was their big secret weapon, they were fucked.
“Turning on the cameras now,” Lady Kite announced. The other two women stood in front of the screen, which showed the most beautiful high definition video of his boat.
“Nice.” Shakespeare admitted.
“Sir, we are testing aerial now.” Lady Hawk spoke into the satellite phone. “Putting you on speaker. Present are Shakespeare, Lady Harrier, Lady Hawk and Lady Kite. Are you getting this video, sir?”
“Nice boat, Shakespeare,” a deep baritone boomed over the surprisingly small satellite phone.
“Thank you. Am I speaking with General Lyon?” Spear wasn’t a hundred percent sure, but he thought it sounded like the man who committed him to this mission.
“Among others,” the general noted. “Let’s see if she’ll swim.”
“Yes, sir.” A huge smile crossed Lady Kite’s face. Using her thumbs and tilting the controls forward, the drone reshaped into a V before his eyes. When she tilted the controls forward, the drone dove into the water.
Shakespeare stood and strode quickly to stand behind the women who were staring at the large screen as underwater images became clear as day. The small lights were surprisingly bright.
“Lady Kite, this is operations. Testing long-distance control. Taking over on my mark.” The technician back in the States maneuvered the wedge-shaped submarine through the water.
“This is fucking cool,” someone who sounded a lot like General Lyon said over the phone’s speaker. “Now, quit playing around and give Lady Kite back control. Go find that plane. We’re all here watching.” A deafening squeal was heard nearly two-thousand miles away.
“Are we getting feedback over the phone?” Spear asked.
All three women laughed. “No. The general needs a new chair,” Lady Harrier said. “Lady Hawk, get on that, will you?”
“Yeah, right.” The team leader rolled her eyes.
Everyone watched as Lady Kite flipped more lights on and made the drone dive. Like a video game, she opened a box in the corner of the screen so she could see the locations of the black box, the mini sub, and the boat, while the remainder of the screen was filled with the bottom of the ocean in front of the sub.
Purple lace coral fans gently waved in the current. A school of silver fish scattered as the sub passed through. When faced with a wall, she had to maneuver around a rock outcrop before continuing toward her goal.
Numbers started to appear in the lower right-hand corner. Over the open phone line, someone yelled wahoo. “Water temperature, current strength, GPS location, fuel consumption. Data points are streaming in.” The numbers changed constantly.
Ignoring everything else, Lady Kite concentrated, trying to match the two dots.
He thought he could see the outline of the plane. “There it is,” Spear called out. She moved next to him.
Shakespeare was instantly hit with her light scent. He glanced toward her, immediately noticing that her hair was down and gently blowing in the breeze, as though she were wrapped in a black satin sheet. He wondered if her hair was as silky as it looked. He wanted to reach out and touch it, to feel for himself.
“Where?” she asked without looking up at him. “I don’t see anything, but I know I’m close.”
He stood silent for a moment, frozen in place, his mind completely filled with the woman called Lady Kite.
“Did we lose it?” Lady Hawk asked as she stepped to Shakespeare’s other side.
“No.” He shook his head trying to clear his thoughts. “You’re not used to looking at the ocean at night. Swing the lights back around to the right.”
She did as asked, and he immediately saw the tail. Shakespeare traced the shark fin-looking tail. “We’re looking at it from the rear.”
“Oh, I see it now.” She deftly maneuvered the sub closer to the plane.
“It’s sitting in eighty-three feet of water. We can dive that.” Shakespeare hoped the excitement didn’t show in his voice. He was thrilled to be part of this operation, but happy they’d found the downed plane so quickly.
With the skill of a long-time computer gamer, Lady Kite guided the miniature submarine around the outer edge of the airplane. As they came to the far side, she was able to duck under the wing.
They all saw the gaping hole at the same time.
“Holy fuck.”
“What the hell?”
“Is that what I think it is?”
“Lady Kite, can you get closer?” General Lyon asked. “Are the edges of that hole curled inward?”
“Yes, sir. That’s the way it looks here.” Lady Hawk said as Lady Kite got within inches of the hole.
“Fuck. Somebody shot it down,” General Lyon announced. “Lady Kite, can your new toy get inside and retrieve the voice and data recorders?”
“Let me see if the windshield is broken out.” She continued explaining, “I doubt I’ll be able to pick it up, but I might be able to download the information.”
She maneuvered the sub around the front of the plane. When the light swept over the pilot and copilot, a hush fell over everyone watching.
“Bring them home,” General Lyon ordered.
“Yes, sir,” Lady Harrier said solemnly. “Do I need to perform an autopsy?”
The general gave a heavy sigh. “No. Just take the usual samples and send them with the bodies. We’ll deal with it stateside.”
“Sir, that might change depending on what we find in the back.” The warning in Lady Harrier’s voice wasn’t missed by anyone.
“I’m in,” Lady Kite announced. The miniature submarine moved slowly past the pilot and copilot. The pulsing dot on the screen helped locate both the bright orange devices in the tail of the plane. “Found them.” She let the light illuminate both the Cockpit Voice Recorder and the Flight Data Recorder. “We’ll have to bring them up with the vials since they’re bolted down and weigh about ten pounds each.”
“Lady Kite, this is operations center, your battery capacity is diminishing. Continue with the search.”
“Checking the boxes,” she announced as she found her way to the back of the airplane.
The minute the submarine’s light hit the reflective tape on the outside of the boxes, Shakespeare understood why time was of the essence.
And he was pissed.
As though the black circle inside the yellow triangle wasn’t enough warning, BIOHAZARD emblazoned across each box screamed its contents. Shakespeare wasn’t at all surprised to see stickers proclaiming Centers for Disease Control plastered on every side.
“Lady Kite, let’s look at as many of these boxes as we can.” Lady Harrier stepped closer to the screen. “General Lyon, are you seeing this? I only count five boxes that had fallen. It looks to me as though the rest are still held securely by the netting.”
“Yes, Lady Harrier, I see that, also.” His chair squealed as he must have forward. “I can also see those cardboard boxes are deteriorating in the saltwater.”
“Sir, the viruses are securely packaged inside a plastic receptacle which is inside the secondary watertight tube. What you’re looking at is the rigid outer package, which yes, is cardboard.” Lady Harrier let out a long slow breath. “Sir, if we can get to them fast enough tomorrow, they should be fine.”
“General Lyon, do you have an ETA on our gear?” Lady Hawk asked.
“Yes. Captain Tambini is personally overseeing the loading of all your dive gear as we speak.”
The three women exchanged smiles.
The general continued, “She is also bringing along the tools of her trade. She’ll handle the demolition if it all goes to hell. You can expect her to be there in the morning.”
“Thank you, sir.” Lady Hawk said, and the women nodded at each other once again. “We truly appreciate you allowing us to use our own dive gear.”
“Lady Kite, operations center here, your batteries are running low. We suggest you return the drone immediately to the boat.”
“Already retreating,” she announced.
“Shakespeare, the items you requested are also on the airplane that will be there in the morning. I remind you all, once again, this mission is of the highest priority.”
Shakespeare was not going to let him go before he got to ask some questions. “General Lyon, before I bring these women back out here to dive on this downed plane, what the fuck is in those boxes? I can read. CDC. Biohazard. I’m not about to endanger their lives, or mine, without a damn good reason.”
“Lady Hawk, tell him. SOCOM out.” The line went dead.
The drone broke the surface and flew through the air, circling the boat once before gracefully landing next to the metal suitcase.
“I’ve got this.” Lady Kite walked over to her new toy. “You might need Lady Harrier to explain some of it.”
Shakespeare crossed his arms over his massive chest and placed his legs shoulder width apart, rocking with the waves. “We’re not going anywhere until I have answers.”
“The general gave me permission to tell you. I have no reason to keep anything from you.” Lady Hawk glanced to where Lady Kite was disassembling the drone. “I’d really like to get some sleep tonight before we have to dive tomorrow. Can we talk on the way back to Grand Turk?”
He didn’t move. “I’ll make that decision. Start talking.”
Lady Hawk mimicked his stance. “Those are live samples of a new man-made virus that were stolen from a Russian lab twenty-two hours ago. If you thought the coronavirus put the world into a panic, that was child’s play compared to what this virus can do.”
Lady Harrier stepped up beside her. “I have no idea who you are or what your scientific background is, but I am a physician. I’ve worked with the CDC and World Health Organization before in the highest levels of quarantined materials.” She pointed toward the ocean. “That shit scares the fuck out of me.”
Still unsure how much Lady Hawk knew about him, he decided to give Lady Harrier a brief explanation of his background. “Although my degree is in finance, I have made underwater biology my personal specialty. I’ve studied the pristine walls and coral reefs in this area extensively and I want to do everything in my power to preserve them. I’m a former Navy SEAL so I’m extremely familiar with covert missions of the highest security.”
“Good to know,” Lady Harrier quipped. “I don’t believe that if the viruses leaked that it would endanger any marine life, but I can guarantee if it spreads to human beings, the world’s economy would never recover from the pandemic.”
He dropped his arms from across his chest and placed his hands on his hips. “So, what are we talking here, the next coronavirus?”
Lady Hawk shook her head. “So much worse.”
“People joke all the time about the zombie apocalypse. The catalyst was developed in that Goddamn Russian lab.” Lady Harrier pointed back to the ocean. “Our best chance for defeating it is under eighty-five feet of water.”
Who the hell was she kidding? “Look, I don’t have a medical degree but the whole idea of people walking around the earth in a trance wanting to eat human brains is just bullshit.”
“Yeah, that movie version is bullshit. But what if I told you that the Russians had developed a virus that makes the human body over-produce a certain protein called tau that tangles nerve cells around the brain.” Lady Harrier looked over her shoulder to where Lady Kite was securing the metal suitcase. “Tau tangles, and another protein called beta-amyloid, cause Alzheimer’s. Imagine healthy young adults, mothers, children, people of all ages suddenly struck with the neurodegenerative disease. They are no longer able to remember new information, reasoning and complex tasking is gone. Yet their bodies are perfectly healthy and can live for decades.”
Shakespeare thought about Mia, the woman his age who owned the cantina. She was trying to eke out a living to support her grandmother who sat in a nearly vegetative state in the corner. The local woman began before daylight, meeting fishermen at the dock to bargain for the night’s catch. She raised several types of vegetables herself and traded among the islanders. What would happen if she caught this virus?
“Why in the name of everything holy did they create this?” Shakespeare asked.
“It was a mistake.” Lady Hawk eased her stance. “The husband-and-wife research team that had been working on this project for nearly five years had been looking for a cure for Alzheimer’s. They were studying how the body produces plaque and tau. Somehow, their research magically attached itself to a common influenza virus. The CDC believes it’s possible that it could have happened accidentally.”
“Yeah, and fucking mermaids are going to help us retrieve the samples tomorrow.” Lady Harrier shook her head. “In the lab right next to theirs, the Russian military medical team was working on biological warfare. Their research magically flew through a Level 4 Containment area and attached itself to a common virus.”
“Where are these researchers now?” Shakespeare wasn’t sure if he wanted them in jail or looking for a cure.
“They landed in the United States six hours ago.” Lady Kite said as she approached the group.
“They’ll have their own lab at the CDC by dawn.” Lady Harrier added. “We need to get them those samples as fast as possible.”
“How long can the samples survive down there?” Shakespeare turned and went to the helm.
“No one knows for sure.” Lady Harrier said from beside him. “The water temperature was in the fifties, and that’s good. They are actually stored in saline water, but the salinity is different than the ocean. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
As Shakespeare pointed the boat toward Grand Turk, his thoughts swirled with the churning water. What the hell have I got myself into? Why do I even want to do this? The Navy no longer owns my body, or my soul, and they can’t order me to do this. But if I don’t do it, who will? Who can? And could they get here in time?
Fifteen minutes later, Shakespeare realized that all three women were standing quietly near the helm. No one had said a word as he had processed the situation.
Feeling like an ass, he suggested, “Ladies, why don’t you try to get some sleep?” He pointed to the navigational system. “It’s all dead reckoning from here until we cross over the wall.”
“Thank you.” Lady Hawk and Lady Harrier grabbed blankets and made their way to padded benches.
“Do you need my computer for anything?” Lady Kite’s light voice seemed to reach in and touch his heart.
“No,” he pointed to the navigational screen. “But thank you.”
She closed her laptop and touched his bicep as she passed him. “Thank you for helping us find the plane so quickly.” She gave his arm a little squeeze then immediately released it.
It was as though she had injected him. Heat raced through his entire body and settled between his legs. He was so thankful the women were now gone. He had two hours to talk down his hard on. It might take him the entire time.