Up From The Deep by Vaughn Jackson (highly recommended books txt) 📕

by the force of the explosion. He felt the impact of the shrapnel against his makeshift shield that he clung to even as he hit the ground a good fifteen feet from where he’d started. As the dust cleared and Brannigan managed to climb to his feet, he saw the body of the hulking man slumped against the wall at the other side of the hallway; a piece of shrapnel was embedded in his helmet and at least one of his hands was missing. He must have tried to unhook the grenade right before it went off.

“Bang,” Brannigan said, and stumbled in the direction he’d seen Devonte and the detective go not too much earlier. He flipped off the man as he went by.

#

“What the hell?” Devonte shouted, looking at the scene playing out before him. Kurtis had one arm wrapped around Skylar’s neck, while the other hand pressed a gun to her head.

“Well this is awkward,” Kurtis said. “I’d planned to be gone by now.” Beside him stood a woman that Devonte didn’t recognize, but Raymond obviously did.

“You?” the detective said. “But I watched you die.”

The woman sneered. “So, you are the one who killed Bae Ling Zhang.” Her face contorted into dark fury. Then she composed herself. “I am Jia Ming. Consider yourself lucky. Today is not your day to die.” Her words held a tone that implied she wished it was. She turned to Kurtis. “Where is the tooth?”

“Gone in the explosion,” he said, “but I needed you lot to act sooner than if I had just said come get me.”

“But Mr. Martin—”

“Mr. Martin believes what he wants, but trust me, this—” he thumped a hand on the prototype device “— and this—” the thumb drive twirled its way between his thin fingers “— are what we really came for.”

“What are those?”

“Do we have evac?” Kurtis asked.

“Yes.”

“Then allow me to demonstrate.” He shoved Skylar over to Devonte, who rushed to catch her before she tumbled to the ground.

“You can’t turn that thing on here,” Skylar shouted as she righted herself. She started to rush back at him, but the quick response of several guns being leveled on her froze her in place.

“I can, and you made it possible,” Kurtis said. “Maybe I am going to fall in love with you after all,” he added with a smirk.

Skylar’s face reddened in embarrassment. “It’s not mutual.”

“That’d be a shame.” He flicked the switch on the device and plugged the thumb drive into its slot. “Oh well, let’s see if our beastie is around.”

There was no sound, at least not that Devonte could hear, but the oscilloscope showed the wavelength that was being played, just outside their range of hearing. Devonte quickly realized that while he couldn’t hear the sound, he could still feel the vibrations rattling around in his chest cavity. He couldn’t help but smirk.

“What’s so funny?” Kurtis said.

“You didn’t put in the password?”

“The what?”

The device began to spark, and smoke billowed out of it before it caught on fire completely. Kurtis jumped away from the device with a shout. “What did you do?”

“Authorization check. Start the device and it waits for a certain code to be entered, for about fifteen seconds. Sans that it goes straight into a self-destruct sequence, overloading the voltage on all of the internal components.”

“You booby trapped our device?” Skylar asked.

“I was going to share the code with you, but then this all happened. Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. That’s brilliant.”

“Oh yeah, of course, you know me,” Devonte felt his face grow warm.

Kurtis scowled. “We have the notes. Kill them.”

“No,” Jia Ming said. “We’ve been here too long as it is.”

“I said kill them,” Kurtis barked.

None of the men around him obeyed. They stowed their guns and began to retreat on Jia Ming’s orders.

“This is my operation,” she said. “We fall back. Now.”

Kurtis’ hands fell to his side.

“Is this the part where you say we’ll rue the day,” Skylar taunted.

“I don’t need to. You know I’ll have my vengeance.” Before anyone could react, he aimed his gun and fired. Devonte felt fire tear through his left shoulder. In the next instant he dropped to the ground with a scream. He saw blood draining from the bullet wound near his chest, dripping down to join the initial explosive splatter. He clutched at the ragged hole and slumped down onto his back. His body felt cold. The last thing he heard was a piercing shriek so far away in the distance, followed by the rumble of an unearthly roar. It worked, he thought.

#

Devonte fell in and out of consciousness, but even in his dazed state he knew something was wrong. He heard voices and felt like he was gliding through the air. The soft sensation of a medical gurney pressed up against his back. He was being carted around. He opened his eyes, just a sliver, and saw Raymond’s face looking straight ahead, dripping with sweat. He looked concerned. Turning his head was so much effort. Skylar was on his right. Above her, he saw the ceiling tear away in a massive chunk, an orange reptilian eye glared in on them. Am I dreaming? he thought. No, the creature, he remembered. It’s here. A roar rattled his bones as the glide took a sharp turn to the left. There was another noise. Fireworks? No. Gunshots. He remembered more. I got shot. He wanted to be sick, but the thought of his stomach sent pain coursing through his body. Am I going to die?

“You better not,” Brannigan shouted back from his left. “You just finally grew a pair.”

Devonte hadn’t realized he’d spoken out loud. He tried to give the captain a smile, but the effort sent him spiraling back into the darkness.

#

Incandescent light buzzed above his head as he opened his eyes. The ceiling was pock-marked, chipped, and cracked. It had seen a lot. Devonte tried to sit up, but the pain that shot through his shoulder made him jerk back down onto the cot he was lying on