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

because despite Martin’s shouting and frothing he knows I get results,” she spat back.

“Fair play,” Kurtis said. “At least until you stop getting results.”

“Are we done here?”

“Yes, take Ivan, run your plan, do whatever voodoo you think you can do. We’ll talk again after this is all over.”

“Hopefully not,” Jia Ming said, rising from her seat and exiting the room.

Kurtis steepled his hands in front of his face. “Hopefully not, indeed.”

A buzz came through the intercom at his desk. “Mr. Wagner,” the voice said.

“Yes, Dr. Felding?”

“It’s about our, um, experiment.” He sounded nervous.

“Cole?”

“He’s gone.”

A smile spread across Kurtis’ face. “Is that so?”

“I’m so sorry. I tasked the nurse with watching him and—”

“It’s fine. How well does the control aspect of your experiment work?”

Chapter 12

Brannigan strapped the body armor over his dark grey fatigues. Devonte sat in a folding chair, typing away one handed on his laptop.

“I’m sending the schematics to your GPS unit,” he said. “I still don’t think this is a good idea.”

“Why’s that?” Brannigan said. He knew why. This was the fourth time the kid had brought it up…in the last hour.

“Inkanyamba is on that island, and we don’t know the full extent of its capabilities. Not only that but—”

“Vornax could show up and we all could die,” Brannigan finished the thought. “Kid, we’re the Marines. Death is the sugar we sprinkle on our cheerios, okay?”

“Sounds like macho bullshit to me,” Devonte grumbled.

“Alright, you want me to level with you?” Brannigan said as he holstered his pistol. “I’m scared shitless. I mean, war is terrible, ghastly business, but there’s never been a giant monster involved. Look at me, I’m six feet tall and I have guns that, as far as we know, only piss off that thing out there. I got nothing.” He paused. “But I signed up for this shit to do everything in my power to protect people, and if that means walking into the belly of the beast a bit more literally than initially intended, so be it.”

Devonte stared at him grimly.

“I’m not gonna lie and say that this’ll turn out alright. I definitely might die. All we can do is hope that it’s not in vain.”

“You can stop now,” Devonte said.

Brannigan started to say something else but was interrupted by a knock on the door. “Come on in,” he said.

General MacPherson stepped into the room.

“I didn’t realize generals knew how to knock,” Brannigan said with mock surprise.

The general ignored his jab. “Captain Brannigan, your squad.”

Brannigan looked the men up and down. Five soldiers, he noticed, smaller than the standard army size, and much smaller than the thirteen he was used to. They all looked capable enough, but he didn’t recognize any of the faces. “Alright gentlemen,” he barked, trying to suppress a grin, “let’s hear some names and ranks.”

“First Lieutenant Hicks,” said the first man. He was taller than Brannigan and maybe twice as wide. “And this is my partner, Bowman. Same rank.” Bowman, a stout, barrel of a man, grunted in confirmation.

Hicks and Bowman looked promising. They had the experience but none of the arrogance that tended to go along with it. Brannigan nodded in approval. The other three were younger, and obviously less experienced. Brannigan gave the general a curious glance. She gave no physical response.

One of the men stepped forward. “Spencer Chaplin, sir. I was on the boat during the creature’s first appearance. It took my friends, and I ran away, but I’m here now and I’m ready for action.”

Brannigan smirked. Make that three promising soldiers, he thought. “Thank you for your life story, Private, don’t disappoint me.” He turned to address the remaining soldiers who introduced themselves as Thayer and Collins. “Y’all ready to kick some monster ass?”

The men all saluted in response, and echoed a collective, “Sir.”

“The only rank that matters on this mission is mine. I’m in charge. Follow orders, stay alert, and let’s get this done.”

“Sir,” came the collective response again.

Brannigan grinned down at Devonte. “See? We’re big, we’re bad, and we got this in the bag.”

“The schematics are on your device. I’ve linked your comms and camera to my computer, so I’ll be watching and listening,” Devonte said with a roll of his eyes. “Try not to die.”

Chapter 13

The rusted iron door screamed open under the combined force of Brannigan and Bowman’s weight. Chaplin fumbled around in the dark beyond the door and found the emergency power switch. He flipped it and nothing happened.

“Typical,” Brannigan said. “Torches lit, boys!”

The darkness of the maintenance tunnel shattered apart as six beams of ultrabright light burned into it.

“And this leads all the way under Alcatraz Island?” Chaplin asked.

“Supposedly,” Brannigan said. “That’s two secret spaces beneath the island in a two-week span.”

“This tunnel is actually fairly common knowledge,” Hicks said. “What gets me is how there was an entire secret complex down here and no one noticed.”

“Easy,” Bowman grunted. “They paid off the workers.”

“Ah,” Hicks said, “that makes sense.”

“I’ll take point,” Brannigan said. “Bowman, you take up the rear. The rest of you stay alert.” He stepped into the darkness, flicking his light from left to right, illuminating rusted pipes and long dead spider webs.

The path twisted and wound about, with maintenance doors every hundred feet no matter which direction they turned. Darkness lingered outside the scope of their lights, clawing at the silence broken only by the sound of the soldiers’ even paced steps. Brannigan’s boot splashed in something wet. He called the squad to a halt.

“There shouldn’t be water down here,” he said.

“It’s under the bay,” Thayer replied. “Course it’ll be a little wet.”

“Have you ever heard of structural integrity?” Brannigan asked.

“He’s right,” Chaplin said, “if there are any cracks or weaknesses, the whole thing could come down on our heads.”

Brannigan angled his light down at the ground. “Good news, and bad news.”

“Good news first?” Chaplin said.

“It’s not water.”

“And the bad news?”

“It looks organic…like mucus.”

“Which means?” Shannon asked.

“Which means we ain’t down here alone,” Bowman growled, sweeping behind them with his light.

Brannigan sniffed at