Free The Covenant of Genesis by Andy McDermott Page B

slammed the laptop closed and picked it up, then pointed at the SLR camera. The pirate in the red bandanna took it. The third man asked a question, gesturing hopefully at something out of Nina’s sight, but the leader just crumpled the paper in his fist and issued a command. His men turned and left the room. With a last look round the lab, the leader followed them, Nina’s laptop under his arm.
    Nina waited several seconds before opening the lid slightly. The pirates’ footsteps had faded, but even so she held on a little longer before climbing stiffly out. She looked at the table.
    That was why they had come here, why they had killed everyone? To steal the clay tablet?
    She was about to go to the door when a sound from outside startled her.
    One of the pirates was coming back.
     
    Chase heard the speedboat getting closer, the thrum of its outboard a menacing animal growl behind him as he swam.
    The pirates had stopped shooting, finally realising their bullets couldn’t penetrate the water. But they were heading straight for him, picking out his shape through the shimmering waves.
    The Pianosa ’s keel was directly ahead, a dark, barnacle-crusted mass. If he went under it, he could surface for air - and if they followed him round the ship, he could double back and hopefully reach the dock before they caught up.
    He swam deeper, passing beneath the survey ship.
     
    Nina didn’t have time to return to her hiding place. All she could do was dart into the locker, hunching down and pulling the door almost shut.
    The pirate entered the lab. It was the third man, the one who had been rebuffed by his leader. Nina watched through the crack of the door as he glanced furtively round the room, then picked up the underwater camera.
    ‘Thieving son of a bitch,’ Nina whispered. She waited for him to leave. But now that he had one valuable piece of equipment, the thought had entered his head that there might be others. His gaze darted calculatingly over the room’s contents.
    He regarded the locker. Frowned. Nina knew why.
    When he left the room, its door had been open.
    Her hand groped through the cramped space, searching for anything among the loose items that she might be able to use as a weapon.
    The pirate advanced on the locker. He gripped the handle, pulled it—
    Nina blasted a spray of astringent powder into his eyes.
    He shrieked and reeled back, clutching at his face with his free hand. His AK came up in the other. Nina leapt from the locker and slapped it aside. It fell from his hand - but the strap tangled round his arm. She couldn’t wrest it from him.
    Instead she raced for the door. Behind her, the pirate shouted as he fumbled for his rifle.
    Back up the passageway, reaching the storeroom, sparks still popping from the damaged wiring—
    Running footsteps ahead. Another pirate was coming back.
    She barged open the storeroom door. A cramped chamber, packed with stacked wooden crates and maintenance gear and large paint cans. A porthole on the opposite wall, two .50-calibre bullet holes flanking it.
    The porthole was too small for her to fit through.
    Trapped.
    She slammed the door shut behind her and yanked a crate down to the deck, jamming it against the entrance.
    But it wouldn’t hold them for long.
    She looked back at the equipment. The twin cylindrical tanks of an oxy-acetylene torch were secured in a rack. But she didn’t know how to use it, or even light it.
    Come on, think, something —
    A metal box about the same size as the sonar case turned out to contain a piece of gear she couldn’t immediately identify, some sort of heavy-duty grinder or cutter. But simply hiding in the box wouldn’t save her—
    The door banged against the crate. The pirates were outside.
     
    Chase surfaced on the Pianosa ’s port side. Not far away was another boat, a sleek cabin cruiser. The machine gun he’d heard earlier was mounted on its bow, another pirate manning it.
    Sudden noise to his right. The speedboat rounded