Noah's Ark: Encounters by Harry Dayle Read Free Book Online Page A

them on the port side, was scanning the area with its full array of sensors. If anyone was in the water, somebody would see them.
    And yet, they had seen nothing.
    Nobody said it, but Jake knew they were approaching the limit of their search area. He thought that they must already have covered more than five nautical miles. The current was against them, so if it had carried Stieg away from where he had presumably fallen from the raft, they would already have passed him by now. Even so, they would keep going, backtracking their route for another mile or two. It was always possible that, disoriented, he was swimming away from them.
    “Captain Noah!”
    Jake pulled his binoculars away and stepped over to Coote. “You see something? What is it?”
    “Not sure. What do you think? Dead ahead. I’d say three hundred metres away.”
    Jake followed the older man’s finger and focussed, sweeping left and right a few degrees at a time. He spotted it almost straight away.
    “What do you think, old boy? Your eyes are younger than mine.”
    “It’s an oar. I’m sure it’s an oar.”
    “Aha! Yes, now you say it I can see you are right. Gosh, I have become so dependent on our fancy gadgets and gizmos, old-fashioned eyeballing is not my forte.”
    “This is good, right?” Jake’s voice rose in pitch. “It means we’re in the right place.”
    “Can’t argue with that, old chap.”
    “Listen up!” Jake turned and addressed everyone who was within earshot. “We have an oar in sight, three hundred metres to the starboard side. We’re on the right track. Keep your eyes peeled. We’re going to find him.” He unclipped a radio from his belt and called to the bridge, instructing Chuck to turn ten degrees starboard.
    As they ploughed on though, the burst of optimism began to fade. Not only was there no sign of Stieg, there wasn’t even another oar.
    Jake felt a tap at his shoulder. He didn’t turn; he didn’t want to peel his eyes away from the expanse of sea before him.
    “Jake, something’s come up. I think you need to come and see.”
    He knew the voice. It was his friend, Ewan Sledge, submariner from HMS Ambush.
    “You see something?”
    “Yes. But not Stieg. Captain Coote, you’ll need to come too, sir.”
    “I can’t leave here,” Jake protested. “The lookout—”
    “It’s okay, Eric will take over.”
    Eric O’Brien, Ewan’s colleague and close friend, took up position alongside him.
    “I’ll keep a good watch, Jake,” he reassured him. “You really should go with Ewan.”
    Jake finally, and reluctantly, stepped away from the railing. Coote was already on his way. He followed, catching him up at a bank of lifts, with Ewan tagging alongside.
    “Not going to tell me more about what this is about, Ewan old boy?” Coote asked.
    “Probably best to, er…” Ewan dropped his voice and paused as a family walked past, chatting and laughing. “Best to wait until we’re on the sub.”
    The three of them continued in silence. They descended to deck two, and then took the walkway that was rigged up between the Arcadia and the Ambush while the submarinewas out of the water. Jake hated the walkway. It was designed to let passengers on and off the ship when docked in port. It was most definitely not made for passage between two moving vessels. The engineering team had done a good job though, and the system was sturdy and reliable. It had been improved since its original incarnation, with more substantial sides to keep the buffeting wind at bay. Even so, it had a tendency to wallow in the middle, and Jake was never quite convinced that it wouldn’t buckle and send him into the ocean at any moment. He wiped his brow the moment he reached the safety of the Ambush ’s conning tower.
    Ewan led them through the warren of cramped passages, into the communications control room, the heart of the submarine.
    “Ralf, Jason.” Jake nodded to the two men he knew well. The other officers he had barely met, and quite out