Operation Sea Mink by Addison Gunn Read Free Book Online

doesn’t look like a predator,” du Trieux said. “But there are bullet holes.”
    “Doesn’t have to be a carnivore to be dangerous,” Hsiung said. “Suppose it went after the crew?”
    “How about we call it a colossal cow?” Smitty suggested.
    All eyes turned toward him, except du Trieux’s, who was having a hard time hiding her impatience. “Can we go around it?”
    To backtrack across the deck would waste valuable time, and Miller was already anxious to get to the bridge. The farther the freighter floated downriver, the longer it would take to get back to the compound.
    Slinging the strap of his M27 over his shoulder, Miller climbed over the stinking creature. It was blubbery and wet, and with nothing to grasp onto it was slippery, but Miller ungracefully ambled over the corpse and encouraged the others to follow suit.
    Once they’d cleared the body, Hsiung announced the name of the animal to the others. “It’s a goliath brute,” she said.
    Morland looked confused but du Trieux nodded. “ Oui .”
    “Works for me,” Miller said.
    They continued on, up the last flight of stairs to the bridge. When they arrived, Miller tugged at the steel door, but it was locked. People were visible through the round cracked window, however, so Miller waved.
    A short, skinny kid, no more than a teenager, noticeably relaxed as he opened the door. He introduced himself as the first mate and quickly explained in a mix of Korean and broken English what had happened aboard.
    From what Miller could understand, the freighter had lost control of its steering and thrusters someplace near Riker’s Island when they’d been thrashed by a group of pseudo-whales. Once the ship was dead in the water, tusk-fiends and goliath brutes had swarmed the deck, taking out the masthead and radio antennae.
    The captain had sent a squad to secure the deck, but that had failed. He then sent another squad below to the engine room to check on the engineering team and to repair the thrusters, but they’d lost contact with them almost immediately.
    Frustrated, the captain had gone himself with the last squad to secure the cargo hold—but they’d disappeared as well.
    The first mate and what was left of the bridge crew had considered abandoning ship, but the pseudo-whales had surrounded the freighter, and getting to the lifeboats through the tusk-fiends and goliath brutes would have been suicide. Instead, they’d barricaded themselves inside with a stash of provisions and hoped help would come, or that they’d strike land, enabling them to abandon ship without touching the water at all.
    Miller looked over the frightened bridge crew and chose his words carefully. “With the steering damaged, there’s no point in fixing the thrusters, gentlemen. You’re floating dead out here, and the longer you float free, the farther away from the peninsula you get. I think our best course of action would be to secure the cargo and use the chopper’s radio to request aid for you to evacuate the ship. I don’t see anything else for it.”
    The first officer sighed heavily, but looked relieved. He spoke with his crew in rushed Korean, and then in broken English told Miller they agreed.
    Miller turned to his team. “First priority is to radio the compound. Smitty, stay here with the crew. We’ll be back.”
    Smitty frowned, his pink face growing more crimson. “You’re going back out there with those things? What if you don’t come back?”
    “Then wait for the aid to come.”
    “Assuming it’ll come,” Smitty mumbled.
    “Don’t worry,” Miller said. “Worst case scenario, they’ll come for the cargo and take your body back with them.”
    Smitty’s frown deepened. “Nice.”
    “What?” the first mate asked, his eyes wide. “He’s joking, right?”
    Miller patted the panicking first mate on the shoulder, nearly knocking the skinny kid over.
     
     
    T HE CARGO HOLD was dark, dank, and smelled of blood and oil.
    Miller walked down the