Ocean Blue (Sea Lab Book 1)

CHAPTER 51

The silver Audi A4 shimmered under the streetlight's glare and melted into the darkness like a ghost. With Tony behind the wheel, the car blazed down the Sydney Newcastle Freeway. They had crossed the bay bridge over Sydney Harbour, hit the interchange north of the metropolitan area, and now found themselves on a desolate stretch of highway dotted by the occasional farmhouse.
The engine whined through tight curves, tires grabbed the pavement and the RPMs roared during acceleration in straightaways.

Tony floored the gas pedal with a demented gleam in his eye.

Takeshi Ishikawa's assistant jammed the pistol into the back of Jake's head. He cursed. "Slow down before I splatter your friend's brains all over the windshield."

Jake gritted his teeth and fought the urge to make a play on the gun. They needed to turn the table on this guy, but it had to be done in a way to give them the best chance to survive.

Tony glanced at Jake out of the corner of his eye. They held the gaze until each of them picked up on the unspoken scheme. The idea was to unnerve the assistant with the Indy-style driving and catch him off guard. It was working, but Jake didn't like the possibility of a point blank bullet to the head.

He stopped gnawing on his bottom lip and said, "How about doing what he says, Tony? I'm a little nervous here."

Jake tried to adjust the escape plan through eye contact and concealed hand signals. Tony nodded, agreeing in silence. At least Jake hoped he caught on to where he was going with this. With a solemn glance at their captor, Tony backed off the throttle and slowed the vehicle to around fifty-five miles per hour. In response, the man relaxed in the back seat with the gun in his lap.

Jake shook his head in relief. With the gun aimed away from him, he could think clearly. Things slowed down. The situation came into focus. He had a hunch Cat was nearby. On the Atlantis; he could have sworn he saw her on the bridge on their first day on the barrier reef. He shrugged it off as a coincidence. But then he noticed during the video conference how she appeared to be ready for bed, which might suggest she was in the same time zone as they were. He pieced everything together and concluded that Director Hardy had sent her along to observe them from afar.

It was odd. Between the occasional nightmares and the feelings of gloom and doom, Jake now found himself courageous. He felt more like the old Jake, in his Navy days, before that monster fish pinned him to the cage trap on the ocean floor. He looked back at the rugged Aussie and recognized the gun as a nine millimeter Beretta. Unless the man used hollow points, a bullet of that caliber would rip through a person and exit the other side like a knife through jello. Which would be better than a forty-five caliber round blowing a baseball size hole in your back. However, it didn't matter at this range. Either way, he'd be dead.

The shift in thinking probably had to do with a certain redhead that had returned to his life like a tidal wave. Jake wasn't a violent man by nature, but he wasn't about to stand by and do nothing while Zanderthal executed his devious plan for the innocent marine biologist. Maybe that's what he needed, something to live and die for. And Sarah was a good reason to lay his life on the line without blinking. Now it was personal.

Adrenaline coursed through his body. Jake scratched an itch on his neck. His fingernails grazed across a bulging vein. If it was within his power, he'd rescue Sarah and make anyone who harmed her suffer the consequences. Returning natural order to the sea would have to be the consolation prize, as far as he was concerned.