Chapter 13 - Blood in the Water
Drake, skin blistered and face blackened by steam, hauled himself from the rising slosh, knife retrieved, lunging upward. ""Nobody leaves this room alive!"" Leo kicked down violently with his heavy work boot, smashing Drake’s wrist against the rung until the blade plunged into the dark water. Drake lunged again, grabbing Leo’s jacket collar. With water surging past his waist, Leo shifted Toby onto the upper platform into Clara’s waiting arms. Turning back, Leo locked his arms around Drake’s neck, driving them both beneath the black surface into the flooded compartment floor. Under the brackish water, Leo fought blind. Drake punched frantically, but Leo held the mercenary down against the suction intake of the open sea chest valve. The massive hydraulic pull snatched Drake against the intake screen, pinning him instantly beneath the surface. Leo kicked free, bursting into the air pocket beneath the hatch, coughing violently, and hauled himself into the escape trunk just as the water level swallowed the lighting fixtures, plunging the room below into absolute blackness.
