The Seventh Secret

Chapter 32 — Pressed for Time

Sam was exhausted from the blazing sun on his skin. They had tied him to one of the radio towers on top of the superstructure of the giant tugboat. When he managed to open his eyes, he could see as far as the horizon, but other than the ocean there was nothing. They truly were in the middle of nowhere, and Sam wished he could teleport to Nina, wherever she was being held. Purdue and Crystal were due to come up any moment and then the ship would emerge from her grave to take them all to theirs.

His hands and feet were tied to the steel pole, which was burning his skin as the late summer sun heated it up. Sam had no idea what the pirates were talking about, but they kept looking back at him as if they were waiting for something.

Although he was tied to the highest pole of the tug, the boat was so large that Purdue and Crystal would almost certainly not notice him up there. Having no idea that they were all about to be tortured and killed, they would walk right into the trap. Then again, Sam did not mind Crystal suffering at the hand of their captors. If she had been behind the whole thing from the beginning, such deception warranted the death penalty. For the first time, Sam realized just how fortunate Billy Malgas and Cheryl Tobias were, for not having come on the salvage trip with them.

The sky above Sam was merciless. Not one cloud to shield him from the relentless sting of the sun. As time wore on, Sam became more light-headed and his legs buckled under him. His nose started to bleed from his body’s rising temperature and dehydration. Finally, Sam could not take it anymore. His body grew limp, and his eyes fell shut as he descended into oblivion.

When they found him passed out, the pirates doused him with cold water. Given his increased core temperature, the cold water felt like ice, shocking Sam into a painful conscious state. He screamed inadvertently, evoking a roar of laughter from the men around him. It felt strange to be tortured by the very men he had had dinner with, men he had gone on dives with and chatted with over morning coffee. Gone was the camaraderie as if they had never seen him before now. Their eyes were steely and cruel as they leered at him, occasionally making some snide remark in their tongue that had the whole bunch cackling with laughter.

Sam wondered where Purdue and Nina were. Admittedly he was not worried about any of the others, and he did not feel an inch of guilt. He kept his eyes narrow to hide the path of his stare as he surveyed his surroundings, scrutinizing the layout of the deck so he could navigate where he needed to, should he get a chance to free himself. It made him very nervous to imagine what they could be waiting for.

Then he saw it.

Sam’s blood ran cold. Attached to the tug was the enormous black Nazi ship without any name written its hull to remain an anonymous killer. But she was not without identification marks, especially to the trained eye of a world-wise investigative journalist. His heart pounded as he beheld the sigil on both sides of her hull, the familiar stamp of evil — the Black Sun. The prominent circle with its uniform rays radiating in lightning streaks stood out from the chipped paint and patches of rust as if it was fighting to re-emerge into the world.

“Ali!” Sam shouted suddenly. The men around him murmured, utterly annoyed at his shrieks. But Sam kept screaming Ali’s name as loud as he could hoping that the captain would want to find out why he was shrieking like a madman.

“Ali! You have to listen! You and your men are in grave danger! Ali, we’re all going to die! You have to listen to what I have to say!” he screamed at the top of his lungs, mustering the last bit of strength he had left that had not yet been depleted by the terrible heat of the afternoon. The pirates started to beat Sam, taking sticks to his knees and fists to his face. His lips were blistered and his tongue swollen, but then he thought of the perfect thing to lure the superstitious captain from his hideout. “Ali! I know a secret about the water walkers, and I must tell you before I die!"

The pirates’ yelling stopped almost instantly. Only the sound of the waves filled the air as they waited in tense anticipation of their skipper. No doubt he had been within earshot the whole time because it took all but ten seconds for Ali to appear on the lower deck. His red eyes pierced through Sam out of the deep sockets in his gaunt face. Ali’s dark brown skin glistened in the sun, revealing his myriad of scars as he moved.

“What is this… secret?”

Nina vomited into the dark as soon as she awoke. That same pungent stench she and Sam had smelled in the hidden passage was around her. Her left eye was swollen shut from the hail of fists Manni had dealt her when she had resisted capture. The other eye was alright, but she was too disorientated to pry her lids open. The bile burned in her throat, but she could not help throwing up with the stench of death and decay filling her lungs. Nina wanted to cry, but she couldn’t.

Finally, she opened her good eye to see where she was. She yelped in terror, unintentionally voicing her fright at the man staring at her from where he was hanging above her. Unlike the cadaver in the corner, the hanging man was not discolored yet. Mieke was lying in a pool of blood next to stacks of rope and tarp. She did not move. Nina could not see her breathing, and upon closer scrutiny Nina found that Mieke was naked from the waist down. Her bra was pulled taut and tied around her neck, partially covered by her bloodstained tresses.

The creak of the ropes behind her drew Nina's attention back to the hanging man. Suddenly he blinked. Nina screamed but immediately fell silent for fear of attracting unwanted attention. The man opened his mouth, but he could not speak.

“Are you still alive?” she whispered in amazement.

He nodded slowly, looking awful, a man on the brink of death. Nina’s hands were tied behind her back, but her legs were free. With great difficulty she stumbled to her feet, barely feeling her legs because she must have sat in the same position for so long. The only thing she could find to cut her restraints was the lid of an old can of beans lying in a heap of trash.

“Good God, I can’t believe this filth," she mumbled, aiming for the disgusting can and its slimy contents oozing over the hairs of mold. Nina gagged, but she managed to keep it in as she sank to her haunches in the dirty toilet paper, messy bandages, and broken bottles to free her hands. Carefully she sawed at the tight rope around her wrists with the jagged lid of the ghastly can. She nicked her skin a few times, but she didn’t care.

She had to find Purdue and Sam, but she did not know how to escape the room she was in. The tiny window was no bigger than her head and was way too high up for her to reach.

“Light?” she mumbled. “Light? Oh my God, what time is it?” She tiptoed toward Mieke’s corpse and checked her watch. “We have less than an hour left! Oh my God! We’re going to teleport with the ship!” She could not reach the hanging man above her, but he did not want to be released.

“Scream,” he uttered without a voice.

“What?” she yelped.

"Scream," he repeated. "Stand right next to the door. When they come in, I will distract them, and you run out." Nina shook her head. It was a long shot. If she could not get out, she was as good as dead.

“I’ll cut you loose,” she told him. “There is no way I’m letting you die here.”

“Leave me,” he implored. “I have no desire to live.”

Nina pulled a stack of pallets toward where the man was hanging from the ceiling and carefully climbed up. Using the filthy can, she cut through the plastic zip ties around his ankles. His hands were bound with steel cable, so there was nothing she could do to free his hands.

“My limbs are useless, lady,” he whispered through chapped dry lips.

“Well, now the blood will rush back into your legs,” she replied. “I promise I’ll get help if I can get out of here.”

Nina screamed as loud as she could, kicking against the door and making as much noise as she could. She was well aware that the ruckus of the sea and the walls between her and anyone else would muffle her screams, but she kept yelling. Finally, she heard scuffling outside the door. Nina crouched right next to the doorway, wrapping her hand with fabric from her shirt so that the jagged tin would not cut her when she used it as a weapon. Then she waited.

The door clattered under the force of someone’s hands, wiggling the dogged mechanism and finally dislodging the lock. Nina held her breath, mentally preparing to cut the ligaments at the back of the knee. With force the door swung open, but nobody entered. Still, Nina waited in silence.

"Nina," a voice whispered. "Nina, are you okay?"

It was Purdue. He knew how she could be when she was afraid and because of her penchant for violence he addressed her first. It was a wise choice.

“Purdue?” she asked. Peering around the door from her crouched position, she recognized him through the blurred vision of her one good eye.

"Oh my God, Nina!" he exclaimed, sinking to his haunches to wrap her up in his arms and help her up. "What did they do to you?" It was a rhetorical question, but he was still furious about it. He saw the man hanging from the ceiling, now outstretched with his feet almost touching the floor.

“Do you have something that can cut through steel cables?” she asked.

“Of course,” he smiled. “How do you think I opened this lock?”

"How come they did not capture you?" she asked while Purdue used a tiny blowtorch to cut the man’s restraints.

Purdue breathed out a long sigh at what he was about to reveal. He took a moment before he just came out and said it. “I knew that Crystal had set this whole charade up, Nina. She thinks that I drowned. When we surfaced, I saw Sam tied up at the top of the tug boat,"

“He’s what?” she shrieked.

“No worries. He is the next we are going to rescue,” Purdue consoled. “We have less than fifteen minutes before the Geheimnis pulls her disappearing act.”

Nina was livid. "Wait; you knew all this all along? Jesus Christ, Purdue! This is the last time you put my life in danger; I swear to God! I have had it with your shit. After this, I never want to see you again!"

Purdue swallowed hard at her words, but he finished freeing Fakur and kept his poise. But inside his heart was aching. Nina would never understand that he had had no choice and that the Order of the Black Sun had forced him to cooperate.

“I’ll explain later,” Purdue said. “Let’s go get Sam.”

“No more explanations, Purdue. I’ve had it,” she growled. “I don’t care what your reasons were or whatever bullshit excuse you cook up this time.” She followed Purdue to the opposite side of the red door, where he opened a bulkhead that led up to the next deck above them. They climbed the jack ladder, but when they reached the top of the superstructure, Sam was gone.