Page 135 (2/2)
She raised them to her eyes, and blurted, “It’s Kurt! And Joe!”
Dixon laughed out loud Only Kurt Austin could go fishing in a reest submarine
After another wave, the two ed moments later from a hatch in the deck With the help of some crewmen, they pulled an inflatable boat up on deck, lowered it over the sub’s rounded hull into the water, then cli over the waves toward the cruiser
Song Lee aiting on deck to throw her arave him a kiss full on the lips
Austin would have liked to prolong the pleasant experience, but he gently disentangled himself from her arms and turned to Captain Dixon
“Have you seen any sign of the lab’s staff?” he asked “They should have surfaced in the minisubs by now”
Dixon shook his head He called his first officer on the bridge and asked him to ask the other ships in the vicinity to be on the lookout for the surfacing minisubs Moments later, a call came in from the NUMA ship The first et the Concord under way It rounded the atoll just in ti out of the water, then a third Each had an identification number painted on its side
Austin scanned the sea for the fourthLois Mitchell and the vaccine After a few anxious moments, it too popped out of the water
He let out the breath he had been holding
“We need to bring the scientists from the last sub on board immediately,” he told the captain
Dixon ordered a boat in the water The rescue crew pulled Lois Mitchell and the other scientists out of their ht them back to the cruiser As the boat ca She waved, then pointed to the cooler in her lap When she climbed aboard, she handed the cooler off to Lee
“Here’s our vaccine,” Mitchell said, “safe and sound”
The joyful smile on Lee’s face dissolved She looked crestfallen as she held the cooler, like someone just told her it was radioactive
“It’s too late, Lois,” she said “The epidehout China within twenty-four hours and spread to the rest of the world within days There is no time to produce the vaccine in the massive quantities we need”
Mitchell took the cooler back, set it on the deck, and pushed the top back to expose a rack with dozens of aluminum cylinders in it She pulled one out and showed it to Lee