Visualizing the ship’s layout, he easily found the bomb room. Entering meant shimmying in sideways but once inside, he easily walked on what used to be the wall until it opened up into the large space. The sinking had sent the contents of the room down against the upturned inner wall at the far end of the room. In the dim light of his torch, he saw spilled racks of depth charges, crates of 105-millimeter shells and an arsenal of rifles scattered among other debris. He made mental notes of what he saw to report back to the Naval Intelligence man on the Drake. There must be something more important in here, he thought. Then he saw it. In the corner was the largest bomb he’d ever seen. It was at least ten feet long, with a bulbous nose and telltale fins at the back. This was no torpedo. This was meant to be dropped from a plane. This is what I’ve been sent for. No doubt there would be a second dive to retrieve the bomb, but without Wick and no other divers on board the Drake, could he do it alone?

Just then, his torch flickered and died. Flooded, no doubt, he calmly thought. Rausing found himself in complete blackness. He slowly backpedaled, retracing his steps up the corridor to the outside hatch. The dimmest of ambient light guided him. He didn’t panic. He’d been here before, inside a wreck, in the dark. But unlike the old wrecks he dived in Scotland, this one was newly sunk and there was no silt to kick up and obscure his vision and by pulling on his own air hose he was able to climb back out on to the tilted deck of the Vampire.

Somewhere in the dark in front of him was Wick’s body. Rausing paused for a moment and then tugged on his safety rope three times to be brought slowly back to the surface. No doubt they would wonder why Wick didn’t tug on his rope but by the time Rausing’s decompression was done, they’d have figured it out. Nothing to be done about it. Wick wasn’t that good a diver anyway.

Rausing’s decompression stops would be controlled by the tenders, who watched the pneumofathometer for his depth. He’d be back on the surface in about two hours, which gave him plenty of time to think about what he’d seen inside the Vampire. Then, a second dive, possibly even today, to fetch the bomb. Maybe I’ll even be rewarded a medal for valor. He smiled inside his helmet at the thought as he was slowly reeled upwards.

But there would be no second dive.

Bastard Son