The laughter died instantly.<\/p>\n
Thick black smoke climbed into the sky far behind the warship while the deafening explosion echoed across the endless ocean. Sailors gripping the railing stared in stunned silence as flames erupted across the distant waterline.<\/p>\n
The officer\u2019s smile disappeared.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the hell was that?\u201d one sailor whispered.<\/p>\n
Below them, the woman floated calmly among the violent waves, soaked hair hanging across her face while sunlight reflected off the small trigger device still clutched tightly in her hand.<\/p>\n
Then she laughed softly.<\/p>\n
The sound sent chills through everyone on deck.<\/p>\n
The officer leaned farther over the railing.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou insane traitor!\u201d he shouted furiously.<\/p>\n
But the woman only stared up at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d she replied coldly. \u201cI\u2019m the reason you\u2019re still alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Confusion spread instantly across the deck.<\/p>\n
Then suddenly\u2014<\/p>\n
Sirens exploded throughout the warship.<\/p>\n
Red emergency lights began flashing violently across the steel corridors while crew members rushed onto the deck yelling over each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cIncoming missile signature!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPort side radar just went dark!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe lost the escort destroyer!\u201d<\/p>\n
Panic erupted.<\/p>\n
The officer grabbed the railing tightly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you do?!\u201d he screamed.<\/p>\n
The woman slowly raised the trigger higher above the water.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat explosion wasn\u2019t an attack,\u201d she said calmly. \u201cIt was a warning shot.\u201d<\/p>\n
The surrounding sailors exchanged terrified looks.<\/p>\n
Far across the ocean horizon, something massive emerged from the smoke.<\/p>\n
At first it looked like shadows moving across the water.<\/p>\n
Then sunlight reflected across steel.<\/p>\n
Submarines.<\/p>\n
Three of them.<\/p>\n
Huge black vessels rising silently from beneath the waves like monsters awakening from the deep.<\/p>\n
The officer\u2019s face drained of color.<\/p>\n
Impossible.<\/p>\n
Those submarines belonged to a classified enemy fleet believed destroyed years ago.<\/p>\n
One sailor stumbled backward.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve been tracking us this whole time\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman nodded slowly.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd your officer almost got every person on this ship killed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The warship\u2019s alarms screamed louder.<\/p>\n
Crew members rushed frantically across the deck preparing weapons while distant missile hatches slowly opened atop the enemy submarines.<\/p>\n
The officer looked back down at the woman in horror now.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew they were here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI spent six months undercover finding them,\u201d she answered.<\/p>\n
Ocean waves crashed violently around her while smoke darkened the horizon behind the fleet.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you shoved me overboard before I could finish the mission briefing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several sailors stared directly at the officer now with growing anger.<\/p>\n
The woman pressed another button on the trigger device.<\/p>\n
Suddenly, green lights flashed across the enemy submarines in the distance.<\/p>\n
Then\u2014<\/p>\n
Every missile hatch closed again.<\/p>\n
The ocean fell strangely quiet.<\/p>\n
One confused sailor blinked.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat just happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman finally smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey stand down when I give the order.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence crushed the entire deck.<\/p>\n
The officer\u2019s breathing became uneven.<\/p>\n
Because now he understood the horrifying truth.<\/p>\n
The woman floating beneath the ship wasn\u2019t some powerless soldier he could humiliate.<\/p>\n
She was the only reason the enemy fleet hadn\u2019t already sunk them all.<\/p>\n
A rescue alarm suddenly sounded.<\/p>\n
Crew members rushed to lower ropes into the water.<\/p>\n
But the woman didn\u2019t grab them immediately.<\/p>\n
Instead, she looked up one final time at the officer whose arrogance had completely vanished.<\/p>\n
Then she spoke quietly.<\/p>\n
\u201cNext time you throw someone overboard,\u201d she said, \u201cmake sure they aren\u2019t carrying the fate of your ship in one hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
And for the first time since stepping onto the deck\u2014<\/p>\n
The officer had absolutely nothing to say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The laughter died instantly. Thick black smoke climbed into the sky far behind the warship while the deafening explosion echoed across the endless ocean. Sailors gripping the railing stared in stunned silence as flames erupted across the distant waterline. The officer\u2019s smile disappeared. \u201cWhat the hell was that?\u201d one sailor whispered. Below them, the woman […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2793,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}