Duke’s submarine

I tried to free the commander, who was caught under a beam. Agent Chang's voice came through my earpiece.

"Eagle to Seal Three, do you copy?"

Seal Three was the codename of our assault group. "Here Seal Three," answered the commander with difficulty.

"What's your position? Over."

"We're at the tail of the Worm."

"Retreat, Seal Three. You only have two minutes, do you copy?" "OK, T-2 minutes. Roger and out."

The commander looked at me, with hopelessness and desperation shining in his eyes. He grabbed my vest, jerking me forward with adrenaline-fueled strength.

"Listen to me, inspector. In less than two minutes they're going to blow this submarine. Just carrying me to the hatch will take you more than three minutes. Go, or we'll die both."

"Then we'll die!" I snarled, heaving the beam once more. It finally moved, thanks to the water surrounding us. I freed the commander, and carried him, heading to the compartment's exit. The commander, nearly unconscious, was babbling.

"One minute left." We went up the stairs that lead to the exit hatch. Several detonations went off outside. My God, it's the artillery.

We managed to get out through the hatch and I could see in the distance two warships, moving fast in the rough sea. Dawn was beginning to break, and I could distinguish flashes of light in the prows of the ships. Five seconds later, water splashed us when the charges went off a few feet away from where we were standing. On our left, the tender ship was engulfed in flames. I looked around, trying to find any of our boats or our ship, but there was nothing in sight. They probably had withdrawn from the impact zone.

I held tightly to the commander and jumped in the water. We broke the surface with such force that we popped free like a cork. The explosions were still going, sending shivers down my spine. One of the charges hit the submarine, blowing it up, and sending a thick column of black smoke to the sky. I desperately swam away, pulling the heavy and unconscious commander with me. I couldn't feel my legs anymore; my strength was slowly abandoning me. This was the end, but, at least, the Duke had gone down with the submarine.