John did not have time for this. He had something to do, didn't he? What was it? The cold was getting to him. Every second, he sank deeper into the depths, and the temperature sank with him. The pain had dulled to discomfort. Soon he would feel nothing at all. He knew that, but he could not remember how to swim. He could barely bring himself to keep his eyes open against the stinging salt water.
A shape in the darkness roused him. He let it approach, curiosity turning to fear as it swelled to a monstrous size. Whale. That's the word for it. It was going up. It was going for air. Air. The thought galvanized him into action. He swam for the watery behemoth and latched onto it. Nothing had tasted so good as his first gasp of air. Luckily, the whale had surfaced near his Nautilus. The crew shouted incomprehensibly and hauled him back on board. He recalled being torn out of his soaked jacket before everything went black.
"What happened?" He asked as the world came back into focus. A man handed him a cup of coffee.
"It was Qatin Murdock. He's an agent, we don't know who for. He's completely unremarkable, until he's throwing you through a window and making a whole submarine practically inoperable."
John grimaced, unpleasant aches and memories starting to come back to him. "I've got to get going. If he came after me, he must have the same goal."
"Woah, you shouldn't be standing up, sir." John ignored him.
"If the ship is broken, I'll take the life boat."
"We'll dock soon. You can go by road then, but for Pete's sake lie down 'til then." The two men locked eyes for a moment before John relented and collapsed back onto his cot.
At the first opportunity, John set off once more. Recent snows made a car impossible, so he went by bobsled. His only comfort was the knowledge that Qatin had rented a front-wheel drive from the town's dealership. With the latest blizzard, John might have half a chance of catching up.
He had to rest the dogs a city away from his ultimate goal. A circus, also trapped by the snow, made the streets a chaos of clowns and lions. That did not keep him from finding Qatin. The agent broke into a sprint with John hot on his heals. Every so often, gunfire spattered towards him, but Murdock never hit home. As the two left the city, diving into barely broken snow paths, an elephant and its infant joined the chase out of confusion. The animals followed the men a whole mile until Murdock's fire hit payload. The mother elephant went down, bones and snow crunching. John hesitated for a second before his heart gave in and he turned back. He might have left the mother, but not the baby.
Qatin glanced back frantically every few minutes, but his idiotic foe remained with the dying beast. After hours of running through the snow, the agent arrived stumbling at secret village. He half pounded, half fell against the gates. At long last, a woman cloaked in shawls and filth cracked open the gate. Qatin pushed his way through against her protests.
"Close the door," he gasped.
"What? Why're you so desperate?" she grumbled, "Besides, I think someone else's comin'."
"Close it now!" Qatin threw himself against the gates, but something wreathed in flame leaped through. He managed to swing the bar back into place to lock the doors, then spun to face the fiery creature. It appeared to be a wolf made entirely of fire. Before Qatin could take it on, a gust of wind blew over the walls. The wind, in the shape of a winged greyhound, lighted next to the fire dog. John dismounted.
"I don't care who you're working for, Qatin Murdock. I don't care you beat me here. You'll leave today, one way or another."
Qatin searched around him desperately for a way out. When his sight landed on the woman, she scurried back into her gatehouse, hands over head.
"What do you say? Will you go will --"
"Mom," I whined, "Would you stop reading aloud?" My mother snapped her novel shut and huffed off. I returned to admiring a soft boiled egg that had somehow been removed whole from its shell. I was contemplating putting it on a salad when I woke up.
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