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Authors: Clive Cussler
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grip. The eyes never opened, even as the mouthpiece to the air regulator was passed back and forth.
His decision to rely on a simple U.S. Divers’ Scan face mask and a standard U.S. Diver’s Aquarius scuba air regulator instead of his old reliable Mark II full face mask turned out to be wise. Traveling light made it easier for him to swim nearly half a mile through a maze of underground passages from the Buccaneer Mine, many partially filled with fallen rock and timbers. There were also dry galleries the flooding water had not yet reached, where he had to crawl and walk. Trudging over ore car rails and ties and fallen rock while toting bulky air tanks, buoyancy compensator, various gauges, a knife, and a belt loaded with lead weights was not an easy chore. The water was icy cold, but he stayed warm inside his DUI Norseman dry suit during the passages he was forced to swim. He had chosen the Norseman because it had greater ease of movement when he was out of the water.
The water was turbid and the beam from the dive light, cutting a swath in the liquid void, penetrated only ten feet into the murk. He counted the shoring timbers as they passed, trying to gain a perspective on how far they had traveled. At last the tunnel made a sharp turn and ended in a gallery that led to a vertical shaft. He entered the shaft and felt as if he had been swallowed by an alien monster from the depths. Two minutes later, they broke the surface, and he aimed the dive light into the black above. A horizontal tunnel leading on to the next level of the Paradise Mine beckoned forty feet above.
Pat smoothed the hair from her face and stared wide-eyed at him. It was then he saw that her eyes were a lovely shade of olive green. “We made it,” she gasped, coughing and spitting water from her mouth. “You knew about this shaft?”
Holding up the directional computer, he said, “This little gem led the way.” He placed her hands on the slimy rungs of a badly rusted ladder leading upward. “Do you think you can make it up to the next level on your own?”
“I’ll fly if I have to,” said Pat, overjoyed at being free of the hideous chamber and knowing she was still alive, with a chance, albeit a slim one, of eventually becoming a senior citizen.
“As you climb the ladder, pull yourself up with your hands on the vertical bars, and mind you don’t step in the center of the rungs. They’re old and probably half rusted through. So go carefully.”
“I’ll make it. I wouldn’t dare mess up. Not after you got me this far.”
He handed her a small outdoorsman butane lighter. “Take this, find some dry wood from a timber, and start a fire. You’ve been exposed to the cold water much too long.”
As he pulled the dive mask back down over his face and prepared to duck under that water again, her hand suddenly tightened around his wrist. She felt drawn into the opaline green eyes. “You’re going back after the others?”
He nodded and threw her a smile of encouragement. “I’ll get them out. Don’t worry. There’s still time.”
“You never told me who you are.”
“My name is Dirk Pitt,” he said. Then, the mouthpiece reinserted, he gave a brief wave and vanished into the murky water.
THE water had reached the shoulders of the men in the ancient chamber. The terror of claustrophobia seemed to rise along with the water. All barbs of panic had receded as Ambrose and Marquez quietly accepted their fate in their private Hades deep inside the earth. Marquez chose to fight to the last breath, while Ambrose silently embraced a diehard death. He steeled himself to swim down through the cleft into the tunnel and go until his lungs gave out.
“He’s not coming back, is he?” Marquez mumbled.
“Doesn’t look like it, or else he won’t make it in time. He probably thought it best to give us false hope.”
“Funny, I had a gut feeling we could trust the guy.”
“Maybe we still can,” said Ambrose, seeing what looked like a
His decision to rely on a simple U.S. Divers’ Scan face mask and a standard U.S. Diver’s Aquarius scuba air regulator instead of his old reliable Mark II full face mask turned out to be wise. Traveling light made it easier for him to swim nearly half a mile through a maze of underground passages from the Buccaneer Mine, many partially filled with fallen rock and timbers. There were also dry galleries the flooding water had not yet reached, where he had to crawl and walk. Trudging over ore car rails and ties and fallen rock while toting bulky air tanks, buoyancy compensator, various gauges, a knife, and a belt loaded with lead weights was not an easy chore. The water was icy cold, but he stayed warm inside his DUI Norseman dry suit during the passages he was forced to swim. He had chosen the Norseman because it had greater ease of movement when he was out of the water.
The water was turbid and the beam from the dive light, cutting a swath in the liquid void, penetrated only ten feet into the murk. He counted the shoring timbers as they passed, trying to gain a perspective on how far they had traveled. At last the tunnel made a sharp turn and ended in a gallery that led to a vertical shaft. He entered the shaft and felt as if he had been swallowed by an alien monster from the depths. Two minutes later, they broke the surface, and he aimed the dive light into the black above. A horizontal tunnel leading on to the next level of the Paradise Mine beckoned forty feet above.
Pat smoothed the hair from her face and stared wide-eyed at him. It was then he saw that her eyes were a lovely shade of olive green. “We made it,” she gasped, coughing and spitting water from her mouth. “You knew about this shaft?”
Holding up the directional computer, he said, “This little gem led the way.” He placed her hands on the slimy rungs of a badly rusted ladder leading upward. “Do you think you can make it up to the next level on your own?”
“I’ll fly if I have to,” said Pat, overjoyed at being free of the hideous chamber and knowing she was still alive, with a chance, albeit a slim one, of eventually becoming a senior citizen.
“As you climb the ladder, pull yourself up with your hands on the vertical bars, and mind you don’t step in the center of the rungs. They’re old and probably half rusted through. So go carefully.”
“I’ll make it. I wouldn’t dare mess up. Not after you got me this far.”
He handed her a small outdoorsman butane lighter. “Take this, find some dry wood from a timber, and start a fire. You’ve been exposed to the cold water much too long.”
As he pulled the dive mask back down over his face and prepared to duck under that water again, her hand suddenly tightened around his wrist. She felt drawn into the opaline green eyes. “You’re going back after the others?”
He nodded and threw her a smile of encouragement. “I’ll get them out. Don’t worry. There’s still time.”
“You never told me who you are.”
“My name is Dirk Pitt,” he said. Then, the mouthpiece reinserted, he gave a brief wave and vanished into the murky water.
THE water had reached the shoulders of the men in the ancient chamber. The terror of claustrophobia seemed to rise along with the water. All barbs of panic had receded as Ambrose and Marquez quietly accepted their fate in their private Hades deep inside the earth. Marquez chose to fight to the last breath, while Ambrose silently embraced a diehard death. He steeled himself to swim down through the cleft into the tunnel and go until his lungs gave out.
“He’s not coming back, is he?” Marquez mumbled.
“Doesn’t look like it, or else he won’t make it in time. He probably thought it best to give us false hope.”
“Funny, I had a gut feeling we could trust the guy.”
“Maybe we still can,” said Ambrose, seeing what looked like a
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