Read Online The Mahogany Ship (Sam Reilly Book 2) by Christopher Cartwright - Free Book Online

intake to his helmet.
    “Here we go.”
    Sam brought the Sea Witch slowly closer to the main entrance
of the pyramid, until he noticed some of the controls were becoming soft and
awkward. He still had control over the sub, but needed to exert more pressure
to achieve it.
    “Okay, that’s it,” Sam said. “We’re committed now.”
    “Copy that. Overriding the airlock’s primary hatch.”
    The outside hatch remained firmly closed, while the middle
hatch, which ordinarily ensured that the sub’s cockpit remained dry, stayed
opened. There were a number of safety systems in place to avoid just such an
event, but Tom had managed to override them.
    “Flooding her now,” Tom said.
    Water quickly filled both chambers of the Sea Witch.
    By the time they reached the entrance to the pyramid, the
sub was completely flooded, and the pressure equalized with the outside
environment.
    Without power, the Sea Witch spun through the turbid waters.
    Looking out the tiny porthole, Sam struggled to maintain a
sense of direction as they bounced through the large entrance to the pyramid.
Unable to determine how far along the tunnel they had reached, the sub suddenly
jerked to a standstill and became firmly lodged.
    “Are we stuck?” Tom asked.
    Sam looked out his porthole. Water appeared to be flowing
past it, faster and angrier than ever. “Yeah, we’re stuck all right, but not
where we were supposed to be.”
    Tom ran his hand over his dive computer. All the instruments
were working, and at this depth, he had a little more than an hour’s Hydrox
supply – that was something, at least.
    “How’s your Hydrox, Sam?”
    “I’m good for at least an hour. Let’s open the hatch and get
back to the diving bell. See what our next move is.”
    “Agreed.”
    Tom spun the internal locking wheel of the outer hatch. The
green light turned red, indicating that it was no longer water tight.
    He then pushed the door outwards.
    Nothing happened.
    He pushed at it again, without any success. Tom swallowed
and his heart rate rocketed. “Sam, we have a big problem…”
    *
    In the mission room of the Maria Helena, the silent
uneasiness was almost tangible. Sam’s last message from the Sea Witch was that
they had flooded the cockpit and were now drifting inside the mouth of the
pyramid. The last five minutes had passed unbearably slowly, and they had
received no messages from below.
    The sound of Michael’s cell ringing, broke the silence.
    “The water’s still flowing, and it’s passed the safety
blocks at mineshaft three!” It was his underground manager.
    “Understood. Tell the men that we’re doing our best for
them.”
    Michael looked at Matthew.  “It didn’t work. The water’s still
flowing strong.”
    Matthew nodded in understanding and then looked at Veyron,
“Any ideas?”
    “None that can be done in the timeframe, I’m afraid.”
    “Veyron,” Michael said. “I noticed you have a second
submarine down below. Can you send that to try again?”
    “Sure, I can control its mechanical arms and probably
reposition the Sea Witch, but we don’t have anyone to pilot her.”
    “I think I’ve got a solution for that.”

Chapter Five
    Sam turned around so that he could push the hatch with his
legs, in conjunction with Tom. Despite the pain in his strong thigh muscles,
there was no movement.
    “Well… that’s going to make our day considerably worse,” Sam
said.
    Tom moved around the sub, looking out the other portholes,
trying to get a better idea of how the Sea Witch was resting. “The hatch must
be wedged up against the wall?”
    “I suppose so. The question is how are we going to free it?”
    “I’ll inform the Maria Helena that we failed, and see what
solutions Veyron can come up with. I knew we should have taken that French son
of a bitch with us.”
    Sam nodded his head and then continued his reconnaissance of
the Sea Witch. It appeared to be lying with a 70-degree list to its portside,
meaning that the hatch –