Everyone finally saw it. It was a two-hundred-foot-wide docking area, with two-pronged projections used for tying off boats. The stairs came up from either side of the dock, for swimmers to go to and from the canal.
"Think we can tie up there, Chief?" Jack asked.
"Be awful rough heading through those falls, not like the smaller ones we went through earlier. I don't think so, Major. My bet would be she would be battered to pieces."
"I suspect there may be a mechanism inside that place, which can alter the direction and force of the falls, to draw the fury of the water away from entering and exiting boats," Heidi ventured. "That's how the ancients collected their treasure."
Jack just nodded. On the screen he saw Snoopy back away from the dock, giving the four bright lights a chance to take in more higher up. Several darkened objects became visible on the top of the platform, shapes that the voyagers had come to know intimately. Two towering statues of Supay, the Incan god of the underworld, rose majestically on either side of the huge dock. The stone carvings stared down on Snoopy with belligerent eyes that were heavily lidded and appeared to be made of solid gold as the light from the probe played on it. The artwork was far more meticulous than on the two statues they had passed at the tributary entrance. The stone was studded with gemstones of all shapes and sizes; rubies and emeralds lined the arms and wrists of the giants. The trident and ax were also made of gold, and looked even more lethal than the ones outside. Then the light picked up something on one deity's belly. The statue on the right had been vandalized. Professor Keating loudly voiced his outrage, making everyone else in the lounge jump.
"What kind of a hoax is this?" he shouted as he went to the nearest monitor and raised his glasses. As the others looked at the image closely, just more than one jaw dropped. Curses erupted throughout the lounge. If Jack hadn't been so taken aback he would have laughed. Etched in paint on the belly of the giant deity was a graffito that had traveled from the docks of the Brooklyn shipyards in New York to Africa and through all of Europe and Japan during World War II, once used as a universal marker in all the places where American troops had already been:
"So, how long will you need to decipher this message?" Jenks laughed, but inside he was just as stunned as everyone else.
"After the days and the danger our people faced in finding the Padilla route, we find this?" Heidi said angrily.
"Someone in our government has known all along that this was here," Virginia said, standing up. "What were they after, gold?"
Jack reached out and selected the proper switch on the intercom. "Stiles?"
"Yes, sir?"
"How's the transmitter coming?"
"Been online for five minutes Major; just finished up," Stiles answered from the main mast.
"Good. Get in here and get me Group, ASAP," Jack said as he watched the bobbing and unstable picture from Snoopy 3.
"On my way," was the quick answer.
"This can't be about gold," was all Jack said as he turned toward the radio room.
* * *
Rosolo had left the long line of men as they continued on past the American boat. He had easily swerved away without being noticed and swam toward the large hull, which was aglow with bright light emanating from the interior. He would have to be careful to avoid the underwater windows. He reached the stern, slowly made his way to the halfway point amidships, then studied the design. He placed his hand against the hull. He could feel the activity inside even through his gloves. He didn't need a flashlight, as the water was lit up as if he were inside a giant emerald. He reached into his bag and brought out a three-pound limpet charge. He placed it against the hull and pushed, engaging the large suction cups on the back of the mine. Then he traveled down toward the stern, where he'd estimated the boat's engines would be, and placed another charge there. As he set the timers for three minutes, he felt movement around him. It was as if something had swum by at a very fast speed, but as he turned he saw nothing.
* * *
Jackson had turned back from the window to his sonar when the major had called for a situation report on the repairs for the radio. He was no longer looking outside, to see the approach of Rosolo or that of the creature. He even failed to notice that he had unintentionally changed the setting of the sonar alarm, the very specialized piece of naval equipment that had been previously activated to warn of the proximity of an underwater threat.
* * *
"This is Teacher Actual one, on the line for Group Director Compton," Stiles said into the large handheld phone, then he set the instrument down and switched the communications to the speaker, to enable the voyagers to hold a conference call.
"Jack, where in the hell have you been?" Niles asked.
"Well, we had a bit of wildlife trouble here; knocked out our transmitter."
"Boris and Natasha had your visual for most of the day, and then we had a circuit failure on her and we lost picture. But before the old girl went down we saw who we thought was Stiles on the main mast working on your dish. Any luck finding those kids, Jack?"
"Negative, but we have discovered something we need you to check on."
"What's that?"
With just those two words Jack heard how some of the hope had drained from Niles's voice. Finding no survivors was not what the director had wanted to hear.
"Stand by to receive a fax of a still photo. I think you'll find it interesting."
Stiles placed an eight-by-ten of the graffito painted on the belly of the eighty-foot statue of Supay into the scanner and then hit send.
Several moments later Niles came back on, furious.
"All right, I want you and Carl to disembark Teacher and go it alone in the search. Get everyone else out of there, Jack. We've been had by someone. Either the president is lying outright to me or someone is lying to him, but I'm not taking any chances. Someone knew what was there and didn't warn us — or Helen. Get your people out now!"
"I haven't had a chance to tell you about the two bodies we discovered on the way in," he said.
"What bodies?"
Jack took the next few minutes and explained about Kennedy and the tactical release key. Needless to say, Niles Compton was about to explode, without any nuclear key being inserted.
* * *
The creature was watching the shipboard activity through the port window. Sarah entered the lounge area after Jack had gone out to contact Niles. The animal became still as it recognized her face from the diving bell. It then saw Sarah turn and leave, disappearing through the hatch. The creature became agitated once again as it shook its massive head. Then it dove and streaked to the other side of the boat by swiftly passing beneath it. The animal was by no means enraptured by Sarah; on the contrary, it was interested in her because it couldn't figure out how she had transferred from the diving bell into Teacher.
Sudden movement caught the beast's eye at the stern section of the hull. A black form was barely visible there. The beast could see it was alive — an intruder. It kicked out with its legs, and the mighty fins of its feet stirred an invisible vortex through the water as it was propelled at a fantastic speed through the lagoon.
The man felt movement as it passed by and turned, but the creature was already around him and turning back. The animal stilled its actions for a moment. It watched as the intruder rose two feet in the water until he could see inside one of the submerged windows. That was when the amphibian charged through the water straight at Rosolo, who was blessed with a thief's instincts to know when something wasn't right. He turned just before the beast struck. His eyes wide, he tried desperately to swim away.
* * *
"The SEAL, Kennedy, had a tactical nuclear arming key on his body, Niles, and he was contaminated with radioactivity, according to the autopsy. So whoever ordered them in here with a tactical weapon more than likely gave them orders to blow up the mine. I need you to find out why they would risk these kids like that."
"I've been on the Kennedy investigation for hours
, and so far Pete and I are drawing a blank."
"It has something to do with whatever else is in that mine. I can't believe they would risk a nuclear incident just to protect gold. Find out whose game we're involved in and get it stopped, sir, or we may be up a creek here."
"I'll do my best, but for right now, get our people out of there, Jack; do you understand, get them out. But I have to ask that you and Carl stay to get Helen's team out if at all possible."
Sarah, who had listened in on this part of the conversation, patted Jack on the back and left the communications center to go aft into the lounge once again.
Jackson suddenly noticed the sonar was on the wrong setting. "Major, we have contact, bearing two nine-seven and coming on fast, thirty-two knots and closing!" he said as he reached out and turned the audio alarm back on.
"Niles, we may have a situation here; I'll try and get back to you. It seems our animal friend may be paying us another visit."
"Animal? You mean the goddamned stories are real? That breaks it, Jack, get the hell—"
Niles was cut off as Teacher was jolted by a massive explosion amidships. The detonation sent everyone sprawling to the floor. Teacher immediately started listing to port, taking on two tons of water a minute as her composite hull split and buckled in the very section where everyone else had gathered. The lounge.
* * *
The creature took Rosolo by the neck and rammed him straight into the water jet of engine number two, momentarily knocking him senseless. He tried to gather his panicked thoughts when he felt the beast's webbed fingers close once again over his head. Just as his attacker drew back to slam Rosolo's head into the stanchion, the underwater world was rocked by a violence the animal had never encountered before. It released the Colombian and sped away, grasping its head against the pressure wave that slammed into it. Rosolo, lucky beyond measure, was tossed about like a twig in the roiling currents that gripped the waters surrounding Teacher. His very own bombs had saved his life. He shook his head and made for the shore and the mine beyond.
* * *
Mendenhall and Corporal Shaw had been working on the damaged engine when the explosion knocked them from their feet. A large piece of composite hull exploded into the engine room and caught Shaw in the chest. Acting like a buzz saw, it sank through his body to his backbone. Mendenhall raised his head out of the water that was quickly filling the bilges and rising above the grated floor. He looked around for Shaw and saw he was dead. The sergeant had been protected from flying debris by the damaged engine they had been working on. However, although he shook his head to clear it, he knew he was partially deaf, as he had heard nothing after the loud roar of the explosion. He looked for the source of the blast and saw a six-foot-diameter hole blown in the aft side, half above and half below the waterline.
"Help me before we sink!" he shouted.
At that moment Sanchez entered quickly through the hatch and then sealed it closed. Looking around, he saw Shaw's body floating and Mendenhall struggling with the diving bell, which had come loose from its cradle.
"Help me!" Mendenhall repeated.
Sanchez moved quickly through the rising water and helped the sergeant, as he realized in an instant what it was he was trying to do.
The bell was swinging back and forth in front of the damaged hull. Sanchez and Mendenhall needed literally to cram the round bell into the smaller hole in the boat's side to stop the flooding. Sanchez knew immediately that the sergeant wasn't going to have enough play on the umbilicus to reach the damaged area, and splashed though the water to the main control.
Mendenhall doubled his efforts to keep the one-ton bell swinging while Sanchez tried to time its movement. It would come close to the hole and then swing backward, always about a foot short of wedging itself in. When he thought he had it timed, Sanchez hit the descend switch that operated the winch, but nothing happened. Then he realized the winch was moving, but very slowly. The bell swung back out again and this time as it started forward, with Mendenhall pushing, he hit the emergency release for the winch. It broke free from the umbilical lines and slammed hard into the hull. The hole exploded with water one last time as the bell settled and successfully blocked most of the damaged area.
"It worked!" Mendenhall screamed for all he was worth. Then he saw Sanchez start stuffing everything he could find into the gaps where the bell hadn't blocked the inrushing water.
They were still sinking, but now they would have an extended life of maybe twenty minutes if they could get under way.
* * *
Amidships, all hell had broken loose. Jenks fought to get his head above water but his foot was trapped underneath one of the couches. The master chief thought his leg might also be broken from having been hit sharply by a fallen monitor. He cried out and swore when Professor Keating floated by, face down, in the rising waters. He knew his beloved boat had been dealt a death blow and that he would more than likely go down with it. He struggled but his foot was wedged in good. Every time he moved his leg, he screamed in pain and frustration.
Three feet away, Virginia surfaced. Blood was flowing freely from a broken nose, and at first she thought her left arm was gone. She felt relief when she raised it and saw it still attached, although cut very deeply. She felt a hand on her other arm and saw Danielle surface, choking and coughing up water. Virginia saw crew members' bodies were being tossed like bathtub toys by the incoming tidal wave that was rushing through the damaged hull. Three of the lab technicians were clearly dead; they had been standing right where the explosion had disintegrated the composite material. Then she panicked as her eyes fell on Jenks just as the water started to cover his head.
"Chief!" she yelled, and pushed Danielle forward. "Help me with him!"
They both dove under and were instantly grateful that the lights had remained on. Virginia went low and Danielle high as they both pulled on Jenks's broken leg. He screamed but his foot came out from under the couch and they all surfaced.
As the master chief came up, spitting out dirty water, he saw immediately to what degree they were in trouble. The water was coming in too fast, which told him that whatever had happened had mostly occurred below the water line. He saw Ellenshaw was trying to open the latch to the next compartment.
"No, Professor, no!" Jenks screamed loudly over the noise of the incoming flood. "Stop him! We can't flood the aft areas; we may already be taking in water!"
Danielle broke free and quickly swam over to grab the old man. He turned to her in shock, and for a moment could only point mutely toward the glass porthole of the hatch.
"That section is taking on water, Sarah's in there!" he finally croaked.
Danielle threw the professor aside and looked through the port. Sarah was lying against one of the underwater viewing ports where the damage was sustained; it was cracked and shooting water into that section. Sarah looked unconscious; the water, though not filling that section as fast as the lounge area, was slowly creeping up to the level of her neck.
"Chief, we have to get in there," Danielle said.
The master chief, in much pain and assisted by Virginia, inched his way through the chest-high water to look for himself through the porthole into the next section.
"Okay, the hatch on the far side of that section is sealed; we'll flood only that area. Go ahead, get her!"
The Frenchwoman pulled up on the handle and the hatch exploded outward. The room flooded immediately and Sarah went under. Danielle swam her way over and reached for the young second lieutenant. Her hand came into contact with Sarah's hair and she pulled. Then Danielle pulled Sarah free of the aft section and dragged her into the lounge.
Jenks yelled for Virginia and Ellenshaw to get him to the cockpit.
"What about the rest of them?" Virginia asked.
"They're dead, Doctor, can't you see that? Now move or we're going to go down. Look at the list!"
As Virginia followed his eyes, she could see that Teacher was leaning at least forty degrees to port
. That sight was enough to start her pulling the master chief forward toward the sealed hatch that led into communications.
As Danielle reached the lounge area, holding the young woman under the arms as she treaded water, she saw Sarah's chest rise and fall more rapidly as she started to awaken. At that moment, the hull section split along the area already heavily damaged by the explosion. Danielle was pelted by sharp-edged pieces as the creature breached the hull and came up through the neck-high water. She screamed. Virginia, Ellenshaw, and Jenks turned just as the beast reached for Danielle and Sarah. Danielle kicked out at the creature but lost her hold on Sarah as she did so. She then watched helplessly as the beast took Sarah by one arm and raised her up out of the water. The animal roared, swiping at Danielle and making a grab for her also. The sound was hoarse, but loud enough to shock them all as the overhead light caught its greenish and gold features. Unable to reach Danielle, it took Sarah below the surface of the flood and then out through the split in the hull.
Jenks felt absolutely helpless as Sarah was dragged out. Virginia screamed with rage as she ineffectually shoved the master chief forward with her good arm. Danielle could only stare at the spot where the beast had been only a moment before.
* * *
Jack fought his way out of the communications room after quickly tending to the injuries of Stiles. Jackson had been killed when an overhead power box had ripped free of its mountings and struck him in the head, but Stiles was still moaning from an electrical shock that coursed through his body when the radio blew up. His face had been struck by several large pieces of glass and steel.
Jack next made it into the companionway and saw Carl, or at least his legs. The lieutenant commander was struggling, trapped underneath the overturned navigation table. Jack told him to hold still.
"Hurry, Jack, this thing is about to snap both of my legs!"
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