Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

Harlan didn't get a return call from Belson until three hours later, and it was not good news. They'd delayed the dive so that they could first get the info about the cruiser. But they might just as well have stuck to their original schedule.

"No cruiser," Belson said when Harlan picked up the call. "Not a sign of any ship. I spoke to the villagers along the shore, and they said the cruiser took off from that area about the same time you called me. I followed up with that Abdullah who was giving Kalim his information, but I couldn't locate him. The villagers said he disappeared about the same time as the cruiser. Do you want me to continue to hunt?"

"Absolutely. And keep on doing a scan of the ocean and make sure they're not trying to find out what we're doing and where we're going on the dive."

"Will do. We'll monitor the entire area. They won't give you any trouble. Anything else?"

"Try to track down the name and registration of that cruiser and locate the lessor."

"I'm on it. Good luck today." He cut the connection.

Harlan turned to Kira. "You heard him. But we don't need luck, do we? You can take us anywhere we need to go."

"A little luck wouldn't hurt. But as long as we have Mack on board, he's bound to be a big help." She whistled for Mack to follow her as she headed for the tent to change. "You're going to be very impressed by him, Harlan. We'll just have to see how the rest of it goes."

It took less than an hour for them to board the launch barge and travel to the designated coordinates. The crew lowered three diving sleds into the water as Kira and Harlan watched.

"Are you sure Mack will be okay?" Kira asked. "These things weren't built for dogs."

"No, but they were designed to double as tow rigs, so that items could be placed on top of them and automatically follow other sleds they were paired with. We'll wirelessly pair that sled with yours. Wherever you go, Mack will be right behind you on the surface."

Kira looked at the diving sleds in the water. "You're sure? I'm very nervous about anything happening to Mack these days. It sounds good, but what if we hit rough seas?"

"There are incredible stabilizers built into each of these sleds. Anything short of a monsoon, Mack will sleep like a baby."

"If that's the case, I think I might want to curl up with him. Wake me when you see anything interesting."

"Tough luck. I'm counting on you to tell me."

"Aw, too bad. By the way, thanks for the wet suit. It's actually quite flattering."

He stepped back and looked her up and down. "And it's skintight. You flatter it."

She felt a rush of heat on her cheeks and instantly felt foolish. She wasn't some stupid schoolgirl, and here she was getting flustered over a few words from Harlan.

She tried dismissing the compliment with a wave of her hand. "As long as it keeps me dry."

"You won't need to worry about that. One of my companies made it. Let's get going."

Kira was surprised how quickly Mack jumped from the barge onto his sled. He didn't seem at all panicked, registering only mild interest as she and Harlan slid into the water and donned their electronic masks. They moved their arms into the sleds' control gloves and motored away from the barge with Mack floating just a few feet behind them. The dog wagged his tail excitedly.

"See?" Harlan spoke through the radio transmitter in his mask. "He likes it."

As Kira and Harlan submerged, she turned just in time to see Mack lie down on his belly. Kira laughed. "He's just treating it as another adventure. It's like he's been doing this his entire life. I love it!"

Harlan nodded. "I put a microphone module on his sled. We'll hear it through our earpieces if he starts barking."

"Or snoring."

"That too."

She gasped as they passed through a school of sunfish and beheld a valley of orange coral and a multicolored explosion of undersea life.

"It's stunning," she said.

"But you've seen it before, right?"

"Not like this. These sleds are wonderful. I almost feel like we're flying." She banked left to get a closer look at a crop of red flora. "I want to use these to explore every inch of this place."

"Next time. We're on a mission, remember?"

"If you insist." She focused her eyes on a spot ahead and tapped her forefingers to her thumbs inside the control glove. Her sled sped ahead, smoothly increasing velocity in a way that continued the sensation of flight. Harlan kept pace with her, and she looked up to see that Mack's sled was still overhead, perfectly tracking her.

"Are we getting close?" Harlan asked.

"Yes. See all that orange up ahead?"

"Hard to miss it. It looks like the entire ocean floor is lined with it."

"That's one of the largest coral reefs in this hemisphere. We're going to move through it in a way that a boat never could."

"That will take us to the cave system you've been talking about?"

"Yes. It's kind of a maze at first, but we'll surface in a cave system. Are you sure Mack's sled will keep up?"

"Positive. Where we go, he goes."

She put on an extra burst of speed. "Then let's hit it."

They moved through the orange coral, dodging and weaving amid the ridges with amazing precision. A far cry from the last time she'd visited the area, when it had taken hours to cautiously plot her journey past the sharp coral outcroppings.

She spotted something in the corner of her eye. "Wait, we just passed it."

"I didn't see anything."

"That's why I'm here." She turned around and moved back a few yards until she floated in front of a narrow crevice that was almost invisible from any other angle. "This way. It should be just wide enough for us to make it through."

"What about Mack's sled on the surface?"

"He can go part of the way up there, but after about fifty yards he'll hit a wall. I have an idea for what happens after that. Follow me."

She steered into the crevice and led Harlan—and up above, Mack—through a series of narrow passages until they found themselves in a large opening. They climbed to the surface until they reached a massive cavern. Kira and Harlan steered their sleds onto a stone beach, worn smooth by centuries of erosion.

Kira pulled off her oxygen face mask, stood up from her sled, and stepped over a pile of rocks. She turned around to get her bearings. "Mack! Mack!"

"You really think he can hear you?"

She pulled a whistle from a chain around her neck and shook the water from it. She blew three short blasts and waited for a few seconds.

Harlan shook his head. "If you want to point me in the right direction, you can just go back to him and wait. It probably wasn't a good idea to bring him out here if it was going to be such a—"

Suddenly the water churned, and then Mack leaped up onto the rocks beside them. He shook himself, spraying Harlan with water.

Kira laughed. "Serves you right for doubting him! I told you Mack has been in caves before. This one is just… different."

Harlan wiped the fresh spray of water from his face. "You're right. I should have known better. There was no way he'd let you go anywhere without him." He bent over to pet the dog's head. "Welcome, Mack."

Mack shook himself again.

Kira pulled a flashlight from her pocket and aimed the beam toward the back of the cavern. "We're almost there. This way."

They walked through what was quickly revealed to be a system of caves, some bone-dry, others centered by massive pools of water.

As they stepped around one such pool, Mack darted in front of them and growled.

He was making a sound Kira hadn't heard from him before. "What is it, boy?"

Mack turned toward her and slightly whimpered. Kira stroked his ears.

"Is he okay?" Harlan asked.

"I think so. He's just… unsettled." Kira shone her flashlight around the cavern. "But I don't like it. Mack is never skittish without a good reason."

Something moved in the water.

"See that?" Harlan spun around with his flashlight.

Something else appeared from the water and slithered into the shadows. Mack barked again.

Something hissed behind them. Then to the right. And the left. "What in the hell…" Harlan whispered.

Kira gasped. "Hell's bells! Prehistoric sea snakes?"

"You're joking."

"I wish I was. Get a better look, and you'll see. Though I've only seen them on TV and photographs in textbooks. But I swear that was a close cousin to Titanoboa cerrejonensis ."

"No way. Those things were forty feet long. They could eat small whales. Besides, they've been extinct for tens of millions of years."

"Okay, so maybe these are younger and smaller cousins."

A huge snake leaped from the water of one of the dark pools near the rocks that led toward the sharp outcropping of orange coral. It missed Harlan by only a few inches! Then it slithered away and disappeared into another pool several yards away.

"Holy shit," Harlan said. "That was at least fifteen feet long. You could be right. At the Smithsonian, I saw the fossilized remains of one that had been discovered in a mine in Colombia. That was a pretty damn close resemblance."

"Did you take a look at its head?"

"I couldn't miss it. It almost swallowed my face."

She nodded. "I didn't see them the last time I was here. But the time before, when I brought up the treasure, I thought I was aware of something… strange in the water. They've probably been hiding in these caves for an eternity. If we could bring one back, that would be the true treasure."

He shook his head. "I'll settle for the gold and jewels, thanks. What do you say we scoop 'em up and get the hell out of here?"

She was already moving quickly. "Hurry. Those jewels should be in the very next cavern."

"If a prehistoric sea snake hasn't swallowed them yet."

"No promises. And that's not funny. I don't like the way Mack's tensing up. Watch where you step. And keep away from those dark, sluggish separate pools near the rocks. Those snakes seemed a little too fond of them. Maybe they think we're invading their territory."

"I only wish we'd brought cattle prods," Harlan said grimly.

"In all this water? We'd probably have ended up electrocuting ourselves."

Another snake slithered from the pool next to the path and came dangerously close to Mack. The dog yelped and quickly moved out of the way but stayed in front of Kira, protecting her. "Smart dog," Kira murmured. "Stay close, Mack." She started to run. "Come on!" Kira led Harlan and Mack to the next cavern, which was slightly elevated and completely dry. She stopped and glanced around. "We're looking for a small white boulder. It's lighter in color than the others, and it almost looks like a football." She pointed behind Harlan. "There!"

As she had said, there was a white boulder that roughly approximated the shape and size of an American-style football. Kira and Harlan knelt beside it and worked together to roll it away.

Kira looked down into the rock-lined hole that was left behind. "It's here!" She reached in and pulled out a white marble canister. She twisted off the cap, and Harlan aimed his flashlight inside to reveal that it was filled to the brim with a veritable rainbow of jewels, which reflected colored light all over the cavern.

"You weren't kidding," Harlan said. He reached inside and pulled out a string of diamonds. "These are incredible."

"And they're just the tip of the iceberg. But these will give you a hint of the quality we're talking about."

"I don't have to be a jeweler to see that. Just amazing."

Mack started barking again. He was looking back at the direction they had just come from.

"Oh, no," Harlan said. "More sea snakes?"

Kira cocked her head. "Do you hear that? It sounds like—"

"—water," he finished for her. He refastened the container's top and joined her back at the entranceway. The chamber behind them was now flooded and filling up fast.

"We were just in here," Kira said. "The tide isn't supposed to come in for hours."

"It isn't the tide," Harlan said. "It could be a thunderstorm miles from here. Underground streams could connect to this cave system and flood it in a matter of minutes. We need to get the hell out of here now ."

A huge sea snake slithered past them.

"Shit!" Harlan stuffed the container into his waterproof knapsack. "We have to go back through here. No choice."

"Then let's do it!" Kira waded into the submerged chamber. She looked down and saw that Mack was beside her, apparently just as leery of the snakes as she was. They moved to the next chamber, which was now completely underwater.

Harlan shook his head. "How long can you hold your breath?"

"Hopefully, as long as it takes for us to get back to our sleds."

"Hopefully. Yeah, me too."

They took a deep breath and dove underwater, using their flashlights to guide the way back. Nothing looked the way it had just minutes before, and Kira knew that one wrong turn could be fatal. Her lungs were already starting to ache, and she knew she probably hadn't even made it halfway back yet.

Something moved up ahead. Could that be—?

A huge pair of jaws opened right in front of her face!

It was another sea snake, the biggest she'd seen.

Before she could even attempt to move away, the snake suddenly writhed back and forth and was hurled into the darkness.

Mack had grabbed this snake's neck in his teeth and flung it away!

"Good boy. But no more heroics. Just keep close to me. Move fast." She grabbed Mack's leash and clipped it to his collar and then was pulling him through the water, using her own body as a barrier between him and any of those sluggish pools of water that might harbor danger, and hopefully keep him from trying to attack those blasted snakes. "Hurry, Mack. Don't pay any attention to those weird critters. Just move!"

And they did move at top speed through the series of caverns until they reached the small beachhead where they'd left the sleds.

They were gone. Floated away, obviously. Shit.

Harlan touched his diver's watch, and two headlights fired up on the far side of the cavern. The sleds, activated by a homing beacon, zoomed over to them. Harlan and Kira undocked their oxygen masks and put them on. Kira quickly positioned Mack on top of her sled, and they piloted their crafts out of the cave.

Less than a minute later, they broke the surface. Kira tore off her mask and hugged Mack close. "You're the best, Mack. You know that, right?"

Mack knew. His tail wagged furiously.

Harlan pulled off his mask and cruised alongside. "Is everybody okay?"

"Yes, thanks to Mack."

"Yes, I saw." Harlan reached out and rubbed the scruff of Mack's neck. "I suppose we'll need to take him on all of our expeditions."

"You know it. But next time he'll get his own version of a protective mask. Whether he likes it or not. I'm not going to risk him trying to save me and getting hurt himself. He almost gave me a heart attack."

"Yes, ma'am." Harlan nodded. "I'll go back to the drawing board and Mack will have his protective shield. I wouldn't have it any other way. We just weren't prepared for that kind of hazard this time. You have to admit prehistoric snakes and freak floods aren't what anyone would consider common threats."

"I know we can't prepare for every danger." She was still shaking as she held Mack even closer. "But both Mack and I have been trained to find bombs and disarm them. We don't think twice about it. It's our job. We accept it. And Mack made it through this more bizarre job with flying colors. But we have to do what we can to make any threat as safe as possible for him."

"That's what you did," Harlan said gently. "I watched you. You were ready to give your life to save Mack. You aren't the only one who almost had a heart attack. Do you think I'd let any of us go through that again?"

She shook her head. "Of course not. I was just so scared for him." She looked around. "Where's his sled?"

"It's heading toward you now. About twenty yards behind you. It's locked in on your location."

As it drew closer, Mack jumped off Kira's sled and paddled toward his own. He climbed onto its top surface and spread out with a sigh of contentment.

"He's tired," Kira said. She suddenly remembered something. "Tell me you still have those jewels."

Harlan patted his knapsack. "Yep."

"Good. Then let's get out of here!"