Death Diamonds of Bermudez (10 page)

W
ith his face turning red, Michael said, “Portagee, bite me!”

Sam laughed and said, “Come on, Michael. Portagee was only kidding. I do think we should exclude mushrooms from our diet though. Maybe we can find a fish trapped in a water pool. ” They all agreed that was a good idea and kept looking for some type of food source.

Meanwhile back at the tunnel entrance Lynch and his thugs were checking over their weapons and supplies. Lynch did a quick inspection man by man. After the inspection Lynch barked out, “Men, this is our mission. This is why we’re here in Bermuda. Somewhere down this tunnel is where we will complete this mission. No one, do you hear me? No one will stop us! Do you understand?”

The men in unison yelled back, “Yes sir!”

Lynch replied, “Very good.” He went on to say, “We have limited resources, so use them wisely.” Lynch was right. For a paramilitary assault force, they were not very well equipped. They did have multiple semi-automatic pistols and several Uzi sub-machine guns and grenades, plus the most vicious-looking jagged military knives one could imagine.

One of Lynch’s men asked, ‘Sir, may I have permission to speak?”

Lynch replied, “Go ahead.”

The man continued, “I know what to do if either Storm or Savage get in the way of accomplishing our mission, but what about the kids?”

Lynch yelled back, “I will only tell you this once. If anyone at all gets in the way of us and our mission, they will be eliminated no matter what. Do all of you understand that?”

The entire group responded, “Sir, yes sir.”

Lynch replied, “Let’s move out! Klaw, you take the lead and the rest of you fall out behind him at ten foot intervals.” The small group of mercenaries moved out with Lynch bringing up the rear.

Several hours later, Graham and Keno found themselves at what appeared to be a
blocked part of the tunnel rocks, wood planks, and old dead brush from flood waters over the years. Keno pointed out to Graham, “Look, I can see light through the cracks in the debris.”

Graham added, “It looks to me that with a little work we can get through this, and then maybe we’re home free.”

Keno replied, “You’re right. Michael, Sam, and Portagee must have gone through this already. They must be home by now.” As they were slowly climbing through the debris Keno heard something behind them. He reached forward and tapped Graham on his shoulder whispering, “Stop moving. Someone’s coming up right behind us.” Both boys tried to conceal themselves in the dead brush hoping that it was Savage and Storm and not the South Africans. As the two Spinners tried to stay in a frozen state they could tell that whoever was following them was not at the tunnel blockage. Graham was thinking to himself as he heard the debris being moved away that this might be the end for him and Keno. Just at that moment the brush he was hiding behind was abruptly moved, exposing him. Before he could move a bright light blinded him. All Graham could yell out was, “Don’t shoot!”

A voice on the other side of the bright light replied, “Not to worry, mate. We lost our pistol, but I might beat you to death with my night stick.” Savage started laughing as he reached through the brush and helped Graham to his feet.

Graham finally got another word out saying, “Thank the Lord it was you, Inspector. I thought it was the South Africans.”

Savage replied, “Don’t feel too at ease. Those bloody killers are not far behind us.”

Storm chimed in, “What’s the light over there that I see through all this mess? Back up the tunnel we thought it was you boys using your flashlights!”

Keno added, “No sir, it wasn’t us. We think it’s the way back out of this tunnel.”

As Storm began weaving through the debris he said, “Well, let’s find out and get clear of this mess.”

Savage added, “You guys go first, and I’ll try to move these boards and brush around to slow our
mercenaries down.” Savage tried to walk backwards ripping down everything he could hoping to slow Lynch down. As he backed out of the debris and into the clear he bumped into the back of Storm. Savage yelled out, ‘What the hell did you stop for?”

Storm tapped on Savage’s shoulder and said, “I think you better turn around and look at this.”

Savage said, “Yeah, yeah.” He
was at a loss for words though when he turned around and saw what the others were already looking at. The four were now looking at the same mammoth cavern that the other Spinners had seen a day or so ago.

The walls of the cavern were gleaming brilliantly from the gold, silver, diamonds and crystals. The four were almost blinded from the display.

Storm was first to speak saying, “Well, we now know what the South Africans are looking for.”

Savage added, “You got that bloody right! These self-proclaimed Boers solders won’t be taking any prisoners either.” No sooner had Savage quit speaking than bullet fire ripped through the debris.

Storm yelled out, “Drop to the cave floor as fast as you can. Keno was hit almost instantly. His large body dropped to the cave floor with the thud of a boulder. He lay on his back motionless with no signs of life.

Savage was closest to Keno. He crawled on his belly over to the lifeless body. Savage shook Keno’s side saying, “Wake up, mate! You’ll be alright.”

Graham whispered over to Savage asking, “How do you know he’s going to be alright?”

Savage whispered back, “Well, he’s going to be sore. Thank goodness he was hit in the chest.” Savage lifted up Keno’s flack jacket to make sure the bullet was lodged in it and not in Keno’s chest. Savage turned to the others and said, “The flack jacket saved his life. He’s just stunned and got the wind knocked out of him. He’ll come around in a minute.”

While Graham and Savage were tending to Keno, Storm had crawled over to the edge of the debris. He could see that there were old ropes from a ship and a fairly large area of tar that must have been washed into the tunnel from the ocean. With all the old dried sticks and brush mingled together he had an idea. He pushed some of the rope and dried sticks down into the tar. While he was trying to avoid the random bullets being fired through the debris, he pulled out some matches and lit the tar-coated rope. It took a couple of minutes, but the tar and debris finally caught fire. The clogged entrance to the cavern was quickly filled with smoke and fire. The South Africans were caught off guard from the turn of events. To make matters worse for them, they were on higher ground and the dense smoke was flowing up the tunnel like a chimney. Lynch yelled at his men, “Cease firing! The smoke is too thick. We’re wasting our ammunition.” Lynch had no choice but to move his men back up the tunnel to escape the smoke.

Keno was finally coming around. He was moaning in pain from the hit he had taken in the chest. Trying to comfort Keno, Savage said, “You’re going to be sore, son, but you’re no worse for the wear. Can you move? We’re sitting ducks if those goons start firing at us again”

Keno in a very low voice said, “I’ll be fine. I can get up.”

Storm ran over to help Savage get Keno back on his feet. Storm yelled out, “We’d better get moving. This fire won’t keep those killers at bay for very long.” Keno began walking despite his sore chest with Storm’s help. Savage and Graham ran ahead trying to find an escape route.

Hide and Seek

Sam, Michael
, and Portagee had all but given up on finding anything edible. As they walked along Portagee looked down in a shallow pool saying, “What’s that moving around in the water over there?”

Michael looked over at the pool and smiled as he answered, “It looks like sushi to me.” Michael could see that the little critters swimming in the pool were small translucent shrimp.

Sam looked over at the shrimp and said, “You’ve got to be kidding. I’m not eating those shrimp. Look, you can see their insides.”

A
s he reached into the pool grabbing as many shrimp as he could, Portagee replied, “Suit yourself; I’m hungry.” He devoured the tiny morsels in seconds. Michael was quick to follow Portagee and grabbed as many shrimp as he could.

Sam sat there with a pained look on her face. The thought of eating those tiny shrimp and having them swimming around in her stomach was nauseating. Sam’s hunger finally got the best of her. She nudged Michael in the side and said, “Alright, give me some of those disgusting creatures.”

Michael turned around and dropped several into Sam’s hand saying, “Bottoms up, baby.”

Sam closed her eyes and tossed the tiny shrimp into her mouth swallowing them as quickly as she could. The three Spinners continued feasting on the shrimp until Portagee and Michael were satisfied. Sam ate just enough to stop her hunger pains. The three left the pool and continued on, hoping to find their way out of the endless cavern.

Meanwhile back at the cavern entrance the fire had died down, and Lynch and his thugs were waiting for the smoke to clear out of the tunnel. Lynch got impatient and decided to expedite the clearing out of the charred brush and debris. He yelled out, “Fire in the hole!” He threw a grenade in the smoking debris and then dropped to the tunnel floor. The explosion blew the charred and burning debris in all directions. The sounds of the explosion resonated throughout the massive cavern.

Sam, Michael, and Portagee stopped dead in their tracks after hearing the sound of the explosion echoing throughout the cavern. Sam yelled out, “What was that?”

Portagee replied first, “Not sure, but I’ll bet it was some type of grenade set off by our South African buddies.”

Michael snapped back, “They’re not our buddies. That also means that they must be following us. I bet they blew open the blockage at their end of the tunnel.”

With a look of
concern on her face Sam said, “Maybe when they see all the diamonds, gold, and silver they’ll forget about us.”

Portagee added, “I wish they would, but right now we’re the only witnesses to their crimes.”

Sam responded, “I hope my daddy has figured out what happened to us by now.” The three agreed they better keep moving or find a fool-proof hiding place.

Storm, Savage, Keno, and Graham had also heard the explosion, except they were much closer to the source. It sounded to them like Lynch had just blown up that end of the massive cavern. They all froze for a minute expecting the ocean to rush in and engulf them.

Savage turned to the others and said, “Well, those bloody bastards are just about ready to unleash their fury on us.”

Graham asked, “Inspector, don’t you think when they see the cavern they’ll stop to try to load up on the diamonds and maybe forget about us?”

Storm replied, “Graham, you’re right. These men are greedy, but they’re also blood-thirsty cold-blooded killers. They believe they’re on a mission to save their country. The only way they’ll stop is if the inspector and I stop them.”

Savage added, “Storm’s right. You two need to get your bloody butts out of here and find Sam, Michael and Portagee. We’ll catch up with you later. Right now we need to slow down and maybe stop these killers.”

Keno spoke up saying, “But.”

Savage didn’t let him finish. He added, “But nothing! Get moving, and I mean now!”

Graham replied, “Alright, we get the message.” He turned to Keno saying, “Come on, let’s go find our friends.” The two shook hands with Storm and Savage and took off at a fast pace hoping to find the rest of the Spinners.

Once Keno and Graham were out of sight Savage turned to Storm and said, “Well, mate, how the hell are we going to stop these bloody bastards? The only weapon we’ve got is this bloody night stick.”

Storm shrugged his shoulders and said, “Beats the hell out of me, but I’ve got faith in us. We’ll think of something. We’re just going to have to use the resources that are available to us.”

Back at the cavern entrance the smoke was finally clearing up. Lynch and his thugs were now able to make their way through the smoldering debris. They all entered the cavern at about the same moment. To a man they were all speechless. Lynch was first to find some words, “Well, I’ll be damned. Old Fritz was right. The riches of the world are here and just waiting for us.” As he spoke he waved his arms out signaling to his men saying, “Spread out, men. Look for tracks of the kids and the coppers. Don’t get any further away than fifty yards from this spot. I’m going to give Van Eck a quick call.