Death Diamonds of Bermudez (13 page)

Graham thought for a minute and said, “What if this gate was for protection? What if it was made to keep people out?”

Portagee placed both hands on the bars and stuck his head between the bars in the gate. He looked around the other side of the gate trying to figure out how to open it.

Sam saw what he was doing and said, “Portagee, be careful. You’re going to get stuck.”

Portagee replied, “Oh yeah? Watch this.” He began twisting and turning and slowly started squeezing his body through the bars in the gate. After about five minutes of twisting and turning he managed to pass through the bars. Once on the other side he jumped up and said, ”Who’s next?”

Keno spoke up, “Oh, that would be me.”

Savage added, “Keno, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but even if you were one-quarter your size you would still be too big.”

Graham interrupted by saying, “Portagee, hurry up and look around to see if you can find a trip lever or some type of latch before we get killed.”

Portagee replied, “Gotcha.” He quickly began looking around for a way to open the gate.

Storm was beginning to worry. He kept looking over his shoulder checking on the gate, but to no avail. Storm fired a single round off at the South Africans every thirty seconds or so just trying to keep them pinned down until Savage and the Spinners opened the gate. His big concern was that Lynch might toss a few grenades at him.

Lynch was getting impatient. He pulled out a smoke grenade, yanked out the pin and tossed it down the tunnel. As the grenade bounced down the tunnel smoke spewed all around the tunnel. Storm could see the smoke closing in on him. He knew he only had a few minutes before the South Africans would try to overtake him.

Storm turned and yelled out at Savage, “If that damn gate isn’t open in about a minute you better get your butt over here and give me a hand.”

Savage didn’t have to say a word to the Spinners. The look on his face said everything. The four Spinners started pushing and pulling on the gate, but in vain. The gate was not going to budge. Portagee was frantically pushing and pulling on anything he saw that might move. Portagee finally decided to step back away from the gate to get a different perspective on the gate operation. He began backing up, but nothing was helping. All he could see was the frantic look in his friend’s eyes. Portagee kept backing up, not paying any attention to what was behind him. Before he knew it he felt a hard thud in his back. Portagee yelled out, “Don’t shoot!” He then raised both hands into the air. To his surprise the gate started to shake violently. Portagee dropped his hands and the gate stopped shaking. He turned around to look at what had stuck him in the back. It was a huge diamond the size of a softball on the top of a four foot iron column. To his amazement the diamond was sending out two slender white laser beams to crystals embedded in the wall on each side of the iron gate.

Savage saw what happened and yelled out to Portagee, “Portagee, the beams are the locks to the gate. Break the beams, and the gate will unlock.”

Portagee yelled back, “Got it, Inspector.” He raised both hands breaking the beams to the crystals. The gate started to rumble and slowly started lifting straight up.

Savage looked at the hinges on the gate and said, “Well, I’ll be damned. Those hinges fooled us about how the gate opens.”

Meanwhile Lynch and his goons were moving through the smoke screen towards Storm. Storm knew they were probably on the move so he fired several shots through the smoke. One of Lynch’s men was hit in the shoulder and let out a blood-curling scream. Lynch turned to his men and yelled, “Lay out a line of fire, and don’t stop until we find a dead body.” Storm tried to fire back, but the barrage of bullets flying through the air was too much. He had no choice but to retreat further down the tunnel.

The gate was now raised over four feet. The Spinners one at a time scrambled under the gate with Savage bringing up the rear. From the other side of the gate Savage yelled out to Storm, “Let it go, Storm. I’ve got your backside. Move out!”

As he started running for his life, Storm yelled back, “It’s about time!”

Savage pulled out his Uzi and started firing over Storm’s head as he ran towards the open gate. While he was firing Savage yelled to the Spinners, “Let the gate go and clear out. Storm will make it.”

Portagee dropped his arms and with the other Spinners made a bee-line down the stairs from the gate.

Lynch and his thugs had now turned the corner and were running down the tunnel firing at Savage and Storm. Storm was close enough to the gate now to make a slide on his stomach in an attempt to clear the gate that was now only about eighteen inches off the tunnel floor. As he was sliding Lynch fired off a shot that grazed Savage’s temple. The force of the hit knocked Savage back against the tunnel wall striking the back of his head and causing him to black out. He fell with half of his body under the gate. As Storm was sliding under the gate he yelled out, “Someone give me a hand. The Inspector has been hit.”

Keno ran back up the stairs quickly grabbing the bars on the gate to stop the downward motion of the gate. Keno was using every ounce of strength in his body to hold the gate open to keep Savage from being crushed. As soon as Storm cleared the gate he flipped over and grabbed Savage by his shoes pulling him out from under the gate. As soon as Keno saw that Savage was safe he let go of the bars and the gate slammed to the floor. He turned and helped Storm carry Savage down the stairs to safety. The small group quickly found a high wall to temporarily hide behind.

Lynch and the other South Africans kept firing all the way up to the iron gate. Once at the gate Lynch signaled them to quit firing. He pounded on the iron gate as hard as he could screaming, “Those bloody cowards did it again! How the hell can they keep escaping us?” He turned to his men and yelled, “Open this damn gate. I don’t want those cowards to get away. I know we hit at least one of them.” Lynch stormed off back down the tunnel to cool off.

The Lost City

While Savage was slowly coming around, Sam was holding a handkerchief on his temple stopping the blood flow. Storm knew that Lynch and his thugs would be stopped dead in their tracks by the iron gate for a very long time. The other Spinners began to wander a little taking in the sights. Before they walked very far Storm yelled to them, “Stay together, and don’t get out of my sight just in case we have to move out fast.”

Michael replied, “No problem, Agent Storm.” Michael, Keno, and Graham walked around in disbelief at what they were seeing.

Storm was also looking at the site as he sat next to Savage and Sam. From his vantage point on the high ground they had an overview of the entire mega cavern. Storm’s mind was going a hundred miles an hour as his eyes took in the sights. He thought to himself, “What is this place? It looks like an ancient Roman or Greek city. Could this place be the Lost City of Atlantis? “Storm could tell the city had been abandoned for at least two thousand years, maybe even longer. He wasn’t an archeologist so he really couldn’t tell. From his location Storm was overlooking the small city. The city was built in a cavern many times larger than the cavern they had left above them many hours earlier. Based on the size of the subterranean city Storm thought that the population must have been fifty to one hundred thousand inhabitants. The centre of the city was dominated by a huge tower at least fifty feet in diameter and well over two hundred feet high. At first look Storm thought that a huge diamond rested on top of the tower. After looking more closely he saw that the huge ball was some type of steel or iron mesh ball completely filled with the Death Diamonds. Somehow this diamond ball was generating artificial sunlight for the city. The inhabitants of the city were harvesting the Death Diamonds not for wealth and decoration, but for light and survival. Storm knew that when Lynch and his thugs saw the ball of light, they would think they were in heaven and would surely destroy it for the diamonds.

Whether this was The Lost City of Atlantis or some other lost ancient city Storm knew this new discovery put him, Savage, and the Spinners in more danger than ever. Storm lost track of his thoughts. Sam had nudged him in the side. Savage was starting to recover.

Meanwhile the rest of the Spinners were looking around as best as they could without getting out of the sight of Storm. Michael said, “Can you guys believe this place?

Graham added, “I can’t wait to go down into the city and snoop around.”

Keno chimed in, ”I don’t think the South Africans are going to allow us to snoop very much.”

Michael replied, “You’re right, but look at that canal that runs through the centre of the city. They must have used small boats or punts to get around.”

Portagee added, “Let’s snap some pictures with our cell phones. No one will ever believe what we discovered without proof. “Although they needed to conserve their phone batteries the four Spinners each shot multiple pictures. Portagee went on to say, “Let’s christen this ‘The Lost City of
Bermúdez’.” After all Juan Bermúdez’ discovered Bermuda, so isn’t it fitting the lost city of Bermuda to be named after him?

All four Spinners raised their cell phones into the air and yelled out, “Bermúdez!”

Back in the tunnel Lynch was still walking around when one of his men came up to him and said, “Sir, that gate won’t budge an inch no matter what we do.”

I
n his usual impatient manner, Lynch snapped back, “Well then, blow the hell out of it.”

The man replied, “But sir, we are running low on explosives.”

Lynch reached over and grabbed the man by the collar lifting him off the ground yelling, “I don’t give a damn! Just do it, you idiot.” He threw the man against the tunnel wall almost breaking his back.

The man slowly got back to his feet and said, “Yes sir.” He turned away from Lynch and slowly started walking towards the gate.

Lynch yelled out, “Don’t take all day. Those bloody cowards will get away.”

Back in
Bermúdez, Savage almost had his wits back. He looked over at Sam, who was holding one of his hands and said, “Hey, how’s my little girl doing?”

Sam snapped back, “What do you mean how am I doing? You were the one that got shot in the head and almost crushed by the gate.”

Savage smiled and said, “Well I suppose you’re right.” He looked around and said, “Where the bloody hell are we? Did I miss out on something?”

Storm laughed and said, “Yeah, when I kicked the butts of those South Africans just after you fainted.”

By now the other Spinners had gathered around Savage to see how he was doing. Portagee had heard Savage’s question and replied, “You’re in the City of Bermúdez.”

Savage stood up and said, “Well, no matter where we are, we’d better get moving. Lynch won’t be far behind.”

The small group managed to get themselves organized and slowly made their way down a winding cobblestone road that appeared to lead to the centre of the city. While they were walking Storm turned to Savage and said, “This road is so much in the open that whenever Lynch and his goons break through that iron gate we’ll be sitting ducks. They won’t be able to miss us.”

Savage replied, “You’re right, mate. We need to lose ourselves in the city as soon as possible and hope we discover a way out of this bloody dead city.” Savage then asked, “Do you think we should split up into two groups?”

Storm thought for a minute and said, “One side of me says to stick together, and the other side says split up. I also worry that the killers back up at the gate are already through it.”

Savage yelled out, “Stop everyone! We’re going to play hide-n-seek from our friends. We’re going to split up into two groups for three hours, and then we’ll reconvene.”

Sam asked, “Daddy, where are we going to meet?”

Savage thought for a while and then said, “If they figure out we’ve split up I’ll bet they’ll look for our meeting place somewhere in the centre of the city.”

Graham jumped into the conversation, “See that temple over on the far west side of the city?”

Michael replied, “Yes, but how do you know what direction it is from down here?”