Dragon's Triangle (The Shipwreck Adventures Book 2) (57 page)

“What about the ‘back door’? Shouldn’t we try that first?”

“I already did,” she said. “Before you got here. Irv told me how to find it. I trotted back and came to a rock pile. I think the Japanese had time to blow that and bury the entrance before the guerrillas forced them to fire the torpedo.”

“Torpedo? What are you talking about?”

“Oh, I’ll tell you later. Once we get out of here. I’m almost afraid to ask, but what happened to Greg?”

“I think she’s okay.” He stopped, winced, and began to reach for his side, then thought better of it. “I gave her the sat phone and told her to go for help.”

“Good. She’ll call Theo. Cole, are you sure you’re okay to walk?”

He nodded and started moving.

When they got to the stream that flowed along the wall of the cave, they turned to follow the water. Just before leaving the big cavern, they passed four big crates with writing on them. In addition to the Japanese kanji script, there were the letters “UO2.” Cole pointed at the crates.

“Uranium dioxide,” he said.

Suddenly Riley wished he’d worn his personal dosimeter on this trip. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

At least it was downhill. They walked for so long, she had to pinch her nose and pop her ears a couple of times. Cole wasn’t talking. Just listening to the hitch in his breath every time he had to put weight on his foot was making her ache for him. Because every step was on the irregular slippery terrain, she was afraid he was going to fall and perhaps even puncture a lung.

Eventually, the sides of the cave began to look different, smoother somehow. She wasn’t sure what to make of it until she saw that there was a line and the wall above that line looked like the rest of what they’d seen, with crystalized mineral deposits on the surface of the mud. Below that line, the walls were a different texture.

She pointed and aimed her headlight at the wall. “Look at that line. I’m guessing it’s a waterline. I think this cave flooded up to here.”

“I think you’re right,” Cole said.

Soon their path appeared to level out more and the stream began to widen. Riley said, “This whole cave system was formed by this underground river. When they caused the entrance to cave in, it backed up the river and the cave flooded.”

Cole finished her thought for her. “So it follows that if the cave is no longer flooded, erosion and the pressure from within helped the water find a way out.”

“And all we have to do is follow the water.”

Cole took another slow, labored breath. “Easy for you to say.”

A few minutes later the walls of the cave opened up, and they walked into a cavern twice the size of the treasure cavern. Most of the floor of the cavern consisted of a huge lake. Riley reached up and covered her headlamp. A faint glow lit the water on the far side of the lake.

“Look at that,” she said.

He squeezed her shoulder. “Light,” he said.

Riley checked her watch. “It’s four thirty. This coast faces west. If the storm clouds have cleared out, there might even be sun out there.”

“Sun would be nice,” he said. “Very nice.”

Riley pulled her underwater flashlight out of her backpack. The light’s intensity was stronger than her little headlamp. She passed the beam all around the cavern. It was magnificent, with a dome at least seventy-five feet high.

“This has got to be close to five hundred feet across,” Cole said. “Unbelievable.”

“Look,” she said, shining her light on the wall on the opposite side of the lake. “The stalagmites hang down all the way up to there. Then they stop. That must be where the landslide closed off the entrance.”

“Riley, those are stalactites.”

“Okay, science guy. How do you remember which is which?”

“Easy,” he said. “
Stalactite
has the letter
C
in it for
ceiling. Stalagmite
has a
G
in it for
ground
.”

She rolled her eyes. “Okay, you win. Do you at least agree with me about the entrance?”

“Yes, dear.”

“That’s better.”

To their left, she discovered a long, narrow dock that was certainly not a natural formation. It had been carved out of the side of the cave by men.

“This must be the dock they tied the sub to,” she said. “So where is the submarine?”

She helped Cole step down onto the level surface of the dock and together they walked to the edge. When Riley pointed her powerful light at the water, it lit up the entire cavern with a pale turquoise light. There, just under the surface, was the long dark shape of a submarine lying on its side.

“Riley, say hello to the USS
Bonefish
.”

“Cole, it’s our only way out.”

They had been arguing for ten minutes. He didn’t think she could do it, and she was watching him grow more pale and sweaty by the minute. She was worried about other internal injuries, but even if he only had broken ribs and a broken foot, the pain must be agonizing.

“Riley, I don’t want you taking that chance. If you try it and you don’t make it, I couldn’t bear it. Let me try.”

“There you go again. Don’t you see how that’s the same kind of thinking that led you to stay away from me for four years? Cole, I’m a big girl.”

“Actually”—he put his hand against his bicep—“you only come up to about here on me.”

She glared at him. “This is not a joke.”

They were sitting on the end of the dock with their feet hanging over the edge as they discussed their options.

“There’s so little light coming through, I think that tunnel is very long and narrow.”

“If so, you’ll pull me out.” She opened her backpack and took out the coil of rope. Cole had given them each a hundred-foot coil. She uncoiled the rope and spread it out on the stone dock so it would run freely, and Cole wouldn’t get surprised by a tangle in the line.

She decided to keep the shorts on, but peeled off her shirt and shoes. From her backpack, she pulled out the mask and compact travel fins and adjusted the straps to fit.

She sat back down next to Cole, wearing only her shorts and her bra. She pulled on the fins. “Have you still got that topo map in a Ziploc?”

“Yeah, but the map won’t do you much good.”

“Hand it over. It’s the bag I want.” When he gave it to her, she pulled out the map and put her iPhone inside. The case it was in was supposed to be waterproof, but she didn’t want to test it out today. She sucked the air out of the bag and closed the double seal. She slid the
bag into her underwear and patted her belly. “If the phone works, I’ll be calling Theo in about ten minutes.”

“Riley, I don’t like this.”

She picked up the rope and passed it around her waist. “I know you don’t, but you’ve got to trust me. Here’s the deal. If you feel one pull on the rope, it’s no big deal. Something just got hung up somewhere, okay?”

“All right.”

“But if you feel two sharp pulls, like this”—she demonstrated two yanks close together—“that means trouble, pull me out.”

“Two means trouble.”

“And if you get three in a row like this”—she pulled one, two, three—“that means I made it through to the other side. Got it?”

“Two means trouble. Three and you’re on your way.”

She smiled, leaned in, and kissed him on the cheek. “No heavy good-byes, buddy.” She picked up her mask and dive light and jumped into the water. “Give me a chance to warm up.”

She swam around a bit, then took several deep breaths and dove down once for practice. Riley knew she was always better at breath-holding and free diving after she’d been in the water for a while. She swam over to the entrance to the tunnel and peered down. It did get tight in there. She surfaced after staying under for just over a minute. She treaded water for a while to get her heart rate back down to normal. She’d left her headlamp on the dock next to him. Maybe it was the light, but he really looked terrible.

“You’re right,” he said.

She put one hand behind her ear and grinned at him. “What’s that you said?”

“In this condition, I couldn’t stay down that long. Deep breathing’s not my strong point right now.”

“And I’m just getting warmed up. Are we ready?”

He stared at her for the longest time and didn’t say anything. Finally he said, “Yup. I’m ready.”

She nodded and speeded up her hyperventilating to super-oxygenate her system. She put her finger in the air and announced, “I shall return!” Then she took a deep breath and dove.

The little fins weren’t super powerful, but she felt good cruising through the underwater tunnel. She could see the narrow space ahead, but she hoped it was just a curve and not too tight a space. When she got there, her shoulders brushed against both sides, but she could tell the space was taller than it was wide. She turned on her side and scraped though. Her lungs were starting to burn when she could see the end of the tunnel about twenty feet ahead. That was when the rope around her waist went tight and pulled her to a stop. The rope wasn’t long enough. It was so tight in there, she couldn’t see the bowline knot at her waist. There was no way she was going back now. She pulled at the knot and felt herself growing weak. One of the strands of rope loosened a bit. She got her finger into the gap and it loosened a little more. She pulled the loop and the line came free. She gave the rope three strong tugs, then swam for the light as the blackness closed in, and she fought to hold on to consciousness and not open her mouth.

When Riley broke through the surface and inhaled a lungful of air, she immediately flopped over onto her back and floated. She gasped air in and out in raspy breaths. She opened her eyes and saw a spot of blue sky showing through the clouds. That had been close, much too close.

When her breathing returned to normal, Riley pulled the bag out of her pants. The phone looked dry inside and the vacuum seal was still intact. She opened the bag and pushed the button to turn the phone on. Not only did it work, but she had service. She pushed the button to pull up her favorites and dialed the number Cole had given her for his sat phone.

“Hello?”

“Greg? It’s Riley.”

“Riley! Are you okay? Is Cole with you?”

“I’m okay, but I’m going to need your help. I just swam out of the cave and left Cole inside.”

“We must not be far. When the weather calmed down, Theo decided to up anchor and move the boat off the coast closer to where you are. Give me your position.”

“Hang on.” Riley pushed buttons on the screen of her phone and read off the longitude and latitude.

“Got it. We’re anchored in the bay off Sulvec, just over a mile away. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Good, because I’m treading water, and I’m going to need two pony tanks with regulators to swim Cole out of there.”

“No problem. I’ll get the gear and meet you in the Boston Whaler.”

Thirty minutes later Riley surfaced inside the cave and swam over to the dock. She handed Cole one of the pony scuba tanks. The little bottles were only fifteen inches long and could be held in the palm of one hand, so she’d been able to coax them in front of her body through the tunnel’s pinch point.

“See, I told you I’d come back for you.”

Cole grinned. “Hey, Magee. I never doubted you for a second.”

“Right.”

Manila Yacht Club
The Philippines

December 31, 2012

“May I come aboard?”

Riley was sitting in the cockpit of her boat, wearing a light and lacy summer dress and drinking a glass of chilled pinot grigio. The ice bucket and bottle were on the cockpit table along with another glass. She felt very self-conscious about the low-cut front and the little half sleeves, so she didn’t get up. She simply called out to him, “Come on aboard.”

When Cole stepped under the dodger, she let loose with a soft wolf whistle. He stood in front of the companionway and modeled the beige linen jacket, khaki pants, and blue checked shirt. “Can I take the jacket off now?” he asked.

“Sure.” She laughed. “Make yourself comfortable.”

But he didn’t take it off right away. He stood in front of her with his mouth gaping open. “Riley, you know nobody is going to notice my sartorial splendor with you at my side in that dress.”

She tugged at the front. “I’m not used to showing this much skin.”

He sat next to her and pulled her close. “Your skin is gorgeous,” he said before he kissed her.

When she came up for air, she ran her finger along his jawline and rested her head comfortably against the slight hollow between the muscles of his chest and his shoulder. “If you keep this up, Thatcher, we’re going to be late for our own party.”

“Magee, with you, I can keep it up all night.”

She sighed with a little half smile on her face. “Promises, promises. By the way, speaking of promises, you were going to tell me about Washington. You’ve been avoiding the issue.”

“For good reason. Are you sure you want to get into this tonight? Why ruin a lovely evening?”

“Now you have to tell me. Did they give you access to Ozzie’s files?”

Cole sucked his lips in over his teeth. It was a habit of his. He did it when he was uncomfortable.

“Just tell me and get it over with. You’re making it worse by hesitating.”