The Mahogany Ship (Sam Reilly Book 2) (6 page)

“Okay, how long do we have?”

“Maybe an hour, at best.”

“Can’t he just pull them out now?”

“No, the entrance is blocked by the oncoming water. They’re
trapped literally below the torrent of water.”

“He thought he’d move them to safety, by mining below the
water line?” Sam said, with no attempt to hide the contempt from his voice.

“Mining is expensive. He was just trying to maintain
production.” Michael spoke honestly, and without shame. It was obvious that
mining was a hard man’s game. “Now, what are we able to do about it?”

Sam looked at Veyron again.

“It will break my heart, Sam, but we could use the Sea Witch
to block the entrance to the pyramid. Her solid steel hull would plug the entrance.”

“Do it.” Sam said, without another thought for the
destruction of his 5-million-dollar machine.

*

Tom climbed down the reinforced steel hatch, and into Sea
Witch’s cockpit.

In the pilot seat, Sam sat, already commencing the startup
procedure. Behind him, Veyron was going over a final check of the submarine.
Next to Veyron rested a single piece of scrap paper – on top of which, a number
of algorithms and mathematical equations were scribbled in careless
handwriting.

Ordinarily, he would trust the man’s calculations with the
confidence that came by working with an expert, but on a complex dive like this,
they might usually have weeks of preparation. Today’s mission was determined
out of necessity, after discovering they had less than an hour to save the
lives of more than 1000 people.  

The cable and hooks were attached to the submarine, ready
for launch. Tom felt the sub shift as he strapped himself into the copilot
seat.

“Well gentlemen, I guess that’s my cue,” Veyron said. “This
is where I get off.”

“Thanks, Veyron,” Sam said without looking up from the
instruments he was checking.

“Hey Veyron.” Tom stopped him, for a second.

“Yeah?”

“How confident are you that this crazy scheme's going to
work?”

“That the Sea Witch will block the entrance to the pyramid?”
Veyron frowned, narrowed his eyes and glanced up and to the left. He appeared
to be performing mental arithmetic. “I’d say, at least 95%.”

“That’s sounds all right.”

“But that the structure of the Sea Witch will maintain its
ability to withhold the pressure, and you aren’t crushed to death? I’d say,
definitely better than 50:50.” Without waiting for Tom’s response, he then
climbed the last rungs of the ladder, and said, “Best of luck, gentlemen.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Tom replied.

Sam grinned. “Those odds aren’t too bad. Tom and I have
survived worse.

Above, Veyron closed the first hatch. The ratcheting,
grinding sound of the mechanical locking mechanism being engaged echoed in
Sam’s ears as its twelve hydraulic locks slid into place. The first red
flashing light turned to green.

Tom started work on his safety check sheet. As the submarine
shifted under the crane’s steel wire, swinging mildly, he lurched but didn’t
let the movement distract him.

Above, the second light switched green – confirming that the
airlock and outer hatch were both sealed.

“Maria Helena, this is Sea Witch, ready for launch.” Sam’s
voice was slow and confident, as though he were on any other mission.

“Sea Witch, we’re commencing lowering now.” Tom could hear
the concern in Matthew’s otherwise controlled voice. He was glad that Sam had
left Matthew in charge of the mission room – not that he was in a position to
help them if something went wrong.

The motorized winch crank could be heard gently running out
the cable until the Sea Witch reached the moon pool’s surface. The left
porthole disappeared under the splashing water, and then the Sea Witch started
to float.

Sam turned on each of the propellers, confirming that she
was ready to maneuver herself, and then said, “Maria Helena, we’re ready to
disengage.” 

“Copy, Sea Witch, disengaging now.”

They took one last glance topside through the small
porthole, which allowed the submarine’s occupants to observe the attachment of
the crane’s cables. Tom saw Veyron, thumbs up, giving the all clear sign.

“Sea Witch, you’re clear. Best of luck.”

Sam arched an eyebrow. “You ready, Tom?”

“Yep, let’s do this.”

Sam flooded the main diving chambers. Immediately the Sea
Witch began sinking.

Tom looked at Sam, who was now whistling, as the submarine
dived, and said, “So, 50:50 chance we don’t get crushed to death before we exit
the escape hatch, hey? How do you feel about those odds?”

Sam grinned and Tom shook his head. Sam was giving him that
damn demonic smile, the smile of a madman about to do something stupid and try
to get away with it. But in Sam’s case, he usually did.

 “Listen here, Tom, and I’ll tell you exactly how we’re
going to pull this off.”

*

Michael answered the phone.

“Yes?”

“Mr. Rodriguez, the water has reached mine shaft number two and
it’s already starting to overflow into three!” His underground manager sounded
out of breath. “Once it reaches number four, there’s nothing we can do for the
men below.”

“Reilly’s in the water. They should have the hole blocked
within the next 45 minutes…”

“And if they don’t succeed in the next thirty, about 1000
miners are going to die.”

“Understood, Roberto.”

The briefest of smiles curled on Michael’s lips as he
reflected on the wonder of human nature.

Fascinating how my underground manager beat the odds and
reached the surface, despite sending the rest of the men to work further below
the waterline.

*

Sam could see the entrance of the pyramid up ahead on the
sonar screen.

Tom, who was now in control of the submarine, slowed to a
crawl and asked, “Okay, it’s 40 feet ahead. Are you going to share your plan
with me any time soon, Sam?”

Sam attached his dive belt.

“All right. Now’s probably as good a time as any. Basically,
the plan, as discussed with Veyron, was that we would take Sea Witch close to
the entrance of the pyramid until its massive pull sucks us in towards the main
point where the tunnel narrows, just before splitting in two. Thus, we’re going
to block the entrance, as a plug would a bathtub.”

“That much I already knew.”

“Good to see you were awake.” Sam handed Tom his new dive
helmet. “Veyron’s done the math, and the Sea Witch will survive being used as a
giant plug. What he wasn’t certain about was whether or not the sub would then
implode after it had been weakened by the initial force of striking the wall as
it blocked the entrance to the pyramid.”

“Right… yeah, he said he gave us about a 50:50 chance of
implosion.”

“Based on calculations of our hull already being completely
airtight, and then we would escape through the escape hatch, return to the
diving bell, having achieved our mission…” Sam looked up, and, reassured that
Tom was following, said, “But what if the Sea Witch was already flooded?”

“You want to flood the interior of the sub?”

“Sure, why not? It’s going to be wrecked after this anyway.”
Sam’s face showed genuine disinterest.

“The power will short out the instant the main chamber
becomes flooded, and we won’t be able to maneuver it.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem. After all, it’s going to be
dragged in by the undercurrent anyway. Then, instead of imploding, it should
just lodge itself in the opening. Probably…” Sam mused with a fatalistic grin.
“Why, have you got a better idea?”

“No… I don’t. So I guess we’re all out of options.”

Sam turned the dive tanks to on, and locked his dive helmet.

“You ready?”

“No, but we don’t have much choice,” Tom replied, checking
his Hydrox intake to his helmet.

“Here we go.”

Sam brought the Sea Witch slowly closer to the main entrance
of the pyramid, until he noticed some of the controls were becoming soft and
awkward. He still had control over the sub, but needed to exert more pressure
to achieve it.

“Okay, that’s it,” Sam said. “We’re committed now.”

“Copy that. Overriding the airlock’s primary hatch.”

The outside hatch remained firmly closed, while the middle
hatch, which ordinarily ensured that the sub’s cockpit remained dry, stayed
opened. There were a number of safety systems in place to avoid just such an
event, but Tom had managed to override them.

“Flooding her now,” Tom said.

Water quickly filled both chambers of the Sea Witch.

By the time they reached the entrance to the pyramid, the
sub was completely flooded, and the pressure equalized with the outside
environment.

Without power, the Sea Witch spun through the turbid waters.

Looking out the tiny porthole, Sam struggled to maintain a
sense of direction as they bounced through the large entrance to the pyramid.
Unable to determine how far along the tunnel they had reached, the sub suddenly
jerked to a standstill and became firmly lodged.

“Are we stuck?” Tom asked.

Sam looked out his porthole. Water appeared to be flowing
past it, faster and angrier than ever. “Yeah, we’re stuck all right, but not
where we were supposed to be.”

Tom ran his hand over his dive computer. All the instruments
were working, and at this depth, he had a little more than an hour’s Hydrox
supply – that was something, at least.

“How’s your Hydrox, Sam?”

“I’m good for at least an hour. Let’s open the hatch and get
back to the diving bell. See what our next move is.”

“Agreed.”

Tom spun the internal locking wheel of the outer hatch. The
green light turned red, indicating that it was no longer water tight.

He then pushed the door outwards.

Nothing happened.

He pushed at it again, without any success. Tom swallowed
and his heart rate rocketed. “Sam, we have a big problem…”

*

In the mission room of the Maria Helena, the silent
uneasiness was almost tangible. Sam’s last message from the Sea Witch was that
they had flooded the cockpit and were now drifting inside the mouth of the
pyramid. The last five minutes had passed unbearably slowly, and they had
received no messages from below.

The sound of Michael’s cell ringing, broke the silence.

“The water’s still flowing, and it’s passed the safety
blocks at mineshaft three!” It was his underground manager.

“Understood. Tell the men that we’re doing our best for
them.”

Michael looked at Matthew.  “It didn’t work. The water’s still
flowing strong.”

Matthew nodded in understanding and then looked at Veyron,
“Any ideas?”

“None that can be done in the timeframe, I’m afraid.”

“Veyron,” Michael said. “I noticed you have a second
submarine down below. Can you send that to try again?”

“Sure, I can control its mechanical arms and probably
reposition the Sea Witch, but we don’t have anyone to pilot her.”

“I think I’ve got a solution for that.”

Sam turned around so that he could push the hatch with his
legs, in conjunction with Tom. Despite the pain in his strong thigh muscles,
there was no movement.

“Well… that’s going to make our day considerably worse,” Sam
said.

Tom moved around the sub, looking out the other portholes,
trying to get a better idea of how the Sea Witch was resting. “The hatch must
be wedged up against the wall?”

“I suppose so. The question is how are we going to free it?”

“I’ll inform the Maria Helena that we failed, and see what
solutions Veyron can come up with. I knew we should have taken that French son
of a bitch with us.”

Sam nodded his head and then continued his reconnaissance of
the Sea Witch. It appeared to be lying with a 70-degree list to its portside,
meaning that the hatch – the only place of exit -- was wedged between the
submarine and the granite walls of the pyramid’s tunnel. The seawater had
completely shorted all electrical systems inside the sub. 

He looked at his dive computer.

It showed 55 minutes of Hydrox remaining.

They were now trapped inside the flooded safest deep sea
submarine in existence, with less than an hour remaining of breathable gas, and
no means of escape.

“Our luck doesn’t seem to be getting much better,” Tom said.

“Let me guess. We lost the radio transmitter from the top of
the sub?”

“Yep,” Tom confirmed. “It’s just that sort of day, isn’t it?
So, now we’re trapped, and we have no means of communicating with the Maria
Helena. Not that it matters much. They have no one to pilot Rescue One down
here in the time we need.”

Sam unlocked the storage locker on the side, which would
ordinarily be at the bottom of the sub, pulling out a tool kit. “Okay, so we’re
on our own.” His voice appeared content, as though he’d calmly accepted their
predicament.

“Seems like it.”

Sam removed several items from the tool kit, discarding them
on the floor with disinterest.

“What are you after?” Tom asked.

“A hyperbaric blowtorch.”

“Are you kidding me, Sam? The steel in this sub is eight
inches thick. You would most likely starve to death before you managed to burn
a hole through it.”

“You’re right,” Sam agreed, and then switched the blowtorch
on and off again. “But I’ve no desire to burn my way out.”

“What then?”

“We’re jammed up against the hatch on one side, and the
mechanical robot arms on the other side.” Sam looked at Tom, to make sure that
he was following. “I’m going to cut the hydraulic lines to those arms.”

“Detaching the wedge, and sending the Sea Witch spiraling
down the tunnel again.”

Sam removed the protective cover to the starboard side wall,
where he could see the robotic arms were resting firmly on the granite walls of
the pyramid’s tunnel. Three hydraulic lines ran along the barren submarine’s
inner surface.

“That’s the plan. The question is, where are we going to end
up, this time?”

“There’s only one way to find out,” Tom replied.

Sam switched the hyperbaric blowtorch on. Its blue flame
hissed out of the end of the nozzle. Cutting the tough hydraulic wires like
butter, he started at the top.

“One at a time, Sam. It will give us more of a chance to
move just enough to escape.”

“Good idea.”

The first hydraulic strut did nothing.

Out the porthole, Sam could see the limp arm of one of the
robots that hadn’t been trapped on the side of the tunnel.

The second one was connected to the largest of the five
robotic arms, which appeared to be wedged and responsible for their problem.

Sam cut it and watched a plume of black oil spurt out under
pressure.

He then looked out the porthole.

The arm had not moved at all.

Sam looked at his watch. He now had 25 minutes of Hydrox
left to breathe. “Any idea why that didn’t take the pressure off that arm?”

“No.”

Sam proceeded to cut the fifth and final hydraulic strut.
“Lucky last.”

Nothing happened.

Peering out the porthole, Sam noticed the robotic arm
appeared as inflexible as ever.

“Now we’re in trouble,” Tom said.

“I don’t know what’s keeping it rigid. I’ve cut the strut.
Look at it, it’s still pissing out oil.”

“Of course!” Tom braced himself against the submarine wall.
“The pressure hasn’t fully left the strut–”

The robotic arm retracted with a violent CRASH!

Sam grabbed hold of a bracing bar, just in time for the
submarine to start spinning again. They went circling down the tunnel, as
though they were being flushed down a toilet bowl.

It rolled nearly a dozen times before finally coming to
rest.

Sam stared out the porthole.

The murky water appeared to be slowing down, as though
something was impeding its movement. Whatever water was making its way through,
it wouldn’t be enough to drown the miners below. On the other side of the
submarine, Sam could see Tom taking a long look out the other side.

“The water’s stopped!” Tom said.

Sam looked at the position of the hatch, now below his feet.
“That’s great, but I think we’re now resting right on top of the hatch.”

*

At the pilot controls of the submarine, Rescue One, Michael
watched the sudden movement of the Sea Witch in horror. Something appeared to
have given way, so that the small submarine started tumbling down the tunnel
again.

“What the hell happened?” he asked.

“If I had a guess, I’d say Sam just worked out how to cut
the hydraulic cables for the robotic arm, freeing the Sea Witch to be drawn
further down the tunnel,” Veyron replied.

“That’s great.”

“It may be. And it might not.”

“What do you mean? Why not?”

Veyron adjusted the angle of his sonar, and said, “Unless
they had the good fortune to land in such a way that they block the tunnel and
also have access to their hatch, we’re going to have to go in there after
them.”

“And, did they have good luck?”

“How’s the current? Is Rescue One still pulling towards the
entrance?”

“Yes, but it’s not as strong,” Michael confirmed.

Next to him, Veyron pulled away from the sonar screen.
“Shit.”

“It’s not where it needs to be?”

“No. As luck would have it, the Sea Witch appears to be
lying upside down, which means there’s no possible way they can get out.”
Veyron looked at his watch. “And by my calculations, they don’t have much more Hydrox
to breathe. You’d better take us in.”

“You want me to navigate Rescue One, in there?” Michael was
incredulous.

“I believe it is the only way we can move the Sea Witch so
that it blocks the flow of water, and saves your miners – that is, if you have
the constitution to keep going?”

“Damn you, Veyron. They’re my men. Of course, I’ll do it!”

“Good man. Now, I’d be most obliged if you were to avoid
getting us stuck, too.”

*

Sam’s dive watch made an irritating noise, the kind of
grating sound capable of waking the dead. He stared at it, for a moment hoping
his vision was playing tricks.

He muttered a soft oath - no such luck.

The timer indicated he was out of Hydrox.

He knew there’d be a few more minutes of residual Hydrox
inside his dive helmet, but it was mostly irrelevant now. They had run out of
time.

Concealed inside his dive helmet, Sam displayed a broad last
smile. The sort he was renowned for, which said, he could have it all.

He and Tom had saved as many as 10,000 people today.

Not a bad way to die. 

“Sorry to drag you into this, Tom.”

“Not your fault Sam. Had to be done.”

The Sea Witch jolted. “Can you see what happened?” Sam
asked.

Tom moved towards his nearest porthole. “Well I’ll be! Who
would’ve thought, eh?”

“What?” Sam moved toward the porthole and looked out.

“Some idiot just piloted Rescue One into the tunnel!”

Rescue One wasn’t trying to turn them around so that they
could escape. It was attempting to push them further into the tunnel, so they
could block the entire flow of water.

We must be missing something. The water must still be
flowing beneath us.

They moved another few feet towards the narrowest point of
the tunnel, and then stopped dead still.

Sam’s Hydrox supply ran out.

“Some rescue team. They should’ve come a couple minutes
earlier. We’ve had some fun Tom, but now I’m out. Good luck.”

“I have another five minutes. I’ll buddy up with you, and
we’ll get out of here alive.”

“The hell you will. We both know it’s going to take them a
lot more than a couple minutes to rescue you.”   

“Whatever you like, Sam.” Tom moved above Sam and started to
attach his secondary rescue regulator to the back of Sam’s Hydrox tank.

Sam tried to move away, but he suddenly found his body no
longer had the strength to fight it.

The darkness came over him. Not the horrifying obscurity
that is taught to us since childhood of death. But instead, a warm, comforting
darkness, like a blanket. Something to cuddle up to, and die.

Then there was the intense light.

For a moment, Sam thought the glow might be the radiant
light of a powerful oxythermic torch, cutting through the thick hull of the
submarine.

But it was followed by more darkness.

And then nothing at all.

*

The thick steel fell away from the submarine. Dumping the
oxythermic torch on the ground next to him, Michael peered through the opened
hull. Inside, two bodies floated, their eyes lifeless as a corpse.

We were too late…

“They’re dead,” he said to Veyron.

“Bullshit they’re dead! Let’s get them to the diving bell.
It’s got a hyperbaric oxygen chamber inside. If they’ve run out of Hydrox,
they’ve only just run out of it!”

Michael grabbed the first body he could reach and dragged it
through the new opening. Veyron took the limp diver and said, “I’ve got him.
You grab the next one, and I’ll get him in the hyperbaric chamber.”

“Okay.”

The diving bell had been relocated directly next to the
entrance to the pyramid, and a visiting doctor had remained on board, in case
Sam and Tom needed resuscitating.

Michael reached through the moon pool, where the doctor had
already removed Tom’s helmet. “How’s he looking, Doc?”

“His oxygen levels are very low, but he’s still breathing on
his own,” the doctor replied, while holding a 100% oxygen mask over Tom’s face
and squeezing a bag next to it in rapid, deep, movements to ventilate him.
“Quick, get Sam’s helmet off so we can start working on him.”

Michael and Veyron worked to quickly remove Sam’s helmet.

His face was ashen, and it was immediately apparent that he
was no longer breathing. Michael slipped a finger beneath the dive suit, and
felt for a carotid pulse. “He still has a pulse, but it’s weak!”

Veyron already had the bag valve oxygen mask set up. He
quickly attached it to Sam’s face, and began to ventilate him with 100% oxygen.

“Over here, Doc. Sam needs your help.”

Monitoring equipment showed that his oxygen saturation
levels were less than 30 % – a reading not ordinarily associated with life. And
the heart monitor showed that Sam’s heart rate was very slow, no more than
twenty beats per minute.

Veyron continued to ventilate him.

“His oxygen levels are coming up, but his heart rate is
dwindling.”

The doc drew up an injection of adrenaline and then gave it
straight into the large vein in Sam’s neck.

Thirty seconds later, a stupid, slightly intoxicated kind of
grin came across Sam’s face.

“Veyron,” he whispered in a hoarse voice. “What took you so
long?”

*

The next time Sam was awake, he and Tom were inside the dive
bell’s hyperbaric chamber. His head still hurt, his thinking processes slower.
Clearly his brain was recovering from its oxygen starved state.

“You there Tom?”

“I’m here. I knew they couldn’t kill you that easily.”

“I thought I told you to keep your own damn Hydrox?”

“And since when have I ever listened to your orders?” Tom
replied.

Sam tried to sit up, but found himself too dizzy to do so.
“Thank you, Tom.”

He didn’t hear the next words Tom said. Instead he heard the
confident, bordering on arrogant, Harvard trained voice of Michael Rodriguez.

“You’re awake, Sam. That’s great.”

“Michael, what are you doing in the dive bell?” Sam slurred.

Veyron approached and stared down at him. “He was saving your
ass.”

“You saved me?” Sam was confused.

“It turned out that I was the only one left who could pilot
the submarine,” Michael explained. “It’s you and Tom who really saved
everyone.”

“The miners?”

“They got wet, but they didn’t drown – thanks to the two of
you. It appears you live up to your reputation, Mr. Reilly.”

Sam grinned. “We did it, but there’s going to be months of
work to seal the other side of the tunnel and bring a team of archeologists
down to explore the tomb.”

“There is, but you saved them both. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I have a proposal for you Sam Reilly,” Michael said.

“What do you have in mind?”

“It’s something particularly important to me. Much more so
than the mine you just saved. I need some time to talk to you… but not here.”

“Why not here?” Sam asked, stuck inside the hyperbaric
chamber, most likely for hours.

“For what I’m interested in, I need to talk to you alone.
It’s not that I don’t trust your crew specifically. I don’t trust anyone with
what I want to talk to you about.”

“Where then?”

“I have a yacht – a traditional Mayan sailboat. We both have
work to do to get the next operations underway. You with your archeological
dig, and me reestablishing a highly profitable silver mine. Not tomorrow – say
the following day, Thursday?”