Hot Zone (15 page)

"Do you honestly think they are going to believe what we just told them?"

"They have no reason not to, Bob."

Then there was silence. Dalton was done talking to Finn, he would be unless Finn's decision proved successful. Finn himself was standing and praying that the judges were discussing a delay in French testing and not whether he and Dalton would be found guilty of sharing classified information.

A moment later one of the judges invited the men back in.

"Mr Finn. By your sharing this information what are you hoping we will do?" Cramer asked.

"All we're asking for is time for the Navy to search for their missing SEALs and the Greenpeace crew. We also believe if Montoya did find something out there that we be given the chance to look into it before the French set off another bomb."

"You have two days until that happens, Mr Finn. You feel you need longer?"

"Your honor, in two days there won't be anything left of the area, their final test is the biggest of the six and will most likely impact the area where the SEALs are missing."

"And if we were to delay the test, what reason would we give the French?"

"You are the International Court of Justice. You don't need to give a reason."

"No, we don't but for something this big we should." One of the judges said.

Cramer said: "Mr Finn. We will consider the information you have given us and if we decide anything we will call a session this afternoon. I think we all need some time to sit with this."

"Yes, your honor."

Dalton and Finn stood up to leave when Cramer stopped them.

"Gentlemen. What you did here today was a brave thing. It was also a very risky move. You could both be in jail right now, if we were so inclined and judges in the past have been. We could have you both in a huge amount of trouble. However, that being said I appreciate the risk you both took and the information itself is vital to us making a decision. For that we thank you and we'll be in touch."

"Thank you, your honors." Dalton and Finn said, leaving the room.

Cramer threw Finn a subtle wink. Dalton caught it out the corner of his eye and it instantly made him feel better about their situation.

"Exactly how close are you two?" Dalton asked Finn.

"It's my Aussie charm Bob, that's all. You kiwis wouldn't know anything about that though."

"Typical Australian you are, Dick."

"Wouldn't have it any other way, mate."

21

The massive expanse of structures that Jordan had seen but a few hours earlier began to come into focus as the team continued their descent. The closer they got the more imposing the structures grew.

In her mind Jordan began sketching images of her surroundings. Trying to ignore the coral fixtures that now made their homes on and around the structures. She saw three large dome-shape structures separated fifty yards apart she guessed, the last dome barely visible to her. The domes themselves were twenty yards in diameter and from Jordan's viewpoint there was no entry.

Also noticeable was the way the ocean floor fell away in certain places.

"Those domes, Ice. I want to start with those domes." Jordan said.

"Do you think we can get into them?" Ice asked.

"I don't know. Maybe from underneath. We'll have to scour the surface and see if there is an opening hidden in the coral."

"We have about an hour of time down here before we need to start thinking about heading up." Ice said.

"Is it a little concerning to anyone that Skip and Storm haven't called in yet?" Ghost asked.

"I'm sure those boys can take care of themselves. I'm not worried about them." Ice said, but he was. He had already lost one man on this day and the thought that half of his team could be lost in what seemed a relatively simple mission brought on more worries than he cared to share with the rest of the group.

The foursome were streaming down the side of a hilly range, heading deeper into the abyss as the wash from the four A-12 propellers gave the appearance of a seven-four-seven jumbo jet flying across the ocean floor, it’s jet stream trailing behind it.

Jordan didn’t know what she was looking for until she saw it.

Caves in the side of the range.
That has to be it!
Jordan thought as she cut the power on her A-12 and came to an abrupt halt.

"Those caves, Ice. That has to be our way in."

"You heard Jordan men, into the caves. It's a good idea to pull out the spear guns and flashlights, too. Be on the watch for anything hostile."

"I don't like this, Ice. How deep do you want to get into those? I looks pitch black in there." Ghost said, pulling out his spear gun.

Indeed it was dark. As the four sat motionless at the entrance of the caves looking into the darkness all remembered what had taken Shooter earlier and were in agreement that this was the perfect lair for such a monster. Yet, curiosity continued to drive Jordan well beyond her fears, the scientist in her overrode any apprehension about heading further and further into the unknown.

"The Ghost is afraid of the dark?" Roo asked.

"No. I'm afraid of things that go
crunch
in the night." Ghost retorted.

"Suck it up, mate." Roo added.

"Knock it off guys. Roo, take point. Jordan you stick behind Roo, Ghost and I will cover your rear."

Roo entered in their coordinates into his GPS hand-held so if they got lost for any reason inside the caves they would be able to guide their way back to their current location.

Jordan had a thought pop into her head that the Team was not alone, but just as fast as that thought entered, it left as they engaged their A-12's and headed into the cave.

They didn't see them, but in the distance four black specks appeared.

* * *

Guiding their way through the cave with just the four flash lights to aid them, the depth gauge on ice's arm told him they were descending deeper into the underwater hillside. Unlike the surroundings outside where sea creatures and coral formations painted the area in a maze of color, the caves were baron and rocky with very little life. The cave walls were scattered with holes, not more than three-feet wide and gave Jordan the chills, she wondered what might live within their confines.

"Should we be dropping bread crumbs in case we get lost in here?" Jordan asked.

"She'll be all right love, the GPS will lead us home." Roo answered.

"Is it just me or is this cave starting to get a little tight?" Ghost asked.

Shrinking around them the cave narrowed the further into it they went.

Then it took a sharp upward turn.

Suddenly the group found themselves heading skyward on a sharp angle and the cave had narrowed to an eight foot wide corridor.

"This isn't good." Ghost muttered.

"It's not great. That's for damn sure." Ice added.

"Any takers on where this is going to take us? I got five says wherever it is isn't going to be good." Ghost said.

"I match that and up you five it takes us into the buildings we saw from the outside." Jordan said.

"Deal."

"Pay up big boy." Jordan said as a flicker of light began to appear above them.

"What the hell is that?" Ice asked.

* * *

Grosjean and his three remaining soldiers caught a glimpse of the Americans entering the cave by the wash of their submersible props. There were four of them, and four of his men. A fair encounter by any standards but a benefit for him and his men as he knew what they were venturing into.

Grosjean had been down here before. It had been awhile ago but not long enough that he didn't remember the layout and the escape routes.

The Americans are in for quite the surprise,
he thought to himself as he and his men continued to submerge deeper and closer to the entrance of the caves. It would not be long before his men started to ask questions about what was spread out below them. He still wasn't sure what answer, if any, he would give them.

He had not heard from his men on the surface, either. Knowing the Americans had seen them and charged towards their location, what happened after that he could only speculate and the reality was it really didn't matter.

The Americans were trespassing in French waters. If anything happened he and his men would have that to defend themselves with and should anything happen to he or his men the Americans risked an international incident that would gain the attention of the world community.

Those damn Americans. Always sticking their noses in where they don't belong.

"Where are we heading, Sir?" Claude said.

"Down ahead of us you should be able to see a large hole in the side of that range. That's where the Americans went. That's where we are going." Grosjean answered, then added: "You all have questions right now but all that should concern you is locating the Americans and making sure they do not make it back to the surface. Are we clear?"

"Yes sir." The three others responded.

"Are we supposed to fight the Americans with these spear guns, Sir." Yanick asked.

"We'll fight them with our fists if we have to, Yanick. They are not to make it back to their ship. They have seen something down here that they were not meant to see. France begs us to keep what you are about to see a secret from the rest of the world. It is our duty ."

"Yes Sir." The group said once again, looking at each other with inquisitive eyes.

Each man kept silent as they descended towards the cave. None of them understood what it was they were looking at and that was the way Grosjean wanted it.

22

Breaking the surface first was Roo with Jordan quickly following him. Ghost and Ice brought up the rear moments later, taking the time to ensure there was no one or no
thing
following them up the corridor of water.

Floating back to back the foursome gazed in disbelief as they took in their new surroundings waving flashlights around in the pitch black.

They were in a large cavern.

The corridor had ended somewhere inside the underwater range to an area that was airtight from the oceans of water that encompassed it.

“
I don’t know about you guys but I say we get out of this water.” Ghost said.

“
Yeah.” Roo agreed

They swam to the shore, crawling up onto the bank.

Peeling off her dive equipment, Jordan took a deep breath of the stale air that kept the water at bay.

“
Dry land. This is my kinda place.”

“
It’s not that dry.” Ghost said.