Hot Zone (18 page)

Art, what did you get me into here?

* * *

Reaching the fork in the tunnel Grosjean had an idea. Before heading off into the tunnel that had veered left he made his way back to the dive cavern. He switched off his flashlight and edged his way to the entrance of the cavern. Across from him he saw one of the Americans heading off down the third tunnel.

There was no sign of Jean-Paul.

Grosjean ran over and began collecting all of the Americans dive equipment and in the process he eyed the dead body of the eel.

“
What is that?” He said under his breath.

Not wanting to get side tracked he continued to pick up the dive equipment and in large armfuls threw it into the water. He stood there ensuring it all sank and then turned around and headed back down the tunnel, taking one more look at the eel before doing so.

25

Roo and Jansen had bolted across the cavern to the far tunnel, easily avoiding the clumsy and slow reaction speed of the cross bows. They we not running long before they also came to a fork in the tunnel. Without any hesitation Roo took a left and continued running until the men burst into another cavern not dissimilar to the first.

For a brief moment Roo believed that he had just run in a circle until he realized that the dive equipment was not laid out across the ground.

"So what is this, mate? A dead end?"

"Yeah. We took a wrong turn. Shit. It looks like another dive tunnel though—another way out should we need it"

"Do we go back? They could be on our tail.”

“
Then they aren't expecting us to run into them. Stay behind me and keep watch. If I say drop you drop dead against the ground. Got it."

"Got it."

* * *

Claude had taken off in hot pursuit of the Americans. When he had reached the fork he could not see signs of which way they had gone. He made the decision to go right and continued ahead as fast as he could run, his spear gun loaded and ready.

* * *

Roo and Jansen were walking back to the fork in the tunnel, prepared to run into their pursuers and use whatever force necessary to overtake them. What Roo didn't expect was to come close to getting shot by Ghost or likewise shoot Ghost. The couple drew guns on each other as they reached the fork, both identifying themselves just in time to avoid a catastrophe.

"Bloody hell, Ghost. I could have shot you."

"
You
could have shot
me
? Huh."

"Whatever. Did you see which way he went?"

"Well he's not where I just came from and you didn't see him so he went that way." Ghost said pointing down the tunnel leading to the right.

"What happened to you, anyway?" Roo asked, noticing Ghost's wet and beaten appearance.

"I got good news and bad news, what do you want."

"Just give it to me dickhead." Roo said.

"Good news is they're one frog down. Bad news is there are six foot eels living in those holes we saw when we were coming up into the cavern. And they eat meat."

"What?"

Jansen, nodding his head: "That's what took my dive team. When I saw them attack I took cover in the cave that lead me here. I guess I was the lucky one."

"Well, we'll worry about them later." Roo said.

We have to find Ice and Jordan now. We have to assume whoever chased us went down the right hand tunnel. We're not safe down here until they are taken out. I know we're on French land but they shot at us. As far as I am concerned those are hostile actions and demand self defense tactics. The game is on fellas."

"You got it, Roo." Ghost said

"What do you want me to do, stand around and hold myself?" Jansen asked.

"Stay in between us. And keep watch. I don't like it down here."

As they headed off down into the tunnel Ghost remembered the pissed off psycho bird: "Oh Roo. There's one other thing."

26

Jordan stuck on Ice's heals as they trekked down the tunnel, carefully and quietly searching for the French soldier. He had taken off in a hurry and had a good head start on the pair but that didn't bother Ice. He knew that they would eventually catch up with the soldier and the fact that he was not the one being chased made him feel like he was in a position of tactical power.

Slowly the tunnel began changing form.

The walls of rock seemed to soften to more of a mud-like appearance and the distinct sound of water dripping echoed around them. Jordan began noticing plant life growing out of the walls and from the ceiling.

"Ice. This place is getting weirder and weirder by the second." Jordan continued: "Look at this plant life. It doesn't look real."

"It looks like the Venus fly trap from that little shop of horrors movie."

"Yes. Except that's not normal and neither is this!"

Jordan tried to recall the caves she'd once investigated with Art Montoya in Hawaii. They had been searching the ancient and so-called holy caves in the volcanic mountains of Oahu for native Hawaiian relics. Those caves were similar in their structural makeup and contained plant life within their walls but the plants had all been related to the moss family, a plant which needs little to no light in order to grow. The plants she was looking at here were thriving, lush rain forest plants that for all her science told her needed at least half a day of sunlight in order to survive, let alone thrive.

Then it struck her.
The radiation!
The expanse of coral surrounding the area had mutated in to forms Jordan believed did not exist anywhere else in the world. Coupled with the mutated plants and stories of sea monsters it was apparent the radiation leakage caused over the years by the French had spelled significant changes in the surrounding eco system.

Jordan had to consider that if the leakage was significant enough the entire team would be receiving small doses of radiation every second they spent in the area. Dosages which, long term could lead to death.

Jordan stopped walking as she came to this realization.

"Ice."

Ice stopped and turned to face her and noticed she had fallen twenty feet behind him. He walked up to her and noticed a solemn look on her face .

"What is it?"

"I think we're all in trouble. Big trouble."

"How."

"These plants, the thing that took Shooter. The coral mutations. I know what it's from."

"And?"

"Radiation, Ice. This entire area is consumed by the nuclear run off from the testing. It's like being in the middle of a nuclear reactor. And we have
no
protection."

"Oh boy." Ice paused then said: "Well. We're down here now and we have guys with spear guns to worry about. Besides we don't know exactly how much radiation we're exposed to do we? These things down here, they could have been down here since the very first test, they've had fifty years or so of exposure. We'll worry about it when we get out of here. Deal?"

"You're right. I just don't like the fact that we're getting blasted by this invisible monster."

"Let's just deal with the monsters we can see, okay."

"Yeah."

The twosome started making their way down the tunnel again, alert to the fact their adversary could be waiting for them and ready to attack at any moment.

"Can I ask you a question, Jordan?"

"Shoot."

"Why archaeology? What got you interested in it?"

"I grew up in a small Indian community. I spent my childhood hearing stories of ancient warriors and the lands they roamed. One day, my grandfather took me out to an area of the desert that looked like any other and began telling me a story that I will never forget."

Pausing, thinking he'd heard a noise up ahead, Ice held a finger to his lips and tilted his head forward, listening hard. Convinced it was his mind playing tricks he asked: "What was the story?"

"The part of the desert he took me to
he
claimed had once been the site of a fierce war between the Army and the Pima Indians.
My
people. It was the middle of winter, snow powdered the ground.

My people had received word that the army wanted to set up a fort on the site of our land and burial grounds. If you were to know my people’s heritage you would understand that this was not received well. They could have simply moved on and avoided conflict but the Pima do not give up what they believe is theirs.

They attacked at night.

Expecting to surprise a sleeping tribe. What they found was a group of a hundred angry Pima ready to fight to the death. We had surrounded them. That's when they opened fire. For three hours they slaughtered each other, painting the ground red with our blood and theirs. Eventually as my Grandfather claims, the Army retreated, a third of the force they were and never returned.

He told me if I looked to the sands they would tell me the truth. One day I snuck off to that sight and began digging. That's when I found it.

"What?"

"A gold tooth. Under two inches of sand at the base of a boulder. A single gold tooth. I don't pretend to know where it came from, for all I know some hiker lost it a year before I found it. But from that moment on I was hooked on finding things. Especially in areas that can tell me stories."

"Like this area?" Ice asked.

"Yeah. Except with this place I feel like I'm becoming part of that story."

"Where's the strangest place you've ever been? Apart from this?"

Jordan thought for a moment. She really hadn't been anywhere strange before, not for an archaeologist anyway. Then she remembered her trip with Art Montoya to Chile.

"Chile. Patagonia to be exact. Doc Montoya had us searching for an ancient city. Never found it. I did get pneumonia though. Just a mild case."

"Wow. I bet you're just a walking book of far-out stories."

"Me? What about you? This is probably a normal day’s work for you. How'd you get into this?"

"Still not too sure how I ended up here. A lot of luck I suspect. I joined the Navy straight out of school. I loved the water so I worked my way into the Navy's dive program. Ten years after that I decided to spice my life up and tried out for the SEALs. Everything else is history. A lot of luck went my way in bringing me this far. I know that."

"
That's it?
You were a diver, now you’re this super water soldier?" Jordan asked.

That wasn't it, of course but Ice was not going to start sharing the sick dark secrets that had haunted his nightmares over the years. Nor could he. They were all classified. The Pentagon had the files sealed up so tight only a select handful of people would ever be able to read about his exploits. Many of which he was not proud of.