The F-22 squadron leader spoke into his helmet mike, 'Bigbird, this is Blue Leader. Maintaining stealth mode. Estimate target will be in missile range in... twenty minutes.'
Suddenly it hit Schofield.
He spun to face Kirsty. 'Kirsty, how long can Wendy hold her breath for?'
Kirsty shrugged. 'Most male far seals can hold their breath for about an hour. But Wendy's a girl, and a lot smaller, so she can only hold her breath for about forty minutes.'
'Forty minutes...,' Schofield said, doing the calculations in his head.
'What are you thinking?' Renshaw asked.
Schofield said, 'It takes us roughly two hours to get from the station to the cave, right. One hour to go
'Yeah, so ...,' Renshaw said.
Schofield turned to face Renshaw. 'When Gant and the others were approaching the ice cavern, Gant said the strangest thing. She said that they had a visitor. Wendy. Gant said that Wendy was swimming with them as they made their way up the ice tunnel.'
'Uh-huh.'
Schofield said, 'So, even if Wendy could swim
Renshaw was silent.
Schofield said, 'I mean, it'd be suicide for her not to turn back after she'd swum for
Schofield looked from Renshaw to Kirsty.
'There's another way into that ice tunnel,' he said. 'A shortcut.'
'
The SEALs sat rigidly in their places in the cabin of their hovercraft. Not a trace of emotion crossed any of their faces.
Down on E-deck now, Schofield tossed the low-audibility breathing tanks onto the deck. Kirsty was already putting on a thermal-electric wet suit. It was so hopelessly big for her that she had to roll up the sleeves and ankles to make it fit. Renshaw?already dressed in his neoprene bodysuit?just went straight for the LABA gear.
'Here, swallow these,' Schofield said as he handed a blue capsule to each of them. They were N-67D anti- nitrogen capsules. The same pills that Schofield had given to Gant and the others when they had gone down to the cavern earlier. They all quickly swallowed the pills.
Schofield discarded his fatigues and put his body armor and gunbelt back on over his wet suit. As he went through the pockets of his fatigues he found, among other things, a nitrogen charge and Sarah Hensleigh's silver locket. He transferred both items to pockets in his wet suit. Then he quickly began to put on one of the scuba tanks.
There were three tanks in all, all of them filled with four hours' worth of a saturated helium-oxygen mix: 98% helium,
As he put his own LABA gear on, Renshaw helped Kirsty get into hers.
Schofield got his tanks on first. When he was ready, he immediately began searching the deck around him for something heavy?something
He found what he was looking for.
A length of the B-deck catwalk that had fallen down to E-deck back when the whole of B-deck had gone up in flames earlier. The length of metal catwalk was about ten feet long and made of solid steel. It even had a section of its handrail still attached to it.
When Renshaw was also ready, Schofield got him to help drag it to the edge of the pool. The big length of metal catwalk screeched loudly as they dragged it across the deck.
As they worked, Wendy hopped up and down beside them, like a dog begging to go for a walk.
'Is Wendy coming with us?' Kirsty asked.
Schofield said, 'I hope so. I was hoping she would show us the way.'
At that, Kirsty leaped to her feet and hurried over to the wall by the side of the pool. She grabbed a harness from a hook and brought it back to the edge of the pool. Then she began to strap the harness around Wendy's midsection.
'What's that?' Schofield asked.
'Don't worry. It'll help.'
'Fine, whatever. Just stay close,' Schofield said as he and Renshaw positioned the length of catwalk on the edge of the deck, so that it was all-but-ready to fall off.
'All right,' Schofield said. 'Everybody in the water.'
The three of them jumped into the water and swam back underneath the length of catwalk. Wendy happily leaped into the water after them.
'All right, get a grip on the catwalk,' Schofield's voice said over their underwater headsets.
They all grabbed hold of the length of catwalk. They looked like a set of Olympic swimmers preparing to swim a backstroke race.
Schofield placed his hand over Kirsty's to make sure she didn't lose her hold on the catwalk as it sank through the water.
'OK, Mr. Renshaw,' Schofield said. '
At that moment, Schofield and Renshaw heaved on the catwalk, and suddenly the length of heavy metal tipped off the edge of the deck and fell into the water with a massive splash.
The metal catwalk sank through the water fast.
The three small figures of Schofield, Renshaw, and Kirsty clung grimly to it as it fell. They were all pointing downward, their feet flailing
Schofield looked at the depth gauge on his wrist.
Down they went, falling fast, through the magnificent white underwater world.
As they fell, Schofield tried to keep one eye on the white ice wall to his left. He searched for a hole in it, searched for the entrance to the shortcut tunnel that led to the underwater ice tunnel.
They hit a hundred feet. Without the pills, the nitrogen in their blood would have killed them by now.
They flew downward through the water. It became darker, harder to see.
They were falling so quickly.
And then suddenly Schofield saw it.
