The Hunt For Atlantis

bothering to remove their boots. Nina, on the other hand, felt incredibly silly as she hurried across-in a wet suit.

“I dunno,” Chase told her, helping Shala sit down, “you look pretty good to me. But then I’ve always had a thing for women in rubber.”

“Shut up.” The one-piece wet suit Shala had brought was more suited to surfing than to stealthy infiltration work: black with a hot-pink insert running from her neck down to her crotch and then up again over her back, with equally lurid strips down the legs and arms. The wet suit itself seemed fairly new, but the too- tight and grubby sneakers on her feet were another matter. “Are you absolutely sure neither of you can fit into this pipe?”

“See for yourself,” said Shala, pointing. A stub of rusting metal protruded from the steep bank a foot above the surface of the river, water trickling from it. Nina’s hopes that she could persuade the lanky Castille to take her place were dashed when she realized how thick the metal was. The actual interior of the pipe was barely eighteen inches in diameter-too small for Castille, and she doubted Chase would even be able to get his head and one shoulder inside.

For that matter, she wasn’t sure if she would fit.

“You’ll fit,” Chase said, as if reading her mind. “Might be a squeeze around your bum, but…”

“Hey!”

“Just kidding.” He smirked, then opened the rucksack they had brought from the van. “Here’s your gear. Torch, two-way radio and a headset-it’s not exactly Bluetooth, but you’ll be able to tell us when you’ve shut off the power to the fence. Gun-”

“I’ve never used a gun,” Nina said as Chase took out a small automatic in a canvas holster with a belt wrapped around it.

“Yeah? Thought you Yanks were shooting stuff before you could walk. Turn around.”

“I’m really not sure about this…” she said as Chase fastened the belt high around her waist, turning it so that the holster rested in the curve of her lower back.

“Just a precaution; hopefully you won’t meet anyone.” He clipped the walkie-talkie to the belt, then turned her around and fitted the headset, giving her a wink. “But if you do, just think Lara Croft. Bang-bang.” His gaze moved to her neck, and her pendant. “Do you want me to look after that for you?”

She considered it. “No thank you. It’s sort of my good-luck charm.”

Chase raised an eyebrow. “Considering the day you’ve had, you’ve got a bloody funny idea about what’s lucky.”

“I’m still alive, aren’t I?”

“Good point.” Nina tucked the pendant inside the wet suit, then pulled the zipper all the way up her neck as Chase’s gap-toothed grin returned. “Let’s get you shafted.”

Nina’s trepidation turned to outright disgust as she kneeled to examine the pipe. “Oh my God! It stinks!”

“What did you expect? It’s a sewer!”

Her stomach churned. “I feel sick. God, I don’t think I can do this…”

“Hey, listen,” said Chase, resting a hand on her arm, “I know you can. You’re an archaeologist, right? You must have dug about in muck and all kinds of horrible stuff before this, right?”

“Well, yes, but…”

“The pipe’s not all that long. Fifty yards, tops, then it opens out into the access shaft. That’s got a ladder, you can just climb right up. You can do it.”

“But what if there’s somebody at the top? What if-”

“Nina.” He squeezed her arm. “My job’s to look after you. If I thought you were going to be in danger, you wouldn’t be going.”

“But you still gave me a gun.”

“Yeah, well… nothing’s totally safe, is it?” She wasn’t reassured. “Look, once you’ve shut down the fence, Hugo and I’ll be inside in less than five minutes. Simple plan-we come in, punch Hajjar in the face, rescue Kari, done.”

“Punching people in the face is pretty much your solution to everything, isn’t it?” said Nina.

“Hey, if it works… Anyway, I’ll be with you all the way on the radio. And we’ve got the plans of the place-I’ll tell you exactly where to go. Once you’ve done it, just stay out of sight and you’ll be safe. Trust me.”

Nina tied back her hair, then, with extreme reluctance and a look of undisguised revulsion, climbed headfirst into the filthy pipe. “I don’t have much choice, do I?”

“That’s… better than nothing,” Chase said, switching on his own radio. “Here, I’ll help you in. Give me a radio test.” He lifted her feet and pushed her inside.

His radio crackled. “Don’t you even think about grabbing my ass.”

“Never crossed my mind,” said Chase, raising an appreciative eyebrow at her wet-suit-clad buttocks as they wriggled into the pipe. He pushed her feet again, and Nina disappeared into the darkness.

The flashlight in one hand ahead of her, she crawled up the sloping pipe. It was a tight squeeze, but she was- just-able to fit. She paused for a moment to shine the light straight along the pipe. Nothing but darkness at the far end.

“I bet Lara Croft never had to crawl up somebody’s toilet,” she muttered, before beginning her laborious ascent.

Kari watched Hajjar’s frustration grow as he waited for Qobras to call, his fingers drumming on his desk. It seemed he wasn’t a man accustomed to waiting for anything.

“Failak,” she said, “I need to use the bathroom. Please?”

“Not again,” her guard complained quietly, but Hajjar waved his hand dismissively at the door. Kari stood and made a little noise of triumph at the guard. “I’m not taking off your handcuffs,” he muttered as he led her from the room.

“How’re you doing?” asked Chase, through a crackle of static.

“Oh, superfine,” Nina grumbled. “Can’t wait to write this one up for the International Journal of Archaeology.”

A noise came through the headset that could have been muffled laughter. “You’re doing great. Can you see the end?”

She directed the beam ahead. “I think… yes! I can see it! And I can hear something as well.” She tried to pick out the noise. A kind of hissing rumble… like water coming down a pipe! “Oh, shit!”

She cringed and stifled a shriek as several gallons of cold water gushed down the pipe and splashed around her. “Oh God, oh! Disgusting!”

Chase’s jovial response didn’t improve her mood. “At least they remembered to flush.”

“Feeling better?” Hajjar asked mockingly as Kari was brought back into the circular room.

“The attendant’s manners leave something to be desired,” she sniffed. “I hope I didn’t miss Qobras.”

“No, but he will call any minute. So you’re just in time.” He gestured, and the guard shoved her onto a lounger. Volgan looked pleadingly at her, but said nothing.

“Remember my father’s offer,” she said. “Whatever Qobras offers, he can-”

The computer chimed. Hajjar snapped his fingers at Kari’s guard, who clapped a heavy hand on her shoulder. She stopped talking, watching as Hajjar turned to face the screen.

It was the first time she’d ever observed Qobras “live,” having previously only seen him in photographs. And those had been several years out of date. His black hair was now streaked with gray running back from his temples, his face more lined-but his eyes were as sharp as ever.