Stratton nodded.‘Let’s hope this one hasn’t filled yet.’
He entered the tunnel and, holding firmly on to the side, made his way down the slope. Christine was close behind him in the near-darkness.
They reached the open pressure door with ‘5’ stencilled on it and continued down the increasingly steep incline. The water became deeper as they descended and was chest high by the time they arrived at the larger corridor that led towards the scrubber room and the mine.
‘This is good. I was worried this tunnel would be completely filled by now.’
‘Yeah, this is really good news,’ Christine said, feeling very cold and unable to hold back her cynicism.
They passed the battered bodies of the guard and prisoners who had been washed down the tunnel when the level five pressure door had burst open.The corpses were floating together in a recess.
Stratton arrived at the entrance to the scrubber and pump room where the engines were now silent, and climbed in through the doorway. The hissing had been replaced by a forced bubbling sound as the water only just lapped over the valve on the stack of huge air bottles that Hamlin had opened.
‘This the place?’ Christine asked as she moved inside.
‘All the air you can breathe.’
‘If there was a search team, you think they’d come this far down?’
‘Sure. Might even be a priority. Probably more chance of surviving longer here than anywhere else.’
‘I never tire of your optimism,’ she said, looking behind the door and suddenly jumping back, startled. ‘Jesus Christ!’
Gann was standing against the wall, his right arm gone at the shoulder, his face seriously charred. The flesh was practically burned away, exposing his teeth and cheekbone. One of his eyes was gone. He appeared to be dead at first but then he moved his head stiffly to face them, his one eye minus its eyelid moving in its socket. When he recognised Stratton he took a step forward, reaching out to him with his remaining hand. But he was so weak that he could barely stand.
Stratton stood his ground as Gann forced himself to take another painful step. He moved close enough to grab feebly at the front of Stratton’s jacket with his charred fingers. He tried to say something, but his lips were gone and his throat was so horribly burned that he was unable to form a word. His knees suddenly gave way and he dropped face down into the water where he stayed.
‘Was that Gann?’ Christine asked.
‘Yes,’ Stratton said, turning away and wading over to the rack of gas cylinders. He reached into the water for the bubbling valve and turned it off.
‘The lights are brighter in here,’ she noted.
‘I think there’s a power line into here directly from the barge. What are your electrical skills like?’
‘I can change a fuse, a spark plug.’
‘Pity.’
‘Why?’
‘If we can find a power link to the barge we might be able to turn it on and off. Make a signal of some kind.’
‘I like it.’
‘The water will eventually stop rising - that’s if there’s nowhere for the air to escape in the roof. We put the air valve on trickle flow and . . . you know. Wait.’
Stratton climbed the rack to get out of the water.
Christine climbed up beside him. ‘Hey, we’re alive and breathing and in a while we’ll be dry. That’s way ahead of where I thought we’d be when we were outside the escape room.’
‘I’m sorry it’s not any better.’ He was disappointed that he had been unable to get them out.
She put her hand on his and squeezed it. ‘My name’s Christine, by the way.’
‘John,’ he said.
‘Where are you from? I guess we have no more need for secrets.’
‘I’m a Brit.’
‘I figured out
‘I’m from a town in the south of England. Poole. Don’t suppose you’ve even heard of it.’
She shook her head apologetically. ‘England’s on my list of must-see places . . . I’m curious as hell about you. Who do you work for? If you don’t want to tell me I’ll put it down to you being optimistic about us surviving and I’d probably be happier that way.’
‘British military intelligence,’ Stratton said.
She was surprised to find his timing and apparent lack of optimism amusing.
‘We lost something in Afghanistan.The Taliban found it and it ended up in here.’
‘Why didn’t you just ask us? I thought we were the great alliance.’
‘I understand it would’ve been embarrassing for our side if you guys found out what it was.’
‘Oh.’ Christine nodded. ‘Bummer, you dying just to save someone an embarrassment.’
Stratton had to concede that one. ‘What are you dying for?’
‘Mine isn’t much better . . . The White House wanted this place closed down and they needed evidence of the shenanigans going on down here. We decided to pool with the feds in the end but, well, you know better than anyone how that one ended . . . It was my stupid ego that killed me. I could’ve got out earlier but I had to go that one step beyond where I was asked to.’
‘Yeah, that’ll do it sometimes.’
‘How’d you get in here without our help?’
‘I didn’t. My lot conned the White House into running a security exercise.We offered to test the prison - see if I could escape from it.’
‘They bought that?’
Stratton put out his hands - he was the proof.
‘So how’s it going?’
‘I’m still working on it.’
They both chuckled.
The lights suddenly went dimmer.
‘The thought of Mandrick getting away with this really pisses me off,’ she said.
‘Maybe he won’t.’
‘I’d like to know it, though . . . I hope the lights don’t go off completely,’ Christine said, her fears momentarily getting the better of her.
‘There’s a box of candles in that room up there,’ Stratton said, indicating the transformer room.‘We won’t sit in the dark.’
She looked at him again. ‘You’re very comforting, aren’t you? You been in this business long?’
‘A few years . . . I always believed there was a solution, even to the most desperate situation. Somewhere, somehow there’s one for this. Now, maybe it requires a much higher intelligence or strength than we possess to find it.’
‘Or luck.’
‘Or luck . . . But it’s there.’
Christine noted that the water had risen several inches since they’d climbed the rack. ‘I think we should head for a higher spot to sit or we’ll soon have to swim—’
‘Shh!’ Stratton interrupted.
She obeyed, watching him, his brow furrowed, eyes searching the far wall for something.
Stratton had picked up on a sound that did not belong with the others. It came again. A single short ping, like metal striking metal, but muffled as if it was a long way away.
Christine heard it too. ‘Others made it down here.’
That was a possible explanation but Stratton had another on his mind.
The noise came again. He jumped off the rack into the water that was now close to his shoulders, started to wade through it, then changed to the breaststroke and powered himself towards the door.
‘What makes you think they’re in any better situation than we are?’ she shouted.
He ignored her and swam through the door. The lights flickered. Christine was suddenly alone.
