was last sighted. But the speed of the
But they have to surface because the
So the
Then it is the same old drill, the crash dive, which was so exciting when he was a young man practicing it in the Baltic, and has become so tedious for him now. Looking up through a hatch he gets a moment's glimpse of a single star in the sky before the view is blocked by a mutilated crewman being fed down from above.
Only five minutes later the depth charge scores a direct hit on the stern of the
Because the bow is pointed straight up, like a needle on a meter, there's no deck to stand on, and every time a bulkhead yields, and the water level shoots up towards the bow, it leaves them suddenly submerged, with crushed and evacuated lungs, and they must swim up and find the air bubble again.
But finally the mangled stern of the boat spikes into the seafloor and the
He hears Rudy undoing the latches on his aluminum briefcase.
'Don't strike a match,' Bischoff says. 'This air is compressed, it will burn like a flare.'
'That would be
'Your light bulb has imploded,' Bischoff explains. 'But at least I got a little glimpse of you, with that silly look on your face.'
'You too have looked better,' Rudy says. Bischoff can hear him closing up the briefcase, snapping the latches into place. 'Do you think my briefcase will float here forever?'
'Eventually the pressure hull above us will corrode. The air will escape from it in a thin line of bubbles that will grow into gyrating nebulas of foul air as they rush towards the surface. The water level will rise and press your briefcase up against what is left of the pressure hull's forward dome, and it will fill with water. But still there will be a little pocket of air in one corner of your briefcase, perhaps.'
'I was thinking of leaving a note in it.'
'If you do, better address it to the United States government.'
'Department of the Navy, you think?'
'Department of Spying. What do they call it? The OSS.'
'Why do you say this?'
'They knew where we were, Rudy. The Catalinas were waiting for us.'
'Maybe they found us with radar.'
'I allowed for radar. Those planes came even faster. You know what it means?'
'Tell me.'
'It means that those who were hunting us knew how fast the
'Ah . . . so that is why you think of spies.'
'I gave Bobby the plans, Rudy.'
'The plans for the
'Yes . . so that he could buy forgiveness from the Americans.'
'Well, in retrospect maybe you shouldn't have done that. But I do not blame you for it, Gunter. It was a magnificent gesture.'
'Now they will come down and find us.'
'After we're dead, you mean.
'Yes. The whole plan is ruined. Ah well, it was a nice conspiracy while it lasted. Perhaps Enoch Root will display some adaptability.'
'You really think spies will come down to go through this wreck?'
'Who knows?' Bischoff says. 'Why are you worrying about it?'
'I have the coordinates of Golgotha here in my briefcase,' Rudy says. 'But I know for certain that they are not written down anywhere else in
'You know that because you're the one who decrypted that message.'
'Yes. Maybe I should burn the message now.'
'It would kill us,' Bischoff says, 'but at least we would die with some warmth and some light.'
'You are going to be on a sandy beach, sunning yourself, in a few hours, Gunter,' Rudy says.
'Stop it!'
'I made a promise which I intend to keep,' Rudy says. There is a movement in the water, the strangled splash of a kicking foot being drawn under the surface.
'Rudy? Rudy?' Bischoff says. But he is alone in a black dome of silence.
A minute later a hand grips his ankle.
Rudy climbs up his body like a ladder and thrusts his head above the surface and howls for air. But this air is the good stuff, sixteen times as much oxygen in a single lungful. He feels better quickly. Bischoff holds him while he calms down.
'The hatch is open,' Rudy says. 'I saw light through it. The sun is up, Gunter!'
'Let's go, then!'
'You go. I'll stay and burn the message.' Rudy's opening his briefcase again, feeling through papers with his hands, taking something out, closing the briefcase again.
Bischoff cannot move.
'I strike the match in thirty seconds,' Rudy says.
Bischoff launches himself towards Rudy's voice and wraps his arms around him in the dark.
'I'll find the others,' Bischoff says. 'I'll tell them that some fucking American spy is onto us. And we'll get that gold first, and we'll keep it out of their hands.'
'Go!' Rudy cries. 'I want everything to happen fast now.'
Bischoff kisses him once on each cheek and then dives.
Ahead of him is faint blue-green light, coming from no particular direction.
Rudy swam to the hatch, opened it, and swam back, and was almost dead when he returned. Bischoff has to find that hatch and then swim all the way to the surface. He knows that it will be impossible.
But then much brighter, warmer light floods the interior of the