A stab of light suddenly appeared, bouncing across the roof.
He could hear shouting but couldn’t make out what was being said, the words lost in the trills and gurgles of the falling water.
More movement above.
Then a scream jolted his nerves.
Female.
Could it be?
A body came over the edge and splashed into the waist-high water. Whoever it was came up, gasped for breath, and tried to stand.
“Dad.”
The word tore at his heart.
Alle.
He lunged toward her, wrapping his arms around her body, intent on stabilizing them both. Then he saw two forms above, one holding a flashlight aimed down.
“It is all over,” Simon called out.
The other man raised a weapon.
With Alle in his grip, one hand still holding his unlit flashlight, he dropped them into the water, out of the beam’s glare.
Simon adjusted, trying to relocate the targets.
But the current sent them over the side.
———
ZACHARIAH STARED DOWN, AMAZED.
“He took them both over,” he said to Rocha.
But he wondered. What did Tom Sagan know now that he didn’t? Water raced past his legs. He used the light and scanned the cavern wall.
And saw niches. Leading down.
Rocha saw them, too, and moved closer with his light.
“So let us see what it is you know,” he whispered.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR
BENE HAD WILLINGLY LEAPED OVER THE SIDE, KNOWING THAT the next level was less than three meters below. His impact was broken by more water about a meter deep. He’d heard a gunshot, the sound within the rocky confines like an explosion. Had Zachariah Simon arrived? Or was it the same person who’d destroyed the dam?
The
And why flood it?
He wondered about the extra depth of water on this level, much more than above, and the answer to his question came as he sloshed his way ahead. The rock angled upward, transforming this step into a rough bowl that first had to fill before any liquid continued its downward assault.
Thank goodness.
The deeper the better.
He switched on his light, which he still held, and saw that the ledge was about ten meters wide. He glanced over its end and saw that the next one below was close, maybe two meters down, shorter and thinner, too, water quickly disappearing over its edge into more blackness.
He heard a scream from behind.
He whirled and saw lights reflecting off the ceiling in a chaotic dance. A splash, then a dark clump spilled from above and plopped into the pool two meters away.
He aimed his light and saw Sagan holding a woman.
“You can stand,” he yelled.
Sagan released his grip and steadied himself. The woman—young, small-boned, maybe in her twenties with long dark hair—swiped water from her eyes. Both of them grabbed breaths.
He kept his light angled away so as not to blind them. “You okay?”
Sagan nodded his head, sucking deep breaths of the dank air. “Simon is here.”
His nerves came alert and his head stared up. What happened to his men at the airport? Nothing good, he assumed. He caught the faint glow of light on the far cavern wall.
And knew what was happening.
Simon was climbing down.
