Maddock signaled for Bones to follow him and swam out of the room into the hallway, which now had a rupture in the ceiling where hazy light filtered through from above. They kicked fast back in the direction they had come, toward the room Willis and Professor now occupied.
En route, Maddock asked Willis what was happening a couple of times but received only terse replies of, “Hold on,” or “Working on it!” Bones and Maddock rushed more quickly than they knew was safe to reach the room as rapidly as possible. They saw a dive light stabbing the darkness in seemingly random directions and pulled themselves by the door frame into the space.
Willis was lying on the floor of the room in a far corner, reaching his hands into a low crevice of a space while his light bounced around randomly on a tether attached to his wrist. A second set of scuba gear — not the one Willis wore on his back — lay on the floor at the edge of the opening.
“Talk to me, Willis!” Maddock and Bones swam across the mostly bare room to where Willis lay.
“Prof tried but couldn’t fit through here with is tank on, so he took off his tank to fit back there to where he said it opens up into a larger space. Took a big breath and—“
“How long has he been in there?” Maddock slid alongside Willis and directed his light beam into the crevice. Bones went to Willis’ other side and did the same.
Willis eyeballed his dive watch. “Forty-five seconds.”
“I don’t see him back there.” Bones swept his light toward the back of the crevice, where it sloped up toward some natural light.
“I’m going in. Willis: stay here. Bones: swim around to the other side and see if you can access the space from where that light comes in.”
“Dane, are you sure… ” Willis began, but Maddock had already shrugged off his tank. He ripped off his mask and shimmied beneath the overhanging metal, as Professor had done before him. Carrying his dive light in one hand, he kicked into the narrow area, now without a mask on, since the full face masks with integrated comm were connected directly to the scuba tank. The only way to take off the tank was to take off the mask, too. In light of this fact, Maddock knew that Willis must have seen something that he deemed very promising in order to go through all of that potentially dangerous trouble.
Yet when the three of them had looked into the area with their lights, nothing obvious was there. But Professor had surely seen something, but now he wasn’t even in here anymore… Maddock interrupted his own thoughts as he reached what he had thought was the rear of the cramped confines. Because light streamed in from above and a wall was only a couple of feet in front of him, he had thought that the chamber ended here. But even with his blurry vision, he could see this was not the case.
He could even feel the floor drop out from under him as he reached the far wall, the skin on his face and neck reacting to the sudden decrease in temperature. Looking down, he saw a precipitous slope drop away until it passed beneath the wall of the room. Tilting his head upward to see the source of the light, he could tell that two crumpled pieces of metal met, leaving an irregular sliver through which light passed. He wasn’t sure if it was wide enough for a human to pass through. He looked around the room one more time to be sure he wasn’t missing Professor, and when he didn’t see him Maddock dove down into the new passage, if that’s what it was. For all he knew it could dead-end a few feet down. Which could be a good thing.
In that case, Professor should be here. If he’s not… Maddock shoved the grim thought from his mind and pushed his way deeper, keeping his light out in front of him so that he would hit that instead of his head if something came up suddenly. It occurred to him as he swam down that the explosion they’d heard could have opened up this gap in the flooring — that maybe Professor hadn’t meant to come down here but had the floor drop out from beneath him.
The first pang of oxygen starvation hit Maddock’s lungs. He had to find Professor and get back to their tanks, fast. And in the back of his mind, even through the predicament he now found himself in, he couldn’t help but wonder: what had caused that blast? It must be the Russians, but how? Depth charges? Mines? Semtex? Did they not care what damage they did to the wreck? Had they already recovered something of value from it relating to the Amber Room and so now had no qualms about destroying it? And did they know there were uninvited divers on the wreck, or did they just happen to be doing underwater demolitions at this very moment? Maddock doubted the latter as he swept his beam to his right.
Motion. Light. Far corner.
Maddock changed course abruptly, making a beeline for what could only be Professor. He opened his eyes even wider against the saltwater as he neared the hectic, wavy illumination. He passed over some inert objects… forms… on the bottom of the basement-like space. Maddock couldn’t be positive with his blurred vision but they looked at lot like skeletons. He hurried past without touching them. A couple of more scissor kicks and Maddock clamped a hand on the arm waving the light, temporarily blinded when it pointed right at him. He couldn’t see Professor’s face in any detail without a mask, but he knew it was him from the way he grunted, “Help.”
Maddock knew his associate must be trapped somehow or he would have been long gone back to his tank. He got right to work searching for whatever it was that was holding Professor back. His upper body was visibly free and he was able to shine the light around, so Maddock concentrated on his legs. This task was made more difficult by not being able to see clearly, but by running a hand down Professor’s drysuited leg until he encountered metal before reaching the foot, he knew he had found the problem.
With mere seconds left to solve it.
The explosion had somehow jarred two pieces metal around both of Professor’s legs at the ankles, trapping him in place. Maddock removed his dive knife from the sheath on his calf and used it like a pry bar to separate the metal sheets — flooring and wall — that pinned the SEAL’s legs. He felt the metal give way but then the knife slipped and he heard Professor groan in pain. He was trying not to move but lack of oxygen was making him nervous and cagey; he fidgeted while Maddock tried again with the knife.
He pushed the two sheets of metal apart a little more and then wrenched his colleague’s leg free, slicing through the drysuit and eliciting a bubbly scream as the thin skin covering the ankle was split open. Professor had just expelled some of what little oxygen remained in his lungs. Maddock knew he had to work extra fast now. His own lungs were starting to burn, too, and even once Professor was out, they still faced a long swim through the wreck back to the scuba tanks.
Maddock gripped Professor’s remaining trapped ankle with two hands and slid it across the opening he had created with the pry bar, which became wider toward the right. It was faster than prying again, but the speed came at a price as Professor’s other ankle was shredded in similar fashion to the first. His shriek was less this time, though, having learned not to expel any more precious air.
Maddock bear-hugged Professor and pushed off the bottom. The two SEALs ascended out of the narrow, deep space they were in, toward the floor of the crevice that led back to the tanks. But as they rose, another explosion rocked the wreck. Suddenly the passage that led back to Bones, Willis and the tanks was sealed shut in front of them. Where to turn?
Maddock made the split second decision to shoot for the light that streamed in from above. He still had no idea if the opening up there would be wide enough for them to fit through. It could be just an inches-wide seam letting in the sunlight for all he knew. But he had unfortunately gotten into one of those situations where he had run out of options. Swim for that light, hope he could get through to escape the wreck….and then what? He couldn’t let himself think any further ahead than that. To do so would be to invite panic in to sit down and hang out. One step at a time. Stay focused.