The answer hit him with blinding suddenness. Of course! He flashed on snagging the tank up under the pulley rig. In his haste to get it, put it on and then get over the precipice without being detected, he’d neglected to do the most basic of SCUBA pre-dive tasks: turn the air on! A simple turn of the K-valve — the black knob at the top of the tank to which the regulator was attached — was something he hadn’t done. If the valve was already open, well then. It was game over. He knew that. But at least they now had a real chance.
He tried to reach back behind his head for the valve as he tumbled down the snowy chute. Being able to do this underwater was a skill that was practiced in SCUBA classes. Doing it while tumbling down a snowy whiteout was another matter altogether. He brought his right arm up and back behind his head, where the valve was. His arm nearly broke when the ground beneath him dropped out and he flipped over, landing on his bent elbow that he was holding behind his head. He thought he may have at least dislocated his shoulder. He expelled most of his last remaining breath with another hard impact where his own knee doubled up and rammed him in the solar plexus, knocking the wind right out of him. As soon as he recovered from that, he started to try again. He reached out for the valve — and to his surprise — brushed across Jayden’s hand already on it. He tried to take a breath, expecting to be met with empty resistance, but instead was pleasantly surprised with the familiar metallic-tinged pull of air through a regulator.
He immediately reached out and tapped on Jayden’s arm. There was no way they could actually see one another in the zero visibility whiteout soup, but he wanted to let him know somehow that things had changed, he was breathing, and Jayden should be, too. They continued their slide down the slushy, snowy channel. He wished he had a facemask on, that would keep the snow out of his eyes and maybe even help him to see a little bit, but he knew that he was lucky to have made it this far. The closer to the bottom they got, the less steep the incline became, so that their speed and tumbling gradually decreased the further they went along. A couple of times Carter could see enough light peeking through the snow over their heads that he thought maybe they would be exposed, but it never actually happened. They remained concealed beneath the snowpack as they effectively SCUBA-dived through the snow down the side of the lake basin. SCUBA diving through snow! Carter almost had to suppress a laugh through his mouthpiece even though he knew they were far from out of the woods yet.
After an indeterminate period of time during which they were tossed about like ragdolls on a wagon train, Carter and Jayden came to rest with a painful thud against a cluster of rocks. The white shroud of snow still covered them completely. Carter listened for signs of any activity around them but could hear nothing save the raspy draws of air through their regulators. He tried push some snow out of the way of his face, but again, it simply collapsed back into place around him. He felt for the SCUBA rig’s gauge console so that he could see how much air remained in the tank. He felt the rubber hose attached to the gauge, traced it down to the console, and brought it all the way up to his eyes. Plenty of air remaining, even after two of them had been breathing on it and exerting themselves heavily. This was because their depth was zero, he knew, which is what the depth gauge read.
It was time to see where they had ended up. Carter tapped Jayden on the arm and began shifting his body to get into a standing position. He felt Jayden begin to do the same next to him, both still breathing from the rig. He could hear nothing from the outside world. When he felt like he had a secure stance on the uneven, but no longer steep, ground, Carter flexed his knees and slowly rose until his head broke through the snow.
Chapter 22
The first thing that met Carter’s gaze was the shimmering, blue surface of the lake. They had slid, tumbled and SCUBA-dived all the way down to the body of water through the snow. Jayden’s head of black hair popped up next to Carter as he looked around for signs of Daedalus and his divers. He saw none of them down here by the lake, and looking up at the slope where the rope and pulley rig was set up, he found he could not see anyone there, either. They were all up at the camp site, he supposed.
After scanning their surroundings himself, Jayden shot Carter a wide-eyed stare. “I guess we’re certified snow divers now! Remind me to let the Professional Association of Diving Instructors know that I earned my specialty badge.” He was grinning from ear to ear.
Carter could only shake his head in wonderment. He slowly flexed all of his limbs and joints, feeling for anything that might be broken. Although he was certain he’d be black and blue all over tomorrow, it seemed like he was still able to move unhindered, though not without pain in most joints. Jayden went through the same process, and with the same results. Now that they were no longer moving, both shivered from their time immersed in the snow. Carter looked for a good spot to move to, and spotted a stand of brush closer to the water’s edge, not too far away. He got no arguments from Jayden about leaving their place of powdery concealment.
After a last glance up top to make sure they were unobserved, the two treasure seekers emerged from the snowbank. They ran across the rocky, snow-spotted ground to the vegetation, and ensconced themselves inside it. They found this to be an ideal hiding spot since it was dry and offered concealment, but also allowed them to peek out at both the lake as well as up at the slope and pulley system.
“I can see the timber,” Carter pointed through the brush to a dark brown, almost black log about four feet long and at least a foot in diameter. Jayden nodded while eyeing the top of the slope.
“They’ve got the other one up there already so it won’t be long before they come back for this one. We should make our move.”
Carter felt for the dive knife he had strapped to the inside of his left calf in preparation for the snow dive, but was appalled to feel only smooth pant leg. When he looked down at it, he saw that the knife and sheath were gone, no doubt ripped away during the tumultuous ride down here. He supposed he shouldn’t complain since he still had his backpack on, although one of the straps had broken. He wished he would have put the knife inside the pack, but couldn’t have known how bad the trip down would be.
“My knife is gone, do you have one?”
“Uh-oh.” Jayden swatted at his back. “I just realized my entire pack is gone. I was so happy to be alive I didn’t even notice!” He and Carter peered out of the brambles to see if it was visible on the ground. That would not be good as it would give away their presence. But it was nowhere to be seen.
“Look on the bright side. You’ll be a lot lighter on your feet now,” Carter said.
“Yeah, but I had my best knife in there, my Benchmade folder.” Jayden reached a hand into his front jeans pocket and pulled out a Swiss Army Knife. “This is all I’ve got. Had it since my Boy Scout days, since my Grandfather gave it to me. But you know what they say. The best knife or tool is the one you actually have with you when you need it.”
Carter nodded. “True that. It’ll have to do. We don’t need a big chunk of it, anyway, just enough of a sample to be able to do lab work on it to date it and verify its composition.”
“Oh good, because I thought we were going to lug that whole log down off of Mt. Ararat like those guys are.”