Moments later, the Aussie was pulling them into the mouth of tunnel. Even from here, Seichan could not spot the glider through the stirred-up silt. It was as if the entire world had vanished beyond the tunnel.
Ben took her hand and drew her fingers to a length of rope staked along the seabed. It led deeper into the tunnel.
She understood.
Follow the line.
She set off behind Ben, with Gray behind her. She was soon grateful the enemy had left this path to follow. With each kick and paddle, their motion stirred up more silt in the tunnel. Not only could she barely see Ben’s fins ahead of her, but being weightless in her gear added to her disorientation. It was almost impossible to tell up from down.
Once far enough away from the glider’s sensors, Ben risked switching on a pair of small lights flanking his mask. “Okay, I love caving and I love scuba diving, but when you combine the two into cave diving,” he groused, “it turns into bloody death sport. And even more so now.”
Ben slowed and pointed to a blinking red light fixed to one side of the tunnel. It was one of the demolition charges. The enemy must be planning to blow the entrance on their way out once they secured the treasure.
As Seichan continued, following the staked line of rope, she oriented herself enough to realize the tunnel was less a passage drilled through solid rock than a winding, torturous path through and around a jumble of boulders and broken slabs.
“It’s an old rock slide,” Ben confirmed, scanning his lights around as he wriggled between two blocks of granite leaning against one another.
As Seichan followed, she sensed the precarious nature of this pile, suspecting it wouldn’t take much of a blast to bring this all crashing down.
After another minute of kicking and squirming, Ben’s voice dropped to a hissed whisper. “Got lights ahead.”
He doused his own lamps and slowed to a crawl. The passage widened enough for the three to cluster together. The way opened directly ahead, illuminated by a figure floating weightless in scuba gear beyond the tunnel. The man’s attention was on the glowing device he held in his hands. Its screen was as bright as a lamp in the dark waters.
Ben glanced significantly at them.
It must be the monitoring device and control unit for the glider outside.
Gray held up a palm, indicating the other two should hang back.
He then pushed off the tunnel floor and glided toward the man’s back. Some warning eddy of current must have alerted his target.
The diver spun around, fumbling for his shouldered spear gun — but Gray was already atop him.
He plunged his knife under the man’s chin and clutched him with his other arm. The body writhed for several seconds, then went slack. Gray deflated the man’s buoyancy vest and let his weighted form sink into the dark depths, but not before relieving him of his spear gun and glider’s control unit.
Ben and Seichan joined Gray as he doused the device, returning the waters to a stygian darkness — or at least, it should have.
They all turned their faces upward.
Through the waters overhead, a soft, shimmering glow beckoned to them. The diffuse light gave dimension to the flooded cavern around them. It had to be half the size of a football stadium. The glow also revealed the surface of the lake inside here. It stretched about ten meters overhead.
They slowly rose toward the shine.
With great caution, they risked peeking the edges of their masks above the water.
Ben gasped next to her. “Holy Mother of God…”
Gray understood the Aussie’s stunned shock.
The roof of the cavern glowed with what appeared to be swaths of stars, shining in hues from a deep blue-green to a bright silver. The glow revealed long filaments hanging from the roof, each lined by rows of pearlescent droplets.
“Glowworms,” Ben explained.
Gray had heard of caves in Australia and New Zealand that harbored these bioluminescent larvae, but he had never imagined they could produce such a brilliant display. There had to be millions glowing throughout here, attempting to lure prey with their shine into their sticky traps.
But the true wonder was not found across the roof.
The glowworms had found a more convenient purchase.
The wreck of the Trident.
The three-masted sailing ship listed crookedly in the cavern, having run aground into a sandbar on the far side. The entire surface of the ship was draped in glowworms and their fine silk nets. It was as if the wreck of Trident had risen from ghostly seas, still draped in bioluminescent kelp and algae.
Despite the wonder of the sight, movement — both on the sandbar and atop the deck — drove Gray back underwater, drawing the others with him.
“Did you notice the ship’s sails were furled and tied?” Ben said as he joined Gray. “At one time, this cavern must’ve been open to the sea. The crew likely sought to shelter here during a storm. Maybe even hiding from a cyclone.”
Gray pictured the rockslide they had traversed to get here. “And in doing so, the bastards got themselves trapped here.”
“Let’s not suffer the same fate,” Seichan reminded them.
Gray nodded. “We need to find Simon’s daughter, secure her, and get the hell out of here.”
“I spotted a blond woman with the group on the sandbar,” Seichan said.
“That’d be Kelly,” Ben confirmed.
Gray set off toward shore. “Then let’s go get her.”
As they traversed the lake, they kept deep. The lakebed slowly rose up under them as they neared the far side. Even here, life thrived. Centuries-old coral fluttered with sea fans. Brightly colored fish darted from their path, while albino lobsters as long as his forearm stalked the reefs.
Seichan swam beside him, carefully eyeing the sand and rocks for threats. Something caught her eye, drawing her to the side.
Before he could inquire about her interest, they reached the Trident. From here, they would have to work swiftly. At any moment, someone might try to radio the man they had taken out earlier. Gray knew they had only a narrow window before their presence in the cavern was exposed.
Hidden in the shadow of the wreck’s hull, he worked quickly with the others, making sure everyone was prepared. Once satisfied, they set off again. They circled the bulk of the Trident and approached the sandbar, hugging the lakebed. Gray was counting on the gleam of the glowworms reflecting off the lake’s dark surface to keep their group hidden for as long as possible.
As they reached the shallows, Gray could make out figures atop the sand, not far from where the Trident had run aground. The ship loomed above the small group, revealing a huge crack in its hull. A trio of wooden chests stood nearby. From the drag marks in the sand, it appeared the boxes had been hauled from the ship’s broken hold.
Gray didn’t doubt what they contained.
The Trident’s lost treasure.
Ignoring the wealth stored in those chests, he concentrated on the watery image of the three mercenaries standing guard over the treasure — and one lone girl.
Kelly knelt in the sand, her shoulders slumped, her face despondent.
One of the men had a pistol casually pointed at the back of her head, clearly awaiting the order to dispatch this witness. The other two were similarly armed. Their abandoned spear guns were propped on boulders behind them. It seemed the crew must have packed-in additional weapons in waterproof cases.
Gray cursed their preparedness, but there was nothing he could do about it. His team was committed now. He curled his body and got his legs under him. He glanced right and left to make sure the others were ready.