The piles of sea cucumbers decreased the original depth of the ocean floor around RURF by five meters. Incredible.
Mack moved his fins in long, steady kicks with Cyan gliding in his wake.
“I’m not seeing any signs of her,” Kau said. “Only the rori. So many—”
“I’m sorry,” Cyan said. “We’ll look again on our way back.”
“You’re right. Go. You’ll need all the nitrox in your tanks to find Dr. Blake. I can look for her, too. Maia’s a good swimmer. Maybe she went further away from the deck then she realized.”
“You’re right about that,” Mack said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d swam all the way to the nearest atoll, looking to bring you home a good sup.”
Talking between them ceased as if they knew she’d gone, giving her a moment of silence. Cyan pictured Kau in the lab, crying. Mack neared the blue hole’s opening and waited for her to catch up. Just the two of them took up most of the circle, its size deceptive compared to what waited below.
“Going in,” Mack said. “Lights on, Cy.”
He reorganized his spearguns. They each carried two with four extra shafts. Cyan turned on her torch and secured the cord around her wrist. At the entrance to rēwera o korokoro, they faced each other, floating upright.
“Ready?” Mack said.
“Let’s go.” Behind him, the darkness of the rock wall moved.
“Look at me,” he said. “Keep your eyes on me as we descend, understand?”
She nodded, grabbed her buoyancy control, and released air in quick bursts from her suit and vest. Sunlight coming through the small opening faded as they drifted down into the devil’s throat.
“With what we’ve got on, we’re going to have about ten minutes of nitrox more or less, plus whatever’s stored in the tanks on the shelf. We might have to take turns so one of us can watch the other,” Mack said.
“What if he’s not there, and went down to Shelf 9 like the captain said? If he’s been at that depth—”
“Don’t think it. Smith’s on nine. If John’s there, he’ll bring him back, make sure he stops and decompresses.”
“Oh, yeah,” she said. “They’ll figure out a way to link up and buddy-breathe.”
“That’s it,” Mack said. “Doc Cy’s back in action. Kau, you reading us?”
Nothing but silence came through the speakers. Most dives, no matter how deep, the ocean always made sounds. A cacophony of fish rummaging and nibbling on coral, and popping and crackling came from all around, even movement of the surrounding water created gulping and swooshing noises. In the devil’s throat, though, silence made a deafening background. So, she focused on her breath sounds, slowing her respirations by listening to her breathing pattern. The deeper they went, the harder the pressure made it to inhale. Cyan often had to remind herself to draw in a breath.
She and Mack stared at one another, and she knew John’s chances by the look in his eyes. Not a bit of evidence marked his way. They’d waited too long.
Static blasted through the darkness and into their headset speakers. Kau panted then stopped. “Doc? Mack?”
“Kau!” Cy said.
“They’re not far behind you.”
“Who?” Mack said.
“The soldiers. They locked me in the supply closet, but I busted out. Something happened to Smith on Shelf 9. They lost comms with him, then came and found me. Saw that you’d left.”
“How many of them?” Mack said.
“All three,” Kau said. “And they’ve got guns. RURF’s been overrun by rori. Biting ones. They knocked out the battery and panels. Internet’s down. I’m using my laptop on deck to talk with you.”
“What?” Cyan shouted into her mask.
“They tore Taylor’s leg up pretty bad, but he didn’t want to stay.”
“You need to get in the boat and head to land, Kau. Get help!” Cyan said.
“I can’t leave you though—”
“The hell you can, and will,” Mack said. “Go now! We’ll find John and shelf up for air and decompression.”
“Mack’s right,” Cyan said. “You’re the only who can get away to call for a rescue. What did the captain say they were going to do down here?”
“Protect Shelf 9 at all costs,” Kau said.
The audio went out.
“Can you hear me?” Cyan looked at Mack who shook his head no.
“Dammit,” she said.
They both looked up, and the opening appeared smaller, as if the devil’s mouth might swallow them whole.
MACK GENTLY ROLLED sea cucumbers back into the water with his boots as they walked up onto Shelf 5. They neither went guts out or attacked him. Mack leaned his spearguns against the cave wall next to a row of ten nitrox tanks then helped Cyan take off her mask.
“Do you think they brought another exosuit with them?” she said.
Mack removed his full-face Predator as well. “Don’t think so. One set of huge cases was all I saw. Unless they had one drop-shipped after we went under.”
“Kau said the backup generator… But they probably have military satellite phones. Maybe they got a call out before it shut down. Please, god. I hope Kau made it.”
“Of course he did. She’ll be right yet. You’ll see.”
“Stop. If you tell me now he likely found Maia snorkeling and picked her up on his way, you’ll lose me.”
Mack laughed. “I’m not crazy, Cy. Maia was hiding in the boat this whole time, and Kau found her when he threw the cover off.”
“I really wish that were true. It would give me more hope—” Cyan looked behind him, up the rocky trail into the cave of Shelf 5. “Come on. Let’s find John.”
A single layer of sea cukes covered the trail. They parted as she and Mack headed in. “How are they surviving on dry land?” Cyan crouched and pointed her torch down then up the walls. “Where do you think they’re going?”
“Hell if I know. These ones look confused.”
He was right. Some slithered deeper into the cave, while others wiggled the other way. One plopped onto her shoulder from the ceiling and she screamed. Mack brushed it off and it fell onto another one, then headed up the wall again.
“Maybe being out of the ocean is affecting their behavior,” she said.
Mack stopped and shined his light along the cave floor. “Why would John go deeper if what he came to get was all around him?”
“You’re right.”
They eyed one another, thinking.
“There’s no way we can get to Shelf 9,” he said.
Shouting and screaming echoed from the entrance. Mack raised his spearguns and rushed toward the calamity. Cyan stood and pointed her torch down the long dark path. “John? I know you’re down there.”
She’d never come this far into the cave before. Her instincts told her to go deeper still.
A gunshot boomed then rang out. “Mack!” Cyan readied her spearguns and ran back the way she came.
Three men stood near the water, one lying on the ground in a pool of blood. Her hands shaking, she raised her speargun.
Mack turned around and saw her. “Stop! These dills shot their own man.”
“He was dead anyway,” Richards said. “We should’ve left him at the first shelf. Those things followed his trail. We couldn’t keep them off him.”
“So you killed him?” Cyan said.
“No. We gave him mercy. Your man topside told us you modified these things. They’re what killed Taylor,” Richards said.
“We need this nitrox,” Simms said. He opened up his laptop case and started typing. “Smith’s still not replying, sir.”
“You can’t have it,” Mack said. “We’re using it to find John. Then we’re heading back.”
“There is no back,” Richards said. “Your platform was on fire when we descended.”
Cyan stepped closer. “And you left Kau there? You bastards!”