I tossed it at the three Rifs who backed off in wariness.
They fell backward as it went off with a deafening roar.
I wasn’t really watching them, anyway. My eyes were on the wall as the concentrated explosion erupted. I was sent flying but I was braced for it and let my body roll relaxed. I came up on one knee, my eyes focusing on the wall.
I saw the shower of dirt and clay cascade into the tunnel, followed by the torrent of water. Huge cracks appeared on both sides now and spread instantly in all directions. Dirt, followed by water, erupted from every new crack. And then, with a deafening roar, the whole damned thing opened up, and a rushing, leaping torrent of water raced into the tunnel to spread out in both directions.
I was caught up in it and swirled upward toward the top of the tunnel. I swam against the onrushing current, back toward the main opening. There was still some four feet of air space between the rising water and the roof.
I caught a glimpse of tossed bodies on the other side of the cascading water, and I knew El Ahmid’s dream had gone to join those of other conquerors in history. There wasn’t much more than a foot of air space left now.
I took out the second tube, lit it and dropped it into the water beneath me. I knew it was heavy enough to sink slowly, at least. I waited the fifteen seconds, took a deep breath and forced air into my eardrums and sinuses.
The explosion did what I’d calculated it would do. I felt myself lifted as by a tremendous wet hand and sent hurtling upward through the water, out through the opening of the tunnel roof. The pressure was terrible. I felt my body grow tight, my lungs burning, straining as the explosion forced me upward through the water like a torpedo.
I felt my shoes rip away, and then my clothes tear. The pressure was getting more than the human body could bear and I could feel the veins and blood vessels expanding to the bursting point when I shot into the air. My lungs hurt terribly as I gulped the first breath of air. It went down into them like ice water, and I felt dizzy. I managed to tread water and strike out feebly.
Finally, I floated over on my back and let the current carry me from the seething, churning water. I floated until I felt enough strength returning to my arms and legs, until I began to feel as though I might stay together.
Slowly, swimming with easy, deliberate strokes, I headed back for the Moroccan coastline. Luckily, I hadn’t come that far through the tunnel, and when I finally reached the sand, I collapsed and lay there, a dark, still shape in the night.
I lay there a long time and then slowly got to my feet. I couldn’t help but think of my first landing on the shores of Morocco and I looked carefully around to see that I was alone.
The walk up the beach was a gentle slope, for which I was thankful. I found a road and started to walk west toward Tangiers. When morning came I was still on the road. I waved down a jeep I saw approaching. It turned out to be filled with Moroccan soldiers, searching for Chinese fugitives along the coastline.
At my story they spun the jeep about, and we raced for Tangiers and the American Consulate.
Chapter 7
I identified myself and got a hot shower and a suit of clothes as I waited for the call to Hawk to be put through. Things had happened as I’d surmised, I found out.
Marina had to talk fast to make her story believed, but the code signal I’d given her did the trick. On the phone, Hawk filled me in on the details.
“From the girl’s story,” his voice crackled over the phone, “I knew you were up the creek without a paddle. The Moroccan government had the proper forces to cope with the situation but not the transportation. We had the means of transportation but not the forces, so we put our heads together and you saw the results. I don’t mind telling you I had to talk fast to convince then I wasn’t on LSD and dreaming the whole thing up.”
“I wish you had,” I answered. “It was a puzzler with a very nasty kicker.”
“By the way, we retrieved Hugo and Wilhelmina from the Russians you scattered around Casablanca,” he said. “Take a day off, N3. Relax and enjoy the sun there.”
“Your generosity overwhelms me once again,” I said. “So much so that I’m going to take the whole damn week off.”
“Who is she?” Hawk asked. “The girl who contacted us?”
“Yes,” I said. “I’ve got to cancel an insurance policy.”
“Are you all right, N3?” Hawk said, sudden concern in his voice. “Did you say something about an insurance policy?”
“I’ll explain when I see you,” I grinned and hung up.
As I walked out of the Consulate I saw a tall, long-limbed figure move toward me, her hair now beautifully combed and in place, once again the same delicate yet sensual creature I’d first met that night at Karminian’s apartment. Her arm crept into mine and her lips brushed my cheek.
“Oh, Nick,” she said. “You don’t know what hell it was waiting and wondering if you’d come back alive.”
“I’ve got to thank you for that, or at least for part of it,” I said.
“I kept remembering what you’d said when I left,” she murmured. “About us being a team, a permanent team.”
I grimaced inwardly and looked at those deep, dark eyes.
Her dress, soft beige with a deep slit at the neck, outlined the round provocative beauty of her breasts.
“About what I said then, Marina,” I began. “I want to talk to you about that.”
“Not here, Nick,” she said, pressing her finger to my lips. “Let us go back to Casablanca, to my place. I would like it better there.”
I shrugged. Maybe it would be better that way. Maybe I could make up for what I was going to have to tell her. Nobody likes being a bastard, even when they know they’ve been one in a good cause.
We rode back to Casablanca in an army car the Moroccan government put at my disposal as a gesture of gratitude. When we reached her place she opened the door and spun into my arms, her eyes bright and glistening.
I wanted to make love to her, but that would only be compounding things, adding insult to injury. God, if only she weren’t so damned desirable.
We’d made small talk all the way back from Tangiers, as if both of us were avoiding the issue.
I knew I sure as hell was, but I also knew that I couldn’t put it off indefinitely.
“Marina,” I began. “About what I said in the mountains.”
I never got more than that out when the sharp sound of a door being kicked open made me spin around. I whirled to see Karminian coming out of the bedroom, disheveled, gaunt and red-eyed with a big .357 Magnum in his hand.
“I knew you’d come back sometime,” he said to Marina. “I didn’t expect you’d come back with him.”
“Anton,” she said, starting for him. “Oh, it’s good to see you. You’re alive, thank God.”
He laughed harshly. “Traitor... bitch,” he shot out at her. “Liar. Daughter of the devil. I live but no thanks to you.”
“Now, hold on, pal,” I said slowly, watching the gun in his hand stay trained on Marina’s abdomen. “She was trying to help you. In fact, I talked her into it.”
He swung the gun on me. “Then it is fitting you both die together,” he said. “I came here and waited to kill her. Now you can die with her.”
“Anton,” Marina said. “Please listen to me. I was only doing what was best for you. I wasn’t betraying you.”
He snarled at her again, an oath in Armenian, this time.
I sized it up quickly.
He’d flipped his wig. It probably hadn’t taken too much to do it. Based on what Marina had told me of their relationship, he had a weird approach to women anyway. It didn’t take much to convince him that she was a traitor, a creature of evil.