The Delta Chain (48 page)

‘Kate…
’

‘Obsessed with some glorious breakthrough. But what does it matter now?
’
She pushed herself to her feet. She was exhausted. She didn
’
t think there was any energy, any strength at all, left in her body. But she wouldn
’
t sit here with Stephen. She wouldn
’
t die in his company. That would be the final insult.
‘
I
’
m going to climb out of here, alone, or die trying.
’

Kate strained her neck, looking up.

The shaft disappeared into a dark, jumbled mass where it had been cut off at the ground level. For some reason the bottom of the shaft, where they were trapped, hadn
’
t been filled with the falling debris. Part of the rear section must have still been standing. It also explained the faint trickles of light seeping in from somewhere above.

The cables had snapped and the shaft walls looked too smooth for climbing. How could she scale…?

No warning. Another deafening boom and a sickening, shifting sensation as the shaft rocked and the walls around them bent rapidly out of shape. A thick rain of shrapnel and dust, blackening them like coalminers. Then, just as quickly, stillness and silence.

Kate was on her knees, steadying herself, trembling, when she heard a tortured screeching shriek of a sound. She became aware of a dark shape filling the space above her. She rolled herself as far as she could across the roof of the car, collecting Hunter and rolling with him. Metal doors from above, dislodged by the weight of collapsing layers of metal and stone, struck the roof where Kate had been just seconds before.

Hunter groaned.
‘
Oh Christ. We
’
re never going to get out of this…
’

‘Bullshit,
’
said Kate. She didn
’
t know where the energy came from, but it came. It had always been her best friend, her energy. Maybe today it was her life saver.
‘
We can get through that lift opening now.
’
She clambered over the fallen elevator door. It was wedged now between the wall and the car. She shimmied up it and into the gaping black hole it had left behind.

And onto the sub-level.

‘There
’
s still some light filtering through.
’
Kate inched forward, Hunter right behind her. She was looking at the ruin of what had once been a corridor. Now, with the walls warped out of shape and sections of the ceiling caved in, it was a multi-level obstacle course, most of it completely black, water running on all sides like subterranean creeks.
‘
What was down here, Stephen?
’

‘A technician, maybe two, would
’
ve been working down here. There were labs, equipment, and a chamber with the crocodiles in covered pits.
’
He couldn
’
t bring himself to include the girl he knew had been down here.

‘And passageways like this?
’

‘Yes. All leading to the rear dock or the lift.
’

‘Adam would
’
ve come across the technicians. But what happened then?
’
Kate
’
s question was only meant for herself. She didn
’
t want to face the fact Adam was probably dead.

‘Kate, I don
’
t know that anyone would
’
ve survived-
’
Hunter was cut short by a crash as a slab of stone fell nearby. It sprayed water all over them.

Kate was silent, her eyes roaming the ruin as her eyes adjusted to the near dark. There were only pinpricks of light showing through the rubble. How was anyone going to find a way through this to Brian, further below, let alone get him back out again? She felt so helpless…

‘We just keep pressing forward. If there
’
s a way out we find it.
’
She walked where she was able to walk, and crawled where the spaces were too low or too tight for walking. It was slow going, they were mostly feeling their way. Light still filtered through at some points but was blocked out in others. She tried not to think about crocodiles waiting in hidden, watery recesses.

They came into a larger space. Here was a shallow underground pool, littered with piles of wreckage, a mass of electrical wires hanging like vines and wisps of light seeping through from another passage further along.

A scream from somewhere in this underground maze, echoing along stone walls. A girl? Kate threw a glance back at Hunter. She heard him say,
‘
What the hell…
’
and then she saw the rustle of movement behind him.

Seeing the fear etch into her face, Hunter began to turn. The crocodile
’
s enormous body slammed into him from out of the darkness, jagged teeth clamping deep into his waist and holding him vice-like as though he was a doll. The creature rolled its body over and away into the deeper water.

Behind it, another reptile reared up from the same tunnel. Kate realised in an instant that the dark texture of the tunnel walls was the perfect camouflage for these creatures.

She turned and ran. She didn
’
t intend crying out in terror but she did, and the cry echoed along the cavern walls.

Recovered from the effects of the drug, Costas, Barbara and Joey, cleared by the attending paramedics, were heading for the police centre. They wanted to be on hand for updates regarding Daniel
’
s whereabouts. They were just a few blocks from the station when the news program on the car radio gave the first, sketchy report that an eco terrorist group had detonated a series of bombs at the Institute. The report revealed that a local detective had been in the building and was missing, along with an unidentified teenage kidnap victim.

‘Lord, no! That has to be Adam and Daniel.
’
Costas immediately swung the car about and pressed his foot down harder on the accelerator. The Institute was fifteen minutes away.

They arrived to a scene of total pandemonium. Throngs of people and dozens of vehicles clogged the roadway around the perimeter of the Institute. Costas parked a fair way back along the road and the three of them hurried forward on foot. Barbara held on tightly to Joey, following Costas, weaving their way through the crowd of onlookers.

Sirens filled the air as rescue vehicles, ambulances and fire trucks arrived. A helicopter swept in low across the ruined building. Visibility was poor. Rain created a fine mist beneath a sky blackened by storm clouds.

Costas recognised Eddie Cochrane in the melee.
‘
Eddie!
’
Costas pressed forward, coming level with him.
‘
Can you tell me what
’
s happening?
’

‘Not much is going to happen here for a while. Area
’
s too unstable and the storm
’
s hitting. But there are searchers out along the cliffs. Looking for Second World War Coastwatch tunnels. Seems there could be people down on some basement level and they
’
re looking for another way in.
’

‘Then I
’
m going down there.
’

‘Look for Arthur Kirby. He
’
ll be able to direct you.
’

Costas turned to face Barbara and Joey. They were right behind him, huddling together as the wind and the rain raged.
‘
Go back to the car, get shelter-
’

‘Costas-
’

‘I
’
ll be fine. I need to help, but you-
’

Barbara cut across him.
‘
Costas, please. You can
’
t do everything for everyone. Joey and I need you. With us.
’

He looked at the surrounding activity, out at the rain swept coast beyond, then turned back to Barbara and Joey. No need for words. He went forward, placing his strong, comforting arms around the two of them and drawing them close.

Then he led them out of the rain.

Westmeyer sank back into silence in the back of the car. His mind wandered; he began to feel removed from the world around him. The destruction of his Institute played on his mind. He was fleeing from the destruction, just as he
’
d fled from the ravaged village on the Mekong Delta so long ago…

He and Vender, wandering aimlessly along the river for five days and five nights. Heat rising like steam off the jungle as though in protest at the slaughter of the villagers. The drone of mosquitoes whining in their eardrums. William, sullen, depressed, mostly switched off from the constant ramblings of Vender, who was running off at the mouth more than ever.

On the third night, haunting the river like ghosts, they
’
d watched crocodiles gliding across the water, diving to hidden lairs. Vender, who had a strange and detailed knowledge on a diverse range of subjects, rambled on about the crocs:
‘
They breathe air. So ever wonder how they survive for long periods underwater?
’
Vender never required a response to keep on talking.
‘
A particular genetic property in their blood enables them to store more oxygen in their haemoglobin than other creatures. Read it in some science mag a while ago.
’

Almost absent-mindedly William had said:
‘
Mai and the others could have survived if our blood had that same genetic structure.
’
In the days that followed the thought gripped him. Humans could train themselves to hold their breaths for long periods
–
the island pearl divers of the previous century had done that; Mai and some of the village women had done the same thing.

But with the same oxygen-storing capability in our blood as the crocodiles, much longer periods would be possible. Drowning would literally become something of the past.

What finer, nobler legacy could there be to the memory of Mai?

On the sixth day he and Vender were picked up by the riverboat crew, captained by a young Jackson Donnelly, and on their way to Area Commander Logan Asquith…

Consciousness came back slowly to Brian Markham. He drifted in and out of a heavy sleep, as though drugged, mentally trying to force himself out, constantly being pulled back into a quicksand of strange dreams. He became aware of something cold creeping over his face and neck, scratching across his skin, but he couldn
’
t raise his hands to flick it away.

Finally he was fully awake, though incredibly tired, and he couldn
’
t fathom where he was. He tried to move but couldn
’
t even shift slightly. Streams of dust forced him to keep his eyes closed some of the time. He was on his back, facing up. Something was pressing down on him, keeping him immobile and he realised there was water. He could hear the steady trickle somewhere nearby, and he felt it around his neck and on the back of his head.

He drifted back into a half-sleep…woke again, experiencing the same sensations, memory returning…the lift, the explosion…

The sharp, slithery feeling on his forehead, cheeks and neck. Cockroaches. He caught glimpses of them from the corners of his eyes. They
’
d crawled out through the cracks and holes that riddled the shaft. The water crept higher.

Where were the others? He called out,
‘
Kate!
‘
Stephen!
’
but his voice was weak. No response, no sounds or signs of human life other than his own. He was trapped. They must have gone for help.

Either that or they were hurt…or dead.

To find help they would have to find a way out. He could only imagine what kind of mess lay beyond these walls. His heart began to beat faster, too fast, his breaths shorter. He tried to muster greater strength, to move…it was hopeless… The cockroaches were driving him mad and the water level would slowly cover him…

Panic gripped him as realisation dawned. There was little chance of help reaching him in time, if ever. It would be a slow, dirty death.

One moment Kate was emitting a cry of terror, the next there was only silence coming from her open mouth. It was as though the scream had been sucked right back inside her and frozen solid. She was running through the passageway, stumbling over wreckage that she couldn
’
t see in the semi-darkness and the ankle deep water. She had barely registered the shock of seeing Stephen taken like that, with such force, food for a hungry reptile.

Was there really anywhere to run? She reached another point of partly caved in rock. She could squeeze through, twisting herself about but she couldn
’
t possibly push herself through quick enough. Resignedly she looked back. The first of the crocodiles was less than a metre away, its tail whipping the water as it slithered toward her. How could she have escaped such a fate days before, only to face it again, this time with no chance of reprieve? Fate didn
’
t work like that. Did it?

Oh Greg… Adam…? Why?

A sudden eruption of sound. Squealing, high pitched. An assault on the ears.

What…?

She was jolted, a mass of movement around her legs and through the crevasses above and below her, a moving carpet of hundreds of tiny creatures rushing from all sides, panicked.

Rats.

She
’
d seen one or two before, scurrying away, but had paid little attention. Nothing like this. They were literally spilling from the cracks, charging through the passage, running from the reptiles and the deeper water.