Hot Zone (16 page)

“
Well it’ll do.” Jordan said as she picked up a handful of sand, feeling the consistency.

“
This sand is dry, for
this
location. Very dry.”

“
What does that mean, Jordan.” Ice asked.

“
That the water has been kept out of here. It doesn’t seep in through the soil. It’s hard to believe, there has to be a good reason why.”

The SEALs removed their dive gear and pulled their handguns out of the holsters each one had strapped to his ankle. They also carried three light sticks that, when snapped, lit up in a bright green glow. Each light stick had an eight hour capacity and with four going at one time plus the addition of the flashlights now fixed to each person’s shoulder there was more than enough light to take the entire cavern out of darkness. Ice threw a light stick to Jordan.

“
What are those for?” Jordan asked, pointing at the guns. “You don’t think you’re going to need them down here, do you?” Jordan asked Ice.

“
I didn’t think a lot of things before this day started, Jordan. Better to be safe than sorry.” He responded.

Jordan stood and spun around repeatedly, on each rotation trying to understand the layout and makeup of the cavern. The first thing she noticed was the volcanic appearance of the rock that made up the walls.

It was charred black and in places seemed to be fused together. This made Jordan immediately look down at the sand again. It was sand like normal white beach sand but the entire area was glimmering with small crystals that looked like tiny diamonds scattered on the floor.

“
I don’t get it.” Ghost said. “When we were ascending we saw light up here. But it’s pitch black.

“
It’s these.” Jordan said pointing to the crystals. “Our flashlights gave off enough light in here to make these sparkle, that’s what were we seeing.

“
What are these things?” Roo asked, studying one of the crystals.

Fused sand by heat
? An idea ran through Jordan’s mind. Were they in the area that used to be a volcano? It would explain the fused rock and crystallized sand.

“
I don’t know, Roo. I don’t know anything yet.”

Jordan continued to survey the area. Three tunnels similar in size to the corridor that had brought the group here lead away from the cavern.

“
So which one do we take, Jordan?”

“
The closest one’s as good as any.”

“
Okay then, let’s do it. Stay on guard. You never know what might be down here.” Ice said taking point leading the group down the first corridor.

Jordan stayed on Ice’s tail as she continued to study the area. This was her turf now. The SEALs were nothing more than protection down here for her. They wouldn’t know a fossil if they tripped over it. This was why Montoya had cried out her name in his distress call. He knew she was the best. He knew she would uncover the secrets buried within these walls.

They carefully made their way down the corridor. Only the sound of the crystals crunching under their soft footsteps broke the silence. Then, from somewhere in the darkness beyond a high pitched shrill stopped the group dead in their tracks. Shortly after that a deep cry resonated around them.

“
What the hell was that?” Ghost asked.

“
Sounded like a loon.” Ice said.

“
What’s a loon?” Roo asked

“
A bird back home, cries like a wolf.”

“
You yanks have some weird crap over there don’t you?” Roo said.

“
Except there are no loons in the south pacific, so what the hell was it?” Ghost said.

“
I’m sure it’s just some species of bird that got trapped down here. Let’s keep moving.” Ice ordered.

“
Great. Pissed off psycho birds.” Ghost concluded.

Jordan tried to understand how there could be creatures of any sort down here. For this area to sustain life that would mean they’d need something to feed on.
Vegetation? Water? Meat?

Ice called back to Jordan. He spotted something up ahead.

“
Jordan, on the wall up on the left. You see that?”

She did see it. She didn’t believe it but it was there. A torch. Looking further into the distance with her flashlight revealed another torch, on the other wall.

“
Somebody’s been here, Ice.”

“
Hell yeah someone has.” Roo said “This isn’t good. We are not alone down here.”

Ice pondered the thought for a moment. This raised his focus to another level.

Together the group turned, they heard the crunch of crystals behind them. All three men had their guns drawn and chambered.

From out of the darkness Peter Jansen appeared.

“
You aren’t alone, none of us are. They’re out there.”

Jansen looked beaten to hell. Wearing half a wet suit, the top half being cut away it appeared, he was scratched, bruised and bloodied. His blonde hair matted down with sand and caked blood.

The group didn’t know what to make of his appearance; they looked at each other, then at Jansen before computing what he said.

“
What’s out there?” Ice asked.

“
Monsters. Like you’ve never seen before. They’re all around us.

“
Who are you?” Ice asked.

“
My name’s Peter Jansen. I was on a dive when we were attacked by
them
.”

“
By what?” Ghost asked.

Jansen was disoriented, mumbled his words, continuously looking around with his small divers light. He was frantic.

“
I, I don’t know what they were. I’d never seen anything like them before.”

“
Well Peter. We’re your rescue party. One of your men made it back to the boat in time to call for help.”

“
Who?”

“
Art Montoya” Jordan said.

“
He made it?” Jansen asked, happily surprised.

“
No.”

“
You just said he did.”

“
He made the boat, but he sustained fatal injuries getting there.” Ice said.

“
He was a good man.” Jansen sighed.

“
This is his colleague. Peter Jansen, meet Jordan Pryde. Montoya called for her before he passed.”

Jansen’s eyes lit up. He had heard many stories of Jordan from Montoya over their time together. She had sounded like an amazing woman and now here she was, in the flesh.

He shook her hand. “Nice to meet you. The Doc was your number one fan.”

“
He was mine.” Jordan said.

“
You’re headed the wrong way. They’re all over the place down there. Come with me, I’ll fill you in on the details later.”

Ice and Jordan shared a glance. The questions inside both of them were multiplying by the second.

23

Jansen lead the group back down the tunnel to the dive pool cavern, all the while on edge, his head constantly moving, his eyes darting back and forth around the tunnel.

Ghost brought up the rear, walking backwards; making sure nothing came up from behind them. Ice and Roo watched their surroundings and Jansen closely. He was on edge and that made them on edge. Roo was thinking how lucky Jansen was that Roo didn't shoot him when he'd snuck up behind the group.

They emerged from the tunnel back into the cavern.

Then all hell broke loose.

A spear bounced off the wall next to Ice Riley's head. He looked towards the direction where it came and saw four heads just above the water's surface. Another spear gun fired at them.

The group scattered, all three SEALs firing their weapons at the water. The water around the legionnaires erupted, one of the bullets hitting Jean-Paul in the shoulder. He cried out in pain.

Jansen and Roo headed for the furthest tunnel, Jordan and Ice headed for the next tunnel over while Ghost, bringing up the rear dove back into the tunnel they were just in.

"Run, run. Go." Roo said to Jansen.

"Why are we running? You have the guns."

"You ever seen what a spear gun can do, mate? It's not pretty."

"Wait a sec. You're an Aussie. Me too." Jansen said.

"Good on ya. Now keep moving."

* * *

Ice and Jordan ran as fast as they could down the tunnel. Once again it was lined with torches.

What is this place?
She thought.

"Jordan, keep running."

"What about the other's?"

"Don't you worry about them. Just don't stop moving."

Just then Jordan tripped over and crashed to the ground with a thud. Ice, running right behind her fell on top of her. They were a tangled mess on the ground. Jordan was winded and moaned in pain, Ice falling on her doubled the impact.

Ice untangled himself and got to his feet. "Jordan, you have to get up."

Jordan moaned as she rolled over so she was now sitting. It was then she saw the thing she tripped over.

"Ice. At your feet."

Ice looked down and saw the half exposed skull of a human embedded in the dirt. He took one look at it then pulled Jordan to her feet and said: "We gotta move."

* * *

Ghost began running back down the tunnel when Jansen's words rang in his ears. "They are everywhere down there."

"Hell no." He said

He turned and started making his way back toward the cavern. He would rather take on a guy with a spear gun than a pissed off psycho bird.

* * *

Grosjean and his men got out of the water and headed after the Americans. He and Yanick followed Ice and Jordan, Claude took off after Roo and Jansen. Jean-Paul was seriously hurt, pulling himself out of the water and leaving a trail of blood he was in too much pain to run after anyone.

"Go on, I'll go after the other one." He said to the others who were already gone.

"Really?" A voice said behind him

Jean-Paul spun around to see Ghost standing there, his gun aimed at him.

"Who are you guys?" Ghost asked.

"Who am I? Who the hell are you? You are in French territory. I ask the questions."

"You're not the one with the gun, asshole."

"You are trespassing on French land."

"Yeah, okay."

Jean-Paul's eyes widened with panic. A large shadow cast itself over Ghost, who saw it immediately and he spun around firing wildly.