Untouchable (3 page)

Paulo shook his head and winced again.

‘We could all go to Ipswich, wherever that is,’ said Amber. ‘Instead, what have we got to look forward to?’ Her voice took on a parodying whine. ‘
I can’t do it
 . . .’

Li joined in, matching Amber’s tone perfectly. ‘
It’s minging. This harness won’t fit me, it’s not small enough
.’

Amber reverted to her own voice. ‘And the kayaks!’ she exclaimed. ‘She just sat in hers and drifted. She never even got her oars wet.’

‘I think she just wanted Paulo to rescue her.’

‘Well congratulations, Paulo – you can spend the next week rescuing her,’ said Amber.

Another bleep. Li snatched Paulo’s phone. ‘Ooh. It’s Tiff.’

Paulo sat bolt upright, glowering. ‘It’s not.’

Li tossed the phone to him. ‘No. It’s Alice.’

Paulo caught the phone and lay back in the chair, one hand over his heart as though calming it down. ‘
Dios
, you nearly killed me.’

Amber’s phone bleeped on the bedside table. She had a text. ‘Ah,’ she said.

Paulo and Li looked at her. From the tone of the ‘ah’ the message was not good news.

Amber looked up. ‘It’s Mary. Tiff’s parents are very grateful and have wired the necessary funds.’

‘Geronimo!’ called Paulo. The tunnel was like a helter-skelter and he was sliding – fast. Millions of tiny fossils glinted in the light of his headlamp. It occurred to him that millions of them should also be grinding into his backside, too, only it felt nice and smooth. The tunnel must have been worn down by many sliding potholers.

He landed on his hands and knees in a cave. It smelled of wet rock and algae. He looked around. On the roof was what looked like an immense, wide chandelier – thousands of tiny stalactites, glittering in the light of his headlamp.

‘Wow.’

They were exploring the potholes on the estate, etched out of the limestone over millions of years by natural water courses. Alex and Paulo had done a week-long course in caving leadership, and were now qualified to lead expeditions.

Alex’s voice came down the tunnel. ‘Paulo? Are you there?’

Paulo scrambled to his feet. ‘Yeah, come on down.’

He heard a thudding and the sound of waterproof overalls slithering on rock. It grew louder and combined with a female voice whooping in excitement.

Amber was deposited at his feet. Like him, she looked around, saw the roof of stalactites and boggled. ‘Awesome.’

Another body swished down the tunnel. Li slithered out and, unlike the others, landed on her feet.

‘Were you cheating?’ said Paulo. ‘That was twice as fast as Amber.’

‘I greased my overalls,’ replied Li. Then she too noticed the ceiling. ‘Wow.’

Another person was in the tunnel. Amber listened. ‘I bet that’s Hex.’

‘How can you tell?’ said Paulo.

‘He doesn’t sound like he’s enjoying it. He’s very quiet.’

Hex kept his eyes firmly on the spot of light beyond his feet. He just wanted it to be over. It was the thought of all that rock around and above him. No matter that it had been that way for centuries; today might be the day it moved – and then he would be crushed like one of those millions of insects that eventually became oil reserves. Whenever he’d been in confined spaces he’d had horrible experiences. And these potholes weren’t like he’d imagined caves. They weren’t the neat corridors of rock you saw in films. It was more like somebody had thrown a pile of rocks into a jar and they were squeezing between the gaps. There was no order to it – a big space could dwindle to a tiny crevice. It was all so haphazard; how could it be stable?

When he popped out, he breathed out with relief. But the relief was short lived. He was still in a cave, and the floor sloped sharply. Why couldn’t anything be a simple, regular shape down here?

A sound of cursing came from the tunnel. Hex jumped out of the way. ‘That’s got to be Tiff.’

Tiff was deposited in the cavern. For a moment she looked around in wonder. Then her mask of indifference came down. She resumed tumbling the piece of gum in her mouth.

Alex came down last and they set off for the next landmark.

Paulo led the way, map in one hand, his other arm out to steady himself on the wet rock wall. He was enjoying himself – this hidden labyrinth was like a set of puzzles. Yes, it was wet and it was cold, but they were wearing fleeces under the waterproof overalls. Anyway, that kind of thing rarely bothered him. He’d spent most of his life out on his parents’ ranch and was practically immune to the weather.

Alex was enjoying it too. Caving brought new challenges. Navigation was important. As they picked their way along, Amber kept a close eye on the compass. A wrong turning could get them seriously lost.

‘This place is minging,’ said a bored voice. ‘It’s really cold.’

‘Keep moving and you’ll warm up,’ said Li.

Tiff stopped immediately, planting her feet. ‘My knees are hurting. It’s these pads.’ She pointed to the black rubber knee pads she wore over her boiler suit. Her face looked tiny under the purple plastic helmet.

Hex, in front, grimaced at Amber. Being in the cave was bad enough. Having Tiff go on about it was like Chinese water torture.

‘Take the pads off, then,’ Li said.

Tiff held one leg out to her. ‘You’ll have to help me.’

Li raised an eyebrow. ‘I think you’re old enough to undress yourself.’

Paulo, at the front, knelt down to peer into what looked like a jagged hole.

‘More crawling?’ said Hex. He tried to sound enthusiastic. If he showed the slightest weakness, that monster Tiff would pick up on it and make it ten times worse.

‘This mud,’ said Paulo, ‘has probably been here since dinosaurs walked the earth.’

Hex appreciated Paulo’s attempt to cheer him up but it was still another hole.

‘We’re not all as keen on mud as you, Paulo,’ said Li.

Paulo got down on all fours.

A voice piped up from the back. ‘Can’t I go at the front? All I can see is everyone’s boots.’

Paulo looked back. ‘There is nothing to see until we get out the other end. Anyway, as the guide I have to go first.’

He didn’t hear what Tiff said next because he was already on his hands and knees in the hole. He heard the others coming behind him, then Hex said, ‘Paulo – stop.’

Paulo stopped.

‘The others aren’t following.’ Hex turned to look round. His helmet scraped on the roof; his elbows rasped against the wall.

Tiff was standing at the tunnel entrance holding her rucksack and the knee pads. ‘You see,’ she complained, ‘I just needed someone to help me.’

Amber muttered, ‘She’s trying to waste time. She knows she can’t get out of it so she’s just trying to hold us up as much as possible.’ She sat back to wait.

Eventually Tiff got into the tunnel with Li and Alex following. They had only gone on a few metres when a plaintive voice said, ‘Stop, please stop.’

Paulo stopped. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘I haven’t got knee pads.’

‘You wanted to take them off,’ said Alex.

‘You didn’t tell me we’d be doing this. And I can’t use those ones, they’re too big. I need the same size as she’s got.’ She pointed to Li.

‘Mine are exactly the same as yours,’ said Li. ‘You adjust them.’

‘These don’t adjust. You haven’t given me the proper equipment.’

Amber could see Hex’s face pinching into a strained expression. He really didn’t appreciate having to hang around in this tunnel. ‘Let’s get going,’ she called, ‘or we’ll all die of cold.’

It had the desired effect.

‘Die of cold?’ exclaimed Tiff.

Paulo crawled on. Amber shut her ears and followed. At least they were all moving.

‘We can die of cold down here?’ insisted Tiff.

‘Yes,’ said Li behind her. ‘The first symptom is that you talk too much.’

‘You guys are dangerous,’ said Tiff. ‘You give me bad equipment, then you take it away so I’ve got nothing. This is minging. We could all die down here and no one would know. They’d find our skeletons in five hundred years.’

‘We won’t die down here,’ said Alex patiently. ‘We told the local caving club we’d be coming down. They know to come and find us if we don’t check in with them later.’

Paulo, at the front, had to flatten out and crawl on his stomach. The roof came down even lower. He stopped. ‘This is too narrow. We’ll have to go back. Backwards, guys.’

Alex, who’d brought up the rear, started to squirm backwards on his hands and knees. Li’s boots came swiftly behind, almost dinning on his helmet.

Back in the stalactite cavern again, Paulo and Amber checked the map and looked for another way through.

Tiff sat on a rock and folded her arms. ‘Why did we turn round?’

‘It’s really small,’ said Paulo. ‘I couldn’t get my shoulders through.’

‘I could,’ said Tiff.

‘I could too,’ said Li. ‘But Paulo and Alex are our guides and they can’t. So we don’t go.’

‘We’ve come all this way and you’re chickening out.’

Li refused to rise to the bait. ‘I thought you didn’t like it down here.’

Amber tried to concentrate on her compass, although she dearly wanted to give Tiff a piece of her mind. She took a few steps towards a dark corner, then turned back. ‘The tunnel’s here, guys. This way.’

Paulo picked his way in front of her and got down on his hands and knees.

Tiff watched Hex follow Amber into the tunnel. ‘On my knees again?’ she complained. ‘I haven’t got any—’

‘Just shut up, Tiff,’ snapped Paulo. ‘Get in the tunnel.’

Tiff sat back on her heels, her face outraged under her too-big helmet. ‘Man, you are well out of order. Did everyone hear that? I’m cold, my knees hurt, I’m doing my best and he abuses me.’

The others looked at her coldly.

Tiff got down and crawled into the tunnel.

For a while they continued in a silent line. Paulo, at the front, was mortified. Losing his temper was unprofessional; it was bad manners; it was childish . . .

The tunnel became higher. They got to their feet and started to walk normally, easing out stiffened limbs.

But not for long. Soon they came to a shallow lake and a sheer wall. A vertical crack led away, its floor flooded.

Alex peered in. ‘How deep is that?’ He threw a stone. It splashed and ripples spread out in circles. It was only about ten centimetres deep.

Paulo waded into the water. His body was silhouetted against the glow from his headlight as he bent down. ‘Another small one, I’m afraid,’ he said, splashing along the tunnel.

Amber braced herself. Surely Tiff would have an opinion on that. But she seemed to have gone as quiet as a mouse.

‘Where’s Tiff?’ asked Alex.

Paulo stopped splashing. The others looked around. There were only four of them in the cavern.

Alex looked back into the gulley they’d just come down. ‘Tiff?’

But Tiff had gone.

Amber put her hand to her head and groaned. ‘Oh no. This is just brilliant.’

‘She was in front of me when we came out of the narrow bit,’ said Li.

Paulo splashed impatiently back into the cavern. ‘I bet if we go back the way we came we’ll find she’s having a sit down.’ But he felt guilty. Maybe he’d really upset her. Although there had been no other tunnels off the one they had just come along, there were numerous nooks and crannies. He peered into every one. Some were just small cracks when you got up close; some were big enough to crawl into.

The others followed. ‘What if she’s hurt herself?’ said Alex. ‘We’re responsible for her. How could we have not noticed her dropping behind?’

‘I think we’d have heard the screams,’ muttered Li.

They were irritated, but they had to consider other possibilities. Getting a casualty out would be extremely difficult. And if she’d done more than just sit down, or gone back further than the last cave, she could be lost. How long would it take to find her?

Paulo emerged first into the stalactite cavern. ‘Tiff?’ he called.

Amber came out next, then the other three.

They stood and listened for movement. The only thing they could hear was the steady drip of water.

Then a feeble voice: ‘Help.’

It came from the tunnel they had abandoned.

The five friends exchanged weary glances. So she had decided to take the shortest route to the top and leave the rest of them behind. But she hadn’t looked at the map: the tunnel wasn’t just an easy stroll up to the ground, and now she was in trouble.

Paulo knelt down and shone his headlamp into the hole. He couldn’t see anything, just the tunnel getting narrower and narrower. ‘Tiff?’ he called.

‘I’m here.’

‘Are you hurt?’ he called.

‘No. I can’t get out.’

‘Try coming backwards,’ said Li.

‘I have,’ said Tiff. ‘I’m stuck.’

Hex said in a low voice so that his voice wouldn’t carry, ‘Well, that serves you right, doesn’t it?’

Amber nodded.

Li looked at Paulo. ‘How narrow was it down there?’

‘Just your size,’ said Paulo.

Li gave him a long-suffering look. She took off her rucksack and handed it to him, checked the rope slung diagonally across her body, then got down on her hands and knees.

Without the rucksack she reached the narrow section in no time. She had to squirm along on her belly like a lizard. It was like climbing along the inside of a drainpipe. Her breathing echoed, emphasizing how tiny the space was. She’d never been claustrophobic before but this was really unpleasant. She felt very alone. She kept reminding herself that her friends were back at the other end, friends who knew what to do if she got into trouble. The tunnel began to slope up steeply. She scrabbled to find handholds to pull herself up.