Hot Zone (9 page)

"What do you think we are going to find down here Ice?"

"Probably just a shipwreck. Montoya was panicked and delirious when he called in for help. He was dying! Who knows what he thinks he saw."

"He was a good man. He taught me just about everything I know." Jordan sighed

"I'm sorry, Jordan. We all are."

Skip and Shooter listened in on their leader making small talk. They'd never been in a situation where a civilian was such an important part, or for that matter, any part of a mission. They also didn't have the option of turning off the sound on their conversation. The radio system the group used did not have individual transmission capabilities. No matter who said what, everybody would receive the transmission. There were no secrets.

Swimming along, their fins kicking in synch, both men had the overwhelming feeling they weren't alone. Skip and Shooter looked at each other, their eyes inquisitive and worried. Shooter pulled out the small but deadly hi-powered spear gun; one person in each group carried one for this mission.

"You think we're going to need that?" Skip asked, breaking in over Ice's conversation.

"Did the dead guy need it?" Shooter replied.

The feeling of "being watched" crept up on them like a dark storm cloud, when an enormous dark shadow zipped passed the pair with such speed they weren't sure they'd seen it.

"Did you see that?" Skip asked Shooter.

"I saw something."

They had stopped swimming and were now suspended, as if standing in mid-air, looking around in every direction.

"I ain't feeling too good about this Skip."

"Dude, you have the gun, how do you think I am feeling?"

There was a moment’s silence before the men traded that all-knowing look.

The end.

There was nothing Ice Riley or his Team members could do to but listen on to the screams coming from the pair. It sounded to everyone like Shooter was being torn apart, Skip was screaming and seemingly fighting something as the sickening sounds of Shooter gagging transmitted to the rest of the team.

"Oh, my god, what's happening to them?" Jordan said looking to Ice for protection.

Ice sensed something behind him, spun, his heart in his throat and found Roo and Storm on their tail.

"We have to go and get them, Ice." Roo begged.

"No, we stay here." Ice commanded, and then: "Shooter, Skip, come in."

Silence.

"Shooter, Skip, guys, come on, answer."

In the dark distance the group could just make out the faint light coming from Skip's spotlight and it was sinking slowly to the floor. Then it flashed, with incredible speed straight up before making a sharp turn and disappearing into the ink beyond.

On the surface, Ghost listened on in horror at what he could only have imagined was the most terrifying experience his friends had ever experienced. But he did not want to clutter the airwaves with talk; he remained silent until Ice called for him. He always did.

The main group floated silently in a huddle. Ice, still begging for a response over the dead airwaves also started to think about what had taken his men and more to the point: where? Just as they had begun to give up hope a faint crackle of static followed by panicked breaths and then: "Skip's here."

Skip had seen it coming behind Shooter with such speed he had no time to warn his friend.

The unmistakable figure of a Manta Ray had taken Shooter at the waste with what appeared to be enormous fangs; something Manta Rays did not ordinarily posses. The Ray was so big it had no trouble enclosing its two fangs around him, putting Shooter into a strange bear hug position. With that the Ray had bent its ten-foot tail underneath itself, driving it through Shooter's stomach, killing him instantly.

Skip made a mad dash for a group of caves below him, dropping his light to distract the Ray and hopefully buy him enough time to get to safety. Crawling into a cave no wider than himself, Skip tried frantically to call his fellow SEAL's, but no answer. His radio had no signal in the cave.

Not a good sign.

After sitting it out for a minute he finally puckered up the courage to come out of hiding and when he did he found himself engulfed in darkness. Two faint glows of light off in the distance did not help him to determine his bearings. He tried once more on his radio.

"Skip, what is your twenty?" Ice asked.

"Looks like I am about one hundred yards to your west, I can see your lights. Stay there, I will come to you."

"10-4." Ice said.

Looking off to the north, Roo caught a glimpse of something shimmering on the ocean floor, catching the light from his flashlight.

"What the fuck is that?" He asked himself.

Everybody turned as Roo pointed at the object.

"I'm going to go check that out, you guys wait for Skip." He said swimming away from the rest of his Team.

Roo had his spear gun in is right hand as he kicked hard, his flippers propelling him through the water like a fish.

He kept watching out the corners of his eyes for anything that might lunge at him from the dark surroundings. He was the tough one in the group. He didn't know fear as many of his friends knew fear, didn't respond to it as others did. Roo loved the fear, "ate the fear for breakfast" he would tell you. At any minute something could come out of nowhere and kill him, as it just had to his friend, but he wasn't worried. He wanted that thing to come after him, and then he would kill it, bare hands if necessary. Roo was untouchable.

Roo was Australian goddamn it!

Closer now he could tell the object was the remains of an oxygen tank. It looked new; there was no accumulation of algae or other sea corrosion. He also saw that it was punctured in two places on both sides of the tank.
Teeth marks?

"I’ve got an air tank here, it's been bitten. By something big and not a shark. Roo told his Team through the radio.

"What do you mean not a shark?" Storm asked.

"There's four large holes, teeth holes, shark have hundreds of teeth, a shark didn't do this."

Roo immediately scanned the surrounding area for more debris. Twenty yards ahead he saw another air tank, and just beyond that a weight belt and single fin.

"I’ve got a trail of debris leading away from me. I think we should follow this, get over here."

Back in the group Jordan's heart jumped into her throat. She was scared to death of what lay beyond the murkiness, whether it be deep-sea ocean monsters or remains of human beings, either would send her into a fit of panic.

"Everyone stay tight, keep the spear guns ready, we're going to take that trail, I want to know where it ends. Roo, wait for us." Ice ordered.

Skip didn't want to say it over the radios but he wanted out. He'd just seen his friend mauled to death by some mutant ray that was probably stalking the rest of the divers at that very moment. He couldn't go against Ice's orders, even when he disagreed. He said nothing and kept swimming with the group, all the while with an overwhelming feeling that they were being watched...followed...stalked.

The group swam silently. Thoughts of Shooter consumed each one of them. Ice wouldn't let the tragedy stop the men from finishing the mission, or let it eat at his emotions.

He and Shooter had been the original members of the Team. They had spent many years together and certainly no one felt the pain of the loss more than Ice.

But not now. There was a time and place and this was not it. His men and especially Jordan needed strength out of their leader, not weakness, not tears.

That was the job.

The further they swam the more debris they found.

The group came up on a large coral formation that stretched up towards the surface like a mountain range amongst a field of grass.

It looked oddly out of place.

Together they swam up the face of the formation, Jordan took note of the strange shape and location of the coral in relation to the rest of the surroundings. Not that she was a marine biology expert, heck, she'd spent her entire life in the desert.

As they reached the summit of the formation, what they found on the other side left the entire group drop-jawed. Standing on the summit they look down to an enormous abyss below. They could not see where it ended. It was like the ocean floor just disappeared and left a vast hole of nothingness.

Then the first rays of sun pierced through the water.

10

Ghost had kept watch of his surroundings, periodically checking all points of the compass with his infrared binoculars.

So far the SEAL's had been able to keep their presence here a secret. Then the stars receded into the distance as the sky's color slowly changed from black to orange to yellow to red. The sun tipped its hat to the horizon and began its ascent from its slumber. In just a few minutes daylight would be upon the Navy SEAL and his two empty zodiacs.

The Team had already been gone longer than originally planned, even though their re-breathers offered them limitless time underwater the plan was to surface by sunrise, regardless of what they found. Ghost was concerned the French would be out here surveying the area themselves for evidence of what had happened and he did not want to be there when they arrived.

"Not for nothing guys but it's getting awfully light up here, our time's up."

* * *

Like a dizzying dream effect in a cheap B movie the darkness lifted around Jordan and the SEALs. Slivers of lights beams waved in front of her eyes, slowly revealing her surroundings. An aquatic world of blues and greens, small armies of marine life guarding their coral palaces and caved fortresses. In the distance a small reef shark zipped through the water chasing a helpless fish.

Looking down into the abyss now she saw what her former Professor had seen. It was an incredible sight. A sight she could barely explain. Enormous structures encased in coral and rock lay beneath them, stretching on indefinitely. They were deep down, way down, too far down Jordan thought.

"You guys see what I see?" Jordan asked

"Ah ha." Storm said.

"That's an awful long way down guys. At least

another one fifty, maybe more, the water distorts distance and depth." Roo said.

Ice turned to Jordan. "If we go down there, by the time we get back to the zodiacs we'll be sitting ducks for the French. If we go, we have to go now and go quickly."

Jordan didn't like the thought of fighting the French, but the scientist in her drove her to say the weirdest thing: "Let's do it."

Ice spoke to Ghost: "I think we got what we're looking for down here. Lots of dive debris, and now a bunch of odd looking formations, could be buildings, cutting it close with time."

"And how many are you?" Ghost asked, knowing the answer.

"We're at five. One down. Shooter."

There was silence on the radio and then Ghost said: "Whatever you guys have going on down there, make it quick. I'm a sitting duck up here if we get company."