“Give the box to me,” he said in an impassive tone, extending his large hand.
Renaud looked startled. Then, thinking the man was joking, decided to play along with the game. He grinned and hugged the box tightly to his chest. “Not on your life,” he said.
“No,” the man said, without raising his voice. “Not on your life!”
He reached inside his coat, brought out a pistol and slammed the barrel down on Renaud's knuckles. The expression in Renaud's eyes went from amusement to surprise to pain. He collapsed to his knees, clutching his mangled fingers.
The man caught the box before it fell to the ground. Then he wheeled around and waved the gun at the reporters, who fell over themselves trying to back up, before he strode off down the tunnel.
“Stop him!” Renaud said through his pain, holding his crushed fingers.
“What about that telephone?” one reporter said.
Thurston snatched the telephone off the wall and held it to his ear. “Dead,” he said with a frown. “The line must have been cut. There's no one back at the living quarters anyhow. We'll hike to the entrance and call for help.”
Thurston and LeBlanc helped Renaud to his feet. They administered first aid to his hand with a kit from the lab while the reporters speculated as to the identity of the big man. None of them recognized him. He had simply appeared bearing the proper credentials and been given a seat on the float plane that dropped them off at the edge of the lake where LeBlanc had picked them up.
LeBlanc and Skye said they would join Thurston. The reporters decided to stay put after Thurston warned that the gunman might be waiting in the tunnel. They walked briskly for several minutes, their headlamps stabbing the semidarkness. Then they walked at a slower pace and more deliberately, as if they expected the big man to leap out of the darkness. They listened for footsteps, but all they heard was the dripping of water off the ceiling and walls.
Suddenly, a loud hollow explosion came from the dark tunnel ahead, followed by an earthshaking shock. Almost simultaneously, a blast of hot air surged through the tunnel. They hit the ground, trying to bury their faces into the wet floor as the pressure wave swept over them.
When it seemed safe, they stood and wiped the muck off their faces. Their ears were ringing, so they had to shout to be heard. “What was that}” LeBlanc said.
“Let's take a look.” Thurston started forward, fearing the worst.
“Wait!” Skye said.
“What's wrong?” Thurston said.
“Look at your feet.”
Light from their headlamps began to reflect off something that was sparkling and moving on the tunnel floor.
“Water!” Thurston yelled.
The torrent rushed toward them.
They turned and ran deeper into the tunnel, with waves lapping at their heels.
THROUGH HIS BINOCULARS Austin had watched Skye get into a car and followed the vehicle as it climbed the slope to one side of the glacier and disappeared berjind the trees. It was as if the earth had swallowed her up. As he leaned against the ship's railing, his eyes were drawn to La Langue du Dormeur. With its mottled surface and the dark brooding peaks on both sides, the glacier looked like a scene from the planet Pluto. Sun glistened on the ice, but it did little to alleviate the waves of cold that poured off the surface and rolled across the mirror-flat lake surface.
Thinking back to Skye's theory, that caravans using the Amber Route had made their way around the edge of the lake, he tried to put himself in the boots of the ancient travelers and wondered what they would have made of a natural phenomenon as big and implacable as the glacier. More than likely, they would have taken it as a creation of the gods, who had to be appeased. Maybe the underwater tomb had something to do with the glacier. He was as anxious to explore the tomb as she was. It would take little effort to launch
the submersible and take a solo run, but she would never forgive him. And he wouldn't blame her.
Austin decided to make sure the submersible was ready for a dive when Skye did return. As he checked out the SEA mobile with a fine-tooth comb, Austin could hear his father's voice in his head reminding him to make sure of every detail. His father, the wealthy owner of a marine salvage company based in Seattle, had taught Kurt basic seamanship and given him a couple of nuggets of nautical advice. Never tie a knot that can't be undone with a flip of the line, even when the line was wet. And always keep your boat “shipshape and Bristol fashion.”
Austin had taken his father's words to heart. The knots he learned through constant practice never snagged. He made sure the lines on the sailing pram his father built for him were neatly coiled, and the brightwork polished and metal kept clean of corrosion. The advice stayed with him when he went on to college. While studying for his master's degree in systems management at the University of Washington, he also attended a highly rated diving school in Seattle and trained as a professional diver, attaining high proficiency in a number of specialized areas.
After college he worked on North Sea oil rigs for two years and returned to his father's salvage company for six years, before being lured into government service by a little-known branch of the CIA that specialized in underwater intelligence-gathering. At the end of the Cold War, the CIA closed down the undersea investigation branch and he moved over to NUMA.
As a lover of philosophy, with its search for truth and hidden meanings, Austin knew the Old Man's advice went beyond the practical tasks associated with running a boat. His father was telling him in simple terms about life, and the need to be ready and prepared for the unexpected. It was advice Austin took seriously, and his attention
to detail had saved his life and those around him on more than one occasion.
He tested the batteries, made sure the air tanks had been replaced with fresh ones, and examined the vehicle with a practiced eye. Satisfied with his inspection, he gently rapped his knuckles against the transparent dome. “Shipshape and Bristol fashion,” he said with a smile.
Austin climbed down from the submersible onto the deck of the Mummichug. The twin-hulled, eighty-foot craft was the smallest NUMA research vessel he had ever worked on. Like the tiny fish that was its namesake, the Mummichug was at home in fresh or salt water. It was a modified version of a vessel designed for inshore duty in the cantankerous waters along the New England coast.
It was seaworthy and fast, driven by powerful diesel engines that gave it a cruising speed of 20 knots. It slept eight and was ideal for short missions. Despite its size, the Mummichug?" winches and A-frame could haul heavy loads. And a larger vessel would not have been able to navigate the winding river to the glacier.
Finding himself at loose ends without Skye to talk to, Austin grabbed a mug of coffee in the galley, and then went below to the remote sensing lab. It was a small space crammed with several computer monitors set up on tables. Like everything else on the ship, the lab was understated, although electronic nerves and ganglions connected the monitors to a sophisticated array of sensing instruments.
He plunked himself down in a chair in front of a screen, took a sip of coffee and called up the file on the side-scan sonar display. Dr. Harold Edgerton had pioneered side scan sonar in 1963 when he'd mounted a sonar transducer on the side rather than the bottom of his survey boat. The discovery, which allowed surface vessels to cover large areas of bottom, would revolutionize underwater search techniques.
When the Mummichug had first arrived on site, Skye had asked for a survey along the shore across the lake from the glacier, which would have presented a formidable roadblock to caravans. She reasoned that travelers would have lingered near the river before fording it and a settlement might have built up nearby. The waterway itself may have been used as a tributary of the Amber Route.
While the submersible had carried out its underwater mission, the ship had continued its sonar survey along the lake's perimeter. Austin wanted to see what the scan had picked up. He put the screen in a slow scroll and the high-resolution sonar image flowed
down from the top of the monitor like twin amber waterfalls. Displayed on the right side of the screen were latitude, longitude and position.
Interpreting sonar images requires a practiced eye, but it is not the most exciting occupation. With its flat, gravelly bottom, Lac du Dormeur was even more monotonous than some. Austin found his thoughts drifting off. His eyelids had dropped to half-mast, but they snapped open when an anomaly caught his attention. He scrolled back, leaned forward to examine the dark cross etched against the monotone background, then, with a click of the computer mouse, zoomed in on the image and enhanced the details.
He was looking at a plane; he could even see the cockpit. He clicked on the print icon and a few seconds later a picture rolled off the printer. He studied the image under a strong light. Part of a wing seemed to be missing. He rose from his seat and was headed for the door, intending to alert the captain to his find, when Francois burst into the lab. He was obviously agitated. The French observer usually wore an imperturbable smile, but he looked as if he had just heard that the Eiffel Tower had fallen.
“Monsieur Austin, you must come quickly to the bridge.”
“What's wrong?” Austin said.
“It's Mademoiselle Skye.”
Austin's stomach did a flip-flop. “What about her?”
An incomprehensible mishmash of Franglais streamed from the man's mouth. Austin brushed past the sputtering Frenchman and climbed two steps at a time to the bridge. The captain was in the pilothouse, talking into the radio microphone. When he saw Kurt, he said, “Attendez,” and set the mike aside.
Captain Jack Fortier was a slightly built man of French-Canadian origin who had become a U.S. citizen so he could work for NUMA. His ability to speak French had come in handy on the expedition, although some of the locals he encountered snickered behind his back at his strong Quebecois accent. Fortier told Austin that the derision didn't bother him because his language was the purer, unsullied by regional accents, as in France. Not much seemed to bother the captain, which is why Austin was surprised to see Fortier's brow furrowed with worry.. “What's happened to Skye?” Austin said, getting right to the point.
“I'm on the phone with the supervisor of the power plant. He says there has been an accident.”
A chill danced up and down Austin's spine. “What sort of accident?”
“Skye and some other people were in a tunnel under the glacier.”
“What was she doing there?”
“There's an observatory under the ice where scientists can study the movement of the glacier. It's part of the tunnel system the power company built to use water coming off the glacier. Apparently something went wrong and water flooded the tunnel.”
“Has the power plant been able to make contact with the observatory?”
“No. The telephone line is down.”
“So we don't know if they're dead or alive.”
“Apparently not,” Fortier said in a half whisper.
The news rocked Austin back on his heels. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly as he collected his thoughts.
Rallying, he said, “Tell the plant supervisor I want to meet with him. Tell him to have detailed plans of the tunnel system ready. And rustle up a boat to get me to shore.” Austin paused as he realized that he was barking orders at the captain. “Sorry,” he said. “I didn't mean to sound like a marine drill sergeant. This is your ship. Those were only suggestions.”
“Suggestions well taken,” the captain replied with a smile. “Don't worry about it. I don't have a clue what to do next. The ship and crew are at your command.”
Captain Fortier picked up the mike and began to speak French.
Austin stared at the glacier through the pilothouse window. He was as still as a bronze statue, but his calmness was deceiving. His nimble mind was racing ahead, exploring strategies. But he knew it was all mental smoke and mirrors for now because he couldn't come up with a plan until he knew exactly what he had to deal with.
He thought of the beguiling expression on Skye's face as she left the ship. He knew the odds were against it, but he vowed to see that enchanting smile again.
A TRUCK AWAITED AUSTIN on the beach. The driver tore up the hill to the plant at breakneck speed. As the truck approached the block-shaped gray concrete structure, which was built into the base of a steep mountain wall, Austin could see someone pacing back and forth in front of the entrance. The truck skidded to a stop and the man rushed over, opened the door for Austin and extended his hand in greeting.
“Parlez-vous Frangais, Monsieur Austin?”
“Iparle a little,” Austin replied as he got out of the truck.
“D'accord. Okay,” the man said with an indulgent smile. “I speak enough English. My name is Guy Lessard. I am the plant supervisor. This is a terrible business.”
“Then you must know that time is of the essence,” Austin said.
Lessard was a short wiry man with a precisely trimmed mustache adorning his thin face. He had an air of nervous energy, as if he had tapped into one of the power lines that streamed from the plant on high metal towers.
“Yes, I understand. Come. I'll explain the situation.” Walking briskly, he led the way through the door.
Austin glanced around at the small plain lobby. “Somehow I expected a larger facility.”
“Don't be deceived,” Lessard replied. “This is a portal building. It's used mostly as office space and living quarters. The plant itself extends deep into the mountain. Come.”
They passed through another door on the far side of the lobby and stepped into a large, brightly lit cavern.
“We took advantage of the natural rock formations to give us a start on the drilling,” Lessard said, his voice bouncing off the walls and ceiling. “There are some fifty kilometers of tunnels running under the mountain and beneath the glacier.”
Austin let out a low whistle. “There are highways in the States that aren't that long,” Austin said.
“It was a formidable achievement. The engineers used a tunnel-boring machine with a diameter of nearly thirty feet. It was a simple matter to drill the research tunnel.”
He led the way across the cavern to a tunnel entrance. Austin's ears picked up a low hum, like the sound of a hundred beehives.
“That noise must be your generator,” he said.
“Yes, we only have one turbine now, but there are plans to build a second one.” He paused at a door in the tunnel wall. “Here we are in the control room.”
The plant's nerve center was a sterile chamber about fifty feet square, that looked like the inside of a giant slot machine. Arrayed along three walls were banks of blinking lights, electrical dials, gauges and switches. Lessard went over to a horseshoe-shaped console that dominated the center of the room, sat down in front of a computer monitor and motioned for Austin to take the chair beside him.
“You know what we do at this plant?” he said.
“In general. I've been told that you tap the melting water from the glacier for hydroelectric power.”
Lessard nodded. “The technology is relatively uncomplicated. Snow falls from the sky and builds up on the glacier. In warm weather the glacier ice melts, forming water pockets and rivers. The torrent is channeled through the tunnels to the turbine. Voila! You have electricity. Clean and cheap and renewable.” Lessard's routine explanation couldn't hide the pride in his voice.
“Simple in theory, but impressive in execution,” Austin said as he pictured the system in his mind. “You must have a large crew.”
“There are only three of us,” Lessard said. “One for each shift. The plant is almost entirely automated and could probably run itself without us.”
“Could you show me a diagram of the system?” Lessard's hands played over the keyboard. A diagram flashed onto the screen, similar to the display in a metropolitan traffic control center. The intersecting colored lines reminded Austin of the map for the London Underground.
“Those lines that are blinking blue represent
tunnels that have water running through them. The red ones are dry conduits. The turbine is here.”
Austin stared at the lines, trying to make sense of the confusing display. “Which tunnel was flooded?”
Lessard tapped the screen with a fingertip. “This one. The main access to the observatory.” The line was blinking blue.
“Is there any way to shut down the flow?”
“We tried when we detected water getting into the research tunnel. Apparently, the concrete wall between the research and water tunnels has been breached. By diverting the flow in the other tunnels, we were able to contain it. The research tunnel remains filled with water.”
“Do you have any idea how this wall you mentioned was breached?”
“A gate at this intersection provides access from one tunnel to another. It's closed this time of year as a safeguard because the water is high. The gate is made to withstand tons of pressure. I don't know what could have happened.”
“Is there any way to drain that tunnel water off?”
“Yes, we could seal off some tunnels and pump the water out eventually, but it would take days,” came the devastating reply.
Austin indicated the glowing screen in front of them. “Even with this extensive network of tunnels?”
“I'll show you what the problem is.”
Lessard led the way out of the control room and they walked along a tunnel for several minutes. The omnipresent hum of the turbine was overpowered by another sound like a strong wind blowing through the trees. They climbed a flight of metal stairs on the other side of a steel door to an observation platform protected by a watertight plastic-and-metal canopy. Lessard explained that they were in one of several off-site control rooms. The rushing noise had become a roar.
Lessard flicked a wall switch and a floodlight illuminated a section of tunnel where a torrent raged. The foaming water level almost reached the observation bubble. Austin stared at the white water, sensing its vast power.