Enormous cracks shot through the blank wall surrounding the arch and a few of the fissures spread to the bridge. There was no time to explain any of this to the confused passengers and barely even enough time to grab them by the hand and lead them to safety. But, despite the urgency of the situation, they responded sluggishly. For almost a week, their minds had been switched off and during that time they had eaten little if anything and had endured considerable physical punishment, much of it at the hands of the very people who were now trying to save them.
Molly pushed away from Dodge in order to marshal the escape. She ran through the group, telling everyone she passed to follow her. Winterbourne, although not as spry, managed to motivate a few more with his commanding voice. Dodge, stayed to the rear of the throng, shouting a seemingly paradoxical exhortation to "Stay calm! Run for it!" while Hurley swept up in his arms those few too paralyzed with fear or exhaustion to heed the message.
The shaking seemed to increase with each step and before Dodge was even halfway across, the lurch of stone underfoot made movement nearly impossible for the haggard group of survivors. Dodge saw one of them, a middle-aged woman, pitch sideways, toward the edge and dove to arrest her fall. He succeeded in catching her wrist, but her momentum yanked him to the brink as well. He flung out his free hand but his fingernails scraped across the stone unable to find a purchase.
Then, as he felt his torso scrape over the edge, someone caught his hand. He thought it might be Hurricane, but the giant literally had his hands full with four passengers — two under each arm — as he tried to navigate the pitching surface. Dodge's savior immediately began pulling him back and Dodge in turn reeled in the woman. As he got her back onto the relative safety of the span, Dodge saw that his savior had been one of the passengers or more accurately, their pilot — the man he knew as Burton.
Before he could offer his thanks, the span shuddered again and then the end where it met the arched opening broke free and dropped several feet. The walkway tilted sharply and everyone that had not yet reached the T-shaped passage at the other end was thrown forward. The strain on the broken bridge was palpable; an ominous vibration rattled the stone beneath them all and Dodge knew that in a matter of seconds the span would either drop again or simply disintegrate. Some of them might make it off, but some of them certainly wouldn't.
But then something silver streamed out of the arched opening and wrapped around the fractured bridge like a jungle vine, insinuating into the cracks and completely arresting the collapse.
Father Hobbs was still looking out for them. Although they even now fought to compel the priest to issue the command that would completely destroy the world, the entities trapped within the metal columns were nevertheless bound to obey him. Dodge knew that the Padre planned to resist the urge to employ their power, but he was grateful that the priest had made this one exception.
The quicksilver entity not only prevented the destruction of the span, but lifted it back to something approximating its original position. The cavern continued to groan and shake, but the bridge was steady beneath their feet. Only when Hurricane crossed through the T-shaped door, did the entity retreat, allowing the stone span to crumble into the depths.
The narrow passage back to the surface was further away from the source of the tremors, but Dodge was acutely aware of the fact that thousands of tons of earth were suspended overhead. The tunnel felt even more confining with a crowd of frightened people ahead of him, slowing his escape to what seemed like a snail's pace. But then he glimpsed daylight ahead and a few steps later, emerged from what he had feared might become his tomb.
Relief at having escaped being buried alive quickly gave way to pandemonium as the frightened survivors of Flight 19 began demanding answers. One of their number however quickly took charge, firmly telling the crowd to stay calm, then turned and introduced himself to Dodge.
"I'm Captain Elliot Berlitz of the Tradewinds Clipper and these people are my passengers… or at least some of them. Can you tell me what's happened?"
Dodge shook his head. "Captain, it's a long story and I'm not sure where to begin."
Molly stepped forward. "The story can wait. These people are in terrible shape; they need immediate medical attention."
Berlitz nodded. "Absolutely. But can you tell me what's become of the rest? And my crew?"
Dodge glanced at Molly, then at Hurricane, who shook his head sadly. Berlitz seemed to understand and bore the news with stoic calm. Dodge tried to shift the focus to something more positive. "Captain, you saved my life back there. Thank you."
"It was the least I could do." Berlitz seemed almost embarrassed by the expression of gratitude, but graciously accepted Dodge's handshake. "Say, you look very familiar. Have we met somewhere before?"
"I think I may have flown with you once or twice," Dodge answered with a grin.
"Dodge!" Newcombe was calling from the other side of the crowd and continued shouting as he pushed through their midst.
"What's wrong, Doc?"
The scientist was frantic. "I can't find Jocasta."
"I didn't see her," Hurricane offered, his expression troubled, in spite of his professed disdain for the jewel thief. "But she might have… when the bridge started to fall…"
Dodge turned back to the doorway, but any hopes that he might have entertained that she was simply lagging behind were dashed when he saw that the doorway was gone. The canyon wall at the end of the descending steps was blank stone, all evidence of the T-shaped opening and the tunnel beyond erased completely from existence.
"Do you think she made it?" Newcombe asked, his tone betraying the faintness of his hope.
"Doc, if there's one thing I've learned, it's to trust Jocasta to do what's best for Jocasta." He clapped a reassuring hand on the scientist's shoulder. "I'm sure we'll see her again someday."
When Jocasta saw Newcombe dashing back and forth through the crowd of her fellow passengers from the ill-fated plane ride, she knew that he was looking for her. She felt an odd fondness for the strange scientist. It pained her, just a bit, to think that she had caused him a measure of grief. But there was business to attend to and an opportunity like this might not present itself again.
She kept her telescope trained on Newcombe as he ran back to, she correctly presumed, tell Dodge of her absence.
Jocasta didn't know quite how she felt about Dodge. The young adventurer reminded her just a little too much of the only man she felt she had ever truly loved and that led to one inescapable question. Where was the redoubtable Captain Falcon?
She recalled the way Hobbs and Hurley had talked about Dodge during and following her brief captivity. To inspire such loyalty from those two men was an enduring testament to Dodge's character, but she could only think of one reason why they would be following someone other than Zane Falcon… and that was something she didn't want to contemplate.
She was sorry now that she had kissed Dodge in Antarctica. It had reminded her of the happiness she had felt, if only briefly, in Falcon's company. Her greatest regret in life was that she had exploited their shared affection—why don't you call it what it was, Jo? Love—to steal some silly bauble. She would have done anything for a chance to live that moment again and make a different choice. She probably wouldn't have given up her hobby, but at the very least, she wouldn't have left Falcon and his companions buried up to their necks in the best beluga caviar.
Was Dodge the kind of man who could make her feel that way? She thought he just might be and that scared the hell out of her because a second chance at happiness was really just a second chance at disappointment. Besides, he had his red-haired girl and there was no denying the fire that burned there. She had heard it in both their voices and against impossible odds, they had found each other yet again.