Pierre let out a cheer, jumping from the boat to give Lewis a crushing bear hug. The little guy was amazingly powerful, Lewis thought, but he wasn’t quite as jubilant. “That fire won’t last long. We’ve got to get into the cave immediately.”
Miller was the first to protest. “The boat may still work-”
Lewis cut him off. “Even if it did, we have nowhere to go.” The stern look on Lewis’s face made it clear there wasn’t going to be a discussion. “Grab your gear now!”
Stonewood had regained enough of his senses to stammer, “I have money. I can buy my safety; I mean, safety for all of us.”
Lewis, still fuming at Stonewood, shot back, “Yeah, you should definitely stay behind and give that a try! Those guys seem very interested in working out some kind of deal.”
Craig looked directly into his boss’s eyes. “He’s right,” he said, before donning his own gear and then helping the sluggish Stonewood get ready as well.
“Grab one of the dry bags,” Lewis instructed as he made sure the stunned pair of Samantha and Miller had their air turned on and were ready to go. Like a pair of overweight zombies, they each grabbed one of the smaller dry bags and waddled to where Gonzalez was already waiting at the edge of the river. At the same time, Craig snatched one of the special black bags as he practically threw Stonewood to the river.
Lewis turned his attention to Pierre, who was struggling to get his arms into his harness system. After loosening the straps a bit, Pierre was ready to go. He lumbered over to grab one of the bags he knew contained climbing gear before getting in the river. As he heard the engines of the jet boats working their way back up the river, Lewis was thankful he and Gonzalez had set everything up beforehand.
“Go!” he shouted. “I’ll be right there!” Lewis quickly slipped into his own gear, grabbing a pair of dry bags before sprinting into the water. He slipped beneath the surface just as the boats rounded the corner. Hopefully they didn’t see him — he needed their confusion to buy everyone some time.
Lewis turned the valves on each of his tanks, confirming he could breathe as the current swept him along the bottom of the river. Using a scissor-lock, he pinned the dry bags between his legs, enabling him to use his hands to fend off the rocks that were now cruising towards him like asteroids. Barely avoiding a particularly jagged-looking boulder, Lewis noticed six pairs of legs dangling in the water above him — the others had surfaced. Lewis poked his head above the water, noting they had already drifted around the corner and out of sight of their camp; apparently, the boats had passed by without noticing the escape.
Gonzalez had somehow had the presence of mind to throw everyone’s fins into a mesh bag, and was now quickly distributing them to the group. “Put these on,” she instructed. “They’ll make it much easier to maneuver against the current.” She handed a pair to Lewis before putting on her own. “If you have a dry bag, you will want to clip it off to one of the D-rings on your harness to free up your hands,” she said, as she demonstrated clipping off her own bag. “Now listen up! We have about 20 seconds before we need to head to the bottom to catch the hole. There is short rock wall directly behind the entrance, and everyone needs to work together to make sure we all grab that wall. I’ll secure my reel and head inside then you will each follow like we talked about before.”
Craig had already lost his bag, and Stonewood never grabbed one, but the others quickly clipped their bags on, following Gonzalez’s example. Thanks to their neutral buoyancy, the bags were essentially weightless in the water, which was a good thing. Unfortunately, they were still affected by the current, tugging the divers around in all directions as they drifted along. Lewis hoped his bags contained something more useful than toothbrushes and pillows.
Miller’s mask was filled with water and he was rapidly losing any semblance of composure. “I can’t do it,” he gasped. “Can we just find a place to hide along the river?” The sound of one of the boats restarting put an end to any hope of an easy getaway. There was no time left for other options.
Lewis helped drain the water from the professor’s mask before quickly adjusting it to a better fit. “You’ll be fine,” Lewis said as calmly as he could. “Put your regulator back in your mouth and take a couple of deep breaths. I will keep a hold of you and guide you into the cave, and then I will be right behind you the rest of the way.” Lewis was impressed to see a steely resolve come over Miller as he replaced his regulator. Blinking a couple of times, he gave Lewis a quick thumbs-up before promptly changing his fingers into an “OK” as he remembered the thumbs-up meant “go up” in scuba talk. Lewis couldn’t help but smile.
Everybody looked ready. Even Samantha, who had seemed on the verge of a nervous breakdown moments before, appeared confident and ready. Gonzalez glanced ahead and gave a quick, “Let’s go diving,” before turning and heading under. The others quickly followed.
Within seconds they were in the main part of the rapid, getting spun and bounced along at a much faster rate. Thankfully, the flow was less than half what it had been the night before, allowing Gonzalez to control her movement by crawling along the bottom. Following her example, everyone worked their way down the river feet first, gripping the rocks as if climbing down a mountain during the worst rain storm ever.
Finally reaching the cave opening, Gonzalez placed her left foot flat against the wall, letting her right foot drift into the cave so she was kneeling next to the entrance. Using the cave opening itself to hold her body in position, Gonzalez was able to work with both hands. She tapped Pierre’s fins and motioned him to the other side of the opening. He scrambled by with obvious enjoyment on his face; underwater rock climbing was right up his alley. Samantha slipped and ended up spinning around before colliding headfirst into Pierre. His grip strength made it easy to hang on with one hand, catch her arm with the other, and spin her around so that she landed next to him. He continued to steady her until she found a good place to hold on. Meanwhile, Stonewood’s arms were waving in a fit of panic as he bounced along the bottom headfirst; Craig holding his boss’s legs as he did the climbing for both of them. As Miller moved clumsily into place next to Gonzalez, Lewis helped Craig get Stonewood situated on the far side of Samantha.
With everyone accounted for, Gonzalez worked to tie off her line to a rock that was the size and shape of a recliner. The force of the water made it difficult to work the light cord around the rock without it being pushed downstream. Finally getting the line secure, she turned to Pierre and signaled that she was heading in. Turning on her light, she prompted the others to do the same and, without hesitation, Gonzalez smoothly somersaulted around and swam headfirst into the cave. As she descended into the darkness, she slowly began to pay line out from her reel.
As Lewis moved closer to the opening to better assist the others, he could see Gonzalez’s light sweeping from side to side. Lewis motioned for Pierre to enter next. The climber wasn’t nearly as smooth as Gonzalez, but he managed to get turned around, banging his tanks a few times as he squirmed in.
Samantha appeared surprisingly relaxed as she worked her way towards Lewis, taking her time to make sure she didn’t slip. Lewis checked her gauges and helped her ease feet first into the cave’s entrance. She gave him a final OK before turning around and following the line out of Lewis’s sight. He could still see Gonzalez’s light shining towards the hole, only now it was accompanied by two additional beams which were panning all around. At least he knew everyone was still alive and they weren’t scrambling to get back out… yet!