Lewis and the others worked together, pulling bundles of smooth branches from the crack, revealing a short trench about 20 inches wide and 6 feet deep. It didn’t take long before they uncovered a nearly circular opening, about the size of a manhole, angling downward through the bottom of the trench-like area before leveling off and extending into the distance. Soon, Lewis was lying on his belly at the bottom of the crack as Miller stood in front of him. Lewis reached deeper into the hole, passing bits of the blockage up to Miller, who lifted them to Samantha at the lip of the crack. After 30 minutes of work, they had removed the last of the debris. Lewis looked up to see Gonzalez now peering down on him. “How’d the rest of your search go?” he asked.
“Nothing.” She sounded dejected. “This is our only hope.”
Lewis gave her a wink. “I think we’re in luck. It looks a little tight, but I can see that it opens back up after a short squeeze. And there’s a strong wind coming out.” Lewis was no caving expert, but he knew that wind often signaled a way to the surface.
Stonewood’s head was the next to peek over the edge, the worry obvious in his voice as he asked, “How tight are we talking?” Claustrophobia aside, Stonewood was the least likely to fit through any small passages they came across.
Lewis didn’t want to cause additional stress but he didn’t want to lie either. He kept his tone neutral as he replied. “It stays plenty wide but flattens out to around 12 inches. It might squeeze a little, but we can all make it through.” Lewis boosted Miller out of the trench before climbing out himself.
“Now what, boss?” Pierre asked, intending the question for Lewis.
Stonewood answered immediately. “Craig, you and Quinn go check it out. We’ll wait here.”
Pierre flinched when Stonewood responded instead of Lewis. Turning to face the billionaire, he asked, “I think I can be useful — may I go too?”
“Whatever.” Stonewood shrugged as he motioned Pierre towards the opening.
Lewis felt that Gonzalez would be a much better choice than Craig, but got the impression that this was more of a trust issue with Stonewood. Not wanting to set the man off again, Lewis climbed back down to the hole, preparing to enter. “We’ll be right back,” he said to nobody in particular before getting down on his belly and squirming into the hole.
The first ten feet were fairly easy for Lewis; there was plenty of room to crawl along using his knees and elbows. The last of the debris had been in this section so he had been here before. Next came the tight area he had seen, but never actually tried fitting through. The tunnel got lower, requiring Lewis to drag himself forward a few inches at a time, pulling with his outstretched hands while pushing with his toes, timing his movements with his exhaled breath — the rocks gripped his upper body too tightly to move when his chest expanded on an inhale. The low ceiling made it difficult to lift his head enough to see very far forward, forcing him to crawl with his neck twisted at an awkward angle. Gradually, the space widened out again, opening into a new passageway, three feet wide and at least ten feet tall. It felt like a stadium compared to the tight crawl. Craig and Pierre joined him almost immediately, having an easier time with the restriction since they were both smaller than Lewis.
The trio followed this new passage as it snaked its way down a gentle slope. The walls remained just a few feet apart while the ceiling got gradually higher and higher until it was no longer visible with a single headlamp. The floor of the passage was relatively smooth and the group made steady progress for the next 30 minutes. Walking single-file, they continued until the passage dead-ended in another chamber with a small pool of water in one corner. This new room wasn’t nearly as large as the previous chamber, but was still big, nearly the size of a gymnasium.
Lewis shined his light into the crystal clear water of the pool, revealing the bottom perhaps 40 feet below. The sides were nearly vertical for the first 30 feet before angling out of sight, like an inverted funnel, near the bottom. The three men stood beside the pool, staring into its depths, each temporarily lost in their thoughts or fears about another underwater passage.
Pierre looked up to scan the ceiling once again before his gaze returned to the hole. He folded his arms, cursing quietly as he shook his head.
“We need Gonzalez,” Lewis stated plainly.
“Do you think it actually goes somewhere at the bottom?” Craig asked, sounding awfully pessimistic about their only possible route for escape.
“It definitely goes somewhere,” Lewis answered with a little sarcasm. “Going out of sight doesn’t necessarily mean it goes anywhere we want to be though.” Lewis looked from Craig to Pierre before adding, “We’ll know more after we get Gonzalez down here with some dive gear.” Lewis didn’t want to sound overly despairing, but he didn’t want to further false hopes either. Better to wait and see how things played out.
It took another twenty minutes to walk back up the narrow, meandering passage. Lewis found it easier to squirm through the tight restriction this time; maybe just because he had a better idea what to expect. The group that had remained behind had transferred all the gear to the large chamber, laying it out near the crack. They had finished a while before and were anxiously waiting when Lewis emerged.
“Can we get out?” Samantha asked immediately upon seeing Lewis’s light.
Lewis exchanged glances with Pierre and Craig before answering. “Well, maybe. There’s a passage on the other side of the restriction. We followed it for almost a mile to where it dead-ended in a room with a deep pool of water. The water may offer a way out.”
Samantha and Stonewood were both visibly shaken by the prospect of another trip under the water. Miller’s expression remained blank as he simply nodded his head, possibly more worried about being stuck than about braving another swim. Nobody was jumping for joy.
Gonzalez looked at Lewis as she said, “I’ll get my stuff together and suit up.” Her voice was calm and confident, the traits of a cave diver ready to go to work.
Lewis followed Gonzalez over to where the team had laid out the scuba equipment. “Mind if we buddy up?” he asked.
Gonzalez gave Lewis a sly smile. “I guess you’ve proven yourself to be mildly competent in the water.” Her expression turned serious before she added, “I hope this underwater passage is fairly short — some of these guys used a lot of air on the way in. Those three tanks are empty.” Gonzalez was pointing to three tanks that were grouped together off to the side. “Over here are four that are basically full. The other seven, I’ve evened out to where they are about half full.”
“So basically,” Lewis started while kneeling next to some of the tanks, “we already used almost half of our air on the short swim in here.” Lewis rubbed the top of his head with his hands. “That’s not good.”
“We really need people to be calm and breathe smoothly on the way back out,” Gonzalez agreed. As she picked up one of the half-full tanks, she said, “Let’s each bring one of these to explore your pool. If it’s more than a short sump, we may need to weigh our options before proceeding.” Lewis was nodding, so Gonzalez continued. “I think we should save the full tanks in case we run into something major, requiring serious surveying or exploration to get through.”
The two gathered their gear, recruiting Craig and Pierre to help carry it down to the pool. The entire group would be going down this time. Samantha stuck close to Pierre as he led the way, followed closely by Gonzalez and Miller. As expected, Stonewood had the hardest time maneuvering through the tight passage but he remained calm, making it through with a little pushing and pulling from the others. Craig and Lewis carried the tanks as they took up the rear, following in the near darkness behind Stonewood’s light.