“Why should I trust you?”
“Colonel, do whatever you want. Stay and die down here if you wish. I have to stay to protect Atsuko, but you don’t have to die needlessly.”
Hwan quickly made up his mind. “Goodbye, Mister Mitchell,” said Hwan, offering his hand.
Mitchell shook it. “Colonel, you’re wasting time. You still have to force Cypher’s goons away from the stairs.”
With a sharp nod at Mitchell, Hwan hurriedly barked out orders to his men. Spreading out, they began to advance, one covering the other as they fought their way to the stairs. The second they saw Hwan’s dirty, blood-covered men coming at them like creatures from the pits of hell, yelling and cursing them in Korean, some of Cypher’s men dropped their weapons and bolted for the stairs. With a cheer, Hwan’s men rushed the stairs, killing anyone who still stood in their way.
From his hiding spot, Jackson saw what was going on. “Time to go,” he said calmly to Daniel. With his son close behind him, Jackson made his way through the shadows. The instant he could, he was going to make a run for it.
“What about Mister Mitchell?” asked Daniel.
“He knows what he’s doing; he’ll join us as soon as he can.” Jackson looked back at the derrick and saw Sam and Mitchell. His heart felt heavy. Something in the back of his mind told him that they were in grave danger. In that instant, he knew he might never see them again. He grabbed his son’s hand and began racing up the stairs to freedom.
Mitchell smiled when he spied Jackson and Daniel starting to make their way up the stairs. At least they would make it. Mitchell saw Sam stand up. With her carbine cradled in her arms, she smiled and walked over to him.
“Now you, Sam. It’s time for you to go,” said Mitchell.
“I’m okay,” Sam replied. “I’ll stick it out with you. Besides, I figure we have about ten seconds before the bomb goes off. I’m a fast runner, just not that fast.”
Mitchell smiled. His friends were one of a kind. Each one would gladly lay down their lives to save another.
“Done,” said Atsuko.
Mitchell saw the clock strike zero.
He held his breath, expecting a massive explosion. Instead, nothing happened right away. After a few seconds, he felt the ground under his feet begin to slowly vibrate, picking up intensity with each passing second. Five seconds later, the floor of the cavern unexpectedly heaved upward, sending Mitchell and Sam tumbling off their feet. The sound of rock splitting apart filled the cavern. Stalactites broke free from the roof of the cavern and hurtled to the floor of the cave like deadly darts, smashing to pieces as they hit the ground. Above the horrid din, Mitchell could hear Cypher pleading for his life. Mitchell scrambled under a table with Sam. He watched as the stairs leading out of the cavern broke free from the wall and tumbled down to the ground in a jagged metal heap. Behind them, the sound of metal straining under the stress of being forced every which way caught their attention. Both Sam and Mitchell saw the derrick begin to shake itself apart. Crumbling from the top down, the rig collapsed in on itself. A scared voice cried out in pain.
Slowly, the vibrations became less violent and then stopped completely. An eerie silence filled the cavern.
Blinding, choking dust filled the air.
Mitchell wiped the dust from his eyes. He crawled out from underneath the table. The cavern was in ruin. Everything manmade had been destroyed during the tremor. The only light now filtered down from above though the swirling dust clouds.
“Jesus, we’re lucky to be alive,” said Sam as she stood up beside Mitchell.
Mitchell chuckled. Sam was covered from head to toe in dust.
“Before you say anything, you don’t look any better,” said Sam, wiping the dust from her face.
A pained moan escaped from under the wreckage.
Mitchell saw Atsuko a few meters away, sitting under some of the wreckage, looking about calmly, as if the terrible catastrophe had never happened.
“Atsuko, give me your hand,” said Mitchell, reaching out for her.
“It’s all right, Mister Mitchell, I’m not the one who’s really hurt,” replied Atsuko peacefully.
Lying beside Atsuko was Cypher, with a jagged piece of metal protruding out of his stomach. Bright red blood frothed from his lips.
“He’s dying,” said Atsuko, her voice full of loneliness and sadness.
Mitchell shook his head. After all she had been through, when faced with her own mortality, Atsuko still cared for Cypher deep down in her heart. He was about to climb over the jagged remains of the derrick to try to reach her when he heard a new, unsettling noise. A first it sounded like a train racing down the tracks. Growing louder by the second, Mitchell could feel the ground shaking under his feet. Fearing an aftershock, Mitchell bent his knees and held his breath, expecting the worst.
Like Old Faithful in Yellowstone Park, water burst out of the crevice, flying high up into the air before coming back down. In seconds, the floor of the cavern began to flood with cold water. The bomb had shattered the rock beneath their feet, unleashing an ancient underground river.
“Atsuko, please, give me your hand,” yelled Mitchell over the sound of the rushing torrent of water.
With a sad smile on her face, she shook her head, reached over, and wrapped her arms around Cypher. Pulling him close to her, she closed her eyes.
“Atsuko, don’t throw your life away,” implored Mitchell. “Think of your father.”
A hand reached out and grabbed Mitchell’s shoulder. “She’s not coming,” said Sam firmly. “We have to save ourselves.”
“Damn it,” muttered Mitchell as he turned about and quickly climbed off the ruined derrick. Already, the water was up to his calves. At the rate the water was rushing in, it wouldn’t take long for the cavern to fill with water.
Sam looked over at the demolished stairs and swore. Looking back over her shoulder, a grin crept across her face. She picked up a flashlight from the ground and checked that it still worked. “Dump anything you don’t need and follow me.”
Mitchell bolted after Sam as he led him deeper into the darkened cavern. “Do you know where you are going?”
“This is the way I got in here,” said Sam over her shoulder. “Drown while trying to escape or drown back there. I’ll take my chances trying to get away.”
With water up to his knees, Mitchell prayed that Sam knew where she was going. In the narrow tunnel, they had at best five minutes before it would be over their heads.
50
As the last tremor died away, Jackson warily got back up onto his feet and looked around. The ground was littered with dead and dying men. Daniel sat on the grass, nursing a sprained ankle. Most of the old, dilapidated structures on Farragut’s farm had collapsed during the violent earthquake.
Hwan’s men, along with the handful of surviving guards, had emerged from the cavern and immediately surrendered to Cardinal, the first man they saw with a weapon in his hands. Most of them were in desperate need of medical attention. Hwan decided that surrendering to the American authorities was a small price to pay to keep his men alive.
Jackson looked down into the darkened cavern. He let out a mournful cry when he saw that the stairs had collapsed during the earthquake. With no way out, Mitchell and Sam were trapped down below with little hope of rescue, if they were even still alive.
Behind Jackson, Cardinal finished his call and then placed his cellphone in a shirt pocket. As he predicted, the two men guarding the tunnel had grown impatient, wondering where Cardinal was and had foolishly gone in search of him. Both died seconds apart. He walked over beside Jackson and looked around. “Where’s Sam?”