Because whatever they were, they were her ticket back into the NSA.
Kayla felt joy wash over her. She flipped on the COMSEC unit and jammed all frequencies. She programmed it to break jamming every fifteen minutes and do a five-second scan of all frequencies — if someone made it out of camp, they'd probably call for help. For her sudden and inspired plan to work, she had to make sure no one got away.
Book Four: The Tunnels
Chapter Twenty-two
A film of dust lingered in the still air, seemingly suspended by magic, defying gravity's pull. The thick dust flew in visible swirls when anyone coughed, which was often. The only light came from headlamps attached to helmets; the crash had cut off all electricity from the surface. The headlamp beams swerved back and forth through the dusty tunnel, feeble attempts at illuminating the hungry and endless darkness.
A hundred yards away from the shaft bottom the party tried to come to grips with the situation. Sitting in silence, they waited for Mack to return from his evaluation of the ravaged shaft. O'Doyle had insisted Connell, Veronica, and Sanji stay back, under Lybrand's watchful eye, while he and Mack searched the rubble for Fritz and Lashon. Exhausted, all had fallen asleep while waiting. All except for Lybrand, who stood tall, eyes methodically sweeping up one side of the tunnel, then the next.
She heard Mack and O'Doyle returning, and woke the others. Connell felt like he'd been hit with a truck. He blinked away the sleep and stood.
Mack returned, O'Doyle at his side with his H&K at the ready, all eyes turned hopefully toward them. O'Doyle slowly shook his head from side to side, a pained, grim expression on his face.
"You saw them?” Sanji asked.
Mack nodded. “Lashon and Fritz are dead,” he said. “They didn't stand a chance."
Silence once again filled the tunnels. Someone coughed, and dust swirled.
Connell closed his eyes tightly. Two more dead. Three men, gone, because of his obsession. What would Cori think of him now? He wanted to curl up in a ball and die. Or maybe put the H&K barrel in his mouth, and simply pull the trigger.
"How bad is the shaft?” Connell asked. The rest of the party sat quietly, hanging on Mack's every word.
"We're in a world of shit, Mr. Kirkland,” Mack said. “There was quite a bit of cave-in damage. Judging from the amount of rock that's spilled out of the shaft, the crash sealed off at least the bottom one hundred feet. It could be more, maybe a lot more — it's impossible to say from down here."
"What does that mean?” Veronica asked. “How long will it take them to dig us out?"
"Dig us out with what, Professor?” Mack said. “Without the elevator they can't lift loose rock out of the shaft. I found a few parts scattered around the cave — some of them were from the main winch mechanism. It wasn't just the platform that came down, it was the whole fucking thing."
"How long will it take to repair it?” Veronica asked, fear palpable in her voice and eyes.
"Repair it with what?” Mack said, again answering with a question. “They've got spare parts up there, but the whole winch came down. They can't build one of those from scratch. Even if they hit the panic button and have EarthCore fly in another winch, we're talking at least a day to acquire the machinery, a day to ship it out here if the helicopter flies nonstop, and then at least a day to install it and start winching out the rock. From there it depends on how much rock they have to remove."
Veronica's eyes cast downward, the circle of light from her helmet illuminating the dirt at her feet.
Mack continued. “And that estimate is only if they can simply put another elevator in, which I doubt. If the whole winch came down, then most likely so did much of the ceiling above the shaft. They'll have to dig that out as well. Figure a day or two at best, depending on the damage, just to prepare the area and make it stable for installing the winch. Then they have to haul out the rock that's blocking the shaft. Don't forget that the shaft is probably weak from the tumbling elevator, so they'll have to be careful and make sure the shaft doesn't collapse any further. That will probably slow them down to a top speed of a hundred feet a day.” Mack lifted his helmet and wiped beads of nervous sweat from his brow. He took a deep breath, or tried to, but coughed harshly. Swirls of dust danced through the air. He put his helmet back on and continued.
"At best, we're looking at a week down here."
"And at worst?” Sanji asked.
Mack stared down the tunnel, unable to look at anyone's eyes. “At worst, a mile of rock fills the shaft. The whole thing is probably unstable as hell, and they may have to dig a new one. You all know how long that takes. On top of that we have no power, and no hope of getting power. We've got a generator in the Picture Cavern, but only enough fuel to run it for maybe a day.
"The batteries we stored down here will keep our headlamps lit for another three or four days. We were in the process of setting up supplies for just such an event, but were far from completing the stockpile."
"How much food have we got?” O'Doyle asked.
"Well, there's six of us down here,” Mack said. It was so quiet in the cavern they could hear each other breathing. “We've got enough food and water to last about three days, if we ration strictly. From then on, we're all on the underground diet plan.” His attempt at levity fell on deaf ears.
"What about the KoolSuits?” Sanji asked. “How long will they keep working?"
"I suppose that's the only good news,” Mack said. “According to Angus, the suits should work fine for a good three weeks."
"So what would you say our chances are?” Lybrand asked.
Mack looked at Connell, who simply nodded.
"Not good at all, I'm afraid,” Mack said softly.
Connell fought against his feelings in the only way he knew, by taking control. He took a deep breath, stood tall and walked to the center of the party. “I know it sounds bad,” he said with his best authoritative voice. “But you all need to know there's more."
"What do you mean ‘there's more'?” Lybrand asked. “We're in a tomb here, Mr. Kirkland, how can there be more?"
All eyes turned to Connell. He'd spent years controlling his emotions, presenting a blank face to everyone at all times. Despite the situation, he showed no signs of fear or panic.
"Before the elevator crashed I talked to Dr. Hayes,” Connell said. “It appears that EarthCore may not be the only ones down here.” Connell expected words of surprise, but no one spoke.
He continued. “Apparently, she discovered that someone else was in the mountain, digging toward our main shaft. I spoke to her shortly before the crash. She wanted everyone to evacuate the tunnels immediately, so I can only assume that this other faction was getting close to the shaft. We may even be able to assume that they reached the shaft, sabotaged the elevator, and that's why we're in this predicament."
"Well who the fuck is it?” Mack screamed. His enraged voice bounced off the cavern walls, an echo that lingered for a few seconds before fading away.
"I don't know,” Connell said. “We've had several other incidents. We suspect that the accident in the lab was sabotage intended to kill Angus and possibly others. On top of that, Jansson may have been murdered, and the people who did it may still be around. At this point it's prudent we assume this other faction wants to kill us."