Slater paused and pointed, so he positioned a camera not far from the water’s surface above. It was a good spot and would capture anything breaking in from the cavern. Aston took a steadying breath and swam upward.
He broke the surface and looked around, his head on a swivel. As his headlamp swept cold, hard rock his heart hammered, so loudly he was sure the sound would draw the monster to him. But he saw only dark, cold rock. The domed ceiling rose about fifteen feet above his head, and a wide ledge ran around one side of the open space, disappearing into darkness. He breathed a sigh of relief. There was no monster.
He set to work, hauling himself up the side wall to balance on one knee and wedge the last camera in a narrow crevice, aiming it down so it could take in most of the cavern floor immediately at the water’s edge. The space beyond seemed huge, disappearing into shadows his headlamp couldn’t penetrate and he was reluctant to stick around any longer than necessary to look. Time flowed like cold molasses as he secured the camera, turned in on, and checked the signal and movement sensor light. The cave lit up and the signal read twenty per cent. It would do.
A flash of movement drew his eyes back toward the water. His stomach lurched when he saw Slater thrashing about in the light from the last camera he had placed, held fast by unseen hands, her headlamp carving hectically back and forth under the surface. He had been so intent on getting into the cave and out again that he hadn’t checked she was still with him. He dropped and powered toward her, swimming for all he was worth.
As he drew close, relief washed through him as he spotted the problem — one of her fins had wedged in a jagged crack in the stone. Slater, too panicked to see what held her fast, kicked and batted at the rock that gripped her. Aston grabbed her arms, pinned them to her sides, and slowly nodded. You’re all right. When she stopped fighting, he hastily worked her free. He pointed to the way out, but she shook her head vigorously, gestured upwards. She needed a moment to gather herself perhaps.
When they broke the surface in the cavern next to the rocky shelf, Slater spat out her regulator and wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Oh my God. I thought… I thought it had…” she sobbed.
“I know,” he said, stroking the back of her head with one hand while grabbing on to the rock with the other. “It’s all right.”
“I made an ass of myself.” Her voice still trembled, but she was already regaining her composure, taking deep, steadying breaths.
“This place has me spooked,” Aston said. “I should have paid more attention, I’m sorry.” He jabbed a thumb back over his shoulder. “This must be where the VUE surfaced before. I set a camera up over there, so we’re good to go, I think. Let’s just…” He broke off when he felt Slater go rigid. “What is it?”
Her gasping reply scarcely reached his ears. “Bones.”
He slowly turned his head. On the opposite side of the rock shelf to where he had climbed before, far back under a large overhang, were piles of animal and human skeletons. Cloaked in gloom, they stood out as stark white sculptures as Slater slowly panned her light back and forth. His own flashlight picked them out even more clearly. Aston realized the VUE had briefly shown the smooth round objects that he now realized were skulls.
They floated there, frozen by the macabre scene. Finally, Slater let go of his neck. “I have to get some pictures of this.” She raised the small video camera, her free hand on the ledge to boost herself up.
“Jo, don’t!” He snatched the camera away and pressed a finger to her lips. “Listen,” he whispered.
A stray sound had caught his attention. As they listened, it came again. The heavy, wet slap of something hitting solid rock. Something big, far back in the cave.
Slater’s eyes bulged and her jaw dropped.
Go, he mouthed.
Biting down on his regulator, he sank beneath the surface and swam for it, Slater right beside him. He kept glancing back, each time fearing he’d see a dark shadow or a gaping maw closing in behind.
He’d always prided himself on having a high panic threshold. No matter how dire the circumstances he was the one who kept his wits about him. Those limits were tested now in their desperate flight toward safety. They were still side by side as they reached the swirling maelstrom of currents where the main passage passed the vertical shaft and they kicked hard into it, heading back for the lake.
Despite the current at their backs, he felt they were moving at a snail’s pace. When would the way out come? Light flared repeatedly as they passed the cameras they had set and Aston took each as motivation to get to the next.
But it was a long way from the last camera back to open water. The currents were too crazy, the distance too far. He felt his body weakening, his senses dulling, as the heaping dose of adrenaline in his system began to dissipate. The dim light of the lake loomed up ahead, but his legs were lead and his arms rubber. He had nothing left.
Slater was faring no better. She stopped, grabbed hold of the side of the passageway, and waved for him to go on without her.
Aston was having none of that. Calling on reserves of strength he hadn’t known he possessed, he took hold of her wrist and urged her forward. Together, they made their way, one exhausting inch at a time, back out into the silty deep green gloom of Lake Kaarme and kicked up for the shadow of the boat high above.
They broke the surface, gasping and flailing for the dive platform as Joaquin reached out to help them. Only when he stood on the deck again did Aston allow himself to surrender to the sheer weight of exhaustion that he had thus far held at bay. He hit the deck, rolled onto his back, and closed his eyes.
“What happened?” Joaquin’s voice sounded as if it came from miles away.
Aston sucked in deep lungsful of humid air. “Bones,” was all he could manage.
When his breathing steadied, he pushed himself up and shucked off the tank harness and removed his flippers. He turned to look for Slater and saw her halfway up the steps to the bridge, looking up onto the deck.
“What the hell is Holloway doing?” she said, eyes wide.
Chapter 30
Aston followed Slater up to the main deck. She stood staring at Holloway and Makkonen as the two men wrestled with the huge net winch. Aston remembered first seeing the winch on their original tour of the Merenneito. It seemed like a lifetime ago. He’d thought nothing more of it since, but now it filled him with dread.
Makkonen hit one of the large plastic buttons on the bulky mount and its heavy arm rotated outward with a loud whirring of internal motors until it extended over the water. He nodded to Holloway and headed back into the bridge.
Surely Holloway wasn’t planning to try to capture the creature? Then again, was there anything the man wouldn’t try? His hubris was beyond the scope of anything Aston had ever seen.
Slater’s slack-jawed expression indicated that she clearly shared his incredulity. “What the hell are you doing?” she demanded.
Holloway turned to her with a thousand watt grin. “Exciting, isn’t it? I’m glad you’re back, we can move the boat now.” He signaled to Makkonen and the Merenneito rumbled to life and began to move, chugging around a little further from shore.
“You can’t seriously be thinking about trying to capture this thing?” Aston said.
The smile didn’t leave the billionaire’s face. “Did you get the cameras in place? What did you see down there?”