“Yes. I spoke with its captain about an hour ago on the radio. I told him what we’d found and what we think has happened.”
“And?”
“He told me he thought I was lying and that he would conduct his own investigation.”
“What the hell does he think’s going on?”
Matthew laughed and shook his head. “I know, right! It was a cargo ship that went under. Yet they’re treating it like there’s been some sort of clandestine plot to steal state secrets.”
Sam didn’t laugh. Instead, he felt like he’d been kicked in the guts, as he recalled the Secretary of Defense’s insistence that he beat the Russians to the wreckage and retrieve shipping container numbered 404. He forced himself to grin. “Yeah, go figure. Oh well, it won’t be our problem much longer.”
“Good.” Matthew returned to his charts.
Sam picked up the satellite phone next to the helm and brought up the Secretary of Defense’s number. He pressed enter and the phone rang.
“Did you retrieve it?” she asked, immediately.
So, small talk was out. Sam stepped out onto the aft balcony and paced. “No. I couldn’t find it.”
“The shipping container?”
“No. The Gordoye Dostizheniye.”
“You’re meant to be the best in the business. How did you lose a ship in less than a hundred feet of water?” Her words came out vitriolic. “You were given its precise GPS coordinates where it sank for God’s sake!”
Sam grinned. It had been a while since he’d been the recipient of her dissatisfaction. “We think the Gordoye Dostizheniye was dragged under by a giant sinkhole. We brought out a dredging vessel to clear the ground below, but if the ship’s down there, it’s a long way down.”
“How long?”
“Well. Nothing came up on our ground penetrating radar, which was able to infiltrate up to a hundred feet below the seabed.”
“Do you think there might a series of tunnels below the seabed?”
Sam thought about it for a moment. “It’s one possibility.”
“And if there was such a tunnel, and part of it collapsed, could that have caused the sort of sinkhole you’re talking about — something big enough to devour all traces of the Gordoye Dostizheniye?”
“Sure. It’s definitely a possibility if the tunnel was large enough. The thing is, there’s no evidence of any sort of subterranean tunnels anywhere north of the Aleutian Islands. Heck, there isn’t even any evidence of volcanic activities that could have once caused a series of lava tubes. So, I think it’s all still in the highly speculative category.”
Sam waited for the Secretary of Defense to reply. When she didn’t, he asked, “Don’t you think?”
Instead, she asked a new question. “Is the Russian frigate still surveying the Bering Strait for the Gordoye Dostizheniye?”
“Yes.”
“Did they ask where you thought the ship disappeared to?”
“Yeah. Matthew spoke with her captain about an hour ago.”
“What did he say?”
“The truth. We have no idea where she went.”
“Good. Hopefully he’ll keep scouring the seabed long enough for you to reach Big Diomede Island.”
“What’s on Big Diomede Island?”
“The first stage in the construction of the Bering Strait Crossing.”
“That whacky idea for Russia, Canada and the U.S. build a tunnel for a bullet train linking the three countries?”
“That’s the one. But not just an idea. Construction began several months ago.”
“You don’t say?”
“Yes,” she responded dryly. “Let me cut to the chase. Their Big Bertha class boring machine punched a hole through the stone, into a large cavern. So far, they haven’t been able to retrieve their machine or its crew.”
“You think the two incidents are connected?”
“If it isn’t, it’s an awfully strange coincidence.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“The same thing I asked you to do for me yesterday. Locate the Gordoye Dostizheniye and retrieve the shipping container 404.”
“Do you think the construction team are going to be happy for us to go searching for your secret container while they’re resolving a disaster?”
“They will be. They’re scouring the Alaskan countryside for a rescue team.”
“A mine rescue team?” Sam asked. “Didn’t they have their own team available to go in already?”
“They did. But the team never came out again.”
“Great. And you’d like us to offer our services?”
“No. I’m ordering you to find that shipping container. I’ll contact the construction company and tell them you’re on your way.”
Chapter Fourteen
It was only a few minutes later that Elise notified him of a call from British Columbia. The Secretary of Defense must have had that CEO on speed-dial. If he was to help out the crew on the Transcontinental World Link project he would need information. The Secretary of Defense may have a department researcher, but Sam had the best data-miner in the world.
“Elise, get me everything you can on a Canadian drilling company losing their tunneling machine to an underground sink hole. Then cross-reference it to any other unusual geologic events in the past month.”
“On it,” she replied.
With that, Sam picked up the ship-to-shore satellite phone. “Sam Reilly.”
“Mr. Reilly, my name’s Russel Wheeler. I have it on good authority that you’re the best there is at underground salvage, and more importantly than that, you just happen to be nearby my tunnel boring project on Tomorrow Island. Is that true?”
Sam grinned. “My mother taught me not to brag, sir, but we can certainly try our best to assist you. I hear you’ve lost a valuable machine down one heck of a sinkhole?”
The CEO’s voice was solemn. “Her crew of five is our first priority. Their families deserve to know their fate for certain, and to have their remains returned to them if what we fear is true.”
Sam liked the man. He’d known men, including his own father, for whom the expense would be first on his mind. “Of course, sir. We’ll do our best, but as you can imagine, by the sounds of what I’ve been told we’re unlikely to find any survivors.”
“I understand.” Wheeler paused for a moment and then spoke, “Do you have any idea what possibly caused it?”
“No, sir. We’ve only just been made aware of it.”
“If you can get to it, I’d like to recover my workers, dead or alive, and then get an evaluation of whether it’s worth trying to recover the machine.”
“Sure. We’ll see what we find.” Sam took a deep breath, held it and then said. “The rescue mission and any assistance we can provide for the recovery of those trapped inside is on the house. If we locate the boring machine and you want our help to retrieve it, we’ll talk about the price. Does that sound fair?”
“More than fair. We’ll be happy to pay according to standard Lloyds Open Form terms if we ask you to do the salvage of the machine.”
It was the first time he’d heard an owner accept LOF without preamble. “That will work fine. Out of curiosity, what’s the machine worth?” Sam asked.
“She was originally built by Hitachi for Seattle’s Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnel for $80 million U.S. Of course, she had a $20 million-dollar overhaul before she came to us,” the CEO answered.
Sam whistled. It would be a nice little salvage job, if it could be done. He wouldn’t know until he’d seen the situation first-hand. “Well, we’ll have to see what we’re up against,” he remarked. “We can be on-site within the hour. Does the island have a helipad?”
“Yeah. Right next to the entrance to the boring tunnel. Despite its name, Big Diomede Island is tiny. You can’t miss the helipad. But, Reilly, be aware we have a weird localized turbulent air weather condition here, apparently originating in the bore hole.”