“How much longer do you think you’ll need, Tom?” Sam asked over his radio.
“It’ll be ready to blow within the next three hours.”
“Okay, let’s sync our watches in five, four, three, two, one. Mark 15:05.”
“Mark 15:05,” Tom repeated.
“Let’s blow this thing at 18:05.”
“Copy that. Will do.”
Just as Sam was about to make his dive, he asked, “How certain are you that this is going to work?”
“I’ve laid dynamite a number of times before. We’ve both done it, underwater. I know how to lay the stuff, but I just don’t know for certain how big this thing is. I’ve added another 25 percent on top of what you estimated. You tell me? How confident you are about your estimation of the rock wall?”
Sam connected the last of his regulator fittings together and then said, “Okay, don’t add any more than that. You don’t want to blow apart the rest of the mountain. The Italian government’s going to be pissed as hell as it is, when they find out we’ve blown up part of their mountain without approval.”
Then, Sam dived under the water and started to make his descent to 30 feet, the depth at which he’d swum out of the underwater tunnel eight hours earlier. The tunnel was narrow, and he struggled with his underwater bag, which carried the equipment that was so essential for his plan to work.
When he eventually made it to the other side of the rock wall, he was amazed that he’d managed to get through there without using any dive equipment. The ordeal had really caused him to push himself to the edge of life and death.
“Can you still hear me, Tom?”
There was no answer.
As Sam expected, the solid rock wall precluded any form of electronic communication. Hopefully, the next time he made contact with Tom, the dynamite would have already worked and they would be on their way to freedom.
That is, if it did work.
If it didn’t work, he couldn’t imagine what their next move would be.
Sam kicked his fins slowly as he made his way through the enormous tunnel. It was a long way to go, but like most trips, this time it seemed to be a much shorter distance now that he had his dive equipment and could breathe.
In the distance, the green glow that he’d never forget could be seen illuminating the underground lake in which the Magdalena was trapped.
His heart raced as he thought about the prospect of seeing Aliana again.
As his head broke the surface of the lake, Sam could see her face. There were tears in her eyes.
“You made it!” Aliana said, as she raced to him and threw her arms around his wet body. “And you came back for me! Everything’s really going to be okay?”
Sam kissed her. It was a passionate kiss, but it ended sooner than he would have liked.
“It sure is. But we’re going to have to work quickly. We don’t have much time,” Sam said.
“Why, what’s happened?”
“I’ll explain on the way, but first…” Sam said, looking at his watch, which showed that it was already 17:10, “we have a few things that need to be done.”
Chapter Twenty Six
John Wolfgang climbed up and over the rock inside the tunnel. On the other side were a number of glowworms, a smaller tunnel, and the shoreline of an underwater stream. At the end closest to himself, John noticed a steel bolt in the limestone wall. Its appearance suggested that something had been tied off on it at a previous time.
Had there been a boat tied there?
John waded into the water, followed by Brent and the other mercenaries.
It was cold, and the water deepened quickly. After taking his third or fourth step, he was unable to stand anymore, and started to swim. He was a slower swimmer than the mercenaries, but his need to get there first kept him focused.
John sensed that he was getting near.
He looked at his watch.
It read: 18:00.
Up ahead, he could hear a man and a woman speaking in fast, urgent words. His team was getting close. It drove him to swim faster through the tunnel.
Then he heard what sounded like a loud clap of thunder.
Brent looked at him and said, “That’s either a cave in, or someone’s just used dynamite.”
Sam watched as the large air bubbles underneath the Magdalena reached the surface. Aliana had looked at him as though he were mad when he told her that he needed to lay some dynamite. After 75 years, it was going to take a lot to release the Magdalena from the hold of the silty bottom, or at the very least, months of digging — and there was clearly no time for that.
He watched with satisfaction, looking down from the pilot house, as the limestone silt on the bottom, below the primary gondola, which had remained firmly locked, started bubbling like a boiling cauldron.
It continued for a couple minutes, and then a second dynamite blast exploded, sending another round of vibrations rippling up toward the surface.
“How confident are you that you’re not going to blow us and the Magdalena to pieces?” Aliana asked.
Sam looked at her, a grin on his face displaying his self-confidence, as he recalled all the shipwrecks that he’d successfully resurfaced from the seafloor over the years, and then said, “I have a fairly good idea of what I’m doing.”
“How many of those wrecks contained a virus so lethal that any damage to its container could literally threaten the existence of the human race on this planet?” Aliana asked.
“I was careful. Don’t worry,” Sam assured her.
The virus, inside its container, had been carefully moved to the pilot gondola, which sat higher up towards the front of the canopy, allowing it to remain dry once the Magdalena was once again floating freely in the water.
At just that instant, a large wave of water came barreling towards them.
In the middle of the lake, Sam felt her break free from the silty bottom, and for the first time in 75 years, she was floating freely again, albeit, this time in water rather than in the air.
Sam pulled down on the two main propeller throttles.
The twin Daimler-Benz engines at the rear of the Magdalena roared into life, as fuel was allowed to increase its flow for the two engines at the rear of the Magdalena, which he’d managed to get started again.
Turning the wheel in his hands, Sam could feel her enormous rudder moving lethargically in the water. He increased the throttle, and the airship started to move forward, ever so slowly.
Tom would be blowing the tunnel entrance wide open any minute now, Sam thought.
And then the sound of gunpowder blasting echoed through the enormous cavern. His first thought was that the dynamite had exploded, but the sound of it didn’t seem to be quite powerful enough.
Maybe it wasn’t enough to blow the opening apart?
Then Sam realized where the sound had originated.
Behind him, he spotted men dressed in black military jumpsuits, rapidly approaching. Each man, in turn, took careful aim and fired at the Magdalena.
Outside the tunnel, Tom could hear the distant sound of a firefight.
It took him a second to realize that they weren’t firing at him. On the opposite side of the lake, he could see the telltale sparks of gunfire; the tracers were lighting up the lake. He knew that they were on their way, but what he couldn’t figure out, was how they had managed to get there so quickly.
Then he noticed that the gunfire was also being returned from the other side.
How many fucking people are there searching for this damn ship?