The only thing he could see was the faint glimmer of daylight poking through the tunnel below. Really it was more like slightly brighter darkness. It was enough to guide him back, though.
Adriana and Tommy exchanged a worried glance. Reece was shouting something to them but was still too far away for them to hear.
"You think he's okay?" Tommy asked.
"I'm guessing if he wasn't, we'd see his body floating in the pool right about now."
Her answer sounded callous. Tommy knew what she meant, though. Adriana cared about Sean as much as anyone, if not more. She didn't want anything to happen to him. If she believed he was okay, Tommy should, too.
That being said, he still stole a look over his shoulder to see if anything was floating in the water.
Sean's head popped up right behind him, nearly scaring him up onto the rocks.
"Ah!" Tommy shouted and grabbed the next ledge up.
Sean shook his head to get rid of any excess water and then rubbed his face and eyes.
"Did you find it?" Adriana asked.
Sean nodded. "I think so. But it's a dangerous little swim. You have to go in through an underwater tunnel. Figure we can do it in about a minute. Maybe fifty seconds. You can hold your breath that long, right?"
"Easily," she said. Adriana had developed that skill over years and years of practice, beginning when she was a child.
"Tommy, what about you?"
"Eh," Tommy said, hesitating. "Not sure that's a good idea. First off, tight spaces. Secondly, underwater tight spaces. Third, I probably can't hold my breath for thirty seconds."
"Okay, that's a no for him." He turned back to Adriana. "Looks like it's just you and me, babe."
Tommy rolled his eyes. "You guys are starting to make me sick."
After Sean and the others swam back over to Reece, he explained what he'd discovered in the underwater tunnel.
"Sounds like you're going to need light," Reece said.
"Yeah, you can't see anything down there. Pitch black. I've got some dry bags I can use. And I think the flashlight in my gear bag is waterproof up to a hundred feet. So it should be fine."
"For a second there I thought you were going to ask me to go down there with you," Reece said, relief filling his voice.
Sean chuckled. "Would be a tight fit for you, big 'un. Besides, no need to have too many cooks in the kitchen."
"We'll hang back and keep watch in case more of those goons come our way," Tommy said. He pointed at a position behind some rocks on the other side of the little river. "We should be able to see anyone coming down the trail from over there. Plus the rocks and trees will give us some cover."
"Good idea, mate."
Sean slipped his phone into the dry bag along with his pistol. He noticed the look Reece gave him at the latter. "Not necessary, but I really love this gun."
"Can't say I blame you."
Sean tied the dry bag to a rope to loop around his ankle and then looked over at Adriana. "Ready?"
"Let's do it."
They jumped back in the water and started paddling over to the falls.
Reece turned his head and raised an eyebrow. "When's the wedding?"
Tommy snorted. "With those two? Maybe eighty years from now."
When Sean reached the rocks, he tightened the loop around his ankle to make sure he didn't lose the dry bag.
"So here's the deal," he said when he finished with the little rope. "You go under the falls, and then in the center there's a place where the water doesn't really hit you. From there, you drop straight down. It's probably close to eight feet under when you'll find the cave opening. Once you're in, pull yourself as hard as you can until you reach the shaft. Wait twenty seconds before you come down. That way I'll be able to shine my light down the shaft for you so you'll see it easier."
"Sounds good," she said. Then she pulled close and pressed her lips against his.
While pleasantly surprised, he still had to ask. "What was that for?"
"Do I need a reason?"
"No."
"Good. We'll say it's for luck, you know, for the benefit of our audience." She ticked her head to the left at the two guys still standing on the rocks.
Sean didn't need to look over his shoulder to see Tommy's disgust. He could feel it from across the pool.
"Good enough for me," Sean said. "See you on the other side."
He worked his way back across the rocks and into the deluge once more, disappearing from sight. Once he was in the middle, he let himself drop down into the water and pulled his body down using the rocks. The maneuver saved him valuable seconds, and in a brief moment he was back at the tunnel entrance again.
This time, Sean used the rock to his advantage, pulling his weight through the submerged corridor faster than he could swim. Gripping the flashlight in his teeth kept both hands free as he reached for a handhold and then another until he made it to the shaft. Just as he'd done before, he twisted his body around and used his feet to kick off the floor and up to the surface.
When he broke through to the air, he still had plenty left in his lungs. Knowing where he was going made all the difference. And to think he'd almost drowned before.
Sean dog paddled in place — remaining over the shaft — and aimed the beam of his flashlight down into the water so Adriana could see it. The light diffused somewhat, but it would do the job.
About thirty seconds later, he noticed movement in the shaft below before Adriana suddenly burst through the surface. She blew out the air from her lungs, spitting a little water as she did so. Then she shook her head and smoothed her brown hair back against her head.
"Not too bad if you go through it fast," she said.
"Tommy would never make it."
"You're probably right."
He turned his body, shining the light around the underground pool to see if there was a good place to climb out. Over to the left, it appeared the rock gradually sloped into the water. Something else caught Sean's eye about five yards away from that spot.
"You see that?" he asked.
"Looks like cave art," she said.
"Let's have a look."
The two swam over to the shore and found climbing out to be a trickier bit of work than expected. The sloped rock was slippery, and the two explorers both nearly fell as they tried to keep their footing.
The water dripped off of them, echoing off the stone in the cave and blending with another sound.
"Is that an underground stream I hear?" Sean asked. He flashed his light around the room.
"Sounds like it. There must be a fissure in the riverbed above."
Standing on solid ground, Sean untied the cord around his ankle and opened the dry bag. He produced three glow sticks, cracked them, and tossed them on the floor. They cast an eerie green glow onto the wall, revealing the rock art the two had seen from the water.
"Why'd you bring your gun?" Adriana asked, seeing Sean's pistol in the bag as he removed his phone.
"Force of habit," he said as he winked. "Never leave home without it."
She rolled her eyes and moved over to the rock where the paintings stood out like ghosts etched in stone.
"Come on, Agent Wyatt," she joked. "Let's take a look at these."
He joined her and crouched by the wall. "More of those odd-looking beings," he said, running a finger next to one of the shapes.
Creatures with narrow bodies and huge round heads dotted the rock, covering a span of about ten feet. There were twelve of them in total, and again the white hands appeared in random places across the ancient canvas.
"What is with these hands?" Sean said. "They've been at every place we've seen so far."
Adriana looked at him, puzzled. "You mean you don't know what those mean?"
He shook his head. "No. I have no idea. Do you?"