Catalyst (Breakthrough Book 3)(113)

She say stay.

Alison began to reply when she was interrupted by the beeping from her dive computer. They were reaching their nitrogen limit. They needed to get to the surface. “I cannot stay. We must go up.”

She motioned to the others and added a brief blast of air to increase her buoyancy. “I’m sorry, we’re out of time. We will come back.”

They want stay.

“I’m sorry,” Alison repeated. “I cannot. But I will come back.”

It was the last translation Alison heard before reaching the pod of dolphins above her, where the trio stopped and hovered for a few minutes before finally breaching the surface.

Bobbing among the waves, Alison pulled her mask off and inhaled a lung full of fresh air.

She raised her voice so the others could hear her. “We have to get back aboard!”

Lightfoot nodded and swam forward. Neely followed, leaving Alison floating behind them. Something had struck Alison from the moment they’d reached the bottom, but it didn’t register until Dirk mentioned the plants. She suspected neither Neely nor Lightfoot knew enough about phosphorescence to catch it. There was something wrong with what they saw. Bioluminescence caused by the light-emitting pigments and enzymes, luciferin and luciferase, had very distinct hues of green and blue. But what Alison had just seen below was not the same –– it was a very different hue of green. One that she’d seen only once before and in a place very far from the ocean. It had been on top of the Acarai Mountains in South America. She didn’t notice the first time she’d seen the plants because they were there during the day.

She had to get to a phone. Immediately.





72





The tropical waters from which Alison was being lifted could not have been more different from those in which John Clay now stood. Water had collected at the lowest point of one of the mine’s shafts, leaving an ultra-clear basin that was waist-high, stretching over a hundred yards along their path. And unlike the warm Caribbean, this water was ice-cold.

Carrying his bag on one shoulder and holding his phone and flashlight with the opposite hand, Clay could feel his toes growing numb. Which meant it must be even worse for Li Na, who was trailing behind him.

The only consolation was that the second half of the tunnel was relatively free of debris, while in the first half they had encountered a number of small cave-ins. It had slowed their progress considerably, making the icy water a faster, if somewhat painful, change of pace.

They had been underground for hours, far longer than expected. And unless the remainder of the shaft was in better shape than the way they’d came, their chances of finding a way out anytime soon weren’t very good.

Clay continued pushing forward through the water, maintaining a slow enough pace to keep the ripples to a minimum. He held his flashlight above his head, allowing him to see the bottom clearly, or at least well enough to spot any surprises. But maintaining a clear view wouldn’t be a good trade-off if their slow progress resulted in frostbite.

He paused to look ahead and could hear the chattering of Li Na’s teeth.

“Not much farther.”

The teenage girl behind him nodded, but said nothing.

The truth was she had no idea what she was doing. She felt sure the man in front was trying to help her, but she didn’t know anything about him. She finally spoke to distract herself from the biting pain in her legs and feet.

“Mister Ishmael. W-Why did you come here?”

Clay stopped again, momentarily. He smiled at Li Na under the glow of his light. “My name is not Ishmael. It’s John.”

She looked at him with a confused expression. “Why did you say it was Ishmael?”

He turned back around and continued. “It’s kind of a joke.”

“Oh.” She didn’t understand the joke. “Why did you come here?”

“To find the case you’re holding in your arms.”

In the dark coldness of the cave, she’d almost forgotten she was carrying it and gripped it tighter. “My father’s case?”

“Yes. Did your father tell you what was inside?”

“Not exactly. I wasn’t awake the last time he came.” After thinking, her expression changed to quizzical. “You didn’t know I was here?”

“I did. But only shortly before I arrived.”

“I see. So you weren’t expecting…all of this.”

Clay grinned again but continued moving. “No.”

Li Na shrugged and tried to lighten the mood. “Surprise.”

Clay chuckled. “Your English is very good.”

“My father was a soldier. He told me it was important to learn English, like the Americans. He said someday they would have to learn Chinese.”