Day Of Confession

87

A shrill whine echoed across the cavern as Thomas Kind touched the starter. The twin two-hundred-and-fifty-horsepower Yamahas thundered to life, and the searchlight came on full, swinging in a wide arc across the channel as Kind brought the motorboat's bow around sharply and roared back the way he had come. As quickly he cut the motors and let the boat drift, playing the light across the cavern walls.

Harry dug in with his hands, grabbing at the rock overhead, pulling the skiff deeper into the recess. Beyond him, over his chest he could see the searchlight swing toward the mouth of the cave. In between, Elena was huddled against Danny on the flattened gurney that lay just below the top of the stern. Whatever sound Danny had made had stopped. He was still and breathing silently as before.

The light swung past the opening and moved on. In that brief second Harry saw more of the cave. It went straight back for another ten or fifteen feet before its height suddenly dropped and it narrowed sharply. There was no way to tell where it went from there. But it was all they had. That was, if the skiff would fit through it.

Thomas Kind swung the light back across the rock out-croppings. All he saw were the shadows where one ended and another began. But he'd heard the cry or whatever it had been. And this time there was no doubt where it had come from, somewhere here, along the wall in this section of the channel.

Now he swung the light back, his eyes intent, the deep scratches Marta had made on his face glistening in its spill.

Behind him, Salvatore sat in a kind of fascinated terror and watched, a spectator at a game. It was who Salvatore was, the most he could be.

There!

Thomas Kind saw it. The low ledge, the dark opening beneath it. Gratification tugged in a cruel smile as he turned the boat toward it.

There was a loud scrape and then a dull bang as the skiff suddenly stopped.

'The flashlight. Quickly,' Harry whispered.

The dull rumble of the outboards grew louder, and the light became appreciably brighter as it danced off the granite walls, moving toward them.

'Here!' Elena leaned toward Harry with the flashlight. Their eyes met for an instant, and then Harry took it, turning, playing it into the cave behind them.

The skiff had caught up against the passage entrance. With a little maneuvering, the skiff would make it inside. But after that, who knew? The blond man knew where they were and would stay there, waiting for them to come out. And if they went on, trying to find an exit at the far end… If there was one, tremendous. If not, what then?

Suddenly the beam of the searchlight was full on them.

'GET OVER THE SIDE! NOW!'

Harry threw himself forward and sideways at the same time, felt his hand fill with material from Elena's habit, pulling her over the gunwale into the water in a hail of automatic-weapon fire.

Shoving her under the surface toward the passageway on the far side of the skiff, he looked back to see the skiff surrounded by the bright yellow-green of water roiling with gunfire. Bullets chewed up the cavern walls around him, whining shrilly off the heavy stern. It was only a matter of moments before they would cut through the thick aluminum and reach Danny.

Ducking under the water, Harry shoved the skiff hard from beneath, trying to turn it, get Danny out of the murderous line of fire.

Lungs bursting, using the underwater wall for leverage, he maneuvered the skiff around, fighting it backward and into the passage. Suddenly it caught against something, throwing Harry backward. He swam back, digging in against the underwater wall, trying to free it.

He couldn't. His chest was on fire. He had to have air. Pushing off, he came up. Broke the surface full in the beam of the searchlight. For an instant he saw the muzzle flashes. Thought he saw the face of the man behind them. Calm. Unemotional. Firing in short bursts.

Bullets tore past his head, shredding the thin aluminum bow. Half breath. No more. Harry dove again.

Once more he used the rock for purchase, this time driving against the hull with his shoulder. Still nothing happened. He tried again. Then again. Once more, then he had to have air. This time he felt something give. Lungs exploding, he hit it again. The skiff broke free and jumped forward. He went after it, kept it moving. Then he had to come up.

He felt himself break the surface. Suck in fresh air. At almost the same instant, the firing stopped and the light swung away. And the place where they were went black.

'Elena…' Harry's voice rasped through the dark.

'Elena!' His second call, harder, more urgent. He imagined her hit by the gunfire and lying on the bottom, her lungs filled with water.

'I have hold of the boat… I'm all right-' Her voice was close by and she was gasping, trying to get air.

'What about Danny-?'

'We're moving!' Elena's cry was sudden and frightened.

Harry felt the water become abruptly colder, the skiff start to move away from him. Somehow they'd entered an underground stream and were being swept along with it.

He went after the skiff in the dark, half swimming, half pushing off the rock walls. In a moment he caught up, grabbing hold as the boat picked up speed, the water taking them ever faster. Trapped, brutally pounded between the skiff and the passage's granite sides, he fought the rush of water past him, worked his way along the gunwales, hand over hand, toward the stern.

'Elena!' Harry shouted over the roar of the water and the banging of the skiff against the rocks.

No reply.

'Elena! – Where are you? – Elena!'