Riptide

Chapter 55

What is it?" Bonterre asked, her hand frozen on the Radmeter.

Rankin held up his hand for silence. "Just a minute. Let me compensate for any trace radiation." His head was mere inches from the screen, bathed in an amber glow.

"Jesus," he said quietly. "There it is, all right. No mistake, not this time. Both systems agree."

"Roger—"

Rankin rolled back from the screen and ran one paw through his hair. "Look at that."

Bonterre stared at the screen, a snarl of jittery lines underlaid by a large black stripe.

Rankin turned to her. "That black is a void underneath the Water Pit."

"Avoid?"

"A huge cavern, probably filled with water. God knows how deep."

"But—"

"I wasn't able to get a clear reading before, because of all the water in the Pit. And then, I couldn't get these sensors to run in series. Until now."

Bonterre frowned.

"Don't you understand? It's a cavern! We never bothered to look deeper than the Water Pit. The treasure chamber, the Pit itself—us, too, for Chrissake—we're all sitting on top of a goddamn piercement dome. This explains the faulting, the displacement, everything."

"Is this something else built by Macallan?"

"No, no, it's natural. Macallan used it. A piercement dome is a geological formation, an upfold in the earth's crust." He placed his hands together as if in prayer, then pushed one of them toward the ceiling. "It splits the rock above it, creating a huge web of fractures and usually a vertical crack—a pipe—that goes deep into the earth, sometimes several thousand feet. Those P-waves, that vibration earlier . . . something was obviously happening in the dome, causing a resonance. It must be part of the same substructure that created the natural tunnels Macallan—"

Bonterre jumped suddenly as the Radmeter in her hands chirped. As she stared, the blue shimmer on the screen turned yellow.

"Let me see that." Rankin punched in a series of commands, his large fingers dwarfing the keypad. The top half of the small screen cleared, then a message appeared, stark black letters against the screen:

Dangerous radiation levels detected

Specify desired measurement

(ionizations / joules / rads)

and rate

(seconds / minutes / hours)

Rankin hit a few more keys.

240.8 Rads/hour

Fast neutron flux detected

General radiation contamination possible

Recommendation: Immediate evacuation

"Merde. It's too late." "Too late for what?" "He's opened the casket."

As they watched, the message changed:

33.144 Rads/hour

Background levels hazardous

Recommendation: Standard containment procedures

"What happened?" Rankin asked.

"I do not know. Maybe he closed it again."

"Let's see if I can get a radiation signature on the source." The geologist began typing again. Then he straightened up, still staring at the little screen.

"Oh, Christ," he muttered. "You won't believe this."

He was interrupted by a thump on the observation deck. The door flew open and Streeter stepped in.

"Hey, Lyle!" Rankin said before seeing the handgun.

Streeter looked from Rankin to Bonterre, then back again. "Come on," he said, motioning the gun toward the door.

"Come on where?" Rankin began. "What's with the gun?"

"We're taking a little trip, just the three of us," Streeter answered. He nodded in the direction of the observation porthole.

Bonterre slipped the Radmeter beneath her sweater.

"You mean, into the Pit?" Rankin asked incredulously. "It's dangerous as hell down there! The whole thing's suspended over—"

Streeter placed the gun against the back of Rankin's right hand and fired.

The sound of the explosion was shockingly loud in the confined space of Orthanc. Instinctively, Bonterre looked away for a moment. Turning back, she saw Rankin on his knees, clutching his right hand. Thin streams of blood trickled between his fingers and pattered to the metal floor.

"That leaves you one hand to hold on with," Streeter says. "If you want to keep it, shut your hairy fucking mouth."

Once again he motioned them toward the door and the observation platform beyond. With a gasp of pain, Rankin hauled himself to his feet, looked from Streeter to the gun, then moved slowly to the door.

"Now you," Streeter said, nodding at Bonterre. Slowly, making sure the Radmeter was secure beneath her sweaters, she stood up and began to follow Rankin.

"Be very careful," Streeter said, cradling the gun. "It's a long way down."