The Rising Sea

52

Joe was thrown to the ground as the guard realized he was missing a prisoner. He rushed forward, grabbed Nagano. “Where’s Austin?”

“What can I tell you?” Nagano said. “He escaped.”

“How? Where did he go?”

“He slipped the chains,” Nagano said. “You must have given him too much slack.”

“And then he left you here?”

“Yes,” Nagano said, “the ingrate. After all my help and guidance.”

Kurt heard every word; he was only ten feet away, just below the lip of the air shaft. He knew what would come next. With his feet wedged against one of the wall anchors and his left arm wrapped around the pipe, he worked a stone loose from the wall and held it in his right hand.

“Not possible,” the guard insisted.

Nagano was tossed aside and the guard pointed his flashlight deeper into the passageway. Then he looked down into the shaft.

Kurt threw the stone the instant he saw the man’s face, hitting him in the jaw and snapping his head back.

Nagano helped the guard to the ground by chopping his legs out from under him with a sweeping kick.

The guard landed at the edge of the pit and Kurt reached up, grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him over. The man tumbled face-first, hitting the wall on the way down and crashing into the water below.

At the same instant, Joe charged the second guard, tackling him and slamming him headfirst into the wall. They fell to the ground together, where Joe landed a kidney punch and then followed up with a head-butt to the jaw.

Kurt pulled himself out of the pit and rushed to help Joe, who was struggling with his opponent. It took only seconds for the two of them to finish the fight.

“You’re slipping,” Kurt said. “You should have had this guy in three moves.”

“I’m not exactly at the top of my game,” Joe said. “While you were going for a leisurely swim, I was giving the performance of a lifetime.”

Kurt found the keys and unlocked Joe’s chains, then his own and then Nagano’s. They gagged the guard, took his weapon and chained him up.

“What about the guy who went for a swim?” Joe asked.

Nagano shook his head. “He didn’t resurface.”

With Kurt holding the guard’s pistol, they moved quietly down the tunnel, pausing when they heard someone approaching.

Pressing into the shadows, they watched as another of Han’s men approached with a pair of long wooden cases in the crook of his arm. The man was dressed in a lab coat. He wore thick glasses. And had his hair long in the front.

He reached one of the plastic doors, brushed the hair out of his eyes and pressed a button. A green light blinked and a soft push opened the door. He went inside and shut the door behind him.

“Let’s go before he comes back out,” Joe said.

“Not so fast,” Kurt replied. “I want to stop by the gift shop before we leave.”

Kurt crossed the tunnel and made his way to the plastic-coated door. Placing his hand on the same button he’d seen the technician press, he, too, was given a green light. He eased the door open and found the technician on the far side of the room, removing a polished sword from its case.

Kurt coughed lightly and cocked the hammer on the pistol. The technician straightened and then turned, putting his hands up instinctively.

“You speak English?”

The man nodded.

“Good,” Kurt said. “That will make this easier. On your knees.”

The technician got down awkwardly but kept his hands up. The hair fell in his eyes again and he attempted unsuccessfully to blow it away with a puff of air.

“You might want to consider a haircut,” Kurt said.

The technician nodded and Kurt reached over and snatched the nearest sword from its case. The weapon was beautiful. It shimmered in the fluorescent lighting of the laboratory.

The door opened again and this time Joe and Nagano slipped in.

“Did you find your souvenir?”

Kurt held up the samurai sword.

Nagano took one look and spoke its name. “Be careful with that. You hold a national treasure in your hands. The Honjo Masamune. Hidden by Shinto monks for seventy years.”

Kurt looked to the technician. “Why does Walter Han want these swords?”

The technician answered. “That one is a symbol of Japan.”

“And the others?”

The technician hesitated. Kurt pointed the sword toward him. “I could give you that haircut now if you’d like.”

The hesitation ended. “We’re studying them.”

“Obviously.” The labful of equipment around them was quite impressive. “Why? What’s Han looking for?”

“An alloy,” the technician said. “It’s called Golden Adamant. It has… unique properties. So far, it’s only been found deep within volcanic fissures. It’s believed Japan has a source. Possibly, under Mount Fuji. One of these swords may have been made with such an alloy. We were told to learn where the swords came from, how they were forged, what their metal contents are and in what manner the alloys were blended. Most importantly, to determine where the ore was mined.”

Joe’s eyebrows went up. “Now we know what Han’s people were looking for at the bottom of the East China Sea.”

“It was a first effort,” the technician said. “But the mine played itself out.”

“How was it done?” Kurt asked.

“Ultrasonic waves and high-intensity vibrations combined with a carbon-silicon fracking liquid,” the technician told them. “A unique system allows us to mine deeply without drilling.”

“Sounds logical,” Kurt said. “Did you intend to bring up vast amounts of subterranean water along with it?”

“Water was always released in the process,” the technician said. “It’s marginal.”

Kurt’s eyebrows now went up. “Marginal? Maybe you’re not aware of just how much water you’re releasing. Your fractures are bringing up millions of gallons every second of every day. Enough to flood the coastal plains around the world in a year if we don’t stop it.”

“Impossible,” the man said.

“You’ll see how possible it is very shortly,” Kurt said.

“Not if we don’t get out of here,” Joe mentioned. “Every minute we delay makes it more likely that someone notices we’ve gone missing.”

That was true. Kurt looked back at the technician. “We had an equipment bag when we came in here. I’ve lost the claim check, but if you could point out where it’s been stored…”

The man glanced toward a locker. Joe pried it open and found their bag, complete with swim fins, masks and the small oxygen bottles. The infrared goggles lay beside the pack. “It’s all here. Including our radio transceiver.”

“Any guns?”

Joe looked through a couple other lockers. “No.”

“Take this one,” Kurt said, handing it to Joe. “I’m going to carry the sword. After all this time, it should be returned to its rightful owners.”

Joe took the pistol and Kurt waved the technician to his feet. “You’re coming with us. You’ve got some explaining to do.”

Nagano gagged the technician and took a radio from his belt, while Kurt opened the door and checked the tunnel both ways. The tunnel was clear. “Let’s go.”

They started for the exit and were soon approaching the assembly room. As they moved past, the door swung open without warning and two of the workers came out, speaking to each other in Chinese.

They stopped in their tracks as they noticed Kurt and Joe and their gagged colleague.

Kurt pushed the technician aside and lunged toward the new arrivals, but they dove back through the doorway and slammed it. Seconds later, an alert was called out over the intercom. “The prisoners have escaped. They’re in the main tunnel. Repeat. Prisoners have escaped.”

Kurt tossed their hostage aside. The man would only slow them down. There was nothing to do now but run for it. “Go, go, go!” he shouted and the three of them rushed toward the exit of the mine.