David Golemon - Legend

Carl limped as fast as he could toward the cockpit and tried the intercom on the bulkhead. It started shorting out as soon as he hit the plastic button. On the overhead speakers he could barely make out a shouting voice; he thought it might be Will Mendenhall, but he wasn't sure. Then the intercom shorted out one last time and died. All he knew now was someone was alive back there and hadn't drowned yet. He quickly looked out of the cockpit and saw that the nose of Teacher was starting to rise out of the water.

"Jack, were going down. I don't know if it's the stern or if we have so much flooding amidships that she's bending at her gaskets!"

Jack thought he heard Carl hollering but ignored it as he fought with the latch for the lounge section. Virginia was pushed aside and then the master chief's angry face appeared at the glass. He was shaking his head no and pointing behind Jack, who could barely make out Jenks's voice as he shouted, "Beach her!" The old seaman quickly pointed at the hole the explosion had made and made a swimming motion. Jack finally understood: the survivors in the lounge should escape through the damaged section and swim for it. He grimaced, not liking the plan, but the master chief was right; he wouldn't be able to close the hatch because of the pressure of the water behind it, and, even if he could open it, the cockpit would be flooded and that would ensure that Teacher foundered. He quickly turned away and started for the cockpit.

"You and Ellenshaw swim for the breach, Frenchie," the master chief yelled at Danielle. The professor was having a hard time keeping his head above water, but obeyed. "Okay, sweet cheeks," Jenks winked at Virginia, "I hope you can hold your breath, because this section is now below the surface of the lagoon and she's bending like a fishing pole!"

"I'm not going without you, Jenks," Virginia said, taking a mouthful of water as her reward for speaking.

"You watch too many movies; I'm not the hero type. Follow me, doll," he ordered, as he dove under just as the flooding reached the overhead lights, shorting them out and sending a cascade of sparks over the surface of the undulating water.

Virginia dove with the master chief. She accidentally took in another mouthful of foul-tasting water when she ran into the torn body of Professor Keating. Then she shoved him out of the way and swam, trying desperately to get out of the nightmare she now found herself in.

Jack pushed past Carl, who was leaning heavily on the bulkhead and trying to figure out what Jack was doing.

"What about those people?" Carl yelled, pointing toward the flooded lounge.

"They're going out another way. The chief said for us to beach Teacher before she founders." Jack reached for the start switch and prayed the engine would fire. As he turned it, he heard a soft rumble course through Teacher and he throttled her forward. She was heavy as at least one, maybe two, or even three sections were fully flooded. Then he tried to turn her by using the rudder control on the armrest. Nothing happened; Teacher continued straight on toward the right side of the falls.

"She's not turning!" Jack said frustratedly as he again pulled the hand toggle to the left but Teacher continued going right.

"The main jets must have been damaged; they're frozen in position. We've got to get this thing grounded somewhere, Jack."

The major thought quickly. "The mine! We can get her into the mine and beach her there, it's our only chance!"

"Shit," Carl exclaimed as he rolled into the copilot's chair and quickly buckled his harness. "Go, Jack, go," he yelled as he braced himself against the glass.

Jack pushed the throttle all the way to its stops and Teacher struggled forward, her midsection below water and her aft end sticking up, her water jets and damaged rudder barely beneath the surface. He had a hard time seeing, as the boat was bowing up at both ends. Teacher started to gather forward momentum and Jack felt her start leaning to the right as the water in her flooded sections shifted.

"Oh, shit; can you at least center her with the middle of the falls?" Everett asked as calmly as he could.

"We have no steering at all!"

Jack pulled back the throttles but it was too late. Teacher was under the crushing falls, and the weight and fierceness of the water forced her nose down beneath the foaming tumult. Then they felt the impact as Teacher slammed into the outside wall of the cave opening, tearing the right-side cockpit glass away and sending a ton of water into the bridge, hitting Carl so hard it momentarily stunned him. Suddenly there was a wrenching impact abovedecks as the mainmast was torn out of its mountings. Jack could only pray that there had been no one on or near it. The fall of the tower was heard as it struck the upper deck of the last five sections, ripping a massive gash in the superstructure as the weight of the aluminum tower rocked her from side to side. Then Teacher shot through the falls and into the dark interior of the mine. She immediately rammed the solid rock wall inside the cave, tearing a section fifty feet long along her right side.

Jack felt the engine go, and then the control panel in front of him went with a shower of sparks. Still, by sheer momentum alone, Teacher sped along through the opening, hitting the stone wall again, knocking Jack into the center console. Then he felt the keel strike solid bottom and her nose rose into the air as Teacher hit the first of the stone steps on the right side of the ancient dock. She glanced off at first and then the weight of her flooded sections turned her again, slamming her bottom into the steps. This time her momentum sent her violently up and out of the water. For a moment Jack thought the twenty-one-ton Teacher was going to shoot out over the top of the stone steps and onto the dock, but when she slammed back down she slid backward fifty feet to finally lodge onto the steps with only her stern section in the water.

"Oh, that's going to leave a mark," Carl said as he removed his harness.

Jack sat back to catch his breath; as he did, he felt a cool draft coming through the torn window frames on the right side.

"The chief and navy can take it out of my check," he said as he reached down and unbuckled his seat harness. "Come on, Commander Everett; let's see how many people I killed with my driving."

Farbeaux had just entered the falls when he heard the two explosions underwater. He dove deep until the water had calmed, and then he surfaced. Now he, Mendez, and the Colombian's fourteen men watched from above as the American boat came to rest on the steps that led from the canal at a point just beneath the mammoth statue. He gritted his teeth and knew exactly what had happened.

"When your man Rosolo arrives, I am going to kill him," he said as he slowly brought up a nine-millimeter pistol and pointed it at Mendez.

His men saw this and brought up their own weapons.

"Please, please," Mendez said, holding his hands out from both sides of his rotund body. "There is no need for this. If my man Rosolo did this thing, you can have him, but we can only fail to do what we came here for if we can't think clearly," he lied. He turned to his men, "Lower your weapons. That is an order."

Farbeaux kept his pistol up. "You cannot tell me he acted without orders from his master."

"I believe killing them would have to have been done eventually. But I did not order it at this time. Besides, the Americans are finished; they will now be far too busy just surviving to interfere with us."

Farbeaux saw from their high vantage point that the American boat still had some power. He holstered his handgun and then reached down and picked up a small satchel, angrily kicking his wetsuit against his rebreathing unit.