Рик Чеслер - Atlantis Gold

But why? The question danced around in his mind even as he fought the underwater battle, double-teaming the knife-man with Jayden, again using the bronze head as an instrument of blunt force trauma, ramming it into the interloper’s back. Hunt heard the piercing snap of bone as Jayden bent the knife-wielder’s hand back until the wrist broke and the blade dropped from his hand.

That assailant went limp and drifted away from the melee while his scooter sank slowly to the bottom. Hunt saw an opportunity and snagged the machine with a fin tip. Maybe it could be his ticket out of here. After the exertion of the fight, he was glad he didn’t have a free hand to look at his air gauge, since he probably had almost none left. In fact, wasn’t it getting harder to pull a breath even now?

Hunt hooked a leg around the battery-powered propulsion device and pulled it to his body. He positioned his midsection over it so that it supported the weight of the artifact head. Above him he could make out a flurry of arms and legs as Jayden grappled with the remaining aquatic assailant, but since he carried the heavy artifact, he decided he should make his exit stage left while he could and let Jayden only have to worry about himself. He found the trigger on the scooter’s hand grip and pressed it all the way down. He was rewarded with the instant purr of the electric motor as the diver propulsion vehicle pulled him away from the fight and towards the surface.

Hunt aimed the nose of the scooter toward the blurry utility lights that were rapidly becoming larger. When he could distinguish individual ripples of water on the surface, meaning he was very close to it, he went to pull his next breath of air, but there was nothing there. He tried once more breath, but still nothing. Eyeballing the distance to the surface, he decided he could make it without ditching the heavy head. The last thing he wanted to do was lose the object of all their effort after everything they’d been through, so close to the archaeology team.

Hunt saw outstretched arms on the shore of the subterranean artificial lake; the sense of having help standing by boosted his confidence and he kicked harder, knowing he was almost there. He rode the scooter up onto the rocks, gripping the artifact with both hands lest it fall back into the water, while one of Madison’s field techs pulled the scooter from the water.

Madison was there, leaning over, her soft features etched with concern. Hunt raised the ancient head up to her. “Take this. Keep it safe and get back. The men down there are dangerous.”

Madison took the head, clearly not expecting the weight. Hunt held it for her while she adjusted to its mass. Hunt stripped off his empty scuba tank and dropped it on the rocks. Then, before Madison could ask him what he was doing, he dove back into the water.

Jayden grappled with the other enemy diver about twenty feet below. The other scooter was nowhere in sight, probably having sank to the bottom after being abandoned by its rider to fight, Hunt surmised. He scissor kicked the remaining distance to the aquatic melee, where he was unable to tell who had the upper hand. Both divers fought like Tasmanian Devils, whirling and flailing in a chaotic blur of arms, legs, fins and bubbles.

He looked around for the second diver, the one whose ribs he’d cracked with the artifact, but saw no sign of him.

Hunt reached down and unsheathed the titanium dive knife strapped to his calf. While operating the scooter and carrying the head, he’d been unable to make use of it, but now he relished the chance. Jayden had to be about to be out of air at any second. He had to end this fight right now. Hunt moved in with is blade at the ready, eyeing the thrashing limbs, looking for an opportunity. Fortunately, the intruder’s tank was painted black, while Jayden’s was yellow, and it was that difference that allowed Hunt to distinguish his target from his friend.

Hunt had no desire to maim or kill another human being, but he would do what he had to in order to protect his friend and himself. He moved in with the knife, grabbing the regulator hose attached to the black tank. He gripped the rubber with his left hand and then sliced it through with a his right. A thick stream of bubbles — the diver’s remaining air supply — immediately poured from the severed hose, making it difficult to see around the white jet of air.

As expected, their foe immediately switched gears from offensive fighting tactics to self-preservation. He twisted and writhed, attempting to get away from his opponents so that he could swim to the surface to breathe. Jayden was still holding onto him but Hunt pulled him away shaking his head. Let him go. He was no threat to them anymore.

Jayden relinquished his grip on the mystery diver and he swam away from them, first laterally, and then vertically toward the air that awaited him above.

Jayden handed Hunt the mouthpiece of his “octopus,” a second regulator scuba divers use in emergency situations. It allowed both of them to breathe out of the same tank, but from different mouthpieces.

With the bubbles out of the way, Hunt took a look around to see if the other diver still lingered, but he saw nothing other than the disorganized pile of stone slabs. Not even a scooter was visible.

When he went to pull a breath from the tank and got nothing, no air, he knew they had extinguished Jayden’s tank, too. The two ex-navy men looked at one another and swam the few remaining feet to the surface.

A member of Madison’s archaeology team was waiting to assist Hunt and Jayden onto the dry pyramid rocks. Madison herself glanced over at them, but didn’t come to greet them this time herself. She was too busy staring at the bronze head Hunt had given her.

Hunt and Jayden clamored up onto the dry part of the subterranean chamber and shrugged out of their scuba gear, handing it off to members of the team. As soon as he was free of his gear, Hunt stood and aimed the beam of his dive light around the dry part of the big room.

“You didn’t see anyone up here? No one else who’s not part of your team?” he asked Madison. The archaeologist looked up from the bronze artifact and shook her head.

“No. Either they were already in this chamber before we got here — which I think is unlikely — or else they swam in underwater from a connecting passage. Also, up top here as you can see, there are many nooks and crannies in the shadows a person could disappear into without being seen.”

As Hunt replied, Jayden added his light to the first and began to slowly walk around, also looking for signs that the intruders had lingered. “So they may have discovered an alternate way into the this same chamber?”

Maddy nodded. “The LiDAR images showed a lot of detail, many possible passages. I just happened to come from this way…” She jerked her thumb back at the wall of slabs they’d cleared an opening through. “…but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways.”

Hunt walked over to Maddy so that he could lower his voice, no longer exactly sure who might be within earshot. “Why would there be so much interest in this particular chamber? Because it’s flooded?”

Madison shrugged. “Certainly the water makes it unusual. And of course it’s been sitting here for thousands of years, so it is odd that it should attract such interest now.”

Hunt nodded to the bronze head cradled in Madison’s arms. “Odd unless there are artifacts in here that might be worth something?”

Maddy looked back down at the bronze head. “You know, this head is most unusual indeed. I need to get it back to my field lab so I can run some more tests.”

Hunt looked around the chamber. “Make sure you don’t walk around in here by yourself anymore. Jayden and I will stay here a little while longer to make sure those divers don’t return, then we’ll meet you at your tent. Your team will go back with you, right?”