Clive Cussler - Wrath of Poseidon

Zoe continued past the boulder, then down the steep hill, excited. Suddenly she stopped. “Over here! I found it!”

As she turned to look at them, a gust of wind hit her. She stepped back, lost her balance on the steep hill. The limestone disintegrated beneath her feet, and down she went, desperately grasping at the dry brush. One second she was there, the next she was gone.

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

Sam and Dimitris raced down the hill.

“Zoe!” There was no answer. Dimitris dropped his gear bag, then started for the edge of the bluff. The ground started crumbling beneath his feet.

Sam grabbed his arm, pulling him back onto solid ground.

“I need to get down there,” Dimitris said, his voice filled with panic.

“We’ll get to her,” Sam said as Remi and Nikos ran up behind them. Sam held out his arm, stopping Remi from getting closer. One more step and she’d hit the same patch of limestone and dried weeds that had sent Zoe tumbling. “We’ll need rope.” He turned around, examining the area, nodding at the rock with the sun carving. “We can anchor off there.”

Dimitris reached for his bag. “I’ll go down first.”

“Let Sam,” Nikos said. “You’re too upset.”

Dimitris didn’t answer. Nikos placed his hand on his son’s shoulder. “Think of Zoe. You want someone with a clear head going down to look for her.”

The young man nodded, then pulled out the gear. Sam and Nikos checked over each piece, then anchored off the line. When Sam was ready to start his descent, he moved to the edge, kicking at the crumbling limestone where Zoe fell. It slid down toward the cave, gathering speed and gravel like a mini avalanche, some of it disappearing beneath a large boulder that jutted out to the right of the cavern mouth.

Remi watched as he lowered himself over the edge, her green eyes filled with worry.

Sam switched on his headlamp, then started his descent. Because of the approaching storm, the gusting wind swirled down into the mouth, threatening to send him into a spin. The forty-foot cavern dropped straight down. A little more than halfway into his descent, he stopped to take stock. The cavern floor wasn’t more than twenty feet wide and completely empty. There was no sense in going any farther. No Zoe, no treasure, just a few jagged rocks that would kill anyone falling from the top.

So, what happened to Zoe?

He began his ascent, this time unable to control the spin as the wind rushed by. The beam from his headlamp bounced off the cavern walls, a dance of light and shadows. When he looked back, he caught a glimpse of a crevice about five feet below the cavern mouth—and Zoe’s booted foot just visible between the rocks. Odd, because he hadn’t seen her on the way down, and from here, he couldn’t see any way into the crevice from the cave mouth. “Zoe!” he shouted.

He wasn’t sure if it was the wind or her moaning.

“Don’t move. We’re coming to get you.”

Sam returned to the cliff’s edge. He climbed out, then took a slow look around the cavern mouth, again seeing the large boulder jutting out to the right, the same place he’d seen the gravel falling.

“Where is she?” Dimitris asked.

“I think she fell beneath that boulder.”

The space beneath the massive rock was dark and narrow. Had he not seen her foot on his ascent, they never would’ve found her.

Nikos looked down, trying to see. “How are you going to get to her?”

“I think I can slide down under the rock and pull her up. It’ll be tight, but doable.”

The two men lowered Sam toward the cave and the rock. Once in front of it, he rearranged his harness. “Ready.”

While Nikos and Dimitris controlled the tension, he crawled on his stomach, headfirst into the crevice.

“Zoe?” he said as he worked himself beneath the boulder.

“I’m here,” came a weak voice.

He still couldn’t see her. He maneuvered farther, finally seeing her looking up at him, then closing her eyes as gravel rained down on top of her. She’d slid into the steep crevice, too far to climb out on her own. “Anything broken?” he asked. “You can wiggle all your fingers and toes?”

“No. My right arm hurts and I can’t move my hand.”

“You’ve got quite the lump on your forehead.”

She touched it with her left hand, then pulled her fingers back. “No blood. That’s a good sign, yes?”

“A good sign,” Sam said, not sure if she’d been knocked out or just stunned from the fall. “We’ll do this slowly. Okay?”

She nodded.

Sam reached down, but when he touched Zoe’s right arm she cried out. He called up to Nikos. “Give me about another foot of length.” Nikos let out the rope. This time, Sam grasped her around her torso, staying well away from the injured arm. “I’m going to pull you up. If anything doesn’t feel right, let me know.”

“Okay.”

“Ready,” Sam called out.

Nikos and Dimitris started pulling on the rope as Sam held Zoe. When they cleared the space beneath the boulder, he helped her onto the small ledge.

She tried to lift her right arm, the pain so sharp she stopped. “I think it’s broken.”

Sam eyed the lump a few inches above her wrist. “It looks like it.” He twisted around and said, “Nikos, drop the second harness.” Then, looking back at Zoe, said, “We’ll get you up with that.”

She nodded, then looked down past the crevice, giving a pained smile. “I found the cave.”

“You did at that.” He caught the harness that Dimitris tossed down, then helped Zoe into it. Nikos and Dimitris lifted her to the top.

“Zoe,” Dimitris said. He started to hug her, then stopped short as she cradled her arm against her chest.

“I’m fine,” she said. “Where’s Sam?”

Nikos had helped Sam onto the hillside. He was coiling up the rope while Nikos removed the anchor.

Bewildered, Zoe said, “Why are you putting that away? Isn’t someone going to look in the cave?”

“It was empty,” Sam said.

“How do you know?”

“I was able to look inside,” Sam assured her.

“Let’s get you off this hill,” Nikos said as he and Dimitris each took one side, helping her down the path toward the blue-topped church. A few fat drops splattered on the ground in front of them. Looking out, the rain was dancing across the sea that had been calm but was now darkening, and the clouds were racing toward the shore. In the short few minutes it took for them to get from the top of the hill to the bottom near the dock, the sun had disappeared behind a thick bank of angry clouds, and the cerulean waters had turned black.

The storm was nearly on them.

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

Nikos looked up at the sky. “I don’t think anyone expected the weather to turn so soon. Certainly not me.”

“It’s not your fault,” Sam said. “We weren’t expecting to be here this long.”

They headed into the church to take a better look at Zoe in order to decide their best course of action. As they stepped inside the gate of the courtyard, a particularly large wave hit the six-foot wall, sending a spray of water over the top. Nikos and Dimitris, on either side of Zoe, helped her quickly through the door, where it was still dry. “How are you feeling?” Nikos asked her.

“Other than my arm, I’m a bit dizzy.”

Dimitris helped her to sit. She took a deep breath, then closed her eyes. “What about that carving on the rock? It looked like the sketch, didn’t it?”

“Yes, it did. But not as angry.”

Sam, worried about the hit to Zoe’s head, drew Nikos aside. “On top of what looks like a break in her arm, she may have a concussion. We should get her to a doctor as soon as possible.”