Chapter 9

The bell sank silently beneath the surface and began its descent into the depths. Lee schooled his thoughts and emotions as he tried his best to relax and reduce his body's demand for oxygen. As the bell slowly dropped down both the temperature and light dwindled as they entered the abyss.

Lee steadied his respiration and looked slowly around. They had quickly passed 600 feet and with it all light from the surface. As they neared 1000 feet, Lee noticed that his respiration had increased and he struggled to slow it down. The lower they went the greater the pressure on him from the endless water above. He'd been this deep before on dives, but he'd always had backup and Seaview was there to rescue him if he ran into trouble. Now he was truly, inexorably on his own with no chance of rescue.

Passing 1500 feet, he spared a quick glance at his dive watch secured to his glove and noticed much to his dismay, it had succumbed to the pressure and stopped as he spied the tiny bubbles racing across the watch face. He closed his eyes and swallowed hard trying to drive off the feeling of being stuck in this hostile environment all alone. There was a growing sensation of claustrophobia and the attendant panic that went with it as he began to feel as though he'd been buried alive.

When they passed 2000 feet, he noticed that he had developed tremors in his hands. He made a fist in hopes of banishing them but as soon as he unballed his hands the shaking quickly returned. He also noticed that he was starting to develop a headache. There was a gnawing, scratching, throbbing pain behind his eyes and as they dropped deeper into the unrelenting blackness, the ache spread further back through his skull.

At 2500 feet he was acutely aware of how cold it was. It felt as though all heat had leached from his body and his heart was now circulating the frigid, black seawater that held him tightly in its crushing grip. Tremors ripped through his body as increased CO2 and extreme pressure worked in tandem to break his resolve. The words alone, forsaken, adrift echoed over and over again in his mind as all he could see was the abyss, and all he could feel was the weight of the world upon him. The small dive light attached to the bell did little to dispel the darkness and give him hope.

As the threat of panic fought to take hold and drive him forcefully back to the world of light and warmth, Lee took control and began repeating his calming mantra and mentally pictured the reasons for this plunge into the inky depths. He knew should panic win, he would be dead before his body rocketed to the surface if he gave in to the desire to pull the tabs on his buoyancy compensator. He had to maintain his control, his resolve, his staunch and unwavering belief in himself, and rescue his vessel, his crew, and his family.

He curled tightly into a ball as the tremors continued to wrack his entire body. His breathing had become rapid and shallow, and he was feeling short of breath. He was becoming tired and lethargic, and closed his eyes against the impenetrable darkness. As he once again schooled his breathing, he pushed back the pain and panic and reminded himself why he was here and who he was coming to get. Somewhere deep in the back of his mind, he registered the fact that he was experiencing several of the symptoms of hypercapnia as the levels of CO2 increased in his body.

Lost in his calming recitations, he was suddenly jolted alert as the bell set down on Seaview. He opened his eyes and felt a wash of relief having reached his boat, but that didn't last long as he fought to remember what he needed to do now. He stared stupidly at the buttons and switches before him for a moment before everything clicked into place. He had joked with Al and his team about the size of the switches and buttons they had used on their system, they were inordinately large given the limited actions he needed to perform. Al quickly pointed out that in all likelihood his manual dexterity would be impacted by the effects of the depth and the breathing medium so they had to be large so he could easily manipulate things to detach and get to his boat.

Having it finally register his time was short, Lee reached out and activated the switch that changed his breathing mixture from the bell tanks to the one on his back. He then lowered his hand and pulled the small sea scooter up next to him and activated the lights and electric motor. He finally hit the large button that released his tether to the bell and for one terrifying moment he began falling deeper into the abyss. Pulling it together he got his second hand on the scooter, depressed the accelerator, and the motor engaged halting his descent eliciting a deep sigh of relief.

Lee made his way to the edge of the boat then directed his scooter downward and under the great gray lady. He headed aft and quickly located the entrance to the moon pool. He reached out and after three attempts correctly entered the combination that slid back the outer door giving him access to his boat. He carefully lined up on the moon shaped orb of light above him then released his scooter and pulled the emergency inflation tabs on his BC.

The reaction was immediate as the larger than normal CO2 cartridges released their charge into the flotation device's air bladders and virtually rocketed him upwards and past the rim of the pool. As he cleared the outside edge of the hull, the mesh bag on his back snagged on the metal and was ripped off. Luckily there was sufficient momentum to carry him up and into the moon pool well where he was able to bend at the waist landing hard, chest first onto the deck around the pool. Although stunned by the sudden impact, he managed to pull himself aboard and lay basking in the light and warmth of his gray lady. He chuckled mentally to himself, wondering if this was what it was like to be born.

ooolo)

The atmosphere inside the bell was tense as Riley initiated his descent. The shackled and hooded prisoner sat motionless and silent as they began their ride down to Seaview. Riley made no attempt to converse with the man as he carefully monitored and adjusted the controls. The only words spoken were to the ship above and the boat below providing depth and status readings as they made their journey.

Riley was thankful his passenger was unable to see his face, since he truly doubted he could have hidden the concern he had for his other passenger clinging to the outside. He occasionally peered out of the small observation ports hoping to get a glimpse of his captain but all he could see was the never ending darkness.

After nearly 45 minutes, they were within 100 feet of Seaview. He called up to the Bunker Hill and had them slow the feed of cable. "Seaview, this is the bell. We are preparing to begin docking operations," Riley informed the boat.

"This is Seaview," Weems answered. "Copy that bell, we will be standing by." He clicked the mic and called his greeting party to the con so they could be staged ready to take on Logan and repel any potential attempts to retake the boat. Moments later, the bell set down hard on Seaview's hull over the escape hatch, aft of the conning tower.

Riley set the bell down hard to alert his outside passenger they had arrived if perchance he had passed out or had become distracted or confused. He took great pains to draw out the process of securing the bell, pumping the water out of the skirt, and then cracking the hatch. He moved slowly to the tool chest secured against the bulkhead and pulled out a large hammer which he would use to pound on Seaview's hatch alerting them that the connection was made.

No longer able to stall, Riley kneeled on the deck and hit Seaview's hatch twice with the hammer letting them know it was safe to open their hatch. As he heard the hatch wheel turn, Stu stepped back and drew his gun training it on the hatch below him. The hatch pushed open and he was met by one of Logan's men.

"I've got your man," Riley said tersely. "You come in and take him down. Once you've got him aboard and you are out of the bell, I will give you the keys."

Hillman narrowed his eyes as he regarded Riley, then nodded. He climbed the rest of the way up into the bell and was somewhat shocked and amused at what he found. He was unprepared to find Logan trussed up like a turkey in a shockingly pink jumpsuit, and was unable to hide the smile that momentarily flashed across his face.

"Roberts, Bridger, come over here and give me a hand. I have to lower Mr. Logan down to you, he's not able to make the climb himself," Hillman called down the hatch. After a moment the two men stood at the base of the ladder.

Hillman pulled the hood off of Logan's head and he squinted and blinked at the sudden influx of light. Logan glared at Riley and the gun that was firmly leveled at them. Hillman unfastened the gag and Logan coughed and spit. "Get me out of here!" he snapped.

Hillman unhooked the seatbelt and helped Logan stand, then move to the edge of the hatch. Roberts and Bridger were standing there ready to accept their boss as Hillman slid his hands under Logan's arms then slowly lowered him to the men below. Once on the deck he turned to Riley. "Now, give me the keys," he ordered.

"Like I said once you're out of the bell and on the deck below," Riley answered not the least bit intimidated by the larger man. "Now you get out of this ship." He waved the gun menacingly at the man. He glared at Riley then climbed down the ladder at which point Riley threw down the keys and slammed the hatch shut and dogged it.

Not wanting to risk the operator taking off before they could dog their hatch, Hillman bolted back up the ladder and secured Seaview's hatch. Once he climbed down he found Weems working diligently at unlocking and uncuffing his boss.

When he was free he rounded on them all viciously and sneered at his men. "Where the hell are Nelson and Crane?" he spat.

"We just have Nelson and his acting captain Morton," Weems began, and then shrank back as Logan's anger threatened to explode.

"Where the hell is Crane?" he demanded.

"He's dead. Apparently he was killed coming back from some Navy Reserve training in a car accident. He was overdue before we left so Commander Morton, the XO, took over as captain for the mission," Weems replied hesitantly.

"And I suppose you verified that?"

"We got it from some admiral named Hardy and it was confirmed by Starke," Weems answered lamely.

"So you just took their word for it? Idiots!" Logan screamed and backhanded Weems across the face.

"Look we were stuck on this stupid sub and had no way to verify anything. If Nelson's and Morton's reactions were any indication they believed it. It seemed as if they almost expected something had happened to him," Weems responded as he rubbed his face. "You could have easily had your people verify it and let you know."

"They kept me bound, blind, and gagged for most of my transfer. They were taking no chances. Take me to Nelson," he ordered.

(olooo

As warmth began to seep back into his body, it dawned on Lee he needed to get this breathing gear off now or he would suffocate. He pushed slowly up onto his hands and knees then raised upright and brought his hands to either side of his helmet, grabbed the clasps, pulled them forward breaking the seal and releasing the helmet from his suit. The fluid quickly drained out and Lee shoved the helmet up and off his head, and dropped it to the deck.

After a couple seconds and a tentative effort to breathe, his body reacted to the foreign fluid in his lungs by generating a powerful coughing spasm as it worked to eject the unwanted liquid. The coughing was so hard Lee found himself back down on hands and knees unable to move. As the spasms quieted, he took his first deep breath of good old reconditioned air and was once again struck with a coughing fit as his body fought to expel the fluid and expand his lungs.

When the second wave of coughing subsided Lee remembered the oxygen cylinder strapped to his leg and quickly released the strap, raised the cylinder to his lips, clamped down on the mouthpiece and drew in a deep breath of pure oxygen. The result was almost instantaneous as the O2 entered his blood stream and helped begin the purge of excess CO2 from his system. With more oxygen came more mental clarity and acuity, and his mission objectives sharpened in his mind.

Breathing deeply, he felt relatively sure that his entrance to the boat had gone undetected. He heard no angry voices or hurried steps making their way down to the moon pool. Between Riley's banging and stalling for time, plus his instructions embedded in the autodestruct sequence to disable the moon pool access hatch alarm, he slipped in under their noses. A weak smile formed around the mouthpiece as he mentally patted himself on the back as he rested.

He next reached into the thigh pocket of his dive suit and pulled out the inhaler Marquez had given him, and he took a deep hit. He felt as though he'd just eaten a huge gob of wasabi horseradish as a rapid and startling flush surged throughout his body. He coughed a couple more times then returned pulling off breaths from his O2 cylinder. Al had said he needed to breathe pure oxygen for at least 15 minutes if possible, before embarking on his mission. Since his watch had met its demise on the trip down he had no way to measure time. Feeling significantly refreshed, he reasoned he had met that requirement and it was now time to divest himself of his suit and prepare to take out the hijackers.

Lee rose to his feet and began peeling off his tank and dive suit. As he lowered his tank to the deck he was dismayed to discover he had somehow lost the bag carrying his weapon and sedatives. He cursed quietly to himself for a brief moment, then set his mind to adjusting to the new set of mission conditions and finding another way to take the bad guys out.

He needed now to get a lay of the land and determine how Logan's men were controlling the boat. Since they had been at station keeping once they moved the boat to their current depth, he hoped that they had rounded up the crew and weren't using them as hands preferring not to risk a takeover attempt. He hoped they were being kept in relatively large groups where a few missing men wouldn't be easily detected.

He moved to the hatch and carefully spun the wheel retracting the latch then cautiously cracked the door open and hazarded a quick look. His luck was holding as there was no one in the passageway. He shoved the hatch open, stepped out into the corridor then redogged it. He made his way quickly to the closest storage room and entered. He knew Logan realized they had overthrown him the first time by forcing gas through the ventilation system, but he hoped that he hadn't figured out that they had used the conduits as a means to coordinate their attack and transit the boat without being seen.

He shoved a couple of crates under the vent grate, climbed up and entered the shaft. As he pulled shut the grate he suddenly found himself light headed and had to fight off a terrific urge to cough. The effects of the breathing medium and CO2 in his body was still significant and Marquez had warned that he would have problems breathing normally until his system was back to normal. Lee pulled out the inhaler and took another hit, the reaction was the same as his first hit and he breathed a sigh of relief. The urge to cough was going to be problematic as he worked his way through the vent shafts. The last thing he needed was to experience a coughing fit where someone could hear him. He allowed himself one last coughing jag while secreted in the supply room then once recovered, he began his trek through the boat.

ooolo)