Jason was sweating by the time they finally reached the hole where they had come from. Henry was trying his best to make himself as light as possible but every approach to set his foot on the ground ended in a growl of pain. The light in the cellar room was almost blinding after the dim glow of the tunnel and Jason's eyes needed a moment to get used to it. As they stepped through the breach, something caught his sight. Before he could examine it further, Henry's moan brought him back.
"Neri?" Jason asked breathless, "can you handle Henry alone? Can you bring him back?"
"Yes." She took Henry's whole weight and straightened up, giving him a questioning look.
"I just want to check out this door." He nodded across the room. "I'll be right there."
Neri looked worried. "I should go with you."
"No, it's probably nothing," he replied. "I just wanna make sure. And Henry needs medical attention."
"I can wait," Henry protested. "You're right: we should check out this door."
"No, you two go back. I will keep you posted. I promise."
Neri still looked uncertain but another gasp from Henry seemed to remind her about the priorities. Jason watched them leaving, then turned around to the door. With the huge breach in the wall, they didn't pay any attention to the rest of this room. The red metal door seemed heavy but plain. It was unlocked and Jason slipped into what was obviously another maintenance tunnel. Several pipelines ran across the ceiling. A few meters away, a big fuse panel was embedded into the concrete wall. As he examined it further, his watch beeped.
"Jason? Where are you? Neri just came back …"
"Mum," he interrupted her quickly. "I'm fine. Can you please give me De Souza?"
It just took a moment. "Jason. Where are you?"
"Do you have plans, blueprints of the hotel? Third… fourth room to the right. The maintenance tunnel, what's its function and where does it lead?"
"One moment … Heating and electricity maintenance. It leads so the gas tanks."
Somehow this information trickled into his brain like ice cold water. "So, the pipelines I'm seeing, are gas lines?" He took a deep breath and started walking down the tunnel towards another red metal door a few hundred feet away. "Did anyone check this room?"
"No."
"How many of your people are down in the sewers?"
"Many."
"Did they check out the rooms before they went straight down through the big breaches in the walls?"
She didn't gasp, just exhaled extendedly. "A distraction," she concluded calmly. In the distance, he could hear her giving orders, calling back the squads from the sewers. He had reached the door. With sweaty, cold hands he pulled it open. His heart stopped beating for a second as a cool fist squeezed it into a tiny, dense piece of ice.
"We started with evacuation about an hour ago." De Souza's voice reminded him to breathe. "The royal family and yours are next."
"Yeah, that's probably for the best." Somehow, he managed to keep his voice calm. "Is Brett back?"
"Yes, he arrived half an hour ago. We have Bones in custody."
He had never thought, he could feel relief while walking through a room full of explosives. But now he knew, all of his family was safe. The thought brought some claritiy into his mind. Now, he could focus on the problem at hand.
"That's great. I'll be right up. Nothing here," he heard himself say. Strange. He had never thought of himself being a good actor.
He scanned the room again. The small clocks ticking told him, he still had time. Maybe enough.
First, he had to remove the red packages from the big gas tank and get them into the tunnel. The heavy metal doors would probably hold in most of the blast's power. With luck, the explosion would not reach the tank this way.
"They are on their way, Jason."
"You should go, too. You have about 7 minutes."
The packages' grip to the tank was not very tight. He started removing the explosives one by one while waiting for De Souza break the shocked silence.
"Start running, Jason. Don't make me come and get you."
"I turned off the gas. Maybe that will buy you some time." He turned off his watch. He would not have enough time if he had to argue with her now. Carefully, he carried the first load towards the maintenance tunnel and put it to the ground. Next load. Ironically, the ticking of the timers helped him to get into a quick efficient rhythm. Maybe, he should try to get the packages down to the sewers but he had no idea if that shallow water would be enough to extinguish them. How to disable a bomb had not been a major course on O.R.C.A..
Four minutes.
The tank was clear. Now, the pipes.
Three minutes.
He picked up as much of the packages, he could carry and started running. He hit the first metal door with his shoulder, pushed it open and sprinted across the room. He jumped through the breach and ran along the tunnel.
Two minutes.
At the junction, he put down the packages in the water, each in as much distance from each other as possible just in case. A small voice in his head told him, it was useless. A louder voice told him to start running. Somehow this voice sounded a lot like Neri.
One minute.
He all but dropped the last package and finally obeyed the voice who had become a scream. He ran down the tunnel, too late realizing that he was about to run into the dead end, they had explored earlier. The ground started shaking. There was no way to run. He saw the corner appear but there was no going back, either. He felt the heat and the blast in his back. His ears were ringing from the earsplitting noise of a dozen explosions. The blast knocked him over and for a fraction of a second, he was flying before he was violently smashed against the lattice. He wanted to scream in agony, but the impact had pushed the air out of his lungs. The next second, he felt nothing but air beneath him. The impact must also had broken the rusty rods from around the wall. His fall lasted only a second, then he hit the water. He had barely time to breathe before he sank. The water body seemed deep. There was no up and down, just a strong force pulling him further. His body was tossed around, slammed against rocks and walls. There was no air, no light, just pain. He hit another wall and he reached out blindly, holding on to it. He felt his hands breaking the surface and with one quick movement, he pulled himself up. The air tasted delicious in his mouth. He fumbled forward, got hold of something sharp. It cut his hand but at least it was something to hold on to. He screamed against the agony, pulled himself out of the water as the metal sliced up his skin. The ground shook again as he lay on the floor. He felt it rumbling, heard rocks and stone crumble around him over the loud splashing of wild water. A sharp pain exploded at the back of his head and once more, he fell into darkness.