by S. L. Menear
Sweetwater snatched up his satellite phone. “Where is she?”
“Her team just took off for Grootfontein Airport in Namibia. They’re on their way to Dragon’s Breath Cave in the Kalahari Desert. It leads down to the largest underground lake in the world.” The man’s tone radiated excitement.
“That has to be where the Blue Dragon is hidden. Ancient scrolls described a cave beside a body of water in Africa. Give me the details and I’ll send a team.”
Sweetwater jotted down the location and then called his new general.
My team is on the way. Soon, I’ll have the Blue Dragon and Samantha Starr.
He poured a generous measure of Glenglassaugh, glanced out at the lion pen, and smiled.
Dragon’s Breath Cave
We landed well before dawn, and I stopped by the cockpit while the team unloaded our gear into the vehicles we’d rented ahead of time. I looked from Bill to Laura. “Thank you for risking your necks to fly my team all over Africa.”
Laura grinned. “I don’t know about Bill, but this has been the most fun I’ve ever had on the job.”
Bill nodded. “You do lead an exciting life.”
“Yeah, well, sometimes it’s a little too exciting, which brings me to my next request.” I hesitated. “I need you both to promise me you’ll fly back to Florida if you don’t hear from us by ten this morning. I don’t want you to end up in Sweetwater’s crosshairs. That wouldn’t help any of us. And don’t stop at Camp Baledogle.”
“But how will you get home?” Laura asked.
“There’s always another way, and based on what we might find at Dragon’s Breath Cave, we may be led in an unexpected direction that will take us far from this airport. That happened when we went to Lalibela, and it could happen again here. Also, we may end up in a combat situation with Sweetwater’s mercenaries. You’re not equipped or trained for that, so please don’t stay. I can’t bear to lose another friend.”
They glanced at each other and nodded. I hugged them, said goodbye, and left the airplane.
Mike beckoned to me. “Come on, Sam. Time to go.”
We drove thirty miles and pulled up to the site at dawn, our SUVs laden with everything we’d need. As promised, a mysterious mist rose from the harsh waterless landscape, marking the cave’s entrance.
I faced the team. “Mike, I hate to pull rank on you, but we’re almost out of time. The most efficient way to conduct this search is for you to come with me and leave the rest of the team to guard the cave entrance. Sweetwater is bound to know we’re here.”
“Why Mike and not me?” Banger crossed his arms.
“I have a gut feeling I’ll need a blood relative for this.” I shrugged. “Sorry, my liege.”
“All right, what can we do to help?” Banger opened the rear hatch on one of our two SUVs.
Mike grabbed his wetsuit. “Help us unload the gear.”
I pulled a wetsuit on over my shorts and T-shirt. “We’ll each take two rebreather units, pushing one ahead and dragging one behind through the tight spots. And we’ll need a few of those tactical lift bags along with the regular ones. The Blue Dragon Diamond is two feet long and probably heavy, and we’ll need to tow our extra tanks.” I shoved the leather pouch with the Eye into a pocket in my BC vest and secured the belly bag around the outside of the vest with extra clips. “I hope the cave is cold enough that I won’t overheat in this neoprene.”
Mike handed me two dive knives in sheaths. “Strap these to your calves. Do you want a speargun?”
“No, I’ve got the sphere and the scepter. They should be more than enough if Sweetwater’s mercs manage to sneak down there.”
“Just remember—wherever we go, we do it together. I’ll lead until we reach the water.” He clipped a Glock in a dry bag and his fins onto his BC vest and slung a ballistic speargun across his chest. “Let’s go.”
We had the dive tanks rigged with all the rope we’d need to lower them onto the raft one hundred and twenty feet beneath the final passage. I did another check of my gear. I had four extra lift bags, and so did Mike.
Banger checked me over. “Be careful down there, my queen.” He handed me an extra mag light.
“You do the same up here, my liege. There’s bound to be a battle with Sweetwater’s mercs.” I wrapped my arms around him.
Lance stepped in for a hug and so did Lisa.
It was go time. Mike and I slid down a rope into the misty hole and landed on a slanted cavern floor. The cavern ended in a small choke twenty feet in. Next came a low, narrow passage that required crawling to a twenty-five-foot vertical drop onto a ledge where we slid down another rope to a passage forty feet farther down.
“Oh, boy, this part looks even tighter. We’ll have to crawl, shoving and dragging our tanks.” I hitched one rebreather unit to my waist.
Mike checked my eyes. “How’s the claustrophobia?”
“I’m okay, but if I never have to go in another cave, I won’t be sorry.” I dropped to my knees. “Lead on, big brother.”
We crawled downward for what seemed like hours to my claustrophobic mind. Then Mike halted in front of me and peeked over a ledge.
“We’ve reached the last drop to the lake. It’s a really long way down, and the lake is huge.” He rigged his rebreather tanks and lowered them onto the raft. “Shove your tanks to me.” He turned and rigged the ropes for mine. “Down they go.”
Mike waved me forward. “You’re next. When you reach the raft, secure our tanks to it in case it flips when I land on it.”
“Okay, wish me luck.” I grasped the down line with my gloved hands and backed over the ledge.
“You don’t need luck, sis. You’re Queen of Atlantis. Now let’s get down there and kick ass.” Mike’s version of a SEAL motivational speech.
I was glad I’d worn neoprene booties as I wedged my feet against the rope and descended. I slid down as slowly as possible so I wouldn’t tip the raft when I landed. A quick glance around with my night-vision gear revealed a vast cavern housing an enormous lake. The openness helped ease my discomfort with being so far underground.
I had descended the equivalent of a twelve-story building when my feet touched the raft. It felt tippy. I maneuvered it with my toes until I was over the center, and then I gently eased myself all the way down onto it.
“I’m on the raft, securing the tanks,” I said to Mike via my radio. “Start down slowly.”
“Descending now,” he replied.
I had no sooner tied off the tanks when my brother dropped into the raft without making a ripple.
“Wow, you SEALs really are agile. It seemed a lot more difficult when I did it.”
“It’s all about the training. I’ll mount your tank on your BC, then you mount mine.” He attached my rebreather pack to my buoyancy-compensator vest and switched on the air. “Looks good. Now do mine.”
Our next task was securing the extra tanks to partially filled lift bags and tethering them to us so we could tow them behind us on our dive. I was grateful for our DARPA night-vision full facemasks—we’d be able to see in the pitch-black water and talk to each other.
Mike gazed at the immense lake. “Before we jump in, what’s the plan?”
I thought for a moment. “We’ve arrived at the riddle’s primordial lake, and I’ve passed all the tests and collected every Atlantean artifact we could possibly need for this mission. I think the sphere will take us to the Blue Dragon now. Hold onto my ankles once we’re in the water, in case it starts pulling us.”
“All right. It’s worth a try. Give it the command.” He dropped over the side and waited.
Cold water instantly cooled my hot skin under the wetsuit. The lake, undisturbed since the beginning of time, was crystal clear.
I commanded the metal globe to pull us slowly to the Blue Dragon once we were in the water. Mike grasped my ankles, and the sphere came alive inside the satchel clipped to me. It pulled us downward at an angle away from the raft. I prayed it wouldn’t drag u
s too deep. Decompression would be an inconvenient delay we couldn’t afford.
As we descended, we encountered a rare fish, the golden cave catfish. It glistened like twenty-four-carat gold, but it couldn’t see us because the eternal darkness had made it blind.
Behind me, Mike cried out, “Sam!” and let go of my ankles.
I turned and spotted a dark cloud forming around him. Blood. His body was slowly sinking.
Two divers rushed at me from above. The sphere in the satchel kept pulling me away slowly. I telepathically commanded it to halt and pulled it out of its bag. When a diver waved his speargun at me, I distracted him by shoving the sphere into his hands.
It shocked him with a jolt of energy, and he dropped it and his weapon. I used that moment to slap a tactical lift bag on his ankle and lock it.
As he rocketed inverted to the surface, destined to suffer an embolism or the bends or both from this depth, the other diver shot me in the stomach. Blood clouded the water as I yanked out the spear. The enemy diver grabbed hold of the bracelet and tried to pull it off my wrist.
Dizzy and bleeding, I telepathically commanded the sphere to return and laser my attacker’s head. It did, and the result was instant death for my enemy. As he dropped away, I looked around. Where was Mike? I couldn’t bear to lose him.
I placed my little friend back in the satchel and commanded it to pull me to the speared diver. Mike was slowly disappearing into the depths when I reached him. A spear was embedded in his side, blood leaking out in a steady stream. That meant he was still alive.
I yanked out the spear and placed my right hand on his wound as I pulled him up slowly to a sixty-foot depth.
Dizzy, I prayed, “Dear God, please don’t let my brother die.”
The diamond in my bracelet blazed with brilliant light, and I saw stars again. I closed my eyes and prayed once more for my brother. I knew the same energy that was healing him would heal me, like it had in the Sahara.
“Hey, sis, what happened to those divers?” Mike’s voice sounded strong.
I checked his side and my belly. “They’re dead, and your wound is healed.” I hugged him and looked into his eyes. “How do you feel?”
“Fine.” Mike smiled at me through his facemask. “Let’s go. We’re burning daylight.” He eased below me and grasped my ankles.
My head cleared now that my wound had healed. I commanded my little buddy to slowly pull us to the Blue Dragon.
An hour later, we reached the entrance to an underwater cave. The sphere pulled us inside and up to an air pocket.
I stuck my head above the water and gasped. “Wow, I never expected this.”
Twenty-Seven
“Awesome.” Mike pulled himself up on the bank and tried the air outside his mask.
“Is the air good?” I asked as he pulled me onto the ledge.
“Yeah, you can take your mask off.” He stood and slipped out of his vest and tanks.
“If this is what I think it is, we won’t be leaving the way we came.” I stood, slipped out of my dive gear, and pulled off my wetsuit. I removed the leather pouch with the Eye from my BC and tied it to a belt loop on my shorts. Then I cinched the belly bag around my waist and pulled out the sphere.
I stood before a giant version of my silver-blue buddy. It was at least thirty feet in diameter. “Open the door,” I said in Atlantean.
The tiny sphere zapped a spot with its laser, and an entry door opened where none had been apparent. Steps dropped down.
I turned my gaze above the large silver ball and spotted a huge metal cover in the cavern’s ceiling. “Open the hatch,” I commanded.
My little helper zapped the center with its laser, and the door swung open, revealing a vertical tunnel. Before I could say anything, it sent another laser straight up the tunnel, and a loud clunk indicated the surface hatch had opened. Sand and dirt rained down and slid off the giant globe.
Mike had removed his wetsuit and clipped his Glock to his shorts. We hadn’t brought shoes, so we kept our neoprene booties on.
Mike edged closer to the strange craft. “Am I supposed to enter this first?”
I put the little sphere in my bag. “Yes, but I want to be holding onto you when you do, just in case it doesn’t know you’re supposed to be here.” I grabbed his left hand. “Okay, go ahead.”
He climbed the eight steps with me close on his heels. We emerged onto a flight deck with command seats, controls, perimeter seats, and two survival pods with people inside. An enormous blue marquise diamond was mounted vertically in the center of the interior. It had to be over two feet long. The Blue Dragon Diamond.
I glanced behind me. The stairs retracted, and the door closed.
I turned and stared at two unconscious people lying under glass canopies—an elderly man and woman in separate pods. A control panel indicated the suspended animation function had failed, but the life support still had twenty minutes remaining.
“This is what the message meant when it said, ‘Save them.’ It was referring to this man and woman. They’ve been locked away for thousands of years and should’ve still been young when the time came for them to wake up. Too bad the system malfunctioned seventy years ago.” I stared at their wrinkled faces in quiet repose, their eyes closed.
Mike stood beside me. “Are you going to wake them now?”
“Not yet. The divers who attacked us had to have made it past our team. That means our people need us. We should rescue them first.”
Mike studied the analog readouts on the pods. “But, sis, they only have eighteen minutes until their life support runs out.”
“Yes, but what if they’re evil, super-powerful beings who immediately take control of the ship and prevent us from helping our team and rescuing Ross and Derek? I won’t risk it.” I turned away and sat in the command chair.
The instant I placed my hands on the crystal armrests, the machine powered up, emitting a low hum. I studied the strange instrument panel, trying to deduce how to control the sphere.
Mike peered over my shoulder. “I hope you know how to fly this thing.”
“I’ve got ratings for all sorts of airplanes, seaplanes, gliders, jets, and helicopters, but I failed to earn my big round ball rating, so excuse me if the ride ends up being a little bumpy.” I grabbed a crystal stick and pulled back.
“Whoa.” Mike grabbed the back of my chair to keep from tumbling backward as we zoomed up the vertical tunnel and shot into the bright sunshine.
I wasn’t expecting such an incredible rate of climb. We were at one hundred thousand feet in seconds.
“Crap, didn’t mean to go so high.” I eased forward on the stick, and we descended too fast.
“Careful, sis, we can’t help our team if you kill us in this thing.”
Even though we were inside a metal aircraft, the walls were transparent from the inside. I could see everything outside, including the ground rushing up at us.
“Do something!” Mike squeezed my shoulder.
I pulled back, instantly pushed forward, then neutralized the stick, narrowly averting disaster. We hovered a few feet above the ground near the Dragon’s Breath Cave entrance. I caught my breath and glanced around, looking for our team.
There were dead soldiers everywhere. Sweetwater must’ve sent a small army against our three teammates.
Just then, a bullet bounced off the sphere.
“I guess this unobtainium is bulletproof.” Mike looked around.
I studied the panel, searching for a laser weapon trigger. I wonder if this is it? I grabbed a smaller stick with my left hand and squeezed.
Yep. A massive laser beam shot out and annihilated an enemy helicopter parked nearby. A big explosion was followed by tiny pieces of burning metal fluttering to the ground.
Mike tapped my shoulder. “Our team is crouched behind that Range Rover. Destroy those two Hummers and then hover in front of our people.”
“Easier said than done. I’m learning as I go.” I eased the control stic
k to one side, then stopped the turn and squeezed the trigger.
I hit one Humvee and missed the other, but the laser was so powerful, the explosion destroyed both vehicles.
Mike gently squeezed my shoulder. “Sam, you have to kill all the mercs or a survivor will call Sweetwater, and he’ll kill Ross and Derek. Do it now. We don’t have time to take prisoners.”
“No, if we don’t take prisoners, how will I find Sweetwater’s secret camp?” I hovered the sphere in front of our team, and ten mercs dropped their weapons and kneeled with their hands on their heads.
“Our people are bleeding. They need help fast.” Mike glanced back. “How do we open the door?”
“I don’t know.” Banger’s voice replayed in my head. “What would the Queen of Atlantis do?”
I eased the ship onto the ground, never taking my eyes off the enemy, and shouted a command in Atlantean to open the door.
The door opened and the steps deployed. I took a quick peek as Mike rushed out to our team and led them back. He had to help Banger up the steps.
I commanded the sphere to remain on the ground and took my right hand off the control stick so I could heal my friends. “Mike, bring me the two with the most serious wounds first.”
Banger sat in the chair beside me. His legs and arms were covered in blood from numerous bullet wounds. He pulled Lisa onto his lap. “What do you have in mind, Sam?”
“I think the bracelet will heal both of you if you stay pressed together while the energy passes through you.” The bracelet blazed brightly and sent healing energy through my hand into them.
I looked outside and called to my brother, “Mike, come and put your hand over my left hand. If the mercs reach for a weapon, squeeze my hand. Otherwise, wait so we can get intel on Sweetwater’s location.”
One fool on the far left snatched up his weapon. Mike took aim and vaporized him. The rest of the soldiers immediately dived to prone positions with their hands on their heads.
Banger and Lisa healed simultaneously after a few minutes. “Are you both okay now?”
“I’m still a bit weak.” Lisa rubbed her head.
