Valhalla Rising (Dirk Pitt 16)

"The man who nearly killed me along with a planeload of children in New York, and the one responsible for us lying helpless on the bottom and releasing empty evacuation pods. I'm afraid that he escaped in one of the pods and took Kelly with him."

Giordino placed a hand on Pitt's shoulder. He could appreciate how bad Pitt felt. He felt that he had failed as well, and it came back to haunt him.

Pitt made a mental note of Ford's stateroom number, and hurried out into the passageway, followed by Giordino and O'Malley. Pitt was not in any frame of mind to take the time to ask the stateroom stewardess for a key. He hauled off and kicked the door open. The stewardess had made up the room, but there was no sign of luggage. Pitt pulled open the drawers of the dressers. They were bare. Giordino opened the closet and saw a white object far up on the top shelve. He reached up and pulled down a thick roll of paper and spread it out on the bed.

"The blueprints of the boat," muttered O'Malley. "Where did he get them?"

A chill ran through Pitt's body, as he realized that seizing Kelly had been another one of Ford's assignments. "He's backed by a superb intelligence operation. He was able to familiarize himself with every system and piece of equipment, every deck, bulkhead and structure in exacting detail."

"Which explains how he knew where to place the explosives and manually activate the evacuation pods," said O'Malley.

"There's nothing more we can do here," said Giordino, "exce

pt notify the Coast Guard on the surface to look for a vessel that was hovering over the area to pick this character and Kelly out of the pod."

Accepting Ford's escape and Kelly's abduction as horrible reality, Pitt felt a deep sense of grotesque inadequacy and futility. He was totally powerless to help or rescue her. Pitt sagged dejectedly into a chair. He felt an even deadlier chill pass through him, and this one had nothing to do with Kelly's fate. All the pods were gone, and there was no way they could be retrieved and loaded again. He saw little hope of saving the other six hundred-plus souls on board the sunken cruise liner. He sat there listlessly for a few seconds, then looked into the silent and expectant face of O'Malley and said softly, "You know every corner of the boat." He said it as a statement of fact rather than a question.

O'Malley hesitated, not sure of Pitt's intent. "Yes, I know her as well as anyone."

"Is there another evacuation system besides the pods?"

"I'm not clear what you mean?"

"Did the boatbuilder install a backup airlock system for a chamber rescue?"

"You mean a specially configured hatch on the top of the hull?"

"Exactly."

"Yes, there is one, but there is no way all six hundred of us can be rescued before we run out of air."

"How so?" asked Giordino. "As we speak, rescue operations are under way."

"You don't know?"

"Only if you don't tell us," Pitt said harshly.

"The Golden Marlin was never designed to remain underwater more than four days before surfacing. After that, the air quickly becomes unbreathable."

"I thought the air regenerators refreshed the inside atmosphere indefinitely," said Giordino in surprise.

O'Malley shook his head. "They're very efficient. They do a first-rate job of refreshing the air, but after a while the combined carbon dioxide buildup from seven hundred humans in an enclosed atmosphere becomes too much for the scrubbers and filters. Then the air purification begins to break down." He shrugged darkly. "All this speculation goes out the window if the flooding gets to the generator and we lose power. Then the air regeneration equipment will shut down."

"Four days, if we're lucky," Pitt said slowly. "Three and a half, actually, since we've already been down almost twelve hours since we submerged."

"The U.S. Navy has a deep submergence rescue vehicle that can do the job," said Giordino.

"Yes, but mobilization, transporting it and the operating team to the site, and then setting up the rescue procedures could easily take four days." O'Malley spoke slowly, emphatically. "By the time they drop it down and lock up with the air escape chamber, it will be too late to save more than a handful of us."

Pitt turned to Giordino. "Al, you've got to go topside with the mothers and children."

For perhaps five incredulous seconds, Giordino stood there looking blank. When shocked realization did come, his voice became indignant. "Mrs. Giordino's boy is no coward. I won't jump ship hiding behind women's skirts."

"Believe me, old friend," Pitt entreated, "you can do far more to save everyone by working with me from the surface."

Giordino started to say Why don't you go? but thought better of it and accepted Pitt's reasoning as correct. "Okay, once I reach the surface, what then?"

"It's essential that we get an open line down here to purify the air."