Page 81 (1/2)

"There you go again with the lecture Don't tell me you took a basic course in tunnel construction"

"Have you forgotten the summer between semesters at the Air Force Academy when I worked in a silver mine in Leadville, Colorado?" retorted Pitt

"I reuard in Malibu" Giordino peered through the wireHe walked around theit to a latch "Locked froh the mesh"

Pitt produced a sht need these if we ran into barbwire"

Giordino held theht from below "They should do nicely Now please stand back while the master creates an entrance"

It looked easy, but wasn't Giordino eating rivers twenty-five h for theh He handed the cutters back to Pitt, pulled the mesh apart and peered into the shaft The square-cut ventilator shaft, acting as the passage for the expelled air from the tunnel far beloas fifteen feet wide A circular metal tube filled one corner This was the access shaft, with a ladder that seemed to vanish into a bottomless pit

"For maintenance in case the ventil

ator system needs repair," Pitt volunteered loudly over the fan noise "It also serves as an eency exit for the mine workers should there be a fire or a roof collapse in the main tunnel"

Giordino entered the shaft feet first onto the lower rungs of the ladder He paused and looked up at Pitt sourly "I hope I won't regret this!" he shouted over the roar of the fans, as he began his descent

Pitt was thankful the shaft was lit After dropping down the ladder fifty feet, he paused and looked below All he could see was the ladder stretching into infinity, like the tracks of a railroad No sign of the bottom was visible

He pulled out a paper towel from a pocket, tore it into two small pieces, wadded theainst the irritating noise level of the fans Besides the main fan system, booster fans had been installed every hundred feet to maintain the required pressure to vent the tunnel to the surface

After what seemed half a lifetime, and what Giordino estimated was a drop of five hundred feet, he stopped his descent and waved a hand The bottom of the ladder was in view Slowly, cautiously, he turned until he was upside-down Then he crawled doard until his eyes could see under as now the roof of a sasses, carbon monoxide, temperature and fan system operations

Pitt and Giordino had passed far below the main fan system and could now converse in low tones Giordino raised up until he was on his feet again and spoke to Pitt, who had slid down the ladder beside him

"What's the status?" Pitt asked softly

"The ladder runs through a ventilator systems control center that sits about fifteen feet above the floor of the tunnel Aat co aith their backs to the ladder We should be able to take them out before they knohat hit them"