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At dusk, Pitt called a status , over barbecued ribs and beer ferried from a restaurant on Grosse Pointe
“The evacuation tanker is running at full bore,” Cruz reported “The last of the storage tanks should be dry by ht”
“That’s when our next Ars over to the second shift and get so for a predawn lift” He turned to Audrey “How’s our biore up?”
“We have plenty on hand to see us through another day or two,” she replied, stifling a yawn
Cruz nodded as he finished the last of the ribs “Sleep sounds good, but I think I’ll take a quick survey dive toclean”
“Why don’t you take Al with you?” Pitt said “A solo night dive in this current is not advisable”
“Not necessary, I’ll be in and out before your heads hit the pillow,” Cruz said with his usual grin “I’ll see everybody at ht”
A few rabbed an air tank, squeezed into a dry suit, and slipped over the side He switched on his underwater scooter’s headlamp and motored the short distance to the Mayweather’s bow He skih the murky water He had to bob and weave to avoid the maze of pipes and catwalks that crisscrossed the tanker’s deck
Near the inshore rail, he stopped at a thick white hose that wiggled from the surface It was connected to an inlet pipe, which ran to one of the Mayweather’s storage tanks Through it, the thick tar sands oil was being sucked into the evacuation tanker An ROV was perched on the deck and ai a live feed to crew ave the camera a wave, then turned and headed forward
Red ribbons tied to two re valves indicated there were just two tanks left to eht on schedule
He crossed the deck, returned to the serratedthe sheared sides of the exposed storage tanks He hesitated at a pair of yellow BioRee of a ruptured and leaking tank
Cruz inched close to the nearest hose and waved his hand over the nozzle, expecting to feel the flow of theHe moved to the second hose, which was similarly inactive Cruz followed the hoses across the river botto the forward hull About twenty feet past the tanker’s bow, the hoses came to an abrupt end
Cruz exahed to the riverbed with rocks, then aimed his scooter toward the surface
The dark outline of the BioRehter was faintly visible overhead Perhaps the creas changing the outlet hoses Then Cruz noticed two thin lines extending fro aft He cut the scooter’s throttle and let himself drift with the current until he could identify the lines as a pair of black hoses They led to the bottom, but trailed in the opposite direction from the Mayweather
Cruz engaged the scooter and followed the hoses Nearly two hundred feet downriver, the hoses slithered over a rocky berrate set in concrete Their nozzles were clarate, and when Cruz waved a hand in front of theed