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Austin knew that the center of lift should be ravity He also knew this ideal seldos, not his back Good advice, but of little use when the load is in the back of a closet or under the cellar stairs The Kevlar cable went through the hull, then angled to the truck The block and tackle would translate its force into acapacity
Austin was dealing with a nuht of the slab An object is buoyed up by the water it displaces Austin knew the slab would be lighter in water, but since he could only guess at its original weight, this didn't do ed with a continuous fall, which can lift twice as le luff Technical jargonthey could to co system
The next proble a tooth, was preventing it froe tubes, a fairly new concept The elongated bags of nylon fabric were designed for salvaging boats With a lifting capacity up to one and a half tons each they ht be able to hoist the entire armored truck to the surface
The saturation divers used the block and tackle toto each side of the stone Austin went through and inspected the whole crazy setup, especially the fragile cables holding the truck to the wall, then gave the signal Using a hose co from the bell, the saturation divers pumped air into the tubes, which plues on a skillet They fed the air in gradually to build up positive buoyancy The slab lifted like athe lift line attached in case of an eed the slab out of the trick until it floated through the door
Austin thought this was one of the strangest sights he had ever seen It was like a painting by Dali, where everything is askew The black slab floating in space over the abyss like a ling like newborn salaing off the wall at a right angle
Flanked by Austin and Zavala, who illuhts, the divers swa It was delicate work, especially with the current running through the wreck, but at last the slab was directly under the hole they'd cut in the hull
"Wish I could talk to these guys and tell the," Zavala said He tried to signal a "well done" with his mechanical claw, but it didn't quite et out of these suits Which I hope will be damned soon"
"Shouldn't be more than a few minutes before we can turn the rest of the job over to McGinty Hear that, Cap?"
The conversations between the Hand Suits were communicated to the deck so theon below
"Bet your ass," McGinty harked "I heard the whole skinny Got a case of Bud on ice Get that thing out of the wreck, and we'll do the rest"
The saturation divers had to stay at depth or they'd come doith the bends Once the load was out of the wreck, Austin and Zavala would take over and guide it to the surface When the slab was near the surface they'd tend it until the crane could finish the job
"What's the weather like up there?" Austin asked
"Sea's still flat cal bank is rolling in with stuff so thick you could fry it up like dough"
Both Austin and the captain would have been evenhid While Austin and the others had struggled to pull the stone slab froe ship whose gray hullthe Monkfish, traveling just fast enough to keep pace with theThe oddly shaped vessel was six hundred feet long, with a deep V shaped bow and wide back, and it was powered by six water jets that could send it ski speed for a ship that size
Austin responded to McGinty's weather report with a "Finest kind, Cap," borrowing one of Trout's expressions fronaled the saturation divers to put an to rise through the hole The saturation divers stayed with the stone, er current flowing over the wreck Austin and Zavala remained just inside the wreck, off to one side so they wouldn't be under the slab if it came down in a hurry They had a clear view of both divers, one on either side of the slab, keeping pace with its ascent with slight flutters of their fins A picture-perfect operation One for the books