Page 37 (1/2)
“Best we can say for sure is that it was centered in the underwater installation,” Austin said
He gave Austin a blank look
“We’ll explain later” Austin surveyed the yellowed cliffs “The explosion shook the slide loose”
Contos furrowed his brow “Hey,” he said as a thought struck hian?”
Austin and Zavala looked at each other like guilty children who had broken the cookie jar Austin was beginning to wonder if he were a Jonah, the naive a seaman who attracts calamity This was the second craft he had lost in as many days
“We lost her,” Austin said “Sorry It couldn’t be helped Juan and Pedro here hauled us out of the water”
“Pleased tofishermen “Not much we can do about it now NUMA will simply have to build me a new one”
Austin swept his eyes over the tilted hull of the Sea Robin “Your vessel has quite a list Are you in any danger of sinking?”
“I think we’ll be okay No leaks detected so far We’ll see what happens once we get under way Most of the dae is to the deck and superstructure The cranes are useless, as you can see The forklift canstuff We haven’t called for help because we don’t want to have to explain e’re doing in Mexican waters”
“Do we have time to check out the cove?”
Contos looked over his shoulder at the rubble still to be reet under way as soon as we’re able”
Zavala asked the fishermen to take theuh of the cursed place with its strange explosions and stranger o home, but his brother prevailed
The boat made its way around the headland As they entered the cove they could see s from the tortilla factory Like the cliff above the Sea Robin, the sheer face behind the factory was layered yellohere the outer rock cover had been dislodged by the explosion The rock slide had taken with it all traces of the monorail elevator
The fishing boat cut a path through the debris and dead fish that covered the surface of the inlet Using a bucket, Austin and Zavala scooped pieces ofhow a tiny piece of metal had helped track down the source of the TWA jet explosion over Lockerbee, Scotland, Austin figured even the tiniest fraght be of use
The as painstaking, but their persistence paid off Zavala snagged ain the water It was about two feet long and six inches in diameter Austin found a serial number and the name of its manufacturer etched into the metal