Page 139 (1/2)

At first he was dragged by the current toward the topside breach, but then the lines and hoses connecting him to the dive boat pulled him the other way

As the boat raced into the shallows and beached on the rocks, Joe was dragged into the boulder field down below Each blow felt like being in a car crash and Joe was suddenly thankful for the hard stainless steel helmet

When the ride stopped, Joe was thirty feet under, the suit was filling ater and the air hose was either severed or kinked because no air was coh Joe knew he couldn’t swi across the concrete pylons and boulders like a raccoon in a garbage dump

He shed the weight belt and the task got easier As he went higher, the light fro out, Joe pulled hi like the Creature frooon

He collapsed between two of the boulders, unable to hold up the helmet and shoulder harness without the buoyancy of the water He struggled to lift it off, but it wouldn’t budge until two sets of helping hands pulled it off for him

“Did we do it?” Joe asked

“You did it,” thehim up “You did it”

CHAPTER 59

HIGH UP ON THE HELIPAD, THE EERIE, OMNIPRESENT SOUND of the row louder It canetic cicadas, chirping by the billions andmoment

The noise was grating to Kurt Austin, but it see Zarrina and Jinn more than him

Zarrina looked over the edge and ran her gaze upward along the sides of the buildings bethich the helipad rested The stain of the approaching horde was now three-quarters of the way up the pyraray and black

“Give him the code,” she said

“Never,” Jinn replied

“You should listen to her, Jinn,” Kurt said “She’s not a good woman, but she’s not an idiot either”

“We have people, money, lawyers,” she reminded him “We don’t have to die”