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“I’m not a miner,” Devlin said

“Then what are you doing here?”

“I was bloody well shanghaied,” Devlin swore under his breath “Weren’t you?”

“No,” Masinga said “I signed a contract We all did Paid us twice the rate De Beers was offering Only when it caainst our will”

“Have you tried to escape?”

The hed “Do we look like fish? We’re on an island in the middle of the ocean Where would we escape to?”

“But your families,” Padi said “Surely, they can protest”

“They’ve been told we died in an accident,” another ht be from South America “And they never knehere ere in the first place None of us did until we got here”

It sounded like madness to Devlin, but then little had er in the harbor off the coast of Jakarta

“What about you?” Masinga asked “Maybe so”

“Not likely,” Padi said, reer “If I had to guess, the whole world probably thinks I’m dead too”

“You are, then,” Masinga said “We all are”

“Tartarus,” Devlin mumbled, prison of the underworld Now it made sense to him

“Fire in the hole!” the foreman called out

The burly es went off in rapid succession The wall bulged out, holding its shape for an instant and then crureat clamor and cloud of dust