Page 111 (1/2)

His fatigue was instantly forgotten as he thought about the reconnaissance photos and the hot spots near the front edge of the glacier

“Even people who live underground need to eat,” he whispered

Kurt sniffed the air in an attempt to locate the source of the set a general sense that it was traveling upslope toward him He eased forward until he found a treelike column of snow and ice

He pulled the flashlight fro a tiny portion of light to escape frolove

The column rose about ten feet A few yards away, a second coluh And thirty or forty feet from that, he saw a third and a fourth and a fifth

Kurt shut off the light and made his way to the shorter coluhly circular As the wind gusted, itacross the top of an open wine bottle

He leaned over and peered down into the mouth of the icy tube It was about the size of abut darkness, nor did he detect a strong scent of food or grease Still, he could feel war his face It felt almost surreal after so many hours in the cold It also felt humid

Kurt put a hand on the edge of the column and broke a piece off It was just ice, and not very thick at that It was also blackened with soot He began to understand what he was looking at

He’d been in Iceland a few years before and found sieothermal vents up on the slopes of the active volcanic mountains As the heated air froht humidity with it, some of which cooled and froze alid outside air Slowly, like coral building up a reef or the black s water vapor created chimneylike tubes Since they were h winds But as long as the vent was active, they would regrow

Kurt risked another quick flash fro

He could see nothing He felt heat but didn’t smell sulfur, like he’d have expected if they were volcanic

He pulled out his Zippo lighter and one of the oily rags He held the lighter against it and lit it, sheltering the rag fro Next, he dropped it into the tube

It fell through the darkness like a s the smooth sides of the tunnel as it went, until suddenly it hit so and stopped

As the rag burned, Kurt saw the outline of a grate The chined to evacuate heat or s else undesirable from down below It had to lead to Thero’s lair It had to

Quickly, Kurt set up his rope He found a section of the ice and rubble in the lateral moraine and hammered in three anchors to secure the rope He didn’t have a harness, or time to improvise one, but it didn’this hands to control the descent