Free Atlantis Found by Clive Cussler Page A

pulled from the search because of rising air temperatures that were increasing the chances of another avalanche. There is no telling how many days or weeks it will take for them to clear a path to the mine entrance.”
    Marquez stared into the fire, picturing the conditions topside in his mind. “Everything is going against us,” he said quietly.
    “We have heat and drinking water, however silty,” said Pat. “Surely, we can exist without food for as long as it takes.”
    Ambrose smiled faintly. “Sixty to seventy days is what it generally takes to starve to death.”
    “Or we could hike out while we’re still healthy,” offered Pitt.
    Marquez shook his head. “You know better than anyone, the only tunnel that leads from the Buccaneer Mine to the Pandora is flooded. We can’t get through the way you came.”
    “Certainly not without proper diving gear,” added Ambrose.
    “True,” Pitt admitted. “But relying on my computerized road map, I estimate there are at least two dozen other dry tunnels and shafts on upper levels that we can use to reach the ground surface.”
    “That makes sense,” said Marquez. “Except that most of those tunnels have collapsed over the past ninety years.”
    “Still,” said Ambrose, “it beats sitting around playing charades for the next month.”
    “I’m with you,” Pat agreed. “I’ve had my fill of old mine shafts for one day.”
    Her words prompted Pitt to walk over to the edge of the shaft and peer down. The flickering flames from the fire reflected off the water that had risen to within three feet of the tunnel floor. “We don’t have a choice. The water will spill out of the shaft in another twenty minutes.”
    Marquez stepped beside him and stared at the turbid water. “It’s crazy,” he muttered. “After all these years, to see water flooding up to this level of the mine. It looks like my days of gemstone mining are over.”
    “One of the waterways that run under the mountain must have broken through into the mine during the earthquake.”
    “That was no earthquake,” said Marquez angrily. “That was a dynamite charge.”
    “You’re saying explosives caused the flooding and cave-in?” asked Pitt.
    “I’m sure of it.” He peered at Pitt, eyes suddenly narrowed. “I’d bet my claim that somebody else was in the mine.”
    Pitt stared at the menacing water. “If that’s the case,” he said pensively, “then somebody wants all three of you very dead.”

5
    “YOU LEAD OFF,” PITT ordered Marquez. “We’ll walk behind the beam of your miner’s lamp until its batteries give out. Then we go the rest of the way on my dive light.”
    “Climbing to the upper levels through shafts will be the tough part,” said the miner. “So far we’ve been lucky. Very few shafts had a ladder. Most of them used hoists to transport the miners and ore.”
    “We’ll tackle that problem when we face it,” said Pitt.
    It was five o’clock in the afternoon when they set out through the tunnel, heading west as indicated on Pitt’s dive compass. He looked odd, hiking through the tunnel in his dry suit, gloves, and Servus dive boots with steel toes. He carried only the computer, compass, underwater dive light, and the knife strapped to his right leg. He left the rest of his gear beside the dying embers of the fire.
    The tunnel was clear of debris and the first hundred yards were fairly easy. Marquez led the way, followed by Pat and Ambrose, with Pitt bringing up the rear. There was enough walking room between the ore car tracks and the tunnel wall, making it unnecessary to step and stumble over the rail ties. They passed one shaft, then two, that were empty and lacking any means of climbing to the next level. They came to a small open gallery with three tunnels leading off into the darkness.
    “If I remember the mine’s layout correctly,” said Marquez, “we take the tunnel that angles to the left.”
    Pitt consulted his trusty computer. “Right on the