Bones and Caleb fell to the floor of the stone chamber bringing The Bear's upper torso with them. Blood gushed from his torn waist everywhere. Joshua scampered off his father and pulled the grisly carcass to the side.
Teddy slumped down against the wall completely spent. Joshua helped Caleb to a sitting position. The boy was still moving gingerly from The Bear's savage kick. Bones was lying on his back chuckling.
"What's so funny?" Teddy asked hoarsely.
"I was just thinking that he could take advantage of the half off sales." Bones grinned and looked over at El Oso's torso. The boys started to chuckle a bit with still wide eyes. They were holding each other without knowing it.
"Boys, you alright?" Teddy smiled weakly at them, knowing that they would be forever changed by everything they had seen. "Think you can make it to the surface?" Teddy thought it best to focus them on the tasks ahead. It wasn't time yet to process all they had just been through.
"I tethered the rigid inflatable up there before the goons grabbed us." Bones was already up and checking the dive tanks. Teddy envied his physical conditioning.
"You and I can breathe using the octopus regulators. The boys will have the face masks. The good news is no decompression stops since the pressure down here and in the lab is the same as the surface."
"Joshua, you are with Uncle Stu. Caleb, it's you and me. This place is going to be a bit of a Jacuzzi when we open that door. Stay behind the doorposts until the room fills up completely." Teddy helped the boys into the tanks. "The doorpost will create an eddy that will hold us inside for a bit. Don't fight it!" Teddy noticed Caleb seemed pensive, but he smiled his courage when Teddy chucked him on the arm.
Everyone braced themselves as the stone glowed the familiar blue-white and water began pouring in. It was almost impossible to see with so much froth and foam stirring up, even with the full face masks. The water began to settle and clear as it filled the room almost to the top. Caleb and Joshua watched the body of El Oso floating in the hazy water. His expression was frozen in rage. He died as he lived.
Teddy motioned for everyone to go and Caleb started to swim slowly out. Once Joshua and Bones had joined them holding the dive line, Teddy motioned for everyone to begin the ascent. Caleb grabbed Teddy's arm to stop him. He handed Teddy the bitter end of a rope that he had tied around his waist.
Taking a deep breath, Caleb pulled off his face mask and swam back into the room alone. Teddy started to have a panic attack wondering what on earth the boy could be doing when it suddenly dawned on him.
He quickly tied Caleb's rope to the dive line, tapped Joshua and Bones and mimed pulling on Caleb's rope just as they were all tugged suddenly forward in the direction of the room.
Caleb floated into the room that had almost become a tomb. He passed over The Bear's torso lying on the floor, the rope that led back to his father trailing behind him. He thought again of her sitting in that cell purring. He thought of all of them. Way down there.
Am I doing the right thing? He prayed. His flashlight lit up the target and his pale hand, palm covered in gold, reached out and pushed the fan shaped impression.
Teddy, Joshua and Bones played a life or death game of tug-o-war with the full might of the Caribbean ocean as it churned down a thirty-mile tunnel trying to suck them along in the current.
It was an unstoppable deluge. They were pulled toward the doorway and there was nothing they could do to slow their forward momentum, or pull Caleb back. Each of them was struggling just to hang on.
Providence had saved them once again. Teddy had tied the end of Caleb's rope to the dive line at the last minute. If not, Caleb would have joined the poor unfortunates at the end of the tunnel. They were completely unaware of their impending fate.
The dive line was secured to the underwater structure and the buoyancy of the life raft package above served to slow and finally stop their forward progress before they entered the room. They all held on to Caleb's rope praying he stayed attached to the other end.
The pressure abated as the tunnel filled and they all began to pull in unison. The rope came slowly at first but soon it was moving quicker and Caleb popped out of the room.
Bones grabbed him and shoved his own regulator into Caleb's mouth. There was no time to put on a full face mask and clear it. Thankfully, Caleb exhaled a huge stream of bubbles and breathed in deep.
Teddy watched the bubbles from their tanks head toward the surface, careful to keep his crew slightly under them and slower than the rate at which the bubbles were rising—a basic rule of thumb for divers.
Teddy looked up at last and saw sunlight streaming through the surface of the bright blue ocean.
Thank you, Father God, for rescuing us just as your Word says...
Thank you, Jesus, for the ultimate rescue of the cross.