I saw my husband’s hand on another woman before I saw his face. / Chapter 44 / 50

Chapter 44 - The Rising Tide

The wheel didn't budge.

"Again!" Julian grunted, the muscles in his neck corded with strain. "On three! One... two... three!"

We heaved together. A sharp, explosive *crack* echoed through the chamber as the rust weld snapped. The wheel spun violently beneath our hands, catching Julian’s shoulder and throwing him against the catwalk rail.

Instantly, the world became a deluge.

A deafening roar erupted from the depths as a massive iron sluice gate swung open forty feet below. The suction was terrifying. Seawater, cold as winter glass, erupted upward through the drainage floor like a geyser. Within seconds, the water rose from our ankles to our waists, violent, swirling, and filled with the debris of sixty years of abandonment.

"Back to the ladder!" Julian roared, grabbing my arm and pulling me against the surging current.

We fought our way through the icy torrent, dragging ourselves back up through the floor hatch into the primary vault chamber. But the water was already following us, filling the room at an exponential rate. The consoles sparked, electrical fires dying in bursts of blue light and acrid smoke as the geothermal battery shorted out.

"The air pocket is shrinking!" I gasped, spitting out bitter saltwater.

"Look at the blast hatch!" Julian pointed upward.

The immense pressure of the rising seawater was compressing the trapped air against the ceiling, turning the entire room into a hydraulic piston. The heavy circular iron hatch at the top of the stairs began to groan. The steel rivets along the frame wept streams of high-pressure vapor.

Above us, we heard a muffled shout—Richard, realizing too late what we had done.

*BANG.*

A sound like an artillery shell detonating rocked the bunker. The counterweight latch shattered under thousands of pounds of hydrostatic pressure. The circular iron hatch was blown violently outward into the upper ruins, sending a geyser of seawater into the open night air of Delos.

"Now!" Julian shouted, taking a massive breath. "Swim with the surge!"

The water engulfed us completely. I kicked with all my strength, my hands clawing against the submerged concrete steps. The current seized me, hurtling me through the darkness like a ragdoll. For three agonizing seconds, my lungs burned, the neoprene sleeve against my chest my only anchor to reality.