Deep Fathom by James Rollins Read Free Book Online

thrusters to maintain some semblance of direction, but was shaken and jarred about. He tasted blood on his tongue. He tried to raise the Deep Fathom , yelling. But static was his only response.
    For what seemed an endless time he rode the chain of bubbles toward the surface, fighting for control of the sub. He had to get clear of the volcanic stream. As his ship tumbled, an idea came to him. To survive a riptide a swimmer had to stop fighting it.
    He lifted his foot off the right pedal and tapped only the left thrusters. Instead of trying to stop his spin, he made the vehicle spin faster. He was soon pinned to the port side of the sub by the centrifugal forces. Still, he kept engaging just the left thrusters. “C’mon…c’mon…”
    Then one of the monster bubbles struck the undercarriage of the submersible. The spinning sub tilted nose-up. The sudden shift pitched the craft end over. Like a skipping stone, the Nautilus shot free of the bubble stream.
    As the sub’s tumble slowed, Jack pulled himself back into his seat. His feet worked the pedals and halted the spin. Sighing in relief, he aimed for the surface, noting that the midnight waters had already lightened to a weak twilight. Craning his neck upward, he saw the vague glow of the distant sun.
    The static in his ear cleared. “Jack…answer us…can you hear us?”
    Jack replaced the throat mike. The adhesive had torn away during his assault. “All clear here,” he said harshly.
    â€œJack!” The relief in Lisa’s voice was like a cool spray of water. “Where are you?”
    He checked the depth gauge. Two hundred twenty feet . He couldn’t believe his rate of ascent. It was lucky his sub was a sealed one-atmosphere vehicle, maintaining a constant internal pressure. If not, he would have died of the bends before now. “I’ll be surfacing in about three minutes.”
    Glancing at his compass, Jack frowned. The needle spun around as if still dizzy from the tumble. He tapped at it, but the needle continued to spin. He gave up and touched his mike. “Compass is fried. Not sure how far off I am, but onceup, I’ll hit the GPS beacon so you can track me.”
    â€œAnd what about you? Are you okay?”
    â€œJust bruised and battered.”
    Charlie came on the line. “For someone who just survived a volcanic eruption under the seat of his pants, you are damn lucky, mon . I wish I could’ve seen it.”
    Jack grinned. The birth of an undersea volcano was surely a geologist’s wet dream. Jack fingered the hard knot atop his head, wincing. “Believe me, Charlie, I wish you had been here instead of me, too.”
    Around Jack, the waters grew from a deep purple to a lighter aquamarine. “Coming up,” he said.
    â€œWhat about the Kochi Maru ?” a new voice asked, hopeful. Jack was surprised to hear from Professor George Klein, the ship’s historian and cartographer. The professor seldom left the Deep Fathom ’s extensive library.
    Jack suppressed a groan. “Sorry, Doc. She’s gone…so is the gold.”
    With disappointment, George finally responded, “Well, we can’t even be certain the Kochi Maru ’s manifests were accurate. During the war, the Japanese often falsified records to mask their gold shipments.”
    Jack pictured the tall pile of bricks. “It was accurate,” he said gloomily.
    Charlie came back on the line. “Hey, Jack, it seems you were not the only one shaken up. Reports are coming in from all over. Earthquakes and eruptions have been rattling the entire Pacific, coast-to-coast.”
    Jack frowned. What did he care? Since leaving the world behind twelve years ago, he had little interest in the rest of the planet. All that mattered was this single eruption. It had cost him not only a huge fortune, but possibly even his ship. “Signing off,” he said with a long sigh. “Be topside in one