Chapters (45)
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- Prologue
- 2046
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- About the Author
The wave and the rope take them through the portal with the thick body of water losing hundreds of gallons a second to a window giving entry to a concrete bunker a hundred million years ago. They sail through water and air wrenched by a motor giving power to a reel and the action is so violent they are ripped apart.
Ben spins and falls, swept along by water pummelling him into the hard wall and so great is that tide that he remains pinned in place, unable to stand or do anything. People scream out as someone lands on top of him, driving him harder into the corner of the room. He wriggles and fights to free himself of the tangled limbs and somehow grabs whoever it is and forces them upright to get their head out of the water. Still the water comes through. Wave after wave crashes into the room, filling it quickly and causing a jet to surge through the open door. With the mask still on, Ben gains a view of the motor on the reel still dragging Safa and Harry across the room, threatening to suck them in. He lurches away from the wall against the tide, wading and diving while scrabbling for the knife on his leg that is no longer there.
He reaches Harry and pulls the knife from Harry’s sheath to slice down, severing the rope, which whips away into the reel with a greater speed. Harry instantly drops down under the water but with the bottle mouthpiece still clamped between his jaws.
Ben turns looking for Safa as the next wave slams into him from behind, taking him from his feet and into the wall with bone-jarring speed and again he slumps down with the wind knocked from his lungs. He is thrown and dropped, lifted and slammed, but all the time he looks for Safa and he finally sees her at the reel with her arms locked out trying to prevent the thing pulling her in. Veins bulge from her neck. She screams out in exertion. The air tank hanging from the strap round her neck.
Ben dives towards her, grinding his feet into the ground and wading through thigh-high turbulent water that forms whirlpools and eddies from the suction created by the open door.
Harry surges up. The huge man appearing like Poseidon himself with water pouring from his beard. He loops one huge arm round her waist and heaves back. She screams as the motor on the winch grinds noisily. Ben fights through the water. Wading hard as another wave crashes through. Harry’s hand shoots out. Ben grabs it and uses it to lever himself closer and get in front of Safa to flail the blade of the knife at the rope. One touch from the sharp steel and the rope pings apart. They fall back into the water as the next wave batters into the room.