Chapter 16 Chapter Thirteen Delta Three

Just go one step further. There was a sudden commotion at the foot of the stairs where he was standing.Delta Three looked down, more confused than startled, as Michael Tolland thrust an aluminum pole toward his feet.Even though Delta Three was being teased, he almost sneered at the clumsy attempt to trip him up. Then he felt the point of the pole dig into his heel. He received a sharp stab at his foot, and he suddenly lifted his right foot, a piercing pain spread all over his body.Delta Three lost his balance, his legs were shaking, and he fell down the stairs.He fell hard on the corridor, and the machine gun rolled down the corridor with a clang, and fell into the boat.Enduring excruciating pain, he curled up to grab his right foot, but he could no longer grab it.

Tolland watched over his enemy, still clutching the smoking dynamite pole—a five-foot shark-proof device with a dynamite-tipped tip.This aluminum pole is topped with a highly pressure-sensitive twelve-gauge barrel for self-defense in the event of a shark attack.Tolland reloaded the dynamite rod with another type of shell as he held the jagged, smoking point at his enemy's Adam's apple.The man was lying on his back, as if paralyzed, looking up at Tolland with a look of anger and pain and surprise at the same time. Rachel ran up the aisle.In this plan, she wanted to take away the man's machine gun, but it was a pity that the machine gun had already rolled from the side of the corridor into the sea.

The communication device on the man's belt rang.The voice from inside was very mechanical, "Delta Three? Please answer if you hear it. I heard a gunshot." The man couldn't move, couldn't answer. The intercom beeped again. "Delta Three? Please answer. Do you need assistance?" Almost immediately, there was another voice on the line.The sound was also very mechanical, but judging from the noise made by a helicopter in the background, it could be judged that the sound was not from the person just now. "This is Delta One," said the pilot. "I'm chasing the escaped ship. Delta Three, please answer. Are you all right? Do you need assistance?"

Tolland pressed the powder rod to the man's throat. "Tell the pilot to abandon that speedboat. If they kill my friend, you will die." The soldier picked up the communication device and put it to his mouth, frowning in pain.He stared straight at Tolan, pressed the call button, and said, "Delta Three received it. I'm fine. Kill the escaped ship." Back in Sexton's private bathroom, Gabrielle Ash was about to retrace her way out of his office when she knocked off a pair of Sexton's cuff links.The two intertwined letters SS on the clasp: Gabrielle suddenly remembered Sexton's original computer password-SSS.She thought of his calendar... POTUS... the White House screen saver and the optimism that flashed across the screen.

President Sedgwick Sexton of the United States ... President Sedgwick Sexton of the United States ... President of the United States ... Gabrielle suddenly realized, and hurried back to Sexton's office, walked to his computer, and typed a series of seven-letter passwords. POTUSSS The screensaver disappeared instantly. Her eyes widened in disbelief. Never underestimate a politician's ego. Crest Phantom sails into the night, Corky Mallinson no longer at the helm.He wiped the injured calf with a rag, and then bandaged the wound layer by layer with tape.The tape ran out, and his entire calf, from ankle to knee, was wrapped tightly in a tight silver sleeve.The bleeding had stopped, but his clothes and hands were still bloody.

Corky was then horrified to find that with each man at the helm he had turned back the way he had come.He was still in a strong plume with numerous sharks. A hammerhead shark can smell a drop of blood from a mile away.Corky looked at his bloody, taped legs and hands. The helicopter will catch up to him in no time. Corky has learned that animals use urine to mark their territories because uric acid is the strongest-smelling liquid their bodies can produce. Stronger than the smell of blood, he hoped.Corky, thinking he should drink more beer tonight, lifted his injured right leg to the edge of the deck and tried to pee on the tape.hurry up!he waits.There's nothing like the stress of having to pee as hard as you can while a helicopter is chasing you.

finally come.Corky pissed on the tape, soaked it all up, wet a rag with the little urine left in his bladder, and wrapped himself in the cloth.What a joy! A red laser light suddenly appeared in the dark sky, and the helicopter appeared at an oblique angle. Corky quickly put on a high-float life jacket and walked to the rear of the speedboat.On the bloodstained floor of the launch, just five feet from where Corky stood, a fiery red spot appeared. The time has come. On the Goya, Michael Tolland didn't see his Crest Mirage 2100 explode in flames and fly up and down in flames and smoke.

However, he heard an explosion. At this time, all the employees present in the west hall were looking for Tench. Aides told the president that Tench and Pickering spoke on the phone that night, but neither is currently available on their cell phones.At this time, an agent hurried over and told the president that a car bomb had occurred at the Roosevelt Memorial that night. "An hour ago," the agent said grimly, "and the FBI just confirmed the identity of the deceased..." Delta Three woke up.He felt his arms bound behind his back, his legs bound, bent backwards, bound to his wrists, binding him into a backwards bow, immobilized.He tried to shout, but couldn't.His mouth was also gagged.

Delta Two heard the gunshots and cautiously made her way to the aft deck to find Delta Three lying there -- bound and gagged, rudely dumped in the middle of Goya's mini-sub. Directly below.Even from a distance, Delta Two could see that his accomplice was missing a chunk of his right foot. He approached the sub, approaching his struggling partner.He saw the warning look in his eyes, but it was too late. A silver light flashed out from nowhere. One of Triton's manipulating claws flew forward suddenly, fell down and clamped firmly on Delta Two's left thigh.He wanted to break free, but the claw had already pressed down.He screamed in pain, feeling like a bone was going to break.He cast his eyes on the sub's helmsman's seat.Through the shadows on the deck, Delta Two saw him now, hiding in the shadows in Triton's cabin.

Michael Tolland was in the sub, sitting at the controls. Miscalculation, Delta Two was furious, he endured the pain, and picked up the machine gun.He aimed up, to the left of Tolland's chest, who was only three feet away on the other side of the submarine's plexiglass dome.He pulled the trigger, and the machine gun went off with a loud bang.Furious at being tricked, the Delta Two frantically pulled the trigger until the last round clicked to the deck and the machine gun went blank.Panting, he dropped his weapon, glaring at the battered dome in front of him. "Go to hell!" he yelled through gritted teeth, pulling his leg out of the clamp.As soon as he twisted his body, the iron clip immediately tore his skin and cut a deep and long gash. "Fuck!" He immediately reached for the encrypted walkie-talkie clipped to his belt.But as he put the walkie-talkie to his mouth, another robotic hand popped open in front of him with a snap, reaching forward and clamping his right arm.The encrypted walkie-talkie fell to the deck.

At this moment, Delta Two saw the ghost in the glass window in front of him.A pale face was seen sideways, peering out over an undamaged pane of glass.Delta Two was stunned. Looking at the center of the dome, he realized that the bullet hadn't penetrated the thick casing at all.This dome is littered with bullet craters. A moment later, the door on the top of the submarine opened, and then Michael Tolan stepped out.He looked frail, but unharmed.Tolland climbed down the aluminum gangway to the deck and gazed at the ruined dome window of his sub. "Ten thousand pounds per square inch," Tolland said, "seems like you'd have to get a bigger gun." In the underwater lab, Rachel knew time was running out.She found a pen and paper and scribbled a two-line message.She put the note with her pile of indictment papers—ground-penetrating radar images, pictures of deep-sea giant worms, photographs and articles about marine chondrules, and a copy of electronic microscanner results.That meteorite was a fake, that's the proof. Rachel stuffed the entire file into the fax machine in the underwater lab.Carefully, she pressed the man's fax number. She hits "send," praying that she was wise to pick the recipient. The fax machine rang.However, the communication system of "Goya" was still disturbed, and the information could not be transmitted. Rachel left the fax machine to search for a dial tone and rushed out of the underwater laboratory just as the helicopter's blades rumbled overhead again. A hundred and sixty miles from Goya, Gabrielle Ash was staring at Senator Sexton's computer screen, speechless in astonishment.Her suspicions turned out to be right. Sitting alone in the dark, Gabrielle found she didn't know what to do next. On the Goya, as the Kiowa tipped its fuselage and made a bend on the aft deck, Delta One looked down, watching something completely unexpected. Michael Tolland was standing next to a small submarine on the deck.The Delta Two was suspended in mid-air, dangling from the sub's robotic hands, struggling to free itself from its giant claws. God? !What exactly is going on? ! Equally shocking is the scene where Rachel Sexton has just stepped onto the deck and taken a vantage point looking down at a heavily strapped and bleeding Delta Three beneath the sub.Rachel aimed a Delta Force machine gun at him, looking up at the helicopters as if prodding them to attack. Delta One felt that it was embarrassing enough to suffer such humiliation even in ordinary times, not to mention that the commander was sitting next to him tonight. It's time for this to end.right now. From the Kiowa, the commander watched Rachel Sexton below. She looked up at the helicopter's reflective windshield expressionlessly, and raised an encrypted walkie-talkie to her lips.When her synthesized voice sounded in the Kiowa, the commander figured she must have asked the helicopter to back off or disable the jamming system so Tolan could call for help.But the words that came out of Rachel Sexton's mouth were far more chilling than that. "You guys are too late," she said, "We're not the only ones who know the truth." The commander found it hard to believe that Rachel Sexton would decide to break the news to outsiders, given Rachel Sexton's reputation for adhering to strict protocols regarding classified data.He thought Rachel was trying to scare people. "Are you going to take a gamble?" Rachel said defiantly. "I couldn't reach William Pickering by phone earlier, so I freaked out and took some insurance." The commander looked annoyed.It is possible. The enemy didn't take the bait, and with a sense of determination and anger, Tolland jerked down the joystick.A huge trapdoor in the deck below Terry opened, and the bound soldier plunged through the opening and was instantly buried in the shark's belly. The commander shook his head in a rage, worried that Delta Two would be next to feed the sharks. "Okay," the commander barked into the encrypted walkie-talkie, "wait a minute, wait a minute!" Rachel stood on the deck below watching the "Kiowa" in the air, picked up the encrypted walkie-talkie and put it to her mouth. "You still think we're bluffing?" she said. "Call the NRO switchboard and ask Jim Samelian. He's on the night shift in Planning and Analysis. I told him all about the meteorite. He will confirm it." Hearing this sentence, the commander strengthened his determination and asked his subordinates to turn off the jammer to verify whether Rachel was lying. In Fairfax, the operator on the NRO's central switchboard was getting impatient. "I just told you that there is no Jim Samilian in Planning and Analysis. We don't have a Jim Samilian anywhere on our staff." Miriam's people. All spellings tried." Oddly enough, the caller seemed pleased to hear the news, "So you're sure there's no Jim Sammy in the NRO—" There was a sudden noise on the telephone line.Someone yelled.The caller hung up the phone cursing. On the Kiowa, Delta One screamed angrily and hurriedly reactivated the jamming system, however, he was too late. In the underwater lab, the fax machine buzzed merrily. Carrier found... Fax sent. Either you die, or I die.Rachel discovers a side of herself she never knew existed.Survival Mode - A savage stoicism fueled by fear. In a desperate moment, Rachel sent the message to the only other fax number she remembered. That's her father's office. To find out who Rachel had sent the fax to, the person on the encrypted intercom asked to come down and speak with Rachel face-to-face. Before Rachel could react, the helicopter landed on the deck of the "Goya".The door of the cabin opened and a person stepped out.This is a plain looking man, wearing a black coat and tie.For a moment, Rachel's mind went blank. She was watching William Pickering. William Pickering stood on the deck of the Goya, watching Rachel Sexton with regret.He told Rachel that he was doing this to save NASA, an important government agency, and killing people was not one of them. Pickering knew that the meteorite hoax, like most intelligence proposals, was the result of fear.Three years ago, they tried to get the NRO's hydrophones deeper into the water, out of reach of enemy saboteurs.At that time, Pickering spearheaded a project using a newly developed NASA building material to surreptitiously design a submersible of astonishing persistence that would be capable of manning the deepest parts of the ocean— Includes the bottom of the Mariana Trench. This two-person submarine is cast from a groundbreaking new ceramic.Pickering used the classified ceramic submarine to send a secret team underwater to install new hydrophones into the walls of the Mariana Trench, deeper than any enemy could possibly see.However, in the process of drilling, they discovered some geological formations that scientists had never seen before.These finds include chondrules as well as some unidentified fossilized organisms.Of course, the NRO's ability to dive to such depths is classified, so there's no way anyone could have known this information. Only recently, driven by fear again, did Pickering and his secretive team of NRO science advisers decide to use their knowledge of the Mariana Trench's unique geology to help save NASA.Turning a rock in the Mariana Trench into a meteorite has proven to be a small trick.The NRO team activated an expansion-cycle engine that burns a slurry of hydrogen, charring the rock and giving it a convincing fusion crust.They then used a small payload submarine to dive under the Milne Ice Shelf and insert the charred stone into the ice from below.Once the socket refreezes, the rock looks as if it had been there for more than three hundred years. Unfortunately, as is often the case in covert operations, the most impressive plans can be scuttled by the slightest obstacle.Yesterday, the whole illusion was spoiled by some glowing plankton. Delta One let the helicopter's rotors idling, slipped out from the rear of the cabin, used the helicopter as cover, and walked up the right aisle without anyone noticing.With the machine gun in his hand, he walked towards the bow. Zach Hurney sat at his desk in the Oval Office with a throbbing headache.The answer to the latest question has just been revealed. Marjorie Tench is dead.Pickering was nowhere to be found either. That's when an assistant told him that Extron wanted to speak to him.Herney went over to answer Extron's call, wondering what else was going wrong tonight. On the Goya, Rachel felt dizzy.The clouds of doubt that had enveloped her like a thick fog dissipated at this moment.Pickering is still gushing about his original intentions.He wanted to convince Rachel to name whom he had sent the fax to, to tell him that both the White House and NASA were innocent. Pickering didn't even bother to call Herney and Ekstromner as allies because those two were too idealistic to agree to any kind of fraud, even though it would have the potential to save the presidency and the aviation agency .Director Extron's only fault had been convincing the head of the PODS division to lie about the anomaly detection process, a move he no doubt regretted when he realized that the meteorite would be examined with such scrutiny. Marjorie Tench, disheartened by Herney's insistence on a clean campaign, unites Extron to lie about PODs in the hope that the success of a small PODs Help the president fend off the rising sexton fever. As he said these words, a strange look passed over Rachel's face, the anguished look of a man in fear, the look that people show when they are just realizing that they have made a big mistake. Delta One rounded the bow, turned back to the left, and found the fax number in the underwater laboratory. The first number is the area code for Washington. He carefully copied the fax number, tore down all the documents, and left the laboratory. Tolland felt his hands sweat profusely as he gripped the machine gun tightly in both hands and pointed the muzzle at William Pickering's chest.The NRO director was still pressing Rachel to tell him where the data was being sent, and Tolland began to feel uneasy that Pickering was just stalling for time. William Pickering was just stalling, Tolland suddenly realized.Delta One was walking nonchalantly toward them along the starboard side of the ship.Tolland felt a twinge of fear as he saw the soldier walking deliberately toward them with a stack of papers and a machine gun. Tolland reacted decisively, shocking even himself.He turned his grip on the machine gun, aimed at the soldier, and pulled the trigger. The gun clicked, but no one was hurt. "I found the fax number," said the soldier, handing Pickering a note, "and Mr. Tolland is out of ammunition now." Sexton pushed open the door of the office, only to find that there was no one there.He turned on the light and looked around.Everything looks normal.There was silence in the room save for the ticking of his clock. There was a sudden sound of flushing in the women's bathroom, Sexton turned around suddenly, and immediately walked towards the bathroom.Gabrielle was drying her hands and preparing to come out when he arrived.Seeing him, she was startled. "My God! You scared the hell out of me!" she said, looking genuinely terrified. "What are you doing here?" Sexton asked point-blank if she had come into his office. The best defense is an effective offense.Gabrielle, with her hands on her hips, decided to scold him in the face. "Let me get it straight, Senator. It's four o'clock in the morning and you've had a drink, and you hear the ticking on the phone, and that's why you're here?" She pointed angrily at him across the hall. office door. "For the record, you're accusing me of disabling the federal government's alarm system, picking two locks, breaking into your office, being stupid enough to answer a phone in the middle of committing a felony, and reinstalling it on the way out Alarm system, use the bathroom as if nothing happened, and then run away empty-handed? Is this the case?" Sexton's eyes widened in astonishment. To win Gabrielle's trust, Sexton went to the table and poured Gabrielle's Pepsi on his blotter.He pointed to his leather seat—the seat of power. "Sit down and have a glass of soda. I'll go to the bathroom to refresh my mind." With that, he walked towards the bathroom. Gabrielle still didn't move. "I think I saw a fax in the fax machine," Sexton said, turning his head as he walked into the bathroom.Show her that you trust her. "Take a look for me, will you?" Sexton emerged from the bathroom, relieved to find that Gabrielle had silently entered his office.Well, he thought, now we can discuss the substance.Gabrielle was standing by his fax machine, flipping through the faxed documents.However, seeing her face, Sexton was confused.It was a face full of confusion and fear. "What is it?" Sexton asked, walking towards her. Gabrielle staggered as if to faint. "What is it?" "Meteorite..." She handed the stack of faxes to him with trembling hands, her voice choked up weakly, "and your daughter...she is in danger now." Bewildered, Sexton came over and took the fax from Gabrielle.The top page is a handwritten message.Sexton recognized the handwriting immediately.The message, worded simply, is clumsy and shocking. Meteorites are fake.Here is the evidence. NASA and the White House are going to kill me.Help! — Ray Se The senator was rarely completely puzzled, but when he re-read Rachel's words, he still couldn't understand what they meant. Meteorites are fake?NASA and the White House are going to kill her? However, looking through the documents and pictures carefully, Sexton took fifteen seconds to figure out everything he saw.The meaning of the picture on the document is clear.Anyone with a semblance of a brain can understand what these photos prove. Meteorite Discovered by NASA Is a Fake! No day in Sexton's career has been filled with such disparate highs and lows as today.Today, hope and despair take turns.Sexton's confusion about how the grand hoax worked is reduced to trivial matters when Sexton realizes what the hoax means to him politically. When I make this information public, the position of the president will be mine! A wave of jubilation came over him, and Senator Sedgwick Sexton forgot for a moment the words of his daughter, who was in trouble. At this time, William Pickering turned on the phone and left him a message not to disclose the information for the safety of his daughter.In this regard, Sexton decided to ignore it.He went to the copier, turned it on, and prepared to make copies of the documents Rachel had faxed to him.He plans to sacrifice his daughter to fulfill his dream, and with these materials, he doesn't even need Gabrielle. "Go back, Gabrielle. I don't need you here." Rachel and Tolland sat side by side on the deck, looking up at the black muzzle of the Delta One's machine gun.Unfortunately, Pickering now knew where Rachel had sent the fax.It was the office of Senator Sedgwick Sexton. Pickering walked towards the two captives who were about to be captured, with an inexplicable sense of detachment in his heart.He stopped in front of Rachel, vaguely surprised that it wasn't too difficult for him. He turned to Delta One and said, "Put your partner down and get this over with." Delta One nodded. Pickering took a deep look at Rachel for the last time, and then walked to the port rail of the nearby ship, staring out at the rough sea.He didn't want to see this scene. Clenching his weapon tightly, Delta One glanced at his companion in the clip, feeling privileged.All that's left to do is close the trapdoor at the foot of Delta Two, release him from his trap, and take out Rachel Sexton and Michael Tolan. Unfortunately, Delta One saw that the control panel next to the trapdoor was quite complicated - a series of unmarked joysticks and buttons apparently controlled the trapdoor and the winch motor, among many other operations.He didn't want to risk his companion's life by pressing the wrong joystick and dropping the sub overboard by mistake. He wants to force Tolan to carry out the actual operation.To make sure he wasn't playing tricks, Delta One took insurance.He drove Rachel to the top of the sub. At gunpoint, Tolland walked toward the control panel, with Delta One following behind.Tolland walked towards Rachel. He walked slowly, and Rachel could feel his eyes fixed on her, as if to give her some hint.He stared at her, then at the open hatch atop Triton.When he was about to reach the control panel, Tolland said, "Jump in! Quick!" Seeing Rachel's action out of the corner of her eye, Delta One instinctively turned and fired at her, and she jumped out of the sub's hatch just in time to dodge a barrage of bullets. Tolland took action the moment he felt the gun go from behind his back.Just as the Delta One turned to shoot at him, he slammed to the left, cleared the trapdoor, and rolled on the deck.The bullet exploded behind Tolland, who scrambled to hide behind the stern hawser winch—a huge motorized cylinder wrapped around which was a thousand-foot-long rope attached to the anchor. tightrope. Tolland had a plan, and it had to be implemented now.The Delta One charged at Tolland, who climbed up, grabbed the anchor wheel with both hands, and jerked away.In an instant, the anchor chain winch began to release long steel cables, and the "Goya" suddenly lurched to one side in the turbulent current.The sudden movement of the ship caused everyone and everything on the deck to tilt to one side.As the boat accelerated against the current, the anchor winch let out the wire faster and faster. Hurry up, bro.Tolland urged. Delta One regained its balance and headed toward Tolland again.Tolland waited until the last opportune moment when he straightened and pushed the lever up again hard, locking the hawse winch.The chain gnawed, the boat stopped suddenly, and the entire hull of "Goya" trembled violently.Everything on the deck flew up.Delta One staggered to its knees in front of Tolland.Pickering fell over the rail and onto the deck.Triton swayed violently from the wire. Rachel was in Triton's cockpit, nervous.Just a yard away, the Delta soldier was howling in agony in the iron claws of Triton, moving like a puppet tied to a stick.Rachel watched as William Pickering scrambled across and grabbed one of the tethered iron horns on the deck.Beside the anchor, Tolland held on too, trying not to slide over the side of the boat into the sea. Delta One looked at the idling helicopter behind and opened his mouth in horror. The huge rotors of the Kiowa gunship were still turning, but the fuselage had begun to slide slowly forward along the sloping deck, heading straight for Triton.The Delta One crawled down the deck toward the descending helicopter, and he climbed into the cockpit.He tried to get the helicopter into the air, but after bouncing twice off the sloping deck, the plane began to slide and hit the ship's parapet.Accompanied by a cracking sound, the helicopter tilted over the edge of the ship and crashed into the vast ocean. In Triton, Rachel Sexton sat tight in her seat, not daring to move.Overhead, there was only a loud snapping sound as Triton's crushed winch cable snapped. As the sub plunged into the sea below the Goya, the hull plunged into the rough waves, throwing Rachel hard on the seat.The brightly illuminated sea water quickly submerged the dome of the submarine, and she suddenly felt a sense of oppression.She felt a suffocating pull as the sub came to a slow stop underwater, then rose toward the surface, floating like a cork. The shark rushed over at once.Rachel, who was sitting in the front row seat, saw what was only a few feet away, and sat there in shock, motionless. Delta Two was bleeding, and the smell of blood attracted the shark.In the blink of an eye, the Delta Two was torn to pieces by the shark and swallowed. Rachel was trapped in the Triton, and she didn't open the hatch after all, and floated out from under the dilapidated hull with Triton...into the open sea. "Come on," Gabrielle pleaded with the senator as he finished copying the document. "You're risking your daughter's life!" Sexton ignored her and returned to his desk with ten stacks of copies.Each stack was a copy of documents Rachel had faxed to him, including her handwritten note in which she claimed the meteorite was a fake and accused NASA and the White House of trying to murder her. This is the most appalling news ever, Sexton thought, and he began to carefully stuff each wad of material into his own large white linen paper envelope.Each envelope bears his name, the address of his office, and the senator's seal. No matter what Gabrielle urges, Sexton never wavers in his determination to be the first to expose the scandal.Not only that, Sexton also stared at her for a long while. "If you openly oppose me in this matter, I will make you regret it forever." Gabrielle walked out of the office building into the cold night, her lips still bleeding.She flagged down a taxi and got in.At this point Gabrielle Ash broke down, for the first time since coming to Washington, and burst into tears. Triton fell... Michael Tolland staggered to his feet on the sloping deck and found Terry sinking.Tolland couldn't figure out why this was happening, and the immediate priority was to get Rachel out. Just as Tolland stood up and rushed towards the edge of the deck, there was a sudden burst of machine gun fire above his head, and sparks flew from the anchor winch above his head.Tolland fell to his knees again.He peered around the hawse winches, but all he could see was Pickering standing on the upper deck, aiming his gun like a sniper.As Delta One climbed into the doomed helicopter, his machine gun fell to the ground and was apparently picked up again by Pickering.At this time, the director had already climbed to a higher position. Toland took off his shirt and threw it on the exposed deck to the right.While Pickering shot holes in the suit, Tolland sprinted left, sideways along the sloping deck to the stern.He leapt over the railing and jumped over the back of the boat. Rachel Sexton feels like a crazy beast in a cage.She had tried to open the hatch again and again, but couldn't.She could hear water pouring in from a sinking tank somewhere below, and she could feel the sub getting heavier.The dark sea water is slowly rising along the transparent dome, and a black curtain rises from below. At this moment, there was a sudden heavy slap outside the submarine. "Rachel!" The voice was indistinct.A ghostly face was pressed against the glass window, upside down, with swirling black hair.She almost didn't recognize him in the dark. "Mike!" Tolland tried to open the hatch and pull Rachel out, but no matter how hard he pulled upward in a counterclockwise direction, the hatch did not respond at all.It turned out that the hatch did not snap evenly over the notch.Although the rubber seals may have been placed correctly, the catch of the hatch was bent, which meant that the only way to open the hatch was to goug it with a welding torch. Two thousand feet below, the deformed fuselage of the bomb-laden Kiowa was rapidly sinking under the force of gravity and the powerful pull of the deep-sea eddy.The plane spun and sank, the "Hellfire" missile was still on the plane, and the fiery magma mound on the bottom of the sea was like a fiery launch pad.Under its three-meter-thick shell, boiling magma is slowly boiling. The temperature is a thousand degrees Celsius, and a volcano is about to erupt. Standing knee-deep on the engine box of the sinking Triton, Tolland racked his brains for a way to rescue Rachel.Just when Tolland was puzzled by the problem of the sinking of the submarine, his finger touched something. bullet holes. There were bullet holes in the exhaust valve and in the sink and float tank, and even the rubber caulking on the observation window had come loose, and water was gushing in around the window.为了把雷切尔救出来，托兰突然有了个奇怪的想法。 观察窗的封圈损坏了。如果托兰能加大驾驶舱内的压力，他也许就能把整个观察窗从潜艇上掀开，把雷切尔救出来。要知道，潜艇是只在一个方向上很牢固。潜艇能挡得住外面来的巨大的压力，但是来自里面的压力却几乎一点儿都受不了。而且，特里同使用了规格统一的调节阀。托兰只需要松开高压充气筒的充气管，把它塞进潜艇左舷的一个紧急换气管调节阀里！给潜艇舱里增压会让雷切尔的身体十分痛苦，但这样也许救得了她。 托兰吸了一口气，然后潜入了水中。 这会儿潜艇在水下足足八英尺深了，而且水流湍急，光线暗淡，这让托兰很难找准方向。他浮在下沉的特里同的后部，拧开龙头，打开了调节阀。软管立即变硬了，托兰还能听到空气正以巨大的冲力灌进驾驶舱。 在特里同里，雷切尔突然觉得头部一阵撕裂般的疼痛。她张开嘴巴想喊，但是空气进入她的肺部，巨大的压力让她感到十分痛苦，她觉得自己的胸部就要炸开来了。她觉得自己的眼睛仿佛正被狠狠地往脑壳里挤压。一声震耳欲聋的隆隆声响彻她的耳膜，她就要晕过去了。她本能地闭紧了双眼，双手捂住耳朵。她觉得越来越痛了。 雷切尔听到她正前方砰的一声响。她使劲睁开眼睛，正好看到他朝她打手势叫她做什么。 可做什么呢？ “雷切尔……推……推……玻璃！” 他说出口的话就像冒水泡一样，含糊不清。 在黑暗中，潜艇开始倾斜，雷切尔摇晃着失去了平衡。她在座位上绊了一下，往前扑去，重重地撞到了半球状观察舱的内壁上。肩膀一阵剧痛。就在她猛地撞到玻璃上时，她有一种突如其来的感觉——潜艇里的压力突然减小了。雷切尔耳朵里绷紧的鼓膜能感觉到放松了，而且她还真听到了空气漏出潜艇时发出的汩汩声。 她一下子意识到是怎么回事了。他是要把这个圆顶窗炸开！ 雷切尔使用浑身的力气向玻璃窗上撞去，玻璃窗还是没有反应。受损的潜艇出人预料地开始倾斜了——向后倒去。 雷切尔仰视着头上的圆顶，鼓起最后的勇气，吃力地爬上驾驶座，那个座位现在几乎是水平仰置的了，就像牙科病人的椅子一样。雷切尔平躺着，屈起膝盖，尽可能地把双腿往后拉，双脚对准上面，她绝望地大叫一声，双脚朝这个丙烯酸圆顶的中央用力踢去。顿时，剧烈的疼痛传遍小腿，让她头晕目眩。她的耳朵里突然一阵轰鸣，她感到了一阵汹涌急流般的压力。圆顶左边的封圈脱落了，这个巨大的透镜挪开了一点，来回摆动着敞开了，就像一扇谷仓门似的。 雷切尔从潜艇里出来了，可她不知该往哪里游了。 在她身下数千英尺的地方，下沉的“基奥瓦”直升机在不断增大的压力下挤变了形。在这股压缩力的作用下，那十五枚还在飞机上的高爆炸性反坦克AGM－114型“狱火”导弹的铜制衬垫锥体和弹性起爆头正一点点地朝里移动，十分危险。 在海底一百英尺以上的地方，强大的柱状大卷流吸住了直升机残骸，直把它往下拽，猛地掷到了岩浆丘炽热的外壳上。像一盒火柴逐次点燃了一样，“狱火”导弹一下子爆炸了，在岩浆丘的顶部炸开了一个口。 迈克尔·托兰浮出水面呼吸空气，接着又绝望地潜了下去，他在水下十五英尺的地方在一片黑暗中扫视着，突然“狱火”导弹爆炸了。白光滚滚地升上来，照亮了令人震惊的一幕——他会永远记住这定格的一幕。几千英尺以下的地方，炸碎的岩浆丘外壳迸开来，海底火山猛地喷发，一千二百摄氏度的岩浆喷涌而出。 雷切尔浑身虚弱无力，她开始朝她看到光亮的方向游去。这个时候，她看到更多光了……远处古怪的红光。是日光吗？她游得更卖力了。 突然，一只手抓住了她的脚踝。迈克尔·托兰拉着她朝另一个方向游去。 即使托兰和雷切尔浮出了水面，他也知道这下完了。岩浆丘喷发了。一旦这个旋涡的顶部抵达海面，这个巨大的海下龙卷风就会开始把所有的一切都拉下去。奇怪的是，海面上并不是片刻之前他离开时那个安静的黎明。噪声震耳欲聋。大风抽打着他的身体，仿佛他在水下的时候又有一场风暴袭来了。 由于缺氧，托兰觉得阵阵眩晕。他试着在水里托起雷切尔，但她正被一股力量拉着挣脱他的手臂。急流！托兰努力撑住，但是这股看不见的力量拽得更厉害了，就要把她从他手中完全扯开。突然，他的手滑脱了，雷切尔的身体从他的臂弯里滑了出去——但却是朝上的。 托兰困惑不解地看着雷切尔的身体浮出了水面。 头顶上，海岸警卫队的“鱼鹰”号翻转旋翼飞机盘旋着，把雷切尔吊了起来。托兰看着雷切尔被拉进机舱，平安无事，这时他突然发现了一个很眼熟的人，他半裸着身子蹲在过道里。 就在这时，安全带又从天上放下来了，落在十英尺远的地方。 托兰狠狠地划了四下，够到了安全带。他使出最后一丝力气，把头、手伸进安全索内，然后全身就瘫了。 大海一下子在他身下远去了。 托兰看着下面，此时张着大口的旋涡打开了。强卷流终于抵达了海面。威廉·皮克林和劫数难逃的“戈雅”一起被吸入了那陡峭的旋转的水洞里。 华盛顿的早晨天清气朗。 塞奇威克·塞克斯顿参议员从他的豪华轿车里走了出来，像一头雄狮一样大步流星地朝等候在纪念碑基座的媒体走去，感觉自己比华盛顿纪念碑本身还要高大。他已经邀请了国内十大媒体记者到此，并且承诺向他们披露世纪丑闻。 塞克斯顿手中紧握着那一沓白色亚麻布纸信封，每一个信封上都精致地凸印着他姓名花押字的蜡制封印。如果说信息就是力量的话，那么现在的塞克斯顿就正携着一枚核弹头。 “女士们，先生们，早上好，”塞克斯将信封放在他面前的讲演台上，说道，“我会尽可能让此会议简短而轻松地结束。我即将与你们分享的信息，坦白地说，是十分恼人的。这些信封里装有政府最高层制造的一场骗局的证据。” 就在塞克斯顿准备公开这个真相的时候，忽然，塞克斯顿听到远处传来了巨大的直升机旋翼振动的声音。一架体型庞大的“鱼鹰”号翻转旋翼飞机降落在他右边的广场上。机舱门打开了，一位女士走了出来。雷切尔·塞克斯顿。 雷切尔急忙赶来是想阻止父亲的这场新闻发布会。然而，不管雷切尔说什么，塞克斯顿似乎都不为所动。谁也阻止不了他要召开新闻发布会的决心。 身后扩音系统里突然响起的一阵噪声引起了塞克斯顿的注意。一名晚到的女记者，在他的讲台上弓着身子，试图把一个广播公司的麦克风接到一个鹅颈管接线柱上。这名记者匆忙之中把塞克斯顿的那叠信封碰到了地上，正手忙脚乱地拾捡掉到地上的信封。 “我来吧。”他急切地说，伸出手来拿这些信封。 塞克斯顿飞快地点了一下信封。十个，好样的。今天没有人能抢走他的成功。他把这些信封重新排列起来，调整好麦克风，对着众人打趣地笑了笑，“我想，最好趁着还没有人受到伤害就把这些发下去。” 人们哈哈笑了起来，看上去十分急切。 塞奇威克·塞克斯顿面对着拥挤不堪的新闻记者，他已经把女儿抛在脑后了。他高昂着头，绕着讲台走了一周，然后把这叠信封交到了等候多时的新闻记者手中。他看着这些信封迅速地在人群中传开来。他能听到这些封印被撕破的声音，这些信封就像圣诞礼物一样被扯开了。 人群突然安静下来了。 在寂静中，塞克斯顿能感觉到他的职业生涯那决定性的时刻到来了。 陨石是假的。而我就是那个揭露真相的人。 “先生，”一个记者审视着手里的信封结结巴巴地说，显得十分震惊，“这是真的吗？” 塞克斯顿忧郁地叹了口气，“是的，恐怕这是千真万确的。” 人群里马上又响起了迷惑不解的低语声。 “我会给诸位一点时间来彻底审查这些资料，”塞克斯顿说，“然后我会回答问题，使大家进一步了解你们所看的东西。” “参议员，”另一个记者问，听上去他完全弄糊涂了，“这些图片是真的吗？……没有被修改过？” “百分之百是真的，”塞克斯顿说，他此时更坚定了，“否则我就不会把这些证据给你们了。” 人们感到更困惑了。塞克斯顿觉得他甚至听到了一些笑声——这可不是他想听到的反应。他担心起来，恐怕自己高估了媒体将明显的事实联系起来的能力。 “呃，参议员，”有人说，奇怪的是，他听上去像是被逗乐了一般，“您郑重声明，您保证这些图片的真实性？” 塞克斯顿都要泄气了，“我的朋友们，我最后说一次，你们手里的证据百分之百的确切无误。如果有人能证明不是这样，就砍了我的头！” 塞克斯顿等着人们的笑声，但笑声再也没有了。 There was a silence.茫然的凝视。 刚才说话的那名记者朝塞克斯顿走来，他一边往前走一边草草地翻阅完他手中的复印件。“你说得对，参议员。这的确是丑闻。”记者迟疑了一下，搔了搔头，“所以我猜，我们感到困惑的是，为什么你决定以这种方式把这些证据给我们，尤其是在您早些时候强烈否认此事之后。” 塞克斯顿不明白这人在说什么。这个记者把复印件递给了他。塞克斯顿看了看复印件——霎时，他的脑子变成了一片空白。 一句话也说不出来。 他注视着这些陌生的照片。黑白照。两个人。赤裸着身子。胳膊与双腿交织在一起。一时间，塞克斯顿不知道眼前是什么。紧接着，他想起来了，仿佛被一枚炮弹击中了。 惊恐之中，塞克斯顿猛地抬起头对着人群。这个时候他们都在笑。半数的人已经给他们的新闻编辑部打电话报道此事了。 塞克斯顿感到肩膀上被拍了一下。 恍惚中，他转过身去。 雷切尔就站在那儿。“我们竭力阻止你，”她说，“我们给了你一切可能的机会。”一个女人站在她身边。 塞克斯顿的目光一下转移到雷切尔身边的那个女人身上，他不禁浑身发抖。她就是那个碰掉他的信封的女人。塞克斯顿看着她的脸，全身的血液都冻结了。 加布丽埃勒的黑眼睛仿佛看穿了他，她解开外衣，露出整整齐齐塞在腋下的一叠白色信封。 总统办公室里很黑，只有赫尼总统办公桌上的黄铜台灯发出一片柔和的光。加布丽埃勒·阿什站在总统面前，下巴扬得高高的。总统身后，窗外西边的草坪上暮色渐浓。 赫尼对加布丽埃勒做出的抉择很受感动，希望能挽留下她帮她避过风头，但是加布丽埃勒婉言谢绝了总统的好意。 此时，总统和加布丽埃勒到达了新闻发布室的后门，加布丽埃勒能听到等候在外面的人群嘈杂声。在这一天内，全世界的人第二次聚集在一起，倾听一场特别的总统演说。 “你准备跟他们说什么？”加布丽埃勒问道。 赫尼叹了口气，他的表情格外平静。“这些年来，我一次又一次地领悟到了一点……”他把一只手搭在她肩上，微笑道，“没有什么可取代事实。” 加布丽埃勒看着他大步走向讲台，心中充满了一种突如其来的自豪感。扎克·赫尼要去承认他有生以来犯下的最大的错误，然而奇怪的是，此时的他比任何时候都显得更有总统风范。 雷切尔醒来，屋子里一团漆黑。 时钟的荧光指针显示此时是晚上十点十四分。这个床不是她自己的。有好一会儿，她一动不动地躺着，揣测着自己到底在哪儿。慢慢地，一切都在记忆中重现了……强卷流……清晨，在华盛顿纪念碑……总统邀请她留宿在白宫。 我在白宫，雷切尔明白过来了。我在这儿睡了一整天。