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.A narrow alleyway between two warehouses suddenly yawned in front of the bus.Down to the final toss of the dice, Pitt hurled the bus into the opening.His luck was against him.Too late he realized the alleyway led onto a deserted pier with no exit except the one he passed through.“The end of the trail,” Pitt sighed.Giordino turned and looked to the rear again.“The posse knows it.They've stopped to gloat over their triumph.”“Maeve?”Maeve walked to the front of the bus.“Yes?” she said quietly.“How long can you hold your breath'”"“I don't know; maybe a minute.”“Al? What are they doing?”“Walking toward the bus, holding nasty-looking clubs.”“They want us alive,” said Pitt.“Okay, gang, take a seat and hold on tight.”“What are you going to do?” asked Maeve.“ We, love of my life, are going for a swim.Al, open all the windows.I want this thing to sink like a brick.”“I hope the water's warm,” said Giordino as he unlatched the windows.“I hate cold water.”To Maeve, Pitt said, “Take several deep breaths and get as much oxygen as you can into your bloodstream.Exhale and then inhale as we go over the side.”“I bet I can swim underwater farther than you,” she said with gutsy resolve.“Here's your chance to prove it,” he said admiringly.“Don't waste time waiting for an air pocket.Go out the windows on your right and swim under the pier as soon as the water stops surging inside the bus.”Pitt reached behind the driver's seat, unzipped his overnight bag, retrieved a nylon packet and stuffed it down the front of his pants, leaving a larger-than-life bulge.“What in the world are you doing?” asked Maeve.“My emergency goody bag,” explained Pitt.“I never leave home without it.”“They're almost on us,” Giordino announced calmly.Pitt slipped on a leather coat, zipped it to his collar, turned and gripped the wheel.“Okay, let's see if we can get high marks from the judges.”He revved up the engine and shifted the automatic transmission into sow.The battered bus jerked forward, right front tire flapping, steam billowing so thick he could hardly see ahead, gathering speed for the plunge.There was no railing along the pier, only a low, wooden horizontal beam that acted as a curb for vehicles.The front wheels took the brunt of the impact.The already weakened front suspension tore away as the wheelless chassis ground over it, the rear tires tearing rubber as they spun, pushing what was left of the Toyota bus over the side of the pier.The bus seemed to fall in slow motion before the heavier front end dropped and struck the water with a great splash.The last thing Pitt remembered before the windshield fell inward and the seawater surged through the open passenger door was the loud hiss of the overheated engine as it was inundated.The bus bobbed once, hung for an instant and they sank into the green water of the bay.All Dorsett's security people saw when they ran to the edge of the dock and looked down, was a cloud of steam, a mass of gurgling bubbles and a spreading oil slick.The waves created by the impact spread and rippled into the pilings beneath the pier.They waited expectantly for heads to appear, but no indication of life emerged from the green depths.Pitt guessed that if the docks could accommodate large cargo ships the water depth had to be at least fifteen meters.The bus sank, wheels down, into the muck on the bottom of the harbor, disturbing the silt, which burst into a rolling cloud.Pushing away from the wheel, he stroked toward the rear of the bus to make sure Maeve and Giordino were not injured and had exited through a window.Satisfied they had escaped, he snaked through the opening and kicked into the blinding silt.When he burst into the clear, visibility was better than he had expected, the water temperature a degree or two colder.The incoming tide brought in fairly clean water, and he could easily distinguish the individual pilings under the pier.He estimated visibility at twenty meters.He recognized the indistinct shapes of Maeve and Giordino about four meters in front, swimming strongly into the void ahead.He looked up, but the surface was only a vague pattern of broken light from a cloudy sky [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]