The Devil's Cave: A Bruno Courrèges Investigation (Bruno Chief of Police 5)

Countess is on her way to hospital in Périgueux with Fabiola. Montsouris insisted on going along,’ Albert said. ‘Someone from the Minister of the Interior’s office has been on the phone with the Mayor, insisting on speaking to you as soon as you’re near a phone. And there’s a guy outside from
Paris-Match
, claims to be a friend of yours from Sarajevo.’
    ‘Right, we’d better go, if the Count is stabilized enough to move him,’ said Bruno. ‘How’s it going?’ he asked the medic.
    ‘Give me another few minutes,’ said the medic. ‘They’ll send a couple of guys back to help with the stretcher. Then we can go.’
    Bruno nodded and turned back to gaze across the black stillness of the lake and at the dark mouth of the far tunnel. It had been four days since he’d first seen it but he knew he’d want to return, perhaps join one of the exploring clubs and see what other secrets these honeycombed hills contained.
    ‘Can’t be soon enough for me,’ said J-J. ‘It gives me the creeps, being underground like this and thinking of all that weight above us.’
    Bruno turned back from the lake to J-J and Sergeant Jules. ‘After this, I think we all deserve a very large drink.’
    As he spoke the last word, the sharp cracking sound of a distant explosion came from the far side of the lake followed by a long, swelling rumble. A rush of dust and air blasted from the tunnel that led back to the ruined chapel to send a surge of lake water over their feet. It extinguished most of the candles they had lit.

32
    ‘
Mon Dieu
,’ said J-J, looking at Sergeant Jules. ‘They’ve booby-trapped the tunnel where we came in, where you were waiting. Thank God you came and joined us.’
    ‘That might not be the only bomb,’ said Bruno. ‘Follow me, quickly.’ He helped the medic to drag the Count, drenched from the wave of lake water, around the corner into the smaller cave where the candles had been stored.
    ‘Maybe that’s why Foucher took the chance to run, if he knew there was another bomb timed to blow and seal him in,’ said Bruno.
    ‘So it could seal us in, too,’ said Jules, gathering more candles from the old ammunition box and lighting them one by one. ‘How long do we have to wait before we know?’
    Bruno tried to work out how long the timer would have been on the bomb. Most timers were set for five, fifteen or thirty minutes, but they weren’t always that accurate. He wondered if Ahmed and the girl had managed to get out of the tunnel before the blast. It would have taken time to get that stretcher up the stairs and across the three big stalagmites that guarded the entrance to the tunnel.
    ‘They probably set that timer as they came through the tunnelwith the girl. They can’t have been much more than ten or fifteen minutes ahead of us, but then more time passed when the
Mobiles
joined us. So it was probably set for thirty minutes. But if there is a second bomb, I’ve no idea when they might have set it. If we stay here for an hour, we should be OK.’
    ‘If we don’t get this guy to hospital before then, he’s not going to make it,’ said the medic.
    ‘Tough,’ said J-J. ‘I’m not risking my skin for a bastard like that.’
    ‘I’m going back into the cave by the lake,’ said Albert, tapping at his walkie-talkie. ‘I can’t get a connection in here.’
    ‘Don’t go out just yet,’ said Bruno. ‘Just put the radio round the corner and see if you get anything.’
    Albert did so, and a crackling of garbled voice and static came from the small speaker. He thumbed the button to speak and identified himself but there was no answer.
    ‘It’s no good, I’ll have to go out if they’re going to hear me,’ he said and began to rise to his feet. At that moment, a second, much closer blast slammed into the cave, knocking Albert to the ground, deafening them all and blowing out every candle but one.
    ‘Jesus, we’re sealed in,’ said the medic.
    ‘They know we’re in here,’ said Albert, picking himself up and trying to rub dust from his eyes. ‘They’ll get equipment in and dig us out. We’ve got water. We can last for days.’
    ‘This guy doesn’t have an hour. His blood pressure’s collapsed,’ said the medic.
    ‘Let’s see how bad the blockage is,’ said Bruno. Lighting more candles, he led the way around the rocky corner ontothe beach where they’d been standing when the first blast came. He looked into the tunnel that led to the Gouffre. The first few