Tunnels 03, Freefall

after him. Straight away he looked behind her to see if Chester had come with her, or Martha for that matter, but neither of them was there.
    Indicating to Will that he should move aside, she opened the hatch the tiniest fraction, then ran her fingers around the inside. She was suddenly very still, then shot a tense glance at Will. She delved inside her pocket and took out a length of twine, which she carefully attached to something just under the rim of the hatch. Not paying any attention to the dead Bright, she tied the other end of the twine to one of the slats of the duckboard flooring just beside it. Making sure the twine was drawn tautly, she produced a pair of rusty-looking clippers, which she nosed under the hatch, and then used both hands to operate. It was only then that the tenseness left her face and she allowed herself to relax.
    Will brought his Sten up, as Elliott very slowly swung the lid of the hatch open. She directed his attention to something just inside it, a package the size of a brick, with a wire extending from it. Or at least what was left of the wire after Elliott had attached the twine to it and cut it, so rendering it harmless. Will didn't need to be told that the package was some form of explosive device. The Limiter had rigged up a booby trap, probably putting it together from chemicals he'd found on the submarine. There was no other explanation.
    Will followed Elliott inside the conning tower, where she mouthed the words 'Wait here,' then slipped outside the submarine again. Clinging to the ladder, Will kept on his guard, watching out for the Styx. Elliott was gone for less than a minute, reappearing with both Dr. Burrows and Bartleby, who she was tugging behind her on a lead. She closed the main hatch, and they all crept along the ladder to the submarine's bridge. Now they were inside, the rumbling sound was considerably reduced, giving them the opportunity to talk.
    "That was a close call," Will said, shaking his head. "Another second and I'd have set that bomb off. Thanks."
    Elliott held her finger to her lips. "Not so loud," she whispered, looking cautiously up and down the gangways at either end of the bridge. "And don't touch a thing!" she hissed at Dr. Burrows, who had begun to inspect the banks of equipment. "There might be a second trap round here somewhere."
    "Chester? And Martha?" Will asked. "They didn't come with you?"
    Elliott shook her head. "Just me and the Hunter."
    She used Bartleby to make a thorough search of all the compartments, checking for trip wires as she went. Will followed behind, covering her with his Sten. The orientation of the submarine and the fact that they couldn't use the gangways didn't matter, because they were able to float along in mid-air, like divers swimming though a submerged wreck. As there was no sign of the twins or the Limiter, they made their way back to the bridge where Dr. Burrows was waiting.
    "I never expected you to come after me," Will said to Elliott, in a half question. "You didn't need to."
    "Lucky for you I did," Elliott replied, but didn't offer any sort of explanation.
    "And Chester -- do you know what he's going to do?" Will asked her.
    "No, he didn't really say, although I think he might try to go to his Topsoil home. But he did say the next time he saw you he'd know the living daylights out of you. He said you should've at least discussed it with him before taking a flying jump over the edge like that."
    "I was afraid he'd try to stop me," Will muttered.
    But Elliott was already thinking ahead. "So the Styx aren't here, but because they rigged the explosive on the main hatch we know that at least one of them survived. So they've either hidden the virus somewhere in this submarine, or--"
    "Or they've got it with them," Will interrupted her.
    "Correct," she said. "So our job isn't done yet."
    "I bet this was one of the new generation of subs with stealth drives the Russians and Americans were both developing," Dr. Burrows suddenly piped up. "Maybe the Russians were using it to spy on us from the North Sea, and as a subsea plate shifted it was sucked down into this void."
    "Smoking Jean... I've called this void Smoking Jean," Will said.
    "After Celia's sister... how very appropriate." Dr. Burrows grinned momentarily, then he was off again on his theory. "And maybe no one knows this sub has been lost because the Russian government would hardly want to publicize th--"
    "Focus," Elliott cut him off sharply. "We need to focus.