Death Diamonds of Bermudez by R. C. Farrington, Jason Farrington Page A

us. We think it’s the way back out of this tunnel.”
     
    As Storm began weaving through the debris he said, “Well, let’s find out and get clear of this mess.”
     
    Savage added, “You guys go first, and I’ll try to move these boards and brush around to slow our mercenaries down.” Savage tried to walk backwards ripping down everything he could hoping to slow Lynch down. As he backed out of the debris and into the clear he bumped into the back of Storm. Savage yelled out, ‘What the hell did you stop for?”
     
    Storm tapped on Savage’s shoulder and said, “I think you better turn around and look at this.”
     
    Savage said, “Yeah, yeah.” He was at a loss for words though when he turned around and saw what the others were already looking at. The four were now looking at the same mammoth cavern that the other Spinners had seen a day or so ago.
     
    The walls of the cavern were gleaming brilliantly from the gold, silver, diamonds and crystals. The four were almost blinded from the display.
     
    Storm was first to speak saying, “Well, we now know what the South Africans are looking for.”
     
    Savage added, “You got that bloody right! These self-proclaimed Boers solders won’t be taking any prisoners either.” No sooner had Savage quit speaking than bullet fire ripped through the debris.
     
    Storm yelled out, “Drop to the cave floor as fast as you can. Keno was hit almost instantly. His large body dropped to the cave floor with the thud of a boulder. He lay on his back motionless with no signs of life.
     
    Savage was closest to Keno. He crawled on his belly over to the lifeless body. Savage shook Keno’s side saying, “Wake up, mate! You’ll be alright.”
     
    Graham whispered over to Savage asking, “How do you know he’s going to be alright?”
     
    Savage whispered back, “Well, he’s going to be sore. Thank goodness he was hit in the chest.” Savage lifted up Keno’s flack jacket to make sure the bullet was lodged in it and not in Keno’s chest. Savage turned to the others and said, “The flack jacket saved his life. He’s just stunned and got the wind knocked out of him. He’ll come around in a minute.”
     
    While Graham and Savage were tending to Keno, Storm had crawled over to the edge of the debris. He could see that there were old ropes from a ship and a fairly large area of tar that must have been washed into the tunnel from the ocean. With all the old dried sticks and brush mingled together he had an idea. He pushed some of the rope and dried sticks down into the tar. While he was trying to avoid the random bullets being fired through the debris, he pulled out some matches and lit the tar-coated rope. It took a couple of minutes, but the tar and debris finally caught fire. The clogged entrance to the cavern was quickly filled with smoke and fire. The South Africans were caught off guard from the turn of events. To make matters worse for them, they were on higher ground and the dense smoke was flowing up the tunnel like a chimney. Lynch yelled at his men, “Cease firing! The smoke is too thick. We’re wasting our ammunition.” Lynch had no choice but to move his men back up the tunnel to escape the smoke.
     
    Keno was finally coming around. He was moaning in pain from the hit he had taken in the chest. Trying to comfort Keno, Savage said, “You’re going to be sore, son, but you’re no worse for the wear. Can you move? We’re sitting ducks if those goons start firing at us again”
     
    Keno in a very low voice said, “I’ll be fine. I can get up.”
     
    Storm ran over to help Savage get Keno back on his feet. Storm yelled out, “We’d better get moving. This fire won’t keep those killers at bay for very long.” Keno began walking despite his sore chest with Storm’s help. Savage and Graham ran ahead trying to find an escape route.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Hide and Seek
     
    Sam, Michael , and Portagee had all but given up on