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

finding anything edible. As they walked along Portagee looked down in a shallow pool saying, “What’s that moving around in the water over there?”
     
    Michael looked over at the pool and smiled as he answered, “It looks like sushi to me.” Michael could see that the little critters swimming in the pool were small translucent shrimp.
     
    Sam looked over at the shrimp and said, “You’ve got to be kidding. I’m not eating those shrimp. Look, you can see their insides.”
     
    A s he reached into the pool grabbing as many shrimp as he could, Portagee replied, “Suit yourself; I’m hungry.” He devoured the tiny morsels in seconds. Michael was quick to follow Portagee and grabbed as many shrimp as he could.
     
    Sam sat there with a pained look on her face. The thought of eating those tiny shrimp and having them swimming around in her stomach was nauseating. Sam’s hunger finally got the best of her. She nudged Michael in the side and said, “Alright, give me some of those disgusting creatures.”
     
    Michael turned around and dropped several into Sam’s hand saying, “Bottoms up, baby.”
     
    Sam closed her eyes and tossed the tiny shrimp into her mouth swallowing them as quickly as she could. The three Spinners continued feasting on the shrimp until Portagee and Michael were satisfied. Sam ate just enough to stop her hunger pains. The three left the pool and continued on, hoping to find their way out of the endless cavern.
     
    Meanwhile back at the cavern entrance the fire had died down, and Lynch and his thugs were waiting for the smoke to clear out of the tunnel. Lynch got impatient and decided to expedite the clearing out of the charred brush and debris. He yelled out, “Fire in the hole!” He threw a grenade in the smoking debris and then dropped to the tunnel floor. The explosion blew the charred and burning debris in all directions. The sounds of the explosion resonated throughout the massive cavern.
     
    Sam, Michael, and Portagee stopped dead in their tracks after hearing the sound of the explosion echoing throughout the cavern. Sam yelled out, “What was that?”
     
    Portagee replied first, “Not sure, but I’ll bet it was some type of grenade set off by our South African buddies.”
     
    Michael snapped back, “They’re not our buddies. That also means that they must be following us. I bet they blew open the blockage at their end of the tunnel.”
     
    With a look of concern on her face Sam said, “Maybe when they see all the diamonds, gold, and silver they’ll forget about us.”
     
    Portagee added, “I wish they would, but right now we’re the only witnesses to their crimes.”
     
    Sam responded, “I hope my daddy has figured out what happened to us by now.” The three agreed they better keep moving or find a fool-proof hiding place.
     
    Storm, Savage, Keno, and Graham had also heard the explosion, except they were much closer to the source. It sounded to them like Lynch had just blown up that end of the massive cavern. They all froze for a minute expecting the ocean to rush in and engulf them.
     
    Savage turned to the others and said, “Well, those bloody bastards are just about ready to unleash their fury on us.”
     
    Graham asked, “Inspector, don’t you think when they see the cavern they’ll stop to try to load up on the diamonds and maybe forget about us?”
     
    Storm replied, “Graham, you’re right. These men are greedy, but they’re also blood-thirsty cold-blooded killers. They believe they’re on a mission to save their country. The only way they’ll stop is if the inspector and I stop them.”
     
    Savage added, “Storm’s right. You two need to get your bloody butts out of here and find Sam, Michael and Portagee. We’ll catch up with you later. Right now we need to slow down and maybe stop these killers.”
     
    Keno spoke up saying, “But.”
     
    Savage didn’t let him finish. He added, “But nothing! Get moving, and I mean now!”
     
    Graham