Page 66 of No Escape

“Okay, but how are you going to get me out?”

“You let me worry about that part. You focus on getting that disc.”

He stood over me, and I held up my hands. Bracing his feet against the side of the box, he grabbed each of my hands in a wrist lock. “Summon that courage, yah?” he said. “You can do this.”

“Yes, I can,” I said, my voice cracking as he began lowering me down, the water pressing in on every side of my mind. I closed my eyes and stretched out my legs until the motion stopped.

“That’s as far as I can reach,” Tito said. “I have to let go now. You ready?”

I wasn’t, but what could I do? “You can let go of me, Tito. Just don’t leave me.”

“Never.”

He let go, and I fell. I pressed my hands alongside the glass box to slow my descent. A couple of seconds later, my feet hit the float and my downward motion stopped. I froze, my heart pounding. Water began slowly oozing up the sides around the edges of the float.

“I made it,” I shouted up to Tito.

I swallowed my panic, reminding myself to trust science and my careful calculations. As the water rose to my ankles, up to my knees, and finally to my thighs, I recited the Pythagorean theorem until I realized it had stopped.

I exhaled a breath. My calculations were sound, and I was safe for the moment. Turning diagonally in the box, I carefully squatted, the water rising to my waist. I stretched out my fingers, feeling along the edge of the float to get a grip on it. To my dismay, the top was curved and nearly flush to the sides of the box.

“I can’t get underneath the float,” I called up. “It’s set flush against the side of the box, and I can’t get a grip.”

“Stand on one side of the float,” Vittoria yelled. “See if you can get it to rise on the other side.”

I tried, but the float still fit too tightly against the box. “It won’t tip more than an inch or so, and I can’t get my fingers under it.”

I continued feeling along all four sides, but the float didn’t give anywhere. Uncomfortable, I tried to adjust my position by pressing my elbow into the side of the box. I slipped and almost lost my balance when my right elbow slipped off the surface into an imperceptible indentation in the wall.

“Wait! I found something,” I shouted. “Stand by.”

I explored the indentation farther with my hands, discovering that there was a shallow opening on the opposite wall of the box about eighteen inches above the bottom. If I could maneuver the float at the same level as the opening, I should be able to get my hand under the float and then lift it.

Gritting my teeth, I put my back against the wall of the box above the indentation and tucked up my knees. The float rose until it was stopped by my butt. Carefully, I put my hands into the indentation and flipped the float, putting one of my feet on the bottom of the pool. The water reached to my upper chest.

No freaking pressure.

Standing on one leg, I reached under the float and grabbed the chain that held the weight. I pulled it closer and saw a metal object in the shape of a fish. Pretty, but it wasn’t the prize I sought.

“Lexi, we’re running out of time,” Tito called down. “What’s happening?”

“I’ve got the float and a fish weight in my hand. But I can’t see the disc yet. How are you going to get me out of here?”

“We already have taken care of that,” he said. “Just get that disc, and hurry.”

I examined the fish weight further but found no hidden compartment and no way to open it. Where the heck was that disc?

I gingerly lowered my other foot to the bottom of the pool. Standing on my tiptoes, I began feeling around with my feet. Suddenly I hit something with the side of my foot. I maneuvered my foot over the object, clenched my toes, and somehow managed to lift it high enough to grab it without putting my head underwater.

The golden disc.

“I’ve got it!” I shouted, relief flooding me. “I’ve got the freaking disc. Get me out of here.”

I slid the disc into the top of my bathing suit so I wouldn’t drop it.

There was silence, and then Tito appeared at the top of the box, tossing something down to me. It hit me on the shoulder, and I grabbed it. A towel rope. The team had knotted several of the towels together and formed a loop at the bottom.

“Step into the loop and we’ll pull you up,” Tito called down.

---