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Jack froze in the man’s embrace, unable to speak

Houston released him and headed toward the door “I have a few last minute details to address, but help yourself to the sandwiches, Jack The egg salad is especially good Real eggs, not that powdered shit” The ad the door behind him

Alone, Jack sank into one of the seats He wiped his daan to press on him For the first ti in his direction

Three hours later Jack found hi Dressed in his blue Norseman dry suit, he cli into the cramped seat Once settled, he hooked up the Bio-Sensor monitors and attached his microphone He ran down the predive safety checklist with Lisa, as in the Fathom’s pilothouse

Charlie worked atop the sub around, visually checking seals, while Robert, in mask and snorkel, swam under the ship Jack had done his own check, but his creere taking no chances “Check everything twice,” he had drilled into them

Charlie clambered over to Jack He stared with concern at his friend “You sure about this,way down Deeper than you’ve ever flown this girl”

“She’s rated for this depth”

“On the drawing boards maybe, but this is real life The ocean has a way of surprising you She can be a real bitch”

Jack looked up at the Ja, Charlie”

“Okay, mon It’s your funeral”

Jack reached out and clasped the large man’s hand Then Charlie lowered the acrylic dome over Jack’s head and screwed it into place Once done, Charlie gave Jack a thuist in the water as Jack finalized his checklist

Around the Fathom, the other search ships were spread in a wide circle Off to the south, the Gibraltar filled the horizon Overhead, a Sea Knight helicopter buzzed by All eyes remained on Jack and his tiny sub

Lisa cao, Jack” The nervousness in her voice could not be hidden

“Check and check Diving now,” he said dryly He engaged the thrusters, the sub huan to lower into the surf The waterline cli over Jack’s head

A brief flash of claustrophobia struck hinored it He kneas just a base ani Divers had been experiencing it for ages He breathed steadily past the e of anxiety as the sub sank deeper He had a long way to go

Six hundred meters More than a quarter of a mile

Earlier, on the Gibraltar, the briefing had been curt and to the point The overnight search had picked up the pinging of the flight’s data recorder, and the NTSB team had localized the most likely dive spot—in water over six hundred ued for deploying the Navy’s Deep Drone, a remote-operated deep-sea robot, to explore the seabed But the Deep Drone, presently stationed in the Atlantic, could not be flown on-site for another two days

As the situation was debated, Jack had let the group know that his own ship’s test subht hundredto at least recon the site and attempt to retrieve the data recorders The NTSB seeerous,” the team leader had asserted “We can’t risk the loss of more lives”