The Smoke Room: A Novel of Suspense by Earl W. Emerson

Author:Earl W. Emerson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Mystery, Bonds, Fiction - Espionage, Fiction, Fire fighters, Suspense, Theft, Thrillers, Suspense fiction, General, Thriller
ISBN: 9780345462916
Publisher: Random House, Inc.
Published: 2005-09-15T07:33:15.363000+00:00

T H E S M O K E R O O M

151

“Shit,” I said. “Help me. Shit. Shit.”

Tronstad was still filming with the camcorder, while Johnson, who stared dumbly at the water, said, “You know I can’t swim.”

I reached into the water blindly, moving my arm to and fro, then put my face in, although the last thing I wanted to do was submerge myself again. After a few seconds my eyes adjusted and I spotted a light, the battle lantern Sears still carried. He was doing a slow rotation six feet below me, caught in the whirlpool, tucked into a ball, spinning around as if his waist were curled around a bar.

I took another breath at the surface and again plunged my face into the cold water. He was deeper now, and there wasn’t a thing I could do to help him. The whirlpool had him, and if I went in, it would grab me, too.

I watched the pinpoint of light from his battle lantern descend deeper. I watched until I could barely see the light. Suddenly it came heading back toward the surface like a torpedo, and before I could move, it smacked me in the face.

Tasting blood on my lips, I pulled my head out of the water and picked up the battle lantern.

“Where is he?” Johnson asked.

Tronstad knelt beside us, still filming.

“There’s a pipe down there. I think he got sucked into it.”

“That’s not possible.”

I stood and stripped my bunking coat off, then began peeling my suspenders and bunking trousers down to the boots, which were heavy with water. “Come on, you guys. Help me. We can get him out.”

“Count me out,” said Johnson. “I can’t swim, and you know as well as I do that in a rescue situation sixty percent of the fatalities are rescuers.”

“Tronstad?”

“Fuck him.” Tronstad had turned the camcorder off. “That bastard was going to do us.”

“Jesus! You knew that was a pit. You planned this.” I looked around at the street. “You moved all the signs.”

“You guys fell in. Not my fault.”

“You set us up,” I said. I pushed Tronstad, who pushed me back. Be-152

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