[3:55 a.m.]
The moment Lin Yu'an broke the surface, Riven felt the heart that had been hanging for over half an hour finally drop back into place.
She strode forward, and by the dim glow of her headlamp saw the excitement Lin Yu'an couldn't hide on his face. She knew at once that this dangerous recon must have yielded something big.
"How is it?" she asked urgently in a low voice, reaching out at the same time to help him unclip the heavy sidemount cylinders from his harness.
"Better than we expected," Lin Yu'an said, keeping it brief. "And… more complicated."
He didn't go into detail immediately. Instead he glanced at the dive computer on his wrist. "The tide's already turning. We have to get out of here right now—Mike's still waiting for our report."
They said no more, quickly recovered the guideline and glow sticks, and started pulling out along the water tunnel they'd come through as fast as they could.
