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  SINK

  Tom Simpson

  Copyright 1997 by Simpson Enterprises

  THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED

  TO LORETTA SIMPSON

  For whose unselfish devotion

  Made it all very possible

  Other books by Tom Simpson

  The flower, bright colored petals glistening with early morning dew, was awakening with anticipation of a bright sun filled day. A slight breeze blew through the high branches of majestic pine trees, whistling softly to the forest animals. The cawing of dozens of jet black crows pierced the morning like hawkers selling their wares at a college football game. The sun, breaking slowly through the mist, began warming the damp fur on the creatures who would spend the daylight hours foraging for food in the peacefulness of the secluded woods. Honeybees, hovering like waiting to land helicopters, could sense the flower's sweet nectar that they would soon transport back to their family oriented comb. A mockingbird, gripping a low hanging oak branch was vibrating with hunger pains waiting for the precise moment to swoop down on one of the very large orange and black insects. One of the bees, a scout, was just starting to alight on the emerald green highest leaf when the entire plant suddenly disappeared. The bee, never before having its life work vanish before its compound eyes reversed its direction and began zigzagging around looking for another plant to land on.

  The grayish colored bird shrugged its wings and flew to another tree branch to await the next meal opportunity. The flower, well it was gone forever.

  June 14, Saturday 4:00 a.m.

  Deep in the ground

  The earth was alive. Deep in the bowels of the earth were the vital signs of a living beast. The heartbeat was the steady rhythmical rumblings of the shifting limestone. The blood coursing through its mighty veins was the tiny underground rivers and streams penetrating the solid rock. The respiratory system was composed of the many warm breezes escaping and entering the numerous openings that it had created on the surface. Yes, it was alive. It was hungry.

  The tiny vibrations on the surface were scarcely noticeable. There were no door chimes to sound. The tiny rumblings of the cans in the kitchen pantry went undetected. The slight ripples on the lake’s surface were not unlike a fish would make trying to catch its breakfast. The rustling of the abundant foliage could be from an early morning summer breeze. At four a.m. there was no one monitoring the many computerized devices around the resort, placed strategically to pick up abnormalities in the complex systems used to control the many functions of a high tech vacation paradise. The vibrations went undetected but they began to work like many busy appendages doing their job for their master body, the earth itself.

  The lobby slowly began to sink, less than a millimeter an hour. The massive weight of the concrete and wood beam structure pressing hard on the surface of the beast. The slow sinking would have continued undetected for many days but, a grand opening party was planned and the added weight of all the guests would act as a catalyst, accelerating the process that man had started by building in an unstable land area, honeycombed with natural limestone caves. The beast was coming alive and it was hungry.

  June 14, Live

  Forest Glenn, Florida

  "We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming here at channel seven WWBD for a special news broadcast."

  "This is Wendy Wikowski reporting live from central Florida at the scene of one of the biggest natural disasters to hit the sunshine state. It is believed that almost one thousand people are trapped in a jumble of twisted wreckage of the once beautiful resort built by multi-billionaire Hiruto Tankinato. The prestigious grand opening was at noon today and shortly after, a sinkhole or series of sinkholes swallowed all of the elaborate buildings and much of the surrounding country side, including the main road in. Rescue teams have been arriving since shortly after the sink started but, they are now prevented from further rescue attempts by the intrusion of several armed men who apparently were in the process of removing the valuables from the wealthy guests and the resort safe when they were stopped by Mother Nature. To try to gain their freedom from justice they have taken several hostages and are demanding a helicopter to fly them to freedom. Just a short time ago a helicopter tried to land close to this entrance to hell and the vibrations from the whirring machine caused more of the sinkhole to collapse resulting in the beautiful manmade lake to start pouring in the hole." She paused long enough for the camera to pan the area around the large crack leading to the lake and it focused once again on her face. "We will return shortly as new developments continue to enfold from central Florida."

  January 11, Three years previous, Tuesday 3:00 p.m.

  Orlando, Florida

  Hiruto Tankinato, with his back facing the elaborate walnut conference table, began again with a little less patience than the three previous attempts.

  "I will explain one more time. Hopefully, my American business partners will realize that just because Japan lost the war, my country did not breed an entire race of imbeciles. Some of us are really quite smart. Take me, for example. Oxford graduate at seventeen. Owner of an international shipping company at twenty-two. Now, at the old age of thirty-three, I own a chain of banks, three pro-sports teams, countless malls and numerous real estate holdings in forty-one states and a personal wealth of two point three billion dollars. You see my friends; I might really know what I'm talking about."

  Tankinato turned to face the seven people sitting uneasily around the conference table and continued.

  "Therefore gentlemen, let me tell you again why this project will work and why all of us present in this room will benefit from my foresight."

  "Putting a lake, in lake saturated Florida, sounds more like hind end sight not foresight to me." Blurted Tom Evans, president of Magic Moments. The king of package vacation tours.

  "I agree." Replied Frank Connery "Why don't we just buy an existing lake and build the resort on it. That would save us millions in construction cost not counting the environmental expenses of messing with nature."

  "Okay Frank. I personally know that your construction company is right now financially strapped and you, you are up to your eyeballs in debt. I have told you not to worry but, you somehow have a death wish, you and Tom listen carefully and I will explain again why this

  cannot miss and how you men will all be really rich afterwards. Now just be quiet and listen to an expert for a change."

  Hiruto Tankinato pulled his padded red leather chair back out from the table and gently sat down like testing hot bath water. He carefully poured purified water from a gold plated decanter into an expensive crystal goblet and continued.

  "I will again explain the semantics of the situation and this time please listen very carefully because I feel like if I have to say this one more time I will get a new set of investors and believe me, you will be very sorry if you miss out on this one. I chose each one of you because I believe you each have a very valuable talent I can use. Just remember this though. You are all very replaceable so don't give me the opportunity to do that."

  "Now that I have your undivided attention, I will tell you the advantages of this plan of mine. First, and by far the most important, the financial reason for putting a lake where no lakes exist, but in a lake infested area. As you all know the price of waterfront lots are astronomical. The land we have put a deposit on is a mixture of worn out cow pastures and over mature orange groves. The woods mixed in don't add to the value because there is nothing around them. Therefore we picked up the land dirt-cheap and the profit margin usually associated with a land purchase is a tremendous amount larger than normal. After we develop the land around the lake with a sufficient number of canals added in, our price for lots for individual homes and the prices for multi acre plot
s for condominiums will be staggering but very competitive for waterfront land."

  Tankinato refilled his goblet, took a healthy sip, and continued.

  "Second, the lake, being manmade will be free of the usual trash associated with other

  Florida lakes. There will be no garbage fish. No out of control weeds. A nice sandy bottom. Solid firm banks. Everything your sports minded or recreational family wants for a super vacation. The manmade mountain with a waterfall and tropic lagoon will be a vacation paradise and will also disguise all the plumbing and hardware necessary to maintain a weed free and clear water environment. A perfect setting for the new millennium type family. Third and definitely not least is the resort hotel. The biggest and best of its kind in the country. Everything high tech and security controlled. The perfect place for our wealthy friends in business and their families. The business meeting rooms will be designed with the latest in computer technology and relaxing enough that all the fortune five hundred companies will be jumping over each other to make reservations to stay with us. We will have complete marina facilities for the boat owner and enough rental units to keep any number of guests perfectly content. Well that's basically my end. Let me now hear your input before we put this in gear."

  Tim Coonsby, still weary from his last minute flight from New York, stood up and pointed at the artist's rendition hanging on the portable display easel.

  "Okay, as you know my company did all the procuring of land for this project. This is a very profitable undertaking because of the location that we have obtained. The only problem that I have discovered is the availability of water to supply our manmade lake. There are no rivers in the immediate area to siphon the water from and we surely are not going to get enough rain to do any good so, what is our option?"

  "I can probably answer that better than anyone."Pepin Rantuski rose from his chair and replaced Tim Coonsby in front of the easel.

  "My men have been researching this area since Mr. Tankinato brought this project to my attention three months ago. Florida has an extremely large aquifer area. For you men who have no idea what I'm talking about, I'll explain. The aquifer is the area under the ground that contains all the water that has come from springs, underground rivers, soaked in rainfall, etc. The aquifer maintains a very healthy level year round even though the environmentalists always say we are sucking it dry. Political talk is all that is. There is enough water in the ground to last millions of years. All we are going to do is suck enough out to fill the lake and believe me, nobody will know the difference."

  "I have a slight problem with that." William (Bill) Forham stated. "My partner Kevin Backlin and I feel, after much sound vibration testing, that the land that you plan to build on is geologically unsound for any extensive building, especially after you suck the water out of the aquifer."

  "Listen Bill, and you too Kevin, I really appreciate your concern but we are not going to damage any sensitive land area. Besides, any water we remove will replenish itself in no time. The rainfall levels will keep the aquifer nice and full. We brought your company in here for that very reason, we did not want to damage anything and now we know everything is going to be just peachy keen, right?" Bolstered Tankinato.

  "Didn't you hear what Bill said?" Kevin exclaimed loudly. A building won't be safe on that land. It is too unstable"

  "Now, don't get upset. There is a ten thousand-dollar bonus for each of you for all the work you have done. Don't worry about anything. I promise you. Nothing at all will happen."

  January 11, Three years previous, Tuesday 5:14 p.m.

  Orlando, Florida

  Kevin Backlin raised the plastic cup to his lips and downed the last of the scotch. He shrugged off the bitter taste and stared back at his friend and business partner Bill Forham.

  They had been friends since growing up together in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Their business relationship was based not only on very deep trust but the respect of each other's brilliant mind. Graduating from Spring High School together they both decided to go to Texas A&M and that decision probably was the most important of their lives. They both met their future wives at the college and the degrees they had received in civil engineering kept them closely associated in the business world. Bill Forham had gone to work for a construction company building resort hotels in various parts of the world. Kevin Backlin on the other hand had gone immediately to work for the Federal government in the branch that oversaw the construction of damns and water resource lakes throughout the states.

  Their families kept in touch and always spent the Christmas holidays together. Both men, being environmentally conscious since their teens, always discussed the impact nature had on their various jobs whenever they spent time together. Discussion after discussion, many times with their wives and even sometimes their children, finally led to the creation of a partnership in a company that monitored the impact of what man was doing to destroy nature whenever construction was done on environmentally sensitive lands. Funding from many private and public organizations had strengthened their company and their reputation as watchdogs for the environment had blossomed nationwide.

  "Listen Bill, that bastard can't buy us off with a twenty thousand-dollar bribe." Kevin hissed. "He's fixing to kill some innocent people if he builds what he wants to. That ground is not stable enough for putting up a picnic table much less a resort. We have to shut him down before he stops."

  "I feel exactly the way you do Kevin, but it's out of our hands. He plans to build on useless old cattle land and sterile orange groves. Nobody cares about that part of the state and besides he is actually helping the land by adding a very, I may add, large lake. The governor is a personal friend of his and has already said he will endorse Mr. Tankinato's project as a boon to tourism. We were hired to monitor the impact on the environment. Just because we don't personally think its safe we still have to give him a green light because he isn't harming anything. Believe me, I wish we could stop the project."

  "Well, I'm glad you agree with me on this. It's just a damn shame that just because you are rich and have friends in the right places you can get away with murder."

  "Look at it this way, Kevin." Bill replied soothingly. "Nobody has died yet and hopefully nothing will happen down the road."

  "I hope you're right Bill. All I know is I'm going to be there when this place opens and hopefully just walk around with a smile on my face and say nice job Hiruto, nice job."

  April 15, Tuesday 3:23 p.m.

  Twenty feet underground

  The hissing sound was not unlike what an angry alley cat would make if trapped in a corner of a dead-end alley by an inquisitive mongrel mutt. The weakened seam of the four-inch diameter PVC pipe was from an incident that had happened six months before. A nineteen-year old apprentice plumber had wiped the primer carefully around the male and female parts of the ready to assemble pipe. Claustrophobia had sunk in very deeply by the time the PVC cement was to be applied. John Pemple, the apprentice would actually shiver whenever he couldn't see the sky over his head and the tunnel he was in completely blocked his vision of the blue of the sky. He never knew the cause of his phobia but, many nights he had awoken, his shivering body twisted among sweat-stained sheets, the vivid nightmare of being buried alive in a satin lined casket, his fingers in the dream, bloody stumps, from trying to claw his way to freedom. The sweat on his forehead was clammy feeling in the seventy-degree temperature in the bottom of the tunnel and his slippery hands nervously dropped the cement container he had been gripping too tightly. In his haste to exit the tunnel he righted the spilled can and grabbed a rag to soak up the mess before his boss saw the waste he had caused. He blotted what he could in the wet dirt, stuffed the gritty rag in the back pocket of his navy blue work pants and picked up the two sections of pipe and twisted them together. His courage definitely on the back swing John Pemple grabbed his hacksaw and three quarter empty can of cement and rushed down the
fifty-foot length of the tunnel to the upright shaft that led to the surface. He climbed the extension ladder as fast as his body would allow him and the pumping motion of his legs missed every other step painfully banging his shins on every missed stroke. Gasping large amounts of air when he was finally on the surface, he had by then completely forgotten the uncemented joint. The tunnel, built by an innovative earth moving machine called "The Mole", had been dug for the purpose of laying the pipeline for the equalization system of the lake. "The Mole," had been developed by one of Tankinato's many subsidiaries and had been in operation less than a year. It was a unique machine, cone shaped, all stainless steel body with tank type tracks down both sides. The machine had a large screw type auger on the front that could burrow into almost any surface and funnel the debris through cylindrical channels above the tracks and deposit it out the rear. The diamond tipped auger, virtually indestructible, was driven by a six-inch wide chain attached to a gear driven by the machine's six hundred and fifty-horse diesel engine. Tankinato planned to market "The Mole" worldwide after the trial run at the resort. The pipes, ten pairs in all, would move enough water in or out of the lake to compensate for any weather condition, from drought to summer monsoons.

  Once reaching the bowels of the mountain the pipes were attached to nuclear powered pumps that would divert the water either to or from the existing aquifer depending on the computerized signals from the many sensors placed around the lake.

  The hissing noise grew louder as the water pressure separated the connection even further apart. A two-inch diameter stream of water jetted through the firmly packed earth surrounding the many pairs of pipes and it began eroding into the never before disturbed dirt outside the circumference of the original tunnel. The depth sensors around the lake monitored the slow sinking of the water level and signaled the pumps to pull more water out of the aquifer.