By BOOGER

PART SEVENTEEN

"Bowie" managed to figure the controls out in the mini-sub, and put it into dive mode. It sunk beneath the surface as Bond and the others contemplated their next move.

Bond; "Well, there ae some phones in the complex, but I'd wager we don't have enough time to get to them! Why didn't you send down more than one sub?!"

sub commander; "Too risky, mr. Bond. Besides, we caught several dozen of the c.e.o.'s guards escaping to the surface in scuba gear. We're really not that far below, you know. This place is part of a series of undersea caves."

Bond; "You know, in working here, I was restricted from an area that had a sign on it that said, 'area 2'. One might assume this leads to another of these caves, nearer the surface. I say we go find out, because there may be some dive gear left over, in there."

They all agreed and dashed into the corridor, leaving only the echoes of their footfalls in the sub pen chamber.

Rex had been running in the general direction of area two, by then, because Farquar couldn't hide a mental picture of its location from his powerful dog psychic dog-powers. He'd been there once before with Farquar, and it was only a minute away.

"Bowie" had emerged from the mouth of the underwater cave in his stolen sub and began to speed up for a getaway, when, looking out his viewport, he could see the area to the entrance surrounded by four huge submarines, which now were moving toward him. He heard a crackling noise come from the sub's radio. "Attention, commander, is there a problem? Have you located Bond and the others?"

"Bowie" thought for a moment, but panicked, and turned the little sub back toward the entrance to the cave.

Suddenly, everything outside became clouded with silt and debris as the bomb exploded near the entrance, sealing it forever. The explosion caused a wave movement that tilted his vessel and put him out of control.

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Bond and the others turned the corner at the entrance to "area 2", and came face to face with the horrible hound, Rex, who sat in front of the door, glaring at them. One of the submariners began walking toward him, as if in a daze.

Bond; "Don't look into his eyes!"

As the destruct bomb went off, it shook the floor beneath their feet, and the man snapped out of Rex's spell. Bond pulled him back.

submariner; "Let's just shoot it and get out of here!"

Bond; "No, we need to capture him so he can be studied! "I'll deal with this."

Somewhere behind them they could hear sections of the base collapsing mightily and smoke began to fill their air bit by bit.

Bond looked Rex right in the eyes.

Rex looked Bond right in the eyes.

Veins popped out on Bond's forehead as the two of them dueled back and forth in scary spookthoughts.

Bond; (thinking at Rex) "Rex, if you don't cooperate, I'll make sure they lock you away and make you listen to Lawrence Welk and Perry Como records, night and day!"

Rex; (thinking harder at Bond) "Ha! I can shut that out and make my jailers think I need to 'go walkies'--outside the prison gate! And they'll let me!"

Bond; (thinking even harder at Rex) "HA! We'll put you in jail with...with specially trained chimpanzees for jailers! You won't be able to control THEM!"

Rex; (thinking even more harder at Bond) "Ha, ha, and HA! See this blood on my dog lips? This could be YOUR blood, Mr. BOND!"

BANG!

Rex; "YIPE YIPE YIPE!"

Bond; "You idiot, why did you shoot him! I almost won!"

Submariner; "I got bored! What do you THINK, Mr. Bond? This place is about to collapse around us!"

Continue to Part 18...