Книга - Phantom Prospect

Phantom Prospect
Alex Archer


Intrepid treasure hunters believe they have discovered the final resting place of Fantome, a legendary warship that wrecked off Nova Scotia almost two hundred years ago. She was rumored to have gone down with an extraordinary treasure. But circling beneath the ocean's surface waits something unbelievable…and terrifying. Some unfortunate divers have encountered a massive, thought-to-be-extinct shark known as the megalodon.Archaeologist Annja Creed has always had a healthy respect for sharks. But when a researcher friend asks for her help, Annja braves the deep, cold waters of the Atlantic, determined to discover the truth. Instead she finds herself hunting an unknown traitor on a sabotaged ship. With death waiting both above and below the ocean's surface, Annja must battle her most dangerous enemy yet.









“If I’d rejected Garin, I know for certain I would be dead now.”


“Garin became your sword then,” Annja said.

“That’s one way of looking at it, I guess. He came along at just the right moment, much like the sword did with you. I guess that’s one of the great mysteries of life, how things seem to happen at just the right moment.”

“No coincidences,” Annja said. “That’s too easy an explanation. And I’ve seen enough to not believe in coincidence anymore.”

“It does seem to be the crutch for the unimaginative.” Sheila smiled. “Garin told me you were something else.”

Annja smirked. “That’s only because he’s been trying to seduce me for years.”

“There aren’t many who can resist him,” Sheila said.

“I never claimed it was easy,” Annja replied with a laugh.

“You’re honest,” Sheila said. “I appreciate that.”

“So the question now seems to be how do we deal with the shark terrorizing this boat and who would dive?”

“You’re going to have to deal with it, Annja. You’re going to have to kill the shark so we can get to the treasure.”





Phantom Prospect


Rogue Angel







Alex Archer







www.mirabooks.co.uk (http://www.mirabooks.co.uk)




THE LEGEND


…THE ENGLISH COMMANDER TOOK JOAN’S SWORD AND RAISED IT HIGH.



The broadsword, plain and unadorned, gleamed in the firelight. He put the tip against the ground and his foot at the center of the blade. The broadsword shattered, fragments falling into the mud. The crowd surged forward, peasant and soldier, and snatched the shards from the trampled mud. The commander tossed the hilt deep into the crowd. Smoke almost obscured Joan, but she continued praying till the end, until finally the flames climbed her body and she sagged against the restraints.



Joan of Arc died that fateful day in France, but her legend and sword are reborn….




Contents


Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Epilogue




1


The waters off Montauk, New York, surged, frothing white as waves crashed into one another, spraying mist through the air. Annja Creed stood on the stern of a boat she thought seemed far too small for the job at hand. She watched as a sleek dark shadow glided just beneath the waves, its torpedo body reflecting the four hundred million years of evolution that had landed it atop the food chain of the ocean.

Cole Williams scooped another ladle of chum into the water. Annja swallowed and tried to ignore the sickly stench of pureed herring and tuna chunks mixed with an assortment of other matter designed to lure great white sharks to the boat.

“You sure you need to put so much of that into the water?” Annja asked.

Cole glanced at her and grinned, his cropped brown hair lightened by the sun beaming down. “You’re not nervous, are you? Not the bold adventurer Annja Creed,” he said.

Annja pointed at the water. “There’s already one down there.”

Cole nodded. “I’d like to see if we can get a few in the area. This study is all about how great whites interact with one another. Conventional science likes to paint them as solitary creatures but new research is proving they have a hierarchy when they encounter one another.”

“So, it’s not enough to have one proven killer in the water. You want as many as possible.”

“Yep.” Cole threw another scoop overboard. “You want to help me do this?”

Annja held up her hands. “I’m good here, thanks.” The journey out from Montauk had been anything but calm. Despite the sunshine, the ocean seemed angry today and the little boat that Cole had converted from a deep-sea fishing charter to his own personal research vessel bobbed relentlessly in the violent swells. Annja’s stomach wasn’t in a forgiving mood.

Cole pointed at the triangular fin slicing through the water. To Annja, it almost reminded her of a sword.

Her sword.

“Look at that one.”

Cole’s voice did little to soothe Annja’s nerves. In keeping with Cole’s twisted sense of humor, he’d insisted they watch the movie Jaws the previous night while they shared a bottle of wine. Recalling the giant great white devouring a bunch of people on film didn’t do much for Annja’s nerves just then.

She glanced at the steel shark cage strapped down on the deck. “Does that thing actually work?”

Cole smiled. “There’s nothing to worry about. I’ve done this loads of times and never had a problem.”

“I find the choice of location unsettling given what we watched last night,” she said.

Cole’s laughter at least made her smile. Then he shook his head. “They actually filmed that on Martha’s Vineyard, but I get your point.” He pointed at another shark that had silently cruised into the area. “Thing about this place is the Long Island Sound opens up into really deep water. The great whites out here are big. And that means we get a look at some healthy fish.”

“They got that way by being hungry,” Annja said. “I don’t want to end up on the business end of those teeth.” Cole had also insisted on showing her his shark tooth collection and Annja had marveled at how the great white’s teeth looked exactly like steak knives, serrated along the edges and designed for cutting through the thick fat of their favorite meal, seals.

Looking at Cole in his wet suit, Annja could understand why great whites mistook divers for seals. They looked similar, especially underwater.

Cole finished tossing the chum over the side of the boat and hailed the deckhand. “Time to get the cage in the water.”

They worked together. Annja unhooked the fastening cables and slowly they winched the cage over the side of the boat until the top of it sat at the waterline. The sea had calmed and the boat seemed to steady itself. Annja gave a silent prayer of thanks and felt her stomach stop lolling about.

Cole glanced at Annja. “Tom’s going to heave a few tuna chunks out on lines and he’ll drag them toward the cage.”

“You want the sharks coming at the cage?”

“Yep.”

Annja shook her head. “And this will help your research somehow?”

“We’ll be able to see how the sharks separate themselves and who seems to be the ruling class. What researchers have observed is the deference certain sharks will have for another. But why they do that is something we don’t know. Yet,” he explained.

“Have fun,” she said.

Cole smiled. “Time for you to get changed, Annja.”

“Excuse me?”

“There’s an extra wet suit in the cabin. I’ve got tanks all set for you. And there’s room for one more in the cage.”

Annja looked out at the sea. The dark shapes slid past the boat and surfaced, showing rows of jagged teeth as they sampled the chum line. Annja’s stomach heaved again. “I’m not sure about this.”

“I know how you feel. The first time I dived with great whites, I puked over the side of the boat.”

“And then what?”

“I got the hell in the cage and did my job.” He heaved the air tanks onto his back and checked his regulator. “You won’t regret it, Annja. I promise.”

Annja sighed and wandered back to the cabin. Cole had left the wet suit hanging on a door hook. She fingered the material and wondered what the sharks would see when she entered the water.

Dinner, most likely.

She took a deep breath. This was what she’d come out here for, she thought. When Cole had called and asked for her help, she’d had nothing pressing to do. And she’d always had a thing for sharks, even if they did scare the crap out of her.

This was her chance to try to put some of those fears to rest.

She took some calming breaths and stripped down, quickly climbing into the wet suit. The material clung to her skin and she noticed how much warmer she was inside of it. That was a good thing. The water temperature was fairly warm at this time of year, but it could still cause hypothermia if she was in it for too long.

She padded back out onto the deck and saw Cole sliding his mask over his face. He smiled when he saw her. “Glad you decided to come along.”

“If I get eaten, I’m coming back to haunt you.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

Annja pointed at the cage. “You sure those bars are strong enough to ward off any attacks.”

Cole nodded. “Relax, Annja. Cages these days are much stronger than they used to be. You’ve got nothing to worry about. Besides, I’ll be right there with you. Anything goes wrong, just follow my lead.”

“That’s comforting.”

Tom helped her get the air tanks on and she tightened her waist belt, and then checked her regulator. She took a couple of breaths and tried to consciously slow her pounding heart. Adrenaline pumped through her veins and she knew that her nerves would take over unless she stilled them.

“Give me a second,” she said.

Tom stepped away. While Annja busied herself with relaxing, Tom heaved a tuna carcass out into the water.

The surf exploded as a shark surged up from below and took the bait firmly in its mouth, ripping from side to side as chunks of flesh tore off in its mouth. Annja watched the grim spectacle and felt a strong desire to grow wings and fly home.

“Thanks for the help, Tom,” she muttered.

He glanced back at her. “You okay?”

“Fine. Just fine.”

“Let’s go, Annja,” Cole called. Annja watched him slide over the side of the boat and into the cage. She saw the splash and moved to make sure he’d made it into the cage.

Cole stuck his hand out and waved her on.

Annja took another deep breath and slid the regulator into her mouth. Tom handed her a mask and she settled it on over her hair. She tightened the straps and then nodded.

Tom helped her move to the side of the boat. The water seemed to be alive with sharks. Annja looked at Tom. He smiled. “There are only four of them down there.”

Only four, she thought. Great.

She braced herself. The opening of the cage was directly in front of her, but for some reason, it looked a lot farther away. One misstep would plunge Annja into the ocean, unprotected against the massive predators gliding through its depths.

Annja wanted to run. She wanted to puke like Cole had. But she steeled herself, took a breath and then stepped toward the cage opening, falling in through the open part with a splash.

White water bubbled up around her as she adjusted to the sudden change in her environment. She felt the reassurance of Cole’s body next to hers. She took a few breaths and settled herself down.

The water felt warmer than she expected. And she was almost calm when a giant mouth suddenly loomed open in front of her. Annja blinked, saw rows of jagged teeth and fell back against the bars of the cage.

The great white in front of her bit the bars separating them and then slid off into the deep.

Cole patted her on the shoulder and gave her the hand signal to make sure she was okay. Annja nodded and gave him the thumbs-up. She blew out a long line of bubbles and again tried to calm herself.

On the floor of the cage, her balance felt sure enough. But the ocean floor was at least thirty feet below them.

She heard a splash and turned to see that Tom had tossed another bait hook over the side of the boat. Annja saw it tracking through the water toward the top of the cage.

Like a missile being shot out of a submarine far below the surface, Annja saw a flashing streak arc right past the cage as a huge shark shot up from below them, lancing into the tuna chunk. Incredibly, Annja thought she could hear the rending tears of the mighty jaws clamping and sawing through the fresh meat.

She forgot her terror and was instead awed by the mastery of evolution sailing through the waters before her. The sharks slid through the depths with complete ease. Their bodies had long evolved into almost perfectly aerodynamic shapes that met minimal resistance as they swam.

As they bit into the bait hooks, Annja could see the protective membranes slide up over their eyes, shielding them from any danger that might lurk as they attacked. She noticed the incredible flexion as the viselike mandibles sank into the flesh, exerting almost two tons of pressure per square inch.

But even as the sharks fed seemingly without regard, Annja could discern something else about them. She knew they were incredibly intelligent. She could see there was a rhyme to their reason. Annja realized that they seemed to almost feel with their teeth, making sure that what they attacked was suitable food for them.

She marveled at how they operated. And she knew why great white shark attacks were usually so deadly. It wasn’t necessarily that the sharks sought out human beings to eat, but that they had no real way of probing something without committing to it fully. Their bites would naturally cause grievous wounds in anything, humans included. Blood loss and tissue damage would often cause death, even when the shark realized that the human victim wasn’t the seal it was supposed to be and broke off the attack.

There was a great deal of misunderstanding about the creatures, Annja thought. She spent the next half hour entranced as Tom brought the big fish in close to the cage. She looked into their eyes; she tried to fathom their souls.

When Cole finally tapped her on the shoulder and motioned for her to get back on to the boat, Annja was almost upset. Maybe Cole wasn’t crazy, after all. Maybe he just loved studying these fish so much that they took over his life.

Annja made her way back to the boat and spit out her mouthpiece. Tom beamed at her. “How’d you make out?”

“They’re incredible!”

He nodded. “Cole’s done some great research. Might even win himself some awards.”

“I was terrified before, but now…”

Tom nodded. “I know. You get to the point where you see them as something more.”

“I used to think Cole was crazy,” Annja said.

Tom frowned. “Oh, he’s definitely crazy,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“Didn’t he tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

Tom pointed off the boat’s port side. “See?”

Annja looked and felt dizzy.

Cole was out of the cage, in the open water with the sharks.




2


“He’ll be killed!” Annja shrieked.

But Tom held up his hand and shook his head. “I know it certainly looks like that, but wait and see.”

Annja could hardly breathe. She watched as Cole, who must have left his oxygen tank in the cage, swam with just a mask and snorkel within feet of the cruising predators. And while the ocean still held streaks of red and bits of tuna, curiously the great whites seemed to be almost nonchalant about Cole’s presence.

After ten minutes of free swimming, Cole climbed over the side of the boat, his flippers touching the deck while a huge smile blossomed across his face. “That was an adrenaline rush.”

Annja watched him lean back, the smile growing wider by the second. “You really didn’t have to do that,” she said.

He shrugged. “Free diving with them is an important part of the research for me. Along with their hierarchy, I also need to know how they behave when there’s a human in the water with more than one of them.”

“Yes, but you had no speargun, no backup. If they had turned on you at any moment—”

As if underscoring that fact, one of the big fish suddenly slammed into the side of the boat, splashing the water with its tail. Cole caught a shower of spray and wiped his face. “I think that was Martha,” he said.

“You named them?”

“You get to know the distinctive shapes of their dorsal fins,” Cole said. “And for me, it helps to establish that bond so I don’t view them as mindless killing machines. Surely you noticed that, too?”

Annja grinned. “It was exhilarating, but I wouldn’t ever recommend doing what you just did to anyone.”

“Neither would I. But I have to control my own life. My destiny is always in my hands, not in the hands of someone else. That’s what I love about my life so much. I make my own decisions. I know you understand that.”

I used to, Annja thought. She watched one of the sharks break away from the boat suddenly and disappear into the depths.

Cole noticed, too. “They’re bored now that there’s nothing in the water.”

“No more food?”

Cole sighed. “Sometimes I think it’s not just about the food with them. I think they realize that we’re curious and want to know more about them. They’re active in the research as much as I am.”

“I don’t know,” Annja said. “I think that sounds sort of insane, but then again, I didn’t just swim naked with them like you did.”

Cole laughed. “Annja, if you swim naked with anything, you’ll get eaten right away.”

“Flattery will get you killed, Cole.”

He winked at her. “Well, maybe.”

They set about winching the cage back on board the boat and secured it to the deck. Cole patted it. “I told you that nothing would happen while you were inside. Didn’t you have a blast?”

“I hate to admit it, but I did. They were fascinating to watch. I could see how they tried to mouth the tuna first before chomping into it.”

Cole nodded. “Exactly—they’re smart. Not a lot of people give them credit for that. Oh, sure, scientists and researchers do, but the general public is still a long way from realizing how intelligent these fish are.”

“Can you blame them?”

“No, not when they’ve been exposed to so much fallacy. But if people knew how close they swim in proximity to these fish without ever being attacked, I think that would go far toward raising people’s consciousness.”

“You won’t change opinions overnight.”

“No, I suppose not. But we can expose people through research. Look at what we accomplished today, for instance. I got you to change your mind about them, didn’t I?”

“Somewhat. I’m still terrified,” Annja said.

Cole patted her arm. “No worries. We’ll have you free swimming with them soon enough.”

Annja shook her head. “There is no way in hell I will ever do that, pal. Put that one out of your mind right now.”

Cole laughed. “Okay, okay. Can’t blame a guy for trying.”

“Weren’t you scared?”

“Absolutely. But this is the fourth time I’ve done it. The first was really terrifying. But when you get out there and touch them—”

“Touch them!”

“I give them a pat every now and again. I can grab their dorsal fins for a ride once in a while, as well.”

“Good God.”

“Once you do that,” Cole said, “it just becomes this marvelous experience. I can’t explain it without you doing it.”

Annja nodded. “Yeah, well, that will have to be one experience I don’t go through.”

Tom called down from the wheelhouse. “We set to go?”

Cole nodded. “Fire ’er up.”

The engines on the boat kicked into gear and the water behind churned into a frothy white of sea and spray. Wind blew through Annja’s hair, drying it as she held on while the research vessel skipped over the waves back toward shore.

Cole busied himself jotting down notes on his observations. Annja went inside the cabin and changed back into her clothes. When she reemerged, Cole was still making notes. He glanced up at her.

“How about dinner tonight? I know a little Italian place with a fantastic wine selection and a veal cutlet to die for.”

Annja nodded. “I’m starving, actually.”

Cole finished his notes. “Great, I’ll go make the call.”

Annja followed him into the wheelhouse. Tom stood behind the wheel. He looked a lot younger than his twenty-four years. Fresh out of college with a degree in marine biology, Cole had scooped him up as his assistant and they’d been fast friends ever since. He smiled at Annja as she came in. “Feeling a bit more human again?”

“I need a shower to do that,” Annja said. “This salt water is probably not doing wonders for my hair.”

“Looks fine to me.”

Cole elbowed him. “Mind your manners, boy.”

Tom chuckled. “Why would I let the old guy have all the fun?”

“Old guy? I’ll have you know I don’t turn forty for another year yet.” Cole grabbed the ship phone and dialed into Montauk. He spoke for a moment and then hung up. “All set. Reservations for seven o’clock. That should give you enough time to grab a shower and change into something that will make me drool.”

Annja punched him in the stomach. “Watch it, pal. I might get the impression all of this was done just to woo me, instead of in the name of science and the betterment of humankind.”

Cole held up his hands. “Oh, hey, it’s definitely for the betterment of humankind. I’m just starting out with me first.”

Tom shook his head. “You know he’s incorrigible, right?”

“Apparently,” Annja said. She walked back into the main cabin and slid into the booth. Cole came in a second later and sat down across from her.

“I’m really glad you came out here, Annja.”

“Me, too.”

Cole leaned back. “The great whites we have access to here are among the largest in the world. They feed in the deep waters and it always astounds me how big they are.”

“What’s the biggest one ever caught?”

“You’d have to go back,” Cole said. “There have been claims of thirty to forty feet about a hundred years back. Nowadays, it’s rare you see one over twenty feet in length.”

“That’s still three times bigger than a full-grown man. Plenty of room to fit in the belly, huh?”

“That’s nothing compared to the long-lost ancestor of great whites, the megalodon. Now that was something to behold.”

“Why’s that?”

“It was at least forty feet long when it cruised the prehistoric seas. Its teeth were as big as your hand with the same deadly serrations as great whites. Terrifying in its destructive power.”

“Glad they’re not around anymore.”

Cole frowned. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that.”

Annja smirked. “C’mon. They died out ages ago. There’s no way they could survive in today’s oceans.”

“Why not?”

Annja stopped. “Wouldn’t someone have seen one by now?”

Cole shook his head. “Not necessarily. You know what’s amazing about the oceans? Every year we find new species of fish or rediscover species we thought had long since died out. The depths that we are able to gain access to through advances in technology are enormous. We can’t swim miles below the surface, but the robots we’ve built that have journeyed there have recorded a fascinating world.”

“But giant sharks?”

Cole leaned forward. “Take the giant squid. For years, people swore it couldn’t exist. We had corpses wash up on shores or sometimes get caught in fishing nets, but never found a live specimen. And then that Japanese team got the first video footage of it swimming in the silent depths. And we know that sperm whales love to eat those things.”

“And you think that somewhere out there a megalodon could be swimming around?”

“Why not? We don’t know everything and, sometimes, even the most implausible ideas turn out to be true.”

Annja shrugged. “I guess. I just can’t see it. I mean, a meg swimming out there would need to feast on a lot to sustain it, wouldn’t it? So, I guess my question would be, if it’s not extinct, then what is it eating?”

“I don’t know,” Cole said. “Perhaps it dines on the sperm whales that dive after giant squid. Maybe it’s taken to living down far below the ocean surface where it can remain unseen except in its native habitat. All I’m saying is, we can’t discount its existence merely because we haven’t see one.”

Annja shivered. “The idea of something that large and dangerous doesn’t exactly make me all warm inside.”

Cole laughed. “If it makes you feel any better, I wouldn’t try to free swim with it, either.”

“Well, there’s a brilliant decision.”

Cole smiled. Annja glanced around. “Are we close to the harbor? Sounds like Tom’s throttled down.”

Cole slid out of the booth and looked outside. “Yep. We’re coming in through the outer channel now.”

Annja followed and she and Cole joined Tom in the wheelhouse. She could see the other boats lined up at the wharves. A few fishing charters meandered their way back into dock.

Tom pointed. “Hey, isn’t that Sandy?”

Cole peered through the window and nodded. “What’s she doing at the dock? She ought to have knocked off by now.”

“Who’s Sandy?” Annja asked.

“She works with us, handling calls in the office,” Cole said. “She never goes out on the boats, though. She’s terrified of the water. Her brother drowned when she was just six years old and she never goes near the water.”

“That’s horrible,” Annja said. “And she’s waiting down at the docks? That seems a bit odd.”

“Sure does,” Cole said. “Something must be up.”

He and Annja went out on deck so they could secure the boat as they docked. Tom eased the engines down even further as they approached their mooring. He reversed, and then as the side of the boat touched the dock, Cole leaped on to the platform and Annja tossed him the lines. Cole tied the knots and Tom cut the engines.

Annja stepped off the boat and looked up at Sandy. She had a short blond haircut that fell just by her ears. But what made Annja stare was the expression on her face. She looked intensely worried.

Cole led the way up the gangplank and nodded at Sandy. “I didn’t expect to see you here. Everything okay?”

Sandy shook her head. “No.”

“What’s the matter?”

“I just got a call from your brother. There’s trouble up at the dive site.”

“What kind of trouble?”

Sandy laid a hand on Cole’s arm. “There’s been a death, Cole.”




3


Cole’s face went ashen. “Not my brother—?”

Sandy shook her head. “No, but someone else on the dive went missing. This afternoon, they recovered a body. Well, part of it, anyway.”

Annja frowned. “Part of it?”

Sandy looked her over. “There wasn’t much left.”

Cole shook his head. “Let’s get back to the office and talk some more. I don’t like discussing my business out in public.”

Sandy led them back up the gangplank and toward the row of small wooden buildings scattered along the dock. At a pale blue row house, Annja saw the brass nameplate of Cole Williams Research and they entered. The narrow staircase up to the second floor seemed to be warped and it creaked underfoot as they climbed. But at the top Annja smelled coffee brewing and suddenly realized how much she wanted a cup.

Sandy pointed to the small coffeemaker. “Figured you all might be in the mood after being on the water.”

Cole got himself and Annja each a cup and then sat down at an old table that must have served as a conference table by the look of it. He smiled at Annja. “It’s not fancy here, but we make do.”

Annja sipped the coffee and found it was a good roast. She smiled at Sandy. “This is delicious.”

“Peruvian blend.” Sandy glanced at Cole. “You didn’t mention you had a visitor coming out.”

Cole shrugged. “Annja’s a good friend. Known her for years.” He sipped his coffee. “And since I’m the boss, I don’t think it’s necessary that I keep you in the loop on everything that happens in my life.”

Annja looked down into her coffee and wondered what sort of history Sandy and Cole had. Whatever might have once been, it certainly didn’t appear to be intact any longer.

Sandy brushed off Cole’s comment. “It would have been nice for me to know so I could make sure she’s set up in town.”

“Why don’t you tell me about what’s going on at the dive site?” Cole said. “Then I can figure out where to go from there.”

“What dive site?” Annja asked.

“It’s off the coast of Nova Scotia,” Cole said. “My brother is up there heading the expedition to discover where the HMS Fantome went down back in 1814.”

“Fantome?” Annja frowned. “You mean the ship that was supposedly carrying treasure looted from the White House during the War of 1812?”

“The same. My brother has been after it for years. Guess you could say that the love of the ocean runs deep in my family.”

Annja sighed. “Great pun.”

“Sorry.” Cole shrugged. “But whereas I want to study the ocean and its wildlife, my brother is a bit more fixated on the economic aspects of it. He’s been a treasure hunter for years.”

“After all the time we’ve known each other,” Annja said, “I never knew that.”

Cole sipped his coffee. “Yeah, well, it’s been a bone of contention between us for a while. Neither of us approves of the other’s work. My brother thinks I’m a fruitcake for swimming with sharks and not making a buck off of my research. I think he’s a money-grubber after fame and fortune.”

“And never the two shall meet?”

Cole smiled. “Only during the holidays at my mother’s house. She usually starts the visits by telling us that if we fight she’ll smack us around.”

“Smart woman,” Annja said. “What’s your brother’s name?”

“Hunter,” Cole said. “How tragically fitting, huh?”

“The problem is the death of one of his guys,” Sandy said. “Hunter told me that they’ve spotted a big shark in the area.”

Annja leaned back. “Sharks off Nova Scotia? Isn’t that a little far north for any of the dangerous species?”

“Not at all,” Cole said. “Great whites can regulate their internal body temperature and keep it higher than the surrounding water. They’ve adapted so they can hunt the seals that prefer to stay in the cooler waters. It’s not uncommon to find great whites that far north.” He took a breath. “Now, whether one is attacking divers at the dive site, that would be another matter entirely.”

“Would it?”

He looked at Annja. “As you’ve seen, just because a great white is around doesn’t automatically mean that someone’s going to die. If that was the case, there’d be bodies everywhere.”

Sandy laid her hands on the table. “It’s pretty apparent from the evidence on the body that something large, with huge teeth, killed the diver.”

“Huge teeth?”

“The bite radius was enormous. Hunter says the body was cut in two.”

Cole frowned. “That would mean a great white of huge proportions. Something like that would be pretty unusual.”

“Larger than a twenty-footer?” Annja asked.

“Sharks that large don’t usually bother coming in close to shore. They’re more deep-water fish. Hardly ever seen. That sort of thing. But if one is stalking the dive site, then that would be unusual behavior as well. It would mean it was a rogue shark. And unlike in the movies, that just doesn’t happen all that often,” Cole said.

Tom had been silent at the other end of the table, but he looked up and smiled. “Well, we could always offer to go and check things out. If Hunter’s worried about his team and knows there’s a shark in the area, that might be why he decided to call you.”

Cole grinned. “Well, he needs to keep me in the loop anyway: I’m financing the operation.”

Annja frowned. “I thought you said Hunter was always riding you because you don’t make any money.”

“He is,” Cole said. “And he’s right to some extent. I don’t make much money. But I have money left over form a trust fund set up by my father.”

“Didn’t Hunter have one?”

“Absolutely. But he blew through it years ago financing his own dives. It was only after he went bankrupt that I staked him and he ended up striking a good find down in the Caribbean. Now, we work together with me fronting the money on his expeditions and reaping a decent return on my investment.”

“Interesting.”

“Well, it enables me to keep the research going,” Cole said. “And that’s the most important thing to me.”

Sandy cleared her throat. “Thing is, with a shark in the area, the dive crew isn’t exactly excited about getting back into the waters.”

“Understandable,” Annja said. “I wouldn’t be crazy about it, either.”

Cole looked pained. “It kills me to say it, but we’ve got to do something about it, then. Time is money on these things.”

Sandy nodded. “That’s why he called. He wanted you to know that there was some chaos up there.”

“And?”

“He wants you to come up.”

Cole took a long sip of his coffee and swallowed. “I don’t know. I’ve got a lot to do around here.”

“Like swim with more great whites?” Annja grinned at him.

“You know the plan, Annja.”

“Yes, but this is something you should look into. If there is a shark hunting through the dive site, then maybe you can figure out why it’s there and why it’s attacked a diver already. That research could prove just as useful as what you’re doing here.”

“I’ve always tried to keep my business investments separate from my love of the ocean.”

“Not always possible,” Annja said.

Cole nodded. “I’ve been somewhat idealistic in that regard.” He smirked. “Possibly naïve as well.”

Sandy got up from the table. “I can make the flight arrangements if you’d like. Get you up there for first thing tomorrow.”

Cole glanced at Tom. “Interested in coming along for the ride?”

Tom fixed him with a gaze. “Now, why would you even ask that question? Of course I am.”

Cole smiled. “I don’t like to assume things.”

“Yeah, well assume all you want. I’m not going to miss the chance to see what’s going on up there.” He shrugged. “Besides, it’s a hunt for treasure. What guy didn’t dream of doing that when he first heard about Treasure Island?”

Cole turned to Annja. “I know you’ve got plans to fly out soon, so I won’t bother asking—”

Annja held up her hand. “The dive site actually sounds like something I’d enjoy. And like Tom said, it does involve the search for relics and treasure. That’s something I’m always interested in, in case you didn’t know.”

Cole looked at Sandy. “Flight arrangements for three, if you please.”

Sandy nodded and left the room. Cole watched her go for a moment and then, noticing the silence that hung in the room, turned back. “She’s a good worker. Knows everything I need to keep up with.”

Annja eyed him. “She didn’t seem too thrilled with me being around here.”

“Ah, that’s just Sandy. She’s had a thing for me ever since she started working here.”

“That’s awfully modest of you,” Annja said with a laugh. She took a sip of her coffee and put her cup back down on the table. “Clearly, she thinks I’m a threat. Just make sure she doesn’t throw me overboard to the shark.”

“Sure thing.” He looked at Tom. “I suppose we’d better get the charts out and study up on the site if we’re going to be a de facto replacement crew.”

Tom walked to the nearby metal file cabinets and yanked one of the drawers open. With a sheaf of charts and papers, he laid them out on the table and spread them around. Annja could make out pictures of the ship itself, lists of what its inventory was rumored to have been, and even notes form an old journal.

“Where’s it supposed to have gone down?”

Cole sighed. “That was always the problem. The ship sank near Prospect, but attempts to find it so far have proven futile. It was 1814, after all, so maybe the location was wrong. Back then there was no Coast Guard to help fix a position. It always amazes me to think of what people must have thought about when they cast off from dock. There was no guarantee that you’d ever make it home alive. Between storms, dangerous shoals, prowling marauders, you had a slim chance of completing a journey.”

“And yet they did it,” Annja said. “And they opened up the world to exploration.”

Cole jabbed his finger at the east coast of Nova Scotia. “Hunter always thought the ship went down here. In about a hundred feet of water. But the currents are strong and there’s no telling where the remains of the ship might have been dragged to since that time.”

“Almost two hundred years have passed,” said Tom. “That ship could be scattered halfway between Nova Scotia and Greenland.”

Cole frowned. “Hunter has always based his hunts largely on his intuition. Until he learned to trust it, he never hit it big. The first time he went with his gut, he struck gold, literally. It’s something he tries to abide by to this day. And he seemed pretty convinced he knew where he’d find the wreck.”

“You believe him?” Annja asked.

“I’d better,” Cole said. “I’m sinking two million dollars into the hunt for the Fantome. I expect to make that back and then some. The treasure on board would be worth tens of millions of dollars.”

“If not more,” said Tom. “Remember that a lot of it was taken right form the White House. There’d be gifts and such from all the powerful world leaders at the time in the wake of the Revolutionary War. That stuff today would be an incredible draw for collectors.”

“Good point.” Cole studied the maps. “I wonder where Hunter is right now and whether he thinks that he knows where he’ll find the largest stock of loot.”

Annja studied a picture of the Fantome. “So this is the ship?”

“Loaded down with all that booty, she must have weighed tons,” Cole said. “Imagine setting off bound for England and running into the storm they took the brunt of? No thanks.”

“After weathering the strong ocean today en route to the sharks, I don’t even want to think about that,” Annja said. “I doubt I would have been a very good sailor.”

“You get used to it,” said Tom. “But even still, there’s nothing like a strong storm at sea to turn anyone into a true believer in the power of Mother Nature.”

Annja pored over the pictures and notes. “And to think, now there might be a prowling shark in their midst.”

“Nothing like the promise of death in an already dangerous job,” Cole said. “I’m sure Hunter is stalking around his boat furious at the sea for the delay this is causing.”

“What about the body?” Annja asked. “Are they flying it home?”

“It was a local guy,” Sandy said coming back into the room. “Luckily, they didn’t have far to transport him. Although, with the ceremony being a closed casket, I’m not so sure those he left behind wouldn’t just as soon see him buried at sea.”

Annja looked up at her. Sandy’s expression didn’t betray a hint of emotion. But she locked eyes with Annja and then broke away long enough to look at Cole. “You’re all set for departure tomorrow morning.”

Then she glanced back at Annja. “Have a safe trip.”




4


Annja, Cole, and Tom flew into Halifax International Airport the next morning. Annja hadn’t slept much the night before, trying to use her laptop to dig up information on the infamous Megalodon that Cole raved about. What she found didn’t cheer her up much. With teeth the better part of six inches long, Meg, as it was more affectionately know, could chomp through whales with ease. And humans were much softer than whales.

But most scientists agreed the species was long extinct.

Except for Cole.

A couple of authors had written some novels about a few remaining species swimming in the vast depths of the oceans, but otherwise, there’d been nothing to ever confirm or even hint at the suggestion there might be others still lurking in the waves.

She’d eventually fallen asleep with images of giant teeth running through her head.

Storm clouds blew in as they were making their final approach to the airport and the plane jumped a few times before its wheels finally gripped the tarmac. Annja gave a silent prayer of thanks for having her feet back on terra firma.

In the terminal, she saw a man standing by himself wearing a Dive the Marianas Trench T-shirt. She elbowed Cole. “That him?”

Cole smirked. “He always did have a twisted sense of humor.”

“At least he doesn’t free swim with great whites, huh?”

“Annja—”

The man came over and hugged Cole. Annja looked him up and down. He was a few inches taller than Cole and maybe a few pounds lighter. His lean build started with his close-cropped hair and chiseled face that bore a few interesting scars.

“Hey, bro.”

Cole hugged him back. “When Sandy told me—”

Hunter nodded. “Yeah, I know, man. But I’m still here. Don’t have any plans of shoving off any time soon, either.” He turned and faced Annja. “Hi. I’m Hunter.”

“Annja.”

He shook her hand and Annja felt the rough sandpaper texture of it. Hunter was used to working hard. “Nice to meet you.”

Hunter shook hands with Tom. “I see my brother’s still got you working for him, huh?”

“At least until that other job offer comes through.”

“Yeah, right.” Hunter led them across the terminal. “We’ll get your bags and then head down. I’ll fill you in on the way. Less chance of being heard, if you catch my meaning.”

Annja frowned. How come Hunter didn’t want to talk about the attack now? She assumed the local media would have the story all over the wires now. A shark attack in Nova Scotia was a rare thing indeed.

At the baggage terminal, they got their gear and checked through the customs line quickly. The customs official gave Annja’s passport a whistle as he flipped through it. “You’re quite the world traveler, Miss.”

Annja smiled at him. “Sometimes, I don’t even know what day it is.”

Hunter guided them outside and Annja found the temperature pleasant with a warm breeze blowing in. In the parking lot, she spotted a van and Hunter pointed. “That’s our ride. We shouldn’t be on the road all that long.”

“How far’s Prospect from here?” Cole asked.

“About twenty three kilometers to the southwest. We’ll just hop on the 333 and be there in no time. If the traffic’s decent.”

Tom stowed the gear in back and then they all climbed aboard. Cole took shotgun and Annja and Tom slid into the back. Annja leaned forward as Hunter eased the van out of the parking space. “You mind me asking why you wanted to wait until we’re outside before we started talking about the shark attack?’

Hunter shrugged. “No surprise. But we managed to keep the attack out of the local media.”

“How the hell did you manage that?” Cole asked.

“I paid off the local police chief.” He glanced at Cole. “By the way, bro, I’m going to need some more money.”

“What a surprise.”

“You paid off the local police chief? To do what?”

“To say that the death was an accident.”

“But why?”

Hunter put his hands on the wheel and steered them on to the highway. “Look, the thing is, we know where the wreck is. If we all of a sudden start blabbering about shark attacks, then the place will start crawling with media and fishermen, and even rival treasure hunters. That’s a lot of publicity that we don’t need right now. If we can get in, do our thing and then get gone, we’ll be so much the better.”

“And if it turns out there really is a shark up here?”

Hunter grinned. “Oh, there’s definitely a shark in the water. I have no doubt of that. Even saw the damned thing register on the sonar.”

Cole looked at him. “How big?”

“Big. Like, real big. Over thirty feet.”

Annja put a hand on Cole’s shoulder. “Don’t get your hopes up about a Meg. What if it’s a basking shark?”

Hunter laughed. “I’ve seen basking sharks before. Plankton eaters like the whale shark. Let me tell you something: this was no plankton eater did that to my man. Chomped him into two pieces and then some.”

“A great white of that size would be an enormous specimen,” Cole said. “I’d need to document it.”

“Document it all you want, bro,” Hunter said. “Just keep everything under wraps until we’re done here.”

“And how long will that take?”

Hunter shrugged. “Could take us two weeks to excavate everything from the site. Maybe longer if the currents have strewn it all over the place.”

“You found the main wreck site?”

Hunter nodded. “Hull’s intact. Parts of the ship aren’t there, but the main hold is. I think we’ve got a big one here, bro.”

“Why’s that?”

Hunter shrugged. “A lot of people over the years claimed that the Fantome wasn’t carrying loot from the White House simply because it wasn’t involved in the raid on Washington. Some thought it might just be carrying goods from parts of Maine that the British controlled to Nova Scotia. But if that was the case, then why was it in convoy? A simple customs run wouldn’t dictate such elaborate security.”

“You never bought into that theory?” Annja asked.

“Nope. The Fantome was originally a French privateer that the British took possession of in 1810 and commissioned directly into the British Navy as a brig sloop with eighteen guns on her. She had a good kick in terms of firepower and she had a hold that could handle a large quantity of booty.” He shook his head. “Nah, she was hauling some serious stuff when she went down.”

“And it’s off Prospect as the records claim?”

Hunter nodded. “That was the benefit of survivors from the wreck. They were able to confirm where they went down. Of course, that was over two hundred years ago, and the shifting tide can change things a lot underwater.”

“Not exactly easy to explore when there’s a shark cruising nearby,” Annja said. “Why don’t you tell us about what happened?”

Hunter nodded. “Yeah, sure. We were out just the other day. Good day for salvage work. Sunny, not strong surf. We made it out to the next grid on our search string and one of my guys, by the name of Jock, went down to lead the way for the rest of the team.”

“He always go first?” Cole asked.

“Yeah, kinda like that. He’s from the UK, former Special Forces guy. They lead that way, you know. Likes to be in the water and all that stuff.”

“So, he went down…”

Hunter shrugged. “The rest of us were a little slow getting into wet suits. I was nursing an awful headache that I woke up with and the team was a bit slow. All of a sudden, the captain calls me on to the bridge and jabs a finger at the sonar. I thought it was a submarine at first, you know? This big thing just moving along.”

“You think about radioing down to Jock?” Cole asked.

“Would have if he’d gone down with a radio unit. But Jock didn’t like them. Said they didn’t allow him the freedom he liked underwater. He used to rely on hand signals only.”

“And he was down there all alone,” Annja said.

“We saw the shape moving—Jock didn’t show up on the sonar—and then it was gone. Someone screamed off the stern and when we went out, we saw an upwelling of blood break the surface of the water. We knew something was wrong so we went down.”

Annja leaned back. “You went down there knowing that the shark might still be around?”

“My man was down there,” Hunter said. “It’s my responsibility to get him back, even at risk.”

“What’d you find?”

“Two pieces of body. Shredded wet suit with these long tears. His air tanks were crushed. It was a horrible sight. His head was gone, too.”

Annja frowned. “You sure it’s him? The body, I mean.”

Hunter stared at her. “Why would you even ask that question? Of course we’re sure. Jock was the only one down there, then this big thing cruises by and then Jock’s remains are found. Seems like an easy equation to me.”

Annja held up her hand. “Just asking.”

“Well, it was a bad question,” Hunter said. “Jock was a good man and I don’t like the memory of him being questioned.”

“But you’ll lie in order to protect the salvage operation you’ve got going on here,” Annja said. “I get it.”

Hunter frowned and glanced at Cole. “Just who is this chick, bro?”

“This ‘chick,’ as you call her happens to be a pretty damned good archaeologist. You’d do well to remember that she’s not only pretty smart, but also a pretty tough woman.”

“Pretty tough?” Annja smirked. If only you had the first clue about that one.

Cole turned around. “I don’t want your ego getting out of check.”

“Thanks for the concern.” She looked at Hunter. “Look, I don’t want to get off on the wrong foot here, so let’s just agree that this is a real tragedy and that we will do everything we can to help you make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Hunter paused and then nodded. “Yeah, okay.”

Cole pointed at the sign for Prospect. “Not much farther now, is it?”

“Five minutes or so to get down to the harbor and catch the dingy out to the boat. That shouldn’t take that long.”

Annja looked at the small town as they drove through. It didn’t look like there was a lot of traffic in the area. Small homes bordered streets and she could make out eateries and neighborhood taverns. It was a cozy town.

“There haven’t been other shark attacks here, have they?”

Hunter laughed. “You kidding? The Canadian Atlantic is considered to be one of the safest places to swim. I mean, the water temperatures are fairly cold year round, so that’s a major factor. Less people in the water, means less chance of interaction with sharks.”

“Yeah, but great whites swim these waters, too,” Cole said. “They can tolerate the cooler temps.”

“Last great white seen around these parts was five years ago,” Hunter said. “I checked.”

“Maybe they’re migrating north,” Cole said. “How’s the seal population?”

“Don’t know,” Hunter said. “They would like that, though, wouldn’t they? And Jock always did like his gray wet suit.”

Cole shrugged. “It could have been a case of mistaken identity, I suppose.” His voice trailed off.

“But you don’t think so,” Annja said.

Cole shook his head. “I don’t know. It just doesn’t feel like it. I could be completely wrong, of course. I’ve been wrong before. But a shark that big as what showed up on sonar, well, I don’t know.”

“A rogue shark hunting these waters would be unbelievable unusual,” Hunter said. “Like I said, it’s not like there’s a lot of people up here to sustain it.”

Cole nodded. “I know. I know.” He sighed. “Well, I suppose we’ll see when we get out there, won’t we?”

Annja felt the bump in the road as Hunter directed the van down on to the town dock. Small fishing charter boats bobbed in subtle tidal surge. The waters looked a deeper blue than the blue green of warmer climates.

Annja cast her glance farther out beyond the harbor. The sea stretched before them: mighty, massive, and unknown.

Just like the thing that killed Jock.




5


They boarded a smaller dinghy and sped out toward the main salvage ship, which from a distance looked nothing like it was equipped for any type of recovery operation. Annja pointed at it as they approached. “That doesn’t much look like a salvage ship, Hunter.”

“That’s the point.” Hunter smiled. “We’ve learned some hard lessons since we got started a number of years ago. The number one lesson is to not let your competition know what you’re up to.”

“There’s a lot?”

“Of rival treasure hunters? Oh yeah.” Surf spray washed over them all and Hunter wiped his face. “It’s mostly minor league stuff. No one’s taking out contracts on another company or anything. But if people know what you’re planning to do, they can get a head start on jumping the claim ahead of you.”

Annja could see some activity on the deck. “Can’t you just claim the site as belonging to you?”

“Not really. You have to jump through loopholes with the nation whose territorial waters you’re in. Then there’s the question of who might own the contents, and all that stuff. If enough time has passed, it’s not really an issue, but there are plenty of ways to get hung up in paperwork.”

“Which is why we have lawyers,” Cole said.

Hunter nodded. “Amen to the lawyers. At least this time.”

Annja grinned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means his ex-wife ran him through the cleaners,” Cole said. “And she was merciless.”

Hunter shook his head. “I won’t ever make that kind of mistake again. Mark my words.”

Hunter eased the throttle down on the dinghy motor and the little boat bobbed on the waves, closing the final distance down between them and the salvage ship. Annja noted that it was about a hundred feet long and had more of the appearance of a luxury yacht than anything else.

A ladder came over the side and Cole motioned for Annja to lead the way. She found the grips and went right up, finally stepping aboard the ship. Cole came up behind her, followed by Tom, and then at last Hunter stepped aboard.

“We would have come up from the stern, but I think we might have some work going on right now so I wanted to leave it clear. If people are in the water and that shark comes back, I want them able to exit quickly.”

Annja nodded. “Fair plan.”

Hunter spread his arms. “Allow me to welcome you to The Seeker. As grand a ship as there ever was what sailed the seas.”

“Got a parrot to go along with that accent?” Cole asked. “You never could resist the urge to showboat.”

Hunter stepped back. “I am slain by your tainted barbs, dear brother.”

“I’ll bet.”

Hunter winked at Annja. “Right, well, let’s get you settled down below and then see if we can make some sense out of this whole situation.”

They entered the cabin and Hunter led them down a flight of steep stairs to the sleeping quarters. He turned as he walked. “We’re a little short of space, but I managed to find some room. I hope the accommodations are acceptable.”

He opened a wooden door and Annja saw that the cabin was more luxurious than she’d expected. A double bed stood near the porthole and a small bureau would hold her gear, the little she’d brought with her. There was a small television as well. She glanced at Hunter. “Very comfortable.”

Cole rolled his eyes. “This is probably the only worthwhile investment he’s ever made.”

Hunter sighed. “Are we going to get into this all over again? I’d rather focus on the actual reason you’re here, rather than how to make me feel like crap for some of my past decisions.”

“All right, all right.” Cole held up his hands. “Show me where I’m staying and then we’ll get to work.”

Hunter looked uncomfortable. “Uh…”

“What?”

Hunter leaned against the doorjamb. “Well, it’s just that, when I called and you mentioned you were bringing Annja along…I just sort of assumed that it was because you two were…you know…”

“Together?” Annja asked.

“Yeah.”

Cole sighed. “I don’t get my own room?”

“I don’t have any to spare. Your pal Tom is being stuffed into an old storage closet that we managed to fit a mattress into, but even that’s a stretch. And not in a good way.”

Cole took a deep breath and looked at Annja. “I apologize for this. If you want to leave, I don’t blame you in the slightest.”

Annja smirked. “Do I look like some little innocent miss you’ve got to save from the perils of man? I’ve been in awkward situations before. I’ll manage with this one.” She looked at Hunter. “Don’t worry about it. It’s fine.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. Let’s not lose sight of why we’re here. If I can help out somehow, then that’s all that matters.”

Cole shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

He started forward, but Annja lobbed her bag onto the bed first. “I sleep on that side. You get the porthole.”

Cole looked at the bed and then back at Annja. “I don’t do well on the porthole side.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know. I just never have.”

Hunter chuckled. “That’s true. One of the first boats our dad bought, Cole there slept funny and woke up heaving halfway through the night. He blew chunks all over dad’s teakwood finish. Hoo boy, the old man was furious about that one.”

“Thanks for bringing that up,” Cole said.

“Anytime.”

Annja sighed. “All right, take the door side. But if any trouble comes through that door, I’ll expect you to be up and defending the room. If you can’t do that, I’ll take over. Just hold them off long enough for me to wake up.”

Hunter and Cole looked at her.

“What?” Annja asked.

“That sort of thing happen to you before?” Hunter asked.

“You’d be surprised,” Annja said. “A lot of things have come through my bedroom doors over the years and not all of them have been good. Or even remotely pleasant.”

Hunter glanced at Cole. “That’s some roommate you scored for yourself there, bro. Best of luck making it through the night.”

Cole nodded slowly. “I might need it from the sound of things.”

Annja clapped her hands. “No use dwelling on it. Just that my work has exposed me to a lot of potential risks is all.”

“And here I thought you were just a mild-mannered scientist with an outdoor streak,” Cole said.

Annja grinned. “And I used to think you had some common sense rattling around in that skull of yours.”

Hunter frowned. “Oh, no, don’t you tell me he’s swimming with great whites again.”

“He is.”

“Jeez.” Hunter shook his head. “Dude, how many times have I told you that’s not a good idea?”

“It’s fine,” Cole said. “I’ve done it a few times now and there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Famous last words.”

“Annja was there on my most recent swim,” Cole said.

Hunter glanced at her. “You were? You let him go and do it?”

“Hey, I had no clue anything of the sort was going on. We were in the cage, he motioned for me to get back on to the boat so I did. Next thing I know Jacques Cousteau there is off trying to catch a ride on a giant dorsal fin.”

Hunter looked at Cole. “You’re trying to ride them now?”

“It was a thought.”

“Yeah, a bad one. How in the world can you think that grabbing a dorsal fin on a shark is a good idea? One wrong move and you’ll end up down their gullet as a noontime snack.”

Cole shook his head. “Not going to happen, Hunter. I’ve researched this. There’s no danger provided I keep my wits about me.”

“Did you chum the waters this time?”

“I need a way to attract the fish.”

Annja looked at Hunter. “Sounds like you’ve been witness to his swimming with sharks before.”

“Yeah, I saw him do it. Damn near scared me to death. He didn’t tell me he was going to do it until he was actually in the water with them without a cage. I’d had no time to prepare or be ready in case he needed help.”

“If I needed help,” Cole said. “There would have been nothing you could have done. It would be too late.”

“Yeah, well, forgive a brother for wanting to help out in case of emergency. It’s not like I love you or anything.”

Cole smiled. “You’re a pal, really. And I know your heart is in the right place, but it’s not necessary to get all worked up over this.”

“Not necessary?” Hunter sighed. “Look, dude, I’ve already lost one man to some type of giant shark swimming around in waters where it’s extremely rare. I don’t want to have to bury my own flesh and blood because of some foolish act.”

“You think it’s foolish?”

“I think we might both have some unaddressed issues that makes us do reckless things,” Hunter said.

“You with money,” Cole said.

“And you with your life,” Hunter replied. “Tough knowing which is worse, huh?”

“At least you two aren’t beating the crap out of each other like some other brothers I know,” Annja said. “The fact is, it’s risky stuff swimming with apex predators. I think we all know that. And hopefully, Cole will keep his focus when he does and we won’t need to figure out how to put all the chewed-up bits of him into a trash bag for the funeral.”

Cole laughed. “Colorful.”

“I like her,” Hunter said. “She’s not afraid to give it back to you, huh?”

“Or anyone else,” Cole said. “You’d do well to remember that.”

“I will.” He looked around the cabin. “All right, you guys want to rest? Catch a nap or something? I can arrange for lunch in about an hour if you want. Just let me know.”

“I’m ready to go, actually,” Cole said. “Let’s get to it.”

Annja took a breath. She could have used a nap. Plane travel sometimes made her weary. But since Cole had jumped the gun, she wouldn’t miss the chance to get started.

“I’m good,” she said.

They exited the cabin and Hunter led them back topside. “I’ll introduce you to the rest of the crew.”

“How are they handling the death?” Annja asked.

“As well as can be expected,” Hunter said. “Given that Jock was a bit tough to get along with due to his work ethic and the fact he used to clean them all out with his poker face, there’s a lot more sympathy than I might have reasonably expected.”

“Anyone quit the project?” Cole asked.

“Nope. The promise of fortune is too great to scare anyone away just yet.”

“And competitors?”

Hunter shook his head. “So far, so good. We’ve kept the search pretty well buttoned up and haven’t seen another ship in days.”

Cole nodded. “Good.”

Bright sunlight greeted them as they emerged from below-decks. Annja looked up into the clear blue sky and smiled. Being on the ocean was always invigorating.

“Hunter!”

They turned as a young girl came rushing up to them. Hunter frowned. “What’s up, Holly?”

“Got a blip on the screen again.”

“Blip?”

“That thing—the shark? The captain thinks it’s back again.”




6


Hunter led them up to the wheelhouse where Annja was surprised to find a young woman studying the bridge console. She looked up as Hunter entered and jabbed a finger at the scope.

“Can’t be sure. At least, not yet,” the captain said.

Annja couldn’t see past Hunter’s shoulder. “How come?” she asked.

The captain glanced at Annja. “Who’s she?”

Hunter pointed at Annja. “That’s Annja Creed. Annja, meet Jax, our captain.”

Captain Jax nodded. “Hey.”

“You said you couldn’t tell if it was the shark. How come?” Annja asked again.

“Too far out right now. I’ll know more if it comes closer.”

“Will it?”

Jax shrugged. “Who knows? It might just be cruising around looking for lunch. As long as none of us are in the water, I don’t care. Let it eat something other than humans and I think we’ll all be better off.”

Cole pushed his way onto the bridge. “If the actual shark expert could maybe manage to get a look at the scope, that would probably be helpful for all involved.”

Hunter stepped back. “Sorry, bro.”

Cole studied the instrument. Annja moved forward and she could make out the slow line circling around the scope. As it passed the lower left section, it grazed what appeared to be a very substantial shape in the water. Cole frowned and leaned back. “You weren’t kidding.”

“About what?” Hunter asked.

“It’s big.”

Annja looked at Cole. “You think it’s a shark?”

Cole shrugged. “Kinda tough to tell from here.”

She looked out of the wheelhouse at the back of the boat in the direction she thought the shark would be cruising based on what she’d seen on the scope. To imagine that something that large was swimming the waters was extremely discomforting. Like so many others, Annja had considered colder waters to be relatively free of dangerous sharks.

So much for that, she thought.

Cole stepped away from the scope and stared out the back window with Annja. “There’s not a lot I can do from here.”

Annja looked at him. “I don’t like the way that sounds.”

He smiled. “But you know it’s the truth.”

“It seems to be what you do, crazy one.”

Cole shrugged. “My life, my calling.” He glanced back at Hunter, who was now talking with Captain Jax. “I don’t think he’ll be crazy about the idea, however.”

“Of course he won’t be. He’s your brother. He doesn’t want to see you in harm’s way.”

Cole eyed her. “Will you help me?”

“With what?”

“I’ll need another set of eyes down there with me.”

Annja watched the ocean and noticed that it seemed to have gone almost glassy still. “You want me to get in the water with you?”

“That would be the idea, yeah.”

“Um, did you bring a cage?”

Cole smiled. “No. But then again, this will give you a chance to get into the water and see that these sharks aren’t necessarily the bad guys we make them out to be in movies.”

Annja frowned. “Cole, this shark, if it’s the same one, has already killed one person in recent days.”

“We don’t know for sure if this is the same shark.”

Annja leaned against the wall of the wheelhouse. “Why do I feel like I’m living in a bad remake of Jaws?”

Cole grinned. “Because you’re fighting the stereotypes that have plagued the sharks since that damnable movie came out. Everyone sees them as nothing but mindless predators, just killing machines. But they’re not. They are extremely intelligent.”

“I don’t know if I’d go that far.”

“You saw them swim with me in the open water. And they didn’t attack.” He smiled. “And don’t forget that I’d chummed that water pretty heavily.”

Annja sighed. “Yeah, but that was with sharks that hadn’t attacked anyone. Maybe this one has developed a taste for human flesh. I’m not excited about the thought of meeting that fish.”

Cole shook his head. “Human flesh isn’t what feeds these incredible fish, Annja. We’re not a staple of their diets. What probably happened here was a case of mistaken identity. The victim was caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, is all. Could happen to anyone, but unfortunately, he just got caught.”

“That’s not much consolation if you’re trying to sell me on this idea.” Annja felt her stomach turn over. This wasn’t a good idea. And she didn’t need the hard-won instincts she’d gained from countless battles and struggles to tell her that. Anyone who’d ever seen a shark special on the Discovery Channel would tell her this was a bad idea.

Hunter came over. “The blip’s gone.”

“It’s gone where?” Annja tried to hide the relief in her voice.

“I don’t know,” Hunter said. “But the blip is gone. It might have moved out of range. Maybe it’s still there.” He stopped and stared at Cole. “What’s going on here?”

“Nothing.”

Hunter frowned. “Bullshit. I know that look.”

Cole shook his head. “There’s no look, Hunter. You’re imagining things.”

Hunter looked at Annja. “Is that true?”

Annja held up her hands. “Leave me out of the sibling confrontations. My stomach hurts.”

Hunter turned back to Cole and jabbed a finger at him. “I know you too well, bro. I know what you’re thinking about doing. The answer’s no.”

“What?”

Hunter pointed outside. “You want in. I turn my back on you and you’ll probably dive right in without any tanks on.”

Cole smiled. “Maybe.”

“Water’s awful cold, dude. At least take a wet suit.”

Cole’s eyes lit up. “You’re serious?”

Hunter slapped him on the shoulder. “Are you nuts? You’re not going anywhere near the water until we get some extra precautions up here.”

“Like what?”

Hunter shrugged. “Like, for one thing, a shark cage. I notice you didn’t haul one along with you.”

Annja smiled. “The carry-on baggage fee at the airport was a little steep so we had to ditch it.”

Hunter smirked. “And that wouldn’t have stopped the crazy one here from jumping right in, would it?”

Annja chewed her lip. Hunter nodded. “Yeah, I knew it. He was trying to talk you into going in there with him, wasn’t he?”

Annja backed away. “I should leave you guys alone to work this out. Maybe I’ll just head downstairs and get some rest.”

Hunter shook his head and stared at Cole. “Are you really insane? You were trying to get her to go in there with you? What was she—bait? That’s a new low for you, Cole. Seriously, man. You’ve lost your freaking mind.”

Cole sighed. “We come from two different perspectives on this, Hunter.”

“Yeah, you want to put your head in the mouth of every lion you come across while I know that lions aren’t made to have human heads in them. Which one of us is right, huh?”

Hunter stalked out of the wheelhouse. Annja watched him stomp down to the back of the boat. Cole took a breath and sighed. “I’m sorry you had to hear all that, Annja.”

“Forget it. You guys aren’t the first siblings I’ve known who didn’t have the perfect relationship. At least it’s apparent that you guys love each other.”

“I guess.”

Annja put a hand on his shoulder. “Think of it this way. If he didn’t care, he would have encouraged you to jump right in.”

“Yeah.”

Annja shoved him out of the wheelhouse. “Go. Talk to him and try to get some common ground back. You’ve both got objectives here. Maybe you can make some sense out of them.”

“Thanks.”

Annja watched him go. Behind her, she heard a flicking sound. She turned and saw Captain Jax eyeing her while she cleaned her fingernails with a switchblade. “That was smooth,” the captain said.

Annja looked at the long blond hair tied back in a ponytail with a length of hemp. Captain Jax was about Annja’s age, but the crow’s-feet around her eyes belied a lot more years on the ocean than the rest of her appearance suggested.

“How long have you been a captain?” Annja asked.

“Why? You have issues with my skippering so far?”

Annja shook her head. “No. It’s just that most of the captains I’ve ever known have been men. Kinda strange to see a woman in charge. Nice change of pace. That’s all.”

Captain Jax finished cleaning one hand and adroitly flipped the knife around to work the other hand. “Yeah, well, it hasn’t been an easy slog for me to climb the ladder. I did time on tramp steamers and shitty freighters, working the south Atlantic between Africa and South America.”

“What happened?”

“I got tired of turning a blind eye to the crap I used to witness.”

“Like?”

Captain Jax stop cleaning her nails. “You ever seen eight-year-old kids forced to shovel coal into ship boilers for ten hours a day?”

“No.”

“You ever seen teenage girls being sold into sexual slavery?”

Annja frowned. “Heard of it.”

Captain Jax smirked. “Different when it’s right in front of your face, lemme tell you.”

“So you stopped working that route?”

“I came north after the skipper of the ship and I had a disagreement about a particular shipment of kids into the Brazilian brothels.”

“What happened?”

Captain Jax shrugged. “I cut his throat while he slept. And I shoved his bloated carcass overboard where the sharks tore him to bits.”

Annja almost smiled at the candor with which Captain Jax spoke. “You don’t seem particularly upset.”

“I’m not upset at all.” Captain Jax pointed the knife at her. “You, however, don’t seem the least bit fazed by what I just said.”

Annja shrugged. “Let’s just say it sounds like we’ve both left a few bodies in our wakes.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. It is.”

Captain Jax eyed her for a moment without moving. Annja returned the stare. A heavy silence cloaked the wheelhouse and, in the distance, Annja could hear the breeze coming off the ocean. But nothing moved in the space between her and the captain.

Finally, Jax seemed satisfied. “Just so long as you understand that this is my boat. I have the authority here.”

“I thought this was Hunter’s boat,” Annja said.

“I’m the captain.”

“No one’s trying to steal the job from you.”

Jax nodded. “Good.”

Annja started to leave. She took a step before she heard Captain Jax’s voice. “Annja.”

She turned. She saw the whiz of movement through the air. Annja shifted as the blade flew past her and sank into the wood paneling next to her head. The switchblade was deeply embedded.

Annja glanced back at Captain Jax. “You finished now?”

Jax smiled. “Good reflexes.”

“They’re better than you know.” Annja pulled the knife out of the wood and checked the edge. It was razor sharp. She turned the blade over and then in the next instant sent it flying right back at Jax. Jax recovered quickly and dodged the blade as it shot into the clock next to her head.

“Not bad,” she said.

Annja smirked. “Just remember—you aren’t the only warrior on this boat. Not anymore.”




7


Outside the wheelhouse, Annja ran into Hunter. He looked her over. “Everything okay back there?”

Annja smiled. “Just a couple of dogs having a pissing contest. Nothing to get excited about.”

“If it’s happening on my boat, I want to know about it,” Hunter said. “I’ve already lost one crew member and I don’t want any more going missing. If Jax is giving you shit, you need to tell me. She’s pretty territorial.”

Annja shook her head. “Don’t expect me to come running to you like some lost sheep. I don’t operate that way. If Jax has a problem with me, then we’ll work it out between us. One way or another.”

“As long as there’s not another body to worry about,” Hunter said.

Annja frowned. “What do you mean?”

Hunter held up his hands. “I know something of what Jax came from. She’s got a history all her own. You, I don’t know about. Only what Cole told me. And that wasn’t very much. Except that he’s very fond of you.”

A stiff breeze blew across the bow of the ship. “We’re really not a couple, if that’s what you’re hinting at.”

Hunter shrugged. “None of my business if you were. But he still had no right to ask you to do what he did.”

“I don’t take it personally. It seems to be in Cole’s nature to run toward danger.” Annja looked at the swirling surf. “It seems to be mine, too.”

“Yeah? What’s that mean? You go looking for trouble?” Hunter wore an amused expression on his face.

Annja sighed. “Trouble usually has a way of finding me on its own without any help from me. As a result, I get into a lot of bad places. Crazy stuff, sometimes.”

“Like a boat looking for sunken treasure being stalked by a giant man-eating shark?”

“That’s actually a new one,” Annja said. “But it takes all kinds.” She looked toward the stern. “You and Cole talk yet?”

“No.”

“You should. The boat’s too small for any bad blood to ferment. It’ll end up costing us all in terms of our safety.”

Hunter sighed. “It’s always been like this.”

“Why?”

“Natural competition? I don’t know. Sometimes it’s just the way brothers have to be.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Annja said. “Families don’t come with instructions that read ‘must always be at odds with one another.’”

Hunter leaned against the railing. “Fact is, I need him and he knows it. I blew my inheritance on treasure hunting. It’s only been with Cole’s help I’ve actually made something of myself. That tends to grate on my ego a fair amount.”

“I imagine it would.”

Hunter sighed. “I’ll find him. We’ll get this squared away.”

Annja patted his arm. “Glad to hear it. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to have a quick nap. Wake me if the shark comes back.”

“You’ll know,” Hunter said. “The whole boat will be in a panic.”

“Does that concern you?”

“Of course it does. I’ve got a major hunt going on here. The last thing I need is people freaking out over a fish.”

“Even one that eats them?”

“They need to keep their heads in the game. Forget about the shark. It was probably a freak occurrence. Probably long gone by now.”

“Didn’t seem so a few minutes ago when it showed up on the scope.”

“We don’t know if that was the shark. Could have been something else. Maybe a whale.”

Annja raised an eyebrow. “We would have seen a spout when it breached the surface of the water.”

Hunter started to say something and then thought better of it. Instead, he pointed at the stern. “I’m going to go find Cole now.”

“See you later.”

Annja let him pass and watched him work his way down the steps to the deck. He and Cole might be brothers but there were a lot of differences between them.

Annja took a deep breath of salt air and felt herself yawn. A nap would do her some good. She made her way down to the crew compartments. The corridor led her back to her room and she pushed the door in, falling into the bed with a muffled sigh. The pillow cradled her head and, within a few seconds, she felt herself falling into a deep sleep.

As she slept, her body seemed to relax, her muscles almost melting into the bed. Annja realized that she was truly exhausted and needed the nap badly.

Until something made her start and come awake.

A noise.

She kept her eyes closed. Her stomach knotted up and she risked cracking an eyelid. She could just make out a shadowy form rummaging through her bag. The daylight had faded outside the porthole and the coming evening made it difficult to see exactly who it might be.

Annja frowned. She hated thieves. There was one way to solve the mystery and she steeled herself to suddenly surprise the invader.

Adrenaline flooded her system. Annja checked to make sure her sword hung where she could pull it out if need be. It was ready, hanging in the dim mist that waited between her awake and dream worlds.

Annja steeled herself and then, with a shout, she came fully awake and launched herself off the bed.

She felt something crash into her from behind. A bright explosion of stars caromed around her head as tears flew from her eyes. Blackness rushed to greet her and Annja sank back onto the bed, consciousness already a vague memory somewhere far off in the recesses of her mind.



“ANNJA?”

Annja opened her eyes. The bright light made her wince. “Ouch.”

“Kill the light.”

Darkness returned and Annja blinked her eyes open again. “What the hell happened?’

“You tell us.”

She recognized Cole’s voice. “I was napping. I heard something. Someone was in my room. I was going to surprise them and, when I did, something or someone else clocked me from behind. That’s the last thing I remember.”

Hunter growled. “This isn’t good. A shark attack and someone attacking a guest on my ship. All within two days.” He paused and looked at Cole. “We can’t afford this kind of distraction.”

“I know it.”

Annja put a hand to her head. “Any chance I can get some water?”

“Yeah, yeah, sure.” Cole handed her a glass of something cold. “Take it slow, though. That’s a nasty bump you’ve got on your head.”

Annja ran her hand over the growing bulge on the back of her skull. “Concussion?”

“Can’t really tell. Maybe a mild one.”

“Add it to the scorecard,” Annja said. “I’ve had more than a few in my time. Every time I do, it only reminds me how much they suck.”

“Are you nauseous?” Cole peered into her eyes. “You might be sick.”

“You get any closer and I will definitely.”

Cole leaned back. “You can’t be that badly injured. Your sarcasm has remained intact.”

Hunter chuckled. “You always did have a way with the ladies, bro.”

Annja took a sip of water. The cold liquid hit the back of her throat and she winced. Her stomach rolled once or twice but she fought it back and swallowed the water. When she was done, she handed the glass back to Cole.

“Who did this?” she asked. “Was it Jax?”

Hunter shook his head. “Couldn’t have been. She was in the wheelhouse, remember? It wouldn’t be like her to come down here and take you out.”

Annja nodded slowly. “Fair point. I don’t think she’d mind just going straight on at me if she felt the need.”

“That’s more her style,” Hunter said. “I’ve seen her hold her own in a bar fight outside of Norfolk, Virginia. That chick can rumble with the best of them.”

Cole sat down in the small chair. “So, who else is on the ship that would want to see Annja get hurt?”

Hunter sighed. “I don’t know. I mean, are we assuming that Annja was the actual target?”

“I seem to have been,” Annja said. “As my skull will testify.”

Hunter smirked. “Not what I meant. Obviously, you got injured. But were you the primary target? Maybe they were after something that you have and you just got in the way. I don’t think it would be too hard to see that, if they wanted you dead, they could have easily killed you without much effort.”

Annja frowned. Hunter had a point. She would have been incapacitated and an easy mark if they’d really meant to harm her. So what did they want? What did they think she had that could prove useful to them?

She shook her head. “I have no idea what they could have possibly been looking for.”

“Only because we don’t know who they are,” Cole said. “Maybe they think you have something. Did you bring anything with you?”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know.”

Annja gestured for the glass and Cole handed it back to her. She took a longer sip this time. “Listen, you guys are the ones running this operation. Apparently, I haven’t made some people very comfortable. Maybe the best thing would be for me to leave.”

Cole shook his head. “Unacceptable. I invited you to come along with me. I need you here.”

“You don’t actually need me,” Annja said. “Fish aren’t really my specialty. I’m more into digging in sandboxes, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“I appreciate that,” Cole said. “But your perspective is what’s required. Someone who thinks outside of the box.”

Hunter nodded. “Cole’s right. We don’t know what it is that we’re dealing with. Could be a shark, could be something else. But the presence of people meaning you harm on this ship is an indicator that something bigger might be going on here. That means trouble any way you look at it.”

“Which means,” Cole said, “that we all must make sure we have one another’s backs.”

“And not get on one another’s nerves,” Hunter said.

Annja smiled at them. “Nice to see you guys have made up.”

“We never stay mad at each other for long,” Hunter said. “Must be a brotherly thing.”

“Whatever,” Annja said. “Just so long as neither of you is plotting the untimely demise of the other, I think we’ll be okay.”

Annja finished the water. “So, where do we go from here? I’ve still got a killer headache. And there’s a fan of mine on board the ship apparently.”

“You rest,” Cole said. “Leave this other stuff to me and Hunter for right now. We’ll start checking things out, seeing where folks were earlier.”

“You don’t know when this happened, do you?” Hunter asked.

“Only that it must have been late afternoon or early evening. I couldn’t make out too much. The lighting was dim.”

“A good hit you took there,” Cole said. “You’ve probably been out for a few hours, then.”

“You feel okay now?” Hunter asked. “One of us can stay with you if you need us to.”

Annja shook her head. “I’ll be fine. And besides, I think you guys have some more important work to do than babysit me.”

Cole stood. “We’ll be back later to look in on you. In the meantime, lock the door behind us and don’t let anyone in. We’ve got to check on Tom, anyway.”

“Why? What’s wrong with him?”

“Seems like lunch didn’t sit well with him. He’s been vomiting and on the toilet ever since. Might be a touch of food poisoning. Anyway, he’s down for the count right now. But I want to make sure he’s all right or see if we need to evacuate him back to the mainland.”

Annja tried to stand and the room spun. “Whoa.”

Cole caught her. “You okay?”

Annja took a breath. “Yeah. I’ll be okay.”

Hunter and Cole left the room. Annja slid the bolt in place and then collapsed back into bed. Her head throbbed.

Despite what Cole and Hunter had said, Annja couldn’t help feeling like someone on the boat wanted her gone.

But why?




8


When Annja awoke, darkness shrouded the cabin. Mercifully, her head had ceased throbbing and her stomach seemed to be relatively stable. Her throat was dry, however, and she wanted to get some fresh air. Cole was sound asleep beside her.

She made her way to the door without fainting and opened it slowly. She was unsure what to expect on the other side. The boat was quiet and lolled gently, anchored as it was.

Dim red lights illuminated the hallway leading out to the stairs. Annja padded down the walkway until she came to the steps and started up them. She could already feel the wind washing over the boat and her skin. Goose bumps broke out along her hairline and she shivered slightly as she crept higher.

Her stomach didn’t hurt and Annja felt somewhat secure as she crept along the walkway toward the wheelhouse. The salt air refreshed her. Waves lapped at the sides of the ship and she felt some of the spray wash up on her skin.

Annja felt good. She kept her hands along the railing, however, just in case she felt faint, aware that she was still recovering from the concussion she’d received earlier.

A weak yellow light came from the wheelhouse. Annja moved toward it. Maybe she could have a word with Jax about what happened earlier. Annja didn’t like bad blood if she could avoid it. But if she couldn’t, then she’d just have to deal with it another time.

She took a deep breath and swung the door to the wheelhouse open. But Jax wasn’t there.

Hunter was.

“Hey, you.”

“Hey.” Annja glanced around. “No Jax?”

Hunter smiled. “Even the captain needs sleep sometimes. I gave her the night off so she could crash. She’s been pulling hard since the attack.”

“She close with the victim?”

Hunter shrugged. “Don’t really know. Jax has a way about her. She can get guys if she wants ’em. Or she can turn ’em off like a light switch. I’m not sure how she felt about Jock. Or how he felt about her, for that matter. Not that that would have been an obstacle per se. Jock had a thing for anything with breasts.”

“Nice.”

“Sorry.”

Annja shrugged. “Forget it. I know how guys think. You’re honest and I appreciate that.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Better.” Annja glanced around the wheelhouse. “I thought I’d come topside for a little air.”

“Always clears my head, too,” Hunter said. “You want a drink?”

“What have you got?”

Hunter handed her a flask. “A little whiskey. It’s aged. Got a taste of peat in it, if you like that sort of thing.”

Annja took a sniff and then a sip. The smooth whiskey flowed down her throat and she took a deep breath. “Wow.”

Hunter took the flask back from her. “Don’t tell Cole. He’ll kill me if he finds out how much this stuff runs me. But why waste money on crap if you have a chance to get the good stuff, right?”

“I guess.” Annja felt the whiskey hit her hard. “That’s some potent stuff.”

“Keep you steady, it will,” Hunter said. “And I’ve used it to do just that on some stormy nights at sea.”

“You had many?”

Hunter nodded and took a deep drag on the flask. “Once or twice. We were off the coast of Florida when a gale blew up and knocked us sideways. We were cresting fifty-foot waves, crawling up one side and diving down the other. They were like mountains, you know. Fifty feet doesn’t sound like much until you actually get out in the thick of it in a twenty-foot boat.”

“You were in a twenty-footer?”

Hunter grinned. “First and last time, mind you. I came back and resolved never to sail anything less than a hundred foot.”

“Those waves must have been terrifying.”

“They were. I had to keep the ship on course because any mistake meant we’d have been swamped and gone before anyone knew we were there. A storm like that, they don’t roll up all that often.”

Hunter switched the radio on and Annja heard smooth music roll out of the speakers. He adjusted the volume, then took another sip and offered the flask back to Annja.

Annja shook her head. “I should stop. The booze and my concussion probably won’t get along that well.”

Hunter took the flask back. “Good point. Hang out, though. I can use the company.”

Annja leaned back against the wall and watched him. He had the same type of chiseled face that Cole had. But Hunter had strong limbs that seemed longer than Cole’s. Cole’s upper torso was more compact while Hunter’s reminded her of a languid jungle cat stretched out on a rock in the sun.

“How’d you get into treasure hunting?” she asked.

Hunter shook his head. “Not exactly the type of thing you go to school for, is it?”

“Nope.”

Bars of music filtered out of the speakers, while Hunter closed his eyes in appreciation of it. After a moment he looked at Annja. “I could say it’s all because of a girl.”

Annja smiled. “Oh is it?”

“Yep. I fell in love with a girl in college and flipped out of my mind over her. Spent the summer chasing her all over the Caribbean. We jumped from island to island on my dime, just having a blast. Sleeping on the beaches, making love, drinking our brains into a permanent pickled state. Youth’s a crazy thing, you know?”

“I guess.”

Hunter eyed her. “Yeah, I don’t suppose my experiences as a kid are universal or anything. I can see that.”

“So go on.”

Hunter shrugged. “I came across this boat anchored in the blue of the Caribbean one day. There were a couple of guys in the water. Real island dudes. The boat represented every dime they had in the world and they were out there diving off this patch of sand. We happened to sail up at just the right moment.”

“Right moment?”

Hunter took another sip. “You believe in serendipity?”

“Depends, I guess.”

“Well, these guys had come across a sunken Spanish galleon filled with chests of gold. I was there when one of the divers broke the surface of the water holding a single gold coin in his hand. I’ll never forget how the sun caught that gleaming yellow coin and made it look as brilliant as the brightest star in the sky. It blew me away. I wanted that joy of discovery. And I wanted all those riches.”

“So, that was it? You shelved the college life and threw your lot in with those guys?”

Hunter chuckled. “Those guys wanted nothing to do with me. Right after we came upon them, one of the guys still on the boat pulled a pistol and told us to sail away or they’d kill us. Treasure hunting’s a dangerous gambit sometimes.”

“Certainly seems to be.” Annja shivered as a cold breeze blew through the wheelhouse. “So, how’d you get started?”

“I spent a lot of my own money—hell, all of it—on a boat and top-of-the-line equipment that I had little clue how to operate. I was a fool and a cocksure one at that. I thought that my money could make everything go right when all it did was foul it up even quicker than if I’d been broke.”

“How so?”

“On my first dive I lost two people. Couldn’t be helped. The wreck we dove on shifted and crushed them. There was no way to help them. You’re not moving tons of rusted steel no matter how strong you think you are.”

“Oh, my God.”

“Yeah. And that venture cost me a lot more than I thought it would. I came back to the States and found myself facing a lawsuit from the families of the deceased. That pretty much wiped me out.”

“But you kept going.”

Hunter smiled. “You know what it’s like to want something so bad that you can’t even fathom it ever being wiped out of your soul?”

“Maybe.”

“That’s how it was. I just couldn’t give it up. As much as I tried—and I did try. I went back to school and even did a year of law before I bugged out. I just couldn’t get that image out of my head of the diver breaking the surface with the gold coin in hand. I’d wake up in a sweat and know that it could be me.”

Annja shook her head. “You’re obsessed.”

Hunter grinned. “Some guys, they obsess over women. Some over work, some over other things. For me, it was the dive. The lure of the treasure wouldn’t let me go. I was caught in the spell.”

“So you went back.”

Hunter nodded. “Yeah. I did a lot more research than I’d done before. I found some smaller wrecks, thinking that if I could get started on something more in line with my limited experiences, then maybe that would be the best way to go about it.”

“Did it work out?”

“My second dive was better. It still wasn’t great, but at least I was getting my feet under me. I had only a little bit of money but I managed to make back my investment by scavenging the bits I was able to bring up from the ship.”

“What sort of ship?”

Hunter laughed. “It was an old landing ship that the Navy had scuttled years earlier. I found someone to buy the scrap metal off me. It wasn’t much—most of the metal had rusted away—but I made back the investment. And it helped fuel my desire even more. While I was doing that salvage job, I was already planning my next outing.”

Annja took the flask from him and helped herself to the whiskey. She could taste the peat now, and Hunter was right—it was very good whiskey indeed. “Don’t keep me in suspense.”

“I heard about a Dutch trading ship that vanished along the coast of Brazil. I went after it.”

“Brazil? Did you have to wrangle permits?”

Hunter shrugged. “I was still making mistakes back then. And one of them was the idea that I felt I could operate outside the law. I hooked up with a local criminal type who insisted that the permits would be arranged with a simple bribe.”

“Something tells me that wasn’t the case.”

“Yeah,” Hunter said. “Who’d have thought it? I flew into Rio and found myself under arrest for piracy of all things.”

“The guy double-crossed you.”

“I was carrying ten thousand in cash,” Hunter said. “All part of the bribe, of course. They busted me on that. I had to do six months in jail down there.”

“Wow.”

Hunter took a deep breath. “You know what jail’s like in Brazil?”

“I haven’t had the pleasure. No.”

“It’s hell,” Hunter said. “The prisons are run by the gangs, and just trying to survive takes every ounce of courage and endurance you have. I was one of the lucky ones. They thought I was a fool and didn’t bother with me. And by the time they realized that my family had money, Cole had figured out a way to get me out of there. Thank God.”

“He never mentioned that,” Annja said. “I’m kind of surprised he didn’t.”

“Yeah, well, I suppose that’s one of the things he’s not very proud of his brother doing, you know? No one likes to talk about the troubled child gone astray.”

“You weren’t astray,” Annja said. “Just trying to find your way. It could have happened to anyone.”

“But it happened to me,” Hunter said. “I’ve been trying to live it down ever since.”

“You’ve got Cole helping you now, though.”

Hunter nodded. “And it’s great that he is. His money has helped make this operation profitable. But I guess I’ve always regretted not being able to do it all myself.”

“Isn’t it better this way?”

“Maybe.” Hunter switched off the radio. “But there will always be a part of me that wonders if I could make it on my own. I would have gotten out of that jail eventually.”

“The guy who double-crossed you would have had you killed before you were free.”

Hunter looked at Annja. “You think?”

Annja tried to smile but it came out wrong. “I’ve met men like that before. They operate on strict rules and one of their rules is that you never let someone you victimized live. It just means they’ll come back for you. No one wants to spend their life looking over their shoulder.”

Hunter stared at Annja. “Maybe you’re right.”

Annja’s response died when the sonar scope suddenly started beeping. On the scope, Annja could see the outline of a huge shape in the water.




9


“Is that it?”

Hunter leaned over the display. “I don’t know.”

“It looks like what was on there earlier.” Annja watched as the line swept around the scope, and every time it reached the nine-o’clock position, it revealed the huge shape in brilliant orange.

“Doesn’t seem to be moving all that fast,” Hunter said. “I would have thought it would be.”

Annja shuddered as another breeze swept in through the open window. “Maybe it’s just cruising around.”

Hunter nodded. “I suppose that could be it. Sharks like to hunt at night. Maybe it’s down there tracking something.”

“How do they see?”

Hunter shrugged. “Better ask Cole that one. I think I saw a television special last year that mentioned they could use tiny amounts of ambient light to spotlight things against the backdrop. This guy did some research down in South Africa and found the ambient glow of city lights on shore helped great whites hunt seals at night. Pretty wild.”

“And you think that thing might be using our running lights as help in this case?”

“Like I said, you’d have to ask Cole. But I suppose it’s a possibility. Sharks haven’t evolved over millions and millions of years just to be thwarted by something as rudimentary as the darkness.”

I wonder if they could handle my sword, Annja thought. She kept watching the sonar sweep around. The shape in the water seemed to have drifted more to their port side. “It looks like it’s searching for something.”

“Yeah.”

“Should we go get Cole?”

Hunter checked his watch. “I don’t know. I mean, it’s after midnight and the guy probably needs his sleep.”

“Yeah, but he might get upset if he finds out he missed this.”

Hunter eyed her. “Or he might jump into the drink without a second thought.”

Annja nodded. “I guess you’re right.”

Hunter smiled. “My brother doesn’t let things like the dark stop him, either. And he probably should in this case. Maybe we’ll just keep this sighting to ourselves, huh?”

Annja watched the scope. “Sure would like to know what it’s doing.”

“Probably looking for a midnight snack.”

Annja had watched some shark specials on television, but she couldn’t remember seeing anything that came close to this size. The creature was huge. And yet, there seemed something almost unnatural about it. Maybe it was the overall size of the shark or maybe it was because Annja hadn’t seen any shows that did night research on sharks, but the whole event left her chilled.

Suddenly, she had an idea. “Do you have a flashlight?”

Hunter nodded. “Yeah. Why?”

“You mentioned that sharks would use ambient light to hunt. Maybe I’ll give this thing some extra light and see if its behavior changes.”

Hunter handed her the flashlight from the instrument panel. “How are you going to do that?”

Annja took the flashlight. “Keep an eye on the scope and tell me if anything changes.”

“Annja—”

She grinned. “Relax, I’m not going in the water. I’m not nearly that suicidal.”

“Okay.”

Annja stepped outside the wheelhouse and found her way to the steps leading down to the main deck. She followed the port side toward the stern and then stood staring out at the inky sea.

Waves lapped against the side of the boat, but from her vantage point, she could see nothing to indicate that a huge shark was cruising nearby. She smirked. This was probably how it was all the time. Nature had crafted these incredible creatures and humans were, by and large, oblivious to when they were close by.

She switched on the flashlight and its bright beam cut through the swath of darkness, illuminating the waves nearby that foamed white as they slapped into one another.

Annja swept the beam across the surface of the water and waited. She hoped this would provoke some sort of reaction from the shark. If Annja could get it to surface, then maybe she could get a decent look at the thing.

Maybe.

She glanced up at the wheelhouse and could see part of Hunter’s body still leaning over the scope. She whistled softly and he leaned out of the window.

“Yeah?”

“Anything yet?”

“Not a thing. It’s still moving at the same pace and on the same course. Maybe it doesn’t see the light.”

Annja frowned. If a shark could use the ambient city lights miles away, then surely this shark could see a bright white beam on the surface of the water.

She looked out at the waves. She needed something else to help attract the shark. Something it wouldn’t be able to ignore.

Annja checked to see if the crew had left anything nearby that she could use. But the stern of the boat was remarkably absent of clutter. The dive platform hovered a few inches below the surface of the water and, before she could think things through, she sat down and pulled her socks off.

Maybe I am crazy, she thought.

“Annja?”

Hunter’s voice drifted down to her, but Annja ignored it as she stepped off the back of the boat and onto the dive platform. The water felt cold and she shuddered as her feet went into the water. She was standing in it up to her ankles.

She felt a wave of fear wash over her. Now she was actually in the ocean with this thing, even though she was technically still on the boat. If the shark rammed hard enough, she might lose her footing and that would be it.

Annja swallowed and used the flashlight beam again, aiming it just off the stern of the boat, closer to where she stood. With her other hand, Annja held the back railing for dear life. It would be her only link to the ship and she didn’t want to lose it.

“Annja!”

She glanced back. Hunter had come out of the wheelhouse and stood halfway down the stairs leading to the stern. “What the hell are you doing?”

“I’ve got to see if I can get this thing interested in me or if it’s doing something else.”

“I can’t help you if it attacks.”

“Just keep watching the scope and let me know if it starts to change course. Give me as much warning as you can.”

“Yeah, all right.”

Hunter vanished back up the stairs, leaving Annja alone on the lolling platform. She felt cold and her legs wanted to carry her back up onto the boat proper. Psychologically, she knew that she would feel a lot safer with the deck between her and the ocean. Right now, all that separated her from the deep was a few inches of steel.

The flashlight beam cut into the darkness and then died only ten yards away from the boat. Annja could see the frothy white caps cresting in time to the sway of the boat. A stronger breeze blew and she shivered again. Her left hand ached from holding the railing so tightly, but there was no way she’d loosen her grip.

Annja’s stomach cramped slightly and she realized that if the shark did indeed decide to check out the light, she had no way of summoning her sword if necessary. Both of her hands were fully occupied.

She couldn’t very well risk using one of them to hold the sword. Plus, its appearance would mean an uncomfortable amount of questions from Hunter and who knew who else? How would she explain that she somehow possessed the sword that once belonged to Joan of Arc and that she could summon it at will?

No, the time for the sword would be later. If it got to that point. If this was just a shark acting like a shark, then Annja didn’t see any real need to fight it. Jock’s death notwithstanding, there was already enough shark slaughter happening elsewhere in the world and Annja didn’t want to contribute to it any further.

She frowned. There should have been some reaction to the presence of the light by now. She glanced back at the wheelhouse, but her view from the stern of the boat was limited and she didn’t know what Hunter was up to.

She heard him coming down the stairs a moment later. “Annja?”

“Yeah.”

“You okay?”

“I’m wondering why this shark hasn’t responded to my presence or to this flashlight beam.”

“You thought it would?”

Annja frowned. “Hell, I don’t know what I thought. It was more of an experiment than anything else.”

“The scope isn’t showing much. It’s still there, but its movement is as slow as it was before. It’s like it either doesn’t know or doesn’t care that you’re there.”

Annja frowned. “I could go for a swim.”

“Don’t you dare!” Hunter’s voice grated across the darkness. Annja smiled at the reaction.

“Relax. I told you I wasn’t suicidal. And even if I was, I wouldn’t do it like that.”

“All right. Don’t make me haul you back aboard against your will.”

“Like you could.”

Hunter started to laugh, but then they both stopped.

Something splashed out beyond the range of the light.

Annja’s heart started beating faster. “Did you hear that?”

“Yeah.”

She could tell Hunter was coming closer to her. “Annja, why don’t you get back on the boat now?”

“Hang on a second.”

She could hear more splashing. It sounded like something was almost on top of the water. She swept the flashlight beam as far as she could but the inexorable darkness simply swallowed it up beyond ten yards.

“I can’t see a damned thing.”

“Neither can I. But I think you should get back on the boat,” Hunter said.

“Get back to the wheelhouse and tell me what you see.”

“I’m not leaving you alone out here.”

“I’ll be fine. Just do it, okay?”

“Annja.”

“Hunter. Just do it. I need to know if this thing is coming at me or not.”

“Fine.”

She heard him stomp away and then turned back to look out at the ocean. More wind blew up and she felt her fear rising with it. The shark might be heading right for her and she wouldn’t know it unless her flashlight beam cut across its shape in the dark. “Annja!”





Конец ознакомительного фрагмента. Получить полную версию книги.


Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию (https://www.litres.ru/alex-archer/phantom-prospect/) на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.