In the Shadow of the Cypress (28 page)

At first Luke thought that perhaps it resembled a side-wheeler, but there was no indication that such a vessel had ever sunk in that location. Then he suggested that perhaps, against all reasonable odds, a longer ship had gone down perpendicularly over another sunken vessel. The upper image was approximately seventy feet long, and showed a strong magnetic response amidships, but the cross-shaped member beneath corresponded in length and width to the fifty-five-foot steam launch.

To make sure that nothing had escaped their notice, Luke ran the program again, and again they got the same responses. Just in case he’d calculated the tidal chart wrong by a few hours, he expanded the search another twenty miles north, west, and south, but still there were no viable matches that could possibly correspond with their target parameters. When he had finished, Luke turned to Mr. Wu and nodded. “That’s it, I’m afraid. Despite the best efforts of all concerned, I really don’t believe there could possibly be any targets that we’ve missed. We’ve included the best sources available anywhere, including the United States Navy and a half dozen government surveys, not to mention all the historical maps we could find. If your launch is down there, it has to be in that last location. Even the magnetic indications seem to be telling us that there are two vessels in that one spot.”

Robert’s father looked thoughtful for a moment, and then smiled and spoke with finality. “I’m most impressed with what you’ve accomplished in so short a time. Now all we have to do is go down and see if you’ve hit the mark.”

Luke smiled and shook his head. “Well now, I can’t speak for your son, of course, but I’m a research biologist, not a salvage diver. I’m afraid you’ll have to find some professional types to take care of that part of the search. Still, I think you should know that even with all this information, the odds of finding what you’re looking for are still not very promising. And given all the legal and technical hurdles that still stand in your way, it might be quite some time before you’ll be able to exploit this information.”

Mr. Wu nodded. “I understand, but I do hope you will stick to our bargain not to publish your findings until we’ve had an opportunity to search for the wreck.”

Luke nodded. “Of course, Mr. Wu, but that agreement was
predicated on the understanding that you would not take an overly long time to come up with an answer one way or another. In the meantime, if I might suggest, it would be a good idea to get ahold of the Rodriguez brothers and have them streamline this program for commercial use. It could easily offset the costs you’ve incurred so far, and possibly bring in more than you expect. And, if you offered the Rodriguez brothers twenty percent of the copyright, their dedicated enthusiasm would be cemented for sure. You could have this program out on the market in less than three months.”

“And what about you, Mr. Lucas? What about the IAS Project? Don’t you feel you’re entitled to part of the profits?”

“Not really, Mr. Wu. I mean, if you should choose to toss me a bone, I certainly wouldn’t object, but you’ve paid me very handsomely for my efforts, and I have no expectations for further profit from a program I didn’t really design anyway. It’s the Rodriguez brothers you want as partners, not me. I wouldn’t have thought of the whole thing except for this project, which you paid for . . .” Luke paused and smiled. “But there is one thing I’d like to have.”

“Name it, Mr. Lucas.”

“Perhaps, when you’re ready to go public with all this, you might let me have a copy of the program for my own private use. Aside from that, I can’t think of anything more I need or want. However, I would appreciate being kept in the loop about any discoveries you do make.”

Robert looked at Luke as though he was crazy, but he said nothing. Mr. Wu nodded. “Very well, Mr. Lucas, you shall have what you wish.”

———

T
WO WEEKS LATER
L
UKE WAS
back home in Monterey, and very happy to be there. It had taken about ten days to draw all the materials together in an easily workable format, which the Rodriguez brothers accomplished with remarkable proficiency and speed. Then Luke and Robert supervised the removal of the equipment to a commercial location in Palo Alto provided by Mr. Wu. The Rodriguez brothers were put on retainer, as was François Nuygen, and Robert supervised their work for his father. For the first few weeks Luke and Robert consulted almost daily, but for the most part Luke returned to his scholastic routine with little interruption.

Now that he had more than enough cash to invest, Luke went back to work on his shark-repelling surfboard. With the help of another enthusiastic surfing friend, Eddie Andrews, who made fine customized boards in his garage, Luke produced three viable prototypes. However, the problem of testing these under real conditions required that they find someplace where they could locate enough large sharks of the most dangerous species to use as test subjects.

After a little research Luke found a location off the west coast of Baja California that seemed to fit all their projected needs. They planned to take several regular boards, as well as the electrified models, rig them with wet-suited dummies well stuffed with chum, and tow them slowly behind a boat in shark-infested waters. Luke had seen films of this procedure being used by researchers wishing to study the method of shark attacks on surface-swimming sea lions, and the results had been spectacular. Some of the larger great whites had made steep ascending attacks with such speed and ferocity that they literally lifted themselves and their prey ten feet into the air. But when a shark realized that its intended victim wasn’t food, it usually ignored the target and moved off.

Luke and Eddie had planned to make the trip in three months’ time. If the tests proved successful, Luke and his friend intended to go into limited production. Luke even thought he knew where he could find a wealthy investor, but he never mentioned Mr. Lawrence H. Wu by name.

In the meanwhile, as time allowed, Luke went back to work on his paper concerning Dr. Gilbert’s discoveries. Robert did his part by supplying all the text translations, as well as his own analysis of the authenticity of the inscriptions, which he stated were unequivocally correct in every detail, and impossible to forge without a thorough knowledge of the ancient forms of the languages included in the stone inscriptions. In every other detail, the stone plaque was similar to markers found at other locations known to have been visited by Zheng He’s fleets. Robert also stated that Zhou Man’s seal would have been impossible to forge, in part because the size of the piece of pink-white jade used to make the seal would have carried a prohibitive price tag, and the skill to carve a piece of jade that size would require the talents of the finest Chinese craftsmen. Additionally, any forger would have needed access to information concerning Zhou Man’s chop and his imperial titles, which no longer existed in the official records anywhere.

About two days before Luke was to leave for Mexico with Eddie, he received a call from Robert. His friend said that his father had made all the necessary arrangements to have a salvage crew dive down and inspect the target wreck. He asked if Luke wanted to go along and see what they discovered. Believing that little or nothing would come of the search, Luke begged off and said he was on his way to Baja to do some important research, but that if anything turned up, Robert could text him. Otherwise he would be back in two or three weeks and they could talk then. He wished Robert and his father the very best
of luck, but some intangible instinct told Luke that they would somehow be disappointed.

There was a quality of impenetrability in every detail of the mystery that Luke couldn’t quite put his finger on. There had obviously been strong motives for deception behind every element in the sequence of events that had led them this far, as though blind passages had been specifically designed to thwart all those looking for a clear exit. He didn’t know how he foresaw this, but he felt that no westerner would ever unravel the whole story, and perhaps that was as it should be.

L
UKE AND
E
DDIE RETURNED TO
Monterey wreathed in glory. Their experiments had been rewarded with total success. All three unelectrified boards, with their chum-packed dummies, had been victims of furious shark attacks, while Luke’s rigged boards remained totally unmolested despite the numerous sharks that had been drawn to the location by the odor of fish blood. Luke wished he could have watched the action from a submerged location, but that would have been impossible with anything other than a shark cage, which would have been impractical from a moving boat. Next time he would make arrangements to have some small video cameras mounted to the bottom of his boards so he could get a better picture of what was happening below the surface.

Luke was somewhat concerned that he hadn’t heard a word from Robert in the three weeks he’d been away, but he just assumed that Mr. Wu’s salvage divers had found nothing of interest. He was therefore surprised when he found a note from Robert pinned to his apartment door, dated the previous day. It said, “Your landlady says you should be back tomorrow
afternoon. I’m staying at the Spindrift Inn down on Cannery Row. It’s important that I see you whenever you get back. I would have called, but I didn’t want to speak about the toys on the phone. Come find me as soon as you can, as I must return home tomorrow. All my best, RW.”

Luke knew the only thing that might be the cause of such secrecy was the long-odds possibility that Mr. Wu’s divers had indeed found Zhou Man’s treasures.

As soon as he had taken a shower to wash off the road, Luke changed his clothes and headed down to the Spindrift Inn. He asked for Dr. Wu and was directed to a large bay-view suite on the third floor. Robert was waiting for him, but he seemed to be in a strange mood. He led Luke out to the small balcony and offered him a beer.

“No thanks, Robert, I’ve been driving since early this morning, and a beer would just put me to sleep. I still have a bunch of unpacking to do. So what’s this all about?”

Robert gave a strange smile. “Well, first of all, you’ll be pleased to know that the program worked. We found the launch just where you said it might be, under the wreck of an old trawler.”

“That’s fantastic! So did you find the stones?”

Robert shrugged. “That’s the rub, Luke. The answer is yes and no.”

“What are you talking about? You either found them or you didn’t. Which is it?”

“Well, the divers found the rotting remnants of the box the treasure was shipped in, and it was approximately where you said it might be. But the contents weren’t quite what we expected.”

“What are you talking about, Robert?”

“Well, this’ll slay you. It seems that the Point Alones tong completely snookered the Three Corporations.”

“What?”

“You heard me. The divers found a stone all right, but it was an old flagstone roughly the same size and weight as Zhou Man’s plaque. And instead of the jade seal, they came up with a crude clay figurine of something that looked more like a long-necked duck than a giraffe. Both items still showed trace remnants of the waxed silk that they were originally wrapped in.”

Luke was more than surprised. “But how did the tong think they could get away with the switch like that? The fakes were bound to be discovered when the crate was unpacked at its destination, and then there would have been hell to pay all around.”

Robert chuckled. “But don’t you see? Those cagey old fishermen knew that, so they arranged to destroy the launch before the switch could be discovered. They never believed that anyone would recover the wreck, and so they were home free.”

Luke was perplexed and shook his head. “But why would they do that? It doesn’t make sense. What did they have to gain?”

Robert smiled. “They must have had their reasons, because the whole scam took some sharp planning to be sure. The tong obviously didn’t want to give up the artifacts, but they knew that if they refused the Three Corporations’ offer, the treasure would most likely be taken by force or outright theft. But whatever their motives were, they got away with the deception very handily. And if we hadn’t found what was left of the burned launch, everyone would still believe the treasures were lost at sea.”

“So where are the stones now?”

Robert laughed. “Your guess is as good as mine, but after all
this time I don’t believe there’s anybody left alive who could tell us. I’m afraid the whole thing will have to remain a mystery until someone accidentally stumbles across them again.”

“How does your father feel about all this?”

“Well, he’s disappointed to be sure, but like everything else, he seems to be taking the whole thing in stride.” Robert grinned. “Though in fact, I think he’s secretly rather impressed with those canny old fishermen. After all, they not only got their money, but they kept the treasure as well.”

Luke just shook his head. “I think I’ll have that beer after all, if you don’t mind.”

Robert retrieved an imported beer from the minibar, and when he returned he handed Luke the beer and an envelope. Luke took the beer, but looked confused about the envelope. “What’s this for?”

“It’s that bone you were talking about. My father was so impressed with the search program that he decided that you deserved it now. It’s a check for ten thousand dollars. He said you could expect more later if everything works out with the Rodriguez brothers.”

“That was very generous of him.”

Robert laughed. “Not really. You probably saved him many times that amount, and besides, he’s already convinced several important salvage companies to buy into the marine search program for big bucks. It’s the Rodriguez brothers and Skipper who will probably see the lion’s share, but that’s only as it should be.”

“So what do we do now, Dr. Wu?”

“I suppose we go ahead and publish what we have. I’ll let you know next week when you can expect my end of the work. In the meantime, I guess we go back to what we were doing before all this happened. Though I’m somewhat persuaded that after we publish our papers, we’re going to be busy enough covering our
butts. The pros and cons are going to jump off the dog like hungry fleas, and come after us instead.”