Phantom Prospect (11 page)

Annja and Jax crested the steps, expecting to see something other than what greeted their eyes. At the stern of the boat, they saw Sheila holding a gun on Dave, who looked like he wanted to rip her head off. “Stay the hell back!” she shouted.

Sheila clutched another crew member Annja didn’t recognize. The young man looked as though he might faint at any second. He didn’t struggle and stayed right where Sheila had him pinned with her arm. The broken wrist didn’t seem to be slowing her down nearly as much as Annja might have hoped.

“Get the winch and drop the dinghy over the side. Don’t screw around or little Stevie here gets a bullet for his trouble.”

Dave frowned, but made his way to the winch and secured the lead cable to the motorized dinghy that was strapped to one side of the ship. Once he had the cable secured, he fired up the winch.

“What’s going on here?” someone said.

Annja held up her hand as Cole and Hunter came through the doorway from inside the cabin. Hunter stopped short and then looked at Annja. “Guess you nailed it right.”

“It’s a long story,” Annja said.

Hunter noticed Jax. “Where’d you get a pistol?”

Jax didn’t take her eyes off Sheila. “I don’t make a habit of going through life unarmed.”

Annja could feel Jax tensing. She shook her head. “Don’t do it,” she said quietly.

“I can make the shot.”

“You won’t. And her finger is tight around that trigger. You might hit her, but she’ll get the shot off before she dies,” Annja said.

“You sure? I’m a crack shot with this thing.”

“If you had a sniper rifle and could guarantee that you could take out the oblongata, then that would be a different story. But a pistol round won’t stop the brain in time from sending the nerve impulse to shoot.”

Jax glanced at her. “Okay, then.”

Dave had the dinghy raised off the railing and was steering it over the side of the ship. He glared at Sheila. “Where do you want it, bitch?”

“Be nice,” Sheila said. “Or I’ll shoot you, anyway. Put the dinghy down right there.”

Annja frowned. “You sure you want to be going out in that thing?”

Sheila looked at her. “Shut up.”

“It’s just that with that shark out there, you never know. It might show up looking for something to eat. And that dinghy’s awfully small.”

Sheila gestured with the pistol. “Back up, Dave. Over by the others.”

Dave frowned and shook his head. “Let Steve go and we’ll both get out of your way.”

“You think I’m stupid? Jax will shoot me.”

Hunter cleared his throat. “No, she won’t. If you want to go, be my guest. No one’s going to stop you. I’d rather you were off the boat, anyway.”

Sheila eyed him. “I don’t trust you.”

Hunter shrugged. “Trust me, don’t trust me. I don’t care. But leave Steve alone.”

Sheila nodded. “All of you, back inside the cabin and pull the door shut behind you. Once I see that, I’ll let him go. But you stay inside until I’m in the dinghy and away from the ship. Listen for the motor and then you can come out. Leave before then and I’ll shoot Steve.”

Dave growled under his breath. “Why exactly are we letting this chick walk like this? I could close that distance and kill her.”

“Too risky,” Hunter said. “And Steve would die in the process. I promised his father I’d look after him.”

“I still think she should die,” Dave said.

“Agreed,” Jax said. But she did as Hunter said. They all moved back into the cabin together. Annja could see Sheila struggling with the pistol and the weight of having to deal with a hostage. If they’d wanted to, they could have taken her. But Hunter didn’t want to do that. She wondered why.

Sheila clambered over the side of the boat and eased herself into the dinghy. Steve fainted on the deck.

“Jesus,” Dave said under his breath. “Someone get that kid a freaking spine.”

Cole cleared his throat. “Most people haven’t actually been in combat before, Dave.”

He nodded. “I guess.”

They heard the motor kick over and then they were all spilling outside onto the deck. Hunter ran to check on Steve and Cole helped him. Jax and Dave ran for the railing. Annja went with them.

Off the stern of the boat, already a hundred yards away, Sheila’s dinghy was racing away at a good clip.

“Where the hell is she going?” Dave asked.

“Mainland,” Jax said.

“Can she make it there in that thing?”

Dave nodded. “She’s got two fuel bladders in the dinghy. That should give her more than enough gas to get there. I just wonder if she knows how to deal with the engine.”

Annja turned to him. “Why’s that?”

Dave looked at his watch. “Because it ought to be kicking out in about ten seconds.”

Annja looked back at Sheila’s dinghy. A thin trail of gray smoke steamed out of the small outboard motor. She grinned. “How the hell did you do that?”

“SEALs know a few things about how to make boats and motors work. Or, in this case, not work,” Dave said.

“So now what?” Jax asked. “We just stand here and watch her float away on the current?”

Dave shook his head. “Nah, I’m sure a willful soul like Sheila will very soon come to a decision.”

“What kind of decision?”

“As to whether she’ll let the tide carry her into the mainland, or if she’ll swim for it.”

Annja frowned. “She’s got a busted wrist. I doubt very much she’ll decide to swim for it.”

“Especially with that huge shark out there,” Jax said.

Dave shrugged. “You’d be surprised what people will think about doing when they’re faced with a big decision.”

“I’d wait it out,” Jax said. “Wait for someone to come and get me. No way I’d chance it against the shark.”

Annja watched as the dinghy’s motor sputtered and then coughed before completely dying. Sheila pumped the starter cord a few times and then slumped back in the boat. She glanced back at the
Seeker
.

Dave waved at her with a big smile. “Enjoy yourself!” he shouted.

Sheila aimed the gun in his direction, but no one aboard even moved. There was too much distance between them and the dinghy. The bullets would never reach their target.

“She just going to sit there?” Dave glanced up at the sky. “The sun’s going to be setting soon.”

Annja looked at the sky. Dave was right. The bright blue from earlier had given way to a darker sky stained with reds and oranges as the sun trekked westward on its daily route.

“I wouldn’t want to be out there alone at night,” Annja said. “That would just get a bit too freaky for me.”

Jax nodded. “I’d start thinking of all those scenes in
Jaws
. I wouldn’t be able to help myself. And then I’d really get scared.”

Dave sniffed. “You know, it’s not that bad. Sometimes the ocean at night can be quite peaceful. I remember being out one time in the South Pacific. A bunch of us in a Zodiac and it was kind of nice, actually.”

“You weren’t floating in waters where a forty-foot man-eating shark had been prowling recently.”

“This is very true,” Dave said. “And we also had a pretty impressive arsenal with us. There’s nothing like overwhelming firepower to make things better.”

“I don’t think her 9 mm counts as overwhelming,” Annja said.

Dave chuckled. “Not by a long shot.”

Annja looked over her shoulder at Hunter and Cole. They had gotten Steve up and were giving him some water. “Is he okay?”

Hunter nodded. “Seems to be. A little shaken up, but I suppose that’s to be expected.”

Cole looked at Annja. “Good thing you pegged Sheila the way you did. That could have been ugly.”

“Sheila lied to me,” Annja said. “She had me convinced she was a good guy. It’s Jax you ought to be thanking.”

Jax waved her hand. “Forget about it. Just doing my part to keep the safety of the ship intact. Besides, I didn’t like her, anyway.”

Hunter grinned. “You’ll get a bonus if this all works out.”

“I’ll take you up on that,” Jax said. “And don’t use ‘if,’ say ‘when’ instead. Makes me feel more confident.”

“Holy crap,” Dave said suddenly. “She’s actually going to swim for it.”

Annja spun. They could see Sheila standing in the dinghy. She seemed to be searching the water for something. She leaned over the edge.

“Careful,” Dave said.

The stalled dinghy bobbed in the waves. Sheila fell over and into the water, kicking the dinghy as she did so. The little boat skidded away from her. Sheila came up spouting water and coughing.

Dave sighed. “Well, this shouldn’t last too long. She doesn’t look very comfortable in the water.”

“It’s probably pretty cold out there, too,” Jax said.

“It is,” Cole said, coming up next to them. “And I had a wet suit on at the time. She’s in trouble if she stays in there long. She’ll go hypothermic and that will be the end.”

“I wonder if the shark likes Popsicles,” Dave said.

“Oh, my God,” Jax said. “Look!”

Annja looked where she was pointing, perhaps five hundred yards off the port side. The telltale silhouette of a triangular dorsal fin had risen out of the water.

The shark had returned.

“My God, that’s a big fish,” Dave said.

Jax leaned on the railing. “She’ll never make it.”

Annja watched as Sheila started swimming in the general direction of the mainland. But they were a good couple of miles from the coast. And even if Sheila had been an Olympian, she’d never make it in time.

Not when such a huge shark was on her tail.

Cole seemed restless. “I’m not sure if I can watch this. I feel like I ought to be doing something to save her.”

“I don’t know that she’s seen it yet,” Dave said. “She’s seems pretty calm right now.”

But then Sheila turned in the water and noticed the giant dorsal fin closing to within a few hundred yards from where she splashed through the water. She looked at the
Seeker
and shouted for them to help her.

“Even if we wanted to,” Jax said. “There’s nothing we can do. We’ll never reach her in time.”

“And should she be saved?” Dave said. “She almost killed Steve.”

“And you,” Annja said.

“I’m expendable,” Dave said. He grinned. “Sorry, it’s an old SEAL joke.”

Cole turned away. “I can’t watch this. Come find me when it’s over, Annja. We need to talk some things through.”

Annja turned back to the ocean. She didn’t feel particularly compassionate toward Sheila. She’d deceived her and made Annja feel like a fool for trusting her. And now, Sheila was about to get her due. Still, no one deserved such a violent death.

“Not much longer,” Jax said.

The dorsal fin cut through the waves, and seemed to be picking up speed. Annja thought it looked a bit strange. She frowned and had to remind herself that she was about to watch another human being be killed by a shark.

And yet, somehow she didn’t feel anything deep inside her.

Annja frowned. Have I changed? she wondered. Have I grown cold? Have I forgotten what it’s like to feel the fear that Sheila must be feeling right now?

Sheila screamed again as the fin bore down on her.

“God,” Jax said. “Here it comes.”

There was a sudden explosion of movement as the shark’s head reared out of the water. The massive form blocked everything from their view, but then, in an instant, it had clamped down and sunk completely back beneath the waves.

Sheila was gone.

Annja found her way to the galley for dinner. Tom was sitting at the nearest table eating toast and water. Annja nudged him. “Hey, how are you feeling?”

“Like shit,” he said. “And I hear I’ve been missing out on all the excitement, which pisses me off to no end.”

“Just a few gun battles, a giant shark, that sort of thing,” Annja said. “Nothing you couldn’t experience any day of the week.”

“Thanks for rubbing salt in the wound.”

Annja smiled. “I’m getting dinner. Will it gross you out if I sit with you?”

“What are they serving?”

“Looks like spaghetti and meatballs.”

Tom blanched and bolted from the galley. Annja watched him dart past Cole, who had just entered, and shook her head.

“I’m guessing,” Cole said, “that he’s not actually all that well yet.”

“Doesn’t seem to be,” Annja said. “Listen, sorry about earlier.”

“About what?”

“Sheila and the shark.”

Cole let a small grin play across his face but his voice was grim. “Sounds like a bad sea ditty they’d sing down at a dive bar.”

“It does,” Annja said. “But I don’t want you thinking I’m some sort of bloodthirsty woman out for vengeance.”

“I don’t think that at all. I just couldn’t stay to watch it happen. Maybe because it goes against everything I’ve come to learn about sharks. For me, seeing something like that would cause me to question everything I know.” He shook his head. “It’s crazy, right? I mean, here I am spending all my life studying this incredible fish and then we encounter this one. And it acts like a bad movie prop.”

Annja shrugged. “All I know is it’s big and seems utterly deadly and hell-bent on eating people.”

“That’s the thing,” Cole said. “It’s what I don’t understand. I’ve seen other sharks in action attacking fish and whatnot. I’ve never seen something like this. Even the manner in which it attacked Sheila seemed wrong.”

“I thought you didn’t watch.”

Cole looked sheepish. “My scientific curiosity got the better of me. I peeked from the wheelhouse.”

“And what does your experience tell you about the shark?”

Cole shook his head. “To tell you the truth, I’m not so sure I’m ready to believe it
is
a shark.”

“Sure looks like one to me.” Annja helped herself to the pasta and then led them over to a table. “I mean, it’s got the dorsal fin, the teeth, and moves like a plane through the water. Isn’t that pretty much it?”

Cole bit into some garlic bread. “Remember when I mentioned to you earlier that something hadn’t clicked with me and I needed to mull it over some more?”

“Sure.”

“Well, I’ve mulled. And what I’ve come up with is going to seem a bit strange to you.”

Annja smirked. “Cole, you really need to spend a lot more time with me before you will succeed in shocking me. I can almost guarantee that anything you say won’t surprise me.”

“Genitals,” Cole said.

Annja shook her head. “Okay, I was wrong. That’s not exactly what I expected.”

Cole smiled. “What I mean is that I’m not so sure I saw any genitals on the shark.”

“No one did. All we could see was the mouth open and close down on Sheila. There wasn’t much else, honestly,” Annja said. “And it’s probably better that there wasn’t.”

Cole shook his head. “I meant earlier. When the shark attacked my cage. Right before it rammed and I got knocked unconscious, there was a moment—a flash, really—where I could see the entire underside of the fish.”

“And?”

“No genitals.”

Annja chewed a meatball slowly. “I don’t actually know what shark genitals look like, so obviously I’m going to have to take your word for it.”

Cole held up his hand and formed it into a blade. “They’re kind of like these claspers that the sharks use to hold on to each other prior to fertilization. It’s quite fascinating, actually, when you see them in action—”

Annja stopped him. “Shark porn is not going to do a damned thing for me. Like I said, I’ll take your word for it. If you say you didn’t see any genitals, then that’s enough.”

Cole fell silent for a moment and then looked back up at Annja. “Of course, that begs a fresh question.”

“What’s that?”

“If it’s not a shark, then what in God’s name is it?”

“Another species of fish? Some type of underwater mammal?”

Cole shook his head. “Can’t be a mammal. It would need to surface to breathe and we haven’t see any incidents of that. No, can’t be a mammal.”

“How about a reptile? Maybe something like the Loch Ness Monster?”

Cole frowned. “I don’t see it. This thing swims like a fish, and acts like a fish to some extent. I’ve got to assume it
is
a fish. But the lack of genitals is truly bizarre. How would it procreate?”

“Are you sure it would?”

Cole fixed a stare on Annja. “You’re kidding, right?”

Annja leaned back. “I’m just saying that it’s a big fish. Maybe it’s the last of its kind. Maybe it doesn’t reproduce because there are no others like it.”

Cole shook his head. “I can’t buy into that. It had to come from somewhere, right?”

“I guess.” Annja went back to eating her pasta while Cole chewed on the same section of garlic bread he’d been gnawing on since they sat down. She regarded him for a moment. She could see he was going to stew about this for the rest of the night.

“I already know what you’re thinking,” Annja said.

He looked at her. “And what is that?”

“You want to get back in the water with it.”

Cole smiled. “You’re right. That’s exactly what I want to do. I have to be sure about what I saw. And there’s only one way to do that. I’ve got to get close to the shark.”

“Hunter is going to freak out.”

“Then maybe we shouldn’t tell him.”

“Oh, great, you want an accomplice. Hunter will get pissed off at me, as well.” Annja swirled some of the spaghetti strands around her fork. “We’ll both be in the doghouse.”

“At least we won’t be lonely.”

“And when are you thinking about revisiting your friend the shark?”

“How about after dinner?”

Annja looked at Cole. “You’re not serious. Tell me you’re just joking about this.”

“I’m not.”

Annja laid her fork down. “Okay, so allow me to point a few things out here. First, there’s the whole nature of getting back into the water with that thing. And bear in mind that I only recently saw it devour Sheila, so I’m not especially keen on a repeat performance.”

“Granted,” Cole said with a vague smile on his face. “Go on, please.”

“Well, the next thing is kind of obvious. Or at least it seems to me it damn well ought to be.” She eyed Cole. “It’s night. In other words, it’s dark out there. And I’d imagine it’s going to be pretty dark underwater. Just how are you supposed to be able to see anything?”

“I’ve got a flashlight. More of a spotlight, actually. It should do the business well enough for me to see what I need to.”

“The genitals.”

“Or lack thereof, yes.” Cole wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Listen, I know it’s crazy. I’m not trying to convince you otherwise. Odds are I probably need to get my head checked. Any normal person wouldn’t even dream about doing this. I understand that. But I also understand that unless I settle this question, then the fear of this thing is going to immobilize everyone in this entire situation.”

Annja leaned back in her chair and took a breath. “You know, I thought we’d all agreed that we wouldn’t worry about the wreck or the possibility of treasure until we got to the bottom of who was sabotaging the ship.”

“I pretty much thought we’d laid that question to rest with the discovery of Sheila and her subsequent demise.”

Annja shook her head. “I was under the impression there was someone else.”

“Why?”

“Well, because—” Annja stopped. “Well, Sheila told me there was.”

Cole nodded. “So much for that.”

Annja frowned. “She did admit that she’d attacked me in my room yesterday. Even after I asked if there’d been someone else. She said it was just her.” Annja sighed. “All right, maybe we
are
safe now.”

“Which means we can talk about diving again,” Cole said. “The main purpose for us coming here.”

“I thought that was the shark,” Annja said.

“Well, yeah, but it’s all connected.” Cole took a bite of a meatball and chewed. “So, are you with me on this? I could use your help.”

“If I say no, you’re probably going to do it, anyway, aren’t you?”

“It will take me a lot longer if I have to do it alone,” Cole said. “There’s the whole winch thing and clambering into the cage. It’s not a very easy process working alone like that. Especially if I’m trying to do it on the sly.”

“Like when everyone else is asleep?” Annja said. “I think that would probably be the smartest move, if you could even say any of this is smart.”

Cole thought that over. “All right. We can wait until later. I don’t think it will really affect the lighting situation. It’s going to be dark any way we look at it.”

“And this light of yours will work underwater?”

“Professional rig,” Cole said. “I’ve used it before off the coast of South Africa…” He frowned.

“What?”

He looked up. “Huh?”

Annja pointed at him. “You frowned and your voice trailed off. What is it? Did you just think of something?”

Cole’s frown deepened. “I guess I did.”

“Please share with the rest of the class.” Annja rested her chin on her hands. “Hopefully, it has something to do with not going through with your desire to dive into the pitch-black ocean.”

“No such luck, toots.” Cole took a drink of his soda. “Another thing just struck me about our friend the fish.”

“Yeah?”

“The manner in which it attacks.”

“What about it?”

Cole shook his head. “Doesn’t make sense. It’s not natural.”

“What are you talking about?”

Cole pointed at her. “Remember when it attacked my cage?”

“Sure, I was there.”

“But
how
did it attack my cage?”

Annja shook her head. “What exactly are you getting at? It rammed it. You know that. You felt it, I’m sure.”

“Yes, that’s what I wanted to hear. It rammed the cage. From a horizontal level. Right?”

“Well, yeah, its dorsal cut through the waves like it did when it attacked Sheila just a little while ago.”

“It attacked horizontally.” Cole nodded. “There is definitely something wrong with this picture.”

“Then could you explain it to me, please? Because I’m not following you.”

“It has to do with how most sharks track their targets. Most of them—not all, but most—will stay close to the bottom and use the light from above to silhouette their targets against the surface of the ocean.”

“Okay.”

“Once they’ve gotten a bead on the target, they will accelerate and attack vertically. They do it by coming up from below and biting. They don’t attack from the side usually.”

“But this shark does.”

Cole nodded. “Right. Which is one more thing that just doesn’t ring true about the nature of this beast. Great whites—which is what I think this fish is related to—are known for their vicious attacks from below. They will literally breach the water in South Africa. I’ve seen them decimate seals that way. But it’s always the same thing—they attack from below. That way, the victim has little chance of seeing them. It’s a sneak attack that has devastating results.”

“Maybe this shark is different.”

“Oh, it’s different, all right. And that’s what we’ve got to find out. Because, as I’ve told you all along, sharks are remarkably intelligent. They don’t want to go into battle and risk injury to themselves. They choose the path of least resistance, attacking so suddenly that their prey has little time or ability to fight back.”

Annja nodded. “So, then why does this shark attack differently.”

“I don’t know,” Cole said. “But I intend to find out.”