Phantom Prospect Read online

  Cole looked at her. “What?”

  “You are scared.”

  Cole sighed. “Fine. I might be a little nervous. But I can’t let it stop me from doing this. So I just took a few extra precautions, is all. Most of the cages in circulation these days have had some field-testing. They know they can withstand the bite pressures of the great whites cruising around.”

  Cole looked out at the ocean. “But something this big?” He shook his head. “I just thought I’d better be prepared for the worst-case scenario.”

  “Glad to hear it.”

  Annja turned and saw Hunter standing behind her. He smiled at his brother. “Seriously. It’s nice to see you exerting some wisdom on this thing.”

  Cole held up his hand. “Don’t try to stop me from going into the water today, okay? We both know I need to get down there and see for myself what we’re dealing with.”

  “I’m not going to stop you. I am going to help you get the cage winched over here, though.”

  Annja watched Hunter and Cole swing the small winch at the back of the Seeker over toward the smaller boat. Cole jumped over to the boat and finished unsnapping the restraints before attaching the hook to the top of the cage. When he finished, he waved across at Hunter.

  “That should do it.”

  Hunter cranked the small winch engine and Annja heard the hydraulics go into action. The winch shifted and swept over back toward the Seeker. The shark cage went aloft and then drifted out into the space between the two boats.

  “Easy,” Cole said. “Don’t drop it now or I’ll have a real problem.”

  “Just keep quiet,” Hunter said. “I know what I’m doing.”

  Annja watched as the cage swung over toward the stern of the Seeker and then Hunter guided it to a small area on deck. The cage descended slowly and settled with hardly a sound.

  Hunter crossed his arms. “Easy as pie.”

  Cole jumped back across to the Seeker. “Nice work.”

  Hunter shut the winch down. “I take it you’re going to want to get right into the water?”

  “That’s the idea. Once I’m down there and make a positive identification on the shark—figure out what species it is—then we’ll know how much work we have to do or if we need to somehow get rid of the shark.”

  “And if it turns out we do?” Hunter asked.

  Cole frowned. “That’s not something I’m looking forward to thinking about right now.”

  “But we might have to.”

  “We don’t know that for sure yet.”

  “But if we do?”

  Cole sighed. “If we have to kill the shark, we will, all right? Is that what you want to hear me say?”

  “Honestly, yes.” Hunter sighed. “Look, I know you want to keep the fish safe. I understand that. But you also have an investment here. You know that we can lose our money if this thing hangs around.”

  “Maybe it’s a ghost shark,” Annja said.

  Cole looked at her. “Are you on drugs?”

  Annja shrugged. “Just saying. Maybe it was killed here a long time ago and now returns to haunt these waters.”

  “That sounds like something some delusional psychopath would cook up in the basement of his grandmother’s home in rural Illinois.”

  Annja took a breath. “Okay, then.”

  Hunter laughed. “It did sound kinda crazy. But keep working on it and I’m sure one day soon you’ll come up with something better.”

  “I didn’t see you guys laughing when the salt dog over there suggested the area was haunted by sailors who went down here.”

  Cole shrugged. “That’s because there are haunted bits of sea around the world.”

  Hunter nodded. “He’s right. Been to plenty of them before.”

  Annja frowned. “Now you’re just pulling my leg. There’s no way that’s true.”

  “Actually,” Cole said, “there are plenty of accounts where you’d be hard-pressed to find another explanation to rationalize some of the things that have been documented.”

  “Ghosts of sailors?”

  “Yup.”

  Annja looked at the shark cage. She could see it was large enough to accommodate more than one person. “You’re really thinking about getting me down in that thing, aren’t you?”

  Cole smiled. “Well, it is big enough.”

  “I don’t know if I have the stones to do it.”

  Hunter put up his hands. “I thought we were done talking about this. I thought we’d settled on the fact that Annja wouldn’t go anywhere near the ocean unless it was something she wanted to do.”

  “Can’t blame a guy for trying.”

  “I did yesterday,” Hunter said.

  Cole smiled. “All right, all right. I know when I’m beaten. But I will be getting wet.”

  Hunter shoved him. “Go. Get your wet suit on and then join us down by the stern.”

  Cole dashed off. Hunter watched him go. “He’s like a big kid when he gets one of his new toys.”

  Annja heard the engine of the smaller boat rev and she turned. Hunter waved to the captain. “Thanks for your help.”

  The captain nodded. “Good luck to you, lads. Hope you don’t see nothin’ down there what you’d be needing that cage for.” And then he laughed long and hard, the sound carrying across the open ocean as he guided his little boat away from the Seeker.

  Annja glanced at Hunter. “Yeah, he’s in good shape.”

  “You’re being generous there.”

  “That I am.”

  Hunter led her down to the stern. Annja ran her hands over the galvanized steel bars of the cage. They certainly felt impressively strong. But would they be able to withstand the incredible pressures of a giant fish like what she’d seen swimming around down there? She didn’t know. But she did think it was silly to test the cage with someone in it.

  “Can’t we do it another way? Maybe chum the water and coax the shark up to attack the cage, just so we can see if it can handle the bite?”

  Hunter shook his head. “Cole will never go for it. He’s the kind of guy who wants to get into the thick of things. If he’s not right in it, then he’s dying inside.”

  “Better that than dying in a cage that doesn’t work.”

  “It should work,” Hunter said. “Cole knows how to specify what needs to be done to make it strong enough. If anyone knows how to build these things, Cole does. He had a bad experience once where a cage did, in fact, fail him.”

  Annja gulped. “Are you kidding?”

  “Nope. The bars had rusted and fell apart when a nosy great white came calling. Cole was lucky to get out of there with his life. That was the last time he ever trusted anyone but himself to make the call on the nature of cages.”

  “He studied their construction?”

  “Yeah. Went and visited with Rodney Fox, the Australian dude who first came up with the idea for them after he got attacked back in the sixties.”

  “Did it help?”

  “Yeah, Cole returned with a better appreciation for the mechanics involved. It wasn’t just about how to stave off the attacks. It was about teaching the sharks that there was a barrier they wouldn’t get through. That added psychological bit helps protect the diver.”

  “I see.”

  Hunter looked at her. “None of this is doing much for your confidence, is it?”

  “Nope.”

  “At least you’re honest,” Hunter said. “But here comes Captain Wet Suit as we speak.”

  Annja turned and saw Cole walking toward them. He was strapping on a weight belt and nodded at the dive locker near the cage. “How are the tanks?”

  “Fully charged,” Hunter said. “I made sure.”

  “Thanks.”

  Annja shook her head. “I don’t know how you do it.”

  Cole shrugged. “No real difference between this and what you do. You confront scorpions and snakes and people who want to kill you, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “This is the same thing exc
ept it’s a big fish trying to get up close and personal with me.”

  “I think I prefer my life,” Annja said.

  “Just keep an eye on me,” Cole said. “That’s all I ask.”

  Hunter helped him strap on the oxygen tanks and then checked the flow to Cole’s regulator. Cole held up his thumb.

  Hunter patted him on the back. “Just be careful, bro. Don’t try to be a hero.”

  Cole smirked. “Like I could.”

  Hunter fired up the winch and then lifted the cage up and over the side of the boat. Annja watched as the buoyant tanks kept it floating on the top of the water. Cole looked at it for a moment and then nodded.

  “Time to go.”

  Hunter pointed at the wheelhouse. “I’ll be keeping an eye on the scope. Take care of yourself.”

  Cole bit into his regulator, glanced at Annja and then stepped overboard, disappearing into the cold ocean water.

  12

  Annja watched the foam from the splash fade into a sea of bubbles from Cole’s scuba gear. She could see him settling into the depths, looking all around him to make sure the immediate coast was clear.

  She felt instantly worried for him. Maybe that old sea captain had freaked her out some. Annja hated that this adventure was unlike how she operated most of the time.

  At any other dig site, she’d be up to her elbows in dirt and sand and mud, trying to uncover some long-forgotten treasure. And yet here she was, stuck on board a ship that was presumably being terrorized by a giant shark.

  But there was promise here. If Hunter was right about the Fantome and its hold of booty, then that would surely make up for the distinct lack of dirt on this particular jaunt.

  “He okay?”

  Annja saw Hunter watching from the stairs. Annja pointed at Cole’s head, which was visible just below the surface. “Seems fine. He’s just making sure he’s settled and then I imagine he’ll be in better shape.”

  “Okay.”

  “Anything on the scope?”

  “Jax says it’s clear.”

  Annja frowned. “You trust her?”

  Hunter nodded. “I know she’s difficult, but she’ll raise the alarm if there’s one to sound. She knew Jock and doesn’t want that to happen to anyone else on this trip. Neither do I, for that matter. If someone’s not pulling their weight and compromises the safety of the boat and its crew, they’re gone.”

  “Strict.”

  “I run a tight ship, even if appearances suggest otherwise.”

  Annja smiled. “I can see that.”

  Hunter pointed at the cage bobbing a few yards off the stern of the boat. “You let me know if he gets too far away. The only thing keeping him connected to the boat are those heavy ropes securing the cage to the back. If those get cut, then he’s out there alone.”

  “Cut?”

  Hunter turned around. “Just make sure they don’t.”

  Annja moved back to the side of the boat and saw that Cole seemed to be checking in all directions. But she saw nothing from her perspective that would indicate that something was down there with him. Certainly nothing like the giant shark that had appeared on the scope.

  Annja took a deep breath and leaned against the gunwale. Maybe this was all a mistake. Maybe it was a whale that had simply not breached the surface while they’d been tracking it. She knew that sperm whales could dive for up to forty minutes on one breath of oxygen. And they hadn’t watched the screen all that long.

  It was conceivable, she thought, that something else might be down there.

  But what about Jock?

  He’d clearly been torn apart by something, but was it a shark? Maybe it was a killer whale. Annja had heard they could be dangerous to humans.

  She turned and looked at the cage again. Cole was hovering middepth and seemed fine—

  Annja’s instincts were already hauling her away from the side of the boat as the giant head breached the surface, showing a huge gaping maw of serrated teeth.

  The head dropped back into the water with a splash.

  Annja screamed.

  Cole had turned toward the commotion and, even at distance, Annja could see his frantic movement as he registered the massive fish in the water. The dorsal fin broke the surface and stood fully three feet out of the waves.

  “Hunter!” Annja shouted.

  She heard him racing down the stairs. More crew members joined them on deck. Annja pointed. “Look at it!”

  “Jesus Christ,” Hunter said. “That’s huge.”

  “Understatement,” Annja said. “How big is your boat?”

  “Just over a hundred feet.”

  “How big would you say that fish is?”

  “Maybe forty feet long?”

  Annja nodded. “It’s heading for Cole.”

  She watched as the dorsal fin sliced through the water. She could see Cole shifting in the water to brace for the impact.

  When it came, Annja thought the shark had lifted the cage almost completely out of the water. But it crashed back down into the surf. Cole’s body seemed to bounce off one side of the cage.

  “Haul him in!” Hunter started working on the ropes, undoing the knots that held the cage in place.

  Annja and two other crew members helped him. Hunter was sweating furiously. “Jax!” he bellowed.

  “Yo!”

  “Get us closer to the cage! We’ve got to help Cole.”

  “Roger that.”

  Annja heard the engines kick into reverse and saw the churn of ocean water kicking up white as the Seeker reversed course. Hunter had his knots undone and started hauling the cage toward them.

  “Where’d it go?”

  Annja frowned. The dorsal fin had vanished. “I don’t know. But we’ve got to get Cole back here. If he was knocked out by that ramming, he might drown.”

  They yanked on the ropes and slowly the cage started coming toward them. “That’s it,” Hunter said. “Reel him in.”

  Annja’s stomach cramped and she leaned back, yanking the ropes hard.

  There was a sudden spray of water as the shark’s head broke the surface again and its teeth sliced through the ropes.

  “Shit!” Hunter ran for a gaff and leaned out, trying to hook the edge of Cole’s cage, which floated just out of range.

  “I need more room!”

  Annja yanked him back as the shark raced through the expanse where Hunter’s body had been a second before. “Get down!”

  They toppled back onto the deck. Hunter disentangled himself from Annja’s grasp. “Jax! I need us back by that cage now!”

  The engines kicked up faster and they were closing in on the cage. Hunter got the winch hook ready and handed it to Annja. “As soon as it comes in range, hook it and I’ll get him out of there.”

  Annja nodded. “Got it.”

  She watched as the cage drifted closer. She could see the dorsal fin still cutting through the surf farther away from the ship. The crew was watching in awe as they saw the fish circling.

  Annja couldn’t think about it. She heard Hunter cranking the winch to life. “Get ready, Annja!”

  “It’s coming back again!” she shouted.

  Annja risked a look and saw the dorsal fin turning back toward the boat. It was on a direct path to intercept Cole’s cage again.

  “Hunter!”

  “Almost there!”

  She saw the cage coming closer. She just needed a little more space. She leaned out, aware that she’d just screamed at Hunter for doing the same thing.

  But she couldn’t risk Cole taking another hit like he’d sustained earlier. She didn’t think the cage would handle it.

  She could see Cole drifting in the water but he seemed unresponsive. He must have been knocked out against the bars when the shark hit the first time.

  “Look!” someone said.

  Annja saw the fin dipping below the surface. “It’s going deep,” she heard herself say. And she felt certain this attack would come from the bottom, lifting the cage cl
ear as it hit.

  The cage came closer slowly and then Annja realized that she was leaning way out toward it. “Almost there…”

  She snapped the hook into place and jerked herself back. “Now, Hunter! Now!”

  She heard the hiss of the hydraulics pulling the cage free of the water. Cole slumped as the water receded and then lay down near the bottom of the cage, hoisted at an odd angle by the oxygen tanks.

  Annja braced for the sudden reappearance of the shark breaching from far below, but it never came. The only thing breaking the smooth surface of the sea was the steady dripping from the steel cage.

  Hunter winched the cage back onto the deck and then Annja waved over some of the crew. “We’ve got to get him out of there. Help me turn the cage on its side and then it’ll be easier.”

  Together, they maneuvered the cage until it lay with the opening facing them. Annja scrambled inside and worked her way toward the other end where Cole’s body was.

  “Cole!”

  She got no response and yanked his mask off and pulled the regulator out of his mouth. She wriggled him out of the oxygen tank straps, then he collapsed against her. Annja struggled to take his weight and, in the close confines of the cage, she found it tough to do so.

  “Someone help me.”

  Hunter got there next. “Give him to me, Annja.”

  Annja backed out of the cage and watched as Hunter dragged Cole free and laid him out on the deck. Hunter tore off the wet suit and pressed his fingers to Cole’s neck, searching for a pulse.

  Relief flooded his face. “He’s alive.”

  Annja sighed. “Thank God.”

  “The attack must have knocked him out,” Hunter said. “He must have clamped down on the regulator knowing what would happen.”

  Cole’s eyes fluttered open. “Annja?”

  Annja nodded. “I’m here. Are you all right?”

  He frowned. “Head hurts. That was some hit I took in the cage.”

  “That was some shark that hit you,” Annja said. “Can you stand?”

  “I think so.” Cole got to his feet, helped by Annja and Hunter. He stood for a moment and swayed. Annja helped him steady himself. He smiled at her. “Thanks. Glad that you’re here.”

  Hunter frowned. “I got you out of there, you know.”