Phantom Prospect - Alex Archer [105]
“And, in this case, your mission was to neutralize Henderson.”
Dave grinned. “I’ll never testify to that if you drag me into court.”
“Who said anything about court?”
Dave steered the shark on a course that slowly drew them farther and farther up. “Let’s just say that we’ve known about Henderson for some time. And right now, if my internal clock is functioning, as I hope it is, the other station he built around here should be receiving a fairly large intake of visitors all too eager to make sure that his plans never see the light of day.”
“Is that so?” Annja couldn’t help the smile that was slowly spreading across her face. For some reason, she just felt good.
“Yep.”
“But you’d never admit that under oath.”
Dave shrugged. “I have no information regarding whatever supposed actions may or may not have been undertaken by my government in the interests of world peace and security.”
Annja pointed at him. “That sounds like a speech you’ve delivered before.”
“I may have had need of it once or twice in the past.”
“Should I even ask how you came to be on the Seeker in the first place?”
Dave sighed. “I wasn’t alone initially. Jock was a buddy of mine. Assigned to this operation from his SBS unit in the U.K. We both went in because Henderson had been seen operating around here over the past several months. The Seeker was a good hunch for us.”
“But if the shark wasn’t real, then what happened to Jock?”
“Henderson had him shot and killed.” Dave frowned. “We found his body floating farther down the coast. I don’t know that Henderson had any idea of Jock’s true identity, but he was a convenient way to drum up fear with the mechanical sharks.”
“I thought they recovered body parts and presumed it was Jock.”
Dave shook his head. “Henderson had a few stiffs on loan from a morgue that he chopped into bite-size pieces and scattered around. The evidence seemed to suggest a shark attack. And I even fell for it until I started to suss things out.”
“Lucky for us there was no real shark.”
Dave nodded. “I don’t know how eager I would have been to tangle with a forty-foot man-eater.”
“I don’t think anyone would have been,” Annja said.
Dave nodded and kept his hands on the wheel. “So, Cole tells me you’ve got this really cool sword.”
Annja looked at him for a long moment and then grinned just a little. “I have no information relating to the supposed nature or existence of any such thing.”
Dave smiled. “Sounds like you’ve rehearsed that speech before.”
“I might have had need of it once or twice in the past.”
“Yeah, well, if you ever get clearance to show it, I’d love to see it. I’m a big sword fan.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Annja said. “For now, let’s just get back to the Seeker. I’m sure Hunter is going out of his mind.”
“Presumably,” Dave said. “He was determined to come down with us but Cole told him no.”
“He did?”
“Yeah, said he had a bad feeling about it and begged Hunter to stay with the ship.”
Annja frowned. “I guess he had reason to fear the return trip.”
“I guess.”
“Anyone ever tell you two that you talk way too much?”
Annja whirled around. Cole was sitting up. Jax had one arm around him to keep him propped up.
“Cole!”
And then Annja was rushing, falling into his arms, crying and laughing all at the same time.
Epilogue
The dark blue waters off Prospect, Nova Scotia, hummed with noise and activity. As the Seeker bobbed in the undulating swells, smaller boats zipped back and forth, ferrying divers and crews out to the dive site where the wreck of the HMS Fantome lay partially unburied.
From the deck of the Seeker, Annja stood with Cole and watched the recovery effort unfold. Cole was looking better than he had in the two weeks since he’d almost died in the underwater cavern. Spending time in a hospital ashore helped ensure that he’d be fine.
“I’m glad the surgery went well,” Annja said.
“It was relatively minor,” Cole replied. “They had to repair the arterial tear properly. Jax used duct tape to stop the bleeding, for crying