Phantom Prospect - Alex Archer [28]
Annja stared at the scars running down the man’s face into the turtleneck he wore. “Why is that?” she asked.
“Locals claim the waters are haunted.”
“Haunted?”
“Lot of wrecks down below there. None that have ever really been found, mind you. Pretty much everyone that goes out looking for them winds up struck by tragedy.”
“Like what?”
“Some of the ships go aground themselves. Others, well, a storm blows up and, when it’s over, no ship.”
“Great.”
Cole shook his head. “And the locals think that the wrecks of the ships have something to do with that?”
“Everything to do with it, actually,” the captain said. “They say the souls of those who died out here have never gone over to the other side and continue to haunt these waters. If their burial grounds get defiled, it’s said they’ll take their revenge.”
Cole looked at Annja. “And here you thought this was just about the shark.”
“Imagine that.”
Cole waved the captain over. “If you can get the boat closer, I can unstrap the cage and transfer it over.”
“You’ll need some help, there, mate,” the captain said. “It’s a bit heavier than other cages.”
“Is it?”
“No 12 mm on this one. They went a few more thick. Said something about needing it stronger than the usual ones. Know anything about that?”
Cole seemed to feel Annja staring at him but he only shook his head. “Can’t say as I do.”
“Liar,” Annja said quietly.
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