Phantom Prospect - Alex Archer [29]
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.