Phantom Prospect - Alex Archer [30]
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 except 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