Phantom Prospect - Alex Archer [32]
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.”
Cole smiled. “Yeah, but you’re not nearly as attractive as Annja.”
Hunter nodded. “Granted.”
“If you two are finished…” Annja said. She stared at Cole. “So, you saw it.”
“I think everyone did,” Cole said. “It’s massive. Definitely a member of the carcharodon carcharias family. But I can’t tell if it’s a meg or not. Going by size, it certainly could be.”
“Could it just be a great white?” Hunter asked. “Maybe a really big one?”
“It might be, but the likelihood of it is remote. There’s not much of an indigenous seal population around here. Certainly not enough to sustain a creature of that size. It must have been forty feet at least. Probably six tons worth of weight on that beast. It was incredible. The dorsal alone—”
“Maybe three feet,” Annja said. “It was terrifying.”
“Did you see it up close?”
Annja nodded. “It made its presence known to me pretty convincingly. Talk about smiling for the camera, holy crap.”
Hunter took a breath. “All right, so what happens now? I mean, we’ve got a monster shark hanging around. How do we handle this? We’ve still got a business to run and something tells me that our being here won’t dissuade this shark.”
“It won’t,” Cole said. “This shark is here to stay.”
“Then how do we handle it?”
“Carefully,” Annja said. “I got a look at those teeth and they’re saw blades, for crying out loud. We don’t play this right, then we’ll all be seeing the business end of them. And I don’t have any inclination to do so. No, thanks.”
“You weren’t in the water with it,” Cole said. “I may never sleep again. We’re going to have to think about this long and hard because we can’t just go back into the water without a plan. A good plan.”
“Hunter!”
They all turned and saw Jax approaching. Hunter nodded. “Good work on that reversing there, Jax.”
“We’ve got a bigger problem right now.”
“What’s that?”
“You’d better follow me to the engine room to see for yourself.”
13
With Jax leading the way, Hunter and Annja threaded their way through the narrow corridors of the ship and down into the engine room. Cole stayed on deck to clear his head.
Annja could smell something burning and frowned. Fire on a ship is never a good thing. When Jax pulled open the engine room, clouds of dark smoke billowed out.
“What the hell?” Hunter said.
“Engine’s got something in it.