Phantom Prospect - Alex Archer [33]
Hunter waved some of the smoke away. “The Seeker has brand-new engines. This shouldn’t be happening.”
Annja peered around him and couldn’t see much of anything because of the smoke. She coughed. “It can’t be very good to stay in here. We’ll suffocate if we do.”
Hunter nodded. He looked at Jax. “Blow the smoke out and get Sammy down here to look at this. The engines are his game.”
“All right.”
Annja turned and found her way out, coughing as she went. Behind her, Hunter coughed a few times, as well. In the corridor outside, Annja stopped and bent low to take a deeper breath.
“Why are the engines doing that?”
Hunter shrugged. “Sammy will be able to tell us. For right now, let’s worry about Cole. Even in a worst-case scenario, we’ll be able to get help from the mainland. It’s not like we’re fifty miles offshore, you know?”
“Fortunately.”
“But fire or anything burning worries me.” Hunter frowned. “I’m just not sure what to make of it all.”
They worked their way back on deck and Annja saw Cole staring out at the ocean. “You feeling better?”
He nodded. “I am now, thanks. And thanks for your help earlier. It must have been a little worrisome for you guys.”
“A little, yeah.”
Cole frowned. “I owe you an apology, Annja.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because I wanted you to come in the cage with me.” He shook his head. “I’ve been around sharks a very long time. And I know the limits that are there before safety gets compromised. I thought for sure there wouldn’t be a problem, and yet…” His voice trailed off.
“I think we can all agree this shark is something of an anomaly,” Annja said.
Cole grinned. “Biggest one I’ve ever seen. I mean, whale sharks get huge, too, but not ones like this…well, I guess we’ll call it a great white for right now until the jury comes back on the whole meg thing.”
“Still clinging.”
“Yup.”
Annja sat down next to him. “You must have been terrified when you saw it coming for the cage.”
Cole smirked. “I found myself very glad that I’d insisted on the custom job rather than the stock cage they wanted to ship me. That extra bit of steel helped cushion the attack.”
“Such as it was.”
“Indeed.”
A breeze blew over them. Annja could see the surface of the ocean had gone still again—it looked like the polished glass of a mirror. She marveled at the different facets of an ocean—how it could go from a swirling maelstrom in one moment to pure calm.
And it never revealed the secrets that it kept concealed beneath the waves.
“What happens now?” she asked.
Cole shook his head. “I don’t know. I’m still replaying everything in my head. Not that there’s all that much, mind you. Getting knocked out cold on the first pass wasn’t exactly my game plan for the day.”
“What are you replaying exactly?”
Cole shrugged. “Something doesn’t seem right. About the shark, I mean. Maybe I’m trying to drive the square peg of a great white’s behavior into the round hole of what just happened, but something isn’t making sense.”
“Like what?”
Cole frowned. “Not sure yet.” He glanced at her. “You ever have a gut instinct about something and you can’t actually rationalize it or at least verbalize it? And yet, you know there’s something, something that doesn’t feel quite correct.”
“More times than I can tell you about.”
“Figured you would.” Cole nodded. “I just have to let my subconscious process things for a while and work through it that way. But there’s something there all right. It’s weird.”
Annja patted him on the shoulder. “You going to get changed out of that wet suit before lunch?”
“Guess I should.” Cole stood. “I won’t be so anxious to get you in the water the next time we get a visit from that thing. I’m not sure I’m going to be anxious to see it again, myself.”
Annja nodded. “Well, I guess we’ll handle that when the time comes, huh?”
“Yeah.”
Cole got up and walked toward the crew quarters. Annja watched him go and then turned back toward the ocean. She closed her eyes and felt herself expand outward, searching with her subconscious.