Phantom Prospect - Alex Archer [55]
Annja leaned back in her chair and took a breath. “You know, I thought we’d all agreed that we wouldn’t worry about the wreck or the possibility of treasure until we got to the bottom of who was sabotaging the ship.”
“I pretty much thought we’d laid that question to rest with the discovery of Sheila and her subsequent demise.”
Annja shook her head. “I was under the impression there was someone else.”
“Why?”
“Well, because—” Annja stopped. “Well, Sheila told me there was.”
Cole nodded. “So much for that.”
Annja frowned. “She did admit that she’d attacked me in my room yesterday. Even after I asked if there’d been someone else. She said it was just her.” Annja sighed. “All right, maybe we are safe now.”
“Which means we can talk about diving again,” Cole said. “The main purpose for us coming here.”
“I thought that was the shark,” Annja said.
“Well, yeah, but it’s all connected.” Cole took a bite of a meatball and chewed. “So, are you with me on this? I could use your help.”
“If I say no, you’re probably going to do it, anyway, aren’t you?”
“It will take me a lot longer if I have to do it alone,” Cole said. “There’s the whole winch thing and clambering into the cage. It’s not a very easy process working alone like that. Especially if I’m trying to do it on the sly.”
“Like when everyone else is asleep?” Annja said. “I think that would probably be the smartest move, if you could even say any of this is smart.”
Cole thought that over. “All right. We can wait until later. I don’t think it will really affect the lighting situation. It’s going to be dark any way we look at it.”
“And this light of yours will work underwater?”
“Professional rig,” Cole said. “I’ve used it before off the coast of South Africa…” He frowned.
“What?”
He looked up. “Huh?”
Annja pointed at him. “You frowned and your voice trailed off. What is it? Did you just think of something?”
Cole’s frown deepened. “I guess I did.”
“Please share with the rest of the class.” Annja rested her chin on her hands. “Hopefully, it has something to do with not going through with your desire to dive into the pitch-black ocean.”
“No such luck, toots.” Cole took a drink of his soda. “Another thing just struck me about our friend the fish.”
“Yeah?”
“The manner in which it attacks.”
“What about it?”
Cole shook his head. “Doesn’t make sense. It’s not natural.”
“What are you talking about?”
Cole pointed at her. “Remember when it attacked my cage?”
“Sure, I was there.”
“But how did it attack my cage?”
Annja shook her head. “What exactly are you getting at? It rammed it. You know that. You felt it, I’m sure.”
“Yes, that’s what I wanted to hear. It rammed the cage. From a horizontal level. Right?”
“Well, yeah, its dorsal cut through the waves like it did when it attacked Sheila just a little while ago.”
“It attacked horizontally.” Cole nodded. “There is definitely something wrong with this picture.”
“Then could you explain it to me, please? Because I’m not following you.”
“It has to do with how most sharks track their targets. Most of them—not all, but most—will stay close to the bottom and use the light from above to silhouette their targets against the surface of the ocean.”
“Okay.”
“Once they’ve gotten a bead on the target, they will accelerate and attack vertically. They do it by coming up from below and biting. They don’t attack from the side usually.”
“But this shark does.”
Cole nodded. “Right. Which is one more thing that just doesn’t ring true about the nature of this beast. Great whites—which is what I think this fish is related to—are known for their vicious attacks from below. They will literally breach the water in South Africa. I’ve seen them decimate seals that way. But it’s always the same thing—they attack from below. That way, the victim has little chance of seeing them. It’s a sneak attack that has devastating results.”
“Maybe this shark is different.”
“Oh, it’s different, all right. And that’s what we’ve got to find out.