Phantom Prospect - Alex Archer [60]
Hunter looked at Annja and then stared at Cole. “You’re risking your life just so you can get a closer look at a shark’s ’nads? That’s a new one even for you, bro.”
Cole waved him off. “I’m not sure what I saw. I didn’t see anything this time around, though. It seemed to stay deliberately far away. It was frustrating as hell. I wanted it to come in closer.”
Annja nodded at the winch. “You planning on staying in there and getting hypothermia or do you want me to winch you out?”
Cole frowned. “Guess I’ll come out. It must have gone someplace else that I couldn’t see.”
Annja nodded and walked to the winch. “Probably better this way. That water’s awfully cold.”
“Fish ’nads,” Hunter said. “That’s almost unbelievable.”
“That’s why we couldn’t tell you ahead of time,” Annja said. “He knew you’d laugh at the idea and then not let him go out.”
“Yeah, like I could ever stop him. One thing about Cole, he doesn’t take no for an answer,” Hunter said.
“I’ve seen that,” Annja said.
Hunter nodded at the winch. “You want some help?”
Annja frowned and pressed the button to start the winch. But nothing happened. “That’s weird. It doesn’t seem to have any power.”
The lights on the boat went out.
“Shit!” Hunter bumped into Annja. “We lost power.”
“How did that happen?”
“I don’t know, but I’d better get the backup generator online. I don’t want Cole left out there.”
“What’s going on?” Cole’s voice floated back to them.
Annja felt her way to the back railing. “Power’s out. Hunter’s gone to fix it. Can you hold on?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Not really.”
Cole’s spotlight cut through the darkness and illuminated the back of the boat. Annja could see him almost sitting on top of the cage. She frowned. “Are you sure you want to be positioned like that?”
Cole nodded. “I just checked again. The shark’s gone. No idea where.” He sighed. “I didn’t get what I needed, Annja.”
“I guess that means you’ll be going back out tomorrow, huh?”
“Yep.”
Jax looked at Annja. “I’d better get back to the wheelhouse.”
“Can you find your way there in the dark?”
Jax frowned. “Good point.” She turned toward Cole. “Can you shine that thing on the stairs so I don’t kill myself?”
The spotlight beam suddenly illuminated the back steps and Jax walked off, making her way carefully up and then disappearing beyond.
Annja turned back to the ocean. “Nothing moving out there, huh?”
Cole shook his head. “Just bobbing along here. How long do you think it’ll take Hunter to fix the lights?”
“No idea, why?”
“I need to go to the bathroom.”
“Can you hold it?”
“Water’s cold,” Cole said. “I might just go in my wet suit. At least it’ll warm me up a little.”
“That’s gross,” Annja said. “Try to hold it.”
“I’m trying.”
The lights on the back of the boat flickered and then went out again. Annja frowned and wondered if this was more sabotage that Sheila had set up or if it was a genuine problem with the Seeker’s electrical system. “Hey, Annja?”
She turned back toward Cole. “Yeah?”
“I was thinking about something relating to what we were discussing earlier at dinner.”
“And what’s that?”
“Remember when I was talking about the way the shark seemed to attack? How it didn’t come up from below but made a more horizontal-style ramming attack?”
“Yes?”
“Well, I think I have it figured out.”
“Figured what out? Why it attacks like that?”
“Yeah.”
Annja spread her arms. “Well, go ahead and explain it to me. I’d be very interested to hear why.”
“I think the shark is—”
Annja had just enough time to catch her breath as a massive shape suddenly blotted out her view of Cole and the cage. She heard a terrible sound of crunching metal and splashing water as the shark thundered into the cage.
“Cole!”
There was another explosion of water jetting into the air, spraying the back deck of the Seeker and Annja as it came back down.
And then everything was silent.
“Cole!” Annja screamed.
The lights returned to the Seeker a moment later. Annja scanned the ocean, her eyes coming to rest on the dented and battered shark cage still floating lopsided in the water.
But there was no