Phantom Prospect - Alex Archer [61]
24
Annja stood on deck paralyzed. She didn’t say anything. And she didn’t move. After five more minutes rolled by, she heard movement behind her and knew it would be Hunter coming back from the engine room.
“Where’s Cole?” he said. But then he saw the mangled cage floating half in and half out of the water. “Jesus,” he shouted. “What happened?”
Annja shook her head. “When the power went out, we couldn’t see anything. Jax went back to the wheelhouse and Cole, well, he was waiting for you to get the power on so I could winch him out. And then…” Her voice trailed off as she struggled to describe the explosion of motion that had suddenly occurred and taken Cole.
Hunter stayed quiet for a moment. “I don’t think there’s anything you could have done, Annja.”
“I should have persuaded him not to go out there.”
“You wouldn’t have been able to talk him out of it. I know my brother. And believe it or not, I think he’d tell you that he’s happier going this way than if he hadn’t been doing what he loved.”
Annja shook her head. “Doesn’t make this any easier to take. He was a good friend.”
“He was my brother,” Hunter said. He shook his head. “I can’t believe he’s gone.”
Annja watched the water sway back and forth against the cage. Then she walked over to the winch. “No sense keeping the cage out there.”
Hunter nodded. “Let me help you.”
Annja fired up the winch and watched as it took in the slack and then started to ease the cage out of the surf. As it did, both she and Hunter could see the full effect of the incredible ramming attack that had shredded the wire bars like they’d been made out of straw.
Hunter gasped. “I’ve never heard of anything that could cause that kind of destruction.”
“Me, either,” Annja said. “And yet here we have the proof right in front of us that something can do just that.”
The winch slowly brought the cage back over the side and Hunter eased it into position on the deck. As the cage came to rest, Annja moved around it, examining it. The bars had simply given way under the assault. But otherwise, there was nothing to suggest that Cole had even been there. “The ocean must have washed the blood away.”
Hunter cleared his throat. “Or he might just have been swallowed whole. Given the shark’s size, it’s entirely possible.”
Annja shuddered. “It’s too horrible to even think about.” She couldn’t imagine what that would be like—to be swallowed completely and then crushed under the jaws while those serrated teeth ripped through wet suit and then flesh and bone.
“My God,” she said quietly.
“We need to destroy this fish,” Hunter said. “I don’t even care about the treasure sitting beneath us. I just want this thing dead and gone. If for no other reason than pure and unadulterated vengeance.”
Annja looked at him. “At least you’re honest about it.”
Hunter shook his head. “I wouldn’t even try to conceal the fact that I want this thing dead worse than anything I’ve ever felt before in my life.”
“But how?” Annja leaned against the back railing. “How are we supposed to kill it when we can’t even get out there?”
“I don’t know,” Hunter said. “But we’ve got to do something. It’s better than just sitting here and doing nothing. And we owe it to three memories to try, anyway.”
“Maybe we should call in the Navy or something.”
Hunter smirked. “What, and ask to borrow a few torpedoes or depth charges to blow the thing up? As if they’d even bother with us. No, we’re on our own dealing with this creature. And we will definitely deal with it. Mark my words.”
Annja watched him walk past the cage and lay a hand on it for the briefest of moments before climbing the steps toward the wheelhouse. She turned back to the ocean.
Her heart ached. I knew this would happen, she thought. Why did Cole have to go out there and risk his life trying to prove something?
And what had he been about to say? The shark is…what?
It didn’t make any sense to her. And then she heard the splash. She turned abruptly toward the sound on her left side.
Was someone out there?
“Cole?”
Her voice trailed off, drowned out by