Alex Archer - Phantom Prospect

“Maybe.”

“That’s how it was. I just couldn’t give it up. As much as I tried—and I did try. I went back to school and even did a year of law before I bugged out. I just couldn’t get that image out of my head of the diver breaking the surface with the gold coin in hand. I’d wake up in a sweat and know that it could be me.”

Annja shook her head. “You’re obsessed.”

Hunter grinned. “Some guys, they obsess over women. Some over work, some over other things. For me, it was the dive. The lure of the treasure wouldn’t let me go. I was caught in the spell.”

“So you went back.”

Hunter nodded. “Yeah. I did a lot more research than I’d done before. I found some smaller wrecks, thinking that if I could get started on something more in line with my limited experiences, then maybe that would be the best way to go about it.”

“Did it work out?”

“My second dive was better. It still wasn’t great, but at least I was getting my feet under me. I had only a little bit of money but I managed to make back my investment by scavenging the bits I was able to bring up from the ship.”

“What sort of ship?”

Hunter laughed. “It was an old landing ship that the Navy had scuttled years earlier. I found someone to buy the scrap metal off me. It wasn’t much—most of the metal had rusted away—but I made back the investment. And it helped fuel my desire even more. While I was doing that salvage job, I was already planning my next outing.”

Annja took the flask from him and helped herself to the whiskey. She could taste the peat now, and Hunter was right—it was very good whiskey indeed. “Don’t keep me in suspense.”

“I heard about a Dutch trading ship that vanished along the coast of Brazil. I went after it.”

“Brazil? Did you have to wrangle permits?”

Hunter shrugged. “I was still making mistakes back then. And one of them was the idea that I felt I could operate outside the law. I hooked up with a local criminal type who insisted that the permits would be arranged with a simple bribe.”

“Something tells me that wasn’t the case.”

“Yeah,” Hunter said. “Who’d have thought it? I flew into Rio and found myself under arrest for piracy of all things.”

“The guy double-crossed you.”

“I was carrying ten thousand in cash,” Hunter said. “All part of the bribe, of course. They busted me on that. I had to do six months in jail down there.”

“Wow.”

Hunter took a deep breath. “You know what jail’s like in Brazil?”

“I haven’t had the pleasure. No.”

“It’s hell,” Hunter said. “The prisons are run by the gangs, and just trying to survive takes every ounce of courage and endurance you have. I was one of the lucky ones. They thought I was a fool and didn’t bother with me. And by the time they realized that my family had money, Cole had figured out a way to get me out of there. Thank God.”

“He never mentioned that,” Annja said. “I’m kind of surprised he didn’t.”

“Yeah, well, I suppose that’s one of the things he’s not very proud of his brother doing, you know? No one likes to talk about the troubled child gone astray.”

“You weren’t astray,” Annja said. “Just trying to find your way. It could have happened to anyone.”

“But it happened to me,” Hunter said. “I’ve been trying to live it down ever since.”

“You’ve got Cole helping you now, though.”

Hunter nodded. “And it’s great that he is. His money has helped make this operation profitable. But I guess I’ve always regretted not being able to do it all myself.”

“Isn’t it better this way?”

“Maybe.” Hunter switched off the radio. “But there will always be a part of me that wonders if I could make it on my own. I would have gotten out of that jail eventually.”

“The guy who double-crossed you would have had you killed before you were free.”

Hunter looked at Annja. “You think?”

Annja tried to smile but it came out wrong. “I’ve met men like that before. They operate on strict rules and one of their rules is that you never let someone you victimized live. It just means they’ll come back for you. No one wants to spend their life looking over their shoulder.”

Hunter stared at Annja. “Maybe you’re right.”

Annja’s response died when the sonar scope suddenly started beeping. On the scope, Annja could see the outline of a huge shape in the water.

“Is that it?”

Hunter leaned over the display. “I don’t know.”

“It looks like what was on there earlier.” Annja watched as the line swept around the scope, and every time it reached the nine-o’clock position, it revealed the huge shape in brilliant orange.

“Doesn’t seem to be moving all that fast,” Hunter said. “I would have thought it would be.”

Annja shuddered as another breeze swept in through the open window. “Maybe it’s just cruising around.”

Hunter nodded. “I suppose that could be it. Sharks like to hunt at night. Maybe it’s down there tracking something.”

“How do they see?”

Hunter shrugged. “Better ask Cole that one. I think I saw a television special last year that mentioned they could use tiny amounts of ambient light to spotlight things against the backdrop. This guy did some research down in South Africa and found the ambient glow of city lights on shore helped great whites hunt seals at night. Pretty wild.”

“And you think that thing might be using our running lights as help in this case?”

“Like I said, you’d have to ask Cole. But I suppose it’s a possibility. Sharks haven’t evolved over millions and millions of years just to be thwarted by something as rudimentary as the darkness.”

I wonder if they could handle my sword, Annja thought. She kept watching the sonar sweep around. The shape in the water seemed to have drifted more to their port side. “It looks like it’s searching for something.”

“Yeah.”

“Should we go get Cole?”

Hunter checked his watch. “I don’t know. I mean, it’s after midnight and the guy probably needs his sleep.”

“Yeah, but he might get upset if he finds out he missed this.”

Hunter eyed her. “Or he might jump into the drink without a second thought.”

Annja nodded. “I guess you’re right.”

Hunter smiled. “My brother doesn’t let things like the dark stop him, either. And he probably should in this case. Maybe we’ll just keep this sighting to ourselves, huh?”

Annja watched the scope. “Sure would like to know what it’s doing.”

“Probably looking for a midnight snack.”

Annja had watched some shark specials on television, but she couldn’t remember seeing anything that came close to this size. The creature was huge. And yet, there seemed something almost unnatural about it. Maybe it was the overall size of the shark or maybe it was because Annja hadn’t seen any shows that did night research on sharks, but the whole event left her chilled.

Suddenly, she had an idea. “Do you have a flashlight?”

Hunter nodded. “Yeah. Why?”

“You mentioned that sharks would use ambient light to hunt. Maybe I’ll give this thing some extra light and see if its behavior changes.”

Hunter handed her the flashlight from the instrument panel. “How are you going to do that?”

Annja took the flashlight. “Keep an eye on the scope and tell me if anything changes.”

“Annja—”

She grinned. “Relax, I’m not going in the water. I’m not nearly that suicidal.”

“Okay.”

Annja stepped outside the wheelhouse and found her way to the steps leading down to the main deck. She followed the port side toward the stern and then stood staring out at the inky sea.