Alex Archer - Phantom Prospect

“But giant sharks?”

Cole leaned forward. “Take the giant squid. For years, people swore it couldn’t exist. We had corpses wash up on shores or sometimes get caught in fishing nets, but never found a live specimen. And then that Japanese team got the first video footage of it swimming in the silent depths. And we know that sperm whales love to eat those things.”

“And you think that somewhere out there a megalodon could be swimming around?”

“Why not? We don’t know everything and, sometimes, even the most implausible ideas turn out to be true.”

Annja shrugged. “I guess. I just can’t see it. I mean, a meg swimming out there would need to feast on a lot to sustain it, wouldn’t it? So, I guess my question would be, if it’s not extinct, then what is it eating?”

“I don’t know,” Cole said. “Perhaps it dines on the sperm whales that dive after giant squid. Maybe it’s taken to living down far below the ocean surface where it can remain unseen except in its native habitat. All I’m saying is, we can’t discount its existence merely because we haven’t see one.”

Annja shivered. “The idea of something that large and dangerous doesn’t exactly make me all warm inside.”

Cole laughed. “If it makes you feel any better, I wouldn’t try to free swim with it, either.”

“Well, there’s a brilliant decision.”

Cole smiled. Annja glanced around. “Are we close to the harbor? Sounds like Tom’s throttled down.”

Cole slid out of the booth and looked outside. “Yep. We’re coming in through the outer channel now.”

Annja followed and she and Cole joined Tom in the wheelhouse. She could see the other boats lined up at the wharves. A few fishing charters meandered their way back into dock.

Tom pointed. “Hey, isn’t that Sandy?”

Cole peered through the window and nodded. “What’s she doing at the dock? She ought to have knocked off by now.”

“Who’s Sandy?” Annja asked.

“She works with us, handling calls in the office,” Cole said. “She never goes out on the boats, though. She’s terrified of the water. Her brother drowned when she was just six years old and she never goes near the water.”

“That’s horrible,” Annja said. “And she’s waiting down at the docks? That seems a bit odd.”

“Sure does,” Cole said. “Something must be up.”

He and Annja went out on deck so they could secure the boat as they docked. Tom eased the engines down even further as they approached their mooring. He reversed, and then as the side of the boat touched the dock, Cole leaped on to the platform and Annja tossed him the lines. Cole tied the knots and Tom cut the engines.

Annja stepped off the boat and looked up at Sandy. She had a short blond haircut that fell just by her ears. But what made Annja stare was the expression on her face. She looked intensely worried.

Cole led the way up the gangplank and nodded at Sandy. “I didn’t expect to see you here. Everything okay?”

Sandy shook her head. “No.”

“What’s the matter?”

“I just got a call from your brother. There’s trouble up at the dive site.”

“What kind of trouble?”

Sandy laid a hand on Cole’s arm. “There’s been a death, Cole.”

Cole’s face went ashen. “Not my brother—?”

Sandy shook her head. “No, but someone else on the dive went missing. This afternoon, they recovered a body. Well, part of it, anyway.”

Annja frowned. “Part of it?”

Sandy looked her over. “There wasn’t much left.”

Cole shook his head. “Let’s get back to the office and talk some more. I don’t like discussing my business out in public.”

Sandy led them back up the gangplank and toward the row of small wooden buildings scattered along the dock. At a pale blue row house, Annja saw the brass nameplate of Cole Williams Research and they entered. The narrow staircase up to the second floor seemed to be warped and it creaked underfoot as they climbed. But at the top Annja smelled coffee brewing and suddenly realized how much she wanted a cup.

Sandy pointed to the small coffeemaker. “Figured you all might be in the mood after being on the water.”

Cole got himself and Annja each a cup and then sat down at an old table that must have served as a conference table by the look of it. He smiled at Annja. “It’s not fancy here, but we make do.”

Annja sipped the coffee and found it was a good roast. She smiled at Sandy. “This is delicious.”

“Peruvian blend.” Sandy glanced at Cole. “You didn’t mention you had a visitor coming out.”

Cole shrugged. “Annja’s a good friend. Known her for years.” He sipped his coffee. “And since I’m the boss, I don’t think it’s necessary that I keep you in the loop on everything that happens in my life.”

Annja looked down into her coffee and wondered what sort of history Sandy and Cole had. Whatever might have once been, it certainly didn’t appear to be intact any longer.

Sandy brushed off Cole’s comment. “It would have been nice for me to know so I could make sure she’s set up in town.”

“Why don’t you tell me about what’s going on at the dive site?” Cole said. “Then I can figure out where to go from there.”

“What dive site?” Annja asked.

“It’s off the coast of Nova Scotia,” Cole said. “My brother is up there heading the expedition to discover where the HMS Fantome went down back in 1814.”

“Fantome?” Annja frowned. “You mean the ship that was supposedly carrying treasure looted from the White House during the War of 1812?”

“The same. My brother has been after it for years. Guess you could say that the love of the ocean runs deep in my family.”

Annja sighed. “Great pun.”

“Sorry.” Cole shrugged. “But whereas I want to study the ocean and its wildlife, my brother is a bit more fixated on the economic aspects of it. He’s been a treasure hunter for years.”

“After all the time we’ve known each other,” Annja said, “I never knew that.”

Cole sipped his coffee. “Yeah, well, it’s been a bone of contention between us for a while. Neither of us approves of the other’s work. My brother thinks I’m a fruitcake for swimming with sharks and not making a buck off of my research. I think he’s a money-grubber after fame and fortune.”

“And never the two shall meet?”

Cole smiled. “Only during the holidays at my mother’s house. She usually starts the visits by telling us that if we fight she’ll smack us around.”

“Smart woman,” Annja said. “What’s your brother’s name?”

“Hunter,” Cole said. “How tragically fitting, huh?”

“The problem is the death of one of his guys,” Sandy said. “Hunter told me that they’ve spotted a big shark in the area.”

Annja leaned back. “Sharks off Nova Scotia? Isn’t that a little far north for any of the dangerous species?”

“Not at all,” Cole said. “Great whites can regulate their internal body temperature and keep it higher than the surrounding water. They’ve adapted so they can hunt the seals that prefer to stay in the cooler waters. It’s not uncommon to find great whites that far north.” He took a breath. “Now, whether one is attacking divers at the dive site, that would be another matter entirely.”

“Would it?”

He looked at Annja. “As you’ve seen, just because a great white is around doesn’t automatically mean that someone’s going to die. If that was the case, there’d be bodies everywhere.”

Sandy laid her hands on the table. “It’s pretty apparent from the evidence on the body that something large, with huge teeth, killed the diver.”

“Huge teeth?”