Blue Descent

by David Wood

  When they reached the wreck, Maddock’s heart sank. It wasn’t a pirate ship, or any other ship that was likely to be of any value. It was small, probably a coastline-hugger. He looked at Bones, wanting to offer an apologetic shrug, but continued to bear down on the wreck.

  Good old Bones. When he was bored, he had the attention span of a hummingbird. But set him on a treasure hunt and he could lock in with single-minded determination. Bones would also be feeling guilty about the “old lady” jibe, and wouldn’t want to do anything to make Maddock feel worse. It was the right play. No point coming all this way without even checking out the wreck.

  It didn’t take long to search the wreckage. They came away with some shards of pottery and what looked like a clay egg. Bones held the strange object up so they could inspect it.

  It surface was engraved with rows of pictographs. Some had worn away, but others appeared to tell the story of a sea voyage. Fascinating! But whether it was of any value remained to be seen. Discouraged but intrigued, Maddock placed the egg in a mesh dive bag and he and Bones made their slow return to the surface.

  Back on board, they described what they had found. The others were interested until they learned that Maddock and Bones had found no treasure. The fragments of pottery were interesting, to be sure, but they all had bills to pay. The egg garnered more attention.

  “Do you think there’s something inside of it?” Willis asked.

  Maddock shrugged. “That would require equipment we don’t have. But I suppose it’s possible.”

  “What do you think it is?” Bones asked.

  Maddock shook his head. “Egg decoration predates Easter by tens of thousands of years. And many cultures valued different types of ceramic eggs. Decorated eggs were even found at a 55,000 year-old site in South Africa.”

  “Could it be local?” Matt asked.

  “I’m not sure. That ship didn’t look like it could cross an ocean.”

  “Says who?” Bones said. “Sailors from the Ancient World visited the Americas.”

  “You never missed an episode of In Search Of when you were growing up, did you?”

  The big Cherokee shook his head. “Nope, and I still catch it on reruns. But seriously, don’t close your mind completely to the idea.”

  Maddock was formulating a mocking reply when a sudden scream pierced the calm.

  2

  Maddock spun around and saw that the sailboat they’d spotted earlier had capsized. The young woman was treading water and shouting. Her companion was nowhere to be seen. Still wearing his dive gear, Maddock sprang into action, but Willis was faster. Determined not to be left out again, the big man made a graceful dive, broke the surface, and swam toward the capsized craft with powerful strokes.

  Maddock hit the water seconds after him and followed behind. His flippered feet drove him forward and he caught up with Willis in a matter of seconds.

  “You need me?” Bones shouted from the deck.

  “Have Corey bring the boat around and we’ll see!” Maddock shouted around a mouthful of salt spray kicked up by Willis as he swam.

  Sea Foam’s engines roared to life just as Maddock and Willis reached the capsized sailboat.

  “My brother, Kyle!” the frantic young woman said as the men reached her. “He was messing around and capsized us and now I can’t see him anywhere.”

  “You just hold on to the boat,” Maddock said. “We’ll find him.”

  I don’t see him, Willis mouthed.

  That left somewhere under the water. Maddock bit down on his regulator and sank beneath the waves. He spotted Kyle immediately. He was trapped beneath the capsized boat. His arms and legs thrashed wildly, but something was holding him fast. At least he was still alive.

  Willis swam in front of Kyle and tried to gain his attention. He kept his distance for the moment. In his panic, a drowning man often took his would-be rescuer down with him. Kyle finally noticed him and when Willis made a placating gesture, he calmed down.

  Maddock swam up and offered his regulator. Kyle must have dived before because he knew exactly what to do. Renewed by a fresh breath of air, he gave a thumbs-up and then pointed at the back of his neck.

  He wore a crystal on a thick cord which had become wedged into a crack in the boat. Maddock took out his knife and cut the man free.

  As the cord was severed in two, Kyle grabbed the crystal in both hands before swimming to the surface. Bones was now in the water, helping Kyle’s sister onto the boat.

  “Thanks, broseph,” Kyle said as they swam over to Sea Foam. “Thought I was a goner for sure.”

  “You’re welcome,” Maddock said.

  “You got that blond hair and dive suit and you’re all buff,” Kyle continued. “I was like, ‘Dude, that is totally Aquaman.’”

  Willis heard that and laughed. “You got a green and orange suit, Maddock?”

  “No.”

  “Hey, what’s up, Shaft?” Kyle said to Willis. The young man was surprisingly upbeat and not even winded after his underwater ordeal.

  “What did you just call me?” Willis asked.

  “I don’t think he means anything by it,” Maddock said. “I’m Maddock. This is Willis. The guy helping your sister is Bones. I wouldn’t advise calling him by any other nickname than that unless he gives you express permission.”

  “Word.” Kyle flashed a peace sign, then allowed Matt and Corey to help him up onto the Sea Foam where his sister waited.

  “Thank you so much,” the young woman said. She had light brown skin, a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose, and curly, shoulder length black hair. She was tall and willowy. Her brown eyes were filled with an intelligence that wasn’t quite there with her brother. “I’m Raeána Franklin, Rae for short. And, as you know, that’s my brother, Kyle.”

  “Everybody calls me Dogtown,” Kyle said, already lounging on the deck as if he were on vacation.

  “Nobody calls you that,” Rae said. “You can keep trying to make it happen, but you’ll never get that nickname to stick.”

  Maddock looked from one to the other. Aside from the curly hair, which wasn’t even the same color, the two looked nothing alike. Kyle was the stereotypical surfer dude, with a deep tan, sun-bleached dirty blond hair, and vacant blue eyes.

  “Same mom or same dad?” Willis asked.

  “Both,” said Kyle, while Rae responded, “Neither.”

  Maddock scratched his head at the odd response. Of the two, he figured Rae was the more reliable, so he flashed a quizzical glance in her direction.

  “We were in the same foster home from junior high through high school,” she said. “We’re not blood relations.”

  “You don’t need that to be family.” Bones shot a glance at Maddock, then looked away. He and the rest of the crew had been saying things like that ever since Melissa had died. Maddock appreciated it, but was more than ready for them to stop treating him with kid gloves.

  Kyle stretched luxuriously, yawned, and turned to gaze at the capsized sailboat. “How are we going to get Echard’s boat back to him?”

  Rae turned and gaped at him for a full second before smacking him on the back of the head.

  “Echard? That’s the person whose boat we borrowed? You said it belonged to Val.”

  “Did I?” Kyle rubbed the back of his head and frowned.

  “Who is Echard?” Bones asked.

  “A local creep. He’s always hanging around, ogling all the girls. He sells crappy trinkets, like the crystal Kyle almost died for. Rumor is he’s into some shady stuff, too. Kyle’s the only one who can stand him.”

  “He’s not so bad. I mean, he lent us this boat for fifty bucks.”

  Rae let out an exasperated sigh and looked up at the heavens. “If you pay for it, it’s not a loan, Kyle. Do you even know for certain that the boat belongs to him? I could totally see Echard charging you to take someone else’s boat out.”

  “He said it was his.”

  “It’ll be all right,” Maddock
said. “Matt and Willis have righted more capsized sailboats than I can count.”

  “We have?” Matt asked.

  “And they’ve been dying to get into the water all day,” Maddock said loudly.

  With an assist from Bones, and a series of useless, shouted instructions from Kyle, they quickly righted the small craft and bailed out most of the water. Once they’d lowered the sail and secured the rigging, they secured the boat to Sea Foam’s stern and towed it behind them as they returned to the island.

  Kyle was a self-described Renaissance Man, although he pronounced it 'Renee’s ants.' To hear him tell it, he was a musician, a poet, and a collector of stories.

  "But most of all," he proclaimed, "I'm a man of the sea."

  “You definitely remind me of some seamen I’ve known,” Bones said, eliciting a choked laugh from Matt and a sharp glance from Rae.

  The insult bounced right off of Kyle, who went on to explain that he was also a deep dive competitor. “I’m competing in Blue Descent. It’s a deep dive competition, and they’re holding it right here on Andros in one of the deepest blue holes in the world. You should check it out. They even have a beginner’s competition tomorrow just for fun.”

  “Dude, Maddock and I are totally down for that,” Bones said.

  Maddock frowned and slowly turned toward Bones. “Are we?” He enjoyed diving, but only when there were sights to see or treasure to find.

  Bones draped an arm around Maddock’s shoulders. “Absolutely we are.”

  Kyle smiled and turned to Willis and Matt. “How about you two legends? Care to take the plunge?”

  Willis gave a slow shake of his head. “That sounds like the kind of thing white people who burn a lot of incense are into.”

  Matt shrugged. “Sorry, I don’t own any incense.”

  Kyle gave a nod of understanding and turned back to Maddock and Bones. “Guess it’s just a threesome, then.”

  Maddock squeezed his eyes shut and counted to three, but when he opened them again, Kyle was still an idiot. He was already regaling the others with stories of the powers his crystal held. According to him, it could store up energy, be used to heal someone, or be used as a weapon.

  “Crystal power,” Bones said. “Imagine believing in that.”

  As they made their way back to the island, Maddock chatted with Rae. Unlike her brother, she was intelligent and clear-thinking. Maddock liked her from the start.

  She and Kyle had grown up in Southern California. She’d been the studious, responsible one, and he the lovable buffoon who constantly stumbled into trouble.

  “How did you end up in the Bahamas?” Maddock asked.

  “I teach at the College of the Bahamas,” she said. “The pay isn’t great, I don’t have tenure, and on a good day all the old men in my department try to treat me like their Girl Friday instead of a colleague. But I love the islands. It’s worth it just to be able to live here.”

  Maddock understood completely. He, too loved his home in Key West, Florida and had never given serious consideration to living anywhere else. His work as a treasure hunter was unsteady, always hit or miss. But the struggles and challenges were more than worthwhile if it allowed him to live his life in the islands and at sea.

  “So, what’s your story?” Rae asked.

  Maddock briefly sketched out his life history for her. His time in the Navy SEALs, the death of his parents, followed by the death of his wife, and his new career as a treasure hunter. Sympathy welled in Rae’s eyes as he spoke, and when he finished, she reached out and gave his arm a squeeze.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I can’t imagine what that feels like. My birth parents died so young I hardly remember them, and I’ve never been married.”

  “Someone with your brains and beauty? That’s hard to believe,” Maddock said, giving her a wink. God, he was acting like Bones.

  Rae didn’t seem to mind. “Thank you,” she said, flashing a shy grin. “I imagine the ladies are beating down your door now that you’re single.”

  “Are you freaking kidding me?” Bones said from the doorway. “If anyone’s beating on his door, it’s the women on the inside who are trying to get out.”

  “Your mom never wants to leave,” Maddock said.

  “Right,” Rae said, looking from one man to the other with the expression of a weary schoolteacher. “Do you think Kyle is okay? I mean, he seems like himself, but who knows?”

  “I don’t think there’s any permanent brain damage, but how would you be able to tell?” Bones said.

  “Come on, now. I know he’s a goofball, but he’s still my brother. He’s a dummy, but he’s kind and has a good heart. I’ve kept him alive for over fifteen years. I can’t lose him now.”

  “Bones doesn’t mean anything by it,” Maddock said. “He’s a smart ass by nature. As is the rest of the crew.”

  “Yeah, I picked up on that. It’s okay.”

  They lapsed into an awkward silence. Maddock racked his brain for something to talk about. Damn, Melissa hadn’t been gone for much more than a year and he had already lost the ability to carry on a conversation with a woman. “Is the weather always this nice?” he asked and immediately felt like an idiot. The weather? Really?

  “Yes, it is.” There was a twinkle in her eye that said she knew he was struggling and she was enjoying it. She had no intention of letting him off the hook.

  “So, what do you teach?” That was a little better.

  “Biology, but my real passion is marine archaeology.” She bit her lip. Anticipation brimmed in those sparkling brown eyes.

  The slowly grinding gears of Maddock’s brain began to turn a little faster. “I’m a marine archaeologist, too. My dad was obsessed with Captain Kidd. He was always traveling around, looking for his lost treasure. He researched other pirates too, but Kidd was his passion.”

  “That would be amazing,” Rae said, “to have a dad who could instill that kind of passion in you. Did he include you in his treasure hunting?”

  “Not really,” Maddock said. “I was in school, and he traveled a great deal. But we talked about it a lot. I think that’s where my interest comes from.” A sudden thought occurred to him. “Say, we actually found something today that we can’t identify. Would you like to take a look?”

  Rae smiled broadly. “Of course I would. What is it?”

  “I just told you, we don’t know for sure. That’s why I’d like your expert opinion.” Maddock grinned.

  “Fair enough. Let’s see it.”

  Maddock led her below decks to the small cabin where they cleaned and preserve the artifacts they recovered. The egg lay in a tank of seawater. Rae drew in a sharp breath the moment she saw it.

  “That is amazing,” she said. “Is it okay if I touch it?”

  “I think that’s the first time a woman has ever asked Maddock that question,” Bones said.

  Rae ignored him. At Maddock’s nod of consent she put on gloves, reached in, and took out the egg. Her eyes gleamed with fascination as she turned it over, closely examining every inch of its surface. Maddock could see the passion in her eyes, a passion that he shared. Perhaps he had found a kindred spirit.

  “It definitely looks Old World to me,” she said

  “Who called it?” Bones said pumping his fist. “Nothing but net!”

  “The humility is overwhelming,” Rae said flatly. She returned her attention to the egg, her eyes drinking in the sight of it. “Many cultures made ceramic eggs, as I’m sure you already know. This one, though...” She weighed it in her hands. “It’s so heavy, I can’t help but wonder if there is something in here.”

  Maddock looked at Bones and nodded. The two of them had wondered the same thing.

  “We thought so, too, but we’re reluctant to cut into it without knowing for sure.”

  “If you don’t mind,” Rae continued, “we could take this to the college. We’ve got a scanner that we could use to see what’s inside. We might also be able to get a better picture of wha
t’s engraved on the surface.”

  “That would be fantastic,” Maddock said. “When would you like to do it?”

  Rae considered for a moment. “Tell you what, we can go tomorrow after you guys compete in the amateur dive competition.” She smiled expectantly.

  Maddock wasn’t sure what to say. Free diving beyond safe distances for no good reason seemed like a bad idea to him. But something about Rae’s smile made him want to give it a go.

  “That’s my condition,” she said.

  “You see, Maddock?” Bones said. “You’ve got to do it. It was meant to be.”

  Maddock shook his head. He didn’t believe in fate or destiny, but he did believe in science, and right now, they needed access to Rae’s lab equipment. The fact that he would get to spend a little more time with her was a bonus.

  “All right, I’m in.”

  3

  Andros Island, Bahamas

  Andros Island was the largest of the Bahamian islands, boasting a land area greater than the other seven hundred islands combined. Andros consisted of three major islands: North Andros, Mangrove Cay, and South Andros. Over a hundred miles long and forty miles wide it its widest point, Andros was divided by “bights,” estuaries that split the island into three and connected its east and west coasts. One of the least explored of all the islands in the chain, its largest industry was tourism. Most of the tourists were divers drawn by the Andros Barrier Reef, the world’s sixth-largest, and to its many blue holes, water-filled cave systems. It was one of these blue holes, just offshore, where the Blue Descent dive competition was being held.

  “I can’t believe I let you talk me into trying this.” Maddock stood on the shore and looked doubtfully out at the cobalt depths of the blue hole. Nearby, contest organizers sat behind a folding table, taking care of last-minute registrations. Deep divers from all around the world milled about, chatting amiably and swapping dive stories.