Blue Descent

by David Wood

  He and Rae continued to swim but the men were closing the gap. They were bogged down by their waterlogged clothing and the clay egg Maddock carried in his backpack.

  “Are they going to catch up with us?” Rae gasped.

  “Just keep swimming.”

  A shot rang out and Rae let out a squeak.

  “Where did that come from?”

  Maddock stole a quick glance behind them. One of the men was still charging hard, but the other was now treading water and taking aim for a second shot.

  “Get down.”

  They submerged just as Maddock heard the dull pop of a gunshot. As he plunged into the water, now as dim as twilight as the sun fled toward the western horizon, the beginnings of a plan formed in his mind.

  Those plans dissolved as a huge figure suddenly loomed in front of him. He was a tall, dark man armed with a spear. And he was just standing there.

  That’s not right, Maddock thought.

  Beyond it he saw the outline of a Stonehenge-like structure. Odd thoughts flashed through his mind. All of Bones’ conspiracy theories echoed in his head. Atlantis. The Bermuda Triangle. Frogmen.

  He continued to swim but the figure didn’t make a move.

  Because it wasn’t alive.

  This was an underwater sculpture garden. He’d heard about these. They provided a destination for snorkelers, with some of the simpler parts of the installation intended to serve as the foundation of a new coral reef. Too bad there was no time today to explore it. He would have loved to check it out. And then his idea returned, but now it was fully fleshed out. He saw Rae surface for air and he swam over to her.

  “Here, take the pack and swim for the shore as fast as you can.” He shoved the backpack containing the egg into her hands.

  “What about you?”

  “I’ll catch up. Just go.”

  To her credit, she didn’t waste time arguing or questioning him, but set off toward the shore with renewed vigor.

  Maddock heard the sound of splashing behind him. Their pursuers had almost caught up. He was nearly out of time.

  He submerged again and swam for the shelter of the giant warrior. Taking up a position behind it, he grabbed hold of its thick neck, set his feet against its back, and tensed to spring. He gripped his Recon knife tightly. For a moment, he felt as if he would be sick. He’d had his fill of killing, believed he’d left it behind. But the men had fired on them. Hostilities had commenced, and through none of his doing. He had no choice if he and Rae wanted to live through this.

  The man appeared in a matter of seconds, driving through the water with forceful kicks and sloppy strokes. He was tiring, and that was fine with Maddock.

  Maddock waited until the man’s dark outline was almost directly above him and then he sprang.

  He shot through the water like a torpedo and came upon his unsuspecting quarry from below. The man had no idea Maddock was there until the former SEAL plunged his knife into the man’s gut. Maddock pulled the knife free and the man shoved him away and pressed his hands to the wound. That left his throat unprotected and Maddock made him pay. A crimson cloud spread out around them and Maddock kicked away from the dying man, who was now frantically trying to grab hold of Maddock. He was out of the fight, but could easily drag Maddock down with him.

  Now to find the other man.

  Maddock surfaced and looked around. Listened.

  Nothing.

  Where the hell did you go?

  Either the second assailant was underwater or he’d drowned. Maddock doubted he could be that lucky. On the upside, Rae was almost to shore. That was what mattered most.

  Wanting to keep her safe, Maddock swam for a spot farther down the beach. He didn’t go underwater this time. This way would get him there faster and hopefully draw the enemy in his direction.

  He finally reached the shore, waterlogged and weary. He still saw no sight of the man who had been following them. Summoning his reserves of strength, he sprinted across the beach, all the while waiting for a gunshot that never came. He scrambled over the sand dunes that separated the beach from the tree line and stopped to catch his breath.

  The beach was deserted. He looked up and down, but all was quiet. The gentle flow of the surf, the breeze. This would’ve been a great place to spend some time alone with Rae were it not for that pesky problem of someone trying to kill them.

  Now he needed to find Rae.

  He worked his way east along the coastline, keeping his eyes peeled for any sign of her or the man who followed. Soon, he spotted tracks leading up from the water, across the beach, and into the dunes. The footprints were smaller than that of the average man. It had to be Rae. He moved a little faster, still careful to keep quiet as he hurried along.

  To his right, through the trees, he saw the dark outline of crumbling walls. It was difficult to make out details in the evening light, but they were ruins of some sort. As he moved closer he saw a figure scramble over a wall. He could tell immediately it wasn’t Rae. The person was too tall and moved with the grace of a high-level athlete.

  “Dammit. I can’t let him get to her first.”

  He made a mad dash for the spot where he had seen the man. The low, crumbling stone wall was no challenge for the former SEAL. He scaled it with ease and dropped down to the other side to find himself in the ruins of a Colonial era plantation. Nearby stood a single wall of what must have once been one of the finest homes on the island. It was made of gray brick with the doorway and arched window still visible. The history buff in him want to explore, but that obviously wasn’t an option. He supposed he could come back later, but there were more pressing issues right now and he chastised himself for letting his thoughts stray for even a split second when someone was in trouble. He had lost some of his focus since he left the service. Bones claimed that there were other reasons for Maddock’s occasional lapses, but what the hell did Bones know?

  Up ahead, on the other side of a crumbling outbuilding, a scream rang out, followed by a gunshot.

  “Rae!” Maddock shouted.

  Another gunshot.

  “Where are you?” he yelled as he continued to run in the direction from which the sounds had come. He didn’t care if the man heard him. In fact, he preferred the man come for him instead of Rae.

  Two more gunshots and another cry of fear and alarm. They came from farther away now. Good. That meant Rae was still alive and she was on the run.

  He poured on the speed. He had to get there in time. He had to.

  Another shot. This time he didn’t hear the sound of Rae’s voice. But that didn’t mean she was dead. Maybe she simply didn’t want to give away her location. That had to be it.

  He kept running. His chest was tight, his legs weary from the long swim in sodden clothing.

  The way ahead grew brighter and he broke through onto a service road. Its surface of sand, broken seashells, and fine gravel seemed to glow in the dying light. He heard footsteps running in his direction and then something buzzed past his face like an angry hornet as he heard the boom of a gunshot.

  He had a moment to hope the man was carrying a six shooter, and then the attacker was upon him. The man managed to seize Maddock’s right wrist, the one in which he held a knife. His big hand swallowed Maddock’s wrist. Meanwhile, Maddock controlled the man’s right wrist, keeping his pistol at bay. As Maddock had feared, it was an automatic, so he had to assume there were bullets remaining in the magazine.

  They grappled wordlessly, each trying to gain the upper hand. The loose surface of the road gave way under Maddock’s feet, and he barely managed to regain his balance. The fellow grinned, his teeth glowing white like the fangs of a vampire.

  “Give up.” He spoke with a slight island accent. “I lettered in three sports at the U.”

  “Any of them combat sports?” Maddock answered. The assailant crinkled his brow and then Maddock drove his knee into the man’s ribs, and followed with another knee strike, this one to the groin. The fellow grunted an
d his knees wobbled. Maddock leaned back and drove his head forward, smashing the fellow’s nose with his forehead.

  “Dammit!” The man squeezed his eyes closed and tried to turn away. Clearly he was accustomed to shooting people from a distance. He was no fighter.

  Maddock seized the advantage, and while his opponent was off balance, flipped him backward. They hit the ground hard. Maddock’s opponent bore the brunt of it. His breath left him in a rush as he landed flat on his back. On a harder surface he might’ve cracked the back of his skull, too, but on the somewhat softer sand-and-gravel drive, the blow was cushioned although Maddock knew it still had to hurt.

  Still controlling the man’s gun hand, Maddock raised up and then drove his elbow into the man’s forehead. It wouldn’t do a lot of damage, but it was painful and the forehead tended to cut easily. The man let out a grunt of pain and blood poured down his face. Maddock pressed the fine edge of his Recon knife to the fellow’s throat.

  “Listen very closely. You’ve probably been told I’m a civilian. You’d be wrong.” He moved the knife a fraction of a centimeter and the man winced. “I know exactly where to cut you and I’ve ended better, harder men than you. So you can cooperate, or I finish this right now.”

  “All right. I give up. Just stop.” The man let go of the weapon without being asked. His eyes darted from side to side.

  “If you’re looking for your friend, I’ve already dealt with him.”

  The man’s shoulders sagged and the remaining fight seemed to go out of him.

  “Who do you work for?”

  “I don’t know his name. The white man who sells the trinkets.”

  Echard had been selling carved amulets at the dive competition.

  “What does Echard want with the egg?”

  “Look, man, I don’t know if his name is Echard and I know nothing about an egg, or what he wants with any of it. He hired us to do a job.”

  “Which was?” Maddock thought he knew the answer but he wanted confirmation.

  “You have a metal ring. An amulet, he thinks. Shaped like a serpent.”

  Maddock frowned. How did Echard know that?

  “Our job is to take the amulet and kill you if necessary.” He flashed a wicked smile. “There was a bonus if we killed you.”

  “How did he know about the amulet?” Maddock and Rae had only discovered the amulet a short while before. Had Echard been spying on them?

  “Like I said, we just took the job and did as we were told. The only thing I can tell you is Echard doesn’t just want to possess the amulet, as you call it.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “He mentioned some big players, a powerful group. I guess he used to be a part of it, but he definitely said that this could be his ticket back in.”

  “What kind of group? Black market antiquities?” That was what made the most sense in Maddock’s mind. The amulet they had found must be of great value. If Echard had once been a part of one such ring and later fallen out of favor, a rare enough artifact might be a way back in.

  “No idea. I swear to you, that’s all I know.”

  Maddock believed him. Now, what to do with the man? He didn’t have any rope to tie him up with. And should he leave the man behind? He was an assassin, a weapon to be pointed at anyone, by anyone who could afford the price. Was it a bad idea to leave him alive?

  The decision was taken out of his hands when the man did the stupidest thing possible. He tried to fight. He threw his hips up, attempting to buck Maddock off of him. At the same time he snatched at Maddock’s knife.

  But the blade was already pressed against his flesh, right at the jugular. The sudden movement, coupled with Maddock’s weight being thrown forward, drove the knife into the hired assassin’s throat.

  Maddock rolled off of him, snatched the pistol and waited for the man to die.

  It was over quickly. But despite watching this man’s final moments, Maddock felt nothing at all. That bothered him.

  “Rae, it’s me. Everything’s okay now!” he shouted.

  “I’m coming.” Her voice sounded from the woods on the other side of the road. He heard a rustling through the underbrush and then she appeared.

  “You’re okay?”

  “I’m fine.” Her eyes fell on the dead man and she let out a whimper.

  “I gave him every chance to live. I was going to let him go.”

  To Maddock’s surprise, Rae wasn’t squeamish about the corpse. She helped him hide the body in an old well at the edge of the old plantation. As they worked, he explained what had happened, including the information the man had revealed. Rae agreed that it sounded like Echard was hooked up with black market antiquities dealers.

  “What is this place, anyway?” Maddock asked, looking around.

  “Clifton Heritage National Park,” Rae said. “This place was originally inhabited by the Lucayans, island natives. Later it was colonized by American Loyalists and their slaves.”

  “And that statue?”

  “It’s a new art installation called Ocean Atlas. I’ve been meaning to snorkel it but this wasn’t the way I imagined it.”

  “Story of my life.” Maddock gave a rueful shake of the head. “How long do you think it will be before the body is found?”

  Rae shrugged. “They don’t maintain this area, so no one really comes here. And I don’t think there’ll be much smell since he’s down in the water.” She shivered. “God, I can’t believe this is happening. It feels so wrong to be hiding a body and speculating about whether or not it will be discovered.”

  Maddock nodded. They had agreed that contacting law enforcement would be a bad idea. There were layers upon layers of corruption in the bureaucracy of the Bahamian government, and neither of them could afford the bribes that might be the only guarantee of their freedom. Still, he understood how she felt. At least, he remembered a time when he would’ve felt that way.

  “I get it, but I really think this is the right thing to do. The safe thing. We don’t know who is connected with whom. For all we know, those guys might have done some work for people in the local police department or the prosecutor’s department.”

  Rae nodded. “But what happens when the other body washes ashore?”

  Maddock thought about this. “If these guys are as shady as you say, it won’t be that big a surprise when he’s found, will it? And if we’re lucky, as long as the body in the well goes undiscovered, the authorities will assume that one partner murdered the other and dumped his body in the water.”

  “But what about Echard?”

  “What about him? Yes, he can connect them with us, but is he really going to tell the police that his hired hitmen disappeared after failing to complete a robbery and murder he hired them to do?”

  “Okay, that makes sense. As guilty as I feel about this, I’m starting to feel a little better. I mean, the guys did try to kill us.” Rae visibly relaxed. She wrapped her arms around Maddock, rested her head against his chest, and gave him a squeeze.

  “Thank you,” she breathed.

  Maddock smiled and held her tight. “Don’t mention it.”

  “What do we do now? We’re in danger because of this artifact.” She tapped the spot between her breasts where the amulet hung beneath her shirt. “But if we report it to the authorities, that could lead to Echard.”

  “Which would connect us to the two dead men. I think you’re right. We’re going to have to find out for ourselves what this thing is, who these people are Echard is trying to get back in with, and why everyone wants it so badly they’re willing to kill for it.”

  10

  Andros Island, Bahamas

  Bones awoke with a splitting headache. His mouth was dry and his ears were ringing. Above the tinny sound, he heard someone moving around. He stared up at the cracked ceiling, lit by the yellow glow of artificial light that shone in between the cheap curtains. The place stank of cigarette smoke and mold. It took him a minute to realize where he was. He and Thel had gotten
a cheap motel room.

  He rolled over, the movement making his head spin. Thel was no longer in bed. He listened, but didn’t hear a sound. Must not be blowing chunks in the bathroom, which he felt like doing right now.

  “Thel?” He pushed himself up on one elbow and flipped on the bedside lamp, bathing the room in the weak glow of a twenty-five watt bulb. A stray cobweb dangled from the dusty shade.

  “I’m right here.” She was standing by the door, a nervous look painting her face.

  “You’re not leaving, are you?”

  “Yes, I need to go. It’s after midnight and I should have already been back.” She froze as if she’d said something wrong.

  “That’s cool.” Bones said it out of sheer reflex. He’d enjoyed plenty of these one night stands and it was always easier when neither party tried to cling to the other. But for some reason, he didn’t want her to go. “You could at least come over here and say goodbye.”

  Thel managed a weak smile. She approached him slowly, almost reluctantly, and planted a gentle kiss on his forehead. Bones could’ve sworn that in the one spot where her lips touched him, his headache went away.

  “Thank you for a wonderful night. You are not at all what I expected.”

  “In a good way or bad?”

  She smiled sadly. “Very good. It was so wonderful how you opened up to me, told me about your family, all the problems you had growing up, what you went through in the SEALs, your drinking problems. Most men can’t show that kind of vulnerability in front of a woman, especially not one they just met.”

  Bones sat up fast. The effort sent a bolt of pain stabbing into the base of his skull. He winced and let out a pained grunt. “Dude, I don’t remember that, or not much of it. It definitely doesn’t sound like me. I’ve never even watched Oprah.”

  “It’s all right. I think you and I have a special connection.” Thel reached out and brushed a lock of hair out of his face. “You don’t show it, but you are a deeply spiritual person. You’re different.”

  Bones tried to process her words but they didn’t make sense. Still, he knew instinctively that something odd had transpired between them. He only wished he could remember what it was. Had they even hooked up or had they just... talked? If that was all it had been, he couldn’t let Willis and Matt find out. If that happened, Bones would never live it down.