Blue Descent

by David Wood

  “Do you think this dude is a Mormon?” Kyle said. He held up a copy of the Book of Mormon.

  “Maybe,” Bones said. “That might have come with the room.”

  “Dude, this is not a hotel. Besides, it’s got his name written inside.” Kyle held the book open to show the name inscribed on the reverse side of the front cover. Stanley Echard.

  “Why didn’t you say that in the first place?” Bones snatched the book away from Kyle and flipped through it. A number of passages were marked.

  “There’s a Bible here, too. It looks pretty old.”

  “We’ll steal them both in case these passages he’s marked are important.”

  “You don’t think he’s just doing some Bible study?” Kyle asked.

  “Does Echard seem like the kind of guy who studies the Bible on a daily basis?”

  Kyle’s expression was grave. “Dude, when you’re brought up in the system, one of the things you learn is that the people who act the most righteous on the outside are the ones hiding the darkest secrets on the inside.”

  “I heard that,” Bones said. It was the first truly wise thing he’d heard come out of Kyle’s mouth. “You find anything else interesting?”

  “Not really. You can hardly tell anybody even lives here. If this was my place, I would have trashed it within a day.”

  “I give you full marks for self-awareness.” Bones weighed his options. The search of the apartment had been fruitless. He supposed they could hang around, wait for Echard to come back, and try to beat the truth out of him. Of course, there were a million things wrong with that plan. He filed it away as a last resort.

  Kyle consulted his watch. “I’ve got to bail if I’m going to get checked in and ready to compete. If you want, I can tell you which bar is Echard’s favorite. He’s usually there this time of day.”

  “It’s the middle of the day. And I thought you said he was a Mormon.”

  Kyle grinned. “I didn’t say he was a good one.”

  17

  Off the Coast of Andros Island

  The sun hung high overhead, beating down on the men who plied the decks of Sea Foam. The gentle breeze did little to quell the oppressive heat.

  “I don’t think we’re going to find anything in this grid.” Willis gazed balefully at the chart spread out on the console in the bridge. “Me and Matt gave it the once-over. It don’t look there’s anything down there. I think we should try over here.” He tapped a spot well away from the sections they’d already worked.

  Corey looked up at him and frowned. “Maddock won’t like it. You know how he prefers to do things.”

  “Gotta love Maddock and his grids,” Matt chimed in. He was sprawled in a chair, staring at the sonar screen.

  “When Maddock ain’t here, Bones is in charge, and when Bones ain’t here, I’m in charge.”

  “Yeah, yeah, the old Navy buddies run the show.” Corey barked a rueful laugh. “But that doesn’t change the fact that Maddock will be upset if he thinks we half-assed this.”

  “Okay, fine. We’ll do it systematically,” Willis said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “But I want to start with this grid right here, just a bit away from the wreck. This is the direction the current would carry anything that spilled as the hull fell apart. We can work outward from there.” Willis saw Corey about to raise an objection. “Just because Maddock always starts at the top left doesn’t mean we have to.”

  “I’m not anal, I’m meticulous,” Corey said, in perfect imitation of Maddock.

  “He don’t try that line on me. He just calls it being thorough.”

  “I get why he does it, but I like your plan better.” Corey paused. “As long as you’ll be the one to tell him.”

  “I ain’t worried about Maddock. I’m the only person of color on the crew. I’m an affirmative action hire.”

  “Bones is a person of color,” Corey said absently, his attention already back on the charts.

  Willis folded his arms. “Seriously? When Bones makes jokes about his race, everybody thinks it’s hilarious. I drop a line like that, and nothing?”

  “I thought you really were an affirmative action hire,” Corey said. “God knows you didn’t get this job on your merit.”

  Willis blinked, then burst out laughing. “Screw you, nerd boy. Takes us to the grid point. Me and Matt will go get ready to dive.”

  “On it.”

  Willis’ instinct proved to be correct. While they didn’t find any treasure, they did uncover some promising artifacts, including a handful of coins that might help them identify and date the wreck. Maddock would be pleased with the results, if not Willis’ methods.

  By the time their oxygen began to run low, they’d gathered in a satisfactory haul. Maddock would be satisfied with what they’d found, if not exactly happy. They wanted to find treasure. Needed to find it.

  Back on board, they took their find below deck and began the process of sorting through and preserving the artifacts. They’d be kept in salt water for the short term until they could be properly prepared for sale.

  “What do you make of the coins?” Matt asked.

  Willis squinted at the coin he held in his palm. It was an imperfect circle, blackened with age. He could make out the faint outline of a figure in profile. On the obverse side, what might be a torch.

  “I don’t know much about these; not the way Maddock does. My money’s on Greek.”

  “Well, it’s all Greek to me,” Matt jibed.

  Willis gazed flatly at him. “I know I’ve told you before. If Bones ain’t around, there’s really no need to try and fill that void.”

  “The only void is between your ears,” Matt said.

  Willis was formulating a suitable counterattack when he felt the deck vibrate. The roar of the engines filled his ears and the boat began to move.

  “What the hell?” Matt said, looking up at the ceiling.

  “Something’s got to be wrong.”

  They made their hurried way above decks. Willis could tell right away that Corey had turned Sea Foam around and was heading back toward shore.

  “What’s going on?” he asked as he rushed into the cabin.

  “Look at the sonar.” Corey’s face was ashen beneath his sunburned cheeks.

  Willis looked at the display and his heart skipped a beat.

  “What the hell is that thing?”

  Something was bearing down on them. Something big and fast, moving underwater at breakneck speed.

  “I can’t think of what could have a profile that large,” Matt said from over Willis’ shoulder. “Have you ever seen anything like that?”

  “That big? A submarine maybe.”

  “That’s no sub.” The engine whined. Corey was taking it right up to the red.

  “How long can the engines hold up?” Matt sounded tense.

  “Not much longer at these speeds.”

  Willis watched the sonar. Gradually, the thing, whatever it was, began to fall back, but it continued to pursue them.

  “It ain’t giving up.”

  “Then we’ll have to persuade it,” Matt said.

  “With what? We ain’t got any torpedoes here.”

  “Rifles?”

  Willis considered this. Even a high-powered rifle was unlikely to deter something as large as the thing that was coming after them. Still, any port in a storm.

  “Maybe if it surfaces we can hit it in the brain pan or something. I guess it won’t hurt to try.”

  Willis and Matt took up arms and positioned themselves at the stern. They couldn’t hear much over the roar of the engine and the rush of wind in their ears. Corey called out to them that the thing was closing in.

  “It’s catching up to us! God, this thing must be thirty meters long!”

  And then Willis caught sight it. It was only a brief glimpse, but he was certain about two things: it was a living creature and it was massive. A wave of shock passed over him. It was big enough to be a whale, but a whale didn’t move like that. So
that the hell was it?

  “Hold your fire,” Willis said.

  Matt didn’t lower his rifle. “Why?”

  “You see the size of that thing? I don’t want to piss it off unless we absolutely have to. Maybe it just breached because it’s about to change direction or something.”

  “Sort of like that time you said maybe that wasn’t really an Adam’s Apple on that girl we saw in the bar?”

  “Hey, she turned out to be cool. She was a Lions fan. Bought me a beer.”

  Matt smiled. The situation was too tense for anything more. Then his eyes went wide and he pointed.

  “My ten o’clock. Look!”

  In the distance, a tall dorsal fin cut through the water. Willis had spent enough time at sea to be able to gauge the distance and know that what they were seeing was a very large shark. Not a monster, but a damn big specimen.

  “That’s got to be a great white.”

  “I hated that band,” Matt said.

  Willis grinned. “You and me both, cuz.”

  “But that isn’t what we just saw.”

  “No, it is not.” Willis narrowed his eyes, scanned the surface of the water. Where had it gone?

  And then it happened.

  The water around the shark began to boil, and then something surged up from the depths and struck the great white hard enough to send it flying into the air amidst a geyser of foam. The shark flew ten meters, struck the water, and was immediately engulfed in a crush of giant tentacles. They wrapped around it like a cocoon and took it under. It was over almost as quickly as it started. They waited, watched, but it didn’t return.

  “Did that really just happen?” Matt said.

  “I ain’t been drinking. Have you?”

  “Coffee and water.”

  They were so stunned that they barely noticed when the sound of the engines fell to a normal level and Sea Foam slowed.

  “Why are we slowing down?” Willis shouted.

  “It broke off the pursuit, headed south,” Corey called. “No idea why.”

  “We know why,” Matt said, finally lowering his rifle. “It was hungry but it found easier prey.”

  They returned to the cabin and quickly recounted the sequence of events to Cory.

  “Maybe you misjudged the distance and it was actually just a small shark being eaten by a large octopus?” Corey ran a hand through his short, ginger hair.

  “It was definitely a great white,” Matt said. “The markings, the sharp point at the tip of the dorsal fin. Even if it were small for its breed, that would still have to be an impossibly large octopus. If that’s what it was.”

  “And it knocked that shark around like a beach ball,” Willis added. “What the hell can do that?”

  “I don’t know,” Corey said, still watching the sonar out of the corner of his eye. “But I think I’m done with treasure hunting for the day.”

  Willis nodded. “I heard that.” He leaned against the bulkhead, breathed deeply, and tried to clear his head. How could they possibly protect themselves from a monster like that?

  “I just feel sorry for whoever it decides to snack on next.”

  18

  Andros Island

  Maddock and Rae arrived at Blue Descent shortly before the start of the day’s competition. Rae was eager to get there, feeling she’d left Kyle unsupervised for too long already.

  “Bones is keeping an eye on him,” Maddock reminded her.

  “Really? Then why is Kyle here and Bones nowhere to be found?” She pointed in the direction of the dive platform, where Kyle stood, waving to them.

  “I’m here.” Bones came striding along the shore. Usually unflappable, deep concern marred his face.

  “What’s going on?” Maddock asked.

  Bones looked around nervously. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

  The men excused themselves and wandered away from the crowd until they were out of earshot. Maddock listened as Bones told him the whole story about the woman he’d met, her odd behavior, and their sudden parting. He went on to explain how he’d subsequently been unable to track her down.

  Maddock was surprised. “She must have done a number on you if you went looking for her. Usually it’s the other way around.”

  “That’s just it. At first I thought it was her I couldn’t stop thinking about, but then I realized it feels more like a craving. I think maybe there was something in the water she gave me.”

  “Bones, maybe you ought to see a doctor.”

  Bones shook his head. “Nah, it’s already fading away.”

  He fell silent and Maddock decided to wait him out. If his mood was dark enough, Bones considered any sort of probing question a form of interrogation. Best to let him do this at his own pace. Maddock was certain there was something deeper at play here.

  Out on the platform, Val was giving instructions through a megaphone. The support staff was swimming to their places in the blue hole, and the contestants were getting ready. Kyle was attempting to do Tai Chi.

  “He looks like a sleep deprived flamingo,” Maddock said as the young man wobbled on one foot and flapped his arms, trying to keep his balance.

  Bones forced a smile. “He’s a good dude, though.”

  “Yeah, he means well and seems harmless enough. More a danger to himself than others.”

  “It’s the unintentional harm that worries me.” Bones’ smile vanished. “It’s weird, but I almost feel like something’s tugging at me but I can’t tell the direction I’m being pulled.”

  “Well, you do have that ability with taco trucks.”

  Bones apparently wasn’t in the mood to laugh. He lapsed into silence again as the divers took their places and the first event began. There wasn’t really much to do once the competition began other than stand on the beach and wait for each contestant to resurface. While the diver was underwater, an electronic voice counted out the seconds the diver was under.

  The first diver emerged to applause. A voice came over the public address system and announced that he’d just set the Australian record for a free immersion dive with a depth of ninety-nine meters. Lots of cheers, including the other contestants. Although prizes would be awarded in the male and female divisions of each discipline, most divers were focused on setting national records for their home countries or beating their personal bests. Few of them seemed to feel they were truly in competition with one another.

  “Alexei’s not here,” Bones said.

  “You’re right. I wonder what happened?” The man had seemed quite gung-ho the previous day.

  “I heard there were some disappearances last night. I hope he wasn’t one of them.” Bones cleared his throat. “There’s something I’ve got to tell you. And I just need you to shut up and listen with an open mind.”

  “Don’t I always?”

  “Rarely.” Bones reached into his pocket and took out a folded sheet of paper.

  “What’s that?” Maddock asked.

  “I told you to shut up. When I couldn’t find Thel and I heard about the missing persons, I decided to stop by the police station just to check. As it turns out, this time every year somebody shows up at the station looking for a friend who was last seen with a gorgeous, green-eyed redhead.”

  Maddock had a few objections, but held his tongue. Bones is right about me. I’m not good at listening when the things I hear don’t seem to make sense. Something else was bothering him. The story rang a bell.

  “You know what? Rae and I visited the pirate museum today, and the curator told us a story about Riddick Blackwood. Supposedly he discovered the Fountain of Youth somewhere in the Bahamas. Since then, he reappears from time to time, supposedly looking for girls for his harem. I guess he takes them back to the Fountain where he keeps them young and beautiful forever.”

  Bones’ jaw dropped and he swayed on the spot for a moment. Maddock seized him by the arm.

  “You’re not well. Do you really think this girl slipped you something?”

  “All
she gave me was water,” Bones said hoarsely. “And there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with it.”

  Maddock grinned. “If you’re lucky, it was water from the Fountain of Youth.”

  “Dude, the person I talked to has made the legend a pet project. He’s identified the missing girl she calls ‘Patient Zero.’ A college student who disappeared back in the seventies.”

  “And she discovered the Fountain of Youth?”

  “Screw you, Maddock.” Bones returned the paper to his pocket.

  “Hey, I’m sorry. Just messing with you. Let me see what you’ve got.”

  Before Bones could reply, Rae’s voice rang out above the crowd.

  “Way to go, Kyle!”

  “Crap, we missed his dive,” Bones said.

  “We’ll fake it. He won’t know the difference.”

  They hurried over to Rae, who was applauding and bouncing on the balls of her feet. She’d removed her shirt, and wore a red string bikini top. The amulet rested between her breasts, flashing silver in the midday sun.

  “So glad she wore a bikini top,” Bones said.

  Maddock frowned.

  “Don’t tell me you disapprove.”

  “She obviously forgot there’s at least one person who will kill to get his hands on that amulet. We should have found a safe place for it.”

  “I can hang onto it,” Bones said. “That way she doesn’t have to put her top back on.”

  Maddock rolled his eyes. “Bones, it’s a wonder you’re still single.”

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

  Out in the water, Kyle completed his post-dive protocols and then swam over to greet them. He was grinning from ear to ear.

  “World record!” he shouted.

  “Oh my God, that’s amazing!” Rae cried. She waded out into the water to greet her brother, but when he reached her, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her down beneath the surface.

  Just then, a low rumbling sound filled the air. Maddock looked around.

  “That sounded like thunder, but everything is clear.”

  “That wasn’t thunder,” someone said. “I felt it under my feet. Like an earthquake or something.”