by David Wood
They sat in discouraged silence, watching the beams of afternoon sunlight journey across the mats that lined the floor.
"What do we do now?" Jade finally asked. "Go door-to-door asking if anyone has seen an alien-looking machine that might have belonged to the Atlanteans?"
"It's a small island," Professor mused. "Maybe we start with the recreational divers. Surely somebody knows something." He took a sip of beer and glanced at Jade.
"I don't know. I'm still too stunned to think straight. Who would have thought we'd find an Atlantean temple only to find someone's beaten us to it?" She sighed and ran a finger down the side of her untouched mug.
"I don't suppose there's a library or local newspaper we could check out?" Maddock doubted it, but he had no better idea. He glanced at Bones, who sat with his chair rocked back on two legs, grinning broadly. "What are you smiling about?"
"You guys are thinking about this all wrong." Bones took a long, slow drink, dragging out the moment.
"So, enlighten us." Jade put a foot on the front stretcher of Bones' chair and slammed it down to the floor.
"Careful, chick. You almost made me spill my drink." Seeing her angry look, he hurried on. "A tiny place like this where pretty much everyone has lived in the same place for generations, what you want is a storyteller." He frowned at their blank looks. "You know, the revered old dude who knows everyone and all their secrets. Every small community has at least one. That's where we should start." He took another drink, a self-satisfied expression on his face.
Jade considered this. "It's not the worst idea. I'll see what I can learn." She rose from the table and approached the only other occupied table. The three men, all middle-aged Japanese men with weathered faces, watched her approach with unconcealed eagerness.
Maddock felt his fists clench, wondering if he'd have to intervene, but Jade remained unfazed, pulling up a chair without waiting for an invitation, and chatting away.
"I thought Japanese men didn't appreciate assertive women," Bones said.
"See the way they're looking at her?" Professor smiled. "She can do anything she wants. Clever and beautiful. It’s a dangerous combination."
Maddock shifted in his seat and took a sudden interest in the world outside the dirty window by the front door.
After a brief conversation, Jade returned to the table, smiling. "I've got a name and directions. Let's go."
Daisuke Tanaka lived in a shack overlooking the sea. Wrinkled and graying, he sat on the ground, a bottle of beer in one hand, and watched their approach with suspicious eyes.
Jade stopped a few paces away and bowed low. Maddock and the others awkwardly followed suit. Finally, the man inclined his head, and they straightened. At the advice of the men in the bar, Jade had brought along a half-dozen bottles of beer, and Daisuke's eyes immediately wandered to them.
"Daisuke-San," Jade began, but the old man waved her into silence.
"Please, just Daisuke. I’m too disreputable for San.”
Jade smiled. "Daisuke, we’re archaeologists, and would like to learn more about Yonaguni, specifically the monument, and we were told you are the man to ask."
"I see you brought payment." He pointed to the ground in front of him and Jade laid the beer down. "Sit."
There was nowhere to sit but the ground, so they settled down in a circle.
“Your English is excellent,” Bones said.
“So is yours.” Daisuke drained his beer, opened another, and took a long drink. "Almost as good as this beer.”
Maddock waited to see if he would offer his guests a drink, but no luck. Daisuke made short work of the second beer and opened a third. Maddock was just beginning to wonder if they'd have to wait for him to finish the entire six-pack when Daisuke finally spoke again.
"It begins with the dragons.”
"Dragons?" Jade asked.
"Many call this," he gestured toward the water, “The Dragon Sea.” It is haunted by the spirits of the dragons that protected Japan in ages past."
Maddock and Bones exchanged surreptitious glances. This could get weird.
For the next hour, Daisuke regaled them with stories of sudden storms, lost ships, and spectral apparitions. By the time full dark was upon them, Maddock was convinced they were in the midst of another Bermuda Triangle.
"What can you tell us of the monument?" Maddock asked when it seemed Daisuke had run out of steam.
The old man thought for a moment. "I dove there many times when the place was first discovered. I probably know them better than anyone." He took a drink. "It was once the home of an ancient people who are now gone."
"Who were they?" Bones asked.
"No one knows, but they left behind the curse of the dragons to protect their city. That is why the storms claim so many ships. To keep them from uncovering what they should not."
"Not good for tourism," Jade said. "I understand Yonaguni hopes to become a popular destination for divers."
“Tourists.” Daisuke virtually spat the word. “Fouling the island and the waters. I think the dragons hate them too. Lots of their little boats find our sea inhospitable.” His laugh was coarse like sandpaper.
“Have many divers explored the location?” Maddock asked.
“Not too many. The dragons chase them away.” Daisuke laughed again.
Jade bit her lip and glanced at Professor before asking the question that lay foremost in their minds. “Have you heard tell of anyone bringing back any artifacts from the monument?”
“Artifacts?” Daisuke asked sharply.
“I mean… relics of whatever civilization lived there.” Jade continued. “Any rumors at all? It might have been years ago.”
“No.” He returned to his beer, turned his gaze back to the sea, and his eyes went cloudy.
After a few minutes of silence, they made a few more attempts at conversation, but the old man had clammed up. They might as well have been invisible for all the acknowledgment they received from him. Finally, discouraged, they returned to the house where Jade and Professor were staying.
Maddock sat staring at the moon and turning his cell phone over in his hands. He had tried calling Angel, but she was still letting his calls go to voicemail. Since they’d last spoken, his only communication from her had been a couple of curt text messages saying she was busy and they would talk later. He sighed deeply and gazed down at the blank screen, wondering if he should give it one more try. A gust of cool air, moist with the damp of the sea, made him shiver, but he didn’t go inside. Right now, he needed the quiet.
“Somebody’s being antisocial.”
He looked up to see Jade standing behind his chair.
“I figure it’s more comfortable for both of us if I give you space,” he said.
“Don’t be like that, Maddock.” She laid her hands on his shoulders and began kneading the taut muscles as she had done so many times in the past. “I know I gave you a hard time when you got here, but can you blame me? You know what they say about a woman scorned.”
Maddock closed his eyes and felt the tension drain away. Jade had the perfect touch—just enough pressure to work out the knots but soft enough to turn a man to butter. It was one of the things he’d always loved about her. His eyes popped open and he stiffened again. “You know it was never going to work between us, don’t you?”
Before she could reply, Bones called out from the doorway.
“Hey you two, Professor thinks he’s on to something.”
Jade jerked her hands away as if she’d been burned, and Maddock sprang to his feet.
“Great,” he said. “Let’s see it.”
He followed Jade back to the house. When she disappeared through the front door, Bones grabbed Maddock’s arm.
“What the hell is going on out here?”
“Nothing.” Maddock yanked his arm free. His first instinct was to tell Bones to mind his own business, but his friend deserved an explanation. “I was trying to call Angel, and Jade came out and started talking to
me.”
“She was doing a little more than that.” Bones raised an eyebrow.
“She just started rubbing my shoulders and, before I could say anything, you stuck your big head out the door and interrupted us. You’ve always had bad timing.”
Bones folded his arms and looked down at Maddock with the air of a disapproving schoolteacher. “You have any witnesses to back up your story?” And then he grinned. “Maddock, if I didn’t know you were one of the good guys, I’d probably kick your ass right now, but I guess you’ve at least earned a little bit of trust over the years.”
Maddock relaxed a little. “There’s nothing going on. You’ve got my word on it.”
“But will it stay that way if Angel keeps ignoring your calls? If it takes us a while to find whatever was taken from the temple, you and Jade are going to be working at close quarters. Can you handle it?”
For all his clowning and buffoonery, Bones could be insightful when he made the effort.
Maddock met his friend’s eye and gave a single nod.
“Good enough for me. Let’s see what Professor has for us.”
Inside, Professor paced back and forth, almost bouncing with scarcely contained excitement. He held a roll of papers and slapped them into his open palm.
“I think,” he began, grinning at Maddock and Bones, “that our friend Daisuke knows more than he is letting on.”
Chapter 25
“What do you mean?” Maddock asked, now interested.
“I did some checking on Daisuke. He was in the papers all the time, back when the monument was first discovered. Basically, there were two camps: one sought to use the discovery as a way to bring in more divers and tourists, and draw attention to Yonaguni; the other wanted exactly the opposite.”
“No need to hazard a guess as to which one Daisuke belonged,” Maddock said.
“Definitely not. In fact, he was the most extreme of his group. He wasn’t only opposed to tourism; he didn’t even want researchers to visit the site. He wanted it completely closed off.”
“I can’t totally blame him,” Bones said. “Even the best of the academics can disrespect sites that others hold sacred. Just ask my people.”
“That’s an interesting angle considering some of the things you and Maddock have done.” The corner of Jade’s mouth twitched.
“I’m a complex man, my dear.” Bones winked. “And, as I recall, you were along for a few of our hijinks.”
Jade fixed him with a disapproving look and then turned back to Professor. “But what makes you think he knows something about the missing device?”
“I’ve been researching the Dragon Sea and I’ve learned that most of the problems he talked about— the storms, shipwrecks, lost sailors, happened in the past twenty-five years.”
The others absorbed the information for a moment.
“So?” Bones asked. “What does that mean for us?”
“By itself, nothing.” Professor unrolled the papers he was holding. “This is a map of the Dragon Sea. I’ve plotted the locations of the various incidents. What do you see?”
“They’re pretty much all in a single place. Or at least, very close together.” Jade rested her chin on her hand and nodded.
“So you think the missing Atlantean device is causing all these problems?” Maddock asked.
“I’ve heard crazier.” Bones tugged absently at his ponytail. “I mean, the device the Dominion found, and presumably the one you recovered, causes tsunamis, so why not another device that affects the seas?”
Maddock glanced at Professor and saw he was grinning. “There’s something you haven’t told us yet.”
“What if,” Professor began, “I told you that this spot right here,” he uncapped a ballpoint pen and made a dot on the coastline, “is Daisuke’s house?”
Bones and Jade looked puzzled, but Maddock immediately saw where Professor was headed. “You think he’s got the device?”
Professor nodded sagely.
“Wait. What?” Bones looked from one man to the other.
“You might be right,” Jade whispered. “He said he was one of the first to discover the monument, and he…”
“… hates tourists with a bitter passion,” Bones finished. “Let’s kick his ass.”
“Maybe we should leave you here,” Maddock said to Bones. “Professor’s idea makes sense, but it’s still pretty far-fetched. We need to investigate, not come down on the guy like an avalanche.”
“Show of hands. Who votes avalanche?” Bones raised his hand and looked at the others. “You guys suck.”
“Don’t worry about it. This way, you get to use some of that famous Native American stealth you’re always bragging about.” Maddock turned to Jade and Professor. “All right, folks, it’s time to devise a plan of attack.”
Two hours later they anchored off the coast a short distance from Daisuke’s home. This time, Jade had drawn the short straw, and would wait with the boat while the others made the dive. To Maddock’s surprise, she had acquiesced with only the slightest protest when he pointed out that, of the four of them, the three former Navy SEALs were most likely to be able to complete their task without being seen.
After a brief, invigorating swim, they found themselves at the cliff below the house. As they had planned, Bones stripped off his fins and quickly scaled the rock wall. He would keep a lookout while Maddock and Professor searched. Maddock had reasoned that the device would not be inside the old man’s home, but hidden somewhere nearby, in a place with a good view of the sea. Using his map, Professor had determined what he considered to be the likely starting point: a central point from which the old man, or an accomplice, could have used the device on unsuspecting ships.
Maglite in his teeth, Maddock ascended the cliff. He was an experienced climber, so he would take the high ground while Professor would cover the area just above the shore. His fingers dug deep into the cracks and crevices and his feet searched for toeholds as he made his way up. He tried to bear the weight mostly on his legs, but in a few places, he had to swing from one spot to another with only his arms holding him up. He soon felt the burn in his neck, shoulders, and lower back, but it was a good feeling. In the early days of their friendship, when they still had not learned to trust one another fully, he and Bones had bonded over their mutual interest in climbing. The first time he had met Angel was when Bones took him back to North Carolina on a climbing trip. She had just finished high school then, and a relationship with her had been the furthest thing from his mind. In fact, he found her abrasive and annoying. A lot had changed over time. The memory made him smile.
“Find anything yet?” Bones’ whispered question startled him.
“Did I say I found something?”
“Touchy. The house is dark, so I’m going to scout along the cliff. I figure, if he comes down here regularly, he might have worn a path, and he definitely would need a way to climb down.”
“Definitely,” Maddock agreed. “Of course, it’s hard to imagine Daisuke scaling a cliff.”
“Don’t be so sure. My grandfather kept climbing well into his sixties, until my grandmother put her foot down.”
“I imagine you’ll be a lot like your grandfather. Now, shut up and let me work.”
Maddock turned his attention back to his climb, ignoring the obscene gesture that he knew Bones was directing his way. Down below, over the gentle rush of the surf, he heard Professor picking his way through the rocks.
“Somebody’s forgotten how to be quiet,” Maddock said, just loud enough to be heard.
“I figured if you two Marys could have coffee and conversation, there wasn’t much need for stealth,” Professor replied. “You do remember we have communication devices, don’t you?” He tapped his ear.
Maddock shook his head, though he doubted his friend could see him in the dim light. Was everyone going to bust his chops?
He continued to work his way along the cliff face. Although he wanted to find Daisuke’s hiding place, if it ex
isted, he was enjoying himself nonetheless. What if he gave up treasure hunting altogether? He could move to North Carolina with Angel and they could spend their free time up in the mountains doing what they loved. For a moment, he imagined them sitting on the porch of a mountain cabin watching the sun set.
So distracted was he by the daydream that he almost fell when his right foot came down in empty space. He cursed and dug in his fingertips. Idiot! He’d been climbing instinctively, and lost his focus.
He turned his light downward and saw that he had stumbled across a recessed area over a rock ledge. Inspecting the area above, he could just make out what looked like handholds carved in the rock. His heart skipped a beat. Could this be it? Cautiously, he dropped down onto the ledge and looked around. It was a narrow space, not much wider than his shoulders. He could see how it could easily be overlooked by passersby. But, when he shone his light back, he was disappointed. There was nothing here but a rock wall.
His shoulders sagged, and he let his hands fall to his sides. He’d been so sure. And then something on the ground caught his attention. A glint of metal. He dropped to a knee and brushed aside loose gravel and sand, revealing an iron ring. Smiling, he took hold of cold metal, and pulled.
A hinged trapdoor, one meter square, swung up and to the side until it rested against the rock wall. He shone his light inside, revealing a padlocked door. Smiling, he called for Bones and Professor, this time remembering to turn on his mic and speak in a low voice. His companions joined him a few minutes later.
“Bones, do you think you can pick that lock?” Maddock knew that Bones had some skills in that area, developed during his teenage years.
“Easy as picking my nose,” Bones assured him. Flashing a roguish grin, he slid down through the trapdoor and went to work on the lock.
“He really hasn’t grown up at all over the years, has he?” Professor asked.
“Would we really want him any other way?” Maddock chuckled and considered his own question. The truth was, he wasn’t always sure of the answer.
“We are in,” Bones called a minute later.
