Phantom Prospect

by Alex Archer

  Annja didn’t waste time berating Henderson for killing anyone who could talk. He didn’t seem the type to give a damn. “So, since you’ve been in such a rush to meet me, suppose you tell me what this is all about. You can start by telling me why I was kidnapped.”

  “Kidnapped?” Henderson chuckled. “You left me no alternative, my dear girl. After all, it seemed it was your intention to do battle with my creation. I couldn’t very well let you have your way with my shark and be able to maintain its terrifying characteristics, now could I?”

  “Why have the sharks?”

  “They serve a very concrete purpose. One I think you’ve seen in action over the past several days since you arrived.”

  “Terror.”

  “Indeed. There’s nothing like the prospect of coming face-to-face with a giant killer to keep people from doing what they set out to do. In this case, I needed you all on that boat of yours and not down in the water.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I have interests there, as well. And to be frank, your little treasure hunt was going to interfere. I couldn’t allow that. So I took steps to ensure you wouldn’t become a problem.”

  “The shark attack on Jock.”

  “Yes.”

  “And Cole’s first encounter with it.”

  “The cage was a marvelous idea, by the way,” Henderson said. “We had to reinforce the shark’s nose after we had that little run-in. We knew the cage would come back in the water and we wanted to get to it without giving ourselves away. Fortunately, we’ve got quite the ingenious workshop full of creative minds.”

  Annja leaned against the hull. “So, where exactly are we?”

  Henderson shrugged. “Where do you think you are, Annja? Have you figured it out yet?”

  “I think we’re underwater. In some cavern that you’ve somehow managed to make habitable.”

  He clapped his hands. “Marvelous. Tell me how you arrived at that conclusion.”

  Annja frowned. “It wasn’t hard. You’ve got a plumbing issue here. There’s water everywhere.”

  “Well, not everywhere. We’ve come light-years from where we were when we first located this place. The water level had to be reduced significantly before we could get people down here. But it’s all worked wonderfully. I think you’d agree that this is quite a technological achievement.”

  “I guess. But to what end?” Annja looked around. “You’ve got a submarine and two mechanical sharks to keep people away from this place. But why? What are you up to?”

  “I’m not here to steal your paltry little treasure wreck, I assure you,” Henderson said.

  “That’s not what Sheila said.”

  Henderson smiled. “Sheila told you exactly what she was supposed to tell you, Annja. As well as give you all some worry about sabotage when the screw was found. You see, it’s little things that are sometimes more effective than some grand statement like blowing you up. By planting small doubts, we distracted you just enough.”

  “And the shark?”

  “Insurance in case the little stuff didn’t work.”

  Annja nodded. “And how is Sheila doing? Last I saw her, she had a broken wrist.”

  “She’s fine. All bandaged up and doing quite well. I think she’s looking forward to some alone time with you once she recovers. Not sure I’d be anxious about that if I were you. Terrible temper, that one has.”

  “I handled her once before.”

  Henderson nodded. “Yes, it was quite a fight, I’m told. But Sheila is a very good actress. I wouldn’t count on having such an easy time with her next go-around.”

  “I’ll keep it in mind.” Annja pointed at him. “So, you’ve got an underwater colony of sorts and all this mechanical drilling equipment. What’s the deal? You trying to find some lost store of oil?”

  “Oh, I’ve already found it, my dear. And we’re sitting on it right now.” He shrugged. “Well, not literally, of course.”

  “Of course.”

  “But under this part of the Atlantic there lies an incredible store of oil reserves. Enough to make what they’ve drawn from the sands of Saudi Arabia look like a wad of sputum.”

  “Colorful.”

  “Enough to turn me into the world’s first trillionaire.” Henderson clapped his hands together. “It’s never been done before, you know. When this is all said and done I will have more money than most of the nations on this planet.”

  Annja frowned. “If there’s so much oil, then why hasn’t anyone else tried to tap into it yet?”

  Henderson sighed. “Well, there’s the rub of it, you see. Some people apparently have the notion that drilling here would result in the destruction of this particular ecosystem. Some such silly notion like that. They’ve cited studies on the marine life in this area and make all these excuses that basically put the animals ahead of humans.”

  “The nerve,” Annja said. “And of course, you couldn’t stand for that silly sentiment.”

  “Exactly. So I had to take steps to liberate that conventional thinking from its prison.”

  Annja frowned. “And how the hell did you do that?”

  “Well, I haven’t yet, my dear. You see, that’s why I need this place to myself for a while. Can’t have any nosy people around wondering just what all these submarines and mechanical sharks are doing prowling in the waters up here. Do you know how difficult it is moving crew of workers around without anyone noticing? It’s quite the logistical feat, I’ll tell you.”

  “But to what end? If you can extract the oil without anyone knowing, then why not just do that?”

  “I need to get to the oil first. And it’s buried under several hundred feet of bedrock. The cost of drilling that far down would be prohibitive to the job at hand. After all, I’m a capitalist. I like my ventures to earn me money. If they get me some fame, then that’s nice, as well. But money is my main goal.”

  “That’s great,” Annja said. “Another human being motivated solely by greed. Like we don’t have enough of those already.”

  Henderson frowned. “There’s no need to be rude, young lady.”

  “So what’s the plan,” Annja asked. “You going to drill or not?”

  “I’m not going to drill for the oil,” Henderson said.

  “But you just said—”

  “I said that drilling for it was cost-prohibitive.” He leaned back in his chair. “There is an alternative that I personally find a lot more enjoyable.”

  “That being?”

  Henderson smiled. “Come over here, Annja.”

  Annja hesitated but Henderson waved her on. “No tricks. I want to show you something. It’s easier this way than having me explain it. Come on, then.”

  Annja walked over and stood next to Henderson. He smiled at her. “Now watch.” He turned in his seat and started typing on a keyboard close by. On the monitor attached to it, a map of the North Atlantic blossomed on the screen.

  Henderson pointed at Nova Scotia. “Here’s where we are right now.”

  “Yeah, I got that.”

  Henderson clicked the mouse and the screen zoomed in to the exact spot where Annja figured the Seeker floated. Then the screen changed again, this time showing depths and lines like Annja had seen before on undersea charts.

  “This is our position, here.” Henderson jabbed a stubby finger at the screen. “We’re currently in a cavern about three hundred feet down. Not bad, huh? Ordinarily, you would have been killed by the pressure by now, but one of our feats was to pressurize this cavern while we worked here.”

  “Impressive,” Annja said.

  “Thank you,” Henderson replied. “I’m quite proud of the accomplishments my people have made.” He winked at Annja. “But then again, money is truly such a motivating factor. It amazes me what people are capable of when they suddenly have almost unlimited funds in front of them.”

  “I guess so.” Annja pointed at the screen. “So, what’s this thing here?” She was pointing at a line that ran jaggedly do
wn one part of the monitor.

  Henderson nodded. “I’m so glad you noticed that. That is a previously undiscovered fault line.”

  “A fault line?”

  “Tectonic plates, my dear. You know, the earth’s crust jutting up and against other parts? Rather like the human skull on a newborn infant. Not all of the plates have fused together yet. Surely you have some basic grasp of earthquakes?”

  “I get it,” Annja said. “But what’s the big deal about it?”

  “The best way to access the huge reserve of oil hidden under that immense bedrock is to induce a rather neat opening in the bedrock.”

  “How are you planning to do that?”

  Henderson smiled. “We’ll be introducing a seismic event of grand proportions. That should do the trick nicely.”

  “You’re going to create an earthquake.”

  “Exactly.”

  “How?”

  Henderson clicked away from the undersea chart and over to a new screen. Annja watched as a series of graphics displayed and immediately saw where Henderson was headed with his plans.

  And she didn’t like the look of any part of it.

  “Rather creative, wouldn’t you agree?” he asked.

  “You’ll kill hundreds of thousands of people if this goes wrong,” Annja said. “I don’t think that’s a very good plan.”

  Henderson took a breath. “Given the nature of human society these days, I think that a little apocalypse isn’t such a bad thing.”

  “I disagree.”

  “You’re not in a position to argue that point,” Henderson said.

  “Not currently.”

  “Not ever,” Henderson replied. He jabbed at the screen. “Once we implant the small nuclear device into the hole we’re drilling at the top of the fault line, the resulting explosion will enable us to get a pipeline straight into the oil reserves and begin siphoning it to the underwater processing facility that we’re building.”

  “Radioactive oil?” Annja frowned. “You can’t be serious.”

  Henderson shook his head. “There will be no radiation in the oil. Due to the exact nature of the controlled nuclear detonation, we can contain the radiation and keep it from contaminating the supply.” He frowned. “Sadly, the marine life in this area will be sacrificed, but that’s how it goes.”

  “And the resulting tidal wave? That will kill thousands of people.”

  Henderson shrugged. “They might have some warning.”

  “Probably not.”

  He smirked. “Yes, probably not. But I can’t be bothered with it. And neither can you. Your destiny lies elsewhere.”

  “And where would that be?”

  Henderson pointed over his shoulder. “With your friend Cole there. You two will have seats at ground zero. Imagine that.”

  33

  Annja couldn’t believe what she’d heard. “And what about the rest of your workers? Are you going to kill them, too, now that they’ve served their purpose?”

  Henderson shrugged. “There’s plenty of time to finish evacuating them. We’ve already started, in fact.” He looked at his watch. “In the meantime, I believe the moment has come for you and your friend Cole to get situated.”

  “Where are you putting us?”

  “Outside by the hole we drilled that leads right into the mass of bedrock.” He smiled. “I’ll tell you what, I’ll even leave the cavern pressurized and full of oxygen for you and Cole to talk about your final time together while we count down to the explosion from a very safe distance away.”

  “Just how big is this nuke?”

  Henderson held up his hand. “Not that big, actually. You wouldn’t believe the trouble it is to get any weapons-grade plutonium these days. Even for a man of my wealth. We might have had an easier time just hijacking some old Soviet-era surplus submarines, but they were always so unreliable. Bloody thing might have gone off on us, and that wouldn’t be any good, now would it?”

  “Yeah, that would have been a real shame.” Annja looked at the guards. “So, are they going to shoot me?”

  “Not unless they have to. I’d much rather you anticipate the countdown in the opposite way I will be.”

  “Why have you got such a grudge against me?”

  Henderson shook his head. “My dear, I don’t have a grudge against you or your friend. This is simply business. You two wandered into an area where you shouldn’t have and regrettably, you must pay the price for that curiosity.”

  Annja frowned. “You could always let us go.”

  “And have you tell the world what I’ve done here?”

  “As soon as that bomb goes off, the rest of the world is going to know what you did. How else will you explain your sudden appearance on the scene to tap into the oil reserves hidden here?”

  Henderson smiled. “By the time the officials of the United States and Canada get their act together, I will already have sucked this particular reservoir dry and moved it to another site in international waters where I can claim that I struck the reserve myself using my money. And then I’ll simply start selling it at such a bargain price that the OPEC countries will find themselves teetering on economic collapse. I’ll have a line of countries wanting to do business with me for my low prices, and before anyone realizes what’s happening, it will be too late. The oil will be gone, I’ll be rich and no one will be the wiser.”

  “You’ve made that sound far too easy. There’s no way that will ever work and you know it,” Annja said.

  “I’m not hearing any convincing arguments from you, Annja. If you’ve got a point to make, I’ll entertain it, but if you’re just stalling for time, I’m afraid you’re working on the wrong man.”

  Annja shook her head. “They’ll take you out. You won’t have a safe haven anywhere in the world. You’ll be hunted down like a dog.”

  Henderson laughed. “You do have a very simplistic view of the world’s politics, don’t you? In reality, no one will care. The elected officials will be happy that they suddenly have access to oil at remarkably low prices. They can bulk up their strategic reserves and have enough for at least a half century without buying anything from the Middle East.”

  “And you expect those countries to collapse?”

  “Why wouldn’t they? Nothing but a bunch of sand dwellers who happened upon the world’s bulk of oil. Not very equitable, is it?”

  “I don’t know,” Annja said. “Considering a lot of their real estate isn’t arable, I’d say it’s almost a fair trade.”

  “They’re barbarians,” Henderson said. “And they should be treated as such. When I release the oil and they have no customers, they’ll wither away and die. There will be a rush to try to sustain themselves in some other economic fashion, but it will be far too late for most of them.” Henderson rubbed his chin. “Although the United Arab Emirates might do all right. Ingenious bastards, that lot. Those folks in Dubai are wizards.”

  “That’s acceptable to you?”

  “Oh, I believe we can have a Dubai in the world and not lose much sleep over it.”

  “Your actions will simply spawn a new era of panglobal terrorism. Tons of innocent people will die. And it will all be because of you.”

  Henderson shrugged. “Perhaps.”

  “And you can sleep at night with that hanging over your head?”

  Henderson laughed. “Actually, I sleep very well indeed. But I thank you for your deep concern. It’s almost touching.”

  “You’re a maniac.”

  “Undoubtedly.”

  Annja stopped. “It’s not too late to stop this.”

  Henderson shook his head. “I’m getting tired of this conversation, Annja. I’d hoped you might be rather more amusing than this. But instead of giving me any original thought, you simply tell me not to do it. Disappointing.”

  “Well, jeez…”

  “I’m not one to abandon a project after I’ve already committed almost fifty million dollars to it. Fifty million, Annja. Do you have that kind of ca
sh available? Would you like to pay me off so you can save your precious lives and this area of the ocean?”

  “I don’t have that kind of money and you know it.”

  He shrugged. “Well, you never know. There was a fantastic article in one of the magazines I read about the unglamorous millionaire next door. That might have been you.”

  “Where will you go?”

  “After I leave you? Off to our processing facility. It’s even more impressive than this station. I wish you could see it, Annja, but I’m afraid the time has come for me to leave you in the very capable hands of my guards.”

  The first guard started toward Annja while the second guard brought his gun up and leveled it on Annja’s head. He was too far away for Annja to smack it off-line and she had little choice but to accept the handcuffs that the first guard put on her wrists.

  “This isn’t the last you’ll see of me,” Annja said.

  Henderson nodded. “Yes, I know. You’ve got that dying urge to tell me how you’ll hunt me down and get your vengeance. Wonderful. Well, I look forward to it. And so, too, does Sheila, I’d expect.”

  “What about these guys?”

  Henderson nodded. “They’ll be fine.” He addressed the guards. “After you get her and the man positioned, take the second shark and rendezvous with me at the processing facility.”

  They both nodded and then led Annja back up to the ladder and forced her to climb out of the submarine. The act was considerably tougher with her hands restricted, but fortunately, they’d cuffed her hands in front of her rather than behind.

  The first guard nodded back at the sub. “He’s going to be harder getting out of there.”

  “It was your idea to cuff his hands behind him,” the second guard said. “Have fun hauling his ass up here.”

  The first guard left. Annja looked at the second guard, who stood next to her on the submarine. “Not very smart that guy, huh?”

  “Shut up.”

  “Just making small talk.”

  “I said be quiet or I’ll shut you up.”

  Annja nodded. “All right, then. I just can’t believe you guys are going along with this. All this destruction. People are going to die.”