by Hep Aldridge
I said, “Well, it will revolutionize underwater research.”
"Yep, that’s what we do,” he said with a laugh. "So, you’re going to hit the water?"
I said, "Yeah the guys are chomping at the bit to get in and start working. We’ll take our underwater metal detector, and I hope to work the shoal region first."
"That’s a big area to scope out with one detector," Fitz said.
"I know, but that’s all we have for now."
There was a pause, and Fitz asked, “You going to be home tomorrow around 3:00?"
I said, "Yes."
"Good, I’m going to send you a present."
"A present," I queried?
"Yeah, consider it part of my investment in Risky Business," he said with a laugh.
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“You’ll see tomorrow; gotta run. Talk with you later." And that was it. Damn Fitz, he had turned into the most enigmatic SOB that I knew, but then I thought, maybe he was Santa after all.
At 2:59 the next day, there was a knock at my door. When I answered, three guys were standing there in Acme Corp. windbreakers, carrying two large and one medium-sized duffel bags. The lead guy spoke, “Dr. Burnett?”
"Yes," I said.
"May we come in?" I stepped back to let them in, and they deposited the bags on the floor. "These are compliments of Colonel Fitzsimmons; he wished you good luck." As I was about to ask some questions, they turned and walked back out the door with a, “Have a good day Sir.”
I watched them walk to the dark blue Suburban with dark tinted windows. There was another guy standing next to the vehicle with what looked like a compact assault rifle hanging under his windbreaker; all were wearing dark sunglasses. I thought, what the hell…? They got in their vehicle and pulled out of the driveway as I stood in the open doorway. Damn, this is getting more interesting by the day! I closed the door and turned my attention to the bags on the floor. In the two larger ones, there were three-LAR V Draeger re-breathers with full face masks and Com-links built in. Holy Shit…in the last bag there was a compact Com control unit that was the shipboard station to communicate with the divers while underwater. Son of a bitch, I thought; this is incredible. I then noticed the folded piece of paper lying on top of a brown paper bag. I opened the paper and recognized Fitz’s handwriting.
"Colt thought these might come in handy for your shallow water work. They are courtesy of my buddies at SOCOM…don’t break them; I may have to give them back! Good Luck, Fitz." Then a P.S., "Oh, by the way, buy yourselves a couple more underwater detectors. I hate to see people wasting their time just because they don’t have enough equipment. I guess I’ll accept your offer to join your quest, so just consider this part of my investment in Risky Business." I reached into the duffel and pulled out the brown paper bag. Inside, all neatly wrapped, were ten stacks of 100-dollar bills, 5,000 dollars each! I dropped to my couch in disbelief. That was 50 thousand dollars… Shit, there is a Santa!
I called the guys and gave them the news. They were as dumbfounded as I had been at first, but it didn’t take long for them to figure out ways to spend the money. We had been working on a limited budget for a while now. We weren’t broke; we just didn’t have a significant quantity of cash to throw into the business, so we had been monitoring our purchases closely. As of today, all that changed, and Dimitri was first to head out to buy three more underwater detectors at around a thousand dollars apiece. Tony spent money on computer/satellite up and down-link stuff for the boat. Junkyard suggested a good radar system and went shopping. I played First National Bank, handing out cash like it was candy, but it felt good.
We had to be careful about spending the money. We didn’t want to draw attention to our newfound wealth. We spread our purchases around between us and made a few on-line. At one meeting we decided that since we would be working in international waters, we should have some means of self-defense. The addition of firearms had become a priority for us. We had each been researching them based on personal taste. A shark gun was mandatory since we would have divers in the water. So, for starters, a 12-gauge Mossberg Mariner pump shotgun was put on the list. 2 CAR 15's were added, a 30.06 with scope, and Dimitri said we must have a Barrett model 82 A1 50 caliber sniper rifle with a scope.
I said, “A what? What in the freaking hell do we need a sniper rifle for?” He looked at me, straight-faced and said, “Zombies.”
I stared at him… How can you argue with that…?
The night before our first venture out, we met to go over final details. The weather looked good, boat was fueled, all electronics were working, and we had all been checked out on the new re-breathers in Dimitri’s pool. The military instruction manuals that came with them were straightforward. They even had pictures! Once we were done, we felt we were ready to go. The Coms worked great and spirits were running high. It was agreed that the shoals would be our first dive. It would be a shallow dive around 20 to 25 feet max, shallower on the shoal itself. We could continue to familiarize ourselves with all the new gear and get comfortable with it before going to deeper water. I decided we would put three divers in the water, Dimitri, Tony, and Doc. Lawrence, Joe, and I would stay on board.
It took about an hour and a half to clear the locks at the port and get to the shoals. We made our way to the GPS coordinates we had recorded at the southernmost end of the shoal and prepared to put divers over the side. The atmosphere was electric with excitement and anticipation. The sun was brilliant, the sky crystalline blue, and the salt air invigorating, so with a thumbs up, all three divers hit the water and disappeared below the surface. It had begun.
At ten feet, we did a Com check; everyone was loud and clear. As they descended, a running commentary began. When they reached the bottom, they had about 8 to 12-foot visibility and a slight northerly current. This worked to our benefit since we were starting at the southern end of the shoal and working north. Two detectors were sent down with the team; the third person would be on the watch for any gray-finned surprises.
We listened intently as the divers worked their way north. They reported sandy bottom, some odds and ends of junk lying around, a few hits with the detectors but nothing of any real interest. After an hour, I called the dive. We had moved the Lisa B north, following the divers’ progress. They had covered about a quarter of the shoal’s length when they surfaced. Ugly clouds were building, and it looked like bad weather was moving our way. We packed it in for the day and headed back to port. We made it through the locks when the storm hit. Perfect timing; 20 minutes, later we were pulling up behind Tony’s house in the pouring rain.
We secured the boat and had already stowed the Coms and computer we had out. The dive gear had been on deck, and the rain had rinsed the salt-water off, so there was nothing much to do but get out of the weather in Tony’s place and do a quick debrief. It only lasted fifteen minutes, and then a time was set for the next day to meet and cover things more in depth. Not a bad trip, I thought on the way home. No major discoveries, but I had expected none. What I liked was there were no real problems with the dive equipment or vessel. We had passed our first test with flying colors, something to celebrate.
When I got home, it was still storming, wind blowing and raining hard. I got into the house and pulled off my wet T-shirt and shorts and hit the shower. The rain had chilled me, but the warm water soon took care of that. Getting out and throwing on a pair of shorts, I padded into the kitchen, grabbed a glass, filled it with ice, and poured myself a nice stiff Beam and Ginger. I moved into the living room and flopped down on the couch. I have to admit; I was pleased with myself. The plan was coming together; the guys did great, and we had made our first dive with no problems. I laid my head back and relaxed as the drink did its job. Not bad, Colt, not bad at all.
Tomorrow, we would meet, go over the details of today’s dive, and plan our next trip to the shoals. Who knows? We may even find treasure. Ha, I thought, I’ll show you Dimitri, treasure hunting my ass!
About ten minutes later, the phone rang, and Fitz was on the other line.
“Well, how did it go?” he asked.
“Pretty good,” I replied. “No problems at all and thanks for the presents, all of them.”
“Good to hear and glad to help out,” he replied. “So, you got all the stuff and my note?”
“Yes, I did; that really helps us out, much appreciated.”
“Excellent, yeah, I gave your offer some serious thought and realized I haven’t had anything close to a vacation in over five years, so spending time helping out in your endeavor might be a nice break from time to time. And that’s my only caveat. I’ll gladly help out on the resource end of things and get away when I can, but my main focus has to be my business, at least for now. I hope that’s not a problem.”
“Not at all,” I said, “any support or help you can give us will be appreciated, and you’re welCome to drop by anytime.”
“Great, then I guess we’re treasure hunting partners!”
“That we are,” I said, and with that, we hung up.
The next few dives on the shoal went about like the first, good dives but nothing of any significance was found. We were over halfway along the length of the shoal on this our tenth dive. We had picked up visitors on our last dive, five six- to seven-foot nurse sharks and two black tips, just something for us to keep our eye on. It had been three weeks since we began, and we were getting into a real routine. Divers had been in the water for about ten minutes when Joe called me into the wheelhouse. I turned the Coms set-up on deck behind the wheelhouse over to Lawrence and went inside. “What’s up?” I said.
“Probably nothing, but check this out,” Joe said as he pointed to the radar screen. A small blip appeared about a mile and a half away and to our west.
I said “So?”
Joe said, on our last trip, he had spotted a vessel in the same area, and when we fired up to leave, it had left. “Could be a fisherman,” I said.
“Yeah,” Joe responded. “I thought so too until I went back on the computer and checked the stored radar data from our previous runs out here. The bogie appeared on our third trip out, same location and same pattern; we leave, and he leaves.”
Now that got my interest. “Hmm,” I said, "you think he’s following us?"
“Could be” Joe said.
It was a clear day, so I grabbed the large pair of Bushnell’s we had hanging in the wheelhouse and stepped outside for a look. Sure enough, after a few minutes of scanning, I spotted our bogie. It looked like a fishing boat from where I was. I went back inside and reported to Joe. “Are you sure it’s the same boat?”
He nodded. “I would bet money on it”! We hadn’t disguised our actions except for putting our divers over the side with the wheelhouse between them and shore. If someone was watching us, they wouldn’t have seen them enter or exit the water. Plus, they geared up and took off their gear in the cover of the wheelhouse. Their wetsuits were taken off before roaming around the deck. This is strange, I thought.
I was rolling this new development around in my head as I looked at the radar screen when Lawrence hollered for me to come there. I said to Joe, “Keep an eye on them.”
“You got it, boss."
When I got to the table where the Coms had been set up, Lawrence keyed the mike and said, “Dimitri, repeat your message. Colt is here.”
I heard Dimitri’s voice, “I may have found something.”
I grabbed the mike and keyed it, “Say again.”
Dimitri said, “I’m on my way up.” Within a few minutes, Dimitri broke the surface on the seaward side of the boat. As he swam to the dive ladder, I saw he had something in his hand. We helped him aboard, and he handed me an encrusted piece of rusty metal.
"This looks like an oar-lock and a good-sized one at that."
He agreed and said his detector picked it up right at the edge of the base of the shoal about ten inches deep in the sand. The whole crew had gathered around me as we examined the find when the radio came to life with Tony’s voice.
“Holy Shit, Holy Shit, Holy Shit.”
We all made a dash for the table. Joe, getting there first, grabbed the mike and said, "Tony, are you all right? Is everybody all right?"
There was a pause and then another extended, “Holy Shit.”
Doc’s voice came on next. "We’re Coming up.” Something in his voice sent chills up my spine. We all rushed to the dive ladder and waited. They broke the surface about ten yards from the boat and with BC’s inflated made their way to the ladder. As they got there, I could see the huge grins on their faces through their masks. My first thought was, thank God they are Okay. As they got to the dive ladder, in unison, they raised one hand, palm up, and in each were small bars about four inches long and a couple of inches wide with the unmistakable glint of Gold!
Chapter Seven
It was my turn then. “Holy Shit,” I said.
Doc said, looking up at me, “We found it, Colt; we found it!" As the four of us stood there in stunned silence, eyes wide and mouths agape, Doc said, “You should see your faces; if only I had a camera.”
“How about a little help here, guys?” That was enough to break the spell, and we quickly helped Doc and Tony aboard. There was so much adrenaline pumping, we practically yanked them and their gear out of the water and onto the deck. Before removing their re-breathers, they deflated their BCs and then reached into the pockets. They normally contained the bags of lead BBs that helped compensate for the buoyancy of their bodies and gear in the water. Instead, they pulled out more gold bars. We were all speechless as we looked on. They laid the bars on the deck and then removed the rest of their gear.
After they had stripped out of their wetsuits, we handed them towels and after staring at the pile of gold bars again walked around to the rear deck where we had chairs and the table for the Coms. We passed around bottles of water, and then I said, “Okay, tell us everything.”
Doc looked at Tony and said, “Go ahead, kid; you’re the one that found them,” and Tony began his story.
They were working their way along the base of the shoal using the detectors and heard Dimitri’s message to us. He had shown them the oar-lock before heading up. After he left, they continued their search with Tony right next to the base of the shoal and Doc a few feet further out. Tony had gotten a hit, not very strong, but he wanted to check it out. He fanned the sand next to the wall away with his hand and uncovered an indentation in the rock.
As he continued, the indentation got larger and went further back under the rock of the shoal base. He had cleared enough to stick his detector in and got a strong reading. He dug with his hands and opened the depression even more. Doc had seen what was happening and came over to help. In a few minutes they had cleared about a foot and a half of sand from under the rock and uncovered a rock overhang. As the sand settled, Tony stuck his detector under the ledge and into the hole they had cleared. It went nuts and almost pegged the needle on the gold scale. Doc saw that, and they began digging vigorously. In a few minutes their gloved hands uncovered broken pieces of wood, and as they pulled them out, they could tell they had been part of a box. As they kept digging, they finally uncovered one last large piece, and pulling it out of the way, they saw row upon row of gold bars.
I burst out laughing and said, “I’ll bet that was the Holy Shit moment.” Tony just grinned.
Doc said, “We were so excited. We pulled the bars out and stacked them next to the hole. We realized as we removed them there was another layer of bars underneath the first, so this is only part of one layer. There’s a hell of a lot more.”
Our minds were racing now, and everyone tried to talk at once. I let them go. After a few minutes the discussions died down, and I said, “We came out here on a search mission that has now turned into a recovery mission, and we’re not prepared for that today."
"Yeah,” Joe said, "but we can’t leave the gold down there. What about that boat?"
Dimitri immediate
ly said, “What boat?”
Joe filled the rest of the guys in on what he had found out and told me. Dimitri got up and grabbed the Bushnell’s and scanned the horizon.
“Sit down,” I said. “If we are being watched, the last thing we want is whoever it is to know we know.”
He Complied, and then more covertly scanned again. “Got ’em,” he said, “about a mile away, maybe a 30-to-40 foot fishing boat, looks like.”
“Yep,” we said, “that’s them.”
“Can’t tell much from this distance, so they're just anchored and have been there the last three times we’ve Come out?” Dimitri asked.
Joe replied, “Yep as far as I can tell, it’s been them.”
Lawrence and Junkyard chimed in, “Who the hell do you think they are?”
I shook my head. “Don’t know. That’s what we need to find out, but first, let’s get back to the gold.” It became clear to all of us we had major problems on our hands. The kind that needed to be dealt with right away.
I said “Okay, Tony, Doc, feel like hitting the water again?”
Doc said, “Hell, yeah.”
Tony replied, “How about I stay on board and let one of the other divers take my place? I’ve got an idea how to identify the mystery boat.”
I agreed and said, “Dimitri, you’re up.” As he and Doc suited up behind the wheelhouse, I said, “Junkyard, Lawrence, which one of you wants to be the floater and man the recovery lifts?” Junkyard volunteered, and Lawrence said he would man the Coms. I turned to Joe, “We still have those small recovery lifts on board?”
He said, “Yep, we have three.”
“Great, grab a scuba tank and regulator. Dimitri, take it down with you and use it to fill the lifts. Junkyard, when they hit the surface, bring them to the side of the boat, and Joe and I will lift them aboard and you can re-deploy them if necessary.” While I had everyone’s attention, I said, “Remember, they may be watching us. So, everyone slow and easy, no running around, relaxed slow movements. There is no reason for excitement on this boat; take it nice and slow… business as usual.” Then I added, “Just because we’ve all just become millionaires, there’s no reason to get excited.” That got a healthy laugh from everyone, and then it was down to business.
