by David Wood
Maddock whipped his head around to look behind them. Entering the chute was one of the divers they had dispatched. Maddock cursed himself for not thinking to grab the still intact face mask they’d ripped off the one diver and left on the bottom. Not to mention the guns. Maddock frantically pointed forward and kicked, ushering Bones on through the chute. The passageway curved left and as they followed it, another flechette zipped past both of them and slammed into the tunnel wall.
Again, Maddock picked up the pace, shoving Bones ahead of them as they sought to elude their armed pursuer. Even as he expended additional energy, Maddock made it a point not to breathe faster or heavier, knowing his air supply was extremely low.
They reached another bend and as they rounded it, this time Maddock felt a sharp pain in his thigh. He stopped moving in order to assess the hit. Fortunately the flechette had struck him at an angle, so that it did not penetrate deeply. He tried to keep moving but the water pushing against it caused it to wiggle painfully in his leg, so he paused to rip it out. He flipped on his headlamp to examine the spent round in order to make sure it was still intact, that a piece of it hadn’t broken off inside his leg. He dropped it and pushed forward.
Bones had stopped up ahead, looking back, wondering why Maddock had fallen so far behind. Maddock waved him on. No need to endanger both of their lives. He’d rather have one of them make it back to Willis to tell what happened down here than to have both of them die, either by physical attack or by running out of air. Bones kicked off toward the chute exit while Maddock pressed on. He was now considerably slower than the naturally speedy Bones due to his leg injury, but still managed to make decent forward progress.
Up ahead, the archway that marked the entrance to the chasm shipwreck area loomed. As Maddock kicked toward it, he recalled how unstable it was, the rocks that comprised it shifting and moving when he and Bones had passed through. An idea was forming in his brain when a flechette grazed his wetsuit, tearing it and skinning the flesh, but this time not embedding into his body. He continued swimming toward the archway, the idea coalescing into an action-plan by the time he reached it.
Maddock unsheathed his knife. As he passed underneath the precarious arch, he began hacking at some of the loose stones at the base of the archway. He pried several of them loose, keeping an eye on a massive boulder overhead, which wobbled, but held in place. He now saw two dive lights illuminating him and his immediate surroundings. He supposed both divers had now reached him, even though one had only a cracked mask. Wincing as he moved his leg in order to wedge his blade beneath a large rock, he knew he needed to make something happen unless he wanted to end up as a flechette pincushion.
Maddock kept at it, knowing the rocks would topple soon. What he wasn’t so sure of was which way they would fall. Hopefully not on top of him, but it was a chance he had to take. With a precious normal breath rather than the shallow ones he’d been taking in order to conserve air, he put all of his strength into moving one of the archway’s foundation stones. Right hand on his makeshift pry bar, left on the rock itself, he heaved with everything he had, grunting into his mouthpiece with the effort.
He felt something slide and then, with a final shove, Maddock looked up to see the towering archway start to collapse. The rocks making up the sides tumbled out of place first, then the top. They fell slower in water than if they had been on land, but people moved slower underwater, too, and Maddock was under no illusion as to his fate should one of these rocks land on him.
He registered the chaotic movement of his pursuers’ lights, their beams dancing around the falling archway. Seeing the boulders piling up and choking off the only entrance in or out of the treasure chasm, Maddock knew he had mere seconds to make it through the archway. Apparently the competing treasure hunters had come to the same decision, as they no longer held their weapons at the ready, but instead focused solely on swimming as fast as they could toward the archway portal.
Maddock spent no more time thinking things through. He powered through the arch just as the last open gaps were filled in by a cascade of tumbling boulders, the unnerving sound of heavy grating, rock-against-rock, filling the water all around him. His adrenaline spiked when he felt resistance as he tried to kick. He tugged his right leg and then realized the fin blade had been caught between two rocks, trapping it in between. He pulled hard but still could not free himself. At least his attackers had been walled off from him, stuck on the other side of the chasm. He figured they would probably find a way through; there were bound to be gaps here and there, but for the immediate future he was safe from that threat.
But any second he expected to inhale only to find there was nothing left to breathe. He had no time to be stuck. He considered simply removing the stuck fin and leaving it behind, but he would need all the propulsion he could get to make it back to the surface in time. Maddock brought his knife to the fin blade and sliced it off just above where it was pinned. The rubber separated easily and soon he had a stubby fin to work with on his right leg, like the kind body surfers wore. A lot better than nothing, Maddock thought, as he jetted off toward the surface.
Even though he felt a strong sense of elation at having eluded his pursuers and escaping the avalanche of his own making, Maddock still felt disappointment at having lost the bulk of the treasure. Other than the few pieces he and Bones now carried with them, the hoard was now blockaded behind the collapsed arch. It would be a massive undertaking to move significant loads of treasure through that heap of jumbled stones, essentially undoable, Maddock knew. The treasure was lost, and with it, his dreams.
He headed for the boat, the sounds of the still collapsing tunnel ringing hollow in his ears.
Chapter 32
Fabi felt the blindfold being roughly torn from her eyes. She did not recognize the man who tossed the fabric aside, though could tell he was a local Haitian of middle age, and had heard his associates call him by name: Odelin. She looked past her captor, trying to ascertain where she was. Inside, in what looked like the kitchen of a house, where she could hear but not see other men in the other rooms. Fabi sat on a chair, her hands tied behind her back but not to the chair itself, and her legs not bound. Looking sideways, she saw Cassandra in the same situation on a chair next to her.
“You.” Odelin pointed at Fabi. “Up. Come with me.” He waved toward the adjoining room. Fabi stood, and Cassandra began stammering. “F—Fabi? What’s happening? What are they doing?”
Odelin stomped his boot on the wooden floor. “Silence, or you will be gagged.”
“Don’t worry, Cassandra. I’m right here. These men want something from me. When we get it sorted out, I’m sure they’ll let us go like the gentlemen they are.” She gave her captor a hard stare, but he only waved her on into the next room.
The dining room had once been nice, but had long since fallen into a state of neglect. The walls had cracks and spider webs dangled from corners. A table surrounded by mismatched chairs occupied the center of the smallish room, its surface cracked and dirty. Two other men waited in here, both standing against different walls and armed with sub-machine guns. These two still wore the concert T-shirts around their faces, Fabi noticed, but for some reason the one who led her in here, Odelin, was unconcerned about being masked. Would she recognize those holding the guns from around town?
She had little time to ponder this as Odelin shoved a chair in front of her. He stood over her until she sat. Then he pushed her and her chair up to the table and walked around the table to sit opposite her. He stared at her dead on.
“Fabiola Baptiste. Your cousin, David the priest, was looking for a shipwreck treasure thought to be here in the waters of Haiti.”
“If you say so.” Fabi struggled to keep her voice even, to keep her emotions in check. “I know nothing about what David was doing. I hadn’t heard from him in months when he died. Perhaps you were responsible for his death?”
“Perhaps you will answer my questions without asking your own, or you will find th
at the ability to speak is a privilege afforded only to those who cooperate.”
Fabi let her head loll back in frustration, speaking up to the ceiling. “I’m telling you, I don’t know anything about a sunken treasure. I work in a medical clinic! What do I know about underwater treasure?”
“You have associates cooperating with you to find it. The Americans with a boat.”
“They are acquaintances of mine from my old days in the American Navy. They are here on vacation to do some recreational scuba diving because I always told them what a beautiful and hospitable place Haiti was to visit.”
Odelin shook his head slowly, taking on a pained expression as though saddened by what he had just heard. “Fabiola...I will ask you one more time. One Haitian to another. Where. Is. The. Treasure?”
“I’m sorry, but I’m running out of ways to say the same thing over and over. I don’t know anything about any treasure, much less where it might be.” She perked up as if receiving a new thought. “In the ocean. How about that. It’s in the ocean.”
Her captor appeared unfazed. “Where in the ocean?”
“I have no idea.”
He looked to one of the men holding a gun and nodded. The guard promptly returned the nod without a word and left the room, leaving one armed man behind.
“We’ll see about that.”
Chapter 33
Off the coast of Alto Velo Island
Willis finished patching up Maddock’s leg wound with the Sea Foam’s first aid kit. “You’re good to go. In the future try to avoid pointy metal things.”
Maddock shot him a look and picked up a pair of binoculars. He skulked about the deck of the Sea Foam, keeping watch for any approaching vessels that might signal reinforcements from their attackers. He scoured the sea in all directions, but so far they were alone on the ocean.
Bones had spread the contents of their treasure bags on a table and now gazed at the small assortment of pricey baubles, eyes glazing over as he imagined how much more they had to leave behind.
“Hey Maddock, you think there’s any way we can get back through that archway you demolished to reach the rest of the treasure or what?”
Maddock let the binoculars drop around his neck as he, too, mentally relived the harrowing dive into the labyrinthine chasm. “Doesn’t look too promising.”
Bones looked up from the small amount of recovered treasures. “There’s gotta be another way in there. Around that archway, or somewhere else, maybe?”
Discussion about whether or not the archway was the only way in or out of the treasure lair continued until Maddock’s cellular phone rang. He picked it up and eyeballed the number on screen with curiosity.
Bones grinned. “Who is it? You finally find a female who wants to go out with you?”
Maddock shrugged. “Haiti number. Maybe it’s Fabi.” He raised his eyebrows at Bones before accepting the call and putting the phone to his ear.
But the new voice in his ear was male, and he was surprised to recognize the name the caller identified himself as: Dr. Ricardo Avila. Maddock recalled Fabi mentioning him as the director of the local health clinics she worked for. Bones was making noise about letting him talk to “her” and Maddock almost missed it.
“Hold on. He says he has Fabi.”
“Let me talk to her, will you?”
Maddock cupped his hand over the phone’s microphone. “Bones,” he hissed, “I don’t mean he has her like he has her on the line, waiting to talk to us. I mean, he has her, as in, kidnapped, holding her prisoner. Let me talk.”
Bones’ expression darkened instantly and Willis stepped closer so as to overhear the call.
Maddock spoke into the phone. “Say again, please, Dr. Avila. I had some background noise. You are with Fabi?” He put the phone on speaker mode while Bones and Willis leaned in.
“Fabi is with me for now, Mr. Maddock. But her time is limited. I know what you and your friends are doing in Haiti with your boat.”
“We came to console our friend and former Navy colleague, Fabi, after the death of her relative, and to do some diving while here.”
“Diving for treasure, Mr. Maddock. Do not take me for a fool and try to make it sound as though you are on a routine vacation. You will listen to me now if you want to ever see Fabi again, is that clear?”
Bones nodded reflexively while Maddock responded. “Yes, that is clear Dr. Avila. Go ahead, I’m listening.”
The voice carried a trace of the local island accent. “In return for Fabiola’s safe return, I want you to deliver me the treasure of the 1715 fleet.”
Maddock made no attempt to disguise his reactionary spitting sound. “With all due respect, Dr. Avila, that’s ridiculous. I have no idea where that treasure is. If I did, I’d be a rich man on some megayacht in St. Martins or somewhere nice, not here on my old scow in dangerous places like Haiti.” He waited for Avila to respond while eyeing the sunlight glinting off the table of treasures.
“No excuses, Mr. Maddock. Haiti is, as you say, a ‘dangerous place’, and no one will bat an eye at the disappearance of yet another pretty girl. You have three days. You may reach me at the number you now have on your phone. If I do not have the bulk of that treasure in my possession in the next seventy-two hours, Fabi is a dead woman.”
The connection clicked off and Maddock was left to stare at the phone screen while Bones and Willis stared at each other. At length, Maddock broke the stunned silence by pointing to the table that was sparsely covered with treasures. “You think he’d be happy with those?”
Bones shook his head while Willils said, “Probably just make him even meaner. He’d know we know where the treasure is if we show him those. You were telling him you have no idea.”
Maddock nodded. “I thought that was the route that would give us the most options at this point. We could always tell him we found those later if we need to stall for more time. Like we’re getting closer.”
“What about actually getting the rest of it?” Bones stared over the boat’s gunwale into the deep waters with an uncertain look on his face.
Maddock sighed heavily and shook his head. “Bones...there’s just no way. Not in three days, anyhow. Not only has there been a collapse of the only known route into the treasure cave, but the place is already known to Avila’s men, obviously. He just wants us to do all the work. He sent those divers after us. Those guys probably saw some of the same gold we did down there.”
“If they survive to talk about it.” Willis surveyed the waters around the boat. “I don’t see any air bubbles coming up. We’d have seen them if they surfaced.”
A grim moment of silence ensued after which Maddock said, “They probably have a vessel of some kind nearby, probably on the other side of Alto Velo somewhere, with at least one man on it. When and if the divers don’t return, they’ll assume we were behind it and then Avila will view this site with added significance.”
Willis looked at Bones. “I know she means a whole lot to you, man, and I definitely don’t want any harm to come to her either, but even without Avila’s men down there, Maddock is right. It was unstable enough before he toppled that arch. Think of the operation it would be to clear a path back down there, excavate all that gold and get it back up. We’re talking dozens of dives, if we can get through at all. I bet our decompression time alone would be a whole day if we added it all up.”
Maddock nodded in silent agreement. “That doesn’t mean there’s nothing we can do, though.”
Bones eyed him doubtfully. “Please don’t say ‘go to the cops’.”
“I’m guessing Avila’s got at least a few local law enforcement officers on his underground payroll,” Willis added.
Maddock shook his head, his gray eyes hardening with resolve. “No cops. I’m talking about going after Fabi ourselves.”
Chapter 34
Avila’s island
“Looks nice enough.” Bones shielded his eyes from the sun with a hand as he stood on the deck of the Sea Foam looking
at a small island in the distance. Ringed with white sand beaches, the interior was elevated and covered in greenery, with a few towering palms poking through the top of the forest. It hadn’t taken much research to locate this small island owned by the doctor. Located off Haiti’s west coast in the Gulf of Gonâve, it was too small to appear on most maps, and when it did, no name was given for it.
“Looks can be deceiving.” Willis squinted as he, too, took in the destination for their extraction mission while Maddock minded the helm.
“Yeah,” Bones said, “I mean, take you as an example. You look like a big tough guy, but we all know in a fight I could take you down, no problem.”
“Anytime you want to back that up, you let me know.”
Maddock interrupted the verbal sparring. “All right, kids, I think this is as close as we can get to the island without attracting undue attention. We’re going to have to swim it from here. Let’s get the gear ready.”
Maddock glanced up at the water’s surface as he gripped the handles of his underwater scooter. A three-foot long torpedo-shaped craft, it ran silently on battery power and allowed the diver to cover long distances with minimal exertion. Bones and Willis flanked him on identical machines. Maddock saw the outline of palm trees through the water and knew they were very close to the beach. He looked for a cluster of boulders he’d seen in a satellite photo of Avila’s island compound provided by Jimmy Letson. He found the cluster off to their right and turned toward it, the scooter dragging him effortlessly through the roiling water.
He sought the rocks because they protruded from the water, and that would provide cover, something to hide behind and shield them from anyone who might be looking as they broke the surface with their scooters. The trio reached them and by that point the water was so shallow they were barely concealed beneath it. Maddock popped his head up into the air and was relieved to find that the rocks did in fact block direct line of sight to the beach.
