The SEAL duo swam out of the plane through the windshield and up into the tunnel with the crate. Bones shoveled the crate ahead of him through the tunnels, guided by Maddock. A few minutes later, they came out in the cavern under the ledge where the main body of the plane stuck through the coral wall. Reaching the tail section, they looked around for signs of the other divers but thankfully couldn’t see any.
Maddock pointed to the lift bag, a device used in underwater salvage operations consisting of a large, heavy-duty bag that could be filled with air from a scuba regulator, clipped to Bones’ belt, indicating that they should use it to lift the crate.
Bones set to work preparing the webbing harness of the bag while Maddock pushed the box into position. When they had it set in the harness, Bones took the regulator mouthpiece from his mouth and used it to inflate the lift bag. As the bag began to fill, slowly lifting the box from where it rested on the ledge, Maddock guided it off the ledge and clear of the overhang.
With the box suspended in open water, as if floating in a void, Maddock and Bones began their ascent. Bones was careful to regulate the speed of the rising lift bag. Air expanded as it rose to shallower depths, and he had to occasionally vent air from the bag or it would rise too fast and get away from them. If they lost control of it, the rig could shoot to the surface without them where the other divers on the boat would see it.
They reached the top of the wall and the shallow coral flat, where the outline of the boat was visible above. Maddock considered their options. Their bubbles would be visible to those in the boat now. He decided to make communication with the team. Remaining quiet after so long might be suspicious.
“We’re making our deco stop,” he announced.
Watanabe’s voice came back. “Copy that. You have artifacts, right? Spinney’s already asking about what we found.”
Bones smirked as he eyed the hanging box. Maddock glanced at the mesh bag clipped to his belt loaded with the navigation gear.
“Yeah, we got some good stuff — navigation equipment, I think, but I’m not sure — and some photos.”
“Roger. See you in a few.”
Maddock pointed out across the flat reef, away from the boat. Bones nodded and they began moving, with Maddock swimming slightly above the bag to block its yellow material from being seen by the team while they were close to the boat. It might seem a little odd that they were moving around during their decompression stop instead of remaining in one place, as was the norm, but as long as one stayed at a constant, suitable depth, there was nothing wrong with it.
In fact, Maddock thought, as he spotted a pair of antennae sticking out from under a coral formation, he could think of a good reason for doing it. He swam at an angle toward the lobster, careful not to spook it. When he saw it start to crawl backward into the coral, though, he knew it was alerted to his presence, so he backed off and circled around. Bones held his hands up in a what are you doing? gesture, and Maddock pointed at the lobster. If he could catch it, it would present the perfect excuse for wanting to swim around over the reef during the decompression stop.
Maddock swam over the top of a bulbous brain coral four feet in diameter and descended head first to just above the spot where the lobster continued its retreat, hoping to surprise it. The tactic worked. The “bug,” as divers called them, had walked further away from the coral out onto the open sand. Maddock stopped, poised above the sloping brain coral. He would have to move fast and decisively or the bug would retreat into its coral haven and not come out again.
He took a deep breath, held it for a second while he watched the invertebrate stop walking, and then he sprang. With a powerful kick of his fins, Maddock closed on the creature, trapping it firmly in the sand with both hands. He felt its powerful tail muscles working as it tried to flee but he maintained a firm grip with his gloved hands until he was able to drop it into the same mesh bag that held the Earhart artifacts.
He caught up with Bones, who was still dragging the lift bag across the reef. They were now a safe distance from the boat, but not so far away that the site would be difficult to find later. Still, their return would be at night, so Maddock looked around for any kind of distinctive terrain or landmarks they could use as a reference point. He spotted a thick cluster of branching Elkhorn coral in the midst of an otherwise sandy patch and decided that it would have to do.
He pointed it out to Bones, who nodded and released the air from the lift bag so that it dropped onto the sand next to the bright yellow formation. As Maddock swam up to Bones, he spotted another lobster, this one positioned for an easy grab. He scooped it up and dropped it into the bag. Bones gave him a big grin, and then pointed back toward the boat. It was time to go.
The pair of SEALs traveled across the reef until they were directly under the waiting Zodiac. They slowly swam to the surface, where the divers were waiting to grab their gear as they came up. When Maddock put his head back into the water to remove his fins, he saw something below.
Something sleek and dark was moving toward them from out of the depths. Moving fast.
Chapter 9
“Go! Get in the boat!” Maddock yelled at Bones, who was right next to him in the water, one hand on the boat’s pontoon. Through his mask, he saw Bones wince at the loud voice coming out of his earpiece.
“What’s up?” Bones looked around and saw nothing. He started to look into the water.
“Don’t look. Just go!” Maddock reached a hand out to a diver in the boat whose eyes widened at the sight of whatever was coming at them from below. He reached a strong arm out and began to haul Maddock in while another diver reached out to Bones. Maddock’s chest was up on the boat’s pontoon when they felt the impact.
They heard shouts of “Whale!” at the same time the Zodiac lifted partially into the air, tipping up on one side before splashing back down. They heard a sharp hissing of air.
“Did you see that? He punctured the tube!” a diver said.
“Patch it up with duct tape!” Watanabe instructed.
Meanwhile, Maddock and Bones had slid off the boat back into the water, where they now stared into the depths.
“I see it.” Maddock’s voice was low and steady. “Pilot whale. It’s got a blade strapped to its snout.”
“Slashed our boat!” Watanabe said.
“Here he comes again,” Bones warned. He didn’t try getting back into the boat again. “We’re sitting ducks up here.” He jerked his thumb downward to indicate they should drop down to the bottom. Maddock nodded in agreement and they vented the air from their buoyancy vests, sinking back below the waves while the boat crew struggled to patch the inflatable boat before it flooded and sank.
Maddock sized up the animal on their way back down to the reef. It was a small whale, about as long as two of the dolphins they’d just finished training with, but with a lot more girth. So it was much bigger overall, but at least there was only one of them. Regardless of the whale’s size, the knife on its rostrum left no doubt as to the purpose of the beast’s training. This was no exercise where they would be “tagged.” It had been sent to deal out some serious damage, perhaps even kill.
Bones held a finger from each hand together, repeating the signal Maddock had used in the training exercise. Dane agreed. If the two of them separated, the whale could attack them individually and the other wouldn’t be of much help. They moved into the back-to-back formation, assuming a standing position on the bottom. The whale slowed and cruised around them in a circle, sunlight dancing off its blade.