“Did you light a fire?” she asked.
“Wing stove and a sierra cup,” he said. “The flame is tiny, so we don’t have to worry about scaring away the Grey Man.”
Isla didn’t know what either of the items he listed was, but she didn’t really care. She was just happy to have some coffee.
“How’s your ankle?” he asked.
“Better. I barely feel a twinge when I put my weight on it.”
Grizzly nodded. “When we leave, we’ll take the easy way down, just to be safe.”
“Thanks for that.”
They sat quietly, drinking coffee and watching the sun rise. She found herself thinking that this would be a romantic moment were she with someone other than Grizzly. At least she’d reached a point at which she could tolerate the man. In fact, the silence they shared was almost companionable. On the downside, dawn was breaking and, as expected, they’d caught no sight of the Grey Man.
At least I won’t have to rewrite the ending of my story, she thought.
Grizzly stood, stretched, and yawned. He suddenly stood ramrod straight. “Oh my God!” He grabbed her by the shoulder. “Look over there!”
“If you’re trying to wind me up, it won’t work.” Isla turned and looked in the direction he indicated. Her breath caught in her throat.
In the midst of the morning fog, at the western edge of the summit, stood a tall, wraithlike figure.
“Am Fear Liath Mòr,” Grizzly whispered. “The Grey Man!”
Chapter 5
Maddock rose early and followed the aroma of freshly-brewed coffee up to the main cabin, where Corey was already at work.
“You do realize I’m not paying you by the hour,” he said, taking a seat at his friend’s side.
Corey grinned. “This isn’t work. At least, not really. Just researching sea monsters.”
“You forgot to close the tab with tentacle porn on it.” Maddock tapped the screen.
“Just a pop-up window,” Corey said, hurriedly closing one of the browser windows. “Searching for terms like Leviathan, Kraken, and giant squid turns up some weird stuff.” His crimson cheeks and reddening ears told a different story.
“Gotcha,” Maddock said. “Find anything interesting?”
“Not yet, still in the information gathering stage. I’ve steered clear of the obvious up to this point. At least, obvious for this part of the world.”
“Plesiosaur?” Maddock asked, naming the creature most frequently associated with the Loch Ness phenomenon.
Corey nodded. “I’ll dig into that later.”
“Sounds good. Once the guys are awake, we’ll start working on the strongbox we brought up from the sub.”
Their final dive of the previous day, one in which Matt and Willis had joined Bones and Maddock, hadn’t turned up any treasure. They’d found a few more coins, as well as some buttons and knives that might be of modest value to collectors. The item of most interest had been a strongbox found in the captain’s quarters. Given its weight, Maddock doubted it held any sort of treasure, but he’d thought it worth the effort of retrieving. Today they’d open it and see what was inside.
He busied himself with calisthenics, then enjoyed another cup of coffee as he watched the sun rise. He thought about calling Angel, his fiancée and Bones’ sister. She was in Los Angeles, meeting with an agent who wanted to capitalize on her growing fame as an MMA fighter and turn her into a movie star. What time was it there? Late night?
“Oh, what the hell.” He punched up her number. After a long pause, it began ringing. No answer. Either she was asleep or otherwise occupied. He’d check in with her later. Of course, he wasn’t sure she would be eager to take his call. Things had been tense between them the past few weeks. He couldn’t put a finger on it, but something was different.
“I hate it when you navel-gaze.” As if from nowhere, Bones appeared at his side, holding two steaming mugs. “Thought you might like a refill.”
“Thanks.” Maddock accepted the cup. “And you know I hate it when you sneak up on me like that.”
“I’m not sneaking. Indians just now how to move quietly, unlike white people, who can’t do anything without waking the neighbors.”
“Fair enough.” Maddock took a sip of coffee, trying to decide if he wanted to broach the topic of Angel. “Bones, has Angel said anything to you lately?”
“She says all kinds of stuff to me. Mostly ‘assclown’ and ‘asshat.’ She really likes to work ‘ass’ into things. No pun intended.”
“You know what I mean.”
Bones shook his head. “Bro, you know my rule. I stay out of your romantic crap. She’s my sister, you’re basically my brother, and incest is for rednecks, and you know how I feel about them.”
“So you don’t know of any reason things might have changed between us? She says we’re good, but something feels off.” He hesitated. “I saw a press photo of her at some movie premiere, and she wasn’t wearing her ring.”
“Dude, sometimes I don’t know which one of you is the girl in your relationship. Actually, I do.” Bones grinned, but his smile evaporated when he saw the look in Maddock’s eyes. “Okay, fine. She hasn’t said a freaking thing to me, but I have a theory. You and I are never going to stop doing what we do. At least, not as long as we’re able. Angel’s the same way. She’s got a lot of new stuff going on in her life. Maybe right now is not a good time for the two of you to be more than friends with benefits.”
Maddock nodded. It made sense. For most of the time he and Angel had known one another, he’d been the more accomplished of the two. Now, she was a prominent fighter in mixed martial arts, and her beauty had brought her a degree of celebrity and a plethora of business opportunities. And, it seemed, Hollywood fame might not be far behind.
“Then again,” Bones said, “I’m an advocate for the friend with benefits arrangement, so I’m biased.”
Maddock forced a smile. “Food for thought.” He drained his cup, stood, and sucked in a breath of fresh morning air. “I think I’ve explored my feminine side enough for one day. Let’s wake the others and see what’s inside the strongbox.”
Belowdecks of the Sea Foam, Maddock and crew had set aside a special room for the care and preservation of artifacts. Different items required various types of treatment, depending on composition and the setting in which they were found, and this room was equipped to handle just about any set of circumstances they might encounter.
The strongbox was locked, but the real challenge was the years of pressure and sea water that had effectively sealed it closed. It took Maddock a full two hours to carefully work it open. He could have cut through it, but the meticulous nature of the task afforded him the opportunity to lose himself in the work and forget his troubles.
While he attended to the task, the others worked on the rest of their finds: cleaning and preserving the coins and artifacts recovered from the sub. They all paused to watch when Maddock opened the box.
His heart sank when he removed the lid and saw that, as he had feared, the sea had managed to penetrate the closed box. Bit by bit, he scooped out the salt water, filtering it to make sure he didn’t lose anything. Finally, when the water level was almost at the bottom of the box, he got a good look at its contents: a tarnished pocket watch; several gold coins; a rectangular box about the size of a paperback novel; and a piece of black stone.
“I’ll bet this box belonged to the U-boat captain and these were his personal effects,” Maddock said, carefully lifting the watch out and passing it over to Matt.