“Bill, the archeologist?”
“Yeah, that’s the one.”
“Sure have…” Matthew laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“Did Sam tell you that Bill was the best archeologist he’s ever met?”
“Sure did. In fact, he told me specifically, that he has asked him to join Global’s Deep Sea Expeditions since old man Reilly first put him up to running the project, but each time was rejected. This was the first one that grabbed Bill’s attention enough to bring him out. Why, do you know him?”
“Yeah, I’ve never met Bill. But I’ve heard the rumors.” Matthew’s left eyebrow was raised, as though he was trying to hint at something, “Sam’s been trying to get Bill to join his team for nearly a decade. Rumor has it they studied together at college, but I’ve heard that it was more personal than just that. Either way, I don’t know how he’s managed to persuade Bill to join us…” Matthew then laughed again, “Only it’s not Bill… its Billie. She often uses the name Bill on her dissertations, because in our apparently equal world, people still take more notice of a man’s view.”
“Holy shit! You mean that angel who came in just then is the archeologist that I have to look after for the next two weeks until Sam gets back?”
“That’s the one, you lucky bastard.”
It was at that point that the angel returned.
“Matthew, I just spoke to Veyron…” she said, her waspish voice betraying her adorable face in a second. “That fucking asshole sends a couple of his goons to pick me up and virtually drag me from a research core sampling station, 20 miles deep, in Antarctica, a week before my two-year project reached its conclusion, starts telling me a whole bunch of bullshit about finding one of the greatest archeological discoveries of this century — and now I find out he’s not even here. I don’t even know how he found me…”
Matthew just smiled at her as she stopped her rant.
“How did he find me?” she asked. “Has that fuckwit been keeping secret tabs on me again? You know that’s why I left him last time. I was sick of the secret bullshit that seemed to follow him wherever his projects led. So, Matthew, tell me… where the fuck is he, and what’s more important to him than this amazing discovery?”
“The Mahogany Ship,” Tom replied, not making an attempt to conceal the grin that beamed across his face.
“Who the hell are you?”
“I suppose I’m the man who’s going to be your tour guide of the deep blue sea over the next couple weeks until Sam returns.”
“Billie, meet Tom Bower. Sam’s Director of Operations and the Maria Helena’s helicopter pilot. He’s been friends with Sam since they were kids,” Matthew said.
“You’re Tom Bower?” She looked him up and down with what appeared almost like admiration. “I kind of expected you to be bigger. Sam spoke a lot about you while we were at college. You both became helicopter pilots for the Corps… only he got out and you stayed and served your country at the Sandpit …”
That’s strange. He neglected to mention anything about attending college with a half-Asian goddess with a foul mouth…
Instead of mentioning it, Tom replied, “Yeah that would be me. You two must have been pretty close. You sound like you know him pretty well.”
A crooked smile appeared, but even that looked delicious.
“Yeah, you could sure say that again.”
There was obviously a past between the two of them, but she certainly wasn’t going to be forthcoming about it.
Matthew, on the other hand, held no such restraint, “Sam and Billie have a past that goes way back… Are you kidding me, you haven’t heard the story?”
“No…” Tom started to reply, but was interrupted.
“And he’s not going to either,” Billie said. “So, he’s finally discovered the Mahogany Ship, hey?”
“Sounds like it,” Tom replied.
“Okay, I have to actually run this ship, so I’ll leave you two to get better acquainted,” Matthew said.
“Thanks, Matthew,” she said. “So, why aren’t you there?”
“What do you mean? I’m looking after his real work.”
“I thought you two were like best buds or something.”
“So what?”
“So, Sam Reilly’s been after the Mahogany Ship since he was a boy, searching for it with his dad! No wonder he left this project in an instant. He’s been obsessed with it ever since I met him. What I don’t understand is why he wanted to go after it alone?”
“Yeah, well that makes two of us.” His recent feeling of betrayal echoing in his voice, Tom said, “It sounds like the Mahogany Ship’s already been discovered and he just had to go there to make certain it was over, and didn’t want to lose what we’ve discovered here.”
“All right, so what have we discovered here?”
Tom looked around, determining which of the newcomers were within earshot of their conversation. He trusted the crew of the Maria Helena, but who could say where the loyalties of the specialists who just arrived might lay?
He walked to the back of the boat, where their conversation was less likely to be heard by anyone else aboard. “How much did Sam tell you about it?”
“Not much.”
“Really?” He didn’t believe her. “You left your project of two years, and flew half way across the planet, to join a man I’m not even convinced you like, at a new project, which you know nothing about?”
“Like I said, a couple of his goons literally dragged me off my research station in the Antarctic. All Sam told me on the phone was that he found what appears to be a very old Mayan Tomb in the shape of a pyramid, at the bottom of the ocean. Don’t get me wrong, that sounds pretty interesting, but nothing that couldn’t wait until next winter, after the hurricane season. He certainly didn’t suggest that he’d discovered Atlantis or something like that!”
“Did he tell you how big it was?”
“No.”
“Well its big… you just need to look at it for yourself. Anything I say about it won’t do it justice. It appears a local mine damaged part of it while blasting deep below the pyramid, releasing a thousand-year-old cyanide store, which set into motion the destruction of most the sea life within the Gulf of Mexico.”
“How did you get around that?”
“We’ve filled the section with concrete. A team of mining engineers are now installing a more substantial plug on the other side of their mine’s tunnel. We’re now excavating our side of the pyramid again. There’s more to go, but there will be enough for you and me to enter the pyramid.”
“Anything else that might shed some sort of explanation for why Sam was so insistent on bringing me in on this case? Anything that can help before we dive tomorrow?”
“Yeah, do the words Master Builders mean anything to you?”
Billie’s face didn’t change at all, as she replied, “No, never heard the words before. Certainly not in the Mayan culture.” It was so casual, that Tom’s experience working as a SEAL kicked in — did she already have an answer to that question prepared?
“Not at another site or project you and Sam worked on previously, perhaps?”
“Not any that I can recall, but I know that Sam’s worked with a number of archeologists over the years for a variety of projects. I’m sorry, Tom. It was nice to meet you. I’ll see you first thing in the morning, say 5 a.m.? I have to check on something.”
“Yeah, 5 a.m. I’ll see you at the moon pool. Welcome aboard, Billie. Let me know if I can do anything for you.”
She nodded her head and left quickly.
At 0500 sharp, the diving bell began its slow journey to the bottom of the ocean. Neither spoke as it descended, and Tom noticed that the slightest appearance of concern had not left her face since he’d first mentioned the words Master Builders.