Order of the Black Sun Box Set 10

by Preston William Child

  There was a crackling from the speaker followed by a voice—Sam's voice again. “Testing. Testing. You still alive down there?”

  The signal was coming in much weaker than it was before. The sudden sound was both startling and comforting. It was reminder that he wasn't quite as isolated as he felt. He still had people waiting for him up there, way above where it was a beautiful sunny day. They were counting on him so he wasn't going to let this damp, dark place fill his mind with despair. He pushed those thoughts away and continued his descent.

  “Aye. I'm still here.”

  “Good to hear,” Sam said but each word popped and cracked, becoming harder and hard to understand. “Just keep at it—”

  There was static and sounds smashing against one another in Purdue's ear. There weren't any more words formulating. It was all just a jumble of static that meant one undeniable thing: he was out of range for communication. Now he was completely alone.

  Sam didn't know the wait was going to be so excruciating. There was so much water now between the ship and the Deepsea Challenger that it felt like Purdue was on the whole other side of the planet. As much and as often as he questioned the validity of Admiral Ogden's logbook and its claims about sunken treasure, he knew better than to doubt Purdue. That man had surprised him more than once. He'd pulled off stunts that Sam would never have thought were possible.

  The fact he was still alive after the Order of the Black Sun invaded his home was baffling all on its own, and that was just one of dozen times Sam had seen Purdue beat the odds. He'd long since stopped betting against him, even when they didn't always quite see eye to eye on some things. He couldn't imagine that Purdue had survived all of the things he had just to drown down there now. Life couldn't really be that unfair.

  He listened intently to the speakers, hoping to hear Purdue respond at any moment. He waited and waited but no sound came out. It was beyond frustrating to have no say in the matter at this point. Purdue was out of range and it was all up to him now. There would be no helping him miles beneath the surface of the ocean.

  Aya entered the room and sat beside him, looking at the speakers. “Nothing?”

  “No.”

  “I am sure he is okay,” she said confidently. “You have worked with him a long time, yes? David Purdue is a very strange man. In a good way, I mean.”

  “He always has been but it always works out for him in the end. Sometimes he needs other people to make it work, though.”

  Time and time again, it had taken a combined effort from Purdue, Nina, and Sam to get through all of the challenges they faced. When it came to being alone, their track record wasn't nearly as impressive. In recent times alone, Nina had been taken captive, Sam had almost been executed by two Black Sun operatives, and Purdue lost everything he owned and almost burned to death, barely survived, only to wind up in a feud with a crime boss that almost killed him again. It was becoming apparent that they were all far more vulnerable when they were working separately.

  They needed to help each other; all of them.

  “Like in the warehouse,” Aya said, nodding. “He needed help then.”

  “Yes,” Sam said, smiling at the memory of Purdue's confusion when he saw Sam come in under the guise of Julian Corvus. “Purdue would have been dead then if it weren't for us.”

  “Us?” Aya laughed and winked at him. “You must mean me.”

  “I stalled them!” Sam snickered, but realized that it hadn't been as impressive as he hoped. It definitely didn't go quite as well as he thought it was going to. “I gave you time to use that magic book.”

  Aya rolled her eyes. “I could have used it at any time. I just did not want to interrupt you. You were a very good actor.”

  They both laughed together. Sam was surprised to be making such easy conversation with a woman who had essentially been a pirate working for the Wharf Man not long ago. Most people on this ship were just like her; former criminals who Purdue had formed a strong working relationship with. Sam hadn't solidified trust with them yet, but they were opening his eyes to the kind of people they really were. He was starting to see why Purdue had aligned with them.

  It was at least good to have company while they waited to hear from Purdue down below—if they heard from Purdue, that was. A pleasant conversation made all the difference when compared to sitting in utter silence. It was easy to become a nervous wreck when you were just waiting for something to happen, without knowing for sure that it actually was going to.

  It could be worse, he realized. He could be at the bottom of the ocean like Purdue, completely alone and in the dark. He hoped for the best and had known Purdue to be able to take care of himself, but there was a part of him that wished he was down there too. It was always good to have someone else watching your back.

  “In the short time I have known that man...” Aya said beside him. “I have seen him get out of every bad thing he was in the middle of. He managed to break into a museum and get away from police who were one step behind him. He fought off pirates when he had no weapons. He managed to kill one of the most terrifying men I have ever known. He freed me and my crew from the Wharf Man.”

  “For now,” Sam chuckled, remembering their recent run-in with that crime boss.

  “Yes,” Aya smiled. “For now. Still, he freed us from those lives. He did it all. He can do this too. I know he can.”

  It was true that Purdue was one of the most resilient people Sam had ever met. He'd gone on so many adventures with him and seen him face death so many times, but he never gave up, and he never failed. Purdue wasn't going to fail this time either. He would survive, at least, though Sam still wasn't convinced that that sunken treasure was really down there in the deepest seas.

  “You do not think it exists,” Aya said, like she was reading his mind.

  Sam looked up and acted oblivious. “What do you mean?”

  “You do not think that there is any treasure at the bottom of the sea. You think Purdue is down there for no reason.”

  “And what makes you so sure of that?” Sam asked, but was having trouble keeping a straight face. “I support Purdue.”

  “I know you do,” Aya said. “But when you were telling that doctor about the treasure and why we needed that small submarine, it did not sound real. It sounded like you were putting on a show, a lot like you were when you were pretending to be ... Julian ... that was his name, yes?”

  Sam gave a bashful smile. “I thought you said I was a good actor?”

  Aya winked. “I was not being serious. It seems I am the good actor.”

  The two laughed together again.

  “You should have more faith in him,” Aya said and showed him a frail looking logbook. “I have read Admiral Ogden's writing myself. I believe every word he wrote. If you saw that treasure hoard on that island like Purdue and I did, you would believe it too. You just need to believe.”

  Sam looked out and could see the ocean spreading out before him. Purdue was under there somewhere, and even though he couldn't help him or even speak to him now, he still needed support—even if it was only thoughts.

  “I do believe in him.”

  The very bottom of the Mariana Trench hadn't been seen firsthand by many, but David Purdue was now among the few who had seen it. From what he could make out with the Deepsea Challenger's lights, the terrain looked alien, like nothing that existed in the world above. The floor of the trench was jagged and warped in strange shapes, victim of the intense pressure's grip.

  Strange glowing creatures swam around the Deepsea Challenger; things that he had never even imagined existed, the kind of fish that would never be able to survive in waters higher up in the world. He wondered how many of them had been documented and which ones hadn't. For all he knew, he was discovering new species of sea creatures at that very moment. It was exciting and terrifying to think about that. The words from the original Star Trek series rang in his head: where no man had gone before. It wasn't completely accurate, but he was among the ve
ry few. And for all he knew, there were plenty of things the handful of previous explorers to make it this deep had missed. All of this could be completely new territory for the human race.

  He had been all over the world and seen all kinds of incredible things, but he had never experienced anything like it. Being at the very bottom of the ocean was like being on a different world altogether. It was nothing like the world above.

  He steadied the craft and made sure the lights of the Deepsea Challenger were scanning the unusual terrain of the Mariana Trench. It was a whole lot of water and rocks, but there was nothing that stood out as a treasure. Though, he didn't expect it to be easy. There were plenty of places that this treasure could be. Tucked beneath a stone or hidden in the darkness. He wished the vessel had flares that he could disperse in all directions to give him some more light to work with. He had to be thorough and check every possible hiding spot.

  As he floated around the ocean floor, only able to see what the Challenger's lights were letting him see, he tried not to think about how far down he was. The pressure outside was probably so heavy that it would crush his bones into bits if he was out there by himself. It was just this high-tech little vehicle that was protecting him. He was still fascinated that it was able to withstand pressures this deep. It was designed to handle this environment and it showed. Dr. Volpe and her team were geniuses and he was so thankful that they had been able to give the Challenger a tune up before he dove.

  He went as deep as he could and glanced around at every direction he could, rotating the challenger to make sure the lights hit every patch of darkness that they could—and there were plenty of dark patches down there.

  As he shone the light beneath him, right at the stalactite-filled floor of the ocean floor, he saw something that caught his eye. There was movement below. The water was swirling around one small area, like a little undersea cyclone, but there was nothing nearby that should have been making it react like that. It wasn't the Challenger stirring it up so what was it? There was something at the bottom of the spiral, glimmering in the dark.

  Purdue brought the sub closer to the epicenter of the twisting waters, bringing it directly over where something was shining. The monitors locked in on the image and he could make out that it was small that looked spherical like a little pearl. He pressed a few keys on the control panel and the vehicle sprouted a few metal appendages usually used to collect samples under the sea. It took a couple of misses before he scooped up the pearl and brought it inside the submersible. It was deposited into a tray inside of the vessel, waiting for closer inspection.

  Purdue looked in the tray and examined the pearl. It was white with strange blue markings brushed all around it, swirling just like the water around the pearl had been doing.

  “I have something,” Purdue said into the headset. There was no response. He was far too deep. Maybe they could hear him but he sure as hell couldn't hear them. “I repeat, I found something.”

  The pearl might not have been the treasure that Admiral Ogden dropped. It could have just been some strange object among all of the other strange things this deep in the sea. There was no way of being certain. If only Admiral Ogden had left some sort of tag on it marking it as his former property. That would have been nice.

  Purdue spent the next hour surveying the rocky bottom of the Mariana Trench. While there were many peculiar things to see, all of them were natural and part of the landscape. There wasn't anything even remotely as conspicuous as the pearl that was at the center a tornado of water. That remained the weirdest thing he saw.

  That pearl had to be what he was looking for. It was the only thing down here that made sense. Then again, it could be absolutely nothing at all. Whatever the case, his time was running out and he needed to get back up to the surface. Maybe he could convince Dr. Volpe to let him do another dive after some maintenance was done on the Challenger, just in case he missed anything on his first drop. Maybe this time, someone else could go down too. He'd appreciate that.

  Purdue worked the control to begin the Deepsea Challenger's ascent back toward the surface. It was a relief that he was at least on his way back to where he wasn't going to drown at a moment's notice. He was so excited to see sunlight again. This shroud of darkness was far too unnerving to stay within for long. As he rose higher and higher, the water around him changed from the purest of blacks to a dark shade of blue. It was getting lighter, and he was leaving all of that emptiness down there behind. He was glad that despite how daunting and uncomfortable the very bottom of the sea was, there wasn't any sort of monster waiting for him. He was nervous about running into a giant squid or some two-headed shark. After all, the bottom of the sea was mostly unexplored. There was a chance horrors like that did exist down there, but if they did, he was glad he didn't bump into them.

  The only monsters he had to face were above and as far as he knew they didn't have tentacles or dozens of razor sharp teeth. The Order of the Black Sun were monsters of a different kind. But, if he could face the possibility of ferocious beasts in pure darkness, then he should have no problem taking on the monsters that walked the dry, bright earth. And with this odd looking pearl, he might even have the weapon that could slay the monsters that he was destined to face again.

  Time kept passing as he rose through the water like a rocket. He continued to find happiness in the waters growing more and more clear. He passed a long line of migrating manta ray as he ascended toward the surface above.

  There was a crackling in his ear and he heard Aya's voice coming through. “Purdue. Purdue. Can you hear me, Purdue?”

  “I can!” Purdue said, with far more volume and enthusiasm than he meant. He probably burst her eardrum, but he couldn't contain his excitement that he was on his way out of the ocean, alive and well. “I can hear you, Aya.”

  “There you are!” Aya said with a laugh. “Some of us were starting to give up on you when we lost contact. Thought you got eaten by a killer whale. Did you find the treasure?”

  “I think so,” Purdue said, glancing at the pearl in the tray. “But I'm not one hundred percent sure about it yet. But it was the only thing that stuck out down there in the dark. The rest was just rocks and weird looking fish.”

  “What is it?”

  He was tempted to tell her but saying it was a pearl probably wouldn't win him any points. They would just think it was any old pearl you would find in a clam. It wasn't though. They hadn't seen the way that water was spinning around it. It was like the water was reacting to the pearl's presence and it was the only thing that made it easy to find down there.

  “I'll show you when I'm back up there, aye?” Purdue said. “All I will say is ... it's not exactly a treasure chest.”

  “A weapon then,” Aya said with some excitement. “A trident or a harpoon then?”

  “No,” Purdue said, glad to be having an actual conversation with someone again. It may not have been that long, but being alone at the bottom of the ocean was unbelievably lonely. It was absolute solitude. Hearing real voices from the world above was one thing, but actually conversing was a whole other one. “It's neither of those either.”

  “A sword,” she guessed.

  Purdue chuckled. “Patience, Aya. You will just have to wait and see—”

  The submersible rocked hard. The water around the Deepsea Challenger quaked and shifted around violently like it had been struck by something—like a torpedo. Alarms on the Challenger blared, warning him about the imbalance around the vessel.

  “What's going on?” Aya's voice came over the radio. He could hear the concern in her voice.

  Purdue kept the sub steady as best as he could. Something was attacking, and this tiny little vessel didn't exactly have good defenses. There wasn't a single weapon on board the Deepsea Challenger. It was meant solely for exploration, not for undersea naval combat.

  He looked at the scanners and saw a blip on the radar. He stared out the window and could just make out the long, dark silhouette of a military
submarine coming toward him in the water. It seemed so serene and gentle as it floated toward his much smaller craft. Despite appearances, it was no doubt armed and very dangerous. It already fired one torpedo; it may have missed or it very well could have just been a warning shot.

  A voice came through the radio channel, and spoke in a heavy Jamaican accent that Purdue recognizes immediately. He hadn't heard it since he was strung up in that warehouse.

  “Hello again, Mr. Yesterday.”

  INTERLUDE: THE WHARF 3

  Years went by after Delroy killed that thief on the dock. He grew older, larger, and stronger, and continued to help his father time and time again. After all, as he grew stronger, Dedrick grew frailer and weaker with his advancing age. He needed the extra muscle more than ever and Delroy made sure he was there to be that for him. It was all he could do to thank his father for providing for him throughout his life.

  His father just wanted to make sure that thieves and bad people were punished; that no one ever tried to take from him. It was amazing to Delroy how many people tried to take from his father. So many people thought they could get away with taking things that weren't there's. It was incredible. He and his father had to protect their family.

  Soon, people were just handing them money, to avoid even the chance of being on Dedrick's bad side. They didn't want to be crushed under his behemoth of a son's weight. That was the way the world should be, Delroy thought—people giving rather than taking. He and his father were doing good work.

  With the help of his monstrous child, Dedrick Campbell rose to new heights in Jamaica and they had more money than ever before. Things were looking good for them for quite some time and Delroy enjoyed using the strength he was born with to help his family in whatever ways he could.