The Atlantis Stone

by Nick Hawkes

  And Khayef didn’t like that. He threw the stub of his cigar over the side. He hated loose ends.

  Navigation buoys winked their green and red lights across the inky water. These, together with the lights of the various settlements around the harbor, turned the bay into a fairyland. Even at this hour, there were still a few boats stealing their way across the water, heading in for a late dinner.

  Benjamin and Archie were dressed in black wetsuits. The mood was subdued. Archie guided the boat past Church Point and on toward The Quays Marina. Benjamin patted the equipment that was strapped onto the outside of both legs, ostensibly to check all items were present and correct—but in reality to assure himself that what he was doing was real.

  “Time to get your mask and fins on, Benji. I’ll drop you ten meters off the pontoon.”

  Benjamin nodded and gave voice to his thoughts. “Archie, no heroics, right? If this goes pear-shaped and you don’t hear from me, head straight back and get Felicity. She’s the priority, okay?”

  “You’ve made that crystal clear, mate. You just concentrate on taking it slow and doing exactly what we practiced.”

  The marina slid toward them. Benjamin donned mask and fins, and began breathing deeply to ventilate himself in readiness for his dive. The water at the back of the boat began to boil as Archie operated astern propulsion, slowing the boat to a standstill. Benjamin rolled over the side and immediately duck-dived below the surface of the water. He could hear the propellers of the twin Mercury engines hiss in the water as Archie pushed the throttle open again.

  A ten-meter swim at a depth of two meters was no great challenge, but it was a novelty to be doing it at night. Experienced as he was at free-diving, he was nonetheless glad to reach the underneath of the pontoon. He bobbed up between two of the pontoon’s flotation tanks and exhaled quietly. Once he’d got his bearings, he dived again and swam toward the larger of the two pontoons alongside Khayef’s boat. Again, he allowed himself to drift to the surface between the flotation tanks. Archie had tethered two boat fenders and a diving bag full of equipment in one of these spaces—but which one? Everything was so disorientating at night.

  Easy does it. Slow your breathing down. Take time to relax and notice what’s going on around you.

  Benjamin forced himself to relax and look around him. A shoal of small fish had gathered around one of the posts anchoring the pontoon. He could see them silhouetted against the lights of the marina.

  He dived down and swam to the space between the next two tanks. As he did so, he felt his head bump up against something large and slippery. There was a moment of panic until he realized it was the rubbery side of a boat fender. He felt around and discovered that they were clipped onto the handles of suction caps. They’d been fastened to the side of the flotation tanks, just as Archie had described.

  The massive fiberglass hull of Khayef’s boat sat two meters away. Benjamin was relieved to see that the lower half of the hull was in shadow. The object that particularly attracted his attention was the large boat fender hanging down its side. He swam toward it and peeped up from the narrow gap of water between the pontoon and the hull. There was no noise to indicate anyone was nearby. Archie’s voice came clearly to mind. Wait, Benji boy. Wait and listen. You need to be more patient than anyone else who might be around.

  So, he waited.

  Nothing. Just the faint smell of cigar smoke. Though out of sight, someone was on deck. He would need to be careful.

  Time to go to work.

  First, get comfortable.

  Benjamin unclipped a suction handle from his leg, sank under the water, and fastened it onto the boat hull beside the fender, just below the surface. He secured another handle about an arm’s width away and tied a rope loosely between the two of them. Benjamin then positioned two suction handles below the waterline to use as foot-holds.

  Even doing these simple tasks was exhausting. He drifted back under the pontoon and floated there for three minutes to get his breathing and heart rate back under control.

  Take it slow and stay focused.

  Benjamin reached into the equipment bag and pulled out the Aztek 4:1 rock-climbing pulley. He was careful; he’d learned that it needed little excuse to become horribly tangled. Benjamin clipped the end of the pulley onto one of the fenders floating under the pontoon beside him. He allowed the other end to swing below the fender out of harm’s way. He would need it later to hoist the fender, now weighing twenty-five kilograms, out of the water and above his head.

  Now for the moment of truth.

  Benjamin took off his fins and clipped them out the way onto one of the suction caps. He reached for one of the heavy fenders floating beside him, freed it from its tether, and tugged it behind him. Then, taking a deep breath, he ducked under the water and squeezed himself between the rope harness and the boat hull. His feet fished around on the side of the slippery hull. Where are the footholds? Aah. Got them!

  He stood up, testing their strength. Firm. Good. Benjamin was now tethered to the boat and able to use both hands. He reached above the fender hanging from the boat and tied a small loop of cord onto the rope using a prusik knot. Then he turned around and fished for the end of the pulley system floating beneath the other fender floating in the water behind him. He found it and hooked it onto the loop of the prusik knot.

  Slow. Slow.

  Benjamin made himself breathe deeply. He felt across to the top of the fender hanging from the boat. Archie had reported that the fenders were secured to their ropes with bowline knots. They were easy to undo—in theory.

  Mercifully, they were. Benjamin undid the knot and eased the fender down until he was able to push it under the pontoon. Then, as quickly as he dared, he began to tug on the pulley rope until the thirty-kilogram fender containing twenty-five million dollars’ worth of drugs had been hauled up the boat’s side to the prusik knot. Once it was there, he reached for the fender rope hanging down the ship’s side, fed it through the eye of the replacement fender, and secured it with a bowline.

  Nearly finished.

  Benjamin’s fingers were becoming stupid with fatigue.

  He freed off the pulley and allowed the fender rope to take its weight. Finally he de-rigged the pulley and ducked back under the pontoon to catch his breath.

  Phew. One fender had been replaced. It had taken hours. He looked at his diver’s watch. The whole process had taken fifteen minutes. Unbelievable.

  Benjamin took the diver’s knife from the sheath on his forearm and stabbed the fender floating beside him. It deflated with a sigh. Benjamin took his time cutting it into small pieces, stuffing each piece into a string diver’s bag.

  Did he have the energy, indeed, the courage, to do it all again and swap over the second fender? He’d seen it hanging beside the boat about two pontoon bins away. It looked as teasing as Mount Everest from Base Camp One.

  The heavy fender floating beside him nudged him gently. He would first have to ferry it, along with all of his equipment, to the space under the pontoon opposite the boat’s next fender. That would take at least three trips—a great deal of energy and time.

  Time is not a problem, Benji. This isn’t a time-sensitive operation. Take it slow. You can even rig a sling under the pontoon and sleep for an hour if you want.

  Do people actually do that? he wondered.

  Benjamin reached for his fins and slipped them back on his feet. Then he unclipped the heavy fender from its anchor point and began towing it behind him.

  Replacing the second fender did take more time, but not much. Once he’d got all the gear assembled opposite the fender, he was able to repeat the process without any problems. Nothing required any great effort other than the necessity for strong fingers to undo the bowline knot. Archie had planned the mission brilliantly.

  Even so, Benjamin’s muscles were getting tired. He’d been working slowly and carefully but the fact remained, he’d been in the water for almost an hour. Every movement was now requiring him to d
ig deeply into his reserves.

  Wearily, he recovered all the suction handles. Those he couldn’t strap onto his legs, he stuffed into the string bag containing the pulley system and the chopped-up fenders. He tucked the bag behind his diving belt after expanding it to its limit in order to accommodate the bag. However, when he tried to swim, he started to sink; he was nowhere near neutral buoyancy. He kicked with his fins to keep himself on the surface and undid his dive belt. After he jettisoned two lead weights he refastened the belt around himself and the dive bag.

  After doing a final check, he swam to the end of the pontoon and pulled a mobile phone out from a waterproof bag. He switched it on, punched in a pre-programmed number, and then packed it away again.

  A few minutes later, he heard the low burble of the Shark Cat’s twin Mercury’s. He watched with relief as it throttled back and drifted just a few meters off the end of the pontoon. Benjamin rolled over, pushed against the underside of the pontoon, and dived under the boat. He surfaced on the far side of it, out of sight from anyone watching from the shore. A rope with a loop tied in the end, was dangling over the side. He grabbed hold of it as Archie eased open the throttle and nosed the Shark Cat into a gaggle of moored boats.

  Once they were among them, Archie closed the throttle and folded out the climbing ladder. Benjamin started to climb up it, slow and clumsy with fatigue. Archie reached out and hauled him on board. Benjamin fell onto the floorboards and lay there, gasping for breath like a hooked fish.

  Archie stepped over him and got back to the controls.

  Chapter 25

  “How are you feeling, mate?”

  “I want to pee.”

  “Not in the wet suit, you don’t.” Archie fished about under the counter and threw him an empty drink bottle.

  Benjamin wanted to laugh—hysterically. To be bothered by things so prosaic after all he’d been through, was absurd.

  Archie had moored the Shark Cat temporarily to a vacant buoy on the far edge of the group of boats. He had propped a fishing rod up in the back of the boat, just for show.

  Benjamin made himself comfortable and recounted what he’d managed to achieve in the last hour. “Khayef’s got about fifty million bucks worth of methamphetamine hanging down the side of his boat.” Benjamin rolled his shoulders to ease the cramp. “When they find his fingerprints all over the plastic wrapper of one of the parcels, he’s going to have the Saracens at his throat and the police banging on his door. Hopefully, that should end him.”

  “If we find Flick and pin a kidnap on him as well, he’ll be totally stuffed,” said Archie. “So let’s concentrate on that now.” He looked around. “This is a good, quiet place to go over things one last time.” He switched on the cabin light and pulled out his large black equipment bag. Archie extracted a tool belt and took what looked to be a phone from one of its pockets. It sat within a thick case. He showed it to Benjamin. “This case converts a smart phone into a thermal imaging camera.” He turned it over and pointed to two small lenses. “It utilizes two cameras. One is for video graphics, and the other is infrared.”

  Benjamin was intrigued. “How does it work?”

  Archie showed him. He selected the infrared function and aimed the lenses at himself. Benjamin could see Archie’s body shape in the display window, colored red and yellow.

  “Impressive,” he admitted.

  “And it can do that through ceilings and plasterboard walls, provided a warm object is just the other side of it. If we pass it over a boat hull, we should be able to see if anyone is inside—if they’re sitting close to the hull.” He switched off the camera. “I’ve looked at the boat plan. If Flick’s on board, the most obvious place will be in the forepeak. It has its own toilet and there are no windows; just a hatch that acts as a skylight.”

  Benjamin nodded. “I agree.”

  Archie looked at him. “How are you feeling now?”

  “Getting my energy back. I just want to get on with rescuing Felicity.”

  “You’ve done your work for tonight, Benji boy. Now it’s my turn. Your job is to stay in the boat and wait.”

  “What will you do?”

  “I’ll scan the bow with the infrared camera. “ If someone’s there, I’ll have a look and find out who.”

  “How will you do that?”

  “You don’t have to concern yourself with the details. But, as you have asked, I’ll drill a hole in the hull and take a peek inside with this little beauty.” He opened up another pouch in his tool belt and produced a coil of wire with a plug in the end.

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s a 1.2-millimeter diameter camera on the end of a wire. It was developed by an Israeli mob for medical endoscopic work. Very handy.”

  Benjamin shook his head. He reached across and opened the next pouch in the tool belt. It contained what looked like another coil of wire.

  “Be a bit careful with that, mate. That’s a spiral wire saw.”

  “A saw?”

  “Yeah. Diamond coated. The aerospace industry has been putting them into band-saws for years.”

  Benjamin shook his head and put the tool belt down. “But if you find Felicity, what will you actually do?”

  “I’ll lob in a flash-bang. It’ll stun everyone…then I’ll go in and get her. Routine stuff.”

  Benjamin couldn’t help but think that what passed for routine in Archie’s world would not be that generally agreed on by most other people. “You’ll be armed?”

  “Yes.” The significance of Archie’s answer was highlighted by a thoughtful silence. Archie pointed ahead. “Let’s get back to our jetty. That’s where I’ll swim from. The ketch is only seventy meters offshore.”

  Archie switched on the navigation lights, started the engines and swung the boat into the main channel. Soon they were sweeping across the mouth of McCarrs Creek, passing quite close to the white ketch.

  Benjamin forced himself to look straight ahead and not at the yacht as they swept past. What he did see up ahead was that someone was on the jetty they’d been using. A ‘tinny’—a small aluminum fishing boat with an outboard on its back—was tied up alongside it.

  Archie had also seen it. “We might have to find another jetty, Benji boy.”

  Benjamin watched a tall woman with a dog running around her heels walk out along the jetty. He closed his eyes and brought to mind his impressions of the house. What did it tell him? He had seen a birdbath outside and some potted plants. The person who owned it was someone who cared about others. The dog confirmed it.

  “No,” said Benjamin, “It would look suspicious if we suddenly operated from another jetty or mooring. Let’s go and say Hello. We’ll lose nothing and, at best, it’ll give us good cover.” He looked at Archie in his black wetsuit. “But we would look more convincing if we took our wetsuits off.”

  Archie nodded, throttled back, and began to strip off his wetsuit, swapping it for a tee-shirt and shorts. Benjamin did the same. Once they had changed, Archie opened the throttle and motored toward the jetty.

  As they drew near, Benjamin called out, “G’day. Just wanted to confess that we tied up to your jetty last night to dodge the storm—and to say thanks. We’d planned to do some night fishing. Trying again tonight.”

  The woman was now in the tinny, preparing to lift out a cool box. The dog started barking and wagging its tail. It looked to be some sort of terrier. “Oh, that was you, was it?” she said. “I read your note by the front door.” She hefted the cool box onto the jetty with a grunt. “I’m pleased you made use of the jetty.”

  Archie called out. “Will you let me carry that cool box for you? You look as if you could use a hand.”

  “Well, thank you Sir Galahad. Truth to tell, I’d appreciate it.” She smiled. The woman looked to be in her mid-fifties. She had short brown hair that was starting to gray and was dressed in sandals, a caftan tunic and white linen pants. “I can reward you with two bottles of beer. I’m afraid I prefer wine.”

  Arc
hie brought the boat up alongside the jetty.

  Benjamin stepped off and secured the mooring lines. He smiled. “Then I’ll be sure to bring some wine next time.” He pointed to Archie. “He’s Archie. I’m Benjamin.”

  “Hi, I’m Kate.” She pointed to the cool box. “I’ve got a whole week off, which I plan to spend with some good books and a Shiraz or two. I’ve had to bring rather a lot of shopping.”

  Archie climbed up onto the jetty. “Here, let me take it.”

  The dog stopped barking and began sniffing at Archie’s feet. It looked to be quite young.

  What happened next seemed to play out like a slow motion film. Benjamin could see Archie—and the dog—and the look of horror on Kate’s face.

  The dog tangled itself between Archie’s feet, causing him to trip. It yelped and scurried away. Archie fell headlong, dropping the box and twisting sideways to try and protect himself. His left forearm crashed against the edge of the box.

  Benjamin heard the bone break.

  All went quiet.

  Archie moaned. He made a half-hearted attempt to reach across and hold his arm, and then lay still.

  “Oh no!” exclaimed Kate, and immediately climbed onto the jetty. She pulled the cool box out of the way, told Archie to lie still, and then felt over his body to determine what, other than the arm, was broken. She spoke over her shoulder. “Ring triple zero. Call an ambulance to the Church Point ferry wharf.”

  Benjamin did so. As he rang off, Kate continued. “Watch him. I’m going to the house to get some cling film.” She scooped up the dog and hurried up the jetty.

  “Benji, mate. Sorry.” Archie’s face was becoming pale and clammy. He spoke between clenched teeth. “Not good. Not good at all.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “Sometimes, no amount of training or planning can protect you against the balls-up factor if life is determined to get ya.” He reached out toward Benjamin with his good arm. “Now listen, mate. Forget about Felicity. We’ll organize a police raid on the boat tomorrow.”