The Sam Reilly Collection Volume 2

by Christopher Cartwright

  “That is some coincidence, but hopefully we won’t have any more for another fifty years?”

  “I hope so.”

  Once they reached the deck Donald turned and said, “All right gentlemen. This is where I’m going to have to leave you. I have quite a busy day ahead of me.”

  “Okay, thanks again,” Sam replied.

  Veyron watched Donald leave. “What do you make of him?”

  “Do I think he’s hiding something and that he’s actually behind it?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I don’t think he’s bright enough for that sort of thing. No, I think he comes to work and that’s it. But someone’s responsible for this, and I’m determined to find out who.”

  His cell phone rang. He picked it up before the second ring. “Hello?”

  “Sam? It’s Marcus here.”

  “Yes?” Sam couldn’t think of anyone he knew by that name.

  “I’m a metallurgist in Fort Lauderdale. You sent me a piece of steel from a ship to be examined.”

  Sam stopped walking so he could concentrate. “Oh right. Marcus. What did you find?”

  “The metal hasn’t been touched by an acid.”

  “Really? What could have caused that damage then?”

  “I don’t know. If I were to hazard a stupid guess, I’d say that you’ve found yourself the world’s first termites who concentrate on metal instead of wood.”

  “That is crazy.”

  “You should see this thing under a microscope. There are millions upon millions of tiny holes in the metal. Clean cuts too, as though ants have chewed away at it.”

  Chapter Forty Six

  Sam borrowed Donald’s car. A Dodge Pickup. And drove the several blocks so that he and Veyron could see the metallurgist in person. The security camera followed them as they approached the workshop. A balding man of average height and build came out to meet them.

  “Hi, Marcus is it?” Sam asked offering his hand.

  “Yes. You must be Sam Reilly?”

  Sam nodded. “This is Veyron. He’s my chief engineer aboard the Maria Helena.”

  “Come on through. And I’ll show you what we’ve got.”

  The security camera followed them inside the building.

  “Do you have further ideas about what could be causing this?” Sam asked.

  “None, but you’re gonna love this!” Marcus handed him the honeycombed steel which he’d sent away the day before to be analyzed. “What do you think of that?”

  Sam held it in his hands. Moved it around a little. “What about it? It’s the same piece I sent you.”

  “Actually, it’s the identical piece you sent me – less two pounds.”

  “What do you mean, less two pounds?”

  “I mean I cut off a couple thin slices to examine, and then weighed the remainder. When I got in this morning I picked it up and noticed straight away that it had lost some of its weight. Naturally I put it back on the scales and confirmed the impossible. Nearly two pounds to be exact. This morning I left the entire thing inside a bucket filled with denatured alcohol. Thought I’d better kill whatever bugs it had inside, before the damn things demolished my work shed.”

  That seemed like a logical step to Sam. “And? What happened?”

  “Well, nothing came out. But the weight now appears to be staying the same. So that’s a start.”

  Sam smiled impatiently. Everyone here seems to be superstitious. “Can I see it under a microscope?”

  Marcus placed a small slice of the honeycombed steel under the microscope. “Have a look for yourself, Mr. Reilly.”

  Sam leaned over. Closed his left eye, and looked through the eyepiece. Using his right hand he adjusted the focus of the lens.

  “Well that’s just the strangest thing I’ve seen in a long time.” Sam motioned to Veyron to have a look. “What do you make of this?”

  Veyron had a quick look and replied. “Well. What did I say? You’ve found yourself the first termite in history that eats steel.”

  Chapter Forty Seven

  Sam wanted answers, not more questions. “Any idea what could do this sort of damage to steel?”

  Marcus shook his head. “No. None. I’ve studied metals and corrosion for nearly thirty years. I’ve never seen anything that even remotely looks like this under a microscope.”

  Veyron grabbed Sam by the shoulder and whispered. “We’ve seen enough. Someone’s been lying to us, and I just realized how we’re going to find out who.”

  Sam turned to face Marcus. “Thanks for your help. I think we’ve seen enough.”

  He followed them to the front of his workshop. “If you do find out what caused this. Please let me know.”

  Sam promised to keep him in on the loop.

  After they walked out the door and got back in the Dodge pickup Sam turned to Veyron and said, “What’s this all about?”

  “You know damn well that what we just looked at wasn’t caused by any rogue wave and nor was it caused by a shipment of strong acids. Someone’s been moving something they shouldn’t have and that means they’ve been covering it up. And I think I just realized how we might find out who.”

  Veyron called Donald and explained what he wanted to see. Told him that he would be back on board the wrecked Global Star within the hour.

  Sam turned the corner and smiled. It was a warm day outside, and he was finally getting somewhere. He was glad to see Veyron finally coming closer to an answer. “What have you found?”

  “It was the CCTV camera that followed us when we entered the workshop.”

  “So what?”

  “The Global Star is rigged with more than a hundred cameras specifically designed to ensure its crew aren’t stealing from your father, smuggling narcotics or transporting other contraband aboard,” Veyron explained. “I noticed a series of CCTV cameras on board the Global Star tracking us while we examined her hull yesterday.”

  “You want to see the recordings of the event?”

  “That’s if there even was a rogue wave.”

  “You still don’t believe it?”

  “Not for a minute. I think someone has tried to smuggle something aboard. Or that the Captain was taking on illegal equipment. Even some type of weapon – something capable of working its way through metal. New technologies. Something that broke out or leaked and destroyed the ship.”

  “You’re starting to believe in this whole genetically modified plankton theory?”

  “No way, whatever it is, I can promise you it has nothing to do with plankton and its stupid eerie phosphorescent light!”

  Sam parked the pickup and began eagerly climbing the several flights of steel stairs towards the bridge. Veyron whistled happily to himself as he ran his hand along the steel railings which had similar damage as the hull but nowhere near as extensive. It reminded Sam of those odd medical examiners on TV who hum while performing an autopsy.

  Veyron continued up the stairs. Despite his solid frame, the man never appeared out of breath. “It’s the security footage I’m interested in.”

  “You think the whole thing was caused by sabotage?”

  “No. Although I haven’t ruled that out, either.” Veyron climbed another set of ten steps and then ran his hand along another melted bulkhead. “Whatever caused this type of damage to the steel, I can promise you it wasn’t saltwater – or phosphorescent plankton for that matter!”

  “No, of course not.”

  “So I asked Donald to meet me up there to go over the security footage from the hold. I’m betting you someone took on some additional cargo that your father’s not aware of. Whatever that cargo was, it made a hell of a mess out of his steel in the ship.”

  “One thing’s for certain. The phosphorescent plankton has never hurt anyone.”

  Sam reached for the handle to the door that led to the five-stories high command bridge at the aft section of the Global Star. His hand never reached it. Instead, the door flung open and Donald hurried out to greet them.
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br />   He looked excited and out of breath. “Great, you’re here. You’ll never believe what I’ve just seen on the CCTV footage!”

  “What?” Sam and Veyron asked in unison.

  “That creepy fucking plankton tried to murder Juan Gonzales!”

  Chapter Forty Eight

  “I thought you weren’t a believer, Donald?” Sam was quick to remind him that he thought all the Mexican workers were paranoid and superstitious.

  Donald tucked his thumbs into his belt. Smiled at him like he was an idiot. Then in his slow southern drawl, replied, “I began checking on the CCTV footage of the cargo hold. They were a massive shipment of European cars coming from Germany – like Captain Miller’s logbooks show. Then I looked through some of the other areas of the ship. The engine room, bilge compartments, etc. Anywhere that someone might hide tons of hard acids.”

  “And what did you see?” Veyron asked.

  “Nothing. They all looked empty, as they were supposed to. But then it got me thinking…”

  “Go on,” Veyron said.

  “So then I thought to myself – if the constant CCTV has been running since the ship left Port Hamburg, Germany - then…”

  “Go on. What did you find!” Sam said.

  “Then I thought it might have captured what happened to Juan – you know the welder who I said fell into the bilge?”

  Donald pressed play so they could watch the CCTV and make up their own mind about whether or not the worker was attacked.

  The CCTV recording showed the scrapyard’s worker preparing to start a diesel motor. He was about to pump the remaining seawater out of the hull. He finished drilling a hole in the side of the hull, then fed a pipe into the bilge water and attached it to the diesel pump. He then ran the other end of a second hose from the pump out the hole.

  It wasn’t until the worker went to switch the pump on that anything unusual happened. The bilge water started to swell until it flooded the steel grate that he was standing on. A small ripple of green iridescent liquid oozed from the bilge and slid onto the grate where the Mexican worker was now trying to start the pump.

  It reached his feet where he stood.

  A moment later he slipped and fell into the bilge water. Terrified the man scrambled out of the bilge. Climbed the ladder and ran out of the room.

  Donald stopped the video. “Nothing else happens after that. Juan never returned to his work.” He then turned to them both. “Well. What do you make of that? Thought you’d seen it all, hadn’t you?”

  Sam shook his head. “Beats the hell out of me, but if I didn’t know better I’d say that plankton just stopped your man from pumping them out.”

  “It certainly looks like he was attacked.”

  “I don’t know what the connection is, but I’d say it’s pretty obvious that this plankton is behind it somehow.”

  “There’s no doubt about it, Sam – those fuckers just tried to kill the man.”

  “The question is why?”

  “No, we know that he was going to pump them out into the dry dock which would have killed them. The real question is how?”

  “Yeah, well until we find a live sample, we’re going to have no way to prove it either way. One thing’s for certain. This was no random accident, and that means neither were the rogue waves. We don’t know whose causing them. Or why. Or when the next one is going to take place. But we do know there’s only one place they can form, so we’d better do something to stop it.”

  “Or prepare to hear about the next disaster.”

  Chapter Forty Nine

  Tom had waited a frustrating eight hours for his residual nitrogen levels to settle. He eagerly prepared his dive equipment so that he could return to the ancient trimaran. The gold was still down there. He was certain of it. And hoped that he’d find it before he had to explain to Sam that he just lost a small fortune worth of gold at the bottom of the sea. Also, he wanted to find out more about the ancient trimaran. He still had a swathe of unanswered questions.

  Who were the Antiqui Nautae?

  Where did they come from?

  Matthew entered the dive room. “It will be getting dark soon. I’d prefer you to wait until the morning. It’s safer.”

  “We’re diving a wreck at a hundred and sixty feet. It’s always dark,” Tom replied.

  Matthew smiled condescendingly. “And there are little green men who live there to contend with.”

  “I never said there were men, just one – and I have no idea where it lives. Besides, I already admitted that the pleasant green apparition must have been a figment of my imagination.” He looked at Genevieve. “I want to go find that gold before another green man takes it; are you still happy to join me?”

  Genevieve strapped the twin Heliox tanks onto her back, firmly pressing the Velcro BCD straps together at her waist. “Matthew, you’re certain there wasn’t another vessel for twenty miles and the sonar showed that we were alone throughout our dive?”

  “Certain.”

  “Good. Then the gold’s still there.” Genevieve reached for the Shark Stick – a high pressured gas gun used to take down sharks that become a little too inquisitive. “I want that gold and I don’t believe in scary things in the night. But just in case, we’ll be ready.”

  “Suit yourselves.” Matthew picked up a spare set of Heliox dive tanks. “With Veyron and Sam both away, you’re going to be in a world of strife if you fuck up down there. Given this is your second dive in eight hours, I want you take a second tank each and set up a safety camp on the trimaran.”

  Tom looked at Matthew. The man was by far the most conservative on board. Doesn’t he realize Sam and I dived below 500 feet last year? Compared to that, this is a relatively safe environment. “We’ll be fine. But just in case, I’ll bring the spare tanks. You ready Genevieve?”

  “I’m always ready.” This kind of sassy comment got a slight smile and raised eyebrows from both men. Typical Genevieve.

  They made a quick descent. Landing just behind the center cockpit and middle hull of the ancient trimaran. Tom had a quick look at Genevieve. No extra bubbles. Good, no leaks. “Welcome back. The Trimaran’s just where we left her.”

  “Shame the gold isn’t.”

  Tom set the spare twin Heliox tanks down on the deck. “We’ll find it. Don’t worry. Haven’t you ever lost anything before?”

  “Yeah, my car keys. But never have I lost around a hundred grand worth of gold.”

  “No, that’s true. That’ll be a first for me too,” Tom conceded. “All it takes is a little bit of backtracking and you generally get your car keys back, right?”

  Genevieve flashed her long lashes and her blue eyes glistened with a deep blue. “Not me. Last time it cost me $200 and three months waiting time to have the manufacturer send me replacements.”

  Tom laughed. “Well you’ll be happy to know that I generally have better luck than that.”

  He moved above the large opening in the hull which made up the center cockpit. It was approximately ten feet wide, forty in length and five deep. Tom shined his flashlight casually around the edges and across the flooring. His eyes scanned the slightest chip in the wood where he first laid the golden sword. There was no sign of it moving. There wasn’t even anywhere for it to fall. He’d placed it on a perfectly level piece of wood.

  “Who do you call to replace something a little more valuable than keys?” Tom asked.

  “I thought you said you’d find it?”

  “I did.”

  “So, where is it then?” she teased.

  Tom shined his flashlight around the cockpit again. There was very little marine life attached to the wooden structures. Nowhere that the gold could have fallen. Definitely nowhere for it to disappear to. The gold should capture the reflection of the flashlight like a beacon. He moved further down into the cockpit and ran his hand along the edge. “I have no idea.”

  Genevieve followed him. Starting at the opposite end, she ran her hand along the wooden structure. Tom
slowly reached the end of his side without finding anything. He looked back at Genevieve. She’d stopped.

  “Why did you stop?” he asked.

  She pushed her hand harder and the side of the wooden wall broke. Her hand slipped inside the hollowed out area behind the wall. All the way up to her shoulder. “Because I think I just found an opening to another level.”

  Chapter Fifty

  Tom’s heart leapt into a gallop. He knew the sensation. He’d felt it when he and Sam found the lost treasure of Atlantis. He had answers. The deck was hollow. There was another passage below them. The gold must have fallen through. He moved toward Genevieve. “Can I have a look? There must be a way inside.”

  She swam back a little. “Be my guest.”

  He started tapping on the edge of the wood and then felt for the opening. He pulled at it and an entire section of the wall approximately five feet high by four foot wide began to move. It didn’t break. The growth of marine life seemed to be holding it intact. But it was clearly the shape of a door. “What does that look like to you?”

  “It’s a door.”

  “That’s what I think. Which confirms there’s another level to this shipwreck. My guess is the Antiqui Nautae kept their most precious cargo inside their deepest hold.”

  Tom used the back of a small crowbar to break off several barnacles at the edge of the potential door. He always carried one when wreck diving – it served to help him gain access and more importantly break free if he becomes stuck. He ran the steel edge of it into the gap until he was able to dig the tip of the crowbar inside. Then he drove it hard into the gap, and pried.

  The entire door broke open.

  He shined his flashlight inside. A large tunnel ran horizontally towards the outer hull. “We’re in!”

  Tom looked at Genevieve’s face. Her blue eyes glistened with desire. He’d seen that desire plenty of times before, too. In his experience the lust for gold is only just beaten by one thing on the planet – the allure of a shipwreck’s treasure.