Sakira

by Robert blanton

  “She’s pretty buoyant now,” Blake said. “But as she rises, the density of the water will go down, and she’ll lose buoyancy. So, after the break, we’ll be spreading the canvas under her hull. Each side will be held up with lift bags (as he indicated using a napkin), just like a diaper. Then we’ll keep inflating the lift bags until she breaks the surface. Once she’s floating, she’ll be more buoyant since there won’t be any water on her upper deck, and the upper cabins will spill all their water as well.”

  “Oh joy,” Kal said, “that canvas must weigh a ton.”

  “Not quite,” Blake said. “It’s two hundred fifty pounds per strip, and we have ten strips to deploy, and that doesn’t count the lift bags. So, rest up, me mateys.”

  Everyone groaned as they grabbed a sandwich and settled down on their couch to rest. They were already tired from wrestling all the hose back into the cargo hold, so nobody was looking forward to having to wrestle all that canvas. The two hours of rest that Blake had allowed them went by fast.

  “Okay, boys and girls, time to go back to work. I want each person to drag one strip of canvas over to the Chagas. Put a lift bag on it before you leave the LX9, inflate it until it’s neutral, and then guide it over. Make sure you don’t get it moving too fast, and it shouldn’t be too hard.”

  Marc elected Catie to stay with the ship. This time she didn’t argue too much. She’d had her fill of schlepping heavy stuff around and didn’t mind being excluded due to age and size. She watched as the others made two trips each to get the strips out to the Chagas. Then while Liz and Kal started unrolling them, Blake and Marc made a third trip to get the last two strips.

  Liz and Kal unrolled the 8-foot-wide strip of canvas and dragged one end under the Chagas. Then they attached another lift bag to that end and filled it up until the canvas was snug against the Chagas’s hull. It took them three hours to repeat the process nine more times. Marc and Kal ferried lift bags and air canisters to them as needed. Finally, all ten strips of canvas were deployed. The lift bags on each end were about half the distance up the Chagas’s hull, just below what Blake was setting for the waterline.

  “We’re ready,” Blake declared as he cycled into the main cabin behind the others. “By the way, Marc, aren’t we approaching the appointed time?”

  “We are at that. I moved one of our satellites into position; it’s waiting over our coordinates. ADI says she’s been tracking a group of naval vessels from Portugal, but they’ve settled in at a set of coordinates that are one hundred miles north of the target location.”

  “Interesting,” Blake said.

  “Anything approaching the coordinates?”

  “Not for sure, but we have a likely group of five vessels. They left Port Delgada early this morning. Ostensibly they’re on a fishing trip, but they’ve been staying close together and inching toward the coordinates. They’re a little over four hours away at twenty knots.”

  “Well they had better hurry, or they’ll be late,” Blake said.

  “Maybe it’s not them,” Catie said.

  “I have a feeling,” Marc said. “And we have a winner! They’ve changed course and are heading that way at full speed.”

  “Do we know who they are?”

  “No, ADI traced the registration. They’re all rentals, so no trace on who’s doing the renting. Apparently, they paid cash and left a cash deposit.”

  “No wonder you had a feeling,” Kal said. “What size are they?”

  “They’re all about twenty meters, so pretty big boys as far as fishing boats go,” Marc added. “ADI says they have a top speed of about twenty-five knots, so plenty of juice there.”

  “I wonder what they’re carrying,” Kal said.

  “We’ll see once they get close.”

  “Where’s the Mea Huli?”

  “She all the way on the north side of the island, actually kind of close to the Navy boys. What say you? Should we go meet up with the Mea Huli and go talk to the Navy guys?”

  “How long will it take us to get there?”

  “I think Catie can get us to a rendezvous about ten miles from the Navy, where we can meet up with the Mea Huli and then take a nice leisurely cruise over to say hi.”

  “Alright,” Catie pumped her fist as she made her way to the cockpit. “Everyone, strap in. It won’t be too bumpy, but I don’t want to dump anyone on their ass.”

  “Catie!” Marc hollered.

  “Give it a break, Marc,” Blake said. “She been hanging out with all of us, you can’t expect her to stay a little girl.”

  “I know that, but her mother might not,” Marc said.

  “Well then, she’ll have to watch herself around her mother. We certainly did around ours.”

  Marc laughed, “I guess we did. And especially around Gran. Man, could she make you regret a misspoken word.”

  “She still can,” Blake laughed with his brother. “My ass still hurts thinking about it.”

  Catie cycled onto the bridge and settled into the pilot’s chair. “Ship, seal the cargo bay, start pumping out the water. ADI, give me a course to a location within ten miles of the Navy flotilla that the Mea Huli can reach in two hours.”

  “Plotted,” ADI said.

  “Fred,” Catie said, “we’re going to be meeting you at these coordinates,” Catie pushed the coordinates to Fred via her HUD. “We’ll meet you there in two hours.”

  “I heard, thanks for the coordinates,” Fred replied. “See you there.”

  Catie brought the LX9 around and headed along the vector. She had it depressurize using their standard routine, and started rising up toward the ocean surface. This time instead of trying to get airborne, she would simply bring the LX9 up onto the surface where it could do 120 knots. They would be a little early to the rendezvous, but she figured she should test out the LX9’s max surface speed, just because.

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  “Captain,” Marc greeted the Portuguese Navy captain as he came aboard the Mea Huli.

  “Dr. McCormack,” the captain returned the greeting. “I’m pleased to meet you, but I was led to understand you would have another ship sailing with you.”

  “That was the plan,” Marc said. “Let me introduce my crew first, then I’ll explain.”

  “Of course.”

  “This is my brother, Blake; my daughter, Catie; and our colleagues, Kal Kealoha, Elizabeth Farmer, Fred Linton, Walter Williams, and Fatima Cartwright.”

  “I’m pleased to meet you. I’m Captain Nunes of the Frigate Corte-Real, and this is my aide, Commander Reza.” The captain and the commander exchanged handshakes with everyone.

  “Now that we know each other,” Marc said, “let me explain.”

  “Please do,” the captain said; he was obviously not pleased with the situation.

  “These are the coordinates we gave the minister for the rendezvous,” Marc said as he handed the captain a slip of paper.

  “What? Why this is almost two hundred kilometers from here.”

  “Yes, hence my surprise when we identified your flotilla via satellite,” Marc said. “We couldn’t see any other naval flotilla in the general area, so we decided to come visit you. Now here is a satellite image of the area around the coordinates where we were supposed to meet.” Marc handed the captain a picture that ADI had pulled from one of the many satellites now available to commercial ventures. It showed a reasonably good picture of five large cruisers approaching the target area.

  “Who are these people?” the captain asked.

  “We don’t know, but we were pretty sure that the Portuguese government would not be sending a few large fishing charters out to escort us to Port Delgada.”

  “Certainly not,” the captain said. He turned to his aide and instructed him in Portuguese to contact port Delgada and ask them to intercept the five fishing boats there. “We shall find out,” the captain said once the commander had moved to their launch to communicate the orders.

  “I wonder if it might have anything to do wi
th Segundo-tenente Santoro, who stopped us a little over a week ago. We were surprised to have someone from your Navy show interest in us before we called. Our agreement with the minister was to minimize the knowledge of our activities.”

  “That is Admiral Santoro’s nephew. I am surprised as well. The minister’s instructions to me were to minimize any knowledge of the activity. I am the only one in my command who knows that the Chagas is supposed to be here, and I only found out the specifics of it two hours ago. Before that, all I knew was that we were to rendezvous here with an important ally of the Portuguese government. But Admiral Santoro has been taking an uncommon interest in my activities for the last three weeks.”

  “I’m happy to hear that the minister has been taking precautions,” Marc said.

  “While my aide makes sure we discover what is going on with these pirates,” the captain said, “may I ask where your companion vessel is?”

  “Of course,” Marc said. “She’s about three hundred miles from here, resting on the bottom and waiting for us to let her rise to the surface.”

  “She is still at the bottom?” the captain gasped.

  “Yes, but she has been filled with foam and sealed up. She’s floating about two meters up and just needs to be released from the anchors, and some additional gas injected into the lift bags, and she will surface like a porpoise,” Marc said. “Would you and your command like to escort us to her? We just need to make the final dive to bring her up.”

  “I would be most delighted to do so,” the captain said. “Would you like to bring your gear aboard our ship so we may make better time?”

  “The Mea Huli can do thirty-two knots,” Marc said, “and we have quite a bit of equipment. We’d probably lose the time that more speed would give us, just shifting the equipment.”

  “An impressive speed for such a craft,” the captain said, obviously impressed. “We should make way now. We have fifteen hours of sailing ahead of us. I guess we should not hurry, it will be very early in the morning when we arrive.”

  “That will not be a problem,” Marc said.

  “You will dive in the dark to raise her?”

  “I think that might be best,” Marc said.

  “I think you may be right,” the captain agreed. “Might I invite you and your daughter to dine with me tonight? We could accommodate two other members of your crew as well. Possibly Ms. Farmer and your brother?”

  “We would be happy to join you for dinner,” Marc said as he glanced at Liz. Liz nodded her head with a smile.

  “Very good, we’ll send the launch. When we get underway, please lead us at twenty-four knots,” the captain said. “We do want my patrol boats to keep up with us.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  Catie was happy that Liz had talked her into wearing a dress. Everybody at the table was dressed in their dress uniforms; Marc and Blake had wisely elected to wear suits.

  “And you wanted to wear capri pants,” Liz teased.

  “How was I to know?”

  “Dr. McCormack and Commander McCormack and ladies, welcome.”

  “It’s just Mr. McCormack,” Blake said.

  “Ah, but I disagree. My commander assures me that I would bring disgrace on the Portuguese Navy if I did not refer to the winner of the Navy Cross by his true rank,” the captain said. “Please come in, and I’ll introduce my officers. You have met my commander. This is Primeiro-tenente Da Cruz, who commands our patrol boat, Dragão.” The tenente snapped to attention and gave a slight bow. “And this is Subtenente Peixoto, our communication officer.” The subtenente snapped to attention and gave a slight bow also. “Gentlemen, may I present, Dr. McCormack, Commander McCormack, the doctor’s daughter, Catie, and Ms. Elizabeth Farmer, who I understand was also in your military, a captain.”

  “You are correct,” Liz said, “but that is behind me now. Ms. or senhorita works just fine.”

  “Of course,” the captain said. “Gentlemen, if you would escort the ladies to their seats, we may begin our evening.”

  Subtenente Peixoto extended an arm for Catie, and Primeiro-tenente Da Cruz extended an arm for Liz. They led them to the table and seated them, then took a seat on each side.

  The captain motioned for the steward to pour the champagne. Catie looked at Marc, and he gave her a nod to let her know she could have some.

  “Let me offer a toast,” the captain said. “To Las Cinque Chagas!”

  “To Las Cinque Chagas!”

  The steward then brought out the soup for the first course. The meal was leisurely, and the food was outstanding. The meal consisted of caldo verde, a kale soup, followed by posta mirandesa, a tenderloin beefsteak with new potatoes. At the end, the steward brought out leite crème, a Portuguese version of crème brulée.

  After the dessert was finished, the captain leaned back and signaled for the steward to serve coffee. “Dr. McCormack, might I ask how you became a treasure ship hunter?”

  “Of course,” Marc said. “It was actually Catie’s idea. I had developed a new sonar design that I sold to the U.S. Navy. It gives a much clearer picture of the ocean floor. Once I sold it, we were talking about what we should do next, and Catie suggested searching for sunken treasures.”

  “A bold move.”

  “Yes, we did a lot of online research, looking for possibilities,” Marc continued. “We decided that if we found one, it would be great, if not, we would have a great time cruising around the world in the Mea Huli.”

  “Why do you think Las Cinque Chagas has not been found before?”

  “Several reasons,” Marc said. “One, the survivors said it blew up, so one wouldn’t be looking for a whole ship.”

  “Why would they say that?”

  “As we told Minister Sampalo, it looks like the ship broached and capsized. I’m sure it sank very quickly. A ship on fire disappears suddenly. It blew up sounds better than it disappeared.”

  “Ah, possibly, it would be better to say that than to have everyone wonder who was able to sail it away.”

  “Yes,” Marc said. “Then two, the way it sank, it actually floated a long way before it hit the bottom. We recovered cannon for over one hundred kilometers. So, the location was very inaccurate. And given the depth of four hundred meters and silt covering the ship, it was very difficult to find.”

  “But your new sonar was able to find it.”

  “Yes, we got some very clear imagery of a vessel. The Chagas is a very impressive ship, and even with much of the top structure destroyed by fire, it’s still massive.”

  “Do you think the fire affected the treasure?”

  “The main cargo hold seemed to be unaffected. There were quite a few holes in the stern, but they mostly affect the gundeck.”

  “Most fortuitous. And how did you come by your Mea Huli?”

  “I bought it from the government,” Marc said. “It was seized in a major drug bust that I was a consultant on. We wanted something comfortable to sail and also so Blake could run charters while I developed the sonar.”

  “Yes, that is a very fine vessel,” the captain said. “Very impressive speed and far more comfortable than my frigate.”

  “I don’t know,” Marc said. “This looks pretty comfortable to me.”

  “Well, there are certain accommodations that a captain has,” the captain said. “But we don’t have a sundeck, nor the leisure of diving or swimming off our stern.”

  “I guess the work part does get in the way of the cruising,” Marc said.

  “We will be arriving at 01:00. What time will you be diving?” the captain asked.

  “I think we’ll target 02:00,” Marc said. “That will give us time to prepare our equipment and time for you to ensure we don’t have any uninvited guests.”

  “Speaking of uninvited guests,” Blake said, “do you know what happened with the five fishing boats?”

  “We had an aircraft sent to herd them in. One of our patrol boats from Port Delgada met them and brought them back to the port. They tried to thro
w their weapons overboard, but the patrol boat managed to discourage them,” the captain said. “Of course, they deny everything, claiming they were just out to have fun and fire off the weapons in the open waters.”

  “Not very believable,” Blake said.

  “No, we will have to see what happens. The possession of such weapons is a serious crime. They may decide to talk once they understand how much trouble they are in.”

  “And Admiral Santoro?” Blake asked.

  “It seems that the admiral has taken a vacation trip with his wife and children to Brazil, where he has some family.”

  “Interesting timing, when did he leave?” Marc asked.

  “He left yesterday, right after we received our instructions to meet you,” the captain said. “Now, I think we shall end our evening. Until tomorrow, early though it may be.”

  “Until tomorrow.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  “Well guys, what do you think?” Marc asked once they were back on the Mea Huli with the others.

  “I think we can trust the captain,” Blake said, “and I’m happy to have them patrolling above us.”

  “Yeah, but it means we can’t use the LX9,” Catie said. “We’re going to have to dive down the hard way.”

  “It won’t be too hard. But we will need to ride those nitrogen canisters down,” Blake said. “We’ll put a lift bag on each, and then someone needs to guide it down, releasing the gas as they go.”

  “So, one hour down,” Marc said. “We deploy around the Chagas, each of us next to one of the big lift bags we placed there yesterday. Then we ease her back up.”

  “What about the anchors?” Kal asked.

  “We detach the lines and pull them up,” Blake said. “We can put them aboard the Chagas. But that adds another hour.”