Читать книгу Phantom Prospect - Alex Archer - Страница 11

Hunter led them up to the wheelhouse where Annja was surprised to find a young woman studying the bridge console. She looked up as Hunter entered and jabbed a finger at the scope.

“Can’t be sure. At least, not yet,” the captain said.

Annja couldn’t see past Hunter’s shoulder. “How come?” she asked.

The captain glanced at Annja. “Who’s she?”

Hunter pointed at Annja. “That’s Annja Creed. Annja, meet Jax, our captain.”

Captain Jax nodded. “Hey.”

“You said you couldn’t tell if it was the shark. How come?” Annja asked again.

“Too far out right now. I’ll know more if it comes closer.”

“Will it?”

Jax shrugged. “Who knows? It might just be cruising around looking for lunch. As long as none of us are in the water, I don’t care. Let it eat something other than humans and I think we’ll all be better off.”

Cole pushed his way onto the bridge. “If the actual shark expert could maybe manage to get a look at the scope, that would probably be helpful for all involved.”

Hunter stepped back. “Sorry, bro.”

Cole studied the instrument. Annja moved forward and she could make out the slow line circling around the scope. As it passed the lower left section, it grazed what appeared to be a very substantial shape in the water. Cole frowned and leaned back. “You weren’t kidding.”

“About what?” Hunter asked.

“It’s big.”

Annja looked at Cole. “You think it’s a shark?”

Cole shrugged. “Kinda tough to tell from here.”

She looked out of the wheelhouse at the back of the boat in the direction she thought the shark would be cruising based on what she’d seen on the scope. To imagine that something that large was swimming the waters was extremely discomforting. Like so many others, Annja had considered colder waters to be relatively free of dangerous sharks.

So much for that, she thought.

Cole stepped away from the scope and stared out the back window with Annja. “There’s not a lot I can do from here.”

Annja looked at him. “I don’t like the way that sounds.”

He smiled. “But you know it’s the truth.”

“It seems to be what you do, crazy one.”

Cole shrugged. “My life, my calling.” He glanced back at Hunter, who was now talking with Captain Jax. “I don’t think he’ll be crazy about the idea, however.”

“Of course he won’t be. He’s your brother. He doesn’t want to see you in harm’s way.”

Cole eyed her. “Will you help me?”

“With what?”

“I’ll need another set of eyes down there with me.”

Annja watched the ocean and noticed that it seemed to have gone almost glassy still. “You want me to get in the water with you?”

“That would be the idea, yeah.”

“Um, did you bring a cage?”

Cole smiled. “No. But then again, this will give you a chance to get into the water and see that these sharks aren’t necessarily the bad guys we make them out to be in movies.”

Annja frowned. “Cole, this shark, if it’s the same one, has already killed one person in recent days.”

“We don’t know for sure if this is the same shark.”

Annja leaned against the wall of the wheelhouse. “Why do I feel like I’m living in a bad remake of Jaws?”

Cole grinned. “Because you’re fighting the stereotypes that have plagued the sharks since that damnable movie came out. Everyone sees them as nothing but mindless predators, just killing machines. But they’re not. They are extremely intelligent.”

“I don’t know if I’d go that far.”

“You saw them swim with me in the open water. And they didn’t attack.” He smiled. “And don’t forget that I’d chummed that water pretty heavily.”

Annja sighed. “Yeah, but that was with sharks that hadn’t attacked anyone. Maybe this one has developed a taste for human flesh. I’m not excited about the thought of meeting that fish.”

Cole shook his head. “Human flesh isn’t what feeds these incredible fish, Annja. We’re not a staple of their diets. What probably happened here was a case of mistaken identity. The victim was caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, is all. Could happen to anyone, but unfortunately, he just got caught.”

“That’s not much consolation if you’re trying to sell me on this idea.” Annja felt her stomach turn over. This wasn’t a good idea. And she didn’t need the hard-won instincts she’d gained from countless battles and struggles to tell her that. Anyone who’d ever seen a shark special on the Discovery Channel would tell her this was a bad idea.

Hunter came over. “The blip’s gone.”

“It’s gone where?” Annja tried to hide the relief in her voice.

“I don’t know,” Hunter said. “But the blip is gone. It might have moved out of range. Maybe it’s still there.” He stopped and stared at Cole. “What’s going on here?”

“Nothing.”

Hunter frowned. “Bullshit. I know that look.”

Cole shook his head. “There’s no look, Hunter. You’re imagining things.”

Hunter looked at Annja. “Is that true?”

Annja held up her hands. “Leave me out of the sibling confrontations. My stomach hurts.”

Hunter turned back to Cole and jabbed a finger at him. “I know you too well, bro. I know what you’re thinking about doing. The answer’s no.”

“What?”

Hunter pointed outside. “You want in. I turn my back on you and you’ll probably dive right in without any tanks on.”

Cole smiled. “Maybe.”

“Water’s awful cold, dude. At least take a wet suit.”

Cole’s eyes lit up. “You’re serious?”

Hunter slapped him on the shoulder. “Are you nuts? You’re not going anywhere near the water until we get some extra precautions up here.”

“Like what?”

Hunter shrugged. “Like, for one thing, a shark cage. I notice you didn’t haul one along with you.”

Annja smiled. “The carry-on baggage fee at the airport was a little steep so we had to ditch it.”

Hunter smirked. “And that wouldn’t have stopped the crazy one here from jumping right in, would it?”

Annja chewed her lip. Hunter nodded. “Yeah, I knew it. He was trying to talk you into going in there with him, wasn’t he?”

Annja backed away. “I should leave you guys alone to work this out. Maybe I’ll just head downstairs and get some rest.”

Hunter shook his head and stared at Cole. “Are you really insane? You were trying to get her to go in there with you? What was she—bait? That’s a new low for you, Cole. Seriously, man. You’ve lost your freaking mind.”

Cole sighed. “We come from two different perspectives on this, Hunter.”

“Yeah, you want to put your head in the mouth of every lion you come across while I know that lions aren’t made to have human heads in them. Which one of us is right, huh?”

Hunter stalked out of the wheelhouse. Annja watched him stomp down to the back of the boat. Cole took a breath and sighed. “I’m sorry you had to hear all that, Annja.”

“Forget it. You guys aren’t the first siblings I’ve known who didn’t have the perfect relationship. At least it’s apparent that you guys love each other.”

“I guess.”

Annja put a hand on his shoulder. “Think of it this way. If he didn’t care, he would have encouraged you to jump right in.”

“Yeah.”

Annja shoved him out of the wheelhouse. “Go. Talk to him and try to get some common ground back. You’ve both got objectives here. Maybe you can make some sense out of them.”

“Thanks.”

Annja watched him go. Behind her, she heard a flicking sound. She turned and saw Captain Jax eyeing her while she cleaned her fingernails with a switchblade. “That was smooth,” the captain said.

Annja looked at the long blond hair tied back in a ponytail with a length of hemp. Captain Jax was about Annja’s age, but the crow’s-feet around her eyes belied a lot more years on the ocean than the rest of her appearance suggested.

“How long have you been a captain?” Annja asked.

“Why? You have issues with my skippering so far?”

Annja shook her head. “No. It’s just that most of the captains I’ve ever known have been men. Kinda strange to see a woman in charge. Nice change of pace. That’s all.”

Captain Jax finished cleaning one hand and adroitly flipped the knife around to work the other hand. “Yeah, well, it hasn’t been an easy slog for me to climb the ladder. I did time on tramp steamers and shitty freighters, working the south Atlantic between Africa and South America.”

“What happened?”

“I got tired of turning a blind eye to the crap I used to witness.”

“Like?”

Captain Jax stop cleaning her nails. “You ever seen eight-year-old kids forced to shovel coal into ship boilers for ten hours a day?”

“No.”

“You ever seen teenage girls being sold into sexual slavery?”

Annja frowned. “Heard of it.”

Captain Jax smirked. “Different when it’s right in front of your face, lemme tell you.”

“So you stopped working that route?”

“I came north after the skipper of the ship and I had a disagreement about a particular shipment of kids into the Brazilian brothels.”

“What happened?”

Captain Jax shrugged. “I cut his throat while he slept. And I shoved his bloated carcass overboard where the sharks tore him to bits.”

Annja almost smiled at the candor with which Captain Jax spoke. “You don’t seem particularly upset.”

“I’m not upset at all.” Captain Jax pointed the knife at her. “You, however, don’t seem the least bit fazed by what I just said.”

Annja shrugged. “Let’s just say it sounds like we’ve both left a few bodies in our wakes.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. It is.”

Captain Jax eyed her for a moment without moving. Annja returned the stare. A heavy silence cloaked the wheelhouse and, in the distance, Annja could hear the breeze coming off the ocean. But nothing moved in the space between her and the captain.

Finally, Jax seemed satisfied. “Just so long as you understand that this is my boat. I have the authority here.”

“I thought this was Hunter’s boat,” Annja said.

“I’m the captain.”

“No one’s trying to steal the job from you.”

Jax nodded. “Good.”

Annja started to leave. She took a step before she heard Captain Jax’s voice. “Annja.”

She turned. She saw the whiz of movement through the air. Annja shifted as the blade flew past her and sank into the wood paneling next to her head. The switchblade was deeply embedded.

Annja glanced back at Captain Jax. “You finished now?”

Jax smiled. “Good reflexes.”

“They’re better than you know.” Annja pulled the knife out of the wood and checked the edge. It was razor sharp. She turned the blade over and then in the next instant sent it flying right back at Jax. Jax recovered quickly and dodged the blade as it shot into the clock next to her head.

“Not bad,” she said.

Annja smirked. “Just remember—you aren’t the only warrior on this boat. Not anymore.”