Carter shook his head slowly as he watched the sub-pilot shake hands with a couple of crewmen before locking eyes with first Jayden, and then Carter. The stare was hardnosed at first, but after a couple of seconds it morphed into a smile.
“I must say, Carter Hunt, Jayden Tanaka, while it is… scintillating to meet your illustrious acquaintances once again, I was rather hoping we would not cross paths on this particular day.”
“I was hoping we’d never cross paths again, period,” Carter said.
Jayden gave him a kick in the foot. They were in the lion’s den now, and antagonizing their adversaries wouldn’t improve their situation. “I don’t mind crossing paths as long as there’s beer involved,” he said.
The crewman hopped into the sub and used the controls to raise the grab arm that held the other safe into a more accessible position. The pilot of this sub looked on and smiled before turning his attention back to Carter and Jayden.
“Perhaps champagne will be more in order. We shall see soon enough. The lost city of Atlantis proved to be a real feather in your caps, did it not?”
Defiance burned in Carter’s eyes. “Good will always win out over evil, Daedalus. When your intentions are selfish, you have no hope against those who represent the greater good.”
Daedalus exchanged glances with one of his crew and erupted briefly into peals of uproarious laughter. “Greater… good, oh my. Well, ‘tis a new day on the Titanic and we shall put your little theory to the test. Solomon, release the safe and set it up here.” But then he held up a hand. “Actually no, wait. Are you feeling lucky, Carter Hunt?”
Carter said nothing, only stared back at the man.
“I am,” Jayden answered.
“I can tell you are already,” Daedalus glared. “But you two are part of a team, are you not? And a team must work together. So I ask you again, Carter Hunt: are you feeling lucky?”
“He must have a thing for Clint Eastwood movies,” Jayden answered. A look of annoyance crossed Daedalus’ face, and then Carter responded.
“I’m feeling like we’re owed an explanation. You could have killed us down there. And for what? Some old trinkets on a shipwreck? That’s how little you value human life?”
Daedalus gave Carter a hard stare before replying. “Old trinkets, eh? Well, let’s find out, shall we?” He nodded to the crewmen who had just removed the safe from the grab arm of Daedalus’ sub.
“Open it.”
Chapter 9
The crewman gripped the safe handle and tried to pull the door open. After a few futile tries, he looked up at Daedalus. “It’s locked, boss.”
“Of course it’s locked, you idiot. It’s a safe! Drill it open. Now!”
A rush of activity ensued as his crew scrambled to put drilling equipment in place next to the safe. In short order a pair of men appeared carrying a large pneumatic drill and set about preparing it for the job.
“What do you think is in there?” Carter asked. “Do you really need a few more jewels for your collection this badly?”
Daedalus shrugged. “Jewels from the Titanic are not just any old baubles, Mr. Hunt. But I think you know that’s not why I’m here, nor is it why you’re here.” He locked eyes with Carter, as if waiting for him to say something, but Carter was giving nothing away.
“I’m looking for a map. A rather old one, at that,” Daedalus went on.
Carter’s heart sank as he tried to remain unreadable, but Jayden slouched visibly, standing next to him.
“What makes you think a map even exists in one of the Titanic’s safes?”
Daedalus’ reply was delivered in a straightforward, matter-of-fact tone. “Your client, Ms. Ashley Miller, was not very private about her attempts to reach out to the deep diving submersible and Titanic communities regarding the item her great grandfather told her family may still exist in on board.”
At this Carter could only nod. It made sense. While not highly open about it, stopping short of appearing on talk shows and the like, his client did make it known amongst those familiar with deep work submersibles that she wanted a document recovered from the Titanic. Those who inquired further were told about the map. It was only after several failed rounds of meetings and negotiations with some of these people that she finally turned to Carter and his fledgling Omega Team.
“Haven’t you plundered enough of the world’s treasures already?” Carter asked. “Your organization… what’s it called, oh yeah: Treasure, Inc., right?”
“Treasure, Stink!” Jayden contributed.
Carter didn’t wait for a reaction before continuing. “Whatever you call it, your organization steals priceless antiquities and puts a price on them in the black market, robbing the public at large from ever experiencing them, benefiting only the wealthy collectors who buy them illegally.”
Daedalus chuckled softly before speaking. “I will ignore your juvenile assessment of my business for now, since it comes from a place of ignorance. As to my lust for treasure, oh but how I would give up all of my other finds — even the ruins of Atlantis, which you denied me — in exchange for this one… Noah’s Ark. If it is real, its value would be beyond compare.”
The drill started up and the men had to shout in order to carry on the conversation. Carter was glad to have an excuse to add extra intensity to his voice. “And if the map is real, but the ark is not, you could spend your whole life chasing a wild goose.”
“Maybe we should just let him do that,” Jayden said. Daedalus ignored him.
“Such is the nature of our business, Mr. Hunt. That is why I asked you if you were feeling lucky, you see?”
The workers shouted to one another as technical adjustments were made on the drilling. “Obviously I’m not feeling very lucky, Daedalus, or I wouldn’t have come across the likes of you today.”
“Got it, we got it!” came the shout from one of the workers. Daedalus motioned for Carter and Jayden to follow him over to the safe. They all gathered there as the door was swung open, creaking on its hinges. A flashlight was shined in as Daedalus was handed a pair of white latex gloves to put on, presumably to safeguard whatever objects lay inside.
“I see jewelry,” one of the crewmen said.
Daedalus knelt, reached inside the safe and pulled out a handful of gold and silver chains. He placed them into a tray held by a worker and immediately put his hand back in the safe. His hand came out again, this time with a roll of silver coins. Three more times he passed his hand in and out of the safe, each time removing valuables that were already over at least one century old, and incredulous in their own right due to where they were recovered. But his face contorted into a mask of disappointment as he stood and turned away from the safe.
“That’s it. No map or documents of any kind.”
Everyone was silent as they digested this. Jayden was the first to find words. “Gee, I never thought a bunch of people would be so disappointed to bring up a safe full of riches from the Titanic. Am I missing something?”
At this, Daedalus seemed to have reached a breaking point, for he whirled around and yelled at Jayden. “Yes, we are missing something! Stop pretending like you don’t know what it is — both of you,” he added, shifting his gaze to glare at Carter also before continuing. “Never mind. We will check the safe that you brought up now.”
At this, Carter stepped forward. “Now wait a minute, Daedalus! That—”
The leader of Treasure, Inc. nodded to one his men, who promptly produced a sound-suppressed pistol. He leveled the barrel at Carter’s chest. “You will not interfere,” Daedalus said in a low voice. Several of the crew ran back toward the Deep Voyager, while Daedalus’ goon kept the gun trained on Carter and Jayden. Carter mentally kicked himself for being so gullible, for allowing the Treasure, Inc. crew to take them aboard. But his training and experience taught him that to survive, he would need to remain focused on what lay ahead rather than dwell on events that already occurred, so he pushed his regrets aside and scanned his surroundings in a casual way that did not draw attention. He noticed a bank of green oxygen cylinders that were used for refilling the submersible’s onboard oxygen supplies.