"It's not my fault. Two men showed up. Both were armed." Ahmed shifted nervously in his chair.
"They just showed up? Pure coincidence?" Tyson wasn’t buying it.
"I don't think it was a coincidence at all." Ahmed paused and looked down at the floor as if he were considering his words carefully. "I'm almost certain they were the same men who stopped us from questioning old man Bonebrake."
"Almost certain?" Tyson asked.
"Well, the blond haired man didn't ring any bells for me, but how many Indians do you know who are that big?"
It was a fair point. The man they had encountered in North Carolina cut and imposing figure, and a memorable one.
Tyson had thought it wise for the two of them to follow up on different leads. Ahmed was to keep an eye on Archer’s place in case Dima showed up there. Meanwhile Tyson had continued to survey the woman’s home and office.
“If those two showed up at Archer’s house, that means they’re following the same trail we are. Obviously, old man Bonebrake told him something.”
“So, do we go back after him?” Ahmed asked.
Tyson began pacing back and forth across the room. “Possibly, but we won’t be able to take him by surprise. Perhaps there’s another way of finding out what he knows.”
His cell phone rang, interrupting his thoughts.
“Mr. Tyson? This is Carly with the Horry County Sheriff’s department. You asked me to call you if anyone else came around asking about the… you know.”
“Let me guess,” Tyson said. “It was a tall, Native American man and a blond man.”
“How did you know? Carl stammered.
Tyson rolled his eyes. The gods save him from insufferable fools. “Never mind that. Can you tell me anything about them? Did you speak with them?”
“Oh yes.” Carl’s voice suddenly rang with enthusiasm.
Tyson had offered him compensation for useful information. He’d offered a paltry sum, in fact, but the man did not appear to be wealthy by any stretch of the imagination.
“They were asking about the Noah Stone.”
Tyson’s chest constricted. It was as he had feared. These men, whoever they were, were following the same trail. “Anything else?” He snapped a bit too harshly.
“Yeah, but it was kind of ridiculous. They claim they have a stone of their own. Or, at least, something similar.”
Tyson froze. Ahmed, seeing the expression on his face, rose halfway out of his seat but Tyson waved him away. “Do you think they were telling the truth?”
“Well, that I can’t say, but they seemed sincere. It’s not like they were boasting or anything.”
“Did they show you their stone?”
“No, but they told me where they’re keeping it. In the Cherokee Community bank up in North Carolina.”
A broad grin spread across Tyson’s face. “Carl, tell me everything they said. Don’t leave out a single detail.”
Chapter 20
The sun beat down on the white sands of Bowhead Island. The tiny island off the shore of South Carolina was home to no one, save the birds and squirrels high in the lush, green trees and the snakes and rodents that slithered beneath the palmettos. It was a fine day at sea, but Maddock wasn’t feeling it.
"I don't think you know where to look." Willis Sanders leaned over Maddock's shoulder to look at the map where Maddock had marked the most likely spot where the wreck would be found. Willis was a former comrade in the SEALs and now a member of Maddock's crew. The other crew members, Matt Barnaby and Corey Dean, were busy at the helm of their boat, Sea Foam. Bones was elsewhere, presumably watching Dima soak up the sun in her bikini.
"Of course I don't know where it is,” Maddock said. “We’re working from a five hundred year-old story. That's why they call it an educated guess."
"Man, don't even try to get all pedantic on me. I just don't want to spend any more time in this sun than I have to." Willis had slathered his dark brown skin with sunblock, giving his face an odd, grayish tinge where he hadn't rubbed it in thoroughly.
"What is it with you and the sun lately? You've never been this uptight about it."
"Skin cancer. It's the silent killer."
Maddock scratched his head. "I thought that was carbon monoxide."
"You die your way, I'll die mine."
Maddock rolled his eyes and returned his attention to the map. "We know the Templar, whoever he was, came ashore in this area." He tapped a spot on the map. "Working backward, he was probably carried past the northern tip of Bowhead Island. Considering the way the currents run in this area, it's most likely the ship went down somewhere along this path." He traced a fishhook-shaped line he'd drawn on the map.
"Hopefully it wasn’t too close to land." If the wreck lay too close to shore, it risked being broken up by the ebb and flow of the tides. In deeper water it could lie untouched for centuries.
“We know he caught sight of the island just before the ship went down, so it can’t have been too far away. We’ll keep our fingers crossed.”
"We've got a hit, Maddock." Corey, the tech guy of the crew, sat watching the sonar readouts on a digital display. The fair-skinned redhead preferred the shelter of the cabin to exposure to the elements.
"Already?" Their luck couldn’t be that good.
"Wait. It's looking like…yeah, never mind. It can't be what we're looking for. False alarm."
Maddock didn't bother checking. They'd done this sort of thing for years and Corey knew what he was doing.
"I'm going to stretch my legs. Let me know if you find anything promising."
“A stretch sounds good,” Matt agreed. “Willis, take the helm?” The stocky, brown-haired man gave up the wheel and sidled up to Maddock. “Spending a little time with our new friend also sounds good.”
“She’s our colleague. Be professional,” Maddock said without a trace of sincerity.
“Seriously? And how long did it take you to hook up with Jade when she was working with us?”
Maddock grimaced. “Fine. Knock yourself out.”
They headed out onto the deck and back to the stern where Bones and Dima stood gazing out at the white ribbon of wake that trailed behind them.
"Are we there yet?" Bones asked.
"Yeah. Get out." Maddock sat down on the deck with his back against the rail. “What’s going on out here?”
“Not much. Just getting ready to soak up some rays.” He flashed a smile at Dima, who returned a frown.
“Yes,” she said, “I’m wearing a swimsuit under my clothes and I wanted to work on my tan, but now you’ve made it weird.”
“No skin for you,” Matt jibed.
“Fine. Never let it be said I stood between a lovely lady and her quest for the perfect tan.” Bones stood and stripped off his t-shirt. “Okay, now I’m topless too.”
This elicited the tiniest of laughs from Dima, and Maddock didn’t miss the way she eyed Bones’ muscular frame. “All right, when in Rome, I suppose.” She gracefully slipped out of her shorts and shirt. Her bright, yellow bikini perfectly offset her deeply tanned skin.
“Do you need someone to lotion your back?” Bones asked.
“As a matter of fact, I do. Matt, will you do the honors?”
The former Army Ranger played it cool, accepting the bottle of suntan lotion and giving it a shake, but as soon as Dima turned around, he pumped his fist in triumph.
Maddock looked on with a touch of envy as his crew mate attended to the attractive woman.
“Good thing my sister can’t see you looking at her like that.” Bones arched an eyebrow at Maddock.
“What? No, I wasn’t looking.” Maddock had to laugh. “Okay, busted. But your sister doesn’t get too terribly jealous.”
“Angel doesn’t get jealous? Are we talking about the same person?”