"I didn't think we'd find a bar on this island, much less a dive like this," Bones said, echoing Dane's thoughts. "My kind of place." There was nothing about the place, save the clientele, to remind them they were in Japan. This bar, with its musty air seasoned with the sour aroma of spilled beer, uneven wood floor, chipped Formica-top bar, and cheap neon beer signs, would have fit in any number of places back in the States.
"It's for the tourists, as few as they are." Jade picked at the wrapper on her bottle. Her attitude toward Dane had warmed, but the air between them crackled with unease.
They sat in discouraged silence, watching the beams of afternoon sunlight journey across the mats that lined the floor.
"What do we do now?" Jade finally asked. "Go door-to-door asking if anyone has seen an alien-looking machine that might have belonged to the Atlanteans?"
"It's a small island," Professor mused. "Maybe we start with the recreational divers. Surely somebody knows something." He took a sip of beer and glanced at Jade.
"I don't know. I'm still too stunned to think straight. Who would have thought we'd find an Atlantean temple only to find someone's beaten us to it?" She sighed and ran a finger down the side of her untouched mug.
"I don't suppose there's a library or local newspaper we could check out?" Dane doubted it, but he had no better idea. He glanced at Bones, who sat with his chair rocked back on two legs, grinning broadly. "What are you smiling about?"
"You guys are thinking about this all wrong." Bones took a long, slow drink, dragging out the moment.
"So, enlighten us." Jade put a foot on the front stretcher of Bones' chair and slammed it down to the floor.
"Careful, chick. You almost made me spill my drink." Seeing her angry look, he hurried on. "A tiny place like this where pretty much everyone has lived in the same place for generations, what you want is a storyteller." He frowned at their blank looks. "You know, the revered old dude who knows everyone and all their secrets. Every small community has at least one. That's where we should start." He took another drink, a self-satisfied expression on his face.
Jade considered this. "It's not the worst idea. I'll see what I can learn." She rose from the table and approached the only other occupied table. The three men, all middle-aged Japanese men with weathered faces, watched her approach with unconcealed eagerness.
Dane felt his fists clench, wondering if he'd have to intervene, but Jade remained unfazed, pulling up a chair without waiting for an invitation, and chatting away.
"I thought Japanese men didn't appreciate assertive women," Bones said.
"See the way they're looking at her?" Professor smiled. "She can do anything she wants. Clever and beautiful. It’s a dangerous combination."
Dane shifted in his seat and took a sudden interest in the world outside the dirty window by the front door.
After a brief conversation, Jade returned to the table, smiling. "I've got a name and directions. Let's go."
Daisuke Tanaka lived in a shack overlooking the sea. Wrinkled and graying, he sat on the ground, a bottle of beer in one hand, and watched their approach with suspicious eyes.
Jade stopped a few paces away and bowed low. Dane and the others awkwardly followed suit. Finally, the man inclined his head, and they straightened. At the advice of the men in the bar, Jade had brought along a half-dozen bottles of beer, and Daisuke's eyes immediately wandered to them.
"Daisuke-San," Jade began, but the old man waved her into silence.
"Please, just Daisuke. I’m too disreputable for San.”
Jade smiled. "Daisuke, we’re archaeologists, and would like to learn more about Yonaguni, specifically the monument, and we were told you are the man to ask."
"I see you brought payment." He pointed to the ground in front of him and Jade laid the beer down. "Sit."
There was nowhere to sit but the ground, so they settled down in a circle.
“Your English is excellent,” Bones said.
“So is yours.” Daisuke drained his beer, opened another, and took a long drink. "Almost as good as this beer.”
Dane waited to see if he would offer his guests a drink, but no luck. Daisuke made short work of the second beer and opened a third. Dane was just beginning to wonder if they'd have to wait for him to finish the entire six-pack when Daisuke finally spoke again.
"It begins with the dragons.”
"Dragons?" Jade asked.
"Many call this," he gestured toward the water, 'The Dragon Sea.' It is haunted by the spirits of the dragons that protected Japan in ages past."
Dane and Bones exchanged surreptitious glances. This could get weird.
For the next hour, Daisuke regaled them with stories of sudden storms, lost ships, and spectral apparitions. By the time full dark was upon them, Dane was convinced they were in the midst of another Bermuda Triangle.
"What can you tell us of the monument?" Dane asked when it seemed Daisuke had run out of steam.
The old man thought for a moment. "I dove there many times when they were first discovered. I probably know them better than anyone." He took a drink. "It was once the home of an ancient people who are now gone."
"Who were they?" Bones asked.
"No one knows, but they left behind the curse of the dragons to protect their city. That is why the storms claim so many ships. To keep them from uncovering what they should not."
"Not good for tourism," Jade said. "I understand Yonaguni hopes to become a popular destination for divers."
“Tourists.” Daisuke virtually spat the word. “Fouling the island and the waters. I think the dragons hate them too. Lots of their little boats find our sea inhospitable.” His laugh was coarse like sandpaper.
“Have many divers explored the monuments?” Dane asked.
“Not too many. The dragons chase them away.” Daisuke laughed again.
Jade bit her lip and glanced at Professor before asking the question that lay foremost in their minds. “Have you heard tell of anyone bringing back any artifacts from the monument?”
“Artifacts?” Daisuke asked sharply.
“I mean… relics of whatever civilization lived there.” Jade continued. “Any rumors at all? It might have been years ago.”
“No.” He returned to his beer, turned his gaze back to the sea, and his eyes went cloudy.
After a few minutes of silence, they made a few more attempts at conversation, but the old man had clammed up. They might as well have been invisible for all the acknowledgment they received from him. Finally, discouraged, they returned to the house where Jade and Professor were staying.
Dane sat staring at the moon and turning his cell phone over in his hands. He had tried calling Angel, but she was still letting his calls go to voicemail. Since they’d last spoken, his only communication from her had been a couple of curt text messages saying she was busy and they would talk later. He sighed deeply and gazed down at the blank screen, wondering if he should give it one more try. A gust of cool air, moist with the damp of the sea, made him shiver, but he didn’t go inside. Right now, he needed the quiet.
“Somebody’s being antisocial.”
He looked up to see Jade standing behind his chair.
“I figure it’s more comfortable for both of us if I give you space,” he said.
“Don’t be like that, Maddock.” She laid her hands on his shoulders and began kneading the taut muscles as she had done so many times in the past. “I know I gave you a hard time when you got here, but can you blame me? You know what they say about a woman scorned.”
Dane closed his eyes and felt the tension drain away. Jade had the perfect touch — just enough pressure to work out the knots but soft enough to turn a man to butter. It was one of the things he’d always loved about her. His eyes popped open and he stiffened again. “You know it was never going to work between us, don’t you?”