Before she could reply, Bones called out from the doorway.
“Hey you two, Professor thinks he’s on to something.”
Jade jerked her hands away as if she’d been burned, and Dane sprang to his feet.
“Great,” he said. “Let’s see it.”
He followed Jade back to the house. When she disappeared through the front door, Bones grabbed Dane’s arm.
“What the hell is going on out here?”
“Nothing.” Dane yanked his arm free. His first instinct was to tell Bones to mind his own business, but his friend deserved an explanation. “I was trying to call Angel, and Jade came out and started talking to me.”
“She was doing a little more than that.” Bones raised an eyebrow.
“She just started rubbing my shoulders and, before I could say anything, you stuck your big head out the door and interrupted us. You’ve always had bad timing.”
Bones folded his arms and looked down at Dane with the air of a disapproving schoolteacher. “You have any witnesses to back up your story?” And then he grinned. “Maddock, if I didn’t know you were one of the good guys, I’d probably kick your ass right now, but I guess you’ve at least earned a little bit of trust over the years.”
Dane relaxed a little. “There’s nothing going on. You’ve got my word on it.”
“But will it stay that way if Angel keeps ignoring your calls? If it takes us a while to find whatever was taken from the temple, you and Jade are going to be working at close quarters. Can you handle it?”
For all his clowning and buffoonery, Bones could be insightful when he made the effort.
Dane met his friend’s eye and gave a single nod.
“Good enough for me. Let’s see what Professor has for us.”
Inside, Professor paced back and forth, almost bouncing with scarcely contained excitement. He held a roll of papers and slapped them into his open palm.
“I think,” he began, grinning at Dane and Bones, “that our friend Daisuke knows more than he is letting on.”
Chapter 25
“What do you mean?” Dane asked, now interested.
“I did some checking on Daisuke. He was in the papers all the time, back when the monument was first discovered basically, there were two camps: one sought to use the discovery as a way to bring in more divers and tourists, and draw attention to Yonaguni; the other wanted exactly the opposite.”
“No need to hazard a guess as to which one Daisuke belonged,” Dane said.
“Definitely not. In fact, he was the most extreme of his group. He wasn’t only opposed to tourism; he didn’t even want researchers to visit the site. He wanted it completely closed off.”
“I can’t totally blame him,” Bones said. “Even the best of the academics can disrespect sites that others hold sacred. Just ask my people.”
“That’s an interesting angle considering some of the things you and Maddock have done.” The corner of Jade’s mouth twitched.
“I’m a complex man, my dear.” Bones winked. “And, as I recall, you were along for a few of our hijinks.”
Jade fixed him with a disapproving look and then turned back to Professor. “But what makes you think he knows something about the missing device?”
“I’ve been researching the Dragon Sea and I’ve learned that most of the problems he talked about: the storms, shipwrecks, lost sailors, happened in the past twenty five years.”
The others absorbed the information for a moment.
“So?” Bones asked. “What does that mean for us?”
“By itself, nothing.” Professor unrolled the papers he was holding. “This is a map of the Dragon Sea. I’ve plotted the locations of the various incidents. What do you see?”
“They’re pretty much all in a single place. Or at least, very close together.” Jade rested her chin on her hand and nodded.
“So you think the missing Atlantean device is causing all these problems?” Dane asked.
“I’ve heard crazier.” Bones tugged absently at his ponytail. “I mean, the device the Dominion found, and presumably the one you recovered, causes tsunamis, so why not another device that affects the seas?”
Dane glanced at Professor and saw he was grinning. “There’s something you haven’t told us yet.”
“What if,” Professor began, “I told you that this spot right here,” he uncapped a ballpoint pen and made a dot on the coastline, “is Daisuke’s house?”
Bones and Jade looked puzzled, but Dane immediately saw where Professor was headed. “You think he’s got the device?”
Professor nodded sagely.
“Wait. What?” Bones looks from one man to the other.
“You might be right,” Jade whispered. “He said he was one of the first to discover the monument, and he…”
“… hates tourists with a bitter passion,” Bones finished. “Let’s kick his ass.”
“Maybe we should leave you here,” Dane said to Bones. “Professor’s idea makes sense, but it’s still pretty far-fetched. We need to investigate, not come down on the guy like an avalanche.”
“Show of hands. Who votes avalanche?” Bones raised his hand and looked at the others. “You guys suck.”
“Don’t worry about it. This way, you get to use some of that famous Native American stealth you’re always bragging about.” Dane turned to Jade and Professor. “All right, folks, it’s time to devise a plan of attack.”
Two hours later they anchored off the coast a short distance from Daisuke’s home. This time, Jade had drawn the short straw, and would wait with the boat while the others made the dive. To Dane’s surprise, she had acquiesced with only the slightest protest when he pointed out that, of the four of them, the three former Navy SEALs were most likely to be able to complete their task without being seen.
After a brief, invigorating swim, they found themselves on the cliff below the house. As they had planned, Bones stripped off his fins and quickly scaled the rock wall. He would keep a lookout while Dane and Professor searched. Dane had reasoned that the device would not the inside the old man’s home, but hidden somewhere nearby, in a place with a good view of the sea. Using his map, Professor had determined what he considered to be the likely a starting point: a central point from which the old man, or an accomplice, could have used the device on unsuspecting ships.
Maglite in his teeth, Dane ascended the cliff. He was an experienced climber, so he would take the high ground while Professor would cover the area just above the shore. His fingers dug deep into the cracks and crevices and his feet search for toeholds as he made his way up. He tried to bear the weight mostly on his legs, but in a few places, he had to swing from one spot to another with only his arms holding him up. He soon felt the burn in his neck, shoulders, and lower back, but it was a good feeling. In the early days of their friendship, when they still had not learned to trust one another fully, he and Bones had bonded over their mutual interest in climbing. The first time he had met Angel was when Bones took him back to North Carolina on a climbing trip. She had just finished high school then, and a relationship with her had been the farthest thing from his mind. In fact, he found her abrasive and annoying. A lot had changed over time. The memory made him smile.
“Find anything yet?” Bones whispered question startled him.
“Did I say I found something?”
“Touchy. The house is dark, so I’m going to scout along the cliff. I figure, if he comes down here regularly, he might have won a path, and he definitely would need a way to climb down.”