By the shape of the hull he recognized the rusted wreck in the sand as one of these unique vessels, there was no doubt about it. Because of their streamlined design and improved output power, they could operate efficiently underwater without having to surface to sprint during attacks. It also aided them in being elusive in radar searches and their thin bodies made for exceptionally fast diving time. These U-boats, he was told, were superior to their predecessors on every level.
Most of them were accounted for, in fact, he was certain of it. After decommissioning some were scrapped, others dismantled or turned into museums.
"Darwin! Tommy!" Purdue shouted on the radio, "I need you in the booth immediately, lads!"
His heart was now throbbing wildly. A sunken submarine guaranteed adventure and promises of valuable secrets, until now cloistered at the bottom of the ocean.
"What are you hiding?" he whispered to the image on the screen, "Art? Treasure? Nazi treasure, I bet. I bet you were used to carry Nazi treasure out of the country and you never made it to your destination."
"Sir?" he heard Tommy's voice through the hiss and roar of thunder and the clamor of the waves.
"The coordinates. I need the coordinates of where the minisub cut off from us. Can you do that?" Purdue asked with a great renewed sense of urgency.
"Of course. Let me check," Tommy said, and sat down in front of the ROV control panel. He retrieved the positioning data of the submersible just before it lost contact with them and gave it to Purdue. The three engineers stood fidgeting around him, waiting for some revelation like anxious fathers in a maternity ward.
"Gentlemen, I will need you to stay on a few more days after your rotations are concluded, if you don't mind. I will pay each of you overtime for your extended assistance after shift change. But first I need to procure a new minisub, otherwise we'd never be able to reach that beauty on the ocean floor," Purdue purred. "Now, I need a warm beverage before I get started." With that he left for the kitchen and left the three astonished men behind in the control room.
"What beauty?" Liam asked in utter confusion. His eyes followed his colleagues where they stared at the image of the stretching vessel caught in the oblivion of the North Sea depths. "Oh."
Chapter 5
"We were ordered to drop you off where you want, miss," said Cody, one of Purdue's largest security men. "Personally I would love to drop you at the bottom of the Water of Leith, but for some reason Mr. Purdue doesn't think you merit a beating for the shit you pulled."
"If your security wasn't so lax you would not have had your perimeter breached, braveheart," she retorted in a low tone, smirking at the vexation of her reluctant escort.
Cody and his colleague, Jason, were to drive her back to the city on Purdue's order. The night before he had decided not to press charges because he could see by Calisto's clothing that she had been down and out. Her hoodie was once black, but now sported a ragged grey threading and her nails were dirty. When she crossed her legs on the couch he could see the dilapidated state of her old Doc Martins and it fascinated him how she had navigated the ledge in them, let alone move so quietly that no one heard her climb above the iron doors.
Although he was not a bleeding-heart type, he figured he did not have to be a dick about it, because nothing valuable was missing, unless you considered the meat that was gone. Purdue made it clear that he was not a charity and he believed that each person cultivated her own circumstances; therefore, she could not expect any more aid from him apart from a lift back to the Edinburgh city center.
Cody grimaced at her amusement as they walked out to Mr. Purdue's 4×4. Calisto's eyes scrutinized the vehicle, but she did not ask any questions. She had never seen an off-road vehicle with tinted windows, let alone one with a driver. It all seemed a bit absurd until she considered the horrid condition of the road leading up to Wrichtishousis, which she had walked the afternoon before to reach the mansion.
"Get in," Cody said, and after she complied, he slammed the back door of the vehicle behind her and the vacuumed silence suddenly had her ears ringing. Both men rounded the 4×4, their voices muffled by the airtight doors. Calisto sat forward, lip-reading what the anal one of the two was whining about.
"You know he would never know if she disappeared. It's just you and me, mate. We can end her so easily," Cody grunted, rattling the car keys.
"You have been watching too much telly again," Jason replied, as he reached for the passenger door. He shook his head at his colleague's intent. Cody was always hot-headed, not much of a social success due to his overt aggression and his tendency to take mundane things as personal attacks. He certainly perceived the intruder's efficient infiltration of the mansion as a personal insult on his abilities. There was some debate among the team members as to the comparison between his temper and the dark red hue of his hair.
"So easily."
"Get in the car, Cody," Jason smiled, and opened his door, surprised at the woman's sudden distrust of them. In her seat she sat with her arms tightly locked by her sides, ending in fisted hands, which were evidence that she was scared.
"Don't worry. We are not the bad guys, lady," Jason assured her in his gentlest voice, while his friend fell into his seat and looked at her in the rearview mirror,
"Yeah, and we only hurt bad people," Cody said. He started the car with a smile and looked at her again, raising his eyebrow, "You're not a bad girl, are you?"
This time Calisto had no witty comeback and she quickly elected instead to look out the rapidly fogging window to digest the beautifully imposing manor. On their way to Canongate Cody looked in the rearview mirror at the beautiful woman with the lost expression in her eyes, peering wearily out the window at the beacons they passed as if they were breadcrumbs to her, marking her location so that she would not get lost.
"Where are you from?" Cody asked in a loud voice that made her jump. She was amazed. It was the first normal question out of his usually pursed lips that did not contain some form of death threat. "You have an accent."
"Oh, I am not Scottish, no. Grew up mostly in Spain. Then I stayed with my boyfriend in London and eventually ended up homeless in Edinburgh," her voice fell considerably on the latter, and she took pause before looking up at him in the mirror. "It's been a road strewn with broken champagne glasses that I've been walking barefoot, I guess." Calisto flicked her nails in thought. The two men looked at each other and the interior of the car fell silent for a while.
"So where should we drop you?" Cody asked, trying to trivialize the woman's plight with an empty question of which he already knew the answer.
"I thought I was headed for the Waters," she smiled. This time Cody did not explode. He actually chuckled and Jason was relieved. There was a light drizzle in the air, the tiny drops culminating in crystal streaks of glitter, which ran down the windows, but the day was relatively still. Jason turned on the radio and the sound of rock music pleased all three of them. Nodding his head to the beat, Jason looked back at Calisto. She had turned her head so far back that she had to prop herself on one hand to see properly, staring out the back window at the cars behind them.
"What do you see?" he asked. The passenger quickly turned back to face him.
"Nothing. I was just looking at the road behind us. It's a habit I had as a child, looking at how far I have come and what I am leaving behind, you know?" she said sheepishly, sharing her personal idiosyncrasies with two strangers who had chased her down like a dog just the night before.
"You're a bit of a deep chick, aren't you?" Cody's loud voice remarked, while his eyes were framed by the mirror again. Calisto smiled, but then, reflected in the mirror, she saw Cody's face light up with a sudden brightness. Immediately he pinched shut his eyes as the sharp beam of light assaulted the mirror from the car behind them.