Corey broke first. “Fine, I’ll bite. What do you think it is?”
Bones took the tooth from Matt and held it up. “Before I say anything, I need you guys to keep an open mind about this and hear me out.”
His words elicited a chorus of groans from the crew. Matt buried his face in his hands, and Corey gazed wearily up at the heavens.
“Here we go again,” Corey muttered.
“Aw, man,” Willis grumbled. “Is this another one of your cryptids?”
“Screw you guys.” Bones glared at each man in turn until they fell silent and he once again had their undivided attention. “I read a story about a World War I-era German U-boat that went down somewhere west of Scotland. The thing is, it wasn’t attacked, at least, not by the enemy. Some sort of sea creature took it down.”
“What sort of creature?” Maddock asked, already doubting his friend’s story.
“No one knows. There aren’t any surviving accounts of what it looked like — only the fact that it was able to bite through the hull of the sub. It took whole chunks out of it.”
“Sounds like it would make an excellent B-movie,” Matt said. “Are you sure this isn’t something you saw while you were drunk?”
Bones scowled at him.
“I hate to say it,” Maddock began, “but I think the story could be true. We saw puncture holes in the sub that I first thought might have been made by bullets, but they didn’t look quite right. Considering their shape, they could easily have been made by teeth like this one.”
Willis ran a hand over his head, sweat glistening on his bare scalp. “But I’ve never heard of anything that can bite through the skin of a sub.”
“It happened,” Bones said. “The one thing we know for certain is I found this thing,” he brandished the tooth, “stuck in the side of the U-boat. Whatever this creature is, it had a powerful bite.”
Silence fell over the crew as they considered this new bit of information. A thought occurred to Maddock, though it pained him to share it with the others.
“I’ll bet some of the ancient sea creatures had a bite that powerful.”
“Like dinosaurs?” Matt asked.
Maddock nodded. “Yes, but then again, that sub went down about a century ago.”
Corey pursed his lips and frowned at the tooth in Bones’ hand. “What if, and I know this is far-fetched, someone did this as a prank? They found the sunken U-boat, came back later and shoved a stolen fossil into one of the bullet holes.”
Maddock shook his head. “What would be the point? There’d be no telling how long that sub would go undiscovered. Besides, that tooth is clearly not fossilized.”
“Now you’re catching on.” Bones patted Maddock on the shoulder. “I’ll make a monster hunter out of you yet.”
“Hold on. Y’all saying there’s sea monsters in this channel?” Willis’ eyes darted back and forth, as if something deadly lurked nearby, ready to rise up out of the water and snatch him.
“I didn’t say ‘sea monster,’” Maddock said. “All I’m saying is something strange might have happened here about a hundred years ago.”
“That’s nice,” Matt said, “but I’m guessing this tooth would only bring us bad publicity if word got out that we found it. We don’t need that.”
“But we can’t just let it go,” Bones pleaded. “Come on. It’s not impossible that something survived. We’ve seen strange things before. If there are still some prehistoric sea creatures swimming around, I want to prove it.”
Willis shook his head. “Don’t even start that talk about Nessie. I’ve been listening to that crap from you since the first damn day of SEAL training.”
Matt chuckled. “SEAL training must be as easy as they say if Bones can manage to chat about cryptids the whole time.” The former Army Ranger seldom missed an opportunity to needle the crew’s three ex-SEALs.
Willis rolled his eyes. “Man, I will rip your arm off and beat you with it.”
“Promises, promises,” Matt said, then turned his attention back to Bones. “You can’t still believe in Nessie. I mean, come on. That surgeon guy admitted he faked his photograph. It was all over the news.”
“He lied,” Bones said flatly. Nessie was a touchy subject for the big Cherokee.
“Why would he do that?” Matt asked.
“To protect the creature, or creatures, actually. He knew the Nessie legends were true and he felt guilty about all the attention he brought to the loch. He probably thought he was doing the right thing by recanting his story.”
“While you guys debate monsters,” Corey said, “I’m going to do a little research. Maybe I can get some idea of what sort of creature this came from.” He took the tooth from Bones and headed back into the cabin.
“Whatever. This has been a fun diversion,” Matt said, “but we need to return to the reason we came here in the first place — treasure. I doubt there’s profit in finding one mysterious tooth. So, what’s our next move?”
“We make another run at the U-boat,” Bones said.
“What for?” Willis asked. “The tooth is cool, but we got to get paid.”
“Oh, did I forget to tell you?” Bones’ eyes widened, and he gaped in mock surprise. “There’s another part to the story. The U-boat was rumored to be carrying a stolen Scottish treasure.”
Chapter 4
Isla kicked at a patch of snow that stubbornly held on against the approach of springtime. Patches of green poked up through the many gray rocks and boulders that cluttered the summit of Ben MacDui. It was chilly up here, but she’d known what to expect and had dressed accordingly. Grizzly, it seemed, was not as well prepared. He shivered, stamped his feet, and paced to and fro. Trying to tune him out for a moment, she turned away and gazed out at the hilltops and peaks, some still speckled with snow, that encircled the mountain on which they stood. It was a beautiful sight, calming, but not sufficient to soothe her growing annoyance as Grizzly began to give orders.
“You should get some pictures of me from over there,” he pointed to his left. “I’ll look better from that side.”
“Couldn’t you just turn?” she asked, once again taking out her camera.
Grizzly seemed to think she was kidding. He stood shivering, hands thrust in his pockets, until she repositioned herself on his good side.
“Don’t you have anything in your pack you could put on to keep you warm? Some gloves, a few layers of clothing, maybe?”
“I do,” Grizzly said, “but layers make me look fat. I’ll put them on after you take your pictures.”
“In that case, let’s get it done in a hurry.” She focused and began clicking away. Meanwhile, Grizzly launched into a lecture about Ben MacDui.
“Standing at a height of just over thirteen hundred meters, that’s over four thousand feet to us Yanks,” he winked at the camera, “Ben MacDui is the tallest peak in the Cairngorms, and the second-highest mountain in England after Ben Nevis.”
“You mean in the United Kingdom,” Isla corrected.
“What’s that you say?” Grizzly asked.
“We’re in Scotland, not England. Ben Macdui is the second highest mountain in the United Kingdom.”
Grizzly smiled. “Ah, I understand the confusion. England is part of the United Kingdom, and Scotland is part of England, so it’s really all the same. Now, let’s get back to it. I’m cold.”
Isla grimaced and raised the camera. “Bawbag,” she muttered.
Grizzly finally turned and picked his way across the mountaintop, over to the summit indicator. Isla kept clicking the shutter, hoping he might take a spill.