At first, Drake thought it unlikely that a handful of mercs working alone might locate such a thing, but soon understood it was all down to satellites, GPS and computer systems. Log a coordinate in America somewhere and even a baboon would be able to follow it to the ends of the earth. And a good job, Drake thought. He’d met some of the mercs the Pythians employed.
Next up, Hayden explained how certain members of the Chinese government had been sent reeling, and were now firmly entangled in some kind of power meeting. The Pythians were pulling many strings, and not in a nice Thunderbirds kind of way. Taiwan was highly suspicious but still mostly in the dark. Tensions between the two countries were rising yet again. Hayden had previously reported that she was pulling together a specialist dive team; now Drake and his colleagues were about to meet them after being smuggled into the country.
Hayden’s language expert, David Daccus, had translated several parts of the infamous Niven Tablets, and had sent the pages of text to Dahl’s new tablet computer.
“The Naacal Tablets, or so-called Niven Tablets, originated in the land of Mu and were written by the ancient inhabitants of earth — the Naacal. In essence they are unusual andesite tablets with unrecognizable markings. They were never deciphered until they were lost. It appears now the that Americans did decipher them, and since the markings bear a lot in common with Scandinavian petroglyphs I, with the help of my Icelandic colleague, Olle Akerman, have posited a theory that makes sense of most of the symbols. From this we have confirmed that the likely location of Mu, or whatever this lost kingdom might be called, is indeed close to where the Japanese hospital ship went down.”
Dahl, talking aloud as others docked the boat, paused for a moment. “Olle Akerman,” he repeated. “I wonder how the old dog’s doing?”
Drake knew little as to the whereabouts of Dudley, although it appeared likely the man was also in Asia, furthering the Pythians’ plans. For now, it was up to them to confirm the position of the lost kingdom and report back, at the same time as scanning for any signs of the Pythians. Hayden hoped the dive team would be able to get the job done within a day, thus reporting back before the Chinese made any kind of unalterable decision. This operation had become much more that a treasure hunt or military op now — men as powerful as President Coburn were waiting on an answer to decide how best to strategize a response to whatever the Chinese might do. This mission might put the US, the UK and even the Japanese a step ahead.
With the small boat docked, the team surreptitiously made their way inland, relying on paid locals to deliver them to Hsinchu Fishing Harbor where Hayden’s dive team waited. The journey didn’t take long, less than an hour, and soon Drake was out of the minivan and stretching his legs, wary of the tropical weather and the light rain that swept across the exposed harbor. A strong wind greeted them, sweeping in and out to sea. The harbor itself was a simple construction of wide concrete gangways to which boats were tethered, bobbing in the water, and where cars and vans could easily be parked on top. Tied and sheeted cargos sat everywhere and also piles of tires. Exposed stairs led down to the water’s edge.
A man wearing a flat cap walked up to greet them. “Team’s ready, Mr. Drake,” he said in an American accent.
“Mr. Drake’s my dad,” he said gruffly. “I’m Drake. What do we have here?”
“All right, Drake. I’m Kearns. Over here we have Thibodaux, or Thib for short, Gale and Sims. We’ll be your dive team today.”
“Seals?” Dahl looked across the bay.
“Frogmen.”
“Seals then.” Drake laughed. “Why don’t you just say so?”
“Do you tell everyone you’re part of team SPEAR?”
“I do!” Alicia blurted. “I have ID and everything.”
The frogman shook his head wonderingly.
Alicia looked over the side of the gangway. “Hope you got a bigger boat.”
Kearns smiled. “We only have the one, I’m afraid. Surely you’re not all wanting to go down?”
Drake glance over the group. “I guess just three,” he said, knowing Dahl would be up for it and Alicia would skewer him if he didn’t ask. The rest, he decided, either weren’t in the right place for exploration or too inexperienced.
“How deep are we going?”
“Roughly seventy meters. That’s the depth of the Taiwan Strait. Maybe a little less depending on sediment build up.”
“So we’re talking decompression stops?” Drake started to shrug into a scuba diving suit.
“Yeah, but we’re compensating for that.” Kerns was checking the respirators. “Larger volumes of breathing gas.” He tapped two tanks, one reading oxygen the other reading EAN50. “Strap ‘em both on, backplate and wing set up. We’re using rebreathers too. Remember, decompression is your most vital procedure today, your ally. When we come back up the ascent rate ain’t there for fun, it’s mandatory. Got it?”
Drake nodded. Alicia struggled to pull on her suit, complaining hard, but when a Seal innocently offered to help she gave him the dead eye. “You said breathing gas,” she told them. “Don’t you mean air?”
“Nah. We use Heliox since it’s less narcotic. Don’t want any of you landies getting the narcs now, do we?”
“Whatever.” Alicia tugged at the neoprene suit. “Damn! Why can’t they make these things out of denim? I can pull a pair of jeans on in about two seconds flat.”
“About a quarter the speed you can pull ‘em off,” Drake observed drily.
Alicia ignored his comment, finally ready, and reached out for her air tanks. The group then spent another few minutes climbing into the Zodiac Hurricane RIB — rigid hull inflatable boat — and waiting for Kearns to make ready.
“All right,” he said. “We’re just taking a look here. Nothing too invasive. If this lost kingdom is down there we’ll see the signs. If the enemy have beaten us to it we’ll see the signs. Reconnaissance and verification mission only. Understood?”
Drake nodded for all of them, already staring out to sea. Dahl shouted to those that remained on the dock, ensuring Hibiki and Mai remained vigilant, but with everything that was happening between those two and Chika and Grace at the moment they barely registered his call. The Swede stared over at Drake with a worried expression.
“Sorry, mate, but all that shit between them? It needs sorting or we’re going to be looking at casualties.”
Drake bit back the snappy comeback. Dahl was right and he dreaded to imagine the effect of losing another member of the SPEAR team. “I’m open to suggestions,” he said finally. “But with the four of them it’s like picking through an SAS obstacle course loaded with mines. Naked.”
Alicia caught the final word and looked over. “What?”
Drake shook his head. “Life used to be simpler than this didn’t it?”
Dahl shrugged. “Simple usually means no ties, no family and no real love. I prefer complicated.”
The Zodiac began to rumble as its engines started and then powered forward through the slight swell. Its higher-than-normal sides protected the occupants from little of the spray and wind but the roomy interior was adequate for their gear. Spluttering from a faceful of spray, Drake remembered he hadn’t dived seriously in many years and put his mind to recalling the basics. Kearns, at the front of the boat, used a satnav system to zero in on preinstalled coordinates.