The three of them donned their scuba gear and took a careful look at the waters around the boat to make certain they were still alone. Satisfied they were working unobserved, the trio moved onto a dive platform that hung off the boat’s stern.
Splashing into the sea, Maddock, Bones and Willis descended through the clear blue water. The bottom was already visible even though they still had seventy feet to go to reach it. A dense school of silver fish parted beneath them as they made their way down feet first. Beams of sunlight sparkled and shifted around them. Looking up, the Sea Foam’s hull was clearly visible as a dark oblong shape outlined against the light background of sunlit surface water. Below, the dark topography of the seafloor beckoned with the promise of hidden treasure.
The sophisticated equipment on board their boat was of no practical use to them down here. All it could do was point them in the right direction, and then it was up to them to do the legwork for the rest of the way. That didn’t mean they had no technological help, though. Both Bones and Willis carried underwater metal detectors. By passing the unit’s disc directly over the seafloor, if metal was not too far beneath, an audible signal would sound in the gadget’s headphones.
Upon reaching the bottom, which was mostly flat and sandy, the trio of divers checked their gauges to confirm depth and remaining tank air. Satisfied the numbers were in their favor, they went to work. Maddock operated unencumbered, relying on his vision to scan the area for bigger picture clues, while Bones and Willis swam slowly, scouring the bottom by sweeping their metal detectors back and forth, listening for telltale signals of buried metal.
What had appeared on the screens aboard the Sea Foam as a significant metallic feature looked like nothing of the sort now that the ex-SEALs were down here. Maddock laid his eyes on only sand and seaweed. It was not lost on him that it was possible, after centuries’ worth of storms and shifting sands, that a shipwreck could be buried many feet below the bottom, making it unsalvageable for all practical intents and purposes. Knowing there was nothing he could do about that, he continued to survey the area, looking for anything that might signal the remains of a wreck.
He was finning his way across the search area when he heard a sharp pinging sound — a noise he had paid attention to many times before. Either Bones or Willis was signaling by banging a dive knife against their aluminum air tank. Maddock spun around to see Willis look up from swinging his detector, also searching for the source of the noise. Maddock continued his slow spin until he caught sight of Bones, looking his way and waving an arm.
He and Willis swam fast over to Bones. The tall Indian had already set his detector aside and was now digging into the bottom with a metal scoop. Willis, who also carried one, joined Bones in the digging effort while Maddock kept overwatch, on the lookout for marine predators, or worse. He’d heard plenty of stories of treasure divers being accosted underwater by less than welcoming locals who would rather have the treasure for themselves once the hard work of locating it had been done.
Clouds of silt made it hard to see as the hole in the seabed deepened. Bones raised a hand for Willis to stop digging, and then both men started fanning the water with their gloved hands, attempting to clear the area of the suspended particles that made it hard to see what was in the hole. After a couple of minutes of this effort, Bones stuck a hand down into the excavation. He pushed his facemask into it, closely examining what lay on the bottom. Suddenly he retracted his arm from the depression and held it high.
Sunbeams seemed to reflect from his fingers, radiating in all directions as Maddock realized what Bones held. He swam to the Cherokee and peered at the object clutched between his fingers.
A gold coin.
Bones held it out in front of Maddock’s mask. The coin had some corrosion, but they could still make out a bust on one side and a shield on the other. Maddock grinned and gave Bones the “okay” sign before dropping the gold piece into an artifact bag he had clipped to his weight belt.
Willis, who had begun searching the small pit while Bones showed Maddock his find, also emerged holding a treasure. Another gold coin similar to the first. Maddock added it to his pouch and then looked on while Bones and Willis went back to the excavation. After a few minutes of searching, including passing the metal detectors over the bottom of the pit, it became clear that their honey hole had run dry.
Maddock gave hand signals to indicate they should search the rest of the area. The three of them fanned out again over the sand, but after combing the site until their air supplies were low, Maddock jerked a thumb toward the surface, and they began their ascent back to the boat.
Back aboard the Sea Foam, Maddock, Bones and Willis shrugged out of their dive gear and decided to search the narrower area in the vicinity of the dive site for larger signatures on the magnetometer and sidescan sonar. Maddock got behind the wheel and had just cranked up the engine when he noticed his mobile phone blinking to indicate he had a new message.
He gave the wheel over to Bones, leaving Willis to monitor the instrument displays while Maddock checked his message.
A new email from Fabi caught his eye. His eyes narrowed as he read the text.
“Bones, Maddock: I've been doing some digging around the clinic and found something crazy. Looks like Dr. Avila is up to something bad. I think he's behind the zombie attacks. Gotta get out of here. More later.”
Concern swept over Maddock’s features as he pondered Fabi’s email. Was she onto something or simply spooked? Right now he couldn’t be entirely sure, but given everything that was going on, it was nothing to downplay.
“Hey Bones, Fabi sent us an email.”
The Indian looked over from the wheel. “Sent us an email? You mean, me?”
“Shut up and listen, this is serious. She says—”
Willis’ husky voice interrupted them both. “Whoa, I got something here. Something interesting.”
Chapter 30
“Check the sonar image, here.” Willis pointed to a display where a field of hazy gray was plainly visible in a jagged black rip. Maddock and Bones crowded around to get a look.
Maddock shook his head. “That can’t be metal.”
Bones ran a fingertip along the shape of the intrusive outline. “It’s not metal, it’s a geological feature. Part of the bottom.”
Willis nodded. “Some kind of trench, or crevasse. But look: I think there’s something down there, some open space near the bottom. See this?” He stabbed a pointer finger on the lower left end of the unusual feature, where a subtle splotch of discoloration could be seen.
Bones appeared concerned. “How deep is that?”
Willis shook his head slowly. “Hard to say. It’s a narrow gorge type deal, and we’re not positioned exactly over it, so it’s reading the bottom around it. But if I had to guess, I’d say at least one hundred feet.” A doubtful look took over his features before adding, “Currents are going to be a bear down there, too. Looks dicey, from a diver standpoint.”
Bones looked away from the screen, making eye contact with Maddock and Willis. “How could a Spanish treasure ship, which was over a hundred feet long, have ended up down in that narrow crevasse?”
Willis wagged a finger back and forth over the gray hazy part of the display that surrounded the more distinct feature of the gorge. “I’m no geologist, but after looking at a lot of these readings in the service, I’d say it looks like there's been a shifting of rock sometime in the past.” He paused, shrugged, and then went on. “It could be that seismic activity caused it, but it’s a pretty safe bet that it was probably a much larger space in the past. Whatever it was that caused it, the whole place looks like it could collapse at pretty much any time, and I’m not looking forward to going down there if that’s part of the plan.”