Bones had stopped up ahead, looking back, wondering why Maddock had fallen so far behind. Maddock waved him on. No need to endanger both of their lives. He’d rather have one of them make it back to Willis to tell what happened down here than to have both of them die, either by physical attack or by running out of air. Bones kicked off toward the chute exit while Maddock pressed on. He was now considerably slower than the naturally speedy Bones due to his leg injury, but still managed to make decent forward progress.
Up ahead, the archway that marked the entrance to the chasm shipwreck area loomed. As Maddock kicked toward it, he recalled how unstable it was, the rocks that comprised it shifting and moving when he and Bones had passed through. An idea was forming in his brain when a flechette grazed his wetsuit, tearing it and skinning the flesh, but this time not embedding into his body. He continued swimming toward the archway, the idea coalescing into an action-plan by the time he reached it.
Maddock unsheathed his knife. As he passed underneath the precarious arch, he began hacking at some of the loose stones at the base of the archway. He pried several of them loose, keeping an eye on a massive boulder overhead, which wobbled, but held in place. He now saw two dive lights illuminating him and his immediate surroundings. He supposed both divers had now reached him, even though one had only a cracked mask. Wincing as he moved his leg in order to wedge his blade beneath a large rock, he knew he needed to make something happen unless he wanted to end up as a flechette pincushion.
Maddock kept at it, knowing the rocks would topple soon. What he wasn’t so sure of was which way they would fall. Hopefully not on top of him, but it was a chance he had to take. With a precious normal breath rather than the shallow ones he’d been taking in order to conserve air, he put all of his strength into moving one of the archway’s foundation stones. Right hand on his makeshift pry bar, left on the rock itself, he heaved with everything he had, grunting into his mouthpiece with the effort.
He felt something slide and then, with a final shove, Maddock looked up to see the towering archway start to collapse. The rocks making up the sides tumbled out of place first, then the top. They fell slower in water than if they had been on land, but people moved slower underwater, too, and Maddock was under no illusion as to his fate should one of these rocks land on him.
He registered the chaotic movement of his pursuers’ lights, their beams dancing around the falling archway. Seeing the boulders piling up and choking off the only entrance in or out of the treasure chasm, Maddock knew he had mere seconds to make it through the archway. Apparently the competing treasure hunters had come to the same decision, as they no longer held their weapons at the ready, but instead focused solely on swimming as fast as they could toward the archway portal.
Maddock spent no more time thinking things through. He powered through the arch just as the last open gaps were filled in by a cascade of tumbling boulders, the unnerving sound of heavy grating, rock-against-rock, filling the water all around him. His adrenaline spiked when he felt resistance as he tried to kick. He tugged his right leg and then realized the fin blade had been caught between two rocks, trapping it in between. He pulled hard but still could not free himself. At least his attackers had been walled off from him, stuck on the other side of the chasm. He figured they would probably find a way through; there were bound to be gaps here and there, but for the immediate future he was safe from that threat.
But any second he expected to inhale only to find there was nothing left to breathe. He had no time to be stuck. He considered simply removing the stuck fin and leaving it behind, but he would need all the propulsion he could get to make it back to the surface in time. Maddock brought his knife to the fin blade and sliced it off just above where it was pinned. The rubber separated easily and soon he had a stubby fin to work with on his right leg, like the kind body surfers wore. A lot better than nothing, Maddock thought, as he jetted off toward the surface.
Even though he felt a strong sense of elation at having eluded his pursuers and escaping the avalanche of his own making, Maddock still felt disappointment at having lost the bulk of the treasure. Other than the few pieces he and Bones now carried with them, the hoard was now blockaded behind the collapsed arch. It would be a massive undertaking to move significant loads of treasure through that heap of jumbled stones, essentially undoable, Maddock knew. The treasure was lost, and with it, his dreams.
He headed for the boat, the sounds of the still collapsing tunnel ringing hollow in his ears.
Chapter 32
Fabi felt the blindfold being roughly torn from her eyes. She did not recognize the man who tossed the fabric aside, though could tell he was a local Haitian of middle age, and had heard his associates call him by name: Odelin. She looked past her captor, trying to ascertain where she was. Inside, in what looked like the kitchen of a house, where she could hear but not see other men in the other rooms. Fabi sat on a chair, her hands tied behind her back but not to the chair itself, and her legs not bound. Looking sideways, she saw Cassandra in the same situation on a chair next to her.
“You.” Odelin pointed at Fabi. “Up. Come with me.” He waved toward the adjoining room. Fabi stood, and Cassandra began stammering. “F — Fabi? What’s happening? What are they doing?”
Odelin stomped his boot on the wooden floor. “Silence, or you will be gagged.”
“Don’t worry, Cassandra. I’m right here. These men want something from me. When we get it sorted out, I’m sure they’ll let us go like the gentlemen they are.” She gave her captor a hard stare, but he only waved her on into the next room.
The dining room had once been nice, but had long since fallen into a state of neglect. The walls had cracks and spider webs dangled from corners. A table surrounded by mismatched chairs occupied the center of the smallish room, its surface cracked and dirty. Two other men waited in here, both standing against different walls and armed with sub-machine guns. These two still wore the concert T-shirts around their faces, Fabi noticed, but for some reason the one who led her in here, Odelin, was unconcerned about being masked. Would she recognize those holding the guns from around town?
She had little time to ponder this as Odelin shoved a chair in front of her. He stood over her until she sat. Then he pushed her and her chair up to the table and walked around the table to sit opposite her. He stared at her dead on.
“Fabiola Baptiste. Your cousin, David the priest, was looking for a shipwreck treasure thought to be here in the waters of Haiti.”
“If you say so.” Fabi struggled to keep her voice even, to keep her emotions in check. “I know nothing about what David was doing. I hadn’t heard from him in months when he died. Perhaps you were responsible for his death?”
“Perhaps you will answer my questions without asking your own, or you will find that the ability to speak is a privilege afforded only to those who cooperate.”
Fabi let her head loll back in frustration, speaking up to the ceiling. “I’m telling you, I don’t know anything about a sunken treasure. I work in a medical clinic! What do I know about underwater treasure?”
“You have associates cooperating with you to find it. The Americans with a boat.”
“They are acquaintances of mine from my old days in the American Navy. They are here on vacation to do some recreational scuba diving because I always told them what a beautiful and hospitable place Haiti was to visit.”