Hell Ship by David Wood Page B

rival. Or perhaps that there had been a leak in the SECNAV’s office, alerting some outside interest or perhaps even a foreign power, to their clandestine search.
    N ow he saw everything differently.
    There was a leak, and it wasn’ t merely a case of loose lips sinking ships. But that was only the tip of the iceberg. The SECNAV had lied to Maxie, sent them out armed with bad intel. The Awa Maru story was completely bogus; the ship below was the ship they had been meant to find, and the reason for the search had nothing to do with recovering war treasure or appeasing China.
    “You seem to know more about this than we do,” Dane ventured. “I don’t suppose you’d care to enlighten us. Maybe start with just who the hell you actually are.”
    “ You can call me ‘Scalpel’.”
    Bones made a choking sound t hat Dane recognized as an attempt—not a very good one—to stifle laughter.
    “Something funny?” Scalpel snapped.
    “No, I was just thinking I should set you up with my cousin, Surgical Mask.”
    Scalpel ignored him. “Just answer my question. You found a ship, right? A Japanese ocean liner?”
    Dane nodded slowly. “I think they were using it to transport POWs.”
    “Any remains?”
    Dane nodded again.
    The eyes behind the balaclava studied him for a long moment. “Here’s what’s going to happen. You are going to go back down there and find something for me. We’ll stay up here with your friends, and as long as you’re cooperative, everyone will walk away when I have what I’m looking for.”
    Dane’s first impulse was tell Scalpel exactly where he could stick his instructions, but decided that wouldn’t improve the situation; his second was to feign cooperation in order to buy time. Scalpel’s demand was patently absurd, and bespoke an unfamiliarity with the difficulties inherent in deep diving and marine salvage. That was something he could use to his advantage, but he would have to tread very carefully. “I don’t know what it is you expect me to find down there, but you do understand that at that depth, max time on the bottom is about twenty minutes. Last time, we didn’t do much more than look in the windows.”
    “ Are you saying you can’t do it?” There was a dangerous edge to Scalpel’s voice.
    Dane held his hands up in a placating gesture. “Just tell me what you’re looking for.”
    He sensed that the man was smiling behind his mask. “There was a very special passenger aboard that ship. I want you to find him.”
    “There were hundreds of skeletons.”
    “I think you’ll recognize Lord Hancock when you see him.”
    “Is he related to Graham Hancock?” Bones interjected. “You know, the dude with all the theories about aliens and ancient civilizations?”
    “Keep that up and I’m going to shoot you in the head just to shut you up,” Scalpel said. He turned back to Dane. “Lord Hancock has a metal plate in his skull.” The man tapped the side of his head, just above his right ear. “Right here.”
    Dane a ccepted this with another nod then gestured toward Bones. “He can’t dive with that cut. There are sharks down there.”
    Scalpel shook his head. “Just you. The rest of your crew will stay here to insure your cooperation.”
    “I can’t dive alone. It’s not safe.”
    “Oh, I’m not letting you out of my sight. I’ll be going down with you.”
    Dane hung his head, as if in weary resignation, but managed to shoot a meaningful look in Bones’ direction. Bones met his gaze and winked.
     
    The shark still circled lazily as Dane descended along the anchor line half an hour later. Scalpel, now wearing the wetsuit and equipment that had originally been purchased for Willis Sanders, was just a few feet behind him. Dane’s new diving partner carried a harpoon gun, but Dane didn’t have so much as a knife; his had been confiscated as soon as he and Bones had returned from the first dive, and Scalpel did not seem inclined to let him have it back. That was fine