Hell Ship (16 page)

Dane immediately noticed two things about the medallion. “There’s no oxidation or corrosion.
I think this thing is gold. It’s too hard to be twenty-four karat, but definitely a gold alloy.”

“There’s something on it.”

That was the second thing Dane had noticed. Adorning the triangle was a simple but unique symbol: a Templar Cross.

The
cross was centered in the triangle, its vertical axis bisecting the medallion through the wide angle. A tiny nail had been driven through the intersection of the cross-arms to secure it in place, but this popped out with the slightest pressure from Dane’s thumbnail. The medallion itself took a little more effort, as if, even in death, Trevor Hancock was reluctant to part with the item that had been entrusted to him as a boy.

Dane
gently pried it loose and then set the skull next to the rest of the skeleton. “I’ll take it from here, Lord Hancock. Rest in peace.”

Alex
crossed herself, and then stuck out an eager hand. “Let me see.”

She flipped it over, inspected the obverse, then rotated it in her fingers.
“I think this was made to fit into one of the sigils on the map in the Templar chapel at Lord Hancock’s estate. Each of those sigils marks a Templar fortress. Whichever one it fits is where they hid the treasure.”

“I don’t suppose
you remember where this one goes.”

She closed her eyes, as if trying to visualize the map, but then shook her head.
“I wish I had that kind of memory.”

“
Then I guess we’ll have to pay him another visit. Think he’ll be happy to see us?”

She raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“Yeah,” he went on. “I don’t think so either.”

“Do you think it could really be that easy?
Just find the right slot, put the triangle in and…Presto! Dig here for treasure.”

“If I had that access to that map and knew that there was a treasure in one of those places, I wouldn’
t waste time waiting to see if this thing turned up. I’d go to every single location on the map and tear them apart until I found it.”

She grinned at him.
“Something tells me you’d be able to narrow it down and find the right place on the first try.”

“Why, thank you.”

She held the medallion close to her eyes, searching for some hidden inscription. “Maybe there’s more to it than just knowing where to go. Maybe once you get to the right place, you have to use the key again.”

Dane
held his hand out, palm up. “Doesn’t matter. This triangle is what everyone wants. It’s our leverage.”

“Leverage?”
She handed him the medallion. “What kind of treasure hunter are you?”

“I’ll let you know
when I figure that out.” He looked out to where
Jacinta
was anchored, and then saw Bones and Gabby aboard the Zodiac surfing the breakers on their return trip. “Come on. Let’s go tell Bones he wasted a trip.”

As the wave
started to pick them up, Bones gripped the side of the Zodiac and shouted: “Now!”

Gabby, seated at the stern, twisted the throttle and the inflatable craft started forward.
For a moment, it seemed that they would lose the race; the wave was relentless, inexorable, while the puny outboard was struggling to overcome the Zodiac’s inertia. The nose tilted down, the boat sliding up the face of the wave…but then, just when it seemed they would lose the wave altogether, gravity gave them an assist. The Zodiac dropped down the face of the breaker like it was a roller coaster.

“Cut it!”

Gabby let go of the throttle, allowing the engine to idle, but even though the screw was no longer turning, they were picking up speed. She angled the tiller so that the boat veered to the right, shooting along the base of the wave as it curled and broke right behind them.

“You’re surfing!” cheered Bones.

Gabby shrieked with delight. “Let’s do it again!”

“Business before pleasure.
Besides, first we’d have to get past the incoming breakers to get back out, and as you’ve seen, that’s the hard part.”

“I want to try.
Show me how.”

“Let’s drop off our package first.”

She stuck out her lip in a pout. “I thought Maddock was the stick-in-the-mud.”

“Hey, I let you drive, didn’t I?
Some gratitude would be nice.” He turned his attention to the beach where Maddock and Alex stood waiting. Even from fifty yards out, Bones could see the look of triumph on his team leader’s face. “Uh, oh. Either Maddock got lucky, or he found what he was looking for.”

As the wave collapsed to white froth beneath them, Gabby engaged the scre
w once more and turned the Zodiac toward the place where the others waited. Bones sat near the prow, poised to leap out as soon as the fiberglass hull scraped against the sand.

The engine noise cut out as Gabby abruptly let off the throttle again.
Bones turned to admonish her, but before he could say anything, she had twisted the throttle in the opposite direction, reversing the screw.

“Not yet—” Bones started to say, but then he was thrown off balance by the sudden deceleration.
He saw Gabby reach out to him, but instead of trying to catch hold of him, she gave him a hard shove, toppling him forward over the prow.

The water was hip deep, but he went in face first and it took him a few seconds to right himself.
He came up, sputtering, not really angry but ready to meet her unprovoked horseplay with equal and appropriate mischief. The Zodiac however was already thirty yards away, skimming the incoming whitewater and headed for the breakers. He shouted her name, but she didn’t look back.

Maddock
splashed out to meet him. “What did you say to her?”

Bones shook his head.
“Women. Who can figure ‘em?” Then he realized Alex was there and added. “I mean, she’s just a kid.”

“Well, tell her to quite goofing off,” said
Maddock. “We found it.”

Bones wheeled around.
“Seriously. I mean, I knew you could do it, but…seriously? You found it?”

Maddock
held up a piece of shiny yellow metal.

Bones shook his head in amazement.
“A needle in a haystack, and you found it. You’re buying me a lotto ticket when we get back, because you must be the luckiest bastard on earth.”

Maddock
nodded to the Zodiac which was fighting its way through the incoming surf. “One of us has to be. What’s she doing?”

“Trying to hot dog, I guess.
If she’s not careful…” He didn’t finish the thought aloud. He had been about to say that if Gabby wasn’t careful, she’d be going for a swim, but the awful truth was if she failed, there was a good chance the Zodiac would be wrecked, and then they’d all have a rough swim to get back to the
Jacinta
.

He held his breath as she
made her charge, a couple seconds too soon for his liking, but the wave was smaller than the one he’d charged and she actually made it look easy. The inflatable slid down the shallow back of the wave, momentarily disappearing from view, but when the wave flattened out, he was surprised to see the Zodiac heading for the anchored vessel. Gabby pulled the inflatable up to the diving platform, tied it off, and ascended the stairs.

“Ah, Bones?”
There was an anxious incredulity in Maddock’s voice, a sentiment that Bones felt as well, and with each passing second, his dread increased. Something was very wrong.

Any doubts to that effect were swept away when they heard the distant but unmistakable sound of helicopters in the sky.

Dane followed the
roar of the approaching turbines and scanned the horizon until he spied the three aircraft. They were moving in low, almost skimming the water, probably to avoid radar detection. As they got closer, Dane could see that they were a motley assortment, different makes and vintages with no uniformity in terms of paint scheme and no visible identifying markings. One bird looked like a Bell 204 or more probably, its military variant, the UH-1 better known by its nickname the “Huey” and Dane wondered if it was a working leftover from the Vietnam War era. It was a passing thought, quickly swept away in the fight or flight cascade triggered by the realization that their enemies had found them.

Bones had assumed a similar posture, every muscle in his six and a half-foot tensing in anticipation of a deadly confrontation.
“Damn. She sold us out, didn’t she?”

“Don’t sweat it.”
Dane tried—and failed—to affect a care-free tone. Part of him wanted to rage at Bones for being so quick to trust Gabby, for being too easily seduced by her flirtatious manner. But was he any different? His instincts hadn’t picked up on the slightest whiff of treachery, and he’d extended his trust to Alex almost as freely as Bones had to Gabby.

Alex
.

He faced her, wondering only now about her loyalties
and motives. What did he really know about her? She stared back, anxiety writ in her expression, but when she spoke her voice was steady and calm, as if she didn’t entirely grasp the seriousness of the situation. “Do you think it’s the Templars?”

“I think we’re about to find out.”

It took only a few seconds for the aircraft to arrive and as they swooped over the island, they settled into a loose triangle, hovering in place as if to cover potential avenues of escape. The rear doors of each helicopter had been removed and crowded around each doorway were men in black battle-dress, faces hidden behind balaclavas. The men were all armed with rifles and carbines, and had their weapons trained on the trio stranded on the beach.

Bones curled his fists as if he might try punching the helicopters out of the sky.
“What do we do, Maddock?”

His fingers curled around the medallion.
He’d told Alex that it was leverage, and while he had not expected that he would need to use it thus quite so soon, or in such a dramatic fashion, he knew that it was their only bargaining chip. He held it up, turning it so that it gleamed in the afternoon sun, and cocked his arm, ready to hurl it out into the surf.

Somebody must have received the implicit message, for two of the helicopters pulled back, as if to establish a buffer zone.
The Huey, however, edged closer, throwing up a tornado of grit that stung Dane’s face and arms, and settled onto the flat ground in the middle of the island just fifty yards from where Dane and the others stood on the beach. Dane kept his arm poised to throw as two black-clad figures emerged from the open fuselage and crept out from under the rotor blades.

As soon as they were in the open, the man in the lead straightened and held his empty hands up, signaling for a truce.
He then tugged off his balaclava to reveal a handsome earnest face. The trailing man remained hunched over, as if he didn’t trust that he was actually clear of the whirling rotor. He kept his mask in place, and although he did not draw the pistol holstered at his hip, his hands were not raised in a supplicating gesture.

“Don’t do anything rash, Mr. Maddock!” called the handsome man, shouting to be heard over the noise of the helicopter.
“If you throw it, you won’t have anything left to trade.”

“What makes you think I want to trade?” countered Dane.
“I’d rather throw it away than let you get your hands on it.”

“Your bravado is misplaced.”
The man stopped ten feet away, close enough to speak in a normal voice. He was an American, with a Southern accent and a genteel manner of speech. “I’m certain you don’t even know me.”

“I know him,” said
Alex, pointing at the second man. “That’s the bastard that murdered Don.”

The hunched over
man stared back at her, his hard eyes betraying nothing. Dane wondered how she was able to make that identification, but then he too noticed something familiar about the masked figure.

“
Hey, it’s my old diving buddy. Say, you’re looking a little
bent
out of shape.”

“
What, the guy with the stupid nickname?” Bones studied the man in question, as if contemplating an animal at the zoo.

Dane tsk
ed. “Remember what they say about glass houses,
Bones.
”

The masked man evidently saw nothing amusing in
the banter. He whipped off his balaclava and directed his accusing stare at Dane. The unveiling didn’t immediately confirm Dane’s identification, since in their previous encounter, he had kept his face covered, first with a balaclava and then with a diving mask, but the voice was unquestionably that of the man who called himself Scalpel. “You left me to die down there, Maddock.”

“That was thoughtless of me, and I’m truly sorry.
I really should have made sure you were dead.”

“Funny guy.
We’ll see who gets the last laugh.”

“Dude, your trash-talk
ing is weak,” remarked Bones. He paused a beat, then continued in a slightly more subdued tone. “I suppose Gabby was working for you all along, right?”

Scalpel sneered.
“Uh, oh, someone’s got hurt feelings.”

The handsome man cleared his t
hroat, silencing his lieutenant’s retort. “Ms. Sandoval did agree to keep me informed as to your progress. She had no other obligations to me, so whatever…intimations…she may have made, were completely at her own discretion. I consider my arrangement with her concluded. Now, if we may dispense with the playground posturing, Mr. Maddock, and move on to the matter at hand?”

“What’s there to discuss?
I normally don’t make deals with murderers, but if you really want this little trinket, maybe we can discuss price…once I’ve had it properly appraised of course. I’d hate to get suckered.”

“Mr. Maddock, at the risk of belaboring the obvious, you really aren’t in a position to negotiate. I am doing you a great courtesy by even talking to you; by all rights, I should simply let Scalpel here kill you and have done with it.
I really have no reservations about…how does that bumper sticker put it? Prying it from your cold dead hands?”

“Is that you’re idea of an opening bid?” Dane made a show of ratcheting his arm back a few more inches.

“Throw it then.
I’ve spent years searching for it, and I’ll spend more years sifting every grain of sand on this beach if I have to. The only difference is that you’ll be dead.”

Dane met the man’s stare and saw the truth of the statement.
The man wouldn’t hesitate to kill them.
So what’s he waiting for
? “Who are you? What’s your story?”

The handsome face twitched with a smile.
“Why, how careless of me? I feel as if I know you already, Mr. Maddock, even though we haven’t been properly introduced. My name is John Lee Ray. I’ll understand if you want to forego the customary handshake, but I do feel a certain kinship with you. We are both members of the very small fraternity of special warfare operators, though I myself have moved on to more lucrative endeavors in the private sector.”

“Special warfare?” said
Alex. She turned a suspicious eye toward Dane.

“Ah,
you didn’t tell her?” crooned Ray. “Mr. Maddock and his friends are SEALs, sent on this little errand by the Secretary of the Navy himself.”

Alex
seemed to be weighing this revelation, perhaps trying to decide if it somehow changed the status quo, but Dane steered the discussion away from his mission. “And who’s giving you orders? Private sector? That’s a pretty word for mercenary, right? You’re a hired gun. Hired by whom?”

“You’re out of your depth, Maddock.
”

There was a hard edge to Ray’s voice, and Dane knew that the accusation had put t
he other man on the defensive. “Then enlighten me. One warrior to another.”

“We don’t have time for this,” growled Scalpel.

Ray shot a look at his watch, then turned to look at the two hovering helicopters. Dane noted that the Huey was not powering down. Ray was eager to be on his way, and maybe not as willing to wade into the surf to retrieve the medallion as he wanted Dane to believe.

Keep him talking
.

“If you want this,” said Dane, waving the medallion, “I suggest you make the time.”

“Give it to me, and I will tell you everything. One warrior to another.”

Bones snorted derisively.

“I give you my word. And while I doubt this assurance will do much to convince the skeptical Mr. Bonebrake, you have my guarantee of safety.” He cast a meaningful glance at Scalpel.

“You’ll just fly away, and leave us alone, is that right?”

“Precisely.”

Dane lowered his hand and gazed at the Templar medallion as if assessing its worth.
He realized now that it wasn’t a bargaining chip at all. It was a poker chip, and it was time to ante up. He closed his fingers over it once more, squeezing it until he could feel its points biting into his palms.

There were four possible outcomes.

If he threw it into the sea, Ray would certainly kill them all, after which he might still find the medallion and go on to accomplish whatever it was he was planning.
Or he might never find it. One way Ray won, one way he lost, but either way, they were dead.

If he trusted Ray and handed over the prize, Ray might break his word and kill them anyway, or he might l
et them live. Both ways Ray won, but one way they would live to fight another day.

“He killed Don,” warned
Alex. “He tried to kill me. These people don’t leave loose ends.”

“Don’t trust him,”
declared Bones, flatly. It was good advice, especially from a man whose ancestors knew all too well the price of misplaced trust.

“
I don’t. But I’m going to take a chance.” He tossed the medallion to Ray. “All in.”

Jo
hn Lee Ray
caught the gold piece in his right hand. There was something sly in his triumphant smile, but it was the gleeful look in Scalpel’s eyes that told Dane he’d been had.

He was a little surprised when Ray simply slid the medallion into a pocket and then addressed him in the same easy tone.
“There, you see? Everybody wins. And once you’ve heard what I have to say, you might be sympathetic to my cause. I’m always hiring, and you’ve certainly proven yourself capable.”

“First, tell me this.
You knew that the SECNAV sent us out here. How?”

Ray cocked his head, as if trying to think of the best way to answer.
“I believe you’ve made the acquaintance of a certain Edward Lord Hancock, so I’m sure some of what I am about to tell you will no doubt be familiar. I will recount the story to you as I experienced it.

“One of my first clients
…I would tell you his name, but discretion is a part of the service he paid me for…suffice it to say, he was a very wealthy and powerful man. One night, while he was in his cups, he told me a most fascinating story. The true history of the world; a history of Templar domination. At the time, I took his account for the ravings of a drunkard, but as the years passed, I began to see patterns...a design as distinctive as the Templar cross.

“They control everything.
Elections, wars, economic and social upheavals…nothing happens that does not serve this design. I can see that you are skeptical. I was too, at first. You asked how I knew about your mission? I knew because I have been watching. When Don Riddell made a request for information about the sinking of the
Nagata Maru
, it threatened to expose their grand scheme. It was a Templar assassin, not my associate here, that killed your employer Miss Vaccaro.”

“I saw him,” protested
Alex, pointing at Scalpel.

“He was there, investigating at my behest, but
too late to save Mr. Riddell.” Ray paused a moment, as if curious about whether she would accept his explanation. “It was always their intention to recover the key, but this development forced them to accelerate their plans. A full scale search and recovery effort was out of the question, so they sent you. What were your orders? Try to find the ship, but do not attempt a recovery?”

“
So, the SECNAV is a Templar?”

“The echelons of power are rife with Templars and their lackeys. This is a conspiracy six hundred years in the making.
Our government is nothing but a tool with which the Templars will execute their design. If the Secretary is not himself a Templar, then he dances to their tune.”

“Let me guess,” interjected Bones.
“You’re actually the good guys.”