Infernal

2

Shock blasted through Jack like an icy wave when Tom told him. Not from the news that his account was frozen, but…

"The feds know you're here?"

That meant the feds would also know that Jack was here. A crawly sensation settled on the back of his neck. They could be under surveillance right now.

They stood on Reid Street, a pair of statues among bustling shoppers and workers. Fleets of motorbikes buzzed by on the street, their dinky engines sounding like a swarm of angry hornets.

Tom shook his head. "No. The feds have no idea. Otherwise they'd have been waiting for me. Good thing we came in through the back door."

But obviously they've learned about the account and think I might try to get to it.

"There's nothing you can do?"

"No. And I'm lucky the guy in there didn't report me."

"Yeah, but how do you know he won't change his mind?"

"He won't. He'd wind up on the hot seat himself for not calling his boss when I showed up." Another head shake. "Shit!"

"Well, Tom. I'm sorry about this." And he was. "But there's nothing to be done, so let's get the hell out of Dodge."

"No, wait. There is something to be done. But not about my account."

"Then what?"

"The Sombra."

"Oh no." Jack backed away. "No-no-no-no."

"Jack, it's a chance—my only chance right now."

"It's not a chance. It's a pipe dream. Look, I'll lend you money, help you get a new identity. I'll even—"

"Help me a different way: Help me find the Sombra. Help me find the Lilitongue of Gefreda."

This was crazy. What was he thinking?

"Look, Tom, even if I had time to help you—and I don't because I promised Gia I'd be back day after tomorrow—how can two men excavate a sunken ship?"

"That's exactly how most of those three hundred fifty wrecks were uncovered: by two-man teams. We're not talking the Titanic here. The damn ship was only seventy-five feet long. And excavating is an amazingly simple process."

"Shoveling sand? Underwater? Are you crazy?"

Tom smiled. "Underwater, yes. But no shoveling. There's a much easier, better way. You just—"

"News bulletin: I've never scuba dived. Not once."

"You're kidding."

"Never had a need to. Not a frequently called-upon skill in New York."

"I'll teach you. Nothing to it. We'll only be down about forty feet, so you can learn all you need to know in twenty minutes, tops."

"I can learn all I need to know in zero minutes because I'm not going."

"Jack, I need your help on this. I can't do it alone. You promised you'd help."

"And I will help. But not on a wild goose chase."

"The ship's there, Jack. I know it. I knew it the first time I laid eyes on the map. And if it contains anything of value, it'll make up for my frozen account."

"Let's be sensible here. This map's been around for four hundred years and no one decided to go looking for the ship before you?"

"Well, it was hidden away most of those centuries. And the few who understood it probably figured it was fake."

Smart folks, Jack thought.

"Everyone except you."

"Right. And Wenzel's research confirmed it. He had no interest in the ship; the map itself was his prize. He'd researched it thoroughly and believed whoever had made it was sincere."

"Crazy people can be sincere. Some of the most sincere people I've ever met have had their receivers off the hook."

"I won't argue that. But I've been to the spot on the map. Last time I was here I went out with a handheld GPS unit and found it. I dove it. It's a deep sand hole."

Jack couldn't hide his surprise. "If you've been there already, what do you need me for?"

"Because I couldn't find it."

"And you think I will?"

"We will. I'll bet my butt it broke apart on the reef and what's left of it is still in that hole, covered with sand. And you and I are going to excavate it."

A perking suspicion bubbled to the surface.

"Was this your plan all along, Tom?"

He looked puzzled. "What?"

"A bait and switch. Do you really have a secret account in there? Or did you make me think I was helping you run some money when all along you wanted to rope me into a sunken treasure dive?"

Tom raised a hand. "Swear to God, Jack, I absolutely do have a frozen account in that bank."

"Then why make such a big deal of the map on the trip out?"

Tom reddened. "I did not make a big deal. I just thought it would interest you." He looked away. "Okay… I suppose I was hoping to pique your interest enough to get you to dive it with me as, you know, a lagniappe. We'd split whatever we found."

Bullshit or not? Jack could no longer tell truth from fiction with this guy.

Tom looked at him again. "But we're not talking bonus anymore. We're talking desperate necessity."

"Tom… no."

Tom's mouth twisted. "Fine. You want to head home, go to it. But you'll be going without me."

"What?"

"And if you leave me here, I'm stuck here. The only way I'll get back to the States will be in handcuffs. I'd hope you wouldn't do that to me."

"Staying will be your choice."

"And you—how far do you think you can take the Sahbon without me?"

Good question. Jack didn't know if he could pilot the boat through the reefs, let alone all the way back to North Carolina. He'd learned enough on the trip out to hazard a try, but couldn't guarantee that the Sahbon wouldn't end up on Bermuda's shipwreck map.

And if the Bermuda coast guard or whatever they were called had to pull him off the reef, they'd want some ID, they'd want to see his passport.

Shit.

Tom's tone shifted from challenging to pleading. "Two days, Jack… two freaking extra days. If we haven't found anything by sundown Friday, we head home. I swear—I swear on Mom's grave."

Jack could feel himself being backed into a corner.

An old saying came to mind: No good deed shall go unpunished. Right.

Never should have come.

"You've got to take my back on this, Jack. I hate to bring up Dad again—"

"Then don't."

"—but I have to. If he were here he'd say, What's two more days in the grand scheme of things if you can help your brother out of the worst jam of his life?"

Jack knew full well the guilt trip Tom was laying on him, but that didn't make it any easier to shake off.

Yeah, Dad probably would have wanted him to help Tom get another chance.

Jack held up his hands in a surrender gesture. He knew he was going to regret this.

"Okay, okay. If Gia's cool with me gone a couple of extra days, I'll stay. But only till Friday. Not a moment longer."

Tom sagged against the bank's pink stucco wall. "Thanks, Jack. You don't know what this means to me. I'll owe you the rest of my life."

Jack didn't want Tom to owe him anything.