The Eden Legacy

II

It was the metallic shrieking that stopped Boris from shooting Knox. He knew what it was and what it signified and the world seemed to stop for a moment as he waited for and then heard the crash of shelving that he himself had precipitated by swinging himself around on it. A cacophony of ceramics shattered on the concrete floor. He closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again with renewed hatred of Knox. ‘If those two pieces are broken…’ he warned.

‘There are more of them,’ said Knox, his hands above his head. ‘Lots more.’

‘Where?’

He nodded towards the sea. ‘Out there.’

‘Bullshit.’

‘I swear. I found them yesterday. I’ll take you out there.’

‘Like you were going to take us to the golden fleece?’ he scoffed.

‘The golden fleece existed,’ said Knox. ‘So does this. You saw those pieces downstairs. Do you think they appeared out of nothing? They came from a Chinese ship that sank outside the reef.’

‘That’s further north.’

‘No. We thought it was, but we were wrong. It made it down here before it sank. That’s where the bowl came from. That’s where the flask came from. And there are dozens more pieces like them. Hundreds. And not just porcelain. Gold and jewellery too.’

‘And you just left it all on the sea-bed?’ sneered Boris.

‘I’m an archaeologist, not a thief.’

Boris coloured, raised the gun at Knox. ‘Where exactly is this place?’ he asked. ‘Describe it to me.’

‘It’s forty metres underwater,’ protested Knox. ‘How am I supposed to describe that?’

‘Then what use are you?’

‘I can show you. I can take you out there.’

He’s a liar, said a voice in Boris’s head. A proven liar. Don’t fall for him again. But the Chinese pieces downstairs had looked real enough. And what if he was telling the truth this time? What if others came down here and found all this wealth that could have been his? He’d be cursing himself for the rest of his life. He motioned Knox to his feet, marched him back downstairs. If either the bowl or the flask had survived the carnage, then he’d have no more need of Knox. But neither had. ‘Okay,’ he told Knox. ‘You’re going to take me out there. But if you try anything, anything at all, by God you’re going to pay.’