The Seventh Secret

Chapter 24 — Two Down

“Look what you’ve done, Purdue,” Nina screamed. She took the remote control from Sam and turned off the television. “You have caused a natural disaster in a part of the world where nothing like this ever happens. That should keep the coast guard away, I’m sure.”

“Oh, come now, Nina,” Purdue sighed, rubbing his tired eyes. “Did you not hear what the coast guard said on the news? They have no idea what caused it.”

“And since they are unfamiliar with tsunamis, they are desperately trying to explain it as freak waves,” Crystal added to Purdue’s argument. “What Purdue’s manipulator has done is unprecedented; therefore, the authorities here have no idea what could have caused the sudden spring tide.”

“Thank God we are not right at the beach. Those houses are flooded,” Cheryl said. “And all this damage without a cyclone… is… weird. Things like that don’t happen in South Africa… ever.”

“Agreed,” Dr. Malgas said from the couch where he had joined Mieke in a wine drinking marathon. “On the other hand, Mr. Purdue is right. They won’t know what to make of it. I’d say our secret is safe.”

“While half the region's coastal residences are under water,” Nina lamented. She could not help but feel sorry for the residents of Bluewater Bay, Algoa Bay and the coast further up north where they did not suffer the full brunt of the geomagnetically induced waves.

“The wreck is visible again,” Purdue noted nonchalantly.

“What the hell does that mean?” Nina frowned.

Crystal leaned in to see the vessel on the green and black LED screen. Sam turned to Nina to explain, "The wreck disappears every now and then."

“Excuse me?” Mieke gasped. "You say it disappears? A massive Nazi warship… just vanishes?”

Sam and Purdue nodded as if the phenomenon was nothing out of the ordinary. Nina winced.

“Christ, that is just creepy.”

“Maybe it is a problem with the sonar. Maybe the sound waves are prevented from reaching the wreck and fail to map it, creating the illusion that it is not there,” Sam reckoned, and Purdue considered it a good argument.

“That is very plausible.”

"So when are we actually going to salvage the ship?" Dr. Malgas asked a question all his affiliates had been harboring for the past few days.

“As soon as we have managed to pull it out of territorial waters, of course," Purdue said. He found it peculiar that an archeologist would be so ignorant of the proper procedure in acquiring any artifact.

“Not to mention that we cannot navigate the tug in these conditions, Dr. Malgas,” Crystal told Malgas. “These waves could well put us right down there with the Graf Spee." On mention of the ship's name, she drew the attention of Nina and Purdue for a split second before they silently went about their business again. "We'd all be nicely tugged in on the ocean floor, dead bodies occupying the salvage boat for all eternity.”

“Jesus,” Zain muttered.

Cheryl looked nervous. She needed to escape before they embarked on the salvage and before Zain and Sibu found out that the whole thing was a hoax.

“What is your problem?” Zain asked her under his breath.

Cheryl had to think quickly. “I am running out of medicine. You know what I’m saying?”

“So call your dealer and get enough for the trip,” he sneered. “I don’t want to be on the open sea with a paranoid bitch that might not be able to control herself and might blurt out my secret.”

Cheryl nodded obediently, “I will. Tonight, I’ll meet him a block from here. Otherwise, Billy will know I'm still a junkie." Her eyes had searched for her old mentor, once like a father to her before she had been replaced by Mieke, who knew her secret, yet never told Malgas about it.

When Cheryl had asked her substitute about it the night before, Mieke had revealed that she never told Malgas because she did not want to upset him even more what with all the stress he was already going through. But Cheryl could not help but suspect that Mieke was just keeping the revelation for the right moment.

In the evening, the waves had calmed enough for Purdue to program the next code for the satellite he had chosen. He stared at the screen, trying to spread the beam over a larger area to hopefully diminish the intensity of the waves it would cause. “Oh my God,” he muttered to himself. “It’s gone again. How the hell can it just vanish like that?”

Crystal’s phone rang.

"Oh, it's the salvage crew," she cooed. She jumped up and left the room. Sam stared at her as she vanished into the dark outside the sliding door. Nina watched him intently, amazed at his indifference toward her when Crystal was around. Sam looked spellbound by the lawyer, although he could not see her from where he sat.

“I have to know,” Nina suddenly said from behind him.

“What?”

“What is so bloody fascinating about her?” Nina snapped.

Sam smiled with that boyish charm that annoyed Nina so much, “Are you jealous, Dr. Gould?”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” she scoffed. “You are still almost hypnotized, even though you can’t even see her out there.”

Sam whispered, “But I can hear her.”

“Big deal,” she frowned.

“No,” he said, “you misunderstand. I am listening to her German conversation.”

“Sam,” Nina whispered back amusedly, “she is German.”

The journalist’s dark eyes played on hers for a moment, as if he was studying her. Calmly he sighed, “If her salvage contractors are Egyptian, why is she speaking German to them?”

Nina felt awfully stupid. “Let me just get my foot out of my mouth before I venture a guess…”

Sam decided not to milk the delicious moment of victory over the backfiring of Nina’s condescension and simply ran his palm down her arm, an affectionate gesture she secretly enjoyed.

“So, what is your theory on that phone call?” she asked Sam. “When I first arrived at Wrichtishousis she was on the phone for hours.”

“I have no idea. Maybe she is taking a personal call from a relative or something,” Sam speculated.

“Then why did she announce that it was the salvage crew?” Nina asked. Sam thought about it for a moment and looked at Nina. They were onto something, but what was it?

“Sam!” Dr. Malgas called. “Can I have a word with you, please?”

“Keep your ears open. You understand German. You can figure out what she says if you get close enough. Let me see what Billy has on his mind,” Sam excused himself.

“Aye,” she nodded. “Wonder what wisdom he has to share this time.”

“Be nice,” Sam smiled and winked at her. Nina was adamant. She had to know what Crystal would be so secretive about while Sam joined Billy Malgas on the front porch.

“Can we take a walk, Sam?” Malgas suggested.

"Aye, sure," Sam answered. "You seem incredibly tense for someone who is about to make a historical discovery, Billy.”

“That is what I wanted to talk about, actually,” Billy said anxiously, pulling Sam out on the street, where only the pale white orbs of the lamps could witness their conversation.

“Oh, okay,” Sam frowned. “If this has something to do with what was said during that argument…”

"Please, Sam. Allow me to explain. This is weighing heavily on my conscience, and I need your advice. I have been waiting for a moment to discuss this with you… why I initially called you,” Billy started. His voice croaked like a tired old man’s, giving Sam a foreboding feeling he could not shake.

But before the conversation could go any further, the two men were distracted by a ruckus in the neighborhood. Three voices echoed angrily in the usually quiet street.

“I know that voice,” Billy exclaimed. “That’s Cheryl, Sam. It sounds like she is in trouble!”

Cheryl was being jerked around by her arms. Two men were trying to push her into a vehicle, but she was putting up a massive fight. Her screams for help were muffled by a thick, powerful hand over her face by the large man restraining her as she kicked out wildly. As Sam and Billy rushed to her aid the other man punched her hard in the face, rendering her unconscious.

“Hey!” Sam shouted, tackling the brute who had punched her. While Sam was scuffling with him, Zain and Sibu came running, having heard the commotion from the house. They quickly subdued the attackers, but Billy insisted on knowing what was going on.

“Who are you?” Billy growled at the man Sibu was holding. “What do you want from Cheryl?”

“None of your bloody business!” the man replied, pinching his broken nose as Sibu pushed his head into the sand among the short grass with his knee. Purdue came running along with the neighbors.

“You had better tell me or I’ll let Sibu use you for target practice, you bastard!” Malgas sneered angrily.

“I’m her dealer, for fuck’s sake! I’m her dealer!” he told them. Suddenly Billy’s face sank. His rage turned to disappointment as he got up from his knees, dusting off his jeans.

“She is still doing drugs?” he asked Zain and Sibu. Zain nodded, “Yes, more than ever.” He deliberately told Malgas in front of Purdue and Sam, to eliminate her from the equation. They would never allow a strung up junkie on their excursion and would leave him with less to worry about. After all, he did not need her anymore.

Together with a kind neighbor who had offered his help, Billy Malgas escorted Cheryl to the hospital to tend to the cut above her eye. The hospital also had a rehabilitation program for drug addicts he intended to commit her to. Sam went back to the house with Purdue at his side.

“I can’t believe it,” Purdue sighed. “You alright?”

“Can we just get on the bloody ocean already?” Sam begged.

"Funny you should say that," Purdue smiled. "Crystal just informed me that the salvage tugboat has arrived a few nautical miles out that way." He smiled eagerly, pointing to the eastern horizon. "All I have to do is get on the tug and from there we can nudge the wreck a few more meters. It is virtually a stone's throw from the edge of the 12-mile-zone, obscure as it might be.”

“So we’ll be in a nutshell on those demon waves while you are fiddling with that gadget of yours again? Are you high? What if the tug capsizes?” Sam scowled. “You know, sometimes your genius is seriously questionable.”

“No, Sam. I may be reckless, but I’m not stupid,” Purdue retorted calmly, looking up at the beach house as they passed through the gate. Sam could not help but wonder what Malgas had wanted to tell him. Crystal, Nina, and Mieke were packing everything up for the harrowing trip ahead to reach the salvage tug that was waiting for them in international waters.

“Cheryl and Dr. Malgas will not be joining us on the trip,” Purdue informed them, followed by the two security advisors who nursed the skin over their knuckles with some ice from the freezer.

“My God, Sam!” Nina shouted inadvertently at the sight of Sam’s bloody mouth and nose. She instantly realized that she was not supposed to care, when Crystal was already checking his cuts.

“I have just the thing to fix you right up, Liebling. Come,” Crystal urged him. She took him by the hand and dragged him to the upstairs bathroom with her. When she closed the door to be alone with Sam, Nina felt a nauseating twist in her innards. Reflexively she turned her attention to Purdue and decided to keep to his company from now on.