Treasure of the Dead

Chapter 31

Maddock recognized the underwater pistol now pointed at his head as a Russian SPP-1. This understanding didn’t slow him down, though, but was something he knew instantly as soon as he looked at the weapon. Knowing it was more powerful than a spear gun, but inaccurate, Maddock reacted immediately, grabbing the old breastplate from the sand on which he knelt. He raised it just as the second flechette, a five-inch steel dart, struck the breastplate.

Maddock heard the same sound as before when the dart struck his impromptu shield. He took a chance and leaned right, still holding the fragmented breastplate out in front of him, and finned his way behind a cluster of rocks, using them as cover. But another round was not fired. Maddock guessed his assailant was taking his time with the next shot. The ex-SEAL knew the SPP-1 only carried four rounds, and two of them had already been discharged.

Behind his cover, Maddock doused his lights and grabbed a knife from the sheath worn inside his left calf. Looking over to his right, he saw Bones cut his lights as well.

Maddock recognized a new problem now, in the form of the attacker’s dive partner. A second man, also armed with an underwater pistol, swam toward Bones. Four more rounds, total of six left now, Maddock calculated.

But he knew that Bones could take care of himself, and right now Maddock had his own problems to worry about. He remained stock still behind his rocky cover as the intruder who had been stalking him approached Maddock’s hiding spot. The man moved in, pistol held in the ready position.

As the attacker rounded the corner of Maddock’s cover, finger squeezing the trigger of his SPP-1, Maddock flung the breastplate up to stop the next shot while simultaneously slashing with his dive knife. He caught his foe’s gun hand with the blade, releasing a puffy cloud of blood — appearing black at this depth — into the water. The would-be killer yanked his wounded hand back, dropping the gun in the process.

Maddock sprang off the bottom and cracked his bleeding assailant across the mask with the piece of breastplate. The mask splintered into a spiderweb of cracks, effectively blinding the man. The man flailed his arms about wildly, attempting to fend off a death blow he feared was coming, but Maddock instead retreated back behind cover and watched for the second man.

He expected to see him closing in on Bones, but Maddock was surprised to see no one at all where Bones had been moments before. Suddenly he felt the currents change ever so slightly, little more than a sensation of cold water moving against his neck where before all had been calm. But it was enough to make him spin around in time to see the enemy diver about to shoot Maddock in the back with a pistol.

Maddock started to bring his shield up but he knew he would not be fast enough. He tightened his stomach muscles against the assault of the flechette he knew was coming, but at that moment Bones’ towering form appeared behind the shooter. Bones’ lights were still off, and Maddock avoided signaling him so as not to give away his presence. The big Indian’s hand came down over the shooter’s head from behind and ripped off his mask, tossing it aside.

Both assailants now incapacitated, Maddock grabbed Bones by the shoulder and pointed up toward the tunnel that led out. He didn’t even look at his air pressure gauge, but knew they were perilously low and had to get out now. Maddock thought about turning on his light and looking around for the guns, but decided he didn’t have time for any further confrontation.

He and Bones swam fast through the cavern to the tunnel by which they had arrived. Forced to swim single file through the narrow chute, Bones went first, Maddock close on his fin tips. About halfway through the chute, which angled upward at a forty-five degree angle, Maddock saw light playing on the rocky walls. His own lights were still off, and he thought that Bones may have flipped his on, but then he saw his friend turn to look back, clearly wondering if Maddock had turned his lights on.

Maddock whipped his head around to look behind them. Entering the chute was one of the divers they had dispatched. Maddock cursed himself for not thinking to grab the still intact face mask they’d ripped off the one diver and left on the bottom. Not to mention the guns. Maddock frantically pointed forward and kicked, ushering Bones on through the chute. The passageway curved left and as they followed it, another flechette zipped past both of them and slammed into the tunnel wall.

Again, Maddock picked up the pace, shoving Bones ahead of them as they sought to elude their armed pursuer. Even as he expended additional energy, Maddock made it a point not to breathe faster or heavier, knowing his air supply was extremely low.

They reached another bend and as they rounded it, this time Maddock felt a sharp pain in his thigh. He stopped moving in order to assess the hit. Fortunately the flechette had struck him at an angle, so that it did not penetrate deeply. He tried to keep moving but the water pushing against it caused it to wiggle painfully in his leg, so he paused to rip it out. He flipped on his headlamp to examine the spent round in order to make sure it was still intact, that a piece of it hadn’t broken off inside his leg. He dropped it and pushed forward.

Bones had stopped up ahead, looking back, wondering why Maddock had fallen so far behind. Maddock waved him on. No need to endanger both of their lives. He’d rather have one of them make it back to Willis to tell what happened down here than to have both of them die, either by physical attack or by running out of air. Bones kicked off toward the chute exit while Maddock pressed on. He was now considerably slower than the naturally speedy Bones due to his leg injury, but still managed to make decent forward progress.

Up ahead, the archway that marked the entrance to the chasm shipwreck area loomed. As Maddock kicked toward it, he recalled how unstable it was, the rocks that comprised it shifting and moving when he and Bones had passed through. An idea was forming in his brain when a flechette grazed his wetsuit, tearing it and skinning the flesh, but this time not embedding into his body. He continued swimming toward the archway, the idea coalescing into an action-plan by the time he reached it.

Maddock unsheathed his knife. As he passed underneath the precarious arch, he began hacking at some of the loose stones at the base of the archway. He pried several of them loose, keeping an eye on a massive boulder overhead, which wobbled, but held in place. He now saw two dive lights illuminating him and his immediate surroundings. He supposed both divers had now reached him, even though one had only a cracked mask. Wincing as he moved his leg in order to wedge his blade beneath a large rock, he knew he needed to make something happen unless he wanted to end up as a flechette pincushion.

Maddock kept at it, knowing the rocks would topple soon. What he wasn’t so sure of was which way they would fall. Hopefully not on top of him, but it was a chance he had to take. With a precious normal breath rather than the shallow ones he’d been taking in order to conserve air, he put all of his strength into moving one of the archway’s foundation stones. Right hand on his makeshift pry bar, left on the rock itself, he heaved with everything he had, grunting into his mouthpiece with the effort.

He felt something slide and then, with a final shove, Maddock looked up to see the towering archway start to collapse. The rocks making up the sides tumbled out of place first, then the top. They fell slower in water than if they had been on land, but people moved slower underwater, too, and Maddock was under no illusion as to his fate should one of these rocks land on him.

He registered the chaotic movement of his pursuers’ lights, their beams dancing around the falling archway. Seeing the boulders piling up and choking off the only entrance in or out of the treasure chasm, Maddock knew he had mere seconds to make it through the archway. Apparently the competing treasure hunters had come to the same decision, as they no longer held their weapons at the ready, but instead focused solely on swimming as fast as they could toward the archway portal.

Maddock spent no more time thinking things through. He powered through the arch just as the last open gaps were filled in by a cascade of tumbling boulders, the unnerving sound of heavy grating, rock-against-rock, filling the water all around him. His adrenaline spiked when he felt resistance as he tried to kick. He tugged his right leg and then realized the fin blade had been caught between two rocks, trapping it in between. He pulled hard but still could not free himself. At least his attackers had been walled off from him, stuck on the other side of the chasm. He figured they would probably find a way through; there were bound to be gaps here and there, but for the immediate future he was safe from that threat.

But any second he expected to inhale only to find there was nothing left to breathe. He had no time to be stuck. He considered simply removing the stuck fin and leaving it behind, but he would need all the propulsion he could get to make it back to the surface in time. Maddock brought his knife to the fin blade and sliced it off just above where it was pinned. The rubber separated easily and soon he had a stubby fin to work with on his right leg, like the kind body surfers wore. A lot better than nothing, Maddock thought, as he jetted off toward the surface.

Even though he felt a strong sense of elation at having eluded his pursuers and escaping the avalanche of his own making, Maddock still felt disappointment at having lost the bulk of the treasure. Other than the few pieces he and Bones now carried with them, the hoard was now blockaded behind the collapsed arch. It would be a massive undertaking to move significant loads of treasure through that heap of jumbled stones, essentially undoable, Maddock knew. The treasure was lost, and with it, his dreams.

He headed for the boat, the sounds of the still collapsing tunnel ringing hollow in his ears.