Phantom Prospect. Alex Archer
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finished tossing the chum over the side of the boat and hailed the deckhand. “Time to get the cage in the water.”
They worked together. Annja unhooked the fastening cables and slowly they winched the cage over the side of the boat until the top of it sat at the waterline. The sea had calmed and the boat seemed to steady itself. Annja gave a silent prayer of thanks and felt her stomach stop lolling about.
Cole glanced at Annja. “Tom’s going to heave a few tuna chunks out on lines and he’ll drag them toward the cage.”
“You want the sharks coming at the cage?”
“Yep.”
Annja shook her head. “And this will help your research somehow?”
“We’ll be able to see how the sharks separate themselves and who seems to be the ruling class. What researchers have observed is the deference certain sharks will have for another. But why they do that is something we don’t know. Yet,” he explained.
“Have fun,” she said.
Cole smiled. “Time for you to get changed, Annja.”
“Excuse me?”
“There’s an extra wet suit in the cabin. I’ve got tanks all set for you. And there’s room for one more in the cage.”
Annja looked out at the sea. The dark shapes slid past the boat and surfaced, showing rows of jagged teeth as they sampled the chum line. Annja’s stomach heaved again. “I’m not sure about this.”
“I know how you feel. The first time I dived with great whites, I puked over the side of the boat.”
“And then what?”
“I got the hell in the cage and did my job.” He heaved the air tanks onto his back and checked his regulator. “You won’t regret it, Annja. I promise.”
Annja sighed and wandered back to the cabin. Cole had left the wet suit hanging on a door hook. She fingered the material and wondered what the sharks would see when she entered the water.
Dinner, most likely.
She took a deep breath. This was what she’d come out here for, she thought. When Cole had called and asked for her help, she’d had nothing pressing to do. And she’d always had a thing for sharks, even if they did scare the crap out of her.
This was her chance to try to put some of those fears to rest.
She took some calming breaths and stripped down, quickly climbing into the wet suit. The material clung to her skin and she noticed how much warmer she was inside of it. That was a good thing. The water temperature was fairly warm at this time of year, but it could still cause hypothermia if she was in it for too long.
She padded back out onto the deck and saw Cole sliding his mask over his face. He smiled when he saw her. “Glad you decided to come along.”
“If I get eaten, I’m coming back to haunt you.”
“I don’t doubt it.”
Annja pointed at the cage. “You sure those bars are strong enough to ward off any attacks.”
Cole nodded. “Relax, Annja. Cages these days are much stronger than they used to be. You’ve got nothing to worry about. Besides, I’ll be right there with you. Anything goes wrong, just follow my lead.”
“That’s comforting.”
Tom helped her get the air tanks on and she tightened her waist belt, and then checked her regulator. She took a couple of breaths and tried to consciously slow her pounding heart. Adrenaline pumped through her veins and she knew that her nerves would take over unless she stilled them.
“Give me a second,” she said.
Tom stepped away. While Annja busied herself with relaxing, Tom heaved a tuna carcass out into the water.
The surf exploded as a shark surged up from below and took the bait firmly in its mouth, ripping from side to side as chunks of flesh tore off in its mouth. Annja watched the grim spectacle and felt a strong desire to grow wings and fly home.
“Thanks for the help, Tom,” she muttered.
He glanced back at her. “You okay?”
“Fine. Just fine.”
“Let’s go, Annja,” Cole called. Annja watched him slide over the side of the boat and into the cage. She saw the splash and moved to make sure he’d made it into the cage.
Cole stuck his hand out and waved her on.
Annja took another deep breath and slid the regulator into her mouth. Tom handed her a mask and she settled it on over her hair. She tightened the straps and then nodded.
Tom helped her move to the side of the boat. The water seemed to be alive with sharks. Annja looked at Tom. He smiled. “There are only four of them down there.”
Only four, she thought. Great.
She braced herself. The opening of the cage was directly in front of her, but for some reason, it looked a lot farther away. One misstep would plunge Annja into the ocean, unprotected against the massive predators gliding through its depths.
Annja wanted to run. She wanted to puke like Cole had. But she steeled herself, took a breath and then stepped toward the cage opening, falling in through the open part with a splash.
White water bubbled up around her as she adjusted to the sudden change in her environment. She felt the reassurance of Cole’s body next to hers. She took a few breaths and settled herself down.
The water felt warmer than she expected. And she was almost calm when a giant mouth suddenly loomed open in front of her. Annja blinked, saw rows of jagged teeth and fell back against the bars of the cage.
The great white in front of her bit the bars separating them and then slid off into the deep.
Cole patted her on the shoulder and gave her the hand signal to make sure she was okay. Annja nodded and gave him the thumbs-up. She blew out a long line of bubbles and again tried to calm herself.
On the floor of the cage, her balance felt sure enough. But the ocean floor was at least thirty feet below them.
She heard a splash and turned to see that Tom had tossed another bait hook over the side of the boat. Annja saw it tracking through the water toward the top of the cage.
Like a missile being shot out of a submarine far below the surface, Annja saw a flashing streak arc right past the cage as a huge shark shot up from below them, lancing into the tuna chunk. Incredibly, Annja thought she could hear the rending tears of the mighty jaws clamping and sawing through the fresh meat.
She forgot her terror and was instead awed by the mastery of evolution sailing through the waters before her. The sharks slid through the depths with complete ease. Their bodies had long evolved into almost perfectly aerodynamic shapes that met minimal resistance as they swam.
As they bit into the bait hooks, Annja could see the protective membranes slide up over their eyes, shielding them from any danger that might lurk as they attacked. She noticed the incredible flexion as the viselike mandibles sank into the flesh, exerting almost two tons of pressure per square inch.
But even as the sharks fed seemingly without regard, Annja could discern something else about them. She knew they were incredibly intelligent. She could see there was a rhyme to their reason. Annja realized that they seemed to almost feel with their teeth, making sure that what they attacked was suitable food for them.
She marveled at how they operated. And she knew why great white shark attacks were usually so deadly. It wasn’t necessarily that the sharks sought out human beings to eat, but that they had no real way of probing something without committing to it fully. Their bites would naturally cause grievous wounds in anything, humans included. Blood loss and tissue damage would often cause death, even when the shark realized that the human victim wasn’t