Goldfish

[Felipe]

This is the first chapter of "Goldfish" my third book. I will also post a chapter that takes the story on a major twist, I hope you enjoy it.







CHAPTER ONE



DISCOVERY







Barbara Mason was having the best vacation of her life. Instead of staying at a five star resort on the Yucatan as usual, she had finally talked her husband Frank into doing it her way. They rented a jeep in Cancun and were just flying by the seat of their pants. Driving along the coast to the south, staying at small Mom and Pop hotels. Eating the local food and diving at secluded spots along the coast of the Yucatan.

Today they had pulled over where the coast was visible through the jungle. With their scuba gear in mesh bags on their backs and a tank of air on their shoulders, they had walked to the shoreline. The diving in these remote sites was spectacular, with a lack of divers, the fish, turtles and other marine life had no fear of man. The reef itself was incredible, this large formation looked like an underwater mountain range. Valleys would plunge downwards hundreds of feet down a sheer wall with abundant fish life all along it. She was now at forty six feet deep floating just above the reef as huge schools of colorful fish swam nearby looking at her with little concern. A large Hawksbill Turtle was eating a sponge on the bottom as a Queen Angel fish gracefully hovered over its shell eating the small scraps.

Swimming over a drop-off in the coral, she couldn’t believe her eyes. There sticking out of the coral was a very large, ancient anchor. She excitedly rang the small brass bell on her Buoyancy compensator to alert Frank. Frank, a short distance away looked at her as she urgently waved him over. When he arrived next to her she pointed at the anchor.

Together they pulled the cords releasing air so they could sink down to the level of it. The anchor chain links were larger than her hand, they led off through the sand and coral, appearing here and there as they followed it. Soon a large section of reef appeared. Squeezing the inflator button to add air, Frank rose up several feet above the reef to get a better perspective.

It didn’t look natural, the shape of it was too perfect. Even though encrusted with coral and sponges, it was definitely an ancient ship. His heart pounded in his chest as he saw what was obviously a pile of ballast stones to make the ship ride better when unloaded.

Barbara was scooting just along the top of the reef, swimming along its length when something caught her eye. A slight glint of gold reflected the sun’s light in the sand near the wreck. Swimming to it, she waved her hand moving the sand away. It was a large, gold coin. The Spanish cross was plainly visible on one side, the other had the profile of a man’s head.

She rang the small bell holding it up for Frank to see. Seeing the gold coin, he quickly swam over to her and took it examining one side then the other. He motioned with his hands as to where she found it. Barbara again waved her hand over the sand and there was another. Then a stone caught her eye, it appeared green under the water but it was not a natural shape either, it was oval. Placing it in her palm, she showed Frank who also examined it.

Together they began to fan their hands over the sand, finding six more coins over the course of a half hour. Frank looked at his gauge console and saw that his air supply was approaching five hundred pounds. He tapped Barbara’s shoulder, showing her the gauge and motioning with a thumbs up signal. She nodded her head and slowly they swam upwards toward the shoreline. Stopping at twenty feet for five minutes to breathe off the excess nitrogen, Barbara couldn’t wait to talk to Frank as she looked at the coins in her hand.

After a five minute safety stop, they slowly rose to the surface. Barbara pulled her mask under her chin, “Frank! Its a treasure ship!”
“Whoa, don’t get excited just yet. Its an old ship for sure, but those coins might be the only ones there. That could have been in someone’s pocket way back then.”
“No! There has to be more! All we did was wave our hands at the sand. Most of the ship is encrusted in coral. Who knows how much more is down there? We need to come back here for sure.”
“Well I agree with that. The collectors value alone of the ones that we found will pay for this trip. There may be more, we will see, that’s for sure. Come on, lets get back.”

Barbara slipped the coins into her BC pocket securely fastening the Velcro flap. Once they reached the shallow water, they removed their fins and steadied each other against the crashing waves as they waded onto shore.

“We need to mark this spot.” Frank said, looking around, “There, look.”
Two palm trees leaned away from each other forming a V shape directly ahead of them. Walking up on dry land, they removed their buoyancy compensators with the now heavy scuba tanks laying them in the sand. Barbara opened the flap of her BC pocket removing the coins and the stone. The stone was a perfect oval of deep red, it glimmered in the bright sunlight.
“My God, it’s a ruby!” she said.
“Yes, you loose the color red at thirty feet. That’s why it looked green, let me see it.”
She placed it in his palm then examined one of the large gold coins. The date was clearly visible, 1514.
“This is a gold escudo! I told you it was a treasure ship!”
“Don’t get excited, we don’t know that. All sailors carried money in their pockets, that may be all that there is.” he said looking back out at the turquoise water.
“Well, it sure is worth looking some more, don’t you agree?” She smiled.
“Of course it is. We will come back tomorrow with several tanks. At that depth, we can stay down almost an hour at a time, then off gas for a few hours, eat lunch and go back down.”
“We need to be able to chip away at the coral. There may be a lot more under it.”
“Destroy the reef? Are you kidding? Its the home for countless fish and small marine animals.”
She looked at him incredulously, “Frank! There are miles of reef out there. The small fish and crabs will just move to another section of it. We may be sitting on a fortune here.”
Frank looked at the coins, “OK, you are right. We will find a welding supply and buy some chipping hammers. They have a point on one end and a flat edge like a hatchet on the other. We‘ll come back tomorrow early.”

Barbara hugged him then kissed his cheek. Together they carried their scuba gear back through the short section of jungle to the jeep.

 

[Felipe]

CHAPTER SIXTY TWO



THE VISITOR




All of the doctors and nurses gathered that evening in Paamul at the palapa. They were introduced to Felipe and his friends, they pulled a lot of tables together and ordered drinks and dinner. Felipe, as usual, sat so he could see the entrance, “Check it out, who brings a briefcase on vacation?” he nodded toward the door. Felipe and Ben both reached behind their backs and eased the safeties off on their pistols concealed under their shirts.

They all looked in that direction. The man was dressed as a tourist in a t shirt, shorts and sandals, but he held a black briefcase. He was looking at all of the patrons, when he saw John, he walked to the table, “John Everett?” he smiled.
“Yes, I’m John Everett.”
“May I please have a word in private with you?”
John rose and walked to a far table that nobody was sitting near. He sat down and the man sat facing him. The man looked around, “You were a former Navy Seal with Seal Team Four.”
“Who are you?” John asked.
“Let’s just say that I’m an agent of the United States Government.”
“Or so you say, I’m afraid that I need to see some credentials.”

The man looked around, then took his wallet out of his pocket. John’s mind raced, he knew that he was busted. The man laid his wallet on the table and opened it revealing a gold badge and an identification card, “C.I.A?” John asked, “What does the C.I.A. want with me?”

“This is a matter of extreme national security. Anything that I say to you must remain just between us. It is classified as top secret and you took an oath with the navy to serve and protect the government of the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic. I must stress that anything that I say to you remains between just the two of us. The consequences would be very dire for you if you repeat any of this. Do you understand?”

“I’m not in the navy anymore, I’m retired .”
The man looked around again, Felipe had moved so that he could watch him, “I’ve read your file, you were classified as a deep diver. There is a sunken object that we need retrieved.”
“Doesn’t the navy still have seals? Why come to me?”
“The navy, as well as the government needs to distance itself and be removed from this project. Therefore they are calling in former seals with deep diving experience. It will only take one diver unless you just want a partner, the fewer involved the better. You have the qualifications and are in the area.”

“How deep is it?” John asked.
“Three hundred and fifteen feet to absolute bottom.”
“That’s pretty deep, what is the object that I am to retrieve?”
“That is classified and on a need to know basis.”
“Well, if you want me to dive three hundred and fifteen feet, I’d say that I need to know.”
“I’m not authorized to divulge that information.” he said.
“Well then you can take a hike. I can’t say that it was nice meeting you.” John began to get up.
“Please, Mr. Everett, sit down.” he waited for John to sit down.
Felipe and Ben walked to the table, “Is everything alright here?” Felipe asked.
“Yes, thank you, I’ve got this under control.” John said. They looked at the man, then walked back to their table and both sat watching him.

“You have bodyguards?” the man asked.
“Just good friends, as you were saying.”
“An American Virginia class nuclear submarine suffered a hull breech and sunk in Mexican National waters. The object is on the sub.”
John held his hand up, “What was an American nuclear sub doing in Mexican national waters? And just how did the hull get breached? All welds are x-rayed, hulls don’t just breach.”
“The details of the breach are unknown, it is of the utmost urgency that the object be retrieved before the Mexican government becomes aware of the sub.”

John knew that he was being lied to, he didn’t like being lied to. “If you don’t come clean with me right now, the deal is off of the table. How did the hull get breeched?”
The man stared at him for a few seconds, “The Captain drove it into the reef.”
“Why in the hell would he do that? You still haven’t told me what the object is.”
“The Captain obviously had a problem with the cargo, he sabotaged the mission by driving the vessel into the reef.”
John looked at him as he absorbed this, “For the last time, what was the cargo?”

The man looked around, then stared at John for a few seconds, “Thirty six ampules of live Ebola virus.”
John was stunned, “What in the hell was an American sub doing approaching the coast of Mexico with live Ebola virus?”

The man lit a cigarette, inhaled deeply then blew a large plume of blue smoke up into the air as the breeze swept it away, “As you know, our current president does not seem to share the views and concerns of the American public about our southern border. The border is as porous as a sieve. Its not just Mexican nationals slipping across but El Salvadorians, Guatemalans and many others. We are finding Korans and prayer rugs as far as sixty miles inside of Arizona. Its just a matter of time before a dirty bomb or worse gets detonated on American soil killing millions of innocent civilians. They don’t attack military targets, our sources say they are targeting major cities, Houston, Dallas, New York and Los Angeles.” he paused and took another long drag off of his cigarette.

“If we don’t stop this massive invasion of our country, it’s just a matter of time before mushroom clouds cover a lot of major population areas. The president has been briefed but does nothing about it. The liberals see the massive influx of illegal’s as a large voting base if he can succeed at granting them amnesty. They will all vote with the democrats keeping them in office. The border must be secured, don’t you agree?”

John put it all together, “You were going to release live Ebola virus in southern Mexico?”
“It’s the only way John. As the disease rapidly spread north, the president would have no choice but to mass troops along the border to stop the infection from spreading to America, it’s an airborne disease as you know. This would finally secure our country against the terrorists that are slipping in. Do you want millions of innocent American men, women and children to be killed? You still have friends and relatives there you know.”

“What about the millions of innocent men, women and children here that this would have killed had it succeeded? My wife lives here as do a lot of my friends. My God, where do you people come from?”

“I didn’t conceive of the plan or implement it. I’m just a foot soldier in the global war on terror. I follow my orders. We don’t know how extensive the damage to the vessel is and as you know, hurricane season is approaching. If the vessel is repeatedly dashed against the coral, she could break up releasing the virus naturally anyway. It needs to be retrieved and done very quickly. Will you help your country?”

John looked at him, he felt that he was being lied to again, that the man was hiding something, “So you can just release it again?”
“I don’t know what the plan is, the talk is that it is being scrapped as eventually the sub will be discovered. The connection would then be made if we tried it again. The virus must be recovered before hurricane season gets into full swing. Will you do this?”

John looked down as he thought, what choice did he really have? The man was right, if a hurricane smashed the sub against the coral, not only the virus but it was possible that radiation would be released as well. He looked at the man, “Was the reactor compromised?”
“There is no sign of a compromise, no fish kills and we have no heat signature from the satellites. The reactor is cold.”
“What about the virus? Are the ampules intact?”
“The containers holding the ampules were designed to withstand the pressure at that depth. However, hurricane season is coming, they might not withstand that. I need an answer from you.”
John looked at the man as he thought, then he looked out to sea, “Yes, I’ll retrieve them. I really don’t have a choice, do I?”
“You made a wise choice John your country is appreciative for your service and you will be well paid. But there is another problem.”

John looked at him, “Don’t tell me they were carrying nuclear warheads.”
“It is an attack sub John, they don’t leave port unarmed. It was armed with Tomahawk missiles. The warheads will have to be detached and removed. Of course they can’t detonate without the fail safe codes being entered into the onboard computers, but we can’t have nukes rolling up on the shore in a hurricane, can we?”

John just shook his head as he looked at the man, “How many”
“Twenty six, medium range, high yield, one hundred kilotons each.”
“This entire matter sucks.” John said.
“Yes it does, of course the government will provide you with anything that you need to accomplish this. But, it must be done with the utmost of speed and secrecy.” he placed his briefcase on the table and flipped open the latches. Felipe and Ben drew their guns and held them under the table pointing at him, “Your friends need to relax.” he said. He opened the briefcase and removed a large brown envelope, “Inside is a computer disk with complete schematics of the vessel and the procedure for the removal of the warheads from the missiles. You will receive orders of where to deliver them. We can’t very well have American Cruisers anchoring in these waters. You will be provided with a sled to move them to another sub. Again, I remind you that should this information be compromised, it will not go well for you and your wife.” he closed the briefcase, got up and walked out of the palapa.

Here's a link to the entire book on my homepage, I can't seem to make the one in my signature active https://www.createspace.com/3612995

 

[Felipe]

I would really like some feedback on how I could improve. Was something not clear or could have been said better? All comments are welcome as I am a new author.