The Mahogany Ship (Sam Reilly Book 2) (13 page)

By the next morning, Sam heard the sounds of the two
motorized Seadoos approaching. He waited until they came up from the crack in
the hull. Michael Rodriguez’ was the first head to pop up through the still
water inside the hull, quickly followed by Frank’s.

“Morning Sam, I brought you some breakfast,” Michael said,
handing him two large bacon and egg rolls, filled with barbecue sauce. “I
believe congratulations are in order.”

“I believe so,” Sam said, relieved to see Michael’s
gregarious face again. The man was obviously driven when he had a purpose, and
the search for the Mahogany Ship had kept him going for years. Sam had seen the
same look in his own face, when he finally reached the answer to an ancient
question, or lost artefact.

He took Michael for a tour of the fabled ship.

“It’s going to take some time to recover everything. And you
and I both know that there’s going to be a lot of red tape around its
excavation. But at the end of the day, I think it’s safe to say, we found the
Mahogany Ship.”

“That’s great, Sam. Thank you, for everything.”

Over the course of the next five days, Sam, Michael and
Frank photographed, marked, and examined the entire ship where they could
reach, while Byron made reports and documented the information for the world to
one day know.

That afternoon, the three of them made the discovery known
to the world, via a televised press conference. Michael indicated that the
exact location of the fabled ship would remain hidden to protect her from
looters, and treasure hunters.

That night, the four men drank expensive whiskey, fine
wines, and ate decadent food to celebrate.

After each man had gone to bed, Sam stayed up late,
completing some final reports to go with the discovery. Despite finding the
Mahogany Ship, he still hadn’t found what he was really after. He would remain
on site for the next few weeks until he could confirm that it was no longer
aboard when the Mahogany Ship disappeared.

And if it was gone, then what hope would humanity have of
ever finding them?

Taking a snapshot of the GPS coordinates, Sam looked up the farmers
who owned the land. They weren’t going to be impressed with all the attention
their quiet parcel of land was about to get, now that the discovery of the
Mahogany Ship had become national news.

Sam looked at the registered owner of the land on which the
mine shaft rested, and then double checked the date of purchase.

I don’t believe it!

Sam looked at the old land and council papers again. At the
bottom line was the name, Michael Rodriguez and the date of sale, December 3,
1983.

It was the first time that his gut feeling had been
confirmed.
Michael’s been lying to me, but why?

Metallurgical analysis had already dated the original gold
coin to the 15
^th
century, so that much had been true… and the wood
itself had also come from the 15
^th
century. So if it was a hoax,
Michael had gone a long way to preserving it.

He dialed a number to see if his thoughts were right.

It rang three or four times and then a familiar voice
answered.

“Aliana, it’s good to hear your voice!”

“Samuel, I thought you had left me for another woman…”

“Never!” Sam replied, then, quick to get to the point, he
said, “Aliana, I have a problem, and I need to pick that fantastic brain of
yours.”

He went through what he knew to date, finishing with the
fact that he had no proof that the entire treasure ship had been a hoax, and
neither could he think of a reason why a man like Rodriguez would even want to
do so.

“But something’s not right, and I need your help to prove
it.”

“Tell them that you want to bring me in as a scientific name
to report on the find, so that the wider community of archeology will see it as
legitimate,” Aliana suggested.

“But you’re a microbiologist. Why do archeologists want to
listen to you?”

“Because I can date the microbes that were on the hull of
that ship, and where it once came from.”

“I hadn’t thought of that, of course.” Sam pictured her in
his arms, and said, “I knew there was a reason I loved you. You’re beautiful
and incredibly intelligent. When can you get here?”

“I’ll pack now, and can have my jet leave tonight – they
won’t be happy about the short notice, but that’s why I pay them their
exorbitant holding fee. I should be there by tomorrow afternoon, your time. It
will be just like old times.”

Sam’s mind flashed back to the night that they had spent
together inside a similarly cold, yet beautiful, subterranean cavern, when they
found the last airship, the Magdalena The prospect was welcoming.

“I’ll see you then. Aliana…and yes, I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too, Samuel. Keep yourself safe.”

“I’m fine. Michael has no reason to hurt me. I just don’t
understand what this is all about. A part of me still hopes that the ship was
real… maybe, he had a rough idea where it was and bought up large farming land,
just so that he could secure its discovery.”

“It seems pretty far-fetched to me, but we’ll find out soon
enough.”

*

Sam’s cell flashed with a message.

He quickly opened it, hoping that Aliana had sent him an
additional message.

Instead, he found an online freebee email account name. One
of those with about ten numbers after an otherwise normal name like “John,”
most commonly associated with robot based spam marketing. There was no name
attached to the message, and had he tried to ring the number back, his cellular
service provider would have informed him that the number was no longer active.

He switched on his laptop, and typed the name of the account
into the login page, followed by a password that that was pre-arranged.

There was only one message waiting for him.

Sam, I’ve taken your coin to a numismatics expert. The
coin is legit. One problem though. It’s in mint condition. If it was found in a
treasure chest, locked away in a cave, maybe it could be possible. But not
underwater in a river. That’s impossible. Someone is lying to you. I suggest
you look after yourself.

Elise.

The strange blue light seemed to be reflecting off the
sarcophagus, and shining directly on it, making it glow a deep blue color. Billie
looked at the image of the Mahogany Ship on the wall. It could have been any
ship on earth, except this one had eight masts. On its deck, were the simple
markings of the Master Builders, and next to them, a scepter with the sun
shining out of it.

Her eyes dropped much lower, and saw that Tom was staring at
her, breathing deeply, and still gripping the hammer – ready to kill an
intruder. He then noticed what she was looking at, and said, “Is that what I
think it is?”

“The Mahogany Ship.”

“Which means…” Realization crossed his face, and he said, “Sam
Reilly was here a couple weeks ago and he must have seen it. Why else would he
have left, unless he thought that the last real Master Builder was on that
ship?”

Billie nodded her head.

“There’s something else you need to know, Tom.”

“What’s that?”

“You and Sam weren’t the first people to lay eyes on this
place in the past 1000 years.” She looked up at him with expectation in her
eyes, “Who else do you know that has gone looking for the Mahogany Ship?”

“Michael Rodriguez!” Tom answered instantly. “Of course he
knew about the pyramid. He’s mining just below it. He must have any number of
geologists who have investigated the area. No wonder he explored it before us,
and left it alone – upon discovering no real value inside, he didn’t want to
lose money by identifying an archeological site right above his largest mine
shaft!”

“That’s right, but something about this picture made him
want to bring Sam Reilly into the equation.”

“What makes you so certain that Rodriguez did see this
picture before us?”

“Because the likelihood of an oceanic disaster drawing one
of five known people in the world who have even heard of the Master Builders,
and the only one who’d realized that the Mahogany Ship was connected, is
infinitely small. But then to have Rodriguez turn up just after you and Sam
dived the site, and ask Sam to help him with a brand new lead on the Mahogany
Ship, is just plain impossible.”

“You’re right. But for what purpose could a man like
Rodriguez have to con Sam into exploring a Mayan tomb? I mean, the man’s
already rich, so what could drive him to such a ruse?”

“He must have needed the credibility that only Sam could
provide to his discovery of the Mahogany Ship?”

“But even that doesn’t make sense. What could possibly be so
valuable to him that he would need such an elaborate hoax to drag Sam into it?”

“No, not money – he has that. Something infinitely more
important to him…”

 “What’s more important than money to a rich man?”

“Power.”

“Oh, shit!”

“What?”

“I just remembered where I’ve seen Rodriguez previously… I
know exactly why he needed him… Sam’s walking into a trap! Come on, we have to
get back to the dive bell so we can get a message through to Sam!”

*

Sam left the cavern, alone in the middle of the night.

Leaving without anyone noticing, he slid into the water. He
allowed the diving scooter to submerge below the surface, silently, until he
was 300 feet along the tunnel before switching on the electrical motor.

He followed the tunnel for more than an hour before he
reached it.

Looking upon the hull of the Mahogany Ship, he smiled. They
had done an exceptional job at making the fake exceedingly realistic, but they’d
forgot about one simple thing.

Science.

The dead barnacles would give them away. Sam chiseled at the
wooden hull, catching fragments of the dead organic matter in a glass
container. He then moved inside and repeated the process. It wasn’t until he
dug away at the sand burying the middle of the ship that he found immediate
proof.

After digging through six feet of soft, dry, sand, Sam
struck something hard. He cleared away more sand, until he started to get an
idea of what he had run into. It took almost an hour before he could see it
clearly, and when he did, he knew he was in trouble.

Concrete.

The entire ship was bolted onto enormous concrete blocks, confirming
that his entire search had been for nothing, or worse – for Michael Rodriguez’s
gain. 
But for what gain?

It was then that he noticed that he was being watched.

“Rodriguez…” Sam turned to face him.

The man ran. With his dive mask and SCUBA equipment still
fully attached, he was able to dive straight through the hole in the hull.

Sam chased after him, grabbing his dive mask only and trying
to free dive the thirty-odd feet to where both their Seadoos rested on the
sand.

Ahead of him, the whirl of the unknown man’s propulsion
system stirred up the water with silt from the river’s bed.

Sam could have returned to the fake Mahogany Ship and
grabbed the rest of his equipment, but it would take too much time. Instead, he
attached the Seadoo’s air tube, placed it directly in his mouth to breathe
from, and kept going.

The masked man had already gained a couple minutes head
start on him.

He tried his best to cut the corners of the tunnel, but so
did the other man. By the time he reached the dive platform at the Mahogany
Cavern, Sam could see the man already climbing onto the mine shaft elevator.

Shit, I’m too late.

Sam slowly climbed the ladder and stood on the dive
platform. Thirty-odd feet above him, he could now clearly see Michael Rodriguez
aboard the elevator.

Michael stopped the elevator. “Sorry, Sam. You’re one hell
of a guy, but you just wouldn’t let it go, would you? I mean, I was keen for
you to get all the rewards and accolades associated with this discovery. Hell
you could have kept the Spanish treasure. No one would have ever realized that
I planted it all here. Do you know how much eight hundred 15
^th
century Spanish gold coins are worth? But no, you fucked it up by discovering
the truth, didn’t you?”

“And what is the truth? I don’t understand – as you said,
the cost of the old Spanish treasure must outweigh any possible benefit of
being acclaimed as the discoverer of the Mahogany Ship?” Sam already knew his
fate – he was going to die here, but he needed to know why. And for every
minute he kept his new-found psychopath talking, he would have a chance of
finding a solution.

“Now… now… you’ve been watching too many James Bond movies…
this isn’t the part where the villain tells Bond his evil plans just before
leaving him to die.”

“But that’s what you’re going to do to me, isn’t it?”

“Here? Yes… you’re going to have to die here.”

“Then why not tell me? Let me know what I’m dying for.”

“I like you Sam. I was honest when I told you that we could
be great friends – so I’ll let you in on a secret. Let’s just say that by
proving the Mahogany Ship came from Spain, I can prove my birthright to
something far more valuable than the richest mine in the world. Good day, Mr.
Reilly.”

With that said, Michael pressed the green elevator button
and disappeared above him, leaving Sam alone in the vast cavern.

Bendigo airport had one runway, and even it was comprised
entirely of dirt. At the end of the runway, as the small Regional Express plane
took off, a single woman remained on her own. Wearing hiking boots, she
appeared tall – six feet at least, with blonde hair and a slim figure.

Aliana fretted.

It was not like her, but something in her gut told her that
Sam was in trouble.

Left alone at the end of the dirt runway of the outback
country airport, Aliana wondered if she’d made the right decision when she decided
not to bring her private jet.
No, it’s never a good idea to show your hand
to an enemy.
She’d prudently taken a regional carrier’s flight out to the
small country town.

It wasn’t like her to worry, but neither was it like Sam to
forget about her. There was no reason to think the worst – Michael had
specifically requested Sam’s help. Whatever was going on here, the man had
wanted Sam. Still, she couldn’t help recall the last words that Sam had said to
her –
someone is lying, I just don’t know why.

By the time it was dark, Aliana called Sam’s cell for the
fifth time, and someone picked up.

“Hello, Sam Reilly’s phone?” The man’s voice was confident,
like someone used to being in charge.

“Hi, can I speak to Sam?”

She thought she could hear the man sigh on the other side of
the cell. “I’m sorry, what did you say your name was?”

“Aliana. I was supposed to be coming to Bendigo to help Sam
with his project.”

“Oh… gotcha…” the man on the other end of the phone, sighed
again. “You must be his girlfriend. I’m so sorry to tell you this… Sam’s been
involved in an accident.”

“Sam’s dead!”

“No, no, we sure hope not. We had a cave in, and Sam was on
the wrong side of the tunnel at the time. We have a team working around the
clock to remove the debris. We’re all pretty confident he’ll be fine. I
wouldn’t fly out here until it’s all sorted. It might take us a few days,
that’s all. When were you thinking of coming out?”

“I already did.”

“You did? My goodness, you should have told me. I’ll come to
the airport myself to pick you up.”

Aliana felt something uneasy in her stomach and replied,
“It’s okay. You must be very busy. Maybe I should just grab a room at a motel
and wait for word that Sam’s all right?”

“No way – I wouldn’t hear of it. I’ll be at the airport in
half an hour. Wait right there.” 

*

The large silver six-wheeled Mercedes pulled up alongside
the entrance to the airport. Despite the ostentatious truck, the man who
climbed out appeared to Aliana like a down-to-earth, honest, mine worker. He
wore denim pants with no label, a polo shirt, and rugged boots. The only sign
of his billionaire background was the Rolex on his wrist, but even that could
have been a fake.

“Aliana Wolfgang?” The man asked politely.

“That’s me.” She smiled.

“Michael Rodriguez.” He offered his hand, and then said, “I’m
really sorry you had to find out about Sam this way. We’re really are hoping to
have him out in the next couple days. Don’t you worry – he has plenty of
supplies on his side of the tunnel. He’ll be all right, just you watch.”

Aliana shook his hand, and then climbed up into the small
truck. Michael then began to drive south and out of town. The two spoke on the
way to the mine site, and she quickly found herself naturally at ease with him.
There was something about Rodriguez that she couldn’t help but trust. He seemed
like the real deal somehow, despite what Sam had discovered about the Mahogany
Ship. She could see why Sam was stuck for an explanation about the lie.

Once they reached the mine’s entrance Michael showed her on
the map of the tunnel exactly where the cave-in was, and what they were doing
to release him.

Aliana asked, “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“There’s nothing more to do, I’m afraid. My men have it
under control, and they should have him out in the next four to five hours. Is
there anything I can do for you, while you wait?”

Aliana looked at his face. It was kind and reassuring. “No
thanks. I have some of the information that Sam provided me about your
discovery of the Mahogany Ship, I liked to take a look while I wait. Is there
anywhere I can plug in my laptop?”

“Of course, I’ll have one of my men free some space in the
computer tent.”

“Thanks.” Aliana looked at him for a moment longer and then
said, “I really mean that. For everything. Thank you.”

Michael took her hand in his and replied, “You’re welcome.
This will be over before you know it.”

The hours passed quickly as Aliana made a list of questions
to ask Sam regarding the Mahogany Ship. There seemed to be more discrepancies
in the details of the find than she first realized, and Aliana was starting to
wonder if there was some truth in what Sam had said to her.

Maybe Michael isn’t entirely what he seems?

By eleven p.m.  Michael came into her tent and said, “Look,
we’re doing all that we can, and my team will keep doing so through the night,
but it appears that it will take much longer than we first anticipated. I’ve
arranged a room for you at a local motel. Why don’t you spend the night there?”

“I’d like to help,” she persisted.

“I’m sure you would, but there’s very little you can do at
this moment. I’ll come pick you up first thing in the morning.”

She hated the thought of it, but knew that he had a point.
Nothing could be gained by waiting at the tunnel’s side. “Okay, sure… but
promise you’ll ring me the second you’re through.”

“Of course.”

Michael then insisted on driving her back to town, himself.
After he left, she had a simple dinner and then relaxed in the bath. Despite
being on her own private jet, the long flight and recent knowledge about Sam’s
accident had taken its toll on her body.

She decided to go to bed early. Her head had only just
rested on the uncomfortable pillow, before she rolled over twice and then fell
sound asleep.

And then there was a knock at the door.

Aliana pulled the curtain back and then opened the door. She
paused a mere second before throwing her arms around the man on the other side

“Mr. Reilly, I can’t believe you’re here!”

The older man wrapped his strong arms around her, comforting
her, and then replied, “Call me James, darling. You’re the first girl my Sam
has ever brought to see his old man. That makes you practically family.”

*

Aliana stood back and looked at the man’s face again.
Although she could imagine that he had a ruthless streak, it looked kindly at
her now. James shared the same piercing grey-blue eyes and confident smile that
she recognized in Sam.

“It’s so good to see you here. I think Sam’s in trouble.”

James smiled kindly at her and then said, “How about I come
in, and you tell me what you’re doing here.”

She explained everything that had happened and finished by
telling him about the mine collapse. She described how Michael had been very
good to her, but that she worried he might not be telling the entire truth
about all he was doing to help Sam survive.

“Did they tell you that’s where Sam’s mine shaft had caved
in?” James asked.

“Yeah, they’ve been working frantically for 12 hours now to
try and reach him, at a place about ten miles south of town.”

“Really, that’s funny. I would have thought that they’d have
better luck tunneling where they left him.”

“What do you mean, left him?” Aliana just about screamed the
words. Then, fumbling through a map on the table in front of her, said, “This
was where he disappeared.”

“No it wasn’t… that place is more than fifty miles away,
where they left him.”

“How can you know that?”

“Look, my son can be a self-righteous, altruistic ass at
times, with no care for himself or the family fortune. But stupid, he certainly
is not. He and I looked for the Mahogany Ship years ago. Came mighty close to
finding her, too. Sam knew immediately, that Michael was lying, but hoped that
somehow we’d missed something years ago. Either way, he never trusted Michael,
and so he left a GPS beacon at the entrance of the mine shaft and asked me to
keep an eye on things. I own several satellites for just such spying…”

“So, if Sam’s not trapped down below this mine shaft where
Michael took me, what happened to him?”

“That, I don’t know.” James took out a large smartphone from
his pocket and clicked on a GPS app. “Here, this is what the mine shaft where
Sam’s been working looked like three days ago.”

At first glance, Aliana thought it looked more like the
entrance to a bomb shelter, left over from the Cold War.

“And, this is what it looks like now.”

The image clearly displayed a small mountain with cleared
soil, and no evidence of what was once the entrance to the mineshaft.

“So, you’re saying they’ve most likely bulldozed the
entrance to one of the largest underground water cave systems in Australia,
while he was deep inside it?”

“Yes.”

Aliana’s usually carefree smile was crestfallen.

“I wouldn’t worry too much,” James said, comforting her with
his arms. “I think you will find that my Sam is much harder to kill than that,
and an expert cave diver, he will find another way out, or at least manage to
keep himself alive until we can make one.”

James, she noticed, never seemed too worried about his son. But
the sheer fact that he was here demonstrated that he loved him very much, and
was willing to do anything required to protect him.

“I still don’t even understand why Rodriguez would want to
hurt Sam. I mean, it was Sam who proved that he’d discovered the final resting
place of The Mahogany Ship?”

“Only he didn’t, did he?”

“What do you mean, he didn’t?” She fidgeted with a cup of
coffee. “He found the Spanish gold, and everything carbon dated to the 15
^th
century.”

“I don’t know where the Spanish gold came from – it was
probably a cleverly executed and expensive exercise in deception, and for what
purpose, I don’t yet know. I do, however, know that the Mahogany Ship settled
nowhere near this location.”

“How could you possibly be so sure?”

“Because Sam and I once looked for her together, and that’s
not even close to where she was.”

“So you found her?”

“No, but I have an accurate account of the journey of one
Mr. Jack Robertson, who survived the sinking of the Emily Rose in 1812. They
were the first settlers to discover the Mahogany Ship, and their journey from Warrnambool
to Sydney Cove never came close to Bendigo.”

Aliana interrupted. “Yes, but that’s all common knowledge.
What isn’t known is where, exactly, they spotted the Mahogany Ship.”

“As I was saying, young Aliana…” James patiently began, as
though he were speaking to a small child. “I have an accurate account of the
journey of Mr. Jack Robertson. In it, there is a very specific, and detailed
description of the route they took, and even the longitude and latitude where
they were when they spotted that damn ship.”

“So you do know where it is?”

“My dear Dr. Wolfgang, this may take some time to explain if
you keep interrupting.”

“I’m sorry, James. Do go on.”

“No, we only have the location where the party of survivors
were when they first saw the Mahogany Ship. Sam and I reached the location, but
all remnants of the Mahogany Ship nearby had either been destroyed, burned, or
removed entirely. The ship herself, although interesting, was of minimal
concern to me. It was what she was carrying that had particularly inflicted me
with a keen interest.”

“What was she carrying?” Aliana asked, more confused now
than she’d been when she first started talking to Sam about the Mahogany Ship
possibly being a giant, expensive, hoax.

“A powerful scepter, called the ‘The Ark of Light,’ which,
legend has it, held the ability to focus natural sunlight with extreme
precision, or ‘Entrap Ra, the Sun God’ so that he might destroy one’s enemies.
The crux of the matter being that the Ark was a very powerful weapon.”

“And that was what you were after?”

“Yes, and I believe that it, too, is the most likely reason
for which our friend Michael Rodriguez has gone to such lengths to orchestrate
bringing us all here.”

Aliana wanted to scream in frustration.

Each answer seemed to lead to another two questions.

“Why would Michael, a billionaire, want an ancient weapon?”

James smiled idiotically, at the simple question, and
offered the possible explanation, “It’s a very good weapon?”

“That’s bullshit. A man like Rodriguez could afford his own
Army, Navy, and Air Force. So why would he care about a weapon that had the
ability to destroy things with bolts of fire and lightning?”

“Because, legend has it, that as well as being a tremendous
weapon, the Ark of Light – when held at the top of the Pyramid of Giza at
midday of the winter solstice – pointed directly to The Tomb of Knowledge. A
place buried by the passing of a number of Ice Ages, it has been said that the
place was created by God himself, as a means of storing all knowledge of man.”

She studied his face. It was passionate to the point of
obsession. “And why do you want to find such a place?”

“Because knowledge, my dear, is power. And power, like any
drug, never seems to be quite sufficient for one’s needs.”

Aliana shook her head in wonder.

She could see so much of Sam in this old man, despite his affliction
with a number of vices, including, and not limited to greed, lust, and
grandiose misalignment. Yet, he had the same attractive looks in a rogue kind
of style as his son, and a charm that was hard not to enjoy.

“Okay, so if Rodriguez is after this Ark, why drag you and
Sam into it?”