“Not likely, but there’s one way to find out,” Pitt said. “Who’s up for a dive in a submersible?”
Ralin’s face went blank, while Ana produced a faint smile.
“The lady it is,” Pitt said. “Come, follow me, Ms. Belova, for a guided trip to the deep.”
“You’ll bring her back?” Ralin asked, only half joking.
Pitt winked. “I haven’t lost a paying customer yet.”
• • •
ANA’S HEART WAS POUNDING forty minutes later when a rush of seawater washed over the acrylic bubble viewport of the NUMA three-man submersible. Seated in the rear, she looked over the shoulders of Pitt and Giordino at a rush of bubbles that dissipated into a wall of turbid green water. A slight claustrophobia crept over her when she realized visibility was only a few feet. “Is that as clear as the water gets?” she asked.
“The scenery will get much better shortly,” Pitt said. “The deeper waters of the Black Sea are actually anoxic, or oxygen-depleted, which makes for crystal clear viewing. We’re not going very deep, but we should still get a taste of that.”
Giordino tracked a depth monitor. “We should hit the mud at about three hundred feet.”
Pitt’s words soon rang true. Like a veil being pulled away from the viewport, the visibility suddenly expanded to nearly fifty feet, aided by the bright LED lights on the submersible’s exterior.
Ana felt her pulse slow with the improved visibility and the obvious calmness of the men at the controls. “My parents used to take me swimming in the Black Sea off Romania as a child, but I was always afraid of sea creatures.”
“There’s not much to worry about in the Black Sea, except maybe jellyfish,” Pitt said. “You were born in Romania?”
“Yes. I grew up in Bucharest. My father was a history teacher and my mother a seamstress. We would spend summer vacation at Constanta, where my father loved to swim and snorkel in the sea every day.”
“Sounds like my kind of guy,” Pitt said. “How’d you end up carrying a gun and a badge?”
“My brother was killed by a drug smuggler when I was in high school.” The pain was still evident in her voice. “I found myself in law enforcement academy a few years later, perhaps as a subconscious means of avenging his death. I soon found I actually enjoyed the challenge of the work. After a few years with the Romanian police, I took an assignment with Europol and never left. It’s been a satisfying adventure.” She waved a hand toward the viewport. “I never know where the job might take me.”
A faint, distant light appeared beyond her fingertips.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“Must be an ROV or submersible from the salvage ship,” Giordino said. “Maybe they are playing on the other shipwreck.”
The light faded as they neared the bottom. To their right, the dark image of the Crimean Star materialized a short distance away. Pitt adjusted the submersible’s ballast until they hovered a few meters above the sandy seafloor, then engaged the thrusters. A few seconds later, they approached the slab-sided hull of the ship near its bow.
The freighter sat upright on the bottom, appearing mostly unscathed. The ship’s stern had struck the seabed and augered in, as evidenced by the rising slope of the bow. Absent any algae, encrustations, or entangled fishing net
s typical of most wrecks, the ship had an alien appearance.
Pitt approached the freighter’s stern and headed to its port flank to investigate the explosion.
“You sure it was this side of the ship?” Giordino asked.
Pitt nodded, nudging the submersible alongside the hull. “The main damage must be concealed in the sand.” He squinted out the viewport. “Take a close look at those plates.”
He pivoted the submersible so its exterior lights shone across the side of the hull. A slight gap was barely visible along a horizontal hull plate just above the seafloor.
“You’re right, they’re buckled,” Giordino said. “There must be much more damage hidden by sand, given how fast the ship sank.”
“Is there any way to tell if she was sunk intentionally?” Ana asked.
“Not without a bit of excavation,” Pitt said. “The ship’s insurer might find it worth the effort, if they have a chance of dodging a payout.”
Giordino nodded. “Truth suddenly becomes important when a buck’s involved.”
Pitt engaged the thrusters and brought the submersible up to the freighter’s main deck. As the sub glided over the side rail, he brought it to a hover beneath the accommodations block. Looking across the forward deck, they saw the freighter’s four large holds fully exposed. Each hold cover was lying to the side, extending over the starboard rail.