Ascending Danger: A Nautical Mystery

By R. Jack Punch

Leaving behind war in the Middle East, Jim Bemis and his buddy, Sandy, plan to pursue a peaceful life running a scuba diving business with Jims Uncle Rob in the Caribbean. On their way there, though, Jim learns that his uncles boat has been found adrift, covered in bullet holes and blood. Ron is presumed dead even though no body was found.

The day Jim and Sandy arrive on Saint John Island, they are drawn into a series of events that make them suspect Ron is actually still alive but in hiding. Dangerous characters are on the lookout for Jims uncle due to something he may or may not have found at the bottom of the sea. The boys search for clues as to Rons potential whereabouts.

It soon becomes apparent that not every friendly face on the island can be trusted. Their investigation leads them to both friend and foe while a hurricane wreaks havoc. Ron might be hiding, but there are those still willing to kill for the treasure found. Jim and Sandy are now targets, too, as a secret rises from the ocean depths and drowns them in a sea of danger.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jun 21, 2018
• ISBN: 9781532052583

R. Jack Punch

R. Jack Punch has been a scuba diver for fifty years. He was a scuba instructor at Genesee Community College in New York before moving to Florida with his wife to enjoy scuba diving and sailing. He has dived in many locations including the United States and Spanish Virgin Islands. His desire for adventure inspires stories about exciting destinations and events.

Book preview

Copyright © 2018 R. Jack Punch.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

iUniverse

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.iuniverse.com

1-800-Authors (1-800-288-4677)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-5320-5257-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-5258-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018907245

iUniverse rev. date: 06/19/2018

Contents

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Other Books by R. Jack Punch

Dedication

A LOT OF PEOPLE contributed to the creation of this story and its characters. Thanks to all the boat captains and dive masters who create safe adventures for those daring enough to venture into the deep sea. Thanks to my lovely wife, Jane, for putting up with me while I am far away, at least in my mind.

This story is a work of fiction. All characters exist only in the mind of the author. Any similarities to real persons are purely coincidental.

Chapter 1

J IM BEMUS GLANCED up at the fresh paint that covered the bullet holes riddled across the side of his uncle’s boat, Gold Hunter . Thoughts of the blood-filled cockpit and his uncle Rob’s body never having been found left him as he rolled off the side of the boat. The crystal clear water opened a panorama of familiar green and blue shapes rising above the tan ripples that made up the Caribbean’s floor. Scuba diving was peaceful and made him forget the war. Jim’s friend Sandy was right behind him as water splashed the boat captain’s already water-stained sunglasses. A moment later, the dive buddies descended toward the barely recognizable sunken steel ship.

The wreck took shape as they reached the pilothouse in thirty feet of depth. As planned, they started to descend to the deck, which was in forty-five feet of water. Jim could not help but wonder what the ship had been like before it sank. The helm wheel seemed newer than the rest of the ship. Jim froze as he watched another set of bubbles coming from a hatch on the deck. This was not unusual, because another boat had dispersed divers into the water before Jim and Sandy had even tied to the mooring buoy. Jim watched the few bubbles leaving the hatch. He tuned his own breathing to match the exhalation of the diver inside the wreck. Jim had trouble achieving such a relaxed state as the mystery wreck diver had obviously achieved. One thing was for certain. The diver in the wreck was an extremely skilled diver, as demonstrated by their slow, deep breathing.

The bubbles had moved twenty feet away from Jim when he saw another burst of bubbles closer by. Sandy was ready to penetrate the wreck through a removed hatch just below Jim. Jim signaled to Sandy that he would go along the deck rather than go inside the ship’s hold. Sandy simply shrugged, and with one slow kick of his fins, he disappeared into the dark opening. Jim began swimming along the deck, intrigued by the bubbles ahead of him.

The bubbles were getting close to an open hatch at the end of the wreck. Jim decided to greet the diver with a congratulatory underwater fist, comparable to a high five. The diver calmly appeared in front of Jim. The scuba equipment proved that Jim was looking at another diver, but green eyes met Jim through a dive mask. Eyes that should have belonged to a mermaid or some other kind of mythical beauty were stealing Jim’s heart. Jim thought maybe he was suffering from nitrogen narcosis, which would make him hallucinate, but that was impossible at only forty-five feet of depth. The green-eyed creature had long red hair that flowed around her head as her face came closer to Jim.

A small hand with long feminine fingers reached out to shake Jim’s shoulder. Air burst from the exhaust ports on Jim’s regulator as blood flowed to his embarrassed face. Jim realized that he must have looked like a tourist diver with no experience at all—to the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Jim was trying to figure out a way to impress the beautiful redhead when Sandy slid up the hold and pointed to the sand on the bottom of the ocean floor.

A hungry-looking reef shark had darted out of the wreck. Jim looked into the burning green eyes of the magnificent creature in front of him. He turned slowly, gazing at Sandy, when long slender hands rose in front on a familiar form. Jim recognized the hand signal for buddy team and followed her finger with an emerald-green nail as she pointed at Sandy.

Jim nodded. To regain some dignity, Jim inhaled a long, slow breath of air that sent his body upward. Then he exhaled slowly as he drifted over the ship’s railing. To demonstrate his skill as a diver, Jim blew the air out of his lungs, which dropped him to the sandy bottom, where Sandy was waiting, pointing to a mammoth stingray swimming away from the shipwreck.

A smile came to Jim’s face; his adept descent proved his proper buoyancy control and his level of diving skill. Jim paid no attention to the stingray as he rolled over to look up at his red-haired mermaid. She was not there! Jim left Sandy on the bottom, rose back to the deck level of the wreck, and looked in all directions. There was not even a bubble in sight.

Sandy was right at Jim’s side as he scanned the area and rose up to the pilothouse for a better view. Jim headed for the anchor line and began his ascent to the surface. Jim must have confused Sandy, who simply followed Jim toward the surface. Jim was satisfied that the wreck would be a good destination for beginner divers.

Twenty feet from the surface, the light blue hole Jim and Sandy were ascending toward turned dark. A blur of red filled the surface above the divers. Ripples of water grew away from surface splashes. The anchor line fluttered into the depth. Sandy rose above Jim, but Jim’s hand caught Sandy’s ankle to stop him from ascending into danger. Sandy turned and looked at Jim. No words were necessary; he agreed to wait before ascending. A look back to the surface proved the divers’ fear was justified. Burning fuel and boat debris filled the view with a dark blood-colored destination.

The boat had a gaping hole in the bottom that was half the length of the boat and five feet wide. The boat seemed closer than it should have been. Jim felt something pulling at him from behind. Sandy dragged him through the water as the sinking boat brushed his fins on its way to the bottom of the ocean. If Sandy hadn’t grabbed Jim’s tank valve and pulled, Jim would likely have ended up buried under a new shipwreck.

Jim motioned the okay signal to Sandy. The divers were unharmed. Jim looked at the hole in the boat that went all the way through the deck and had blown the flybridge clear off. It was his uncle Rob’s boat. He managed to watch Sandy slowly signal okay back. They swam twenty feet under the fiery surface until the water turned blue again. A slow ascent brought them to the surface. The red was disappearing.

A smoky haze covered the surface. Jim heard Sandy inflate his buoyancy-compensating vest. Remembering the importance of a relaxed state, Jim reached down, found his power-inflator button, and added two short bursts of air to his buoyancy-compensator vest. Resting buoyant on the surface, Jim stared through his mask at the smoky cloud before the gentle breeze moved the smoke away. Under the cloud, pieces of wreckage were smoldering on the surface. The dive boat was gone.

Jim’s mind filled with thoughts from the war. He had come to the Caribbean to escape the tragedies of war. He enjoyed scuba diving from a boat because it avoided long surface swims to get to the better dive sites. He recalled the beautiful green eyes of the red-haired woman he’d encountered underwater.

Something bumped into Jim and broke up his peaceful thoughts. Jim turned around thinking it was Sandy, but Sandy was five feet away, picking up a piece of the wreckage. Bump! Jim turned around the rest of the way. The boat captain rolled faceup, revealing a beaten face, proving he had been in a bad fight. Jim reached out and caught his shirt as the corpse began to sink below the surface.

Sandy was right at Jim’s side. He must have heard the splashing because Jim was still unable to mutter any sound. Jim watched as Sandy went into his hidden serious personality. Jim knew Sandy as a fun-loving hooligan but had seen his seriousness during and after combat when they served together in the Middle East. It was Sandy’s serious side that had earned him Jim’s respect, trust, and friendship.

It’s Captain Charlie! Sandy closed the captain’s eyes with his fingers. The captain was dead. Say hi to God for me.

Jim had heard Sandy’s softly spoken prayer too many times in combat as friends and enemies died around them. The word enemies made Jim think. With the war behind him, he thought he would never again have an enemy. The sound of a diesel engine broke Jim’s thought.

A boat, Jim said, his first words in over an hour. The sound of his own voice seemed to bring Jim out of a dream state. He grabbed the captain under the arms and swam toward the approaching boat, not knowing whether it was friend or foe. Jim was thinking of Sandy’s personality as the boat grew closer. Sandy knew everyone by name and always knew some of his or her history. As they swam along with the dead captain, Jim felt incompetent about his people skills. He had recently met this captain and knew little about him.

After his and Sandy’s second tour in the Middle East, Jim decided to take his uncle up on the opportunity to run a scuba diving business on Saint John Island in the Caribbean. Sandy joined him, and they left military life for the peace and tranquility of Saint John. A week later, they arrived at the island paradise to find Jim’s uncle missing and presumed dead. Jim had planned on living on his uncle’s boat. He found Captain Charlie cleaning the boat. The captain suggested a ride out to sea and maybe a dive. Jim felt sad for the captain as he dragged his body toward the oncoming boat.

Jim looked up and into green eyes and blowing red hair that assured Jim the boat’s occupants were friend and not foe. Sandy climbed the makeshift dive ladder first. He reached in and pulled the lifeless body of Captain Charlie from Jim’s grasp. Jim was on the deck a few seconds later and dropped his dive gear on the deck.

Is he dead? a voice asked.

The harsh words had softness to them that could have come only from the redhead who stood next to Jim. Before Jim could respond, Sandy clarified the situation.

I’m Sandy. This is my friend Jim. And this was our captain. Thanks for plucking us from the water. Sandy held out his hand to the redheaded beauty who was staring at the body. In Sandy’s friendly way, he took the hand of the startled woman in his and looked into her raised eyes until she introduced herself as Sylvia Dunham.

Jim liked the way she pointed with her chin to introduce her friend Jan, who was at the helm on the bridge.

Jim greeted her with a hello, while Sandy just smiled at her. Sandy’s smile was returned from the dark tanned skipperess. Sandy climbed the ladder to the flybridge and gave Jan a bold hug. Jim watched Sandy and wished he had his audacity. Looking at what just a few minutes before he thought was mermaid, Jim felt inadequate. He noticed the mermaid had long athletic legs. With a rusty voice, Jim asked Sylvia for a towel. Her eyes drifted back to the body. With graceful confidence, she opened a storage box and produced a towel. Jim tucked the large beach towel over the body so that the wind would not blow it off.

Sylvia walked around the flybridge to the front of the boat.

Jim followed and sat down beside her on the front deck. Trying to emulate Sandy’s skill with people, especially women, he asked Sylvia questions about herself. The conversation turned to the boat explosion. Sylvia was in control as Jim answered her questions. He explained how he met Sandy in the war and how they agreed to buy the dive shop on Saint John so they could live a simple life without enemies or complications. Images of Jim’s uncle filled his mind. Jim thought about the bullet holes on the boat and the description Captain Charley gave of the blood-covered cockpit and missing body.

It was my uncle’s dive business. He was going to retire.

In war, people were killed simply because of stupidity. Hate and political agendas provided an excuse for murder. Now Jim realized a new reason for murder had claimed the life of his captain. He wondered if it was hate or if maybe there was more to it. Greed, revenge, or jealousy could cause a person to murder. Jim realized that he was muttering or thinking out loud when Sylvia said, It’s wicked!

Jim looked at Sylvia in astonishment,