Read Online The Solomon Curse by Clive Cussler - Free Book Online

shrugged. “Nobody lives forever.”
    Remi glared at Leonid. “Tell me again why we agreed to fly halfway around the world to do this?”
    â€œScientific curiosity,” Sam tried. “Friendship. The thrill of discovery. A zest for knowledge.”
    â€œBoredom,” Leonid said, and everyone smiled.
    â€œYou know we’ll look like seals in our wet suits to any great whites,” Remi commented.
    Sam grinned. “I hear wet suits aren’t very tasty. Sharks tend to avoid them.”
    â€œYou’re thinking of
sea otters
,” Remi corrected.
    â€œAh, I always mix those up. Well, try to act like an otter while we’re in the soup.”
    â€œAt least the crocodiles aren’t a problem in open water. They tend to be mostly dangerous on shore or at the mouths of rivers.”
    â€œAs Benji, unfortunately, discovered.”
    When they arrived at the bay, a different truck was parked near the sand and only three men waited beneath one of the swaying palm trees, watching the SUV approach. A single boat was tethered to a tree trunk, floating lazily, in the strengthening sun.
    After a scan of the shore to ensure no further crocodiles were lurking in the brush, Sam and Remi donned their wet suits and climbed into the boat, followed by the rest of the men. The old outboard sputtered to life with a throaty cough and they were skimming across the bay, Leonid directing the captain with the aid of a handheld GPS.
    When they reached the coordinates, the captain kept the motor idling while Sam and Remi finished their preparations. Leonid regarded them in their masks, regulators in their mouths, and offered a halfhearted grin.
    â€œBottom’s at around eighty feet. Visibility should be pretty good, from what the divers said. The water’s usually exceptionally clear.”
    Sam spat his regulator out. “Except for the storm runoff yesterday. Still, it is what it is. Should be interesting.”
    Remi dropped backward off the side of the skiff while Sam lowered himself down a metal dive ladder that one of the men had attached to the stern. Once in the water, he was glad to discover that the temperature was almost bathlike. He slipped below the surface and spotted Remi ten feet away, waiting for him. He gave her a thumbs-up that she returned, and then they began their slow descent to the bottom, which was barely visible from their vantage point.
    At the fifty-foot mark, the contours of the mounds drifted up to meet them from the reef. Sam tapped Remi on the shoulder and pointed to their right, where a large, hulking shape rose from the sea bottom. As they approached, it became obvious that they were looking at something man-made. The jutting rise was almost entirely encrusted with sea life, but the shape and symmetry were unmistakable—it was part of a building.
    When they arrived within arm’s length, Sam felt for the handle of the dive knife he’d strapped to his leg and freed it. Remi watched as he scraped away at the barnacles. After a few moments, he stopped and pushed himself back so Remi could see.
    It was a seam. A joint between two blocks. Any doubts about the origin of the protrusions were now put to rest. These were indeed ruins of buildings, albeit submerged ones.
    A shadow drifted across the bottom and they froze. Sam turned and looked up to see the long shape of a shark. Not a great white, but, still, at least nine feet of marine predator.
    The shark orbited their position and then seemed to lose interest in them as it continued on its way. Remi’s eyes had gone wide in her mask, and Sam kept control of his breathing as his heart rate settled back tonormal. If they’d required any evidence of their completely exposed state, the close encounter had been sufficient, and, after a quick swim through the ruins, they ascended, pausing for a decompression stop, eyes roving the water for more uninvited guests.
    Once back in the boat, they stripped off their