“Kola, you need to see this.” Maya's voice sliced through the hum of the servers.
I was almost about to hit the sack. But I pulled myself up and walked to her. "Morse code," I said, squinting at the screen where a string of dots and dashes kept repeating like a heartbeat. "
"Nobody uses it anymore, at least not in this part of the world. Must be something." She looked at me.
“What’s it saying?” I asked.
She typed quickly, translating. The message was simple. SOS. Coordinates attached.
"We're not a rescue team." Tunde leaned forward, his eyes wide awake for someone who had been snoring minutes ago.
“I don't think so, Tunde." I countered. "Think about it, coordinates, in the middle of the Atlantic. That has to be a treasure. Maybe sunken ships. Maybe wartime gold.”
Ifeanyi joined us. He was all drenched from the rain outside. Ifeanyi was always the realist, he sniffed as if he didn't know our warehouse smelled of damp wood and fried wires whenever it rained. “Or maybe it’s just junk signals bouncing around. Maya, check for any distress calls in the last 24 hours from the same location."
We watched Maya tap her keyboard and shake her head, finally. "None. Although there was a vessel in that location in the past 72 hours. But nobody knows if it was a military or cruise ship."
I re-examined the numbers on the screen. An SOS on a distant shore, nothing but blue on the map. This was different, physical, dangerous to tell, but tempting. And as a crew that has built a reputation for uncovering abandoned safes and hidden accounts, it could be our jackpot.
"Pack up. We move by morning." I said.
They all looked at me like they weren't sure but I didn't pay them any attention. This was the first time we ever got such a hit from a big ocean, I wasn't going to take chances and let it slip away.
By morning, we hired a fishing trawler from the Marina, loaded our supplies, and pushed into the restless sea.
The ocean had a way of humbling the bold. It sent our fishing trawler crashing against the waves. But by the second day, we had left Lagos far behind, and the horizon was a perfect circle of water and sky. The trawler kept groaning with every wave, and salt stung our eyes.
Every hour, the same Morse code pulsed through the radio.
“It’s too perfect. Timing, everything perfect. Like it’s on a loop. Not someone pressing a button.” Maya blurted out. “Like a machine guarding something.”
“That makes it a treasure,” Tunde laughed.
I smiled. "And you all looked at me like I was mad."
Ifeanyi rubbed my shoulder. "Someone cannot play with you." He joked.
We laughed. Finally, a big hit for us.
But, we never knew our hopes were about to be shattered.
Far out on the horizon was the silhouette of an oil rig; our treasure dream thinned. We spoke of our disappointment only with our eyes. The old, half sunken structure leaned awkwardly into the sea. Rust was eating up its sides, and its broken beams reached upward like bones poking out of its body.
“What in God's name is this?" Maya was the first to speak.
"Where's the treasure? Is it supposed to be in that?" Tunde joined.
"This rig should be dead,” Ifeanyi muttered, cutting the engine.
"Yet the signal grew louder," I added. "Something is inside there."
They looked at me for the next command. Honestly, I didn't come that far with my crew to give up.
"Gear up," I said
We climbed into the sinking ship through the corroding ladder, hearts pounding, boots slipping on wet metal. The air was thick with the stench of oil and salt. Suddenly, a steady metallic thud echoed like someone knocking on a coffin.
Tunde froze. “Did you hear that?”
We nodded.
"Follow the sound." Ifeanyi opined.
Without arguing, we followed the sound through a narrow corridor till we got to a sealed chamber. Not even the heaviest flood could pass through.
Tunde pried it up with his tools and like wild animals let loose. Two men, one gaunt and gray-bearded, the other barely more than a boy stumbled out. Their eyes blinked against the light like creatures dragged from another world. They were almost alive.
“Help… please,” the older one rasped. His voice cracked, brittle as dry paper.
"What's this? Where's the treasure?" Tunde barked.
I shot him an angry look. "Where's your humanity?" I yelled.
Maya dropped to her knees and from her backpack gave them water. When the old man got a bit of strength, he explained to us how the rig exploded days ago. Most workers died. But he had taken the young boy and locked themselves in the lower chamber with supplies.
"The signal? Where's it coming from?" Ifeanyi asked.
"It had been pre-programmed. In case of disasters like this, it'll repeatedly send signals out waiting for someone to answer."
My stomach churned. They had survived in the belly of rust and shadows while the world moved on. At that point, I didn't care about the treasures anymore. I knew maybe later I might regret my decision but I wasn't leaving those survivors there.
"They might return when they see your boat outside." The old man said in fear. "Get us out of here."
"Who?" I was confused.
"Mercenaries. They blew up the boat for the treasures we were transporting."
"Treasures? What treasure?" Tunde asked.
"The ship doesn't just transport oil. We smuggle gold for the high and mighties too." The old man explained.
I saw Tunde's eyes widen. Maya smiled. Ifeanyi shot me a look. We weren't out of luck after all.
"Where's the gold?" I asked.
"In there with the supplies." He said.
I turned to my crew. "The game has changed. Maya and Ifeanyi take them back to our trawler while Tunde and I get the gold before the mercenaries return. Quick!" I commanded.
But Maya shook her head as she punched through her pad. "Too late. They're here." She turned her pad to show us mercenaries on speedboats with weapons enough to kill us all.
By now we could hear speedboats cutting across the waves. They were boarding the rig. Panic tightened my chest. This was no rescue mission. No weapons for us to fight back with. Whoever had blown this rig still cared enough for whatever was inside it.
"Okay, plan B. We seal the chamber and make sure no one gets the gold. We return with enough firepower to fight and take them. For now, let's get off this ship."
“We need to go, now,” Ifeanyi hissed.
"Wait!" Maya yelled. "If I can get to the control room. I can call for help."
I turned to the old man. "Where's the control room?"
He pulled his weak self to his feet. "Follow me."
The mercenaries were climbing the ladder now. Tunde grabbed a wrench, eyes wild. “I'll seal the chamber and buy us time. Go!"
The rest of us followed the old man to a much bigger room. The control room. Maya connected her drive. Screens flickered to life. She called out for help to the nearest coast guard hoping that help would come.
"We have to move!" I yelled to Tunde over the radio.
He quickly joined us. By now the mercenaries were raining bullets on the ship, making their way to us. We fought with desperation, not skill, or shooting guns but dropping debris to slow them down.
The old man pushed open a secret door just beneath the captain's seat. "Follow me, I know another way out of here."
Hearts slamming like war drums, we followed him, and soon we were swimming under the ocean back to our trawler. We could still hear the mercenaries shouting in the rig. By the time we discovered we escaped, it was too late.
A few months later, we returned to the rig more prepared than before with the old man and the little boy now part of our crew. This time the rig was already deep beneath the ocean. There were no mercenaries in sight, and luckily for us, the treasure was still safely secured in the sealed chamber.
