Page 376 of The Romance Adventure

Pumping my arms and legs, I descend with practiced skill, having done this hundreds of times. Unlike missions I’ve been on, I don’t have a precise location of what I’m looking for. No, this is pure treasure hunting, and thereby I operate on instinct.

The deeper I go, the darker it gets. A school of amberjack fish flits by. Other reef and tropical species are alternately curious about me, observe from a safe distance, or disappear no sooner than I glimpse them.

I pause and turn in a slow circle, looking into the depths for any dark spots, anything that catches the light, an anomaly, or disturbance in the water.

If my mother had been down here, what would she have looked for? What direction would she have gone in? Given the current, when I was still on the dive boat, I drift west.

No more than three minutes pass before I see a lump. A hump? A bump? It’s the bow of a boat. I’ve trained myself not to cheer because of bubbles when trying to be incognito, but I can’t help it now as I push through the water toward a sunken vessel.

First, I swim around it, making sure the structure is relatively sound. Don’t want to go inside and get trapped. Barnacles and rusticles, like giant underwater cobwebs, cover the remains of the wood and metal. A carpet of algae and anemones practically blankets the wreck. The splintered mast and the odd pieces of timber and structures resting at different angles are spooky. If ghosts on sunken ships were real, this one would be haunted. Fitting that it’s Halloween.

My guess is the chest with the crown would’ve been in the captain’s quarters. Going inside a wreck is always sketchy, but I didn’t come this far not to return with the chest.

The door hangs from its hinges. But I don’t need to go much farther. As if waiting for me, a wooden chest with metal lashings and a keyhole sits just inside the doorway.

I feel lit up from within. Electric, not an expected or desired feeling while submerged in water, but my body buzzes from the discovery.

Taking the chest under my arm, my hand just barely reaches the far side. I start my ascent. Once I break the surface, I tear off my mask and say, “Guys, guys. I found it.”

“Thank goodness. Looks like we have company.” Magnus eyes the east and takes the wheel.

Jolie and Lally help me onto the boat.

“No time to assess. We have to go,” my brother says, shouting orders.

I don’t even have my flippers off before I slide backward as Magnus takes off in a wide arc. The incoming boat is at top speed, flying in our direction.

Jolie stashes the chest in a live well, and Lally helps secure my gear.

The other boat charges our way.

“Any idea who it is?” Lally asks.

“No, but I don’t want to find out.” Magnus glances at his wife as if her safety is his top priority.

Jolie grips the gunwale, staring down the boat as if personally offended that it’s chasing us. Interestingly, my brother’s singular instinct is to protect his wife. While I share that sense, I have a high level of confidence that she can handle herself.

It’s a high-speed chase with the boats planing out and practically levitating above the water. The dive boat wasn’t made for this, but it turns out Magnus is exceedingly skilled at evasive maneuvering on the water. Must be his military training.

Half my gear on the boat rolls around on the deck, and I lose a few good items, but I’d rather not slow down to retrieve them and have a confrontation with everyone on board. If I were alone, I’d invite the opportunity to find out who our pursuer is and what they want. As it is, we have to get to shore fast.

Although Jolie grips the handholds tightly, she seems relatively calm, like she’s been in a high-speed chase before. Maybe not on the water.

The few times I had to help an asset, more or less a civilian without any professional training or tradecraft knowledge, they clung to me for dear life. Sometimes even the dudes. My wife holds her own.

Then again, Lally isn’t in hysterics, though she was in the military and she trusts Magnus to get us out of this. Me too. Can’t think of anyone else I’d want at the helm, besides myself, but I’m as slippery as a seal as I struggle out of my wetsuit while trying not to fly out of the boat.

Jolie

CHAPTER 13

When we hit the harbor area, Magnus slows down but doesn’t obey the no-wake zone until he’s sure we’ve lost the guys in the black speedboat.

Lally smooths her curly hair and asks, “Who was that?”

CJ and Magnus exchange a look, but it’s not one of certainty, meaning they don’t know who was after us.

Magnus wears a steely expression. “Not sure. Could be someone Captain J sent after us.”