Page 23 of Through Uncharted Space
The call connected, and the face of a pretty brunette projected up above the desk. Dakota recognized her instantly. The woman lifted a hand to wave hello, and Dakota saw the swirling floral mehndi design, similar to a tattoo, covering her hand and wrist.
“Hello, Dare. Oh, and Rynan and Justyn. It’s lovely to see you.”
“You too, Eos,” Dare replied. “You look as beautiful as always.”
“Thank you.” Eos smiled. “There’s that Phoenix charm.”
“Where’s my reprobate cousin?” Dare asked.
Eos’s smile widened. “Oh, Malin is visiting, so Dathan is helping her salvage some parts of an old starship wreck in the junkyard.” The astro-archeologist’s curious gaze lingered on Dakota. “What can I do for you?”
“We’re doing a recovery job with Dakota, here. She has a map we believe leads to a Terran treasure somewhere out here in uncharted space.”
Dakota barely controlled her jolt. Stars, hearing him blurt out her secret made her twitchy.
Eos’ gaze sharpened. There was a bright intelligence in her gold-colored eyes. “Go on.”
“Dakota, I’ll let you take over. This is Eos.”
Dakota nodded. “Hello. Um, I procured a map—” there was a small scoffing sound from behind her, and she guessed it was Rynan “—and it leads to a Terran treasure.” She swallowed. “The Atocha Treasure.”
Eos leaned forward. “The lost treasure of the Nuestra Señora de Atocha? Most people don’t think it ever made it off the planet.”
“This coming from the finder of the mythical treasure of Star’s End?” Justyn said with a laugh.
Eos made a face at the man. “I didn’t say I believed that.” Her gold gaze moved back to Dakota. “I know the treasure was salvaged from the waters off the United States of America. But nothing I’ve seen suggests it ever left Earth.”
Dakota shifted. “It did. On a ship called the Southwind. A member of the crew got back to charted space. He left a map.”
“Incredible.” The archeologist’s gaze narrowed. “Wait…you said Dakota? Dakota Jones?”
Oh, stars. Eos knew of her. Dakota stiffened. “Yes.”
A tiny smile tipped the corners of Eos’ lips. “I heard you got banned from the Institute’s museums.”
“I never stole from a museum,” Dakota said firmly. “I thought the deal was legitimate. Turned out that the astro-archeologist selling to me had a side job that wasn’t so legitimate.”
Eos nodded. “I’m no longer surprised at the kind of things that went on in the Institute. As you know, I haven’t worked for them for some time. So, the Atocha Treasure…it was said to be incredible.”
“Do you know what it included?” Dare asked.
Eos’s smile widened. “I happen to have a fragment of a document from the ancient Terran treasure hunters who first discovered the wreck. The treasure hunter and his family searched for it for years, were obsessed with it, and almost bankrupted themselves in the search. But they did find it and became its self-appointed guardians. They built a museum to house it, and then restored it, safeguarded it, and put it on display for the public to see.”
Dakota’s heart knocked hard against her chest. “You have a document about it?”
“My brother-in-law had the chance to visit Earth not so long ago. He brought back a lot of documents.”
Dakota knew that had to be the infamous Dr. Niklas Phoenix. Tales of his Earth expedition had reached all corners of the galaxy. “You know what was in the Atocha Treasure?”
“Yes. Over forty Terran tons of gold and silver.”
There were swift intakes of breath from the men. Dakota was so excited she could barely breathe.
“Gold and silver coins, ingots, artifacts. Some of Earth’s highest-quality emeralds. They couldn’t have shifted everything off-world,” Eos said. “But a portion of it could have been aboard the Southwind.”
“The crew member said his captain went crazy. That he was obsessed with the treasure and was duty-bound to protect it. From everyone. He deliberately crashed the Southwind on an uninhabited world.”
Suddenly, a quiet alarm sounded. Dakota frowned and saw the men trade glances. Dare glanced out the window and that’s when she saw that the ship was slowing down.
