“Okay. Kiss the girl, then,” Mark teased.
“I’m still a priest!”
“But not here.”
“I made a vow to God.”
Mark could see his friend’s dilemma, but to him, it didn’t seem like the most pressing of their concerns at that moment. “Well, let’s focus on getting back to our time before it becomes too much of an issue.”
“I’m all for that, but that’s become even more problematic.”
“How so?”
“Do you think anyone else is going to lend us a boat after what we’ve just pulled?” Dave asked.
“Then we’ll have to buy our own.”
“With what?”
“I don’t know. We have the advantage of having come from the future, don’t we? I was hoping you’d have an idea about how we can make a whole lot of money in 1880 Florida.”
Dave started to shake his head but then stopped. His eyes lit up. “I don’t know how to make a lot of money, but I know where we can find a lot of money.”
“Okay, where? And please don’t tell me we’re going to rob a bank. I know that desperate times call for desperate measures and all that, but I don’t think I could be a part of that.”
“Not a bank. The Lita del Alma.”
Mark stared at him. “What is that?”
“It’s a Spanish treasure ship that sunk off the coast of Florida.”
“Like the Atocha?”
“Yeah. It’s one of just dozens of wrecks off the coast.”
“I’m not familiar with it.”
“You wouldn’t be unless you’ve read some of the more obscure books on Floridian history. It went down in 1759 and was found in the late 1890s by a man named John Lundy. He was the great-great-great grandson of one of three survivors who were in a rowboat heading for land when the ship went down. He spent nearly two decades searching for it.”
“Why did it take that long?”
“It was dark and the men came to shore quite a distance south. The location was passed down in the family, but the sailor was never completely certain exactly where the ship went down.”
“How does that help us? I mean, he was a sailor on the ship and it took him twenty years to find it. I don’t have that kind of time, especially if we’re racing against him.”
“We have one advantage,” Dave said.
“Which would be what?”
“I know where it is.”
21
“What do you mean you know where it is?” Mark asked, bewildered.
“One of my friends with whom I served in the Navy was Lundy’s great grandson. He took me out a few times to see what was left of the wreck. I know exactly where it is. We might have to compensate some for the tidal drift, since it’s more than a hundred years earlier, but basically, we’ve got ourselves sunken treasure,” he said excitedly.
Mark didn’t want to burst his friend’s bubble, but he felt he had to douse the fire with more realistic expectations. “But we have no equipment that can make it down there. Scuba diving isn’t a thing yet.”
“They do have weight belts and I think we have scuba gear on the Guardians. The Lita del Alma went down in a little less than thirty feet of water. There are free divers who can go deeper than that.”
“Okay, but even if we can find it and reach it, what does that do for us regarding the future? Not to mention how it will affect other people. I mean, if the treasure isn’t there for John Lundy to find, then you’ll never hear about it in the future to know about it now when you come back to the past. Isn’t that how time travel works? A big loop?”
“I haven’t a clue how time travel actually works. I’m not a nuclear physicist, I’m a priest. What I do know is that the sterncastle of the Lita del Alma, where a lot of the wealth was supposedly kept, is still missing. Maybe we are meant to find it. Maybe we always found it, and that’s why no one else does in the future.”
“This is insane. You are frying my brain here. Anyway, it will take forever to dive for treasure like that. And we’d still have to get somebody to loan us a boat so we could search for the treasure, which, as we’ve already covered, is highly unlikely after today. I want to get home now, not years from now,” Mark said, his voice raspy with frustration.
Dave put a hand on his shoulder. “We both want to get home. Until we can, we need funds in the here and now. We don’t know how long it’s going to take us to find the perfect storm or the right conditions or whatever it was that caused us to time travel back in the first place. After seeing what happened today, we have to be prepared to go out over and over, and that’s going to cost money, especially if we keep losing ships in the process.”
Mark took a deep breath. “You’re right. I don’t like it, but you’re right.”
“I’m always right.”
“Okay. I guess we’re about to Indiana Jones the heck out of this thing.”
~
Sally walked into the coffee shop, ready to have another meeting with Janis. After finishing breakfast, she’d dropped the girls off at her parents’ house. She’d called Janis back and the other woman had agreed to meet with her.
Janis was at her usual table out on the back deck with a large stack of books sitting next to her on the table. When Sally slid into the chair across from her, Janis reached out and squeezed her hand.
“How are you holding up?” Janis asked.
“I’ve been better, but I’m glad to know something, even if it is bizarre.”
“I can imagine. I want you to know that I’m going to do everything I can to help you figure out a way to get him back.”
“I appreciate that.”
“I’ve brought you some books I thought you might want to read. I believe it’s important that we research not only the triangle itself, but also the time period in which they ended up.”
“Why?”
“We may be able to figure out if there’s an explanation, some type of magnetic force or other anomalies which were known to occur in that time period. Maybe we can figure out why the triangle sent them there, or then, rather, instead of some other time.”
“So, you don’t think they were dumped into a random time period?”
“No, I don’t. I have nothing to back up that theory, but we are truly in uncharted territory here. The more we can learn, the better chance we have to figure all of this out.”
“Okay, I can buy that,” Sally said with a nod.
“Good. On the plus side, there are some rather interesting events and some very detailed accounts of 1880s Florida, particularly by Lawrence Whitcomb.”
“Who was he?”
“He was a theologian and philosopher who arrived in St. Augustine around 1880. He wrote extensively about the time, the people. His writings are considered rather groundbreaking and don’t conform to a lot of the writing conventions of the time. He had a great deal of compassion for people.”
“Okay,” Sally said. The name rang a bell, but she didn’t think she’d ever read any of his writings. “Are there any similarities about the disappearances in the triangle?”
“Yes and no,” Janis said. “The ships and planes that have disappeared are of all types and sizes. There are disappearances during every time of year and day of the week. As far as I know, no researcher has ever found any kind of pattern as far as the time of day or year or type of craft.”
“Okay, so it’s all totally random.”
“Apparently. If there is a commonality of some sort, no one has yet found it.”
“So where do the similarities come into play?” Sally asked. “Or are there any that you know of?”
“Loss of radio communication, usually quite sudden. Some crafts that disappear report everything is normal, that they are on schedule, and then suddenly they just vanish. There are some who have escaped the triangle and reported strange phenomenon while inside--specifically, interruption in communication, navigation anomalies and compasses going cra
zy as if there is some kind of magnetic interference. Some have reported sudden storms or strange, intense fog that comes out of nowhere. Others have reported mental disorientation, no matter how experienced the pilot is.”
“I know Mark and Dave lost their instruments and encountered some kind of heavy fog,” Sally said.
Janis nodded. “I’m not surprised to hear that.”
“Communication was also strange. I’m not sure about the ship’s instruments, but Mark and I kept getting static when we tried to call each other on our cell phones. He left me a message that arrived a day later, and when we were texting, there was a very long lag time between messages.”
“As if communication was somehow being disrupted,” Janis mused.
“Or as if time was in flux,” Sally pointed out.
“You could be right about that. It makes sense, in a way.”
“And no one can anticipate these fogs or magnetic disturbances?”
“No,” Janis said. “The oceans are always unpredictable on the best of days, but whatever happens in the triangle defies logic or reason. Every year, ships are sunk all over the world, but few vanish entirely. Now, thanks to your husband, we have new information as to why they are vanishing.”
“Mark always liked to push the boundaries and try new things in his work. Why not in this,” Sally said with a groan. The thought made her sad, but also in a small way amused her. How very Mark, always the pioneer in everything.
“Do you think we might be able to find historical records of them?” she asked.
“I think we should try. If they are in the past, it’s possible they might try to find a way to communicate with us. That is, if it occurs to them that we’ll even be looking. I’ve already done a cursory search and haven’t found anything that jumped out at me. That’s another area where you’ll be a huge help. You’ll probably have a lot more luck recognizing their fingerprints than I ever would.”
“Sure, I can do that,” Sally said. She couldn’t help the tiny spark of hope that lit within her, that maybe Mark had somehow tried to communicate with her.
“Divide and conquer,” Janis said with a tight smile. “These books are yours to get started with.”
“Looks like I have a lot of reading to do,” Sally said as she sized up the stack.
She didn’t care if she had to read a million books or spend thousands of hours online if it meant bringing Mark home.
~
After three days of rest, Mark was itching to get back onto the water. It felt as if every day spent on land was one day with Sally lost forever. His desperation was growing by the minute. Dave was right, though. In order to continue trying to find a way to make it home, they needed their own boat--and they weren’t going to get that without money.
As it turned out, Rosalyn spoke limited English, and she helped them explain to her father that they wanted to find sunken treasure. He called them loco several times, and Mark couldn’t blame him for questioning their sanity, but in the end, his daughter was persuasive. Mark was beginning to think she could talk anybody into anything.
After all, it was clear to him that the young woman had set her eyes on David. It was equally clear that she had succeeded in getting under his skin and that despite his vows, Dave was falling for her.
So together, the four of them planned their first expedition to try and recover some of the treasure from the Lita del Alma.
~
Sally had spent three days reading everything Janis had given her about the Bermuda Triangle. The more she read, the angrier she grew that there hadn’t been a concerted effort to solve the mystery of the triangle, or to at least try to protect and warn travelers in its path.
Finished with that chore, she turned to the stack of books relating to the history of Florida in the 1880s. She grabbed the first book, entitled Culture and Myth. Before she could open it, the author’s name jumped out at her.
D. Lawrence Whitcomb.
Janis had mentioned Lawrence, but she hadn’t said it was the author’s middle name. Now, staring at the name a chill ran down her spine. She knew that name. Lawrence was Dave’s middle name. Whitcomb was his mother’s maiden name. He had gone by D. Lawrence Whitcomb on more than one occasion during his college years when he and Mark were up to some prank or some other time when he was trying not be recognized.
Sally opened the book with shaking hands. There was a dedication inside.
To Mark, my best friend through tribulations no man should ever have to suffer. May your voyages take you to where you belong. And to his lovely wife, Sally, I pray you keep hope and faith alive no matter how bleak things might appear. In the end, love really does conquer all.
She pressed the book to her heart as tears blurred her vision. Mark was trying to come home to her and Dave was urging her to not give up.
She wouldn’t.
With her dying breath, she’d be waiting, expecting Mark’s arrival.
22
The waves rocked the boat gently up and down while Mark waited impatiently for Dave to return to the ship. Six months now they had been trapped in the past, and it was driving him crazy.
Sally was pregnant. He was sure of it.
He’d been hearing her voice off and on since they’d arrived back in the past. The only other times he’d ever heard her so clearly was when she had been pregnant with each of their daughters. It was yet another reason why he had to get home, and yet another reason why he felt as if he was slowly losing his mind from waiting.
That’s all he had been doing, particularly for the last six weeks.
Waiting.
“Do you think he is good?” Rosalyn asked worriedly.
Her English had improved a lot since their arrival. She was scanning the calm water, her eyes wide with fear.
“Dave is good. Fine. Don’t worry. He’ll be back up in a couple of minutes,” Mark tried to reassure her.
The boat they were on wasn’t huge. That was one of the reasons why Rosalyn and her father alternated on who went out with Mark and Dave on what her father called their loco quest. He was still calling it that, despite the fact that Rosalyn was at this moment wearing a cord around her neck from which dangled an actual Spanish doubloon Dave had found in the water beneath their boat.
That had been five weeks ago, and it was why they were now on the water every single day searching for the Lita del Alma sterncastle. Mark was growing so impatient to find it and so desperate to get home that he no longer cared what part of the ship they found, as long as they found something which would help him buy his own boat so he could return to his wife.
If they screwed up history in the process, so be it. He just didn’t want to continue being a part of that history.
“Have you got your camera working yet?” Rosalyn asked him.
“No, not quite,” he admitted.
“You know, the cameras from this time are quite good,” she said.
“I know, but this one is…special,” he said with a shrug.
She glared at him, as she often did when she thought one of them was lying to her. A couple of months back, she’d managed to keep that glare going for a whole two days. That had been why Dave finally broke down and told her the truth.
To her credit, she took the whole time-traveler-from-the-future thing a heck of a lot better than he would have, given the same circumstances. Mark was just grateful she had believed Dave. Without her and her father’s friendship, they’d be in a considerably worse predicament than the one in which they’d already found themselves.
He hadn’t bothered explaining to her that the device he kept fiddling with was also a phone. Phones hadn’t yet been invented and the less he had to explain to her the better. Every time he inadvertently told her something about the future, he worried about the potential consequences. At least Rosalyn and her father didn’t seem like inventors who would jump on an idea and run with it. Then again, they didn’t seem like treasure hunters, either, a
nd yet that’s exactly what he and Dave had gotten them involved in.
Rosalyn cried out as there was sudden movement in the water. Dave broke the surface a moment later with a gasp. He had been rigorously training himself to do free diving and he could now hold his breath for an impressive amount of time. Mark was training as well but was not nearly as advanced as Dave had become.
Dave held onto the side of the boat with his left hand as he treaded water and tried to catch his breath. He was grinning from ear-to-ear.
“I found it.”
Mark started up from his seat, nearly dropping the phone he’d been futzing with. He caught it before it could hit the deck.
“Are you serious?”
Dave slowly pulled his clenched right hand out of the water. He held it up and then opened his fist to reveal a ruby an inch in diameter.
Rosalyn cried out in delight and Mark sputtered, trying to find the words. Tears filled his eyes, blurring his vision, and he quickly dashed them away.
In one moment, everything had changed. That one ruby Dave now clutched in his fist would be enough to get them a ship of their own.
No! A dozen ships.
They could go out as many times as they needed, lose ship after ship to storms and still have a ship when the storm they were searching for finally came.
Rosalyn was so excited she leaned over the side of the boat, grabbed Dave’s head in her hands and kissed him right on the lips.
Dave was so startled he almost dropped the ruby.
Blushing a pretty pink, Rosalyn let go of Dave and retreated to the bow of the boat, leaving room for Dave to come aboard. Mark smirked as he stared at his friend, who looked far more overwhelmed by the kiss than by the ruby in his fist.
~
A few minutes later Mark was on his way down to the wreckage. He swam slowly for a few seconds close to the sea floor looking for the heap of twisted metal Dave had described. When he finally found it, his heart started pounding as he slowly reached down and picked up a fistful of doubloons which were spilling out of a hole gouged in the side. He could feel the metal in his fingers and could see it with his eyes through the haze, but it was nearly impossible to believe nonetheless. Like most little boys, he’d dreamed of finding buried treasure, but never in his wildest dreams had he ever thought it was actually possible.
The Triangle Page 15