Louie and Reid rushed to the dinghy, looking one last time for other boats, before getting in and pushing off. Louie started the outboard and motored about thirty feet away. Reid got onto her knees with her forearms resting on the side of the inflatable, taking aim at their bomb with the pistol she’d swiped from one of the dead men.
Nadia and Louie tried to keep the boat as still as possible as Reid fired three quick shots. The first two were misses, but the third shot went clean through one of the gas cans and into the dive tank, causing an explosion. The dive tank broke free, flying through air.
“Holy shit,” Louie exclaimed, ducking his head.
Reid laughed as the tank landed in the water a good twenty feet away, and sank to the bottom. The blast had blown a hole about a foot in diameter in the side of the boat and the fire had spread up the side of the wheelhouse. It was taking on water rapidly and had begun listing to the starboard side.
“Wow,” Nadia gasped.
”It worked,” Reid said, giving Louie a nod.
He twisted the throttle on the outboard, whisking them away as she watched the boat slowly sink behind them until it was completely submerged. Then, they changed places and Reid took over the driving.
“How long is it going to take us to get to shore?” Nadia asked.
“A couple of hours probably,” Reid yelled over the whine of the motor.
*
The water was a little choppy, so every other bounce of the raft splashed water on them, creating a small puddle on the floor that Louie and Nadia bailed out. The closer they got to the island, the choppier the water became. Louie held onto two of the bags and the side of the raft as best he could, while Nadia held onto the other bag and Reid’s leg. Reid eventually had to slow down to half throttle to keep from tossing someone out or flipping the dinghy on a wave. Seeing their destination and calmer water ahead, Reid turned the boat slightly, pointing it towards the harbor entrance as she sped up again.
When they finally reached the bay on the other side of the harbor, there was an inch of water in the bottom of the dinghy and the three people inside the raft looked like drowned rats.
“Does everything have to be an adventure with you?” Nadia smiled, wringing out the water from her soaked t-shirt.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Reid grinned, leaning in to kiss her as she headed towards the dock.
Nadia laughed, running her hand through the thick wet hair on the top of Reid’s head. “This has been fun and all, but I’ve never been happier to see land.”
“Me either!” Louie exclaimed, jumping out and kissing the ground when the inflatable bumped against the dock at the Cockburn Town marina.
Reid laughed at the two of them as she cut the engine and tied the line to the dock twenty yards away from the bow of the blue and white Ocean Works Research vessel R/V Sea Rascal.
TWENTY-EIGHT
“Reid?” Jonathan yelled, walking down the dock and squinting past his ship. He cocked his head to the side, noticing the loaded inflatable boat tied up nearby. “Where’s your boat?” he asked, stepping closer. “More importantly, where is my equipment?”
“It sunk,” she said.
“Oh, my God! Are you kidding me? I should’ve never given you a favor. Damn it! You’ve cost me thousands of dollars, Reid!”
Reid pulled a gold doubloon from her pocket and tossed it to him. Jonathan’s eyes lit up as he examined the 17th century coin. “You actually found the Duchess,” he murmured.
Reid grinned from ear to ear, slowly nodding her head like a Cheshire cat.
*
Over the next two hours, Reid and Jonathan sat in his office on the R/V Sea Rascal, as they motored towards Great Exuma Island, laying out the paperwork for Ocean Works Research, Jonathan’s company, to help her excavate the wreck site. Together, they filled out all of the paperwork for the claim to obtain the excavation permits. Because Reid couldn’t afford his fees upfront, she made a deal, cutting him in on a percentage of the profit from the claimed treasure. They both knew the maritime law inside and out. When everything was completed, Reid would walk away with twenty percent of the total value in her pocket. She planned to split it four ways with five percent going to her, Louie, Nadia, and Jonathan’s company.
“I appreciate you taking us over to Exuma,” Reid said, stretching her back in the chair.
“It’s the least I could do. I’m glad you chose me to help you with the excavation,” Jonathan replied.
Reid shook his hand and gave him a half hug before she walked out of his small office to use the ship’s satellite phone and call ahead to Guillermo. She informed him that his daughter was safe and they’d be arriving at the main dock in the marina within the next half hour.
Louie and Nadia had spent their time aboard the ship, changing into dry clothes, and eating a nice hot meal in the mess area. By the time Reid found them, they were asleep in the crew lounge.
“We’re here,” Reid said, shaking them both awake.
Nadia looked up at her with sleepy eyes, wrecking Reid once again. She’d never felt anything tug on her heart strings, causing her chest to ache, as much as Nadia had. She wanted nothing more than to crawl into a comfortable bed and pull Nadia into her arms.
*
Guillermo was waiting on the dock impatiently when Nadia finally emerged with Reid by her side. They had barely made it down the gang plank when he began yelling. “You’re finished, Reid Cavanaugh! Do you hear me? You put my daughter in harm’s way, you piece of shit! I’ll kill you myself!”
“Daddy!” Nadia shouted, hugging him. “She saved my life,” she said, pulling away.
Reid took the gold coin from her pocket and held it out to him. Guillermo’s eyes glazed over as he ran his finger across the face of the metal.
“I hired Ocean Works Research to help me excavate the site. We emailed the paperwork for the permits on the way over here,” Reid said, ignoring his rant.
“You owe me half of everything!” Guillermo yelled, pissed that she’d gone around him and claimed the discovery. “You screwed me again you piece of shi—”
“Wait a second!” Nadia growled. “You made me go on that trip from hell because you’re a greedy bastard. I nearly lost my life!” she yelled. “Second, Reid found the treasure, so it’s up to her how she handles things. No one has screwed you. You weren’t there. You didn’t find anything. She did! And damn it, she did it to save me! What the hell happened to you? All you see anymore is dollar signs. Nonna Franchino would be disgraced by you and so would my mother! You make me sick!”
Guillermo stared at his daughter. She’d never spoken to him that way before. “You will be on the first flight back to Greece,” he growled.
“I’m not going anywhere. I love her,” Nadia said, grabbing Reid’s hand.
“You son of a—” Guillermo shouted, lunging at Reid, but Nadia blocked his path, subsequently shoving him into the water.
“Maybe now you’ll cool off!” Nadia yelled down to him as he splashed around trying to find a way back up.
Reid laughed hysterically.
“I love you and I’ll be damned if he’s going to take you away from me too,” Nadia said.
“I would never let that happen,” Reid replied, pulling Nadia into her arms and kissing her.
EPILOGUE
ONE YEAR LATER
Reid yawned and poured her second cup of coffee. She was practically living aboard the R/V Sea Rascal, which was permanently anchored over the wreck site of the Duchess. At least that’s where she’d been staying since Nadia had left to go visit her family in Greece two weeks earlier. She’d planned to be gone for three or four weeks, spending as much time with her mother and grandparents as she could, before packing up her belongings and moving to the Caribbean for good. Reid wanted to go with her, but they were in the middle of the excavation and she needed to be at the site.
The sound of the toaster brought Reid’s thoughts back to reality. “Damn it,” she growled, tossing
the burnt pieces of toast onto her plate. She needed to get moving, so with virtually no other option, she smeared a good helping of peanut butter over the charred pieces of bread and slapped them together. She grabbed her coffee mug and her sandwich, and headed up to the stern deck.
Reid was tired from spending countless hours either diving on the wreck itself, or studying the map of the debris field that she and Jonathan had created using his state of the art technology. The entire area was nearly 23 square meters and between one and four feet deep in the mud under the layer of sand that covered the bottom. She and Jonathan had a crew of six men, including Louie, who were either diving the wreck and collecting artifacts, or using various pieces of equipment to move the silt and uncover more objects. The full crew had been working from sun up to sun down for close to six months, since the permits came through, with one day off per week on a rotating schedule. However, she, Jonathan, and Louie never left the wreck site.
During their excavation, the team had retrieved a little over five thousand gold and silver coins varying in value, as well as a couple of gold bars. They’d also found several pieces of tableware and cookware including: ceramic pottery, glass bottles, pewter spoons, and copper pots. Plus, they discovered enough precious gems including emeralds and rubies, to fill a small bucket. A half dozen cannon balls, three cast-iron cannons, a flintlock pistol and some ship fittings had also been recovered. Reid estimated another year, possibly two and they will have exhausted the wreck.
“Maybe you should take a break today. You look like hell, my friend,” Louie said, bumping arms with her as they stood against the bow rail, watching the sun rise.
Reid glared at him over her burnt breakfast sandwich.
“She’s coming back,” he said.
“I should’ve gone with her,” Reid mumbled, looking back at the beautiful colors painting the horizon. She was starting to think her decision to stay behind wasn’t a good one after all.
“This…” Louie held his arms out. “Is where you belong. That shipwreck below us is your dream and you’re living it right now. She knows that.”
Reid finished her sandwich and tossed the remainder of her coffee into the water down below. “Come on, we have a long day ahead of us,” she sighed, knowing he was right. Nadia had actually encouraged her to stay. One more week, she thought.
*
Reid was on the bottom, following one of the divers who was using a siphon vacuum to remove layers of silt from their work area, one square foot at a time. She and Louie, who was diving with her, marked anything they uncovered along the way. The midday sun made the shallow water temperature slightly warmer, which made excavating in the winter a little more bearable. They were far enough south that the cold air generally stayed away, but during the past week, they’d battled a nasty rain storm that had brought much cooler temperatures with it.
Louie was about to surface to get more tags when he saw another diver swim over to them, checking out their progress. He moved to tell the diver to take his place when he realized it was a woman. He tapped Reid on the shoulder, nearly grabbing her head and twisting when she didn’t turn right away.
Reid stared at him, then followed his line of sight to the diver a few feet away. Like a flashlight illuminating a dark room, Reid’s eyes opened wide and her heart began to race. She quickly grabbed the female diver and pushed her to the surface.
When she broke the water, Reid spit out her regulator and shoved her mask up on her forehead. “Am I dreaming?” she exclaimed.
“Nope,” Nadia said with a big smile as she kissed her, tasting the saltwater on her lips.
“I thought you weren’t coming back for another week.”
“There’s only so much of my family I can take.” Nadia shook her head. “They were making me crazy.”
Reid grinned. “I missed you.”
“I know. Jonathan told me you haven’t left the ship since I’ve been gone.”
“What? When was this?”
“Three days ago. I called to see how things were going and you were diving, so I talked to him for a few minutes.”
“He didn’t tell me you called,” Reid huffed.
“I asked him not to. That’s when I made the decision to come back early. I’d much rather be here with you, and talking to him made me realize you missed me as much as I missed you.”
“He still should’ve told me,” she murmured, grabbing Nadia’s left hand. “What did your family think of this?” she asked, looking at the diamond engagement on her finger.
Nadia bit her lower lip. “Let’s just say I’ll be visiting Greece alone…forever.”
“Seriously?”
“My grandfather threatened to kill you.”
“Oh, nice. So has your father…multiple times actually.”
Nadia laughed. “You’re such a bad ass.”
“No, I’m not. I just don’t scare easily.”
“Maybe it’s simply because you don’t give a shit.”
“That’s probably true,” Reid agreed. “You’re becoming quite the potty mouth. I must be rubbing off on you.”
“You haven’t been rubbing anything lately,” Nadia grinned.
“We can definitely change that,” Reid said, pushing her back towards the ship that sat a few yards away. She watched as Nadia climbed up the ladder along the side. Then, she headed up behind her. “What did your mother say? You only mentioned your grandfather.”
“You can ask her at dinner,” Nadia replied, removing her dive tank, mask and fins.
“What? She came back with you?” Reid asked taking off her own equipment.
“Yes. She wants to help plan the wedding.” Nadia moved closer, wrapping her arms around Reid’s neck.
“Where is she?” Reid questioned, looking around.
“Out there.” Nadia pointed to the yacht anchored off in the distance, closer to West Caicos Island. “Apparently, she and my dad have been talking on the phone…a lot.”
“Really?”
Nadia nodded her head as she pressed her lips to Reid’s.
“That’s why he’s being so nice,” Reid mumbled.
“Well, you are marrying his little girl.”
“Actually, I think he calls you his most prized possession,” Reid stated.
“I think I’m yours now,” Nadia laughed, kissing her again.
“No.” Reid shook her head. “I’m yours,” she whispered.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sydney enjoys reading everything from magazines to historical books and boasts about her massive collection of paperbacks and hardbacks in her personal library. She's also a huge fan of multiple TV shows, which she says take up too much of her time. She enjoys writing novellas and is the author of the bestselling novellas: One Night and Shadow's Eyes, as well as the bestselling full length novel: Second Chance.
You can like her fan page at facebook.com/sydneycanyon
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