After securing the line to the door handle, he entered the dark cabin. He moved to the stairs and started to descend, but thought twice about it. If he knew Hawk, the treasure would be in his cabin. Thankful that he knew the deck layout already, he spun around, following the companionway to the door at the far end.
The contents of the room were spread over the floor, and some of the artifacts Hawk had kept were visible, but Mac was looking for something bigger. Moving to the locker, he struggled against the weight of the water to pull the door open, then was pulled inside by the force of the water entering the cavity. Slowly he regained his equilibrium and checked his watch. Two minutes remained, but when he looked up he saw four canvas bags.
There was no way to navigate back through the ship with his fins, so he removed them and slid them under one of the bags. Grabbing one bag in each hand, he walked through the ship, the extra weight helping to keep him on the deck. He reached the line and pulled in twenty feet, where he tied on the first bag. A few feet away, he tied on the next one. He had less than a minute left, but his decision was easy. There was no way he was repeating this or leaving anything behind. Without the weight of the coins, he floated back, grabbing on to anything he could to help pull him along. By the time he reached the bags, he was already almost a minute over his time limit. Hoping there was a safety factor in the decompression schedule, he grabbed the remaining two bags and trudged back through the ship. Tying them both to the line, he released it and pulled himself toward the surface.
The decompression stops had been painfully boring, especially not knowing if the bags really contained the coins. Hawk was surely capable of a ruse. Finally, he was at sixty feet and Alicia met him with a fresh tank. TJ gave the okay sign and finned towards the surface. After another hour, he looked at Alicia and gave the thumbs-up to surface.
Although he was worn out from the dive, he couldn’t wait. Dropping his gear, he yelled for Trufante to steer to the buoy and reached over the gunwale with a gaff, snagging the line when he passed. “Drop her into neutral,” he called to the bridge and waited for Trufante and TJ to help. With Mel, Pamela, and Cheqea hovering over them, the three men started to pull in the line. Mac could feel it stretch with the weight of the bags, but he willed it to stay intact. Finally, they could see the first bag in the water, and a few minutes later, they were on the deck of the boat.
“Go for it, Mel,” Mac said.
She looked at them and went to the first bag. Opening the clasp, she unrolled the watertight seal and stuck her hand deep inside. They stared at her, waiting. Then a whoop soon came from Trufante, and they saw the coins in her hand.
Chapter Thirty-Two
The group gathered in the cabin surrounding the bags of silver, no one knowing what to say, until Cheqea broke the silence.
“Mac Travis pays Cheqea for favor,” she said.
Mac looked at her. “Yes. You’ll get a cut, but there’s one more thing.” They all looked at him. “We’re going to file the papers for the salvage rights where the ballast stones are. We’ll do it right, and don’t expect much profit, but after expenses, whatever we profit will be yours. It is your heritage and legacy.”
Cheqea grinned and went to him. He wanted to push her away, but Mel caught his eye and he allowed the old woman to embrace him. “Okay. We better get out of here,” he said, turning away.
“Where to?” Mel asked.
“I’ve got a debt to pay, and then we can figure things out,” Mac said, giving directions for TJ to head back to land. They passed through the center span of the bridge, where they turned and followed it back to the entrance to the cove at Keys Fisheries.
They backed into the slip next to the center-console, and Mac left the others on the boat, but it wasn’t necessary. Celia was already coming for them, building a head of steam as she approached.
“Effin’ Travis. What now? You think you can just come and take your boat after wrecking mine, you got another effin’ thing coming,” she said, shaking her phone at him.
Mac ignored her and walked back to the sportfisher. He climbed aboard, motioning for her to follow. They went inside the cabin and he handed her two bags. “I think this covers it.”
She smiled, grabbing the bags. “Effin’ does, and the insurance company doesn’t have to know. I’m putting six on the back of the next one.”
He laughed and watched her go, swinging her hips as she walked down the dock to the shed.
***
After sharing a quick meal together, they stood on the deck. With each group holding their share, they said their goodbyes. Celia had given TJ and Alicia a slip for the night. Tomorrow they would head back to Key Largo.
“What about me, Mac Travis?” asked Cheqea, holding her bag tightly.
“I’ll drop you back on the island,” Mac said.
She shook her head. “I gotta go see somebody. You wait here.”
He nodded and they watched her haul herself to the dock and walk to the shed, where Celia was probably counting her take. There was no doubt that Cheqea would be coming back without the bag, but with enough of her medicine to last a while. That left only Trufante and Pamela.
“What are you going to do with your share?” Mac asked him.
“We have a house to decorate,” Pamela said, pulling the Cajun to her.
They shared a laugh at the thought of Trufante being domesticated and watched the two walk upstairs to the bar. TJ and Alicia went up to the bridge, leaving him alone with Mel in the cabin. He started to tense, not knowing where this was going, but desperately not wanting to lose her again.
She came up beside him and put an arm around him. “You going to pay me back too?” she asked.
He pulled her close and kissed her. “And how would you like it?”
“I want to go back to my dad’s place,” she said, kissing him back.
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While tarpon fishing in the backcountry of the Florida Keys, Mac Travis discovers a plot to drill for oil in the pristine waters.
After his life is threatened he teams up with his long time friend and mentor, Wood, to uncover a plot that leads to the top echelons of power in Washington DC. An action packed short story featuring underwater and boating scenes
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Wood's Reach: Action & Sea Adventure in the Florida Keys (Mac Travis Adventures Book 6) Page 22