“So, can you tell me about yourself? Were you born on the island?”
“Yes, I was born here. I am a third generation Kefalonian,” he declared proudly. “My parents and grandparents are an active part of the community. There are only about 40,000 people living on the whole island,” he pointed out, “small compared to a lot of places.”
“What do you know of the hurricane that hit back in 1936?”
The kid shrugged. “Not much, just stories. We had a pretty bad earthquake in the 1950s sometime and that’s something people talk about more often than the hurricane. Though I do know it destroyed a lot of buildings. Are you here to sightsee? Tourist? I can show you some good stuff…”
“No, actually I’ve got a boat chartered, I’m going to do some diving.”
“Oh good! Yes, we have beautiful diving sites, are you looking for buried treasure?” The kid laughed as though he thought it were great joke.
“Of a sort,” Val responded thoughtfully.
Reacting to the startled look on the kid’s face, he laughed himself. “Not really, just doing a little research on a plane that was supposed to have crashed during that hurricane.”
“Oh, I see. But surely you’re not planning on diving alone?”
Val was shaking his head no before the kid had finished his sentence. “Of course not, I’ve been known to do some stupid things, but nothing that bad.”
The kid’s quick grin acknowledged his joke and he followed it up with, “I am a certified diver, if you have not yet hired someone to do this.”
“Won’t you need to be getting back home to your family this evening? I’m planning on spending two nights on the boat.”
Dimitri shrugged. “It’s no problem. I can call from the marina.”
Val negotiated a rate, the kid drove a tough bargain, as they were arriving. Dimitri dropped Val off at the marina to find the company he had chartered the boat through and let them know he wouldn’t need the dive master he’d hired to accompany him. He said he would find a good place to park the car and meet him in twenty minutes.
Val had noticed the amazing views on their drive but had been so engrossed in his chat with Dimitri that he hadn’t asked him to stop so he could take pictures. Wandering around snapping photos always got his brain moving in the right direction though, kind of cleared out the cobwebs and got him focused, so Val took a few minutes to do just that.
Finding the charter company easily, he signed all the paperwork and allowed them to make photocopies of his passport and diving certification card. Once everything was in order, the middle-aged man who’s name tag said Georges, escorted him to the boat and gave him the tour.
Val verified that everything was in order as he’d requested ahead of time: food, water, and oxygen for diving for two days and two nights. He’d rented a small catamaran, twenty-two feet, one cabin. He’d been on fancier boats, but this would do.
Not needing any instructions on fore versus aft, Val tipped the gentleman and began preparations to depart. He had the engine running by the time Dimitri returned. The kid had rented his own diving equipment and had thought to grab a couple of T-shirts and a few other things from the diving center, Val noted approvingly.
Demetri’s eyes were wide open as he took in the boat that Val had rented. “Man, you are spending some money,” he noted, eyes around with excitement.
Val grinned. “Expense account.”
The kid nodded as though he had dealt with other tourists that had similar funding.
Val had his hand on the throttle when he caught Dimitri quickly wiping an envious look off his face. “On second thoughts, do you want to take her out?”
“Really? You would let me drive?”
“Sure, you said you knew what you were doing, right?”
The kid nodded eagerly, looking about five years younger than he actually was.
“Yes, my grandfather has a boat, not this nice, but this size. He sometimes lets me drive. My mother hates that.” He shot another smile over at Val. “OK, are you ready?”
“Yep, let’s get moving.” He opened the laminated map where he had pre-traced the route. Indicating a dot he’d made with a red Sharpie, he asked, “This is where we’re going, do you know this place?”
“I know the area, but I’ve never dived there. Should be beautiful though, even if we can’t find your plane crash. Lots of ocean life, beautiful clear water. Should only take us perhaps two hours to get there.”
“Great, I’m going aft to get some writing done, just holler if you need me.”
Dimitri was already focused on the boat, and Val took his time moving to the rear as he observed the kid. Approving of how careful he was to maneuver out of the marina and around the other boats docked there, Val relaxed. Maybe he would finally be able to make some progress on the story.
10
JAMI PULLED into the marina parking lot, more of a gravel path, careful to park where the car would be in the shade of what looked like olive trees and in full site of the marina office. The last thing she needed to worry about was the rental car getting stolen. She wasn’t going to be leaving anything important in it, but she didn’t need anything going wrong.
Jami had never been diving before, so she’d hired what was advertised on the website as a ‘full service’ diving experience. It was supposed to be dive instruction, but she didn’t think she’d ever be doing this again. Once was crazy enough.
As she signed the paperwork and ran her card for the deposit, they went over the details with her. One boat for two days, fully stocked with all the necessary supplies. Diving equipment and oxygen, and two crew members who would be responsible for navigating and dive instruction.
The middle-aged man who was taking care of her paperwork smiled when a younger woman came out of the back room.
“Let me introduce you to my daughter, this is Illeana. She will be your instructor and will dive with you for safety.”
The young woman grinned widely at her and enthusiastically shook her hand.
“I am excited to work with you, it is Jami, correct?
“Yes, that’s right. And I have to apologize in advance, I have never been diving before.”
“Oh, that’s no problem, you said so on your paperwork. In two days, we can do enough to get you comfortable in the water. Now,” she warned, “you won’t be certified because there are classes that you must take that teach you how to calculate diving distance, air pressure, how much oxygen is needed, that kind of thing…but you will have a great time!”
Jami smiled back at her; it was impossible not to. “And who else will be going with us?”
“Oh, yes, that will be my brother, Stefano. He is making the last-minute checks that the provisions are on the boat and double checking the oxygen tanks. Come with me into the back room. I will get you fitted with all the equipment you need.”
It took them thirty minutes or so to get everything together, and when they were finished, Illeana stood back with a satisfied smile. “There, now you are all set. This is the last of what we need to load on the boat.”
Ileana showed Jami through a back door and they climbed into a golf cart. Jami told her where she had parked the rental car, and Illeana drove right up to it and helped her transfer her bags.
The young lady nodded approvingly as she put the bags into the back of the golf cart.
“You are smart, you did not pack too many bags. You would not believe what I have seen some tourists show up with!”
“Oh really? Was it ridiculous?”
“Oh yes! Tonight, I will tell you stories over a bottle of wine on the boat. We will watch the moon dance on the water, and we will laugh hysterically!”
Jami smiled, that actually sounded like fun.
Illeana parked the golf cart and a young man, who appeared to be a little older than his sister, was waiting for them beside a beautiful boat.
Stefano had closely cropped dark hair, dark eyes that sparkled, and a beautiful smile set off by a glorious tan
.
“Hello! You must be Jami! I have the boat all ready to go. Lili, why don’t you show Jami around the boat and I will load everything else up.”
Jami was dazzled at the size of the boat, and Illeana noticed her face with a smile.
The word Ulysses was painted on the side of the boat.
Illeana showed Jami how to board the boat, grasping a thick rope that was wrapped around a cleat bolted to the dock and stepping over the gap and onto one of the two rear leg looking things—pontoons she was told—of the boat. Jami followed suit, pleased that she did not make an idiot of herself by falling into the water.
“She’s a forty-two-foot boat, plenty of room. Three cabins, two heads, and lots of lounge space. Bigger that what you need, but it was our last available boat. I won’t bore you with a lot of technical boat-speak, but I’ll give you a tour, and if you’re interested, you can watch my brother drive for a bit.”
The Ulysses—she giggled—was gorgeous. All white with a polished ash-grey colored wooden deck and accents, Jami was astounded at the comfort level provided. They stepped right into the cockpit which was a dining and entertaining area, covered from the sun, which flowed through a large door into a kitchen area called the saloon, complete with dining table and benches, a gas cooktop, fridge, everything they needed. The sliding doors were enormous and made it feel like an open-air patio, surrounded by water so aquamarine it was almost blinding.
The young woman pulled a hair tie from the back pocket of her shorts and bundled her mass of dark waves on top of her head while she showed Jami around, winding her up a set of stairs to a covered flybridge that was so nice it looked to her like a lounge with a steering wheel. The panels next to the wheel looked more like the fob to her car than anything else, with an iPad sized screen next to it. She was amazed at the full panoramic view broken only by the metal supports, and a huge double sun lounger. The entrance to the master cabin was back down one level off of the saloon, and she was shocked at the spacious bedroom and bathroom—Illeana called it a head. She also explained that the entrance to the other two cabins and their shared head were on the other side of the saloon. So, the master took up one long side of the boat, and the other side was split between the two other cabins. Stepping out of the front of the saloon took her to the foredeck, which was a spacious and open deck. It looked like the setting for a cocktail party scene from a Bond movie. Jami was beginning to wish she really was on vacation.
She walked from the foredeck, following Illeana along the side deck which flowed back to the pontoons where they’d started.
By the time the tour was over, Jami was thrilled that she had upgraded to the full service package, it looked like she would be able to concentrate on her search and not have to worry a thing about getting lost, capsizing, drowning. All things that had occurred to her after she’d already boarded her flight. After snatching the research she needed from bar, Jami had gone home and instead of sleeping, had stayed up all night. She’d been listening to Remi and Hart go over and over everything they’d discovered so far. She had listened and not said a word. But she’d begun to put something together that she was sure nobody else had seen yet. They were all so focused on the curse that they hadn’t yet got to wondering where the pendant was. Whoever this man was, the one who’d threatened Jami and Aubrie in order to get Remi to do his bidding, already had the chalice and the dagger. As far as they knew, the pendant was the last piece of the puzzle. And Jami thought she’d figured out where it was.
Illeana left Jami to get settled and unpack a few things in her cabin and excused herself to go up top and help her brother on the flybridge.
Jami asked if she could help with anything but Illeana waved her off. “No, you are a guest! Of course, you are welcome to join us anytime, and I will show you a few things while we are out on the water, but for now, get your sea legs under you and make yourself comfortable.”
Jami did as Ileana had suggested and unpacked a few things. The room was lovely, with a suite setup, so there was a sliding door between the bed and the rest of the room, and the head had a large shower, sink, everything she could possibly need.
This would do just fine.
Jami pulled her folder of research out of her purse. She felt the boat begin to move and swayed for a moment with the weird feeling.
After a few minutes she realized she had her balance back and she headed up to the saloon, then up the steps to the flybridge to join Illeana and Stefano. The railing around the boat was high enough to be safe but not high enough to block the view when seated, and as the boat was picking up speed, Jami startled herself by laughing out loud at the feeling of pure joy that the fine salt spray and sun brought. She felt free. Nobody on this boat knew anything about what had happened to her. They didn’t know to be careful with her, to treat her with kid gloves.
And the sea certainly didn’t care.
She settled herself at the table and got to work but took a break when Stefano and Illeana offered to show her how the boat worked. It was amazingly simple, and after twenty minutes Stefano had her driving the boat.
Just for ten minutes, but still.
Baby steps.
11
Val surfaced and spat his regulator out of his mouth. He loved diving but that moment when you first pull in fresh ocean air after using a tank of oxygen can’t be described. He and Dimitri had reached his first set of coordinates and immediately gone down for a dive. For his part, Val wanted to see for himself that Dimitri knew what he was doing before they found the wreck and he would need to trust him.
Dimitri surfaced seconds after he did, grinning. “So beautiful, yes?”
“Yes,” Val agreed, “but I don’t think this is the right spot. I had someone analyze the current patterns. On top of that, we can eliminate anywhere that anybody has recently dived a wreck.” A new one would’ve immediately started coming up on the diving forums, he knew. Divers were a tight group, but once they knew you weren’t an idiot and that you knew what you were talking about, they were friendly and willing to share information. There were hundreds of diving sites on the internet dedicated to listing great wrecks. There were lots of great dives listed in the Aegean Sea, but no mention of an airplane that could’ve been flying that particular route from Madrid to Athens. Just knowing the route the pilot had been on helped a lot. But then you had to take into consideration the storm, and how far off from its course the plane had been forced. The last known reported location of the plane was marked on Val’s map. Along with color-coded circles expanding out in concentric circles to indicate the probability of the wreck being located there.
He explained to Dimitri what he was looking for, but not why. The young man, familiar with the area as he said, had agreed with the logic of the map’s indications.
“I’m not sure, Dimitri, are you positive we are at the correct coordinates? I recall in my notes that there should be a reef visible from here, off to the south. We’ve got perfect diving conditions, it’s clear as day down there, but no reef in sight.”
Dimitri frowned. “Yes, I saw the indication of the reef on your new map but the only reef I’m aware of would not be within sight from here. Are you sure your information is correct?”
“Sure as I can be. Let’s pull anchor and move out to check out the reef, OK? Maybe we can re-orient ourselves that way.”
Dimitri nodded and hauled himself aboard using the aluminum ladder attached to the side of the boat. He hooked an arm around the top rung and unzipped his vest.
He slipped one arm out, reversing his hold on the ladder and use his free arm to heave the vest and oxygen tank up onto the boat. Climbing the rest of the way up, he waited for Val to do the same.
Once Val was free of his vest Dimitri reached down. “Here, let me help you.”
Val looked up the young man, his face in shadow with the sun behind him.
“Actually, I’m reconsidering. I think I’ll go back down for one more look. Will you hand me another tank? I’ll swap them
right here.”
“Oh, no problem, I can do that for you.”
“Look, no offense, but I’d rather take care of my own oxygen.”
The kid sighed. “Well, I’m sorry to have to do this.” And with that, he reached for Val’s vest.
Val hooked his arm through the armhole. “Look, I said I would do it. Hey, back up.”
Dimitri tugged on the vest again and Val realized he intended to strand him there.
With the heavy vest and diving equipment dangling from his left arm, and using his right to hold onto the ladder, Val didn’t really have many options. He did climb up one more rung on the ladder, but Dimitri backed up, returning with a gun.
Holy shit.
“Throw your vest onto the boat. I’ll help you up and bring you back to dock.”
“What the hell are you doing?”
“I don’t have time to explain, do it, or I’ll shoot you.”
Well, that wasn’t a very good option either.
From his position below Dimitri and without a weapon, Val decided he’d be better off in the water than on the boat.
Keeping his arm looped through the vest, Val released his hold on the ladder.
Allowing the weight of the vest to pull him under, Val immediately moved under the boat and toward the bow, away from the engine, and the propellers. It was a lot harder to put on diving gear underwater, but it was something that he had practiced before. Finally zipping up the front of his vest, Val was starting to see spots and had to force himself to regulate his breathing once he got his mouthpiece back in place. The first thing he did was check his oxygen level. He had a quarter of a tank left. Not much but better than nothing. He knew if he surfaced, he’d be an easy target in this bright water for the kid so he moved deeper, then hovered where he could see the bottom of the boat. Ten minutes later, Dimitri must’ve run out of patience because the engine started, and the boat began to move away.
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