Wade swam up and wrapped his arms tightly around the attacker and squeezed as if giving a bear hug. The man began to fight but Wade hung on. He felt the scrape of the blade against the side of his leg, but it was just a scratch. A second later he felt the attacker’s head being pulled forward as Aaron ripped his mask off and then his head snapped back and the struggles ended.
The body was pulled up and Wade swam up with it.
“Wade!” Darcy screamed before jumping into the water and swimming straight into his arms as the helicopter hovered above them. “Are you hurt?” Darcy asked as she wrapped her arms around him.
“Just a broken nose and a stab wound. Nothing too bad.”
Darcy kissed him on the mouth. “I love you so much. I can’t believe it was Hugo and Cash who were trying to kill us!”
Wade watched as Aaron pulled an unconscious Hugo onto a flotation device the helicopter crew had tossed down. Coast Guard boats were speeding in so they’d load Hugo onto one of them. Wade looked up at the helicopter and sent them to Ryker’s boat to airlift Cash to a hospital. That is, if he wasn’t dead yet.
A minute later that crew was lowering the basket to the speedboat. “Gosh, I hope Cash doesn’t die on Ryker’s boat,” Wade told her as she started to laugh.
“He was still alive when I left.”
“Wade’s hottie,” Aaron called out as a Coast Guard boat approached. “Do you need a lift to the hospital to have that shoulder looked at? It probably needs stitches.”
“I’ll take her,” Wade called out as Aaron worked to hand off Hugo to the boat. “Just offering to help a brother out.”
“Aaron, this is Darcy. Darcy, Aaron.”
“Thanks for having Wade’s back,” Darcy called out as Aaron swam over to join them.
“Happy to help. He’s had my back more times than I can count. So, what were you doing out here?”
“Sightseeing,” Darcy said quickly.
“Date,” Wade added. “We were on a sightseeing date.”
Aaron looked all around. “With your family and a sheriff and a sheriff’s deputy?”
“We’re all very close,” Darcy said with a bright smile as they bobbed in the water.
Aaron shook his head clearly in disbelief. “Whatever floats your boat.”
“Aaron, you need a lift?”
“Yes, sir,” Aaron called out to the boat as they helped hoist him up. “Looking forward to seeing you on dry land.” Aaron winked at her and Darcy laughed again.
“Let’s get you to a hospital. We can get matching stitches,” Wade said.
“No. We can’t go. Not yet.”
“Why not?” Wade asked as he treaded water with her in his arms.
Darcy leaned forward and pressed her lips to his ear. “I found it.”
32
“It, it?” Wade asked as Darcy practically bounced with excitement.
“I think so. I have to see if it’s really the one.”
“Okay, then let’s do it.” Darcy thanked her lucky stars that Wade understood. “Kord, help us up.”
Wade hefted Darcy up so Kord could bend over, grab her by the arms, and haul her out of the water. When she was on deck, Kord gave Wade a hand up. “Nearest hospital?”
“Nope,” Wade told him. “Get us back to Ryker’s boat.”
“That was a badass water takedown,” Kord said as he drove the boat to join the others.
“We do learn water combat. Something I’m very happy I learned.”
Ridge reached out and grabbed the rope Wade tossed and tied them off to Ryker’s boat again. Ryker was using buckets of water to wash the blood from his deck.
“I’m getting a new boat,” he muttered.
“It’s not death cooties,” Wade pointed out.
“It’s close enough. Are you two okay?”
“I need to fix up Darcy’s shoulder,” Wade answered as they climbed onto Ryker’s boat.
“Here you go,” Harper said, handing over the first-aid kit.
Wade cleaned out her wound as the others all formed a circle of boats around them. They left a space for Granger who was dealing with the Coast Guard and actively pointing to Wade who just waved to them and went back to bandaging her wound.
“Yoo-hoo!”
Darcy looked up to see Suze and Clark Bell on a luxury yacht with Reverend Winston, Miss Winnie, and Miss Ruby.
“What happened?” Suze called out as they pulled their yacht into a spot next to Maggie and Gage’s speedboat. Granger and his police boat were out of luck now.
“Wade’s a badass,” Kord called out.
“I believe it was Darcy who shot that man with a flare gun,” Harper added as the two of them filled the new arrivals in on what went down.
“All set,” Wade whispered into her ear. “Now, how do we get rid of everyone?”
“We don’t. They’re all a part of this and deserve to be here if what I felt was really Black Law’s ship.” Darcy had hidden her research and her life’s work for twelve years. She was done hiding it. She was done being worried about failing. She had friends who would celebrate with her if it was there and get her drunk enough to forget if it wasn’t.
“Y’all, seriously? I had to deal with the Coasties, and you don’t save me a spot?” Granger pulled up behind Maggie and Gage who helped him tie off before he jumped onto their boat.
“You snooze you lose,” Miss Winnie called out. “Now, are we just gonna sit here? I did bring provisions. I have brownies, pies, and even put a couple of casseroles in Suze’s onboard oven to keep warm.”
Darcy held Wade’s hand as she leaned against him and smiled. This was where she was always meant to belong. “I think I might have found it. I felt it under my feet, but Wade and I need to go down to see if it’s actually something and not a rock.”
“Then get down there! You can’t leave us in suspense like this,” Ridge only half-joked as he hefted an oxygen tank and helped Darcy get it on.
“And take this!” Gage called out. He handed it to Maggie who handed it to Gator, who handed it to Trent, who handed it to Ryker, who handed it to Wade. “It’s a waterproof video camera with a light attached to goggles. Just in case it is what you’re looking for you will want to preserve the find.”
“That’s a great idea. And if I’m wrong, we can all watch it while I eat all the brownies by myself,” Darcy called out as she watched Wade turn on the camera and pull it onto his face.
“Dear Lord,” Reverend Winston began as everyone bowed their heads in prayer. “May you guide Darcy and Wade on their quest and keep them safe. And Lord, will you protect the brownies from Turtle’s munchies so Darcy may eat them in joyous celebration.”
“Amen,” everyone said as Darcy battled to keep the laughter from spilling out.
She pulled her mask down and jumped into the water. This time there were no nerves. There was no jumpiness or fear. Wade motioned for her to take the lead as she confidently dove straight to the site. She counted off the flags to the eighth row. Then she turned up the row and counted them off—one, two, three, four.
Darcy turned and found Wade holding her weighted belt, the metal detector, and her bag. They had all been dropped in her fight with Hugo. She gave him the thumbs-up signal and held out her arms. He handed her the bag and metal detector and clipped the weights around her waist to help with the proper weight for the best scuba dive.
Darcy held out her hand and Wade reached over to take it. He gave her an encouraging squeeze and then dropped his hand so she could turn on the metal detector. The current had smoothed over the divot she’d made with her feet, but she knew she was in the right spot. Taking a deep breath, she moved the metal detector over the spot she’d felt something under the sand.
She didn’t even need her submersible headphones to hear the detector going off. Her metal detector had gone crazy. Darcy tried to tell herself it could be a beer can. But she didn’t have a simple hobby wand. This was a professional, heavy duty, thousands of dollars type metal detector,
and she could tell from the tone of the pinging that it wasn’t aluminum under them.
She unhooked the detector from her arm and reached into her bag. She grabbed two tools to help dig. He motioned for her to lead and she did. She used her tool, which was a small shovel with blunt edges to prevent harming anything under the sand, to take away layer upon layer of dirt. As soon as Wade saw what she was doing, he took a spot a couple of feet away and began doing the same.
At first, her emotional high fell, and as the mountain of sand she was moving began to pile up, she thought she might have been mistaken all along. Darcy was beginning to seriously doubt herself when her tool hit something solid. She looked up to get Wade’s attention, but he was busy digging. She waved and caught his attention and he began to swim toward her.
Okay, Darcy. This is it.
She took a deep breath and began to carefully excavate the area. Finally, with her heart beating wildly, she dropped her tool and used her hands to brush off the sand. A cannon portal. That’s what triggered the metal detector. Darcy sat frozen as she stared at the side of the ship lying on the bed of the ocean. She’d found a ship exactly where Timothy Longworth had said it would be. She’d done it. She’d found Black Law’s ship!
She looked up as her heart pounded and her head floated with disbelief, joy, and excitement. Wade wrapped her in a hug and she gave in to the feelings. Finally, Wade pulled back, and she had to get into archaeology mode. She needed to flag the site so she’d know where everything was. Then she’d take the video evidence to court, claim the wreck, and begin to truly excavate it.
Wade gave her a thumbs-up and then swam away from her. Every twenty feet or so, he’d stop, dig hard and fast, then swim some more.
Darcy pulled out her bag, wrote on a flag, and planted it. She took a deep breath as she began to mentally map the ship. It was then that she noticed she couldn’t see Wade anymore. Darcy picked up her metal detector and bag before following the path she’d seen him take. Her detector went crazy again and she stopped at the first hole he’d dug. Another cannon portal. She marked a second flag and planted it. She looked around and still couldn’t see Wade.
Darcy began to worry as she swam after him. But then she saw another exposed portal. The archaeologist in her took control as she quickly tagged it again and then again when she found he’d dug another up.
Ahead the water darkened and she knew the depths were going to increase. Darcy swam forward nervously, wishing she could call out to him. She took a deep breath and told herself not to be scared as she went to dive deeper and froze. It wasn’t much deeper, maybe ten feet, and there at the bottom was Wade. And he was frantically shoveling. What? Wait. Darcy turned her head to see how far she’d swum. Around a hundred feet. Pirate ships during that time were one hundred to one hundred and twenty-five feet and around twenty to twenty-five feet wide. Which meant . . . Wade had found one of the ends of the ship.
Darcy dove down and felt her eyes fill with happy tears. The aft of the boat was partially exposed. The current had covered the rest of the ship but flowed over the aft instead of against it, leaving about half of the aft visible. She could see part of the captain’s quarters and the rudder. And where Wade was digging frantically into the sand under the rudder was where the cargo hold would be.
Wade looked up and motioned for her to join him. Darcy turned on the metal detector and heard a sound she never dreamed she’d hear. The pulse was different from the cannon. This time there were many different pulses indicating many different metals were beneath the sand.
She looked up at him and dropped the metal detector. Together they dug. She was using more oxygen that she should, but she couldn’t help it, but then they both stopped. Boards were missing. It’s why the ship had sunk. She and Wade looked at each other and with a nod, they used both hands and shoveled handfuls of sand away. A hole big enough for a teenage boy to swim through opened up. As Wade dug frantically, Darcy reached into her bag for a strong flashlight. She flipped it on and tapped Wade’s shoulder, then pointed to his camera. He held her left hand as they both leaned their faces into the small opening they had managed to dig out. At first, they couldn’t see anything, but then Darcy wedged the flashlight in.
Her breath caught. Trunks as far as she could see. They had tumbled down during the sinking and were lying on the side of the ship that now served as the bottom. There were so many trunks that they reached past her and she had to look up to see the rest of them.
Wade tapped her on her arm and asked for the flashlight. He slowly scanned the area and then pointed for her to go inside. Darcy couldn’t tell if time stopped or time sped up. But with her adrenaline pumping, they cleared a space large enough for her to fit through, but only if she took off her oxygen tank.
Wade removed his mask and handed it to her. Darcy gave him hers and once their new masks were secure she unhooked her tank. Wade held it for her and handed her a knife. In one hand, she held her knife, in the other, the flashlight. Darcy took several calming breaths and then exhaled fully before taking a deep breath, filling her lungs to capacity.
She looked once more at Wade, who gave her a nod of encouragement. Darcy turned toward the small opening and fit her arms through first. She had to maneuver her shoulders carefully and painfully through the opening as the old wood scraped against her wetsuit but finally, almost with a pop, she was through.
Darcy gave Wade a thumbs-up and slowly swam through the cargo hold. She counted all the trunks she could see and headed back to him. He pushed her mouthpiece through and she took some deep breaths as she held up her hands to indicate the number of trunks. Wade clapped in excitement and took back the oxygen as she dove back in.
Darcy headed for the nearest trunk and tried to open it. It still held tight, but she used the knife to hammer at the lock. It gave way and sank to the bottom of the boat. Darcy should go back for another breath, but she was too excited. She had to use both hands to push open the lid and then she just stared.
Darcy wedged the flashlight into her armpit and used one hand to hold open the trunk. The light showed across an entire chest filled with gold coins. Gold coins that matched the one coin Timothy had left with his note. Darcy heard a thumping noise and turned to see Wade’s arm sticking through the narrow hole with her bag in hand.
Darcy slowly let the lid close before grabbing the bag, taking a full breath of air, and heading back to the trunk. She pushed it open again and carefully counted out fifty coins. She placed them in her bag and then put one of her GPS chips with her personally marked flag inside the trunk. Darcy then made sure the lid to the trunk was securely closed. She had a claim to make.
Darcy swam back to the opening, took another breath as she handed the bag to Wade, and then crawled her way through the hole. Wade had worked on opening it some more and it wasn’t nearly as painful as getting in. He helped her put on the oxygen and then she reached into the bag and showed him a gold coin. He wrapped his arms around her and spun her in the water.
She pointed upward and they swam for the surface hand in hand. The second they surfaced, she screamed and flung her arms around him. They were well outside the ring of boats, but when she screamed with joy they heard the calls from their friends.
“You did it! That was unreal. Absolutely unreal!” Wade tossed his head back and howled with excitement.
“Did you find it?” they heard Harper yell.
“Ryker!” Darcy yelled as she laughed. Wade held her in his arms, and she was glad that he did. Otherwise, she might have floated off to cloud nine.
“Yes?”
“What time is it?” Darcy yelled back.
“Four, why?”
“Call Olivia and have her meet us at the United States District Courthouse with a petition to claim Black Law’s sunken ship and treasure!”
There were cheers from the boats as Wade kissed her hard and fast. “We have to get going. The courts close in thirty minutes.”
He and Darcy swam to the boats as they starte
d up. Their friends were still cheering as Darcy and Wade climbed aboard. She emptied out the bag and everyone gasped. She took pictures and emailed them to Olivia.
“Give me the camera,” Gage told her as he hopped from boat to boat. “I can upload it and email the relevant parts to your lawyer before we even get there and put the whole thing on a flash drive.”
“Yes, please.” Darcy handed him the camera and he hopped boats until his dad helped him back onto the yacht.
“Talk to Olivia,” Ryker said, shoving the phone at her as boats began to untie from each other.
“I found it!” Darcy yelled into the phone.
“What, when, where, and how?” Olivia asked.
Darcy rattled off the answers and even sent the GPS location of the chip inside the trunk.
“How fast can you get here?” Olivia was completely unfazed by the fact the largest treasure ever found had just been recovered by her client.
“How fast can we get to the courthouse?”
“Fast,” Ryker said as he took control of his boat. “And I’m driving!”
Ryker called out to Kord to stay put and guard the site until he got back. “Granger, how about calling in your buddies in Charleston and have them look the other way at a boat speeding through the harbor?”
“You’re seriously overestimating my pull,” Granger called back. I can try to give you a police escort, but I have a feeling you’ll be going faster than I can.”
“Damn right. Tell Olivia she’ll also need to make sure I’m not arrested.” Ryker looked at them as Darcy relayed the message and hung up. “Hold on.”
33
Ryker smiled, and Darcy grabbed the nearest seat as Wade pinned her in with an arm. Ryker shot off and there was no holding back. He went full throttle and shot across the water and waves at well over fifty knots. Darcy heard his laughter being ripped through the air as he pressed his boat to the brink. He covered the miles in minutes and didn’t slow down much as he raced through the harbor, weaving in and out of traffic. People were yelling at him, flicking him off, and cursing, but Ryker didn’t slow.
Sunken Shadows Page 22
