Katie nodded, frowning. The three men appeared, coming from the cabin. “New tanks, all of us, and two blowers…if it’s heavy, we’re probably going to need some kind of winch and tackle,” David said.
“I think we should go for it now,” Sean said. “This could be the find of the century. All right, the Atocha was probably the find of the century. But…no. We go for it now. We can set up a winch. We’re talking fifty feet down. I have enough rope to set up a winch. Katie may not be able to handle it alone…. Four of us will go down and set it—and someone will come back.”
“We’ll take the blower first?” David asked.
Sean grinned. “Yeah—we’ll make sure we do have something,” he said. “But we do. I know we do. The pendant Vanessa found was real—it belonged to Dona Isabella. Jaden said it’s a beautiful piece. I don’t know exactly what we’ve got—or what Vanessa has. Rule of thumb is twenty-five percent to the state, but every find is subject to maritime law, and we are in Florida waters. Let’s go down—” He paused. “Vanessa? You good for a second dive?”
“Of course.”
Sean secured his portable blowers and checked that they were clean and ready for use, murmuring that it had been a long time since he’d had them out.
Within minutes, they were diving in, one by one, David and Sean carrying the handheld blowers, which looked like vacuum cleaners. Sean had a keen sense of direction and led the way, never glancing at his compass. When they reached the object, David and Jay ran their hands over it.
Sean motioned Jay and Vanessa out of the way and he and David went to work on opposite sides of the object. Little by little, they began to create wedges.
Sand flew in a fury.
Then both turned the blowers off and waited. Sand settled.
And there it was. It still needed a great deal of digging to come free, but it was evident that they had indeed made a discovery.
It was a chest. A pirate’s chest.
A treasure chest.
8
David wound up working with Katie on deck. Vanessa helped, but Jay and Sean seemed to have a system for rigging the rope around the chest, and she hovered within easy call if they beckoned for her assistance. Eventually, the sand was dug out enough; rope was gotten around the chest, and Sean tugged on the rope, letting David know it was time to work the winch.
They guided the chest as it began a slow and careful ascent to the surface.
When they breached the water, there were several hectic moments as they moved as quickly as they could to board the boat, shed their gear and guide the heavy chest aboard, as well.
When they were finished, they all collapsed on the deck. Jay began to laugh; it was contagious. Then there were high fives all around, and David went down and broke out the beer.
“Not to ruin this party, but we still don’t know what we have,” Katie pointed out.
“True,” Sean said. He ruffled his sister’s hair. “It’s treasure. Come on, be a ray of sunshine, huh?”
“I’m not so sure I like treasure,” Katie said, frowning. “Well, it’s Vanessa’s treasure.”
Vanessa shook her head. “It’s a group treasure, whatever it is!” she said.
“You found it,” Katie reminded her.
Sean had gone to the chest. The old, encrusted lock that held it closed was firmly in place. It seemed to be sealed as tightly as if the long-ago owners had welded it shut.
“We can break the lock, but I don’t think that’s going to help. The damned thing is heavy as hell—and it looks like they might have welded it or something. They wanted it to be sealed, watertight,” he said.
“We can take it to Jaden and Ted. They’ll know the best thing to do,” David said.
“They’ll know, yes,” Katie said. “And we should be getting back in. We’re going to lose the sun any minute. And I have to go to work.”
Sean smiled. “Are you afraid of the dark, Katie? You never were. Work! You work all the time. You can be a little late. This is a treasure chest.”
“Yes. I know it’s a chest. I’m so excited. But we’re not going to open it here,” Katie said.
Vanessa realized that she, too, wanted to be back onshore. There was something about the trunk that suddenly made her feel uncomfortable. It was wet, dark with age, still covered in sand, but the lock, encrusted, seemed somehow ominous. She felt ridiculously superstitious. Someone had locked the trunk carefully. They had sealed it.
For a reason.
What the hell was in it?
Yes, it did look like it belonged in a Robert Louis Stevenson novel. Or in Mel Fisher’s museum. It was dome-topped and handsome, even in its current state. Maybe it was just the way Katie was acting.
Vanessa wished that she had never found it.
The strangest thing was that she wasn’t certain she felt the same way as Katie. Katie seemed scared. Vanessa wasn’t certain that she was scared. Yes, yes, she was scared. The chest was…
An instrument…of something else?
Ridiculous. None of them even knew what was in it.