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Tyler squeezed my hand, tugging me toward him. He pointed at the needle on his metal detector which had spiked. Giving him the thumbs-up signal, we both lowered to our knees, careful not to stir the sediment, and set our metal detectors aside.
Tyler’s expression was priceless, and I hated that I’d ruined his first treasure hunt with my stupid fury at Kane. With our shoulders together, I dug my gloved fingers into the soft grains. Tyler copied me, and we gently scooped away handfuls of sand.
My fingers brushed over something hard in the sand, and Tyler released a burst of bubbles with his cheer, confirming he must have felt it, too. After a few more scoops, a straight edge appeared in the sand that could only be manmade.
Riding a rush of excitement, we dug faster.
Tyler pushed down to dig deeper, and his hands fell into a hole right up to his elbows. Crying out, he pulled his arms free, and his crimson blood clouded the water around his hand. I reached for his arm, but he waved me away, signaling that he was okay.
He shone his light into the hole he’d created, and my breath hitched.
His light shimmered off hundreds of pieces of broken bottles.
We removed what was left of a wooden crate to reveal a jumble of broken shards and debris that were the remnants of what had once been the precious cargo of the Siren's Lure. My hopes of finding the cases of 1953 Penfolds Grange Shiraz disintegrated like the pieces of wooden crate we tried to pull away.
All these years I’d dreamed of finding this precious cargo, and as Tyler continued to lift out broken bottles from the pit in the sand, I sagged with a blanket of frustration.
Tyler’s muffled cheer broke through my disappointment when he pulled a complete bottle from the pile of shattered glass. The brown glass shimmered in our flashlights as he turned it over. He thumbed away the algae clinging to the bottle, and unfortunately, every word on the faded label was gone.
As my disappointment took hold, Tyler held the bottle like it was a hard-fought trophy.
He was right. The bottle may not be in pristine condition, but it didn’t take away the fact that it had survived a shipwreck, and we’d found it nearly eighty years after it was lost.
This find was truly significant, and I wished Dad was here to see this.
As Tyler cradled the bottle to his chest, I shone my light into the crate again. There’s another one. I reached in and pulled out the second bottle.
Kane settled beside us, and the surprise on his face was unmissable.
As Tyler and I nursed our precious relics, Kane searched the crumbling crate for another intact bottle.
Tyler’s eyes shone with his excitement, and my chest swelled as I tried to implant every second of this special moment into my memory. Once Kane finished his exploration, which, unfortunately, came up empty, we began our ascent to the surface.
Breaking through to fresh air, we climbed aboard Devil’s Fortune. Tyler and I carried a bottle each to Kane’s undercover area where he had plastic containers set up just in case we found anything. We gently placed the bottles into the container and topped them up with seawater to help their preservation.
With the bottles safely secured, we all stood back.
“I have to give it to you, Indiana. I didn’t think you’d find anything down there.” Kane nodded at me. “Well done.”
I blinked at him. His expression was a mix of disbelief and what looked like begrudging respect.
I glared at Kane. “Is this where you take the priceless artifact from me, just like you did all those years ago?”
CHAPTER 32
Indiana
Kane released an evil laugh. “You’re never going to forgive me for that, are you?”
“Forgive you? Why should I?”
He heaved a sigh. “As I’ve told you before, I’m sorry for doing that. I shouldn’t have taken that urn from you, and I regret that decision like you will never believe. I was young and stupid and blinded by that treasure. But it ruined what you and I had. And that wasn’t worth the price I got for that piece of junk.”
My jaw dropped, and I had absolutely no comeback.
“Indiana, I don’t want your forgiveness, but I hope that you will forget what I did to you ten years ago. You are a much better treasure hunter than I will ever be, and you deserve every success.”
“Oh.” I still couldn’t formulate a reply.
