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“I’m with you on that.”
She cocked her head in a silent question.
Before she asked for more details, I pointed at the bolt. “Need help?”
She handed me the wrench. “Knock yourself out.”
Stunned at how heavy the tool was, I used both hands to wriggle it into position over the hex head bolt, and copying her stance, I put everything I had into undoing the bolt.
But it was no use. Conceding defeat, I stepped back.
“Told you.” She shrugged.
“What does it undo?”
She pointed at the crane arm. “We can’t move the crane arm without undoing that bolt. And with the arm not directly behind the boat, it could give us a bit of drag once we get the wreck to the surface and start to tow it.”
I ran my finger along the rust. “It hasn’t moved in a long time.”
“Nope.”
“So why is it important now?”
“Because we need to get this wreck back to shore ASAP, and you bastards want me to keep this salvage a secret.”
I leveled my gaze at her. “I’m not the enemy here, Indiana.”
She rolled her eyes, then turned her back on me and marched away.
“Indiana. Come on, I’m trying to have a conversation.”
She gave me the bird and continued walking.
I whacked the bolt with the wrench, and the clang reverberated up my arm so fiercely I nearly dropped it. I put the wrench aside and scanned the ocean for the shark. The dark shadow cruised along the side of the boat, low enough that its fin didn’t break the surface.
I shuddered. I’d met some killers in my life, even seen them commit murder. But the thought of that shark coming near me scared the fucking shit out of me.
A ray of light pierced the horizon, and I turned to the sunrise. The golden glow colored the patch of clouds it was pushing up into in slow motion, gradually turning them from gray to white to yellow.
The silence was unreal. No buzzing of electricity. Or machinery.
Not even a wave lapping at the sides of the boat. Or birds squawking overhead.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d heard anything like it.
Was this the calm before a storm?
Not a single boat was visible. Nor plane, or person.
Indiana wasn’t returning, so I headed for the hut. I needed coffee.
At the rear of the boat, Indiana carried a scuba tank. The woman was a machine.
I strode to her and started whistling as I approached.
She put the tank down next to a large machine and turned to me with her hands on her hips. “You don’t have to be a wise-ass, you know.”
“What? You told me to announce my approach.”
