Chapter 4 The Call of Time
Emotionally and physically spent, Desi flung her duffel bag over her shoulder and headed down the dock to Ocean’s Echo, Ethan and Camila on her heels.
The late afternoon sun pummeled her, heating her skin, even as the humid breeze cooled her still-wet hair.
They’d already parted ways with the two young men they’d taken out for a dive.
Two young men who’d told her they were advanced open water divers, but who, as it turned out, were anything but—an obvious fact after a few minutes in the water.
Which made her life more difficult as she had to keep a keen eye on them the entire time.
That was, when they weren’t flirting with her and inviting her to a party on their yacht that night.
There’s nothing she hated more than unfounded arrogance, unwarranted confidence, and rich, spoiled boys who’d never accomplished a thing in their lives.
For some reason, these were the types who always hit on her.
Either the rich, spoiled men who thought women should swoon at their feet, or men looking for a mommy to take care of them.
At this rate, she’d never get married. Not that marriage was something she longed for anyway. Not with any of the men she’d ever met.
“Meant to ask how your sister is?” Ethan eased beside her, his white teeth beaming in the sunlight and his muscular surfer good looks hard to resist.
Here was a man she could go for. But apparently, she wasn’t meant to hook up with a decent, honorable guy who was overloaded with testosterone.
Nope. She was most likely destined to be an old maid huddling in a rocking chair on the porch of a beach shack, reading one of those silly historical romances she enjoyed.
“Desi?” Ethan stared at her quizzically.
“Oh, sorry. She’s…she’s not doing well. She looks worse.”
Frowning, Ethan touched her arm, halting her. “I’m sorry.”
Camila came up behind them squealing like a love-sick pelican, bypassing them both and muttering, “He’s here.”
“I’ll keep praying.” Ethan nodded, giving her a look of concern and care.
Both of which she desperately needed right now.
Along with hope. Hope that she could honor her promise to her pops and also save her sister’s life.
She smiled at Ethan, wanting to tell him not to bother praying, but what could it hurt?
If he was kind enough to pray for Daria, then maybe, just maybe, God would listen to such a good man. If God even existed.
She started on her way, only then seeing the black Aston Martin parked before Ocean’s Echo. A man leaned against it, tall, lean with jet-black hair and wearing an expensive tailored suit.
Camila nearly skipped with joy toward him.
And Camila never skipped. The man’s perfect smile grew wider as she fell into his arms and gave him a peck on the lips.
When they parted, his expression tightened as he brushed salt and sand from his suit, but it instantly changed back to Prince Charming when he looked at her again.
“Desi, come meet Briar!” Camila shouted with excitement.
Ah, Briar, the new boyfriend she’d been babbling about for two weeks. Groaning inwardly, Desi attempted a smile. It had been a long day, and all she wanted was a hot meal, a hot bath, and to curl up with a good book.
Ethan halted beside her, sizing the guy up, not as a man would a competitor or an adversary but as a shrink might study a patient.
“Desi, this is my boyfriend, Briar. The one I told you about.”
Desi had never seen Camila so…so happy… excited? There was even a twinkle in her otherwise sharp brown eyes.
“Nice to meet you, Briar.” Desi extended her hand, and he gripped it, firm, like a man in control.
His dark eyes assessed her, cold and unreadable, and despite the warmth of the sun, a chill coursed through her.
Camila introduced Ethan, and Briar shifted his gaze to him, giving her a chance to study him up close—his tailored Brioni suit, custom Italian shoes, and slicked-back hair with not a strand out of place.
Sunlight glinted off his gold cufflinks, highlighting an engraving she could not make out.
Beneath them, a Rolex Submariner, probably more expensive than some homes, clung to his wrist.
Camila claimed he had money, but she hadn’t said he was rich, very rich. Unless it was all a facade?
“Briar is interested in history,” Camila said, “and he funds undersea expeditions. That’s how we met. At that Treasure Hunter’s Historical Society conference you sent me to earlier this year.”
Ah yes, the expensive one Camila threatened to quit over if Desi didn’t pay her to attend.
“So, you’re a treasure hunter, Briar?” Desi asked. “Do you dive?”
“On occasion, but mainly I allow others to dive for me. Which is what I wished to discuss with you and Camila.”
Camila winked at Desi as if they shared a grand secret, then looped her arm through Briar’s. “Let’s allow them to drop their gear and we can talk inside.”
Silvia greeted them all with a smile as they entered. “Oh my, I didn’t know you’d gone out on a dive, dear.” Her eyes flitted between Desi and Briar. “And with such a handsome man. Why are you not wet, Sir?”
Briar merely stared at the old woman as if she were an annoying gnat. Huffing, Camila drew him aside to show him one of the maps hanging on the wall, mumbling under her breath about a crazy old lady.
Desi hoped Silvia hadn’t heard because the poor woman seemed more confused than usual.
“Don’t you remember we took two young men out for a dive?
This man,” she thumbed over her shoulder at Briar, “is a friend of Camila’s.
” A flicker of embarrassment crossed Silvia’s eyes, so Desi changed the subject. “Any calls?”
“No, quiet as a church on Monday,” Silvia said, the lines around her eyes tightening. The woman had the kindest smile Desi had ever seen. Another reason she couldn’t let her go.
After tossing her equipment into the back room, Desi approached Briar and Camila, who were still studying the Bathymetric chart of the Bahamas. Ethan stood off to the side, watching them, as if protecting. Odd.
“Now, what can I do for you, Briar?” Desi asked.
He spun to face her. “Camila tells me you found an old wreck off the coast?”
She gave Camila a venomous look. She’d distinctly told her crew not to mention anything about what she’d seen until she could verify it.
“I don’t know that it was a wreck. All I saw was some odd formations among the coral. I’m sorry Camila has wasted your time.”
“Nonsense.” Briar raised Camila’s hand to his lips for a kiss.
“She could never waste my time.” He faced Desi, instantly sobering.
“Regardless, I will pay you a hefty sum to take my crew down to investigate. You see, I’m very interested in eighteenth-century history surrounding the Bahamas, and if this is a ship from that era, it would greatly aid my research. ”
“What research is that?” Desi cocked her head, her gut telling her something was not quite right.
“My own curiosity. However, I do plan on presenting my findings to the professor at Harvard, a personal friend of mine.”
Desi shared a glance with Ethan, who shook his head at her as if to say, Don’t do it!
“How does three thousand sound for one dive?” Briar said, drawing her gaze back. “And if my crew finds something, I’ll double that for each subsequent dive.”
How did that sound? It sounded like more money than she’d see in months of hard work. Not to mention funds that would go a long way toward helping her sister.
“Of course, we’ll take your business.” Camila laughed nervously as if the alternative was unfathomable before she speared Desi with a hard gaze. “Won’t we, Desi?”
We? Camila always conveniently forgot she was only an employee.
What to do? Everything in Desi told her this man was bad news. But she desperately needed the money. “I suppose one dive wouldn’t hurt, just to see what’s down there.”
Especially since she intended to visit the site again anyway.
Briar’s grin was brilliant. He extended his hand toward her to seal the deal. That’s when she saw the odd engraving on his ring—a red cross, swords and words that looked like Latin. She took his hand and shook it, and once again a shiver filtered through her.
Exhausted, Desi plopped onto her bed and leaned back against the headboard with a heavy sigh.
Thank goodness, Briar had a business meeting and left right after they made plans for a dive next week.
Camila walked him out, casting a smile over her shoulder while hanging on the man as if he were a royal prince.
Ethan raised both brows and shook his head. “Something’s off with that guy. I don’t trust him.”
Desi agreed, but what choice did she have? She didn’t have to like her clients to take their money.
After everyone left, she closed up shop, ordered some take-out, and took a hot bath, trying her best to put the day behind her. Leaping on her bed, she drew her knees to her chest and gazed over the moonlit waters of the marina, sparkling like diamonds strung across rolling ink.
She had to go down there again…to the site of that wreck before she allowed Briar’s men to muddy it up.
She had to find out if it was the ship her Pops told her about, the story that had intrigued her from childhood, the first recorded ship to have disappeared mysteriously in the Bermuda Triangle, a privateer called the Sentinel.
Such a find would put Ocean’s Echo on the map. Business would boom.
Then maybe she wouldn’t need Briar’s money.
“You’ll find all you need upon that ship, my little urchin,” her pops had said. “All you’ve ever desired…an eternal story that echoes across the ages and will change your life.” He eased a boney, veined hand over hers. “It will call to you as it did me. But it was not meant for me.”
Pops always spoke in mysterious riddles. He filled her childhood with tales of lost fleets, ancient relics, and love stories torn apart by time.
Nothing but the incoherent mutterings of an old man.