Tesoro (The Lombardi Brothers #1)

Chapter One

(Sabrina)

Sabrina grinned up at the sky as wind whipped through her long copper-red curls, and ocean spray splashed in the air. Her hazel brown eyes monitored the horizon line for any sign of life as The Dauntless cut through the warm coastal waters of southern Maine.

The sun shone down on the retrofitted search and rescue vessel, and its meager but determined crew. They wore bright red search and rescue style jackets. Emblazoned across the back were the words Maine Marine Rescue.

Sabrina Hamilton wore hers proudly. Her jacket was old, well loved, and beginning to fade. She had been part of rescue missions for over twenty years; since her parents had started the non-profit.

She walked towards the front of the vessel and breathed in the rushing, salty ocean air. It filled her lungs and settled something wild and restless within her.

As they neared their intended coordinates, Sabrina spotted an unnatural, neon-green tinge in the water ahead and signaled Uncle Walter at the helm of the boat.

While not related by blood, Sabrina couldn’t remember a time in her life that she hadn’t known Walter.

He had a large build with wide shoulders and seemed to live in the same pair of Carhartt coveralls and grey, scuffed duck boots year-round.

He worked on a lobster boat most of the day, and when he wasn’t on a boat, he seemed to be in the woods or at the rescue.

Walter steered the boat confidently as they crept along with the current, slowly approaching what looked to be hundreds of yards of neon-green netting. Tangled in the ghost gear were large patches of trash and floating marine debris.

Sabrina searched the line of netting for any sign of marine life, as Travis, an old friend from high school, joined her at the helm with a pair of binoculars.

“Do you see anything?” She asked.

“Nothing moving.” He muttered grimly. He handed Sabrina the binoculars, and she took another step forward, stepping up towards the railing to get a better view.

It was a precarious move. Sabrina was cognizant of Travis’s hand grabbing the back of her jacket and holding her in place to prevent her from falling over the front of the boat.

Sabrina suddenly gasped and let out a triumphant whoop. “Walter! Movement half a klick to the east!”

Travis kept his hold on Sabrina’s jacket as they neared the cause of their response. Sabrina refocused the binoculars as they drew closer and gave another gasp. “Shit.” She muttered.

“What do you see?” Walter yelled over the engine of the boat.

“It’s a shark!” Sabrina yelled back, her eyes wide on the visual in front of her. “It’s trapped, but it’s alive!”

“Well then, let’s get it out!” Walter groused, as they carefully maneuvered their way alongside the large great white held captive in someone’s abandoned ghost net.

Walter was careful to keep their own vessel from becoming entangled with the netting.

“Holy shit.” Travis exclaimed.

“Can you get the line cutters?” Sabrina asked him.

“If you could kindly put your feet back on the deck, I’d be happy to.” He immediately answered.

Sabrina gave an amused huff and stepped down to safer footing, and Travis left for the equipment cabinet off the small galley below.

Sabrina glowed with quiet purpose as she turned back to the sight of the captive shark. She let out a slow exhale.

Its teeth were sharp where they were visible, and its eyes were fierce and laser-focused on Sabrina.

“It’s okay, honey.” She soothed, her voice as sweet and cajoling as it could be; as if she were speaking to a toddler that wasn’t capable of consuming her in seconds.

“You did nothing wrong.” She continued. “You got stuck in something that shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Somebody mean and thoughtless left this here. But we’ll get you out as soon as we can, and you can catch up to your friends.”

In response, the shark gave another flip in the netting, looking painfully constricted by the nylon cords, as its body remained stuck on its side. Sabrina nodded sympathetically. “I know it’s frustrating. We’ll get you out soon, I promise.”

Walter cut the engine of the boat and dropped anchor, then joined Sabrina at the side of the search and rescue vessel. “You realize you’re speaking to an apex predator, right?” Walter grumbled. “Not to be confused with a teddy bear or stuffed rabbit.”

“Don’t you listen to the grumpy fisherman.” Sabrina cooed at the shark in response. “You’re going to be just fine.”

Travis joined them with a pair of long reach line cutters and looked at the shark hesitantly.

Sabrina held her hand out. “Thank you, Travis.”

“Uh, sure.” He answered, handing the other set to Walter. “I’ll, uh, watch from here. Just let me know if you need anything else.”

Walter grunted. “Go suit up; we’re going to need you in the water.” His voice was low and gruff from decades of cigarettes and shouting over machinery.

“You want me in the water? With a shark?” Travis replied incredulously.

“His name is Charles.” Sabrina interjected as she cut through the surface net closest to the shark, revealing lengths of netting that were twisted so tight into the gills of the shark it was restricting oxygen.

“My bad, you want me to jump into the water with sweet, docile Charles?” Travis piqued a brow.

Walter gave a sardonic grin as he nodded casually. “You don’t feel like swimming with Charles?” He reached his pole out towards the great white, carefully sawing back and forth at netting around its eyes and nose, with a shielded blade.

“That would be absolutely correct.” Travis responded. “I can confirm I would rather walk naked through the naval shipyard than swim with a shark.”

“We’ll need the safety clippers on the other extension poles.” Sabrina muttered. “They look like these but with a protective hook across the top; it’ll protect this guy from our blades once he’s able to move more.” Sabrina spoke calmly, as the blades of their clippers slowly made progress.

Travis returned a minute later with more tools and pulled out his phone to record.

“What are you doing with your phone out at a time like this?” Walter grumbled.

“Filming for your socials.” Travis answered, zooming in on a shot of the shark’s head caught in the ghost net. “You need more donors. The more we post about what you do, the more people will see this is important, and the more people will donate.”

“Fine, but keep my face out of it.” Walter grunted, cutting through a particularly tricky bit of marine debris. He gave a curse as the shark flipped over, trying to escape the net already.

“Thank you for filming, Travis.” Sabrina answered, her gaze glued on the Great White before them, and the proximity of her blade to their new friend.

“Without donations, we have no way of responding to calls like these; If we didn’t have the funding to come out, this guy would starve to death before something stronger came along and ate it.

More often than not, these nets are full of fish with no way out; but today's response call could have just as likely been a seal or a dolphin; something far more defenseless than Charles, here.”

“Why the name Charles?” Travis asked, his tone amused.

“Well, he can’t help it, but his mouth’s a little messed up, like King Charles the Second.”

“The guy with the Hapsburg chin!” Travis grinned.

Walter turned to Sabrina, shaking his head. “Is this nerd stuff?” He asked.

Sabrina gave a laugh, then made a cajoling sound when the shark thrashed again.

“Well, when you put it like that...” She trailed off with a slight grunting sound as she cut through another layer of netting.

Sabrina turned to look back at Travis, who was still recording. The wind whipped at tendrils of wild copper escaping her ponytail, as her eyes sparkled and amusement spread across her freckled face.

“We’re out here in the middle of the ocean, rescuing a great white shark on a Tuesday, wearing cool ass jackets. Not bad for a couple of nerds.”