Page 111 of Sovereign Oaths

One evil swapped for another.

But it was no longer my problem.

I looked through drawers but couldn’t find the utensils. “Cruz? Do you know where the forks are?”

He’d spent the most time acting as a crewmember and was the most familiar with the layout.

“Hold on for a sec.” Marco waved me to the stairs that led down to the bedrooms.

I followed him and froze when we got to the first cabin. “What’s all this?”

Scuba gear was spread out in piles. I quickly counted five of everything.

He put his finger to his lips and took my hand. “Why don’t you change out of those clothes before dinner?”

What the hell was going on? I narrowed my eyes, understanding he wasn’t speaking about what we were looking at for a reason but not knowing what it was.

He pointed to a wet suit and then to me and mouthed one word, “Change.”

Derek stepped into the room, squeezing my shoulder before grabbing a different black wetsuit and taking off his shirt. We were going scuba diving? At night?

We were all certified. It was a prerequisite for this job since we didn’t know if Dias might be using his yachts to move products. Rod wanted us to be able to access them.

Marco widened his eyes and pulled his shirt over his head, so I did the same. Stripping down naked, as they did, before stepping into the wet suit he handed me. I hated putting them on. It was a workout, but I didn’t seem to have a choice.

Javi and Cruz appeared once I was zipped up, and they began to change. Derek directed me through the rest of the equipment, handing me flippers and goggles before motioning with his finger for me to turn around. He helped me slide the vest with the tank attached over my shoulders and buckle myself in.

He got his on, then took my hand, leading us up to the cabin.

I gasped and tugged for him to stop when I took in the scene. Five corpses were spread around the seats. Five dead bodies that looked eerily like each of us.

What the actual fuck was going on?

He pulled me forward until we were on the back deck.

“What––”

He covered my mouth with his hand, shaking his head.

“Excuse me?” I spoke against his palm.

He tugged me to the back railing where the sound of the motor and water were the loudest before leaning in and whispering, “Just trust us.”

I looked around. We were outside of the harbor, heading into the open ocean.

Marco found us and gave Derek a thumbs-up before looking at me. His eyes begged me to do what Derek asked.

Trust them.

Sure. Because going for a random dive while corpses were hanging out sounded like a great idea to me. I’d rather be in the water than staring at the creepy look-alikes.

Javi and Cruz walked out next, and Derek bent over to pull on his flippers. The others did the same, so I followed their lead and slipped my feet in before tightening the straps. I spit into my goggles and wiped the lenses before pulling them over my hair and resting them on my forehead.

Marco reached back and turned on my tank, then gave me a thumbs-up. Derek tapped my arm and led me to the half door that opened to the swim platform. He gave me one nod, then marched forward and jumped into the water as the boat cut through the water.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned enough to see Cruz waving for me to go next.

Trust them.

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