Page 74 of Thawed Gladiator: Varro

The divers descend into the murky depths, and we’re left to wait.

“Is it just me? Does it feel as though they’ve been down there for hours?” Laura asks impatiently.

“No,Dulcis.”

“What if we find bodies? That will be horrible.” She shivers with disgust. “What if there’s nothing left to find?” She wraps her arms around herself, and I step closer to embrace her from behind.

At the risk of sounding heartless, I murmur in her ear. “They crashed half a year ago and are most certainly dead, my love. I suggest you close your eyes and let these men do their jobs… to give the families peace.”

“Yes. Good idea. I have the picture of Merrivale and his men in my mind already. I don’t need more gruesome images cluttering my thoughts.”

I watch what Laura said were closed circuit cameras attached to the divers’ helmets and see what they see as they approach the wreckage. The moment the first body appears, partially eaten by fish, I turn Laura in my arms, press her head to my chest, and soothe her, my hand roving up and down her back.

“We’ll inform the Coast Guard,” Laura shouts to the captain, her head still tucked next to me. “They can retrieve the… bodies.”

Poor woman, this is so hard on her. It actually warms my heart that she’s led a sheltered, easy life and isn’t used to sights such as this.

“You did the right thing,” I tell her softly. “Their families will have closure now.”

She nods, blinking back tears. “I know. It’s just… I cursed Garrison and the crew a thousand times for escaping the island and abandoning me there. They didn’t escape, though…”

I still hate them for leaving her alone on the island, but I’ll never say that to Laura.

As we prepare to return to shore, Laura announces, “There’s something else we need to retrieve. Gold coins the helicopter was carrying. They should be in sealed blue plastic storage bins or might be scattered on the ocean floor. There were seven bins. They were in the back of the helicopter. Careful, they’re heavy.”

The team exchanges glances, but to their credit, they don’t ask questions. It seems they have more integrity than Garrison’s crew. They simply nod and get back to work. They find the bins, intact, but they are far too heavy to retrieve. The bins are opened and the bags brought to the surface.

Thankfully the helicopter is resting on its side at seventy-five feet deep, so no pausing for decompression. Still, it takes hours for them to recover the coins. We both watched like hawks to ensure no coins were slipped into wet suits or buried in the seafloor for later retrieval.

The bins are brought to the surface, everything is dried, then the bags of coins are returned to the containers and locked.

“We need your discretion on this,” Laura tells them as the last lid is secured. “Just for a little while. Can we count on you?”

The captain looks at his team and they all nod solemnly. “You have our word. But you should know, in this business, nothing stays secret for long.”

Laura sighs. “I know. We just need a head start.”

“I need some way to get these crates off your boat and to a storage facility I’ve rented close to the docks.”

The captain pulls out his phone and begins to text. Less than a minute later his phone makes a ping sound. He reads the text. “I have a friend with a truck and motorized lift. He is available now and will do it, no questions asked, for five hundred American dollars. Would that work for you?”

Laura gazes at the captain as he looks back at her with a steady gaze.

“I’m trusting you with a lot here, Captain. I’ve been betrayed once, I don’t want to make the same mistake again.”

The captain continues with his calm, steady gaze and takes a moment to gather his thoughts.

“Laura, trust has to work both ways. I have to trust that your big friend here won’t turn around and kill us all to protect your gold and your secret.”

Laura nods and looks at me. I tell her in Latin, “My gut says to trust them, Laura. We’ve come this far. We either have to trust them or report the gold to the authorities immediately.”

“You’re right, my love. Thank you.”

Switching back to English Laura immediately agrees and gives the name of the facility, the storage locker number and code for the lock. The captain completes the text.

On the way back to shore, Laura tells the crew the whole story, minus the part of finding me in a block of ice. I was living on the island with amnesia after my boat crashed on the shore from a storm. In exchange for their silence, she promises each of them two million dollars as she gets the payout from the gold.

By the time she’s finished the story we’re back at the dock and there’s a truck waiting there.

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