Hand shaking from adrenaline, she picked up the microphone, and keyed it. “Sam . . . Are you there . . . ?” The several seconds of following silence were punctuated by the sound of her pulse pounding in her ears. “Sam . . . ? Come in . . . please.”
Adrian grabbed the microphone from her. A few more seconds passed by. “Why isn’t he answering?”
“I don’t know. Let me try again.”
“I’m done with the niceties.” He keyed the mic. “Fargo? I have your wife. If you don’t make an appearance in the next five minutes, I’ll kill her and everyone on board the Odysseus, too.” He tossed the microphone onto the radio, grabbed her by the shoulder, and pushed her out of the cabin. “You had better hope he comes to his senses.”
With Adrian close behind her, Remi crossed the deck toward Dimitris. Although the late-afternoon sun lit up the crystal clear depths several meters down, the sea was too deep to see where Sam and Nikos had been diving.
“Something’s wrong,” Ilya said. “They should be back by now.”
Adrian moved next to Remi. He peered over the railing, then turned toward Ilya. “What should we do?”
Ilya’s dead gaze landed on Remi. “We wait.”
The Asteri rocked gently as Remi leaned over the side, her focus on the turquoise water, seeing nothing but the sun reflecting off the surface. She knew her husband, knew he would survive. Even so, she worried. Both Ilya and Fayez stood ready to shoot the moment Sam and Nikos surfaced.
Five minutes went by.
They should have been up by now.
Adrian gripped her arm. “Where is he?”
Remi glanced at Dimitris. His expression mirrored her own.
“Look!” Dimitris pointed to a froth of air bubbles.
Someone was breathing down there.
A moment later, two dark forms started to take shape, rising to the surface.
Ilya and Fayez aimed their weapons.
Adrian grabbed Remi’s arm. “No!” she shouted, struggling to pull away.
The divers broke the surface and the men fired. Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
Her heart jumped with each shot.
“Enough!” Adrian said.
The two divers floated facedown, Sam’s tank bobbing above on the left, and Nikos’s, with the Fourni logo, on the right.
Remi’s gut twisted, her knees going weak as she stared at the two dead men.
Neither was Sam or Nikos.
Dimitris stared in shock, his gaze moving from the bodies to Remi, undoubtedly realizing the same thing. They’d switched out the tanks. Drawing her gaze from the water, she threw herself against Dimitris, burying her head into his shoulder, trying to appear the grieving wife—until Ilya said, “We can’t leave the bodies there. Evidence.”
“Fish them out,” Adrian said.
That was the last thing they needed. Remi pushed away from Dimitris, facing Adrian. “Aren’t you even the least bit curious about what—if anything—we found down there? Poseidon’s Trident. That’s what you were looking for when you killed Tassos, wasn’t it?”
“Did you really think that’s why I’m here?” Adrian studied her a moment, his brows rising. “I came back for one reason. I want nothing more than to see your husband decaying at the bottom of the sea, and for you to suffer for it.”
Apparently, she and Sam had totally miscalculated Adrian’s lust for that treasure.
Somehow, she was going to have to rekindle it. “The gold was never on the island. The pirates who helped steal it were double-crossed by Pactyes.”