Oscar liked that idea. Not getting shot yet meant a chance to figure out an escape, so he tried not to look too enthusiastic.
“They’re not going to go anywhere with these.” Rob reached into one of the plastic tubs and produced a handful of zip ties. “Storm’s a couple hours away. We’ll have time to do a little diving before then—and this time, it won’t matter if they see us walking to and from the beach.” He gave Oscar and Teddy a cold smile.
“What are you diving for?” Teddy asked as Rob maneuvered over toward them.
“Buried treasure,” Misty said with a laugh. She kept the gun trained on Oscar as her partner zip-tied Teddy’s ankles then wrists together. And then she transferred her aim to Teddy when it was Oscar’s turn.
The plastic bit into Oscar’s wrists as Rob yanked the thick strip tight, restraining them behind his back. When Rob shoved him roughly to the floor, Oscar’s head bounced off one of the plastic tubs and he landed awkwardly, twisting one of his wrists. The zip ties on his ankles were just as tight.
“Buried treasure? Like what—a shipwreck?” Teddy, of course, had to ask the question.
Even though Oscar’s mind was filled with options for escape, he appreciated the fact that the more they knew about who these people were and what they wanted, the more it could help he and Teddy know what they faced. And potentially assist with an escape.
Still, he wasn’t all that optimistic at the moment. Especially since he thought he might have just sprained his wrist.
“The granddaddy of all Great Lakes shipwrecks, in fact,” Misty said as she stripped off her shorts and shirt to reveal a swimsuit. She pulled a wetsuit out of one of the tubs and began to shimmy into it, all the while talking. “Everyone else thought theCatherinewent down closer to Chicago, but we were the ones who really found her.”
When Rob tried to hush her up, she turned on him. “Who the hell are they going to tell? We already know where she is. We’ve already got plenty of the cargo up—and there’s more to come. No one can stop us now.”
Oscar felt Teddy bristling next to him, and he almost smiled. But his wrist was screaming with pain, and his head pounded from where he’d hit the edge of a plastic tub. Those things were harder than they looked.
“You’re talking about theCatherine Teal?” Teddy asked.“The ship that went down in the late 1890s.”
“That’s right,” Misty said.
By now, their captors had donned diving gear. Rob helped Misty hoist the heavy oxygen tank onto her back, then, with face mask in one hand and gun in the other, he tucked a pair of flippers under his arm. Giving Oscar and Teddy a salute, he said, “See ya in a bit. Enjoy.”
And with that, Rob closed the door, leaving them in darkness.
Eighteen
“Oscar,”Teddy said the moment the door was closed. “Are you all right? You took a hell of a fall.”
“My wrist is pretty effed up, but other than that, I’m fine.”
“Okay, good. Just give me a minute.”
In the pitch dark, Oscar couldn’t see what she was doing, but he could hear what sounded like a sharp slap, followed by a soft grunt of pain. “Damn,” she whispered. “That freakinghurt.”
“What are you doing?”
But she didn’t reply, and he heard the same sound again—a swish through the air, then a slap—sharper, harder, and more violent. But this time, there was another sound, too, a faint little snap. She gave a cry of pain, followed by a gush of, “Oh, thankGod.”
“What the hell are you doing? Teddy? Are you all right?”
“Just give me a sec,” she said, her voice tense. “That hurtsobad. I’ve got to get my ankles free, then I can help you…”
“What?” He heard more moving around, and by now realized she’d somehow freed herself from the zip ties. “How did you do that?”
“Do you know where the flashlight is?”
“I slipped it into my pocket. Right side, upper… Yes. There.” Her hand digging around next to his thigh made him think of other, more pleasant things than being zip-tied and left in the dark, or shot, or otherwise killed, and that renewed his anger and determination not to let those assholes take Teddy from him.
Suddenly, the flashlight was on. “Oh my God, Oscar, you must be inagony. Your wrist is purple and so swollen. The plastic is cutting into your skin.” She sounded like she was going to cry.
“I’m aware of that,” he said, gritting his teeth as her movements trying to free him made the pain even worse. “How the hell did you get yourself free?”
“Hold on,” she said. “There’s probably something in here I can use to cut you loose. You won’t be able to do what I did without really hurting yourself—”
