The three shook their heads as Maddy came downstairs. She waved at the three men and joined us. Tiago patted her on the shoulder and gave her a fatherly smile. “How’s Croatia?” he asked.
She shrugged. “So far, so good.”
I left the four of them to catch up and pulled my phone out to call Javi. It was early afternoon here and would still be morning there, but I had a feeling he’d be awake. My guess was confirmed when he answered on the second ring. “This is Javi.”
“It’s Nico. How did things go last night?”
Javi laughed. “Man, we had those guys confused as fuck. They were sure you were in my van. I led them almost two hours away before I finally stopped at a gas station to fill up. They pulled up beside me, and I flipped them off. Once they saw I was the one driving, they slammed the gas and headed back the way they’d come. You guys were probably already in the air by the time they got within twenty miles of the airport.” His voice dropped and became serious. “Nico, they’re gonna be pissed. This is the second time we’ve done this to them. I mean, it’s their fault for not learning their lesson, but they are gonna be itching for blood. Be careful out there.”
“Gotcha. We’ll keep our heads on a swivel. You and yours stay safe.”
“Make sure you make it back. You hear me?”
“You got it. Talk to you later.”
Turning back to my friends, I saw Felipe had already unfolded a map of Croatia. He had my tablet in the other hand and was circling the general location of the underwater cave. He put his finger on it. “This is where we need to go. I’m not sure what the coastline was like back then, but everything I’ve looked at says the opening is at least a hundred yards off the beach. It’ll be a helluva dive. We’ll need scuba gear and a boat.”
Looking at Sebastian, I asked, “How’s your Croatian?”
“Dude, I can’t even order a Big Mac over here.”
I chuckled. “Okay. I’m sure there are plenty of places that do speak English. We’re still in Europe. We need to work on finding scuba and boat rentals. I want to pick them up early.”
It took a couple of hours and a lot of searching on the internet, but eventually, we found a company that would rent us equipment without being certified. None of us had the certification, but living so close to the ocean, Felipe, Sebastian, and I had all learned the ins and outs. We knew enough to show Tiago and Maddy. We weren’t diving deep, but we were going into a cave system. I didn’t mention it, but the look in Felipe’s eyes reminded me how dangerous that was. More scuba divers died while diving in caves than in any other way. We’d have to be very careful. I didn’t want us to drown. That would be a ridiculous end to such a dramatic journey.
“Okay,” Felipe said. “I’ve got a boat rented. We can pick it up at seven tomorrow morning.”
“Great. I’ll message the diving place and let them know we’ll be there to pick up the stuff on the way there,” I said.
“Cool. I’m gonna make dinner,” Sebastian said, heading to the kitchen. “We bought frozen pizzas. Is everyone good with that?”
“Not us,” I said. “Maddy and I are going out.”
Maddy blinked. “We are?”
“We are. I didn’t fly all the way to Croatia to eat a frozen pizza. I’m gonna take my girl on a date.”
“Well, okay then,” Felipe said. “Don’t mind us. We’ll have a little sausage party here while you’re gone.”
“Gross.” Sebastian winced.
“Come on,” I said, holding my hand out to Maddy.
She stood and put her hand into mine. “Where are we going?”
“I had to do something on that long-ass flight. I did a little research. It’s all set up. Let’s go.”
Maddy grinned and waved to the guys as we headed out the door. Once we were in the rental, I set my GPS. Maddy kept asking questions, but I wanted it to be a surprise. I could tell she was tense. Yes, we were on a life-or-death mission, but we had to blow off some steam. Humans were like cars. If you run too hot for too long, you’d eventually fall apart. We needed a night to relax and enjoy each other before heading out to find the vial. Plus, if this was the last trip I ever took with Maddy, I wanted it to be memorable for more than just danger. If either of us didn’t make it back alive, I wanted the other to have one more good memory of our time together. Morbid? Yes. Still, I was built to plan for all possibilities—the good and the bad, the happy and the tragic.
Ten minutes later, I pulled up at the parking lot of the marina. Maddy leaned forward to look through the window. “A boat?”
“A sailboat,” I said.
“We’re going sailing?” I could hear the excitement in her voice, and it filled me with warmth.
“We are. I booked us a dinner cruise. We’re going out into Bakar Bay. The description says dessert is served in time for sunset. We get almost three hours of sailing time. Does that sound like fun?”
Maddy turned her face to me, an eyebrow cocked. “Uh… yeah. Are you seriously asking that?”
