“I have experience, yes.”
Diggins nodded. He steered his boat away.
“Hey, where are you going?”
“If we can see them, chances are they’re going to see us sooner than we’d like. We’ll get the tanks, get suited up, and take a skiff in closer. That’ll be harder to spot.”
Braden looked through the binoculars again and watched the vessel fade away on the horizon.
“Let’s say we get onto that rig,” he said. “Then what? How do we find her? How do we get her out of there alive?” He was usually the one explaining the plans to others. But he was always open to suggestions.
“I brought the tanks. I’ll let you figure out how to save the day.”
“Seriously? You trust me with your life?”
“Didn’t say that. I trust you withyourlife and hers, and I won’t be far behind.”
Braden didn’t want to put the older man in danger. Especially now that he knew Diggins’s shocking relationship to Evelyn Monroe, he wanted to deliver him back safely. He wanted that anyway, but he wanted this for Evelyn as well. She’d lost enough.
And now he understood. The real treasure Diggins had been searching for aboard theEndeavor Spirit,orSpecter’s Bounty, hadn’t been artifacts—it had been his son, Caleb. But Caleb had been long dead, lost in the depth of the Pacific Ocean by then. Maybe Diggins had hoped to discover something to bring closure to his own grief ... and to Evelyn’s. She’d spent her days by the ocean, gazing out at the horizon, watching, waiting—knowing deep down that her son would never return but unable to let go of the hope that the sea, which had claimed him, might somehow give him back.
Still, did Evelyn know that her husband was alive? Or had Diggins hidden that truth from her, waiting, watching, and protecting? They were the same—Evelyn and Diggins—in the way that mattered most. She helped those in need, giving them safe harbor, including the liveaboards in Hidden Bay, while Diggins—her long-lost husband she believed deceased—mentored those in need.
Braden prayed for a good ending to their story.
Still, he didn’t understand. “Why does Evelyn keep you at a distance? Does she even know about you? That you’re still alive?”
“She left me for dead to prevent her father from trying again. I don’t blame her for that. She saw me once ... inForestview ... but looked the other way after reacting like she’d seen a ghost. If she believed that I was still alive, then she walked away because she doesn’t want to lose me again. I know that about her. She’s lost a son and her husband—twice, she thought. In my quest to find him—buried in the ocean—I had hoped to bring her closure as a gift, but I failed us both. As for the truth I asked Cressida to get from her—I simply wanted to know if she ever loved me, and if she still loves me now but she’s just too afraid.”
That might be the saddest love story Braden had ever heard. Too much tragedy in one lifetime.
Diggins drew in a breath and lifted his shoulders. “But today, everything changes. Today, this all ends, and if she still loves me and wants me, we’ll be together.” He chuckled. “I’m not sure I could get accustomed to her lifestyle, nor she mine, and maybe we’ll love each other from afar like we’ve done for decades.”
“Let’s make sure you get the chance. I’d prefer it if you remained here on theSea Reaperand wait for me to return with Cressida. It’s too dangerous for you to go with me. I don’t know what we’re going to face.”
“I can help you, son, and I’m going.”
Braden had called in additional resources, texting to ask Thatcher to send their reserve deputies—Hawk and Cole, both skilled in military maneuvers—to meet him at the coordinates. He couldn’t be sure if Thatcher had even received the text because he hadn’t heard back. He’d tried again but his communication failed. But he certainly couldn’t trust that Trent had called in the resources like he assured Braden he would.
And here he was—just him and Diggins. Hawk and Cole hadn’t shown up. Though he could use their skill and knew he could trust them both, he couldn’t count on them to be here if they never got the message.
“Let’s do this.” Braden had never been on shakier ground.
“We could wait for theKraken. Didn’t you say you called for the Coast Guard?”
“Cressida doesn’t have the time. If they show up, that’ll help, but I can’t wait.”
If anything happened to him today—then what would happen to his niece?
What would happen to Cressida?
He had never been more uncertain about a plan, but he was willing to go the distance and give it all to save lives, even if that meant losing his own.
He and Diggins grabbed the tanks and prepped the skiff. They’d have to wait until it was totally dark and hope and pray the vessel hadn’t completed its task and moved on. He hated leaving Cressida there—if she truly was there. But he knew she was. Someone had taken her. She had the coordinates, and now here they were at those same coordinates.
The whir of an approaching vessel set off alarms in Braden’s head. The skiff was attached and waiting for their mission, and they would be donning their scuba suits shortly. He looked through his binoculars and could barely make out the silhouette of a RIB—rigid inflatable boat, often used by the Coast Guard and military—carrying two men. Relief rushed through him.
“It’s Hawk and Cole.”
