“I got nothing, James. It’s a big, big ocean.”

“Yeah, but if that gold …” he hesitated, “if that collection of gold coins is there, it would be well worth it.”

I nodded. “I want to check those coordinates again, James.”

“Then I hope we’re wrong.”

I gave him a puzzled look. “Wrong about what?”

“The location.”

“We don’t know if we’re right or wrong.”

James cast a quick glance at Amy who was in conversation with Em.

“Skip, take the glasses,” he handed me the binoculars, “and look off the starboard bow.”

“Starboard?” the boat shifted, turning with the slight breeze.

“Behind us, damn it. About the end of the pier. Coming this way.”

I trained the glasses in that direction and saw a small boat.

“Wow. These things really have some power.”

“Look closer, amigo. Much closer.”

Staring through the glass, I adjusted the center wheel to bring everything into focus. It took several seconds.

“I’ve got it homed in. Now, what am I looking for?” I’d trained the lenses onto the approaching boat.

“You can see the occupants?”

“Yeah.”

“And you can make out their faces?”

“I guess. What am I supposed to be looking for here, James?” I was looking and trying to shed my tank at the same time.

“Damn it, Skip. Look.”

“James, I’ve got my eyes on the-” I stopped. I stopped taking off the tank, stopped talking, and just kept the glasses aimed directly at the boat.

“I thought you’d get it.”

Todd Markim and Jim Weezle were headed directly for our boat, and we had no backup plan.

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

Their craft didn’t seem to be much bigger than ours and it did not appear that they were moving very fast. Probably a cheap rental from a place like Skeeter’s.

As I pulled in the anchor, James started the boat.

“What’s wrong, boys?” Em saw the look of determination on my face.

“We’ve got friends.” I pointed toward the shore.

“Let me guess. Markim and Weezle?”

“Yes, except that Weezle is dead.”

“Obviously not.” She rolled her eyes. “Or are we on that ghost thing again?”

“What is going on?” Amy stared at us, obviously a bit confused.

“Two guys who want the same thing we want.”

“The gold coins?”

“The gold.” I looked back and saw they were gaining ground, or in this case, gaining water. “The gold coins.”

“Are they dangerous?”

The engine chugged and our boat slapped at the water.

James shouted above the noise of the engine, the water, and the wind. “We don’t know, but we’re not going to stick around and find out.”

“I’ve got something just in case,” Em yelled out.

“What?” We all three harmonized.

She reached into her beach bag and pulled out the.38 revolver.

“You carry a gun?” Amy’s eyes were wide open.

“Just a little precaution.”

Watching her drop it back in the bag, I said, “Just a little protection.”

“That too.”

We ran parallel to the shore, waiting to see if they followed us.

The breeze picked up as James angled back toward land, the little craft buffeted by the stronger wind.

“You okay?” I asked.

“We’re making headway.” He looked over his shoulder, his hair blowing in the wind. “Are they coming?”

I looked back with the glasses as we bounced across the waves. I could smell the salt in the air.

“It appears they are right about where we were.”

“Dude, do you think they’ve got the same information that we have?”

“Don’t know,” I shouted. “So far, ours hasn’t panned out too well.”

I felt the Velcro pocket of my swim suit.

“Hey, James, I may have found some coins.”

He spun around. “No shit?”

“No shit. I’ll show ’em to you when we get back.”

It took us almost forty-five minutes, but we finally docked at Skeeter’s. The wizened man came sauntering out, eyeing the boat for possible damage. There wasn’t a spot on the boat that wasn’t damaged. Dinged up, banged, bruised, and battered, the body still held together. All of the damage had been done long ago.

“Them fellas find you?”

“Oh, no, don’t tell me,” I couldn’t believe it yet I could. “Them fellows?”

I knew right away who it was.

“Let me guess.” I stood there in front of him and told him exactly what had happened. I knew it before James or Em did.

“Two guys asked about us, where we were going, said they were supposed to meet up with us and you told them exactly where we were going and that we’d rented the metal detector, right?” I’d bet two million dollars on it.

“Yeah.” Skeeter had a wide grin on his face, so proud of himself that he’d turned us in.

“So they found you.” The grin exposed two missing teeth in the front.

“Oh, yeah.” James nodded his head, his arm around the lovely Amy’s waist. “They found us.”

“Well, I’m gonna guess that you are done with the equipment?”

“We are,” James said.

“Skeeter, I’d like to rent this detector for the next several days.”

James spun around and stared at me.

“Full-day rental?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I guess I can do that. Prepaid with a credit card or cash?”

James hauled out the overheated plastic and handed it to Skeeter.

“You boys should have just brought one with you, like your friends.”

“The two guys? They had their own?”

“Did,” he said as he swiped the card. “I’m surprised they didn’t show it to you. Same make and model.”

The Harley was in the parking lot, a dusty black one with a gold fender. There was no question who was out at Cheeca Rocks looking for gold.

“Show us the coins, amigo.”

In the truck I pulled the two pieces from my pocket, and handed them to James.

“So much crud on them, it’s hard to tell.”

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