Sean led the way back toward the front of the boat, reaching down to grab his gun from the deck as they moved along the narrow walkway.
They reached the front of the cabin and the door to where Gikas had brought them before. Sean was about to open the portal when a familiar voice halted them in their tracks.
“Stop right there, gentlemen. I think you’ve gone far enough.”
The sound sent chills through the Americans’ spines, and the hair raised on their necks. Sean and Tommy turned their heads cautiously to see the silhouette of Dimitris Gikas standing on the bow of the ship. The gun in his hand pressed hard into the side of Adriana’s head. Her hands and feet were still bound together. Gikas’s free hand was wrapped around her shoulder, holding her tight.
“I have to admit, Sean, taking out all my guards like that, pretty impressive.”
Sean ignored the comment. “Let her go, Gikas.”
“Give me the device, and I will let her go. It really is that simple. Or do not, and I will splatter her brains across the Ionian Sea.”
“You kill her, I kill you,” Sean said menacingly. He extended his weapon, pointing the barrel straight at the Greek’s head.
“Which is why I do not want to kill her,” Gikas said in an ironic tone. “I assume the device is in that bag you have there?”
“That’s right.”
“Good. Now, what did you do with Teo and his men? I assume they are dead?”
“You’re two for two.”
Gikas shrugged. “Well, I can always find more mercenaries. Thanks to the wars you Americans wage, there are highly trained soldiers for hire all over the world. Now,” he waved his free hand at Sean, “put the bag down, and I will let your woman go.”
Tommy kept his gun trained on the Greek, staring at him through narrow slits. “No funny business, Gikas. We will blow you to kingdom come.”
“You have my word, gentlemen. All I want is the device. Now please, put it on the deck over there.”
Sean lowered his weapon slowly. “If he tries anything, kill him,” he said to Tommy.
“I got him.”
Sean stuffed the gun into his belt and took a step over to the center of the bow where Gikas had instructed. He removed the bag from his shoulder and set it down before unzipping it.
“Good,” Gikas said. “Show it to me.”
Sean did as he was told, pulling the bronze piece out of the satchel. The glimmering metal flashed in the waning rays of sunlight. A look of relief washed over Gikas as he realized the future of his kingdom was finally at hand.
“It’s beautiful,” he said, staring at the object. “Now leave it there and step back over to your friend with the itchy finger.”
Again, Sean obeyed and returned to Tommy’s side. “I held up my end of the bargain, Gikas. Now it’s your turn.”
The man paused for a moment, leaving a few seconds of uncertainty that made Sean queasy, like he’d just been had.
“Yes. It is my turn. And I am a man of my word.” Gikas shuffled a few feet to the starboard side of the bow, keeping Adriana close. “I will let the girl go.”
Gikas moved suddenly, shoving Adriana over the railing and into the water. Before Tommy realized what had happened, the Greek dove for cover behind a bulkhead.
Sean’s reaction was instant. He dove headfirst into the choppy waters, desperate to save her, knowing that with her hands and feet bound, she would sink like a rock.
Tommy fired a few shots with his gun and then followed his friend into the water, leaping over the edge to help save Adriana.
In the darkening water, visibility narrowed by the second. Sean’s panicked eyes darted back and forth, scouring the depths for a sign of her. He heard Tommy hit the water nearby just as he saw her figure several yards away, sinking fast. Sean swam toward her, harder than he’d ever done in his life, kicking with every ounce of his energy. Adriana tried to kick her legs together to maintain some kind of upward momentum, but it was a vain effort.
Bubbles began to trickle out of her mouth as Sean reached out to grab her. His fingers wrapped around the rope on her wrists, and he pulled hard toward a surface that seemed so far away. He couldn’t believe how a woman in such good shape could be so heavy. They were still fifteen feet from the surface, and Sean didn’t know how much longer she could last.
Suddenly, the burden lightened, and Sean realized that Tommy had grabbed on to Adriana’s belt and was helping to pull her upward. With his friend’s assistance, they breached the surface of the water in five seconds, careful to make sure Adriana could breathe first. At first, she coughed, then gasped in huge gulps of air, panting loudly. Sean took a breath of air and pulled the knife out of its sheath, making quick work of the ropes on her wrists, and then submerging once more to saw through those on her feet. Tommy kept his arm around her chest, holding her afloat until Sean was done. When he resurfaced, Adriana was kicking on her own, but clearly struggling.
“Can you swim?” he asked her, not thinking of anything else except getting her back to the safety of the rental boat.
“I…I can swim. Just not very fast.”
Sean smiled at her and grabbed her, pressing his lips against hers. He let go after a few seconds and looked her in the eyes. Her wet hair streamed across her forehead in a tangled mess. “I thought I’d lost you,” he said, the tears in his eyes masked by the seawater.
She smiled at him, though clearly in pain. “I knew you would come for me.”
“Hey, I came for you too,” Tommy said from behind her.
She twisted her head slightly to look over her shoulder at him. “Yes, you did,” she said, still trying to smile.
Tommy returned the grin as he clumsily attempted to maintain his buoyancy. His expression turned sour, and he pointed back to where the yacht had been. “Gikas is getting away with the artifact.”
Sean’s determination flamed through his eyes as he stared after the boat. “We can still catch him if we hurry.”
The three swam as fast as they could, back toward the rental boat. The going was slow, however, and reaching the back deck of the cruiser took them nearly twenty minutes, despite their close proximity. The three had to stop several times to rest. Adriana had a particularly difficult time. She didn’t seem able to do much more than kick her feet. Whenever she tried to paddle with her arms, she winced in pain and was resigned to using a meager breast stroke. When they arrived at their boat, Sean climbed aboard then reached down and pulled Adriana up next to him. Tommy grabbed on to a handhold and yanked himself up onto the aft deck.
“Can you catch up to him?” Sean asked as he tended to Adriana and helped her lie down on the back seat of the boat. He noticed she had a severe bruise on the right side of her ribcage, no doubt the reason her swimming ability had been hampered.
Tommy glanced back at the giant yacht. The white ship grew smaller and smaller in the distance as it neared the main island of Corfu. A foamy wake trailed off and disappeared behind it. Daylight was nearly gone.
“Absolutely,” Tommy said confidently.
Sean didn’t have a plan of attack. He just knew they had to get to Gikas before he escaped. If the Greek reached land, he could go almost anywhere in the world in a matter of hours, and no one would be able to find him.
Tommy stepped around to the console of the boat and started to turn the key in the ignition when a thunderous explosion in the distance stopped him cold. He spun around and saw the giant yacht engulfed in a ball of fire and black smoke. The sudden blast and searing orange flash startled Sean, and he turned around in a snap to see what had happened. As he stared at the fiery destruction, Sean’s jaw dropped. Someone had destroyed Gikas’s vessel. But who?