Adriana lifted her head up and craned her neck just enough to see over the back of the seat. “Did you two do that?” she asked, eyeing the scene in disbelief.
“Wasn’t us,” Sean said, slowly shaking his head from left to right. He gazed with wide eyes at the flaming wreckage.
The luxurious yacht burned brightly on the water, pouring billows of dark smoke into the clear, twilight sky.
“Yeah, but who?” Tommy asked. “And how?” His face twisted, perplexed. Whoever it was sure used a lot of explosives.”
“Or a small amount of high-grade stuff,” Sean suggested. There were only a few people in the world who had access to the more advanced explosive materials. The United States military did, in the special ops divisions. He was sure some of Great Britain’s military branches could get it as well. Sean doubted it was them. They were unlikely to be involved with Gikas. There was no reason.
“You think it could have been a rival? Someone he pissed off?” Tommy asked.
Sean was paralyzed, still looking on at the blazing ship. Most of the hull had already burned, and the fire inched its way toward the water’s surface.
“Maybe,” Sean said.
“You think we should check it out? What if whoever did this is still hanging around and comes after us next?”
“Good point. Take us over there nice and slow, and keep an eye out for anything unusual.”
Adriana put her head back down on the cushion, but the two men kept staring at the fiery remains of Gikas’s yacht. As they watched, they noticed some movement along the water just beyond the bow of the yacht. The object had a low profile and sped quickly away from the burning boat.
“Is that…?” Tommy started to ask.
“Navy SEALs.” Sean answered the question before his friend could finish. “You can see four of them crouched low in the raft.”
Tommy took on a bewildered look. “What are they doing here?”
Sean reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny metal, pill-shaped object.
“Is that what I think it is?”
“Yep. Homing beacon. I gave Yarbrough the signal before we left. Although, I didn’t know they were so nearby. They cut it awfully close.”
Tommy shook his head. “Sometimes you still surprise me.”
“Excuse me,” Adriana cut into their moment. “If it’s all right with you two, I’d like to go to a hospital now.” She rolled her head over to gaze into Sean’s eyes as she still winced against the pain.
“Yeah,” he said with a huge grin on his face as he looked down at her. “We can do that.”
Chapter 52
“The world owes you a debt of gratitude, gentlemen.” John Dawkins sat in his high back leather chair with hands folded atop the Resolute Desk. His face expressed approval and appreciation.
It was the first time Tommy and Sean had ever seen the inside of the Oval Office in person. Most Americans had seen it in pictures, but very few people were ever allowed to actually go in. Emily Starks stood off to the side of the desk with a proud smile on her face, wearing her usual gray business suit. The president had requested her presence to join the two friends at the White House. Agent Yarbrough stood on the other side of the desk with his arm still in a sling.
“Glad we were able to help, sir.” Sean gave a nod, keeping his hands folded behind his back.
“You two saved a lot of lives. Of course, the Greek prime minister can never know what happened.”
“Of course.”
“I wish we could have retained the antikythera,” Tommy said with regret. “Such a shame.”
The president’s tone turned grave. “I think that artifact is better left at the bottom of the Mediterranean, Tommy.”
“Still, would have been cool to see how it works.”
“Well,” Dawkins said in a mysterious tone, “I guess we’ll never know.”
There was something in the way he said it that caused Tommy and Sean to wonder if the president was telling them everything. Neither of them pushed the issue. They’d done what was needed, saved a lot of lives, and more importantly to Sean, saved Adriana.
The thought of her reminded him of his next appointment. “Mr. President, I don’t mean to be rude, but I have a date I really want to get to.”
Dawkins raised his eyebrows, amused that someone would blow off the leader of the free world. He smiled and nodded slowly. “I understand, Sean. Go meet that lovely Spanish lady. You’ve earned it.”
“Thank you, sir.” Sean started for the door with Tommy in tow.
As one of the assistants in the room turned the knob for him, Dawkins stopped them. “I’ll be in touch again.”
Sean paused for a moment, looking down at the floor. He smiled and disappeared out into the maze of desks beyond. One of the interns with a badge politely ushered the two men through the passageways of the famous mansion and out to the side door where they could go back through the exterior security checkpoint.
“Something’s been bothering me since we left Greece,” Tommy said as they stepped into the warm, spring air.
“You think they kept the device?” Sean passed a sideways glance at him.
“Maybe,” Tommy shrugged. “We’ll never know that. But what I want to know is, would the SEAL team have blown up the boat if we were still on it?”
Sean kept walking toward the security house on the perimeter of the grounds. When he answered, he faced his friend with a wry smile. “I guess we’ll never know that either.”
When the assistant closed the door, the president leaned back in his chair and crossed one leg over the other.
“We need him,” he said bluntly to Emily.
“I know, sir, but he won’t come back. Believe me, I’ve tried.”
Dawkins let out a long sigh. “Well, keep trying. He’s the best natural agent I’ve ever seen.”
“Yeah. I hated to lose him. But I’m telling you, he won’t come back, sir. His mind is made up. And when Sean sets his mind to something, there’s no convincing him otherwise.”
Yarbrough entered the conversation. “We’ll keep an eye on him, Mr. President, just in case we ever need him again.”
“Good. The world needs heroes like him. And I may need his services again at some point.”
Emily’s face curled into a curious frown. “I’m sorry to ask this, Mr. President, but was the SEAL team able to recover the device?”
Dawkins stared straight ahead, his expression as stoic as ever. Before he could answer, Emily did it for him. “You know, John, you can’t bluff a bluffer. Your men were able to recover it, weren’t they?” Her eyes stared through him with one eyebrow higher than the other.
“You don’t have to worry about the Eye of Zeus, Emily. It will never fall into the wrong hands again.”
“Mr. President,” she protested, “if that thing can do what you said it can do, it should be destroyed.”
“Trust me, Em. It’s never going to fall into the wrong hands.”
“Didn’t our government think the same thing about nuclear weapons?”
Dawkins passed her a pleading glance, wanting the conversation to be over. “Would it make you feel better if I told you the device really was at the bottom of the sea, and that the SEAL team’s orders were to destroy it along with Gikas’s ship?”
She thought for a second before answering. “No. But I guess it’s all I’ll get from you for now.”
He winked at her. “Good. Now, tell me what’s going on with your agent in Paris.”