The Grecian Manifesto (30 page)

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?

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.”

Washington, D.C.

“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.”

Washington, D.C.

Sean sat across from Adriana at
a little bistro table just outside his favorite coffee shop. He’d been to the eastern
market several times before when visiting D.C. and found several little places
he enjoyed grabbing breakfast or an early lunch. He detested using the word
brunch
but found the foods at that time
of the day were some of his favorites. Bloody Marys were also a welcome
addition to the pre-noon part of the day.

Pedestrians walked by on the
sidewalk, busily heading to the shops and crafts kiosks dotting the area. Many
of them carried two or three bags from the various vendors. A cool breeze
rolled through the sunny city street, carrying a collage of smells: spring
flowers, lavender, freshly baked bread, onions, and Bradford pear.

“The Braves are in town playing
the Nationals tonight,” Sean said, breaking the relative silence of their
little piece of D.C. “Want to catch a baseball game tonight?”

“Sure,” she responded with a
shrug. “Though I am a much bigger fan of football than baseball.”

He perked up at this
revelation. “You are? Who’s your favorite team? I’m a big fan of the Falcons,
though that can be difficult sometimes.”

“Atlético Madrid,” she said
cutely.

Sean realized immediately that
she was talking about soccer. “Right. Football. I forgot.”

She laughed at him, revealing
her bright-white teeth. “You don’t appreciate what you Americans call soccer?”

He put up a defensive hand.
“No, I love soccer. I cheer for Everton in England. But I don’t have any
allegiance to a team in Spain, so I guess I could root for Atlético.”

Adriana smiled at him as she
sipped her cappuccino. She’d suffered two cracked ribs from her ordeal in
Greece, but other than that she was recovering well. She had relayed the story
of the young boy, Niki, to Sean, but they’d never been able to find out
anything else about the child. Adriana hoped desperately that the boy had made
it to safety. That piece of information, however, would likely never reach her.

“He’s with good people who will
watch over him,” Sean reassured her.

She stared into her milky
espresso drink. “I hope you’re right. I would hate to think something bad
happened to him.”

Sean sympathized. “If he had
stayed, Gikas would have probably brought him along on the boat. You saw how
that ended. I’m sure he’s in the care of a saintly person now.”

The last sentence brought back
the grin to her face that she’d lost while thinking about little Niki.

Sean’s phone buzzed on the
table. He glanced down at it and entered his four-digit code to unlock the
device. He read the message quickly then placed the phone back down on the
table. “Just got a text from Mac,” he said. “It sounds like he and Helen are
finding some interesting things over in Denmark.”

Adriana’s expression turned
quizzical. “What are they doing over there? And why are they texting you? They
work for Tommy now?”

“Some excavation for the IAA.
Seems someone stumbled upon a few really old artifacts near Kronborg Castle.
They aren’t really sure what it is. Actually, no one is really sure what’s
there. The Danish government requested IAA to check it out. So Tommy sent Mac
and Helen on the case. As for why they texted me, I guess they just figured I’d
be interested.”

“That sounds interesting.”

“It is…” Sean caught himself.
“Though, it’s nothing I’d want to get into.”

She eyed him suspiciously, but
said nothing.

“It’s probably just a bunch of
digging and cleaning and sifting through thousands of years of dirt. Wouldn’t
be any fun.”

Adriana took another sip of her
coffee and continued to let him go on.

“I mean, Copenhagen is really
nice this time of year. It’s one of my favorite places to visit. Wouldn’t hurt
anything if we popped by to see Mac and Helen. You know, just to say hello.”

“What about your shop in
Florida?” Adriana asked with a playful grin.

“Right.” Sean had nearly
forgotten about his kayak and paddleboard shop in Destin. He’d been gone for
several days and hoped everything was okay. “I guess we can go to Copenhagen
some other time.” He thought about it for a minute, remembering the last time
he visited the Danish Riviera, across the waterway from Sweden. On a typical
summer day, you could easily see the Swedish city of Malmo just on the other
side of the inlet.

“I’m not stopping you,” she
said.

“No, you aren’t.” He leaned
across the table and kissed her softly on the lips. “And I would appreciate it
if from now on you didn’t go off on your little adventures without me. You get
into too much trouble on your own.”

Her dark eyes gazed into his,
their lips nearly brushing against each other. “I might just take you up on
that, Sean Wyatt.”

“Might?”

She nodded. “Might.”