Treasured Dreams (34 page)

‘Alessandro.' The Italian's eyes darted from Ginger to him. ‘I need you to find out everything you can about the Ranga Spirit. Type of ship. Size. Weight. Pictures or diagrams. Anything.'

‘Okay. Why? What's going on?'

‘Jimmy and I are diving it tonight, and the more information we have the better.'

‘What do you want me to do?' Ginger sat forward on her seat.

‘Food please. 'Cause I don't know about you lot, but I'm starving.'

Rosalina frowned at him, obviously wondering why he didn't ask her to cook. ‘Babe, I need you to help me get the dive gear ready while Jimmy cruises
Evangeline
over near the Ranga Spirit wreck.'

‘And me?' Helen said in the meekest of voices. ‘What shall I do?'

Archer masked his surprise by touching his mother's forearm. ‘Do you think you could go through Dad's cryptic notebooks? We're looking for any clues that would help with either the Ranga Spirit, the
Awa Maru
treasure or the Peking Man skulls.'

Helen nodded. ‘I can do that.'

Archer reached for Rosalina's hand and they made their way towards the dive deck. The sun was setting, and the sky had changed to an interesting dappled orange and mauve. As
Evangeline
's engines rumbled to life, Archer unlocked the dive gear cupboard.

‘Arch?' The tentativeness in Rosalina's voice was unmistakable.

‘Yeah, babe?' He tugged his and Jimmy's fins from their hooks and handed them back to her.

‘Are you going to penetrate the Ranga Spirit?'

He hooked Jimmy's tank up to the air compressor and turned it on. ‘Don't worry. We'll be fine.' When the tank was full, he closed the valve and wrestled Jimmy's tank to beside Rosalina. ‘Jimmy and I have done heaps of wreck diving.'

‘None that have been bombed. You don't know how unstable it is.'

‘Honey, it's been sitting stable for decades. I think if anything was going to move, it would have by now.' He stepped back into the cupboard and repeated the air-filling process with his own tank.

‘You think there'll be treasure hidden somewhere in that thing, don't you?'

‘Wouldn't that be nice?'

‘This is serious, Arch. You're risking your life when there could be nothing but fifty-year-old tuna cans on board.'

He manhandled his tank to beside Jimmy's and turned to her. He caught anger, resignation and maybe a touch of fear in her eyes. ‘What's wrong, babe?'

She lowered her lashes, and when she chewed on her lip he knew there was something she wasn't telling him.

‘Is Filippo okay?'

She blinked up at him in a way that made him believe that whatever was troubling her was a long way from Filippo. ‘He's fine. I just …' She sighed. ‘I need you to be safe.'

He wrapped his arms around her and tugged her to his chest. ‘It'll be okay. Jimmy and I will go in to poke around a bit and then we'll be back up in time for dessert. Why don't you make us something yummy to have on the top deck afterwards?' Archer had learnt a long time ago that cooking was Rosalina's form of therapy, and he thanked his lucky stars for that often.

Jimmy had them anchored off Munda wharf and as the sun glided into the distant ocean, the wharf lights came on and lit up the surrounding waters.

‘Tell us what you've got, Alex,' Archer said, as he leant forward to bite into the homemade hamburger Ginger had made for dinner. His beetroot slipped out and slapped onto his plate. He tried to ignore Rosalina smirking at him. Archer had yet to eat a burger without losing half the contents. It was a little joke between them.

Alessandro swallowed as he put his burger down and wiped his fingers on his napkin. He tapped a button on his laptop, positioned in front of him. ‘The Ranga Spirit is a thirty-five-metre tuna fishing boat. The superstructure that contains the wheelhouse and accommodation is mid-ship.'

Archer imagined the positioning of the superstructure in his mind as he took another bite of his burger.

‘It arrived on shore on the morning of the 16
^th
of May 1945, and the catch from the night before had all been unloaded when the boat was hit by a bouncing bomb in a completely unexpected raid by an American bomber. The bomb hit the hull below the wheelhouse, blasting a significant hole in the side.
Per fortuna,
there were only three people on board at the time, however they all perished in the incident.'

‘I wonder if either of the Yukimura brothers were amongst them,' Archer said.

‘No names were listed in the details I perused.'

‘Okay,' Archer said. ‘What else have you got?'

‘The boat sunk in seconds and slipped backwards. It's perched with the bow facing upwards just one metre below the surface. The stern sits on a narrow coral ledge; beyond that is a sheer drop-off.'

Archer swallowed the last bite of his burger and wiped his fingers on a napkin. ‘So if it's sitting upright like this.' Archer demonstrated by pretending his hand was the tuna boat. He placed his wrist on the table and pointed his fingers upward. ‘Then the superstructure is say here.' He pointed at his knuckles. ‘This would mean it's at a depth of about eighteen to twenty metres.' That was good news. They had enough to worry about with the wreck itself without worrying about its depth.

‘Did anyone try to salvage it?' Jimmy asked.

‘It appears no salvage was ever attempted. It sunk near the end of the war and as you know, they left hundreds of boats and planes out there in the ocean. That's why this area has become a diving mecca.' Alessandro dabbed his lips with his napkin. ‘Although, the Ranga Spirit isn't a popular dive site because the water is constantly stirred up by all the boats coming and going from the wharf.'

Archer felt Rosalina's eyes on him. ‘Excellent. That means we'll have no company. Right, Jimmy?'

‘Right,' Jimmy said with a mouthful.

‘I think I should come with you,' Rosalina said. But the look on her face said exactly the opposite. And that was a dangerous way to dive.

‘No need, honey. The two of us will be quicker.'

Her shoulders sagged. ‘Okay.'

She conceded quickly. Way too quickly. Rosalina was normally very stubborn.

After the meal, they left the table the way it was and went to the dive deck where the equipment was set up and ready to go.

‘Ready, buddy?' Archer said to Jimmy.

Jimmy belched. ‘Yep.' The big fella's eyes glinted in the distant wharf lights.

‘No hero stuff down there. We've got no idea what to expect, so we stick together.'

‘Sure thing, boss.'

Once they were geared up and ready to go, Archer turned to Rosalina. ‘Don't worry, babe. We'll be back in seventy minutes and not a moment later.'

‘You better be, or I'll go looking for you.' She handed him his high-powered torch, and he brushed his lips to hers.

‘Back soon.' He shuffled to the edge of the deck so his fins dangled over. Jimmy joined him and they slipped into the water together.

They descended and kicked forward at the same time, but closing the distance from
Evangeline
to the Ranga Spirit took some effort as the current was full on. They'd anchored downstream and knew the push to the wreck would be a tough one. Returning to
Evangeline
, though, would be a breeze.

Unlike the dive to the plane wreck earlier today, the visibility here was like swimming in slime that'd been stirred up with a blender. The water was swamp green, and all sorts of crap swirled before his torch beam. Archer retained his focus on his compass; it was pointless to look anywhere else. He assumed Jimmy was doing the same, because he couldn't see him even if he wanted to.

The water cleared marginally and the bow of the Ranga Spirit finally materialised out of the murkiness. Giant red plate coral had made the ship's hull its home, giving a splash of colour to the green marine growth covering the metal skeleton. His torch beam caught the gaping wound in the ship's side. Barney's comment about the hole being the size of a tank was an understatement. The Ranga Spirit would've had no chance against a bomb blast like that. It was just lucky that she snagged on the coral shelf when she did, or she would have shot straight to the bottom of the ocean.

Jimmy pointed at the hole, and Archer gave him a thumbs up. Penetrating through that massive hole was the obvious entry. His breathing was slow and steady, and he concentrated on the therapeutic sound as he approached the wrecked hull.

At the threshold, they paused. Archer played his torch around the mangled space. It was a mess of metal, giant poles, small poles, broken wiring, and other bits and pieces he couldn't decipher. Hundreds of fish had made the Ranga Spirit their home, as did many crabs, and several eels that slithered amongst the piles of junk.

His torch lit up a ladder at one end and a square manhole at the other. Archer pointed at the manhole and Jimmy nodded. The surfaces were covered in decades of silt, and the trick was to move smoothly without stirring it up any more than it already was. Archer hoped once they progressed beyond this open area the visibility would clear.

He pushed off and checked his dive watch; ten minutes had passed already.

The torch beam lit up a lone boot with the laces still intact. Archer's mind pictured them belonging to one of the Yukimura brothers. It was a ridiculous thought, and highlighted just how desperate he was to be onto something.

Forcing the dreaming aside, he glided through the manhole into another much smaller room. He shoved a shredded collection of wires aside to pass through, making sure his tank didn't snag. Archer hung onto a piece of metal with his gloved hand and helped Jimmy through the wires. With Jimmy now in the lead, they continued to descend down through the body of the ship.

The first room they entered was the control room. Two giant steering wheels were still fixed in position. Wires and tubes dangled in amongst hundreds of knobs, dials, valves and switches that covered an entire console. It was actually well preserved, considering how quickly it would've sunk and how long it'd been submerged.

They moved on from that room in search of the captain's quarters. It shouldn't be too hard. A ship like this was built for cargo, not passengers. Along a narrow corridor, they stopped at the first door, and Archer pushed it open slowly so as not to stir up the water. The angle of the ship meant the weight of the door forced it to close onto him. He passed through and held it open for Jimmy. Once his buddy was inside, he eased the door shut behind him.

Everything in the room had tumbled to the lowest point when the ship fell backwards. His torch highlighted a metal bedframe, an upturned table, what was left of a chair, and an old-fashioned phone with a handset on a cord and a ring dial. A mirror inlaid on a cupboard door was still intact, and an orange fungus had made the glass its home. Other than that there was barely any other coral, plant or animal life in this room. The closed door had ensured the room's significant preservation.

Not seeing anything of interest, and not entirely sure what he was looking for, Archer decided he'd seen enough and tapped Jimmy on his shoulder. He wriggled his hand to indicate ‘swim' and Jimmy nodded agreement.

They passed back through the door and swam along the pipe-lined corridor to the next room. The word ‘Captain' on the door made his heart thump in his ears. Again, they had to fight gravity to get into the room. With the door shut behind them, they scanned the space with their torches.

It was a much larger room than the last. A series of small cupboards that once contained glass doors ran the length of the opposite wall and were now vertical rather than horizontal. The glass shards and everything that had been inside the cupboards were now piled up at the lowest end. Archer eased over to the jumbled mess, and his eyes fell on a small tuna can. It was a colourful mix of dark grey, silver and orange, and some of the label was still adhered to the middle. Amused, he picked it up to show Jimmy, and shook it. He couldn't believe his ears. The can jingled. His eyes bulged. Jimmy's eyes bulged.

‘Holy shit!' Jimmy's voice was hardly muffled, even through the regulator.

Archer braced himself on the debris and unclipped his dive knife from his ankle, and Jimmy shone his torch on the can. With the tip of his blade aimed at the rim of the can, Archer hammered the butt of his knife with his palm. The knife sliced through the metal, and as he worried it around the rim he had to force himself to breath.

Finally, he peeled back the lid. Light, colour and fire burst from the can. A heavenly aura had been released. Archer could barely breathe as he twirled what he assumed to be diamonds around with his gloved finger. His heart thundered in his ears. Jimmy's ‘woohoo' did too. Never in a million years could he have predicted this. He handed the can to Jimmy and could've sworn Jimmy had tears in his eyes when he reached for it.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Rosalina stopped twisting her engagement ring around her finger to check her watch for what seemed like the hundredth time. Suddenly she spied a series of bubbles burst on the surface of the water and looked over the side. The churning in her stomach settled when two torch beams rose towards the surface.

Archer spat his regulator out. ‘Holy shit, babe, you won't believe it.' He tossed his fins onto the deck.

‘We're fucking rich.' Jimmy slapped the water with his hand. ‘Sorry, Rosa.'

‘What?' she squealed. ‘What?'

Alessandro and Ginger arrived at her side as Archer handed something to her. ‘Here.' Archer passed his torch up. ‘Careful,' he said.

She shone the torch in the can and gasped as glittering stars bounced back at her.

‘Diamonds,' Ginger squealed. ‘Are they really diamonds?'

‘I reckon they are, sweetheart,' Jimmy said, as he tossed his fins up.

Archer climbed up the ladder and wrapped his wet body around Rosalina and squeezed. ‘There's probably more down there too.' He kissed her neck. ‘This calls for a celebration.' Archer peeled out of his wetsuit.