The Reef

afternoon. VanDyke and I take the morning.”
    “I don’t want you to dive with him.” Matthew shook off his father’s friendly arm. “I heard the two of you arguing last night. He hates you. I could hear it in his voice.”
    A mutual feeling, James thought, but winked. “Partners often disagree. The bottom line here is that VanDyke’s putting up most of the money. Let him have his fun, Matthew. For him treasure-hunting’s just a hobby for a bored, rich businessman.”
    “He can’t dive worth shit.” And that, in Matthew’s opinion, was the measure of a man.
    “He’s good enough. Just doesn’t have much style atforty feet down.” Tired of the argument, James began to don his wet suit. “Buck take a look at the compressor?”
    “Yeah, he got the kinks out. Dad—”
    “Leave it, Matthew.”
    “Just this one day,” Matthew said stubbornly. “I don’t trust that prissy-faced bastard.”
    “Your language continues to deteriorate.” Silas VanDyke, elegant and pale despite the hard sun, smiled as he exited the cabin at Matthew’s back. It amused him nearly as much as it annoyed him to see the boy sneer. “Your uncle requires your assistance below, young Matthew.”
    “I want to dive with my father today.”
    “I’m afraid that would inconvenience me. As you see, I’m already wearing my wet suit.”
    “Matthew.” There was an impatient command in James’s voice. “Go see what Buck needs.”
    “Yes, sir.” Eyes defiant, he went belowdecks.
    “The boy has a poor attitude and worse manners, Lassiter.”
    “The boy hates your guts,” James said cheerfully. “I’d say he has good instincts.”
    “This expedition is coming to an end,” VanDyke shot back. “And so is my patience and my largesse. Without me, you’ll run out of money in a week.”
    “Maybe.” James zipped his suit. “Maybe not.”
    “I want the amulet, Lassiter. You know it’s down there, and I believe you know where. I want it. I’ve bought it. I’ve bought you.”
    “You’ve bought my time, and you’ve bought my skill. You haven’t bought me. Rules of salvage, VanDyke. The man who finds Angelique’s Curse owns Angelique’s Curse.” And it wouldn’t be found, he was sure, on the Sea Star. He lifted a hand to VanDyke’s chest. “Now keep out of my face.”
    Control, the kind he wielded in boardrooms, kept VanDyke from lashing out. He had always won his rounds with patience, with money, and with power. Success in business, he knew, was a simple matter of who maintained control.
    “You’ll regret trying to double-cross me.” He spokemildly now, with the faintest hint of a smile curving his lips. “I promise you.”
    “Hell, Silas, I’m enjoying it.” With a quiet chuckle, James stepped inside the cabin. “You guys reading girlie magazines, or what? Let’s get going here.”
    Moving quickly, VanDyke dealt with the tanks. It was, very simply, business. When the Lassiters came back on deck, he was hitching on his own gear.
    The three of them, VanDyke thought, were pathetically beneath him. Obviously they had forgotten who he was, what he was. He was a VanDyke, a man who had been given or earned or taken whatever he wanted. One who intended to continue to do so, as long as there was profit. Did they think he cared that they tightened their little triangle and excluded him? It was past time he dismissed them and brought in a fresh team.
    Buck, he mused, pudgy, already balding, a foolish foil to his handsome brother. Loyal as a mongrel puppy and just as intelligent.
    Matthew, young and eager, brash, defiant. A hateful little worm VanDyke would be pleased to squash.
    And James, of course, he mused as the three Lassiters stood together, sharing idle conversation. Tough and more canny than VanDyke had supposed. More than the simple tool he had expected. The man thought he had outwitted Silas VanDyke.
    James Lassiter thought he would find and own Angelique’s Curse, the amulet of power, of legend. Worn by a witch, coveted by many. And that made him a fool. VanDyke had invested in it, time, money, and effort, and Silas VanDyke never made poor investments.
    “There’s going to be good hunting today.” James strapped on his tanks. “I can smell it. Silas?”
    “Right with you.”
    James secured his weight belt, adjusted his mask and rolled into the water.
    “Dad, wait—”
    But James just saluted and disappeared under the surface.
    The world was silent and stunning. The drenching bluewas broken by