Treasures Lost, Treasures Found

kept close, carefully researching, meticulously calculating, but never finding.
    Joy and sorrow mixed as she gathered a handful of the buckles and placed them carefully in her bag. For him. In that moment she felt she’d given him everything she’d always needed to.
    Carefully, and this time for personal reasons rather than the catalogue, she began to shoot pictures. Years from now, she thought. Years and years from now, she’d look at a snapshot of swirling silt and drifting pieces of metal, and she’d remember. Nothing could ever take that moment of quiet satisfaction from her.
    She glanced up at the sudden silence. The wash had stilled. Ky had reached the surface. Silt and the pieces of crusted, decorated metal began to settle again without the agitation of the wash. The sea was a world without sound, without movement.
    Kate looked down at the scoop in the ocean floor. They were nearly there. For a moment she was tempted to begin to fan and search by herself, but she’d wait for Ky. They began together, and they’d finish together. Content, she watched for his return.
    When Kate saw the movement above her, she started to signal. Her hand froze in place, then her arm, her shoulder and the rest of her body, degree by degree. It came smoothly through the water, sleek and silent. Deadly.
    The noise of the prop-wash had kept the sea life away. Now the abrupt quiet brought out the curious. Among theschools of harmless fish glided the long bulletlike shape of a shark.
    Kate was still, hardly daring to breathe as she feared even the trail of bubbles might attract him. He moved without haste, apparently not interested in her. Perhaps he’d already hunted successfully that day. But even with a full belly, a shark would attack what annoyed his uncertain temper.
    She gauged him to be ten feet in length. Part of her mind registered that he was fairly small for what she recognized as a tiger shark. They could easily double that length. But she knew the jaws, those large sickle-shaped teeth, would be strong, merciless and fatal.
    If she remained still, the chances were good that he would simply go in search of more interesting waters. Isn’t that what she’d read sitting cozily under lamplight at her own desk? Isn’t that what Ky had told her once when they’d shared a quiet lunch on his boat? All that seemed so remote, so unreal now, as she looked above and saw the predator between herself and the surface.
    It was movement that attracted them, she reminded herself as she forced her mind to function. The movement a swimmer made with kicking feet and sweeping arms.
    Don’t panic. She forced herself to breathe slowly. No sudden moves. She forced her nervous hands to form tight, still fists.
    He was no more than ten feet away. Kate could see the small black eyes and the gentle movement of his gills.Breathing shallowly, she never took her eyes from his. She had only to be perfectly still and wait for him to swim on.
    But Ky. Kate’s mouth went dry as she looked toward the direction where Ky had disappeared moments before. He’d be coming back, any minute, unaware of what was lurking near the bottom. Waiting. Cruising.
    The shark would sense the disturbance in the water with the uncanny ability the hunter had. The kick of Ky’s feet, the swing of his arms would attract the shark long before Kate would have a chance to warn him of any danger.
    He’d be unaware, helpless, and then… Her blood seemed to freeze. She’d heard of the sensation but now she experienced it. Cold seemed to envelop her. Terror made her head light. Kate bit down on her lip until pain cleared her thoughts. She wouldn’t stand by idly while Ky came blindly into a death trap.
    Glancing down, she saw the spear gun. It was over five feet away and unloaded for safety. Safety, she thought hysterically. She’d never loaded one, much less shot one. And first, she’d have to get to it. There’d only be one chance. Knowing she’d have no time to settle her nerves, Kate made her move.
    She kept her eyes on the shark as she inched slowly toward the gun. At the moment, he seemed to be merely cruising, not particularly interested in anything. He never even glanced her way. Perhaps he would move on before Ky came back, but she needed the weapon. Fingers shaking, she gripped the butt of the gun. Time seemed to crawl.Her movements were so slow, so measured, she hardly seemed to move at all. But her mind whirled.
    Even as she gripped the spear she saw the