60. Chapter Sixty

Chapter Sixty

L aura

The cool wind whips across the deck as our research vessel cuts through the choppy Norwegian Sea. I’m unsure whether my goosebumps are due to the cold or the excitement thrumming through my veins. We’re close—I can feel it.

With a vault full of gold at our disposal, we have technical bells and whistles Garrison could only dream of. With sonar and expensive drones, we’re working five times faster than when he was in charge of the operation.

Varro stands beside me, his eyes scanning the horizon. Even after all this time, I’m struck by the dichotomy of his presence—an ancient Roman warrior on a high-tech research vessel.

“Anything yet?” His voice is barely audible over the wind.

I shake my head, but before I can respond, a shout comes from the bridge.

“Miss Turner! We’ve got something on sonar!”

My heart leaps as I rush to the monitor. The image is grainy, but unmistakable—part of a sunken ship.

“That’s it,” I breathe. “It’s got to be the Fortuna.” It’s five miles from where we found Varro. Right in the vicinity of my calculations.

The next few hours pass in a blur of activity. The Remote Operated Vehicle the crew refers to as an ROV is deployed, its cameras sending back crystal-clear images of the wreck. And there, deep in a nearby trench, we see them—more bodies, preserved in pearly ice that glints unnaturally bright in the murky water.

“By the gods,” Varro murmurs, his eyes wide as he stares at the screen. “There are at least five of them.”

I squeeze his hand, understanding the emotions warring within him. “We don’t have to bring them up if you’re not ready,” I tell him softly.

He shakes his head. “No, they deserve a chance at life. But… we’re not prepared to bring them up now.”

For weeks, we’ve discussed what to do if we find more bodies. We take turns reminding each other that Varro’s life is a one-in-a-quadrillion miracle. What are the odds that even one of those men could also be resuscitated?

Now that we’ve found bodies, we’ll need to follow the list we’ve been preparing. We’ve considered the staggering ethical implications of reviving people from the past. We’ll need experts, protocols, support systems, and plenty of the world’s most sophisticated medical equipment.

As the ROV continues its survey, another discovery sends a ripple of excitement through the crew—a second chest, identical to the one that held the gold coins found in the other half of the Fortuna .

“Well, I guess we won’t have to worry about funding our research,” I quip, trying to lighten the mood. As I consider the astounding implications and repercussions of this find, I glance at Varro and can only imagine what’s flowing through his mind .

This isn’t a scientific find to him. These are his comrades, men he trained and fought with. He lived with these men in the same barracks—some of them for years—and he died with them.

“How are you doing, Varro?” I don’t know how I expect him to answer. We can’t really have an honest conversation. No one knows Varro’s true identity.

“What if they are dead and yet…” He doesn’t say it out loud, but I know the end of his sentence is to wonder why he lived and they didn’t. Survivor’s guilt.

“We’ll see soon enough, my love.”

As the divers perform the delicate process of retrieving the chest, leaving the bodies untouched for now, I’m struck by the weight of our discovery. We might be on the cusp of changing the course of history—again.

Later that night, as Varro and I lay in our cramped bunk on the research ship, the gravity of our situation settles over us.

“We can’t keep this secret much longer,” I murmur into the darkness.

Varro’s arm tightens around me. “I know. You’ve told me. Once we tell the world, nothing will ever be the same.”

He’s right, of course. Our lives, already extraordinary, are about to become unrecognizable. The thought is both thrilling and terrifying. One thing is certain—although I’m not fully prepared for the media attention, this is going to hit Varro like a ton of bricks.

As I drift off to sleep, my mind races with plans. We’ll need to consult experts, set up a secure facility, prepare for the media storm that’s sure to come. But for now, I allow myself a moment of pure, unadulterated joy. We did it. We found the Fortuna, and with it, another key to unlocking the past.