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Salvage Rights

adventure◐ Mature
5 contributors · 3 paragraphs deep

Mara drops fast toward the wreck before Vares can beat her to it. She slips through the torn gash in the hull and into the flooded cargo hold. Whatever they want down here, she will reach it first. Her light catches the edge of a steel crate, chained shut.

Mara cuts the chain and pries the crate open. Inside, sealed in plastic, are bricks of cash and a logbook stamped with her late husband's company. The Meridian Cross wasn't just hauling freight. She was carrying something illegal, and the three men knew.

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Mara photographs every page of the logbook with her wrist camera, then leaves the cash where it sits. The money is bait. The proof is what buries whoever sent her husband down here. She surfaces, hands the images to the coast authority, and watches the Vares crew get hauled off in cuffs. The wreck keeps the rest of its secrets, but Mara finally knows the truth.

IF
Inés Ferro
10 votes · future 1 of 3