Now that he put it in that way it made a lot more sense, why the Swiss of all people might be involved in the treasure hunt. If they were involved, who else was? I listened to Flint on the phone.

"Frank, it's Flint. I'm calling in that favor you owe me. What kinds of assets do you have in Barcelona?"

He stood there for a few moments listening to whoever he was on the line with. "I appreciate this Frank! Could you go ahead and call the port authority so no suspicions are raised?"

More listening and then Flint said, "Thanks old friend." And hung up the phone.

He started off down the street at a fast clip and I hurried to catch up, "Where are we going?"

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"The harbor." Was all he said.

It took us three hours to get there, when it should have only taken an hour. We had to double back and go out of our way several times to avoid search patrols.

The whole city seemed to be alive with people searching for us. I would never have made it through such a man-search alone and have remained uncaught, with only my limited evasion skills to go on. Flint, however, was a master at it and he helped me keep my cool and not panic.

We reached the wharf and then we made our way along the marina. The boats at dock changed from old fishing trawlers, which looked like they would sink in a weak eddy, to more expensive looking yachts.

Near the entrance of a private marina, Flint stopped. There was heavy security and we weren't going to be able to slip past them without being noticed. Flint was looking farther out in the harbor, his eyes squinted in concentration.

He pointed at a yacht far offshore by itself, "That's it. That's the Siren's Call. We'll have to swim out to it."

I stepped back from the dark water of the harbor unconsciously. "Couldn't we get a small boat to get to it?"

He turned to me and something in my face must have alerted him to the apprehension I felt for the dark water of the bay.

"Didn't you swim all the way from your father's island to shore? I know you can swim." He said, cautiously feeling me out.

"It was a bad experience! I nearly died and it was night, everything was dark! The water was dark and something brushed past me and I thought I was going to be eaten! Just like my mother was!"

Flint's strong arms came around me and held me against his chest. His words came softly right beside my ear.




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