Race among the Ruins

"Don't call him professor, he's not a teacher," snapped Maria. "And I doubt that he'll have much time for fun. This is serious business and even if it wasn't, he's going through a divorce. And to tell you the truth I don't think you're his type."

"I'm every man's type," said Dana. "But at least I know what you're pissed about now." She moved closer to Maria and sat down next to her friend.

"Does he know?" asked Dana.

"Does he know what?" asked Maria getting up and walking across the room.

"That you want to fuck his brains out?" smiled Dana.

"I don't want to fuck his brains, or anything else out," said Maria.

"Well you like him then, don't you?" asked Dana.

"What if I did? It wouldn't matter. He thinks of me as some kid who does his research although we haven't done any fucking research. I could really help him if he'd let me do more than busy work. I'm twenty seven fucking years old and he treats me like a kid. You're only twenty four and he treats you like a grown up."

"That's your fault," snapped Dana. "Look at the way you dress. How do you expect him to treat you? Maria, he's around beautiful women all the time. His ex is probably pushing forty but she's attractive. Mrs. Rinehart is his friend. That woman is scary hot and so are you but you need to get in the game and stop hiding."

"I dress this way to..." began Maria.

"Yeah I know," interrupted Dana. "To keep the wolves away and make sure that people take you seriously as a historian and an educator. I've heard the speech two hundred fucking times. Your dowdy clothes and your glasses are like your force field. The problem with your force field though is that it keeps EVERYONE out, even the people you WANT to let in. I think you should turn off the force field and see if he's interested in keeping the wrong people away from you himself."

"But..." said Maria.

"Look Maria, I'm your friend," said Dana. "I always will be. So I'll leave the man alone. But I can't promise you that the other women around here will. There are all kinds of women at that sleazy hotel he stays at who are probably interested in him. If you don't let him know that you are too, someone will snap him up in a heartbeat. And you'll be kicking yourself worse than his stupid wife is."

Robert banged on the villa's door. "Stacy let me in," he said. "We need to talk."

Stacy went to the door and looked out the window. When she saw Robert she started to walk away. He banged on the door again and she yanked it open.

"What the fuck do you want?" she yelled. "You've already flushed my life down the drain, what more do you need?"

"Stacy, "I" didn't mess up your life. "We" messed up both of our lives. So "We" need to work together to fix them.

"How?" asked Stacy.

"Leave that to me," said Robert. "Just be ready to do whatever I tell you to, exactly when I tell you."

A few hours later Maria and Dana were at the Hang Dog while Aaron sang a song. When he finished the song the crowd started shouting for him to sing Hang Dog Hotel.

Maria had heard the song before but Dana hadn't and was amazed. She and Maria talked through the first verse but a woman sitting near them shushed them during the chorus.

"I believe in magic, a little monkey shine," sang Aaron. "But the kind of hoe I can really row is playing a tune on time."

"He's pretty good," said Dana. "He'll be able to sing your five kids to sleep."

"Unh unh," said Maria.

"You're not going to have kids with him?" asked Dana.

"We're not stopping at five," smirked Maria.

Two tables away, Stacy frowned. "Don't tell me you're jealous of the lumpy woman?" asked Robert. They were both wearing hats and keeping their heads down hoping no one noticed them.

"I'm jealous of everyone who wants to take what's mine," snapped Stacy. "There's no way that little whore is having anything with Aaron. And your plan, whatever it is, had better work."

"With a few good friends and neighbors in to play the night time tunes," sang Aaron. Then he stopped and the crowd sang in unison. "So pass the jar and that old guitar in this Hang Dog hotel room."

They were all laughing and having a good time as Aaron worked his way through the crowd over to Maria's table.

"Aaron, don't you trust me?" asked Maria.

"Of course," he said puzzled. "What makes you think that I don't?"

"Well, you haven't told me where we're going to dive," she said. "That makes it seem like you don't trust me."

"I don't know where we're going yet," he said. "But we will soon. Didn't you listen to the song; especially the part about magic?"

"That's another thing," said Maria. "When did you write that song? And what is all of this talk about magic. Between you and Elena Rinehart, I'm about sick of magic!"

Aaron laughed. It was a rich deep laugh that ripped its way up from way down inside of him. It made the people around him want to laugh as well. But it made Stacy, who was relatively close to him, want to cry. How could her husband be laughing when she was in so much pain? She was tempted to go over to him and beg him to take her back. But Robert had led them away from the table before Aaron noticed them.

"I didn't write the song," said Aaron. "It's a Gordon Lightfoot song. I think the guy who originally opened the hotel was a Gordon Lightfoot fan. The next owner kept the name intact, but went for the pirate theme."

"Did you hear that?" Robert asked Stacy as soon as they got outside. Stacy took out her earplug at the same time that Robert took his out. The earpieces they wore were similar to the ones sold on the internet as "Super Ears." They'd originally been developed for senior citizens whose hearing was failing. But now they were marketed to anyone who wanted to listen in on conversations that were too distant for normal hearing to pick up.

"I heard all of that shit," snapped Stacy. "I've already told you there's no way I'm going to let that little bitch fuck my husband or have his babies. That's my job."

"Get the fuck out of here," laughed Robert. "Stacy you're a PHD. You're a relatively decent historian and you're smart as hell. But you are not the mothering type. You're more like one of those spiders who eat their own young. I do think that in some strange way, you love Aaron, but he and everything else is secondary to your career ambitions. Look at how quickly you got on your knees for me. And anyway I wasn't talking about that. I was talking about the fact that he still really doesn't know where the hell he's diving. We're going to have to follow him."

"Why do we have to follow him?" asked Stacy.

"Have you ever heard the expression, "I'd rather be lucky than smart?" asked Robert.

Stacy nodded her head. "Aaron has this way of pinpointing the locations where we dive," said Robert. "I do all of the research and narrow it down to the area, but at least 8 times out of 10 he looks around and says let's just dive here. And most of the time we find things right where he wants to dive. Right now I have the weirdest feeling that all of the other teams including us are barking up the wrong tree. I checked, and the area I found is the same one that everyone else wants to dive in. To be truthful it's the same area that everyone who comes here dives in. I now believe that area has been picked clean. I want to try somewhere else. So we're going to go along with our old pal. It's a bit of a gamble but like I said Aaron has this weird assed luck and I'd rather bet with him than against him."

The next morning Aaron, Maria and Dana met at the docks. Maria introduced Aaron to Sandra, Jared, Jordan, Mike and Steve. Sandra would take care of keeping records during the project. Jared and Jordan would be diving with Aaron. Mike would monitor the divers and the site on the electronic gear and Steve would handle maintaining all of the computers and gear. As they boarded the boat the hot Greek sun beamed down on them even though it was still very early in the morning.

Sandra and Dana were wearing swimsuits with cargo shorts over them. The boys were all wearing T-shirts and swim trunks. Maria had already started to bake in her baggy sweatshirt and long skirt.

Across the way, three sets of binoculars were trained on Aaron's boat.

"Follow them when they leave Captain," said Robert.

"Look at those legs," said the Captain.

He turned to Robert. "You'd better hope they don't see us," he said.

"Why," asked Robert.

"He picked a good boat. The Sea Horse is one of the fastest boats around here. She's smaller than we are and lighter, but she has more than twice our horsepower and thrust," said the Captain. "If he gets wind of us, he could leave us in the spray relatively easily. There are hundreds of small islands around here for him to hide in and he can maneuver through water that's too shallow for us."

Robert just nodded and kept watching through the binoculars. Stacy watched the scene on the Sea Horse's deck and cursed under her breath. "That little bitch," she snapped.

"Holy fuck! I fired HER?" said Robert.

On board the Sea Horse, Sandra and Dana had taken off their shorts and were sunning themselves on the deck waiting to get underway. Some of the boats crew and the archaeological team were staring at the women. The sight of shapely young female bodies wasn't something that sailors got to see a lot. Even Aaron couldn't help looking.

Maria saw his eyes and immediately went below deck. She decided then to fight fire with fire. When she came back up and told Aaron that the captain needed him, he almost fell overboard.

Maria had taken her long hair down for once, the contrast between that and the way she usually looked was startling. She'd taken off her glasses and put her contacts in and her beautiful eyes were there to be seen. She'd added just a touch of lipstick and eye makeup. She looked like a different woman but the biggest change was that she was wearing a bikini that was just as tiny as the ones the other women were wearing. Maria's breasts were amazing. It became obvious why she didn't wear low cut clothing very often. No one would ever take her seriously. Her tight trim waist and rounded hips were equally attractive. She'd notice though, that Aaron didn't seem to be able to take his eyes off of her ass as she walked away from him. She'd file that away for future knowledge.

"Uhm, coming," said Aaron as he watched her walk towards the bridge. The jiggle in her walk was mesmerizing

"Are you now?" asked Maria. Aaron almost lost his balance again.

Maria linked her arm through his as they walked towards the bridge. She tingled at his touch and decided that for once dressing and acting like this, was worth it.

Stacy threw her binoculars down on the deck bending the frame and cracking one of the lenses. "I'm going to kill that little bitch," she said.

"Well now we know why those baggy sweatshirts were so lumpy," said Robert. "Do you think they're real?" Stacy just screamed in frustration.

"Captain you know what to do," said Robert going below deck.

Once he was out of sight, Robert produced a small SAT phone. He quietly spoke into it and then returned to the deck. He pulled out a chart and told the Captain to go to a set of coordinates. Stacy went below deck and stayed there. She didn't like the way the crew or the Captain looked at her, especially since they'd spent time watching the women on Aaron's boat through the binoculars. More than ever she missed her husband. She really hoped that Robert's plan could get them back together.

With a sudden lurch the boat took off and from the way everything was rattling and shaking, as well as the motion from the waves, Stacy was sure they were making good time. She left the cabin that she shared with Robert and tried to find him on deck. She looked over and saw him standing by the rail.

Robert looked up as Stacy approached and smiled. "Stacy, I have a friend who will be contacting you soon. You'll know it's him because he'll mention me as "our mutual friend." How well do you swim?" he asked.

"Not very well," she said, wondering what he was talking about.

Robert gestured to one of the crew members. He whispered something to the man, who abruptly left. He came back a few moments later with a moth eaten life jacket that was obviously not in good condition.

"Is this the best you have?" asked Robert.

"Yeah it is," said the man. "We don't use those things. We just keep a few of em' around for inspections."

"Stace, you'd better put this on. It'll be show time soon. According to our mutual friend they're underway, and their boat is way faster than this tub," said Robert. "And remember we're partners, if you get happy and betray me. I'll let him know what was going on from the beginning. If I lose, we all lose."

"Robert, what the hell are you babbling about?" asked Stacy.

"Your husband is on his way to pick you up," smirked Robert. "He just doesn't know it yet. But remember we're in this together."

"I heard you the first time, Robert. I'm not an idiot," said Stacy. "What do you mean Aaron is on his way to pick me up?" she asked excitedly.

"Just watch, you'll see," smiled Robert. "And you need to be surprised. It'll make the whole thing seem more real."

The ship started to slow down in the vicinity of a derelict looking island. There was no vegetation there and no life was apparent. It appeared to be just a rock that had forced its way up out of the sea during one of the region's frequent earthquakes. The ship dropped its anchor and its only movement was its rising and falling with the waves.

After a few minutes a phone in Robert's pocket chirped. "I didn't know cell phones worked this far out," said Stacy.

"They don't," said Robert. Then he yelled for the captain. "Get the anchor up, we're going to be pulling out soon."

Stacy heard the clanking sound of a motor running that let her know the anchor was coming back up. "All right places everyone," yelled Robert. Stacy had no idea what was going on.

"We only get one shot at this," yelled Robert. "So if anyone fucks this up there won't be a bonus coming."

Stacy couldn't figure out what was going on. The members of the unsavory crew seemed to just be standing there. They weren't doing anything. But then, neither was Robert. He was just watching the water. Suddenly she noticed that in the distance there was a boat coming. She grabbed her binoculars but remembered that she'd broken them earlier. So she grabbed Robert's out of his hand. The boat that was approaching was the boat that Aaron was on. "Can you see the boat?" asked Robert.

"Just barely," said Stacy.

"That means that they can see us, but the sun is in their eyes so they won't be able to make anything out for a few minutes," said Robert.

He stood up and acted as if he was stretching before playing tennis. Then he straightened up and looked at the approaching boat. "I have to time this just right," he said. "I don't want you to get too wet."

Stacy was just about to ask him what the hell he was talking about. Her outfit was expensive. It was already being crushed and deformed by the smelly life jacket. She didn't want him to go splashing water all over her needlessly. He should have told her that they'd be splashing water so she could have changed.

"Action," yelled Robert. Suddenly there was yelling and screaming coming from the crew. They were banging pots and pans and on deck a fight had broken out. The other boat was just close enough that Stacy could see people on its deck without the binoculars. Then she thought she saw someone on their deck pointing at this ship. She leaned over the railing to see who it was, but couldn't make them out. All of a sudden the boat she was on started moving rapidly, but that was the least of her problems. Robert, who'd been standing near her, bumped her. She lost her balance and teetered wildly, near a section of the deck that had no safety rail.

"Watch it, I almost lost my balance," she yelled.

"Almost," said Robert and he pushed her again. This time Stacy couldn't hold on. She fell over the side and landed in the water. The life jacket, as bad as it looked, brought her sputtering towards the surface. As soon as she got her breath back she started screaming.

"Robert, you son of a bitch," she screamed at the top of her lungs. But it was too late. The boat was moving away from her at a fast clip.

The other boat was now heading in her direction. She waved at it. It took the Sea Horse about three minutes to get to her. "Do you need help?" asked a young moron from the deck.

"No, I'm just going to pull a ship out of my ass and float to safety," snapped Stacy. "Of course I need help."

"Oh, I kind of wanted to see that," said the man.

Stacy just glared at him. They got a harness and threw it to her and winched her aboard the ship. As soon as she stepped aboard, Aaron walked away. Only the young man who'd spotted her in the first place and two girls remained. One of them smiled and looked friendly enough. The other was Maria Clarridge. Stacy was surprised at how attractive Maria had become. Though short of stature, the woman's breasts were incredible; which automatically put Stacy at a disadvantage. She'd often thought of having hers augmented, but Aaron hated fake boobs.

Maria's legs, though short were sculptured, with just enough muscle to be noticed but not enough to be unattractive or masculine. She had a tiny waist and a nice bubble butt too. The thing that bothered Stacy the most was the fact that without her glasses the woman was quite pretty. It was like the girl had taken pains to disguise herself when they'd first met.

Maria turned to the young man. "Mr. Anderson says to show her to that spare room below deck next to the crew's quarters. Move a chair and a cot in there and make her as comfortable as possible, but keep her out of the way," she told him.

"Why do I have to do it?" he asked.

"You fished her out of the sea, so she's your problem," said Maria, turning to leave.

Maria joined Aaron and the captain on the bridge. Within a few moments both Stacy and the young man who'd rescued her were there as well.

Aaron had to admit it hurt him to have to look at Stacy. She was still every bit as beautiful to him as she was when he married her. The young man with her seemed to want to talk about something. But Aaron had trouble seeing anything other than his ex wife or his new assistant. In only a few days he'd come to have feelings for Maria, but he'd been with Stacy for so long. On the other hand As much as he loved Stacy he hated what she'd done to them. And sometimes you had to just move on.

"Aaron, Honey, thank you for saving me," said Stacy. "We need to talk." Aaron noticed that as Stacy moved towards him, Maria positioned herself between them.

"It wasn't me who saved you, Stacy," said Aaron. "It was the guy over there. I would have left you to drown. I'm sure if he hadn't pulled you out, someone else would have. There's an unwritten law against leaving people in the ocean, but in this case I'd probably have broken it," he said. "Now if that's all, we're having an important meeting." He looked at the young man, expecting him to take her below. But for some reason he seemed to want to stay.

"Mr. Anderson, I need to talk to you about this," he said indicating Stacy. "She knows how to get below, so I'll wait for you guys to get done talking."

Maria stepped in. "Jared, onboard a ship the first thing you have to learn is how to take orders. Aaron told you to take Dr. Anderson below. So, take Dr. Anderson below."

Jared nodded his head and complied. "Okay," Aaron began. Maria held up her hand. Then she went over to the door and jerked it open suddenly. Both Jared and Stacy were standing just outside the door.

"Steve," bellowed Maria loudly enough that she could be heard all over the ship.