The deliveryman smiled as he eyed the thick stack of currency. “I wonder if the Germans would pay this much to sink a ship and murder a general,” he said. “You wouldn’t happen to be working for the Kaiser, now, would you?”

The minister firmly shook his head. “No, this is a theological matter. Had you been able to locate the document, this would not have been necessary."

Oh my. A ’theological matter’. This will go well.

“Forgive us our sins in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” he heard the minister say solemnly. “These we take to the grave.”

The back side of a shovel appeared, followed by a clump of soggy dirt that fell and bounced off his chest. Another shovelful of dirt tumbled down, and then another.

His body was paralyzed and his voice frozen, but his mind still operated with reason. With crushing horror, he fully grasped that he was being buried alive.

Yup…

And that’s just the prologue.

Deep down, Giordino knew there would be something more interesting than an outcropping of rocks at the bottom. He had too much history with Pitt to question his friend’s apparent sixth sense when it came to underwater mysteries.

It’s kind of funny to hear it said out loud. He might as well say that it’s because he’s the protagonist. Heh.

Pitt crooked an arm around her waist and gave her a long kiss. “A tire problem on the plane delayed our departure. Have you been waiting long?”

“Less than an hour.” She crumpled her nose and licked her lips. “You taste salty.”

“Al and I found a shipwreck on the way to the airport.”

“I should have guessed,” she said, then gave him a scolding look. “I thought you told me flying and diving didn’t mix?”

“They don’t. But that puddle jumper I flew in on barely cleared a thousand feet, so I’m plenty safe.”

The sea may be Pitt’s first love and mistress, but I do love seeing the relationship with Loren finally develop. She’s a good character.

Also, they totally stole Cussler’s care. Because of course they did.

All that being said, you may have noticed that I didn’t really mention the plot at all… because there’s really nothing to it beyond the blurb:

In A.D. 327, a Roman galley barely escapes a pirate attack with its extraordinary cargo. In 1916, a British warship mysteriously explodes in the middle of the North Sea. In the present day, a cluster of important mosques in Turkey and Egypt are wracked by explosions. Does anything tie them together?

That’s about it. An interesting story. Doesn’t feel as plausible as some, which is saying something. It’s fine and at this point I’m going to finish these…