From Israel to Spain to New York City to Put-In-Bay to Key West. When the treasure-laden Spanish galleon, The Atocha, sinks off the Marquesas Islands during a 1622 hurricane, its $400 million in treasure remains untouched by treasure hunter Mel Fisher, and moved to Mel Fisher's Treasure Museum in Key West. A ruthless terrorist on the run from Israel's Mossad and a die-hard Mafioso in the Federal Witness Protection Program, hunted by contract killers, find themselves drawn into the unlikely partnership of heisting Mel Fisher's treasure during the middle of hurricane Charley. Emerson Moore, The Washington Post investigate reporter and resident of Lake Erie's South Bass Island resort town of Put-in-Bay, heads on assignment to Key West to cover the hurricane's impact. Joined by his ex-Navy SEAL sidekick, Sam Duncan, Emerson Moore finds his assignment taking a dramatic change as he is lured into a spiderweb of intrigue. Filled with murder, fights, underwater action, sunken boats; When Rainbows Walk takes readers to exotic locations satiated with unforgettable characters and a surprising climax. Havana, Cuba After brief overnight stay, the fleet of twenty-eight Spanish sailed out of Havana's harbor on Sunday morning. Since loading the fleet's rich cargo at the Portobello, Panama port, the fleet's commander was anxious to be under way with his heavily loaded treasure vessels, especially since their departure had been delayed six weeks, and would cause them to traverse the Bahama Passage during the hurricane season. One ship was significantly overloaded. Its main hold was filled with wine, bales of indigo and tobacco, ceramic jars of olive oil, slabs of copper, and the usual ship stores. This galleon, with its twenty bronze cannons and cases and barrels of muskets, pikes, powder, and shot had been assigned to guard the fleer's rear and carried an entire infantry company. Forty-eight passengers and their voluminous luggage were crammed into her small cabins. More importantly, the ship's hold carried a vast treasure of 901 silver ingots, 255,000 silver cons, 161 pieces of registered gold, crated silverware, gold rings and chains, emeralds and other fine jewelry from the artisans of Lima. In addition, the ship was laden with hidden, unregistered contraband bullion. One important merchant had secreted sixty silver bars - averaging sixty-five pounds each - on the ship. The galleon's name was Nuestra Senora de AtochaI - "Our Lady of Atocha." Built in Havana in 1619, the 100-foot-long vessel was named in honor of the Virgin Mary in a Madrid shrine, and had a depiction of the Virgin painted high in her sterncastle to bring the ship good luck. The fleet of ships tacked to the east of Havana and sailed easily northward with the wind toward the lower Florida Keys where they would enter the Gulf Stream for their sail to Spain. After a night of steadily increasing wind, the fleet sailed into the Gulf Stream and encountered a strong northeast wind. The wind raked the Gulf Stream's current in the opposite direction, causing vicious cross-seas. The ships reduced sail as the weather worsened and the day darkened. The wind rose to a whole gale, and the height of the seas around the convoy rose to more than ten feet. The Atocha's waist was almost continuously awash as it lumbered through the heavy seas. The ship began to plunge wildly, causing some of its cargo to break looses in her lower decks. After another night of fighting waves that crested at fifteen feet, the Atocha found itself along with the Santa Margarita, separated from the rest of the fleet, and about fifty miles to the east of the Tortugas. The Atocha's foremast had been carried away, and the ship was suddenly lifted high on the crest of a towering wave. As it fell into the trough, it crashed with sickening impact on a reef, causing the shop's mainmast to snap off. The impact on the reef ripped open her lower bow, and the sea began to pour in. The ship wallowed under the weight of the incoming seas, her ballast, the cannons, and her heavy treasure. Losing her buoyancy, she sunk just west of a circle of mangrove islands, carrying 260 shrieking passengers and crew to an agonizing, watery death. The next morning's dawn brought clear blue skies and calm waters. The only evidence of the previous day's ferocious storm was floating debris. Fifty-feet below the glimmering surface lay the Atocha with over $400 million in gold and silver bars, emeralds, and coins. She would rest untouched by human hands at the bottom of the sea for three hundred fifty-one years until discovered in modern times by a persistent treasure hunter with a contagious enthusiasm - Mel Fisher. In 2004, the name, Atocha, would again be linked with death - the death of some 200 Spaniards in Madrid caused by Al-Qaeda.
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