I always like Cussler's books. The Fargos are a man and wife team of divers, archeologists and treasure hunters. The have been diving off Tanzania when they find an old ships bell. Before they can get it tothe surface, they are approached by a government patrol boat and questioned. Have they found anything? What are they doing there? They see someone who stayed behind in the patrol boat and seems to be coaching the soldiers but isn't one of them so they are very careful with their answers. Coming back later the raise the bell but before they can get it away they are surprised by 3 zodiacs with armed men aboard. They were able to hide and not be seen but the bell was taken. As they hunt to get the bell back the mystery deepens and takes them on a long search for missing Aztec items as they follow the trail of a union spy and a mysterious ship of the era, all the time trying to stay ahead of the men who stole the bell and aren't adverse to killing those in their way. Racing back and forth across the ocean from their base in California to Africa, Madagascar and the East Indies they follow clues from items they uncover. Great adventure, simple and fast reading.