Then he saw it—a red glow deep in the billowing pillow lava. The soft, cushionylooking mounds would be anything but soft if he dared to touch them. Annie was right. An eruption had begun down here. There was no telling how long it would be before the eruption spread and endangered the site where the sunken ship sat. Ron wouldn’t like this.
Bane turned and swam back the way he’d come. He reached the mother crack and decided to follow it down into the abyss a short distance. Nani followed him, but she was still distressed. He pressed on anyway. He had to know what the conditions were. Checking his dive computer, he monitored his mental state as he dove past one hundred feet, then one hundred fifty. He could see the ledge ahead, but something more ominous caught his attention. Another red glow in the distance, on the same level as the ship.
Staying at about one hundred fifty feet, he swam above the ship and over to the red glow. It was about fifty feet beyond the ship. Much too close to allow them to work safely. Ron wouldn’t be happy. He had turned to rejoin the others when he saw the opening to a cave. He approached it and shone his powerful halogen light inside. It was mammoth, opening to about fifty feet in diameter. Interesting varieties of coral enticed him farther in. Nani zoomed around him. She bumped him with her nostrum and blocked his path. He patted her and started to rise.
From out of the darkness at the back of the cave, another diver emerged into Bane’s light. Bane blinked, not sure he was really seeing a person. Then he saw the knife in the diver’s hand. The man might not mean any harm. He smiled and lifted his hand in greeting. The diver came at him with the knife. Bane kicked out with his fins and managed to move enough to get out of the way. The diver came at him again, his green eyes behind the mask dark with menace. but Nani dove between them. She torpedoed into the diver’s stomach, and the knife dropped to the cave bottom. The diver was doubled over, struggling to suck in air through his regulator.
Nani came close, and Bane grabbed her dorsal fin. With a final glance at the man who was beginning to recover from Nani’s blow and swim away, he allowed the dolphin to pull him up to safety. She swam to where Leia was helping Annie take samples. Bane released Nani’s dorsal fin. He touched Annie on the arm, and Leia saw him. She shook her finger at him, and he could see the worry in her face. At a touch on his shoulder, Bane turned to see Mano. His brother squeezed his shoulder in a tight grip, and Bane knew Mano had been looking for him.
Bane motioned to the women and Mano to follow him. He took them to the site of the eruption. Annie and Mano began to take samples, and from their swift, efficient movements, he realized they might be in more danger than he’d realized. Could this slight eruption turn to something more? It was hot down here, and getting hotter.
Eighteen
Leia had never been so close to molten lava. When visiting the Big Island, she had never managed to walk out to Kilauea and look at the lava flow. Today’s experience had been surreal.
“Any idea why someone would attack you?” Mano asked Bane. “What could be in the cave? And where did he come from? There’s no boat up here waiting for him.”
“I wonder if he was just narced and paranoid. Maybe he’d gone deeper than he expected, like Leia did the other day.” Bane’s voice was impatient. “Or maybe he wanted any treasure for himself.”
Ron scowled. “No one is taking that ship away from me. The eruption isn’t bad enough to overheat the water by the ship yet, you said. I want to get down there and get it out while we can.”
“We don’t even know there is a treasure on the ship,” Leia said. “Legend says the treasure was removed and buried somewhere on the island, and an old man I knew claimed his ancestors buried it on land. You could be putting lives in danger for nothing. I’m not going down again.” Leia watched Ron’s face to see if she was getting through.
He shrugged. “Even if that’s true, the ship itself is of value, and we have only a small window of time to preserve it. We’re too close to give up now.” He looked at Bane.
“You’ll be fine. Annie here can monitor the eruption and let us know when it’s too dangerous to go down. I’ve got deep-sea diving gear on its way, but the Trimix will work in the meantime if you don’t stay down too long.”
Annie shook her head. “It’s too dangerous now. The earthquakes haven’t slowed. We had a large swarm just this morning. I think a big event is imminent. My advice is to not go down there anymore, no matter where the treasure really is.”
Ron growled. “If the treasure had been taken off the ship and buried, surely someone would have come back for it.”
“There are places on Moloka’i where no one goes and access is forbidden. I don’t find it implausible that it’s still buried somewhere on the island.” Leia should have expected his argument.
“Does anyone know more about this legend?” Ron squinted his eyes and looked at the water.
“The only one I heard talk about it is dead now. Someone shot him a few days ago.” Leia wondered how Koma’s death fit in. All the pieces of the puzzle had to fit in somehow.