“I’ll take care of it, Kaia. You stay out of it. I think you should quit working with the navy on this.”
“I wish I could. I just want to get back to my research. But my boss has ordered me to do this project. I need to finish it out and get back to Seaworthy Labs. This piecemeal research isn’t getting me the answers I need.”
“I don’t want you hurt.”
There was more he wasn’t saying. She squeezed her eyes shut so she wouldn’t have to see the determination in her brother’s face. He was involved in this somehow.
Eleven
Jesse was waiting at the boat when he saw the headlights of Kaia’s truck. She’d left a message on his voice mail saying that her brother had taken her to get her vehicle and she would meet him at the boat at ten. It was fifteen after. Nani was waiting for them when he arrived. She splashed around in the waves and flipped water all over his uniform. She seemed to laugh at him when he scolded her. That dolphin was really something. No wonder Kaia was hooked on her research.
Kaia parked and got out of her truck. Carrying her backpack, she half jogged, half limped toward the boat. “Sorry I’m late.” She hopped on the boat and smiled when she saw his damp clothing. “Looks like Nani was getting rambunctious.”
“You could say that.” He took her backpack from her and laid it on the deck.
She felt through her pockets then frowned. “I bet I left my cell phone at home.”
“I’ve got mine.”
“I’d forget my head if it wasn’t attached.” She clicked her tongue at Nani.
Jesse watched her. “You look a little tired.”
She didn’t answer, but he saw her lips tighten. She untied the rope from the dock and tossed it on the deck. “Let’s get out there.”
She must not want to talk about whatever had shadowed her dark eyes. He guessed it was worry. “You got it.” He slung his legs under the wheel and started the engine while Kaia coaxed Nani into allowing her to attach the underwater camera. Then the boat puttered out to sea, and darkness swallowed up the security lights at the dock. Nani followed.
“Where we headed today?” she asked.
“I thought we might hug the shoreline tonight.”
As Jesse turned the boat northward, Nani sprang out of the water then crashed back, throwing water over them. The dolphin surfaced again, chattering in agitation.
“What’s wrong with her?” he asked, cutting the engine.
Kaia looked at the camera monitor but couldn’t detect anything unusual. “I think she sees something. I’m going in.” Kaia started pulling on her wet suit.
“Not without me.” He grabbed his own suit and thrust his legs into it. She had her fins and mask on before he could get his arms into the neoprene fabric. She shrugged her shoulders into the BC, then he heard a splash as she went overboard.
Fuming, he fumbled with his suit before he succeeded in getting it zipped. He grabbed his BC and got the tank on his back.
Kaia surfaced just off the starboard bow. “I forgot my flashlight,” she said. “It’s in my backpack. Would you throw it to me? Turn it on first.”
He ought to make her come after it. She was disobeying orders already. Rummaging in the backpack, he found the halogen light. It should have been clipped to her BC. He turned it on and tossed it to her. It landed about a foot from her right hand and floated in the waves until she grabbed it.
Nani was circling, still agitated. Jesse rubbed anti-fog on the inside of his mask, then rinsed it out and adjusted it on his face. He looked around for Kaia but found only a dim glow from her light under the waves. He took a deep breath and joined her.
Under water, it was impossible to see more than the area illuminated by the light—about thirty feet in a straight line. Beyond that, it was like staring into space—a blackness so impenetrable it brought an atavistic fear at the gut level. Anything could lie in that inky well: man o’ war colonies, sharks, giant squid. Jesse always required a moment to adjust to the differences of nighttime diving.
His fear safely stowed away, he swam after Kaia. He joined her where she floated with Nani. She was peering at a sea cave, aiming her light toward it. His light was bigger and more powerful, so he did the same.
The cave’s shadows fled and revealed the cause of Nani’s agitation. A diver was caught. Her airlines had been snagged by a rock-fall. She was gesturing wildly and trying to tug herself free. A flashlight lay at her feet, but the lens was shattered and dark.
Jesse and Kaia shot forward. Kaia grabbed her octopus regulator and offered it to the young woman. She shook her head and pointed to the bubbles still escaping from her tank. She had enough air.