Jesse pulled out his knife and pried on the rocks that held the woman’s lines. He could feel the blood pounding in his ears as he worked. A million things could go wrong before he got her free.
Nani hovered over them all, seemingly at peace now that Kaia and Jesse were helping the diver. The lava rock was soft and porous, crumbling under his sharp knife, though it still took five minutes to release her hoses. As soon as the rock released her, they all headed to the surface as fast as they dared. Jesse rose on relief alone. The moon was bright as their heads broke the surface.
The woman spit out her regulator and pulled her mask down around her neck. “I thought I was a goner!”
Jesse glanced around to make sure Kaia’s head was above the waves. She was floating with her hand on Nani’s dorsal fin. He dropped his mask and took out his regulator. “What were you doing diving alone? It’s bad enough to do it in the daytime, but never at night. You’re lucky Nani found you.” Fear made him shout.
“You’re right,” the woman said gravely. She swam toward the boat and climbed the ladder.
Kaia and Jesse followed her. Jesse insisted Kaia go up the ladder first, then he followed. He was eager to get a look at the reckless young woman and find out what she was doing out here. The fact that she was just barely outside navy waters was suspect.
He grabbed a towel and rubbed the salt out of his eyes then turned to stare at her. Under the boat’s lights and with her mask down, she was older than Jesse had thought. Probably thirty-five, with straight dark hair and hazel eyes.
“Jenny Saito! What were you thinking?” Kaia scolded. “You know better than to do something like this.”
“You know each other?” he asked. Kaia looked mad enough to shake the other woman.
Jenny nodded. “I’m Kaia’s research assistant.” She took the towel he handed her and began to dry off.
“Then you’re a professional. You know how insane it was to go out there alone,” he said.
Jenny shrugged. “I was bored tonight and thought I’d do a little shore diving. I’ve done it before. I saw Liko and Mahina playing off the point and thought I’d join them. Liko took my light and dropped it in the sea cave. I went to retrieve it, and you saw the results.”
Kaia shuddered. “Don’t ever do that again, Jenny. That was stupid.”
Jenny dropped her gaze, but not before Jesse saw the flare of rebellion in her eyes. He began to wonder if the woman was telling them the whole story. A little investigation into her background might be in order.
When she left Jesse at the dock, Kaia was still charged from the night’s excitement. Working at the lab for an hour or two before heading home to get some rest wouldn’t kill her. She changed into the clean shorts and top she’d brought in her backpack then took DALE down to the lagoon. The rising sun made her blink, but it kept her awake.
She worked with Nani for an hour; then her lids began to grow heavy, and she knew she had to get some rest. On her way to the truck, she heard the phone ringing in the office over the loudspeaker. They had it set up that way so no one felt they had to stay inside when they could be working with the dolphins. No one was here but her. Maybe it was Jenny. Kaia hoped her coworker didn’t have any ill effects from the night’s escapade.
She entered the office and grabbed the phone. “Seaworthy Labs.”
An unfamiliar man’s voice came over the line. “I was about to hang up.”
The guy sounded irritated, and Kaia’s back stiffened. “We’re actually closed,” she informed him. “It’s Saturday.”
“Is Mr. Latchet around?”
“No, like I said, the lab is closed.”
“You can take a message. Tell him Aloha Sea Park called, and I need to reschedule my tour of the facility. I don’t want to cancel it though. I’m very interested in partnering with Mr. Latchet in building a sea park.”
Kaia promised to relay the message and hung up. Anger drove away her exhaustion, and she considered heading straight for the Latchet house to plead with Curtis to stop all plans to capture her dolphins. But she knew she’d get nowhere when she was this mad. She glanced at her watch. She could go see Mano. Worry about what he was getting into with Pele Hawai′i wouldn’t leave her alone. She still hadn’t decided whether to confide her fears to Bane and ask him to try to extricate their brother from his involvement.