At first Alex had thought she had signed her own death warrant. It wasn’t that she didn’t know the power of the waves. She’d been out in bad weather before. She’d seen people flounder when the waves were only four feet. She couldn’t begin to imagine how high they were now, but desperation had driven her into the water.
Even with everything she knew, she still hadn’t imagined the battering she was going to take, the impossibility of actually swimming against the force of the sea.
She had thought she was going to die.
Then she had felt the smooth, slick, velvet sliding by her. Her mind had been too numbed at first to comprehend. The animal had made a second glide-by, and then she had known.
When Shania returned for her that time, she was ready, catching hold of the dorsal fin, just as she taught tourists to do on a daily basis.
She caught hold, though, and knew that she was doing it for her life. Still, despite her fear and panic and the waves and the desperation of the situation, she was awed. She had heard stories about dolphins performing amazing rescues. She worked with them on a daily basis, knew their intelligence and their affection.
And still…she was in awe. For a moment she wondered where the dolphin would go, and then she knew.
Safe haven.
The dolphin lagoon. Shania’s home, the place where she found shelter. Where she had gone when she had been sick and injured. Where she had been nursed back to health.
The dolphin moved with astounding speed. As they neared the submerged gates to the first lagoon, Alex was afraid that she would be crushed against the steel. Shania had more faith in her own abilities. She dove low with her human passenger and raced through the opening, and they emerged in the sheltered lagoon.
“Sweet girl, sweet girl, thank you!” Alex whispered fervently to the dolphin, easing her hold and stroking the creature. “I owe you so many fish. I won’t even slip vitamins into any of them,” she promised.
Soundlessly, Shania moved off. Alex swam hard to the platform, crawling out of the water, shaking.
She was cold, soaking wet, barefoot, and no better off than when she had begun.
The winds would whip up again, and she had not found shelter.
Out there, somewhere, were two armed men. David and John.
And then there was Jay…. Would he have left Len to die on the sand? Oh God, she’d forgotten in her panic. And Hank? Where had he gone?
Her heart felt as numb as her fingers. There was nowhere to go, and no one to trust.
What the hell to do now? She started to rise, but a sudden wind gust nearly knocked her over. The storm was on its way back.
She headed back around the lagoon, creeping low, her goal now the Tiki Hut. The bar was solid oak. If she wedged herself beneath it, with any luck she would survive the winds and get only a minimal lashing from the rain.
Another gust of wind came along, pushing her forward. She was going to have to wedge herself tightly in. She could and would survive the night, she promised herself.
But when morning came…what then?
David raced along the path, pausing only when he neared the lagoons, trying desperately to see in the darkness. The rain was becoming heavier; the wind had shifted fully and was now beginning to pick up speed.
Trying to utilize the remaining foliage for cover, he searched the area surrounding the lagoons, then the water. The darkness was deceptive, but he thought he saw dark heads bobbing now and then.
He had no idea which animal had come for Alex, how it had known she was in trouble, or where to find her. Dolphins had excellent vision; he knew they sometimes watched people from deep in the water. But how a dolphin had known where to look for Alex, he would never know.
Even though he couldn’t see Alex, he was certain the dolphin had brought her back to the lagoon. Unless something had happened along the way.
He wouldn’t accept such a possibility.
David sprinted around the lagoons to the platforms. He felt he was being watched. He searched the closest pool, then the farther one. At the second lagoon, one of the dolphins let out a noise. He brought a finger to his lips. “Shh. Please.”
Assuming that John Seymore had told him the truth, and taking into consideration the fact that Len Creighton was definitely out, there were still two more men on the island, one of whom obviously posed a deadly threat. “Where did you bring Alex, girl?” he asked the dolphin. Intelligent eyes stared back at him, but the animal gave no indication of Alex’s direction in any way.
As he retraced the path back toward the resort, David thought he saw a movement in the Tiki Hut.
Alex?
He set the speargun down against the base of a palm, knowing that for the moment, he needed his hands free.
What if the person seeking shelter in the hut wasn’t Alex?
It had to be.