Dangerous Depths (11 page)

Bane eyed his boss’s face. “The plane was sabotaged,” he said quietly. “I found what was left of the bomb.”

Ron’s smile faded, and his lips thinned. “Westerfield,” he spat.

“Maybe. There’s no way to know for sure. The bomb components are pretty generic. Gunpowder, steel pipe.”

“Of course it’s Westerfield. No one else is trying to horn in on my missions. Well, this time I beat him anyway.” Ron huffed.

“We need to cement our find, announce it to the papers so no one else can take credit. I’d suggest we get back down there and get more proof. The cannonballs are great, but we need more.” Bane opened his locker and pulled out his diving gear. “If Westerfield did sabotage that plane, he must be insane. I can’t believe he’d go this far to steal your finds.”

Ron took his wet suit from his locker. “I didn’t tell you the whole story. There were too many people around.” He sat on a bench and looked out over the water. “I married his sister. She died in a waterskiing accident. He’s never forgiven me for her death.”

Ajax whined and bumped Bane’s hand with his nose. “I’m getting your stuff too.” He pulled out the dog’s snuba gear and began to get Ajax ready. “That must have been terrible. Why would he blame you?”

“I was driving the boat. He swore he’d make me pay, and he knows how important my work is to me.” Ron adjusted the tanks on his back and reached for his mask. “He’s working on some similar equipment too. If he can get a patent first, we’ll be out of luck.”

Ron’s work was his consuming passion. Anyone who disrupted that rocked his world. His voice was dispassionate even as he told about the death of his wife. Bane could see how her brother might get the wrong idea. Bane watched the dog jump in, then bit down on his mouthpiece and held on to his mask as he went over the side. The warm water enveloped him. He paused and adjusted his regulator, then finned his way down. He passed Ajax on the way, and the dog had a smile on his face. Baskets dropped by the crew on deck sank past him. They were attached to the winch in case the men found anything worth hauling to the surface.

The throb of the engines faded from Bane’s ears as he dove toward the bottom. He followed Ron’s scuffed and worn fins to the coral bed. Bane’s gaze scanned the seafloor for any artifacts churned up by the current. An inquisitive triggerfish peered into his mask, then
zipped away. A
honu
, the Hawaiian green sea turtle, paused nearby while half a dozen surgeonfish nibbled algae from its back. The
honu
turned to look at him, then swam in lazy strokes to the surface. Ajax struggled to dive deeper, but he couldn’t manage it and turned to follow the sea turtle.

Bane’s attention wandered to the cave. He wondered what secrets lay inside. Ron expected his help, but he felt drawn to the mouth of the cave. He finned over to the opening and shone his light inside. No sharks today, though the bright beam picked up a garden of colorful sponges attached to the walls and ceiling of the cave. A squid oozed away from his probing light into a rocky crevice. He itched to explore farther. The cardinal rule of cave diving was never to go in alone. Tony had broken that mandate and died for his trouble. Bane paused and glanced back at Ron. His boss would never agree to give up digging to go caving.

Bane couldn’t bring himself to leave. He stayed near the mouth and swept his light inside. The cave stretched back farther than his light could reach. Entering just a few feet wouldn’t hurt. He advanced, careful to keep the opening in sight. Translucent shrimp occupied one corner. This was stupid and dangerous, especially at this depth. He needed to get out of here and get to work.

A noise, or maybe a sensation, enveloped him—it sounded like a boat engine revving up and going over him. The rumble began to dissipate, then another started. Earthquake? Just in case, he swam out of the cave and joined Ron. Ron seemed not to notice the sound. Bane touched his arm, and Ron looked up. His eyes narrowed as the sound seemed to grow then fade again.

Bane looked down and saw a crack widening along the seabed. The sound came again, and he realized it had to be an earthquake swarm. He grabbed Ron’s arm and pointed at the crack, which continued to expand. The sound intensified and seemed to surround him until he wanted to clap his hands over his ears and shoot for the surface. He saw the same panic on Ron’s face. The crevice spread out as it ran toward the abyss. Then another crack developed, this one running perpendicular to the first. The rumbling noise filled his head until he couldn’t think. The seafloor began to crumble and fall over the side, where it disappeared into the bottomless ocean of blue hole. He felt as if he were falling with it, though he knew he was still safely swimming at about a hundred feet.

Ron had a viselike grip on Bane’s arm, but Bane barely noticed. He turned to look at the cave he’d just exited. The entrance still yawned, but a rock slide down the face had left a pile of stones to the side. He turned back to look over the side of the drop-off into the deep. He and Ron watched as the crumbling of the seabed finally slowed. It stopped about twenty feet from where Ron had been working. The water swirled with debris, and the visibility had dropped to about fifty feet.

Bane extricated himself from Ron’s grip, then swam to the edge to peer over the side. He couldn’t see much, but he knew he’d never see bottom even with great visibility. Eddies of dirt motes danced in front of his mask. He shook his head and rejoined Ron, who was examining the crack. When he glanced up at Bane, lines were etched in his forehead, and his eyes behind the mask were slitted. He pointed up, and Bane nodded.

They swam upward, pausing several times to decompress. Ajax joined them near the surface. When they finally reached the surface, Bane spat out his regulator and turned to face his boss. “Earthquake swarms.”

Water ran in rivulets down Ron’s face. He spat out his mouth-piece and raised his mask. “We’re going to have to move fast. If we get another series of quakes, the ship and all we’ve worked for will go right over the edge.”

Not only would they lose the ship, all Ron’s investment in the search would be wasted. Bane nodded. “Let’s get our divers organized for tomorrow. We can’t let it slip away, not now when we’re so close.”

L
eia crouched behind Koma’s body. Her skin prickled as her gaze searched the jungle tangle of
‘ohi’a
and koa trees. She strained her ears to hear something—anything, a footfall or a snapped twig. But all that came to her was a hawk screeching over-head as it dove to seize a honeycreeper.

She prayed for poor Koma, though he was past help.

She needed to get the police out here. Who would want to kill an old man? She wondered if it could have been a poacher out hunting a black buck or an eland antelope. It happened, especially in remote areas. The forest was rich with pheasant and wild turkey as well. Her muscles felt like lead as the minutes ticked by while she watched and listened. She didn’t like this feeling, and it wasn’t getting her anywhere. She was not going to cower here in fear. She got to her feet and dashed toward the tangle of foliage. The normal aroma of vegetation sharpened her senses. Fighting her way through lianas—huge, woody vines—and ferns, she fought back the panic that choked her throat. She wouldn’t run. If she broke her concentration, the fear would overtake her. She lost a slipper but didn’t pause to retrieve it.

Leia broke through the forest tangle into the clearing where her grandmother’s house stood. She glanced back, but the smooth green leaves merely swayed in the trade winds without parting for an attacker. She kicked off her other slipper, then ran for the house. She burst through the back gate and nearly stumbled.

Malia rose from her chair in the garden. “Leia, you’re as pale as an orchid. What’s happened?”

“Koma. Shot,” Leia gasped and clasped her arms around herself. She couldn’t believe she’d come so close to total, mindless panic.

“Shot?” Malia lifted an eyebrow as if she was waiting for the punch line.

Leia nodded. “He’s dead. Call the police.” She ignored her cousin’s gasp and headed for the hose that lay curled like a giant snake along the side of the house. She needed to wash the blood off her hands.

Her grandmother followed her. “Koma? How can that be? Who would want to harm him?” Her gaze went to the blood run-ning off Leia’s hands in the stream of water from the hose.

“It might have been a hunter’s stray bullet.” Leia turned toward the door. “We have to call the police.”

“I’ll call.” Malia dialed the phone. She paused with it in her hand. “You should sit down. You look like you’re going to pass out.”

“I’m fine. Just a little shaky.” She glanced around. “Where’s Eva?”

“Napping in the grass.” Her cousin nodded toward Eva, who lay on a soft mat of grass under a hao tree covered with white blossoms.

Leia relinquished the rising fear that her sister was in the for-est somewhere with a madman. Eva had always been her responsibility, but on days like today, that duty weighed heavily. She’d been right beside Koma and was unable to do anything to protect him. Tears burned the back of her eyes, and she tuned out the drone of Malia’s voice as she explained to the policeman what had happened.

“Leia?”

Leia jumped at the sound of her cousin’s voice. Malia was holding out her cell phone. “Detective Ono wants to talk to you.”

Leia shook her head. “Not on the cell phone. I’ll tell him about it when he gets here.”

Malia sighed. “My cousin won’t use a cell phone. Okay, I’ll tell her.” She clicked off the phone. “He’s on his way. He said not to disturb the body and to stay in the house until he got here.”

“I’ll get Eva.” Leia hadn’t thought how exposed they were in the yard. She ran to awaken her sister.

Eva always woke up smiling, and today was no exception. “I had a dream, Leia.”

“I hope it was a nice one.” Leia took Eva’s hand and led her toward the house. She paused long enough to grab the tray of pineapple.

“It was scary. Bane was in a hole.”

The family had learned over the years not to discount her dreams. They often held a grain of truth to them. “What kind of hole?” Leia murmured, wondering what Detective Ono would make of her witnessing two murders in less than a week.

“I don’t know, but he was really stuck. And he couldn’t breathe. Then he saw the stars and followed them out. Can we call him and make sure he’s okay?”

“Sure.” They reached the safety of the house. Leia locked the door behind them and rushed toward the phone on the wall in the kitchen. Her hands trembled as she dialed Bane’s cell number. When she got only his voice mail, something inside cracked and broke. She’d visualized digging up the roots of the love she’d had for Bane just like the Hawai’i Invasive Species Council worked at digging out fountain grass. Her efforts hadn’t done any more good than theirs.

L
eia picked up the slipper she’d kicked off. “I lost my slipper,” she said.

“We’re following the trail of the slippers? Is that anything like bread crumbs?” Detective Ono guffawed, and the other two policemen laughed.

Ono’s laughter struck an incongruous chord in Leia. The situation was too serious for jokes. She exchanged a glance with Malia, who hovered protectively near her elbow.

He must have caught their expressions, because he sobered and took out a notepad. “Did you see or hear anything before or after the shooting?”

Leia thought for a moment, hoping to dredge up some small memory that would help. She finally shook her head. “Nothing unusual. Normal bird noises, the wind in the trees, that kind of thing. I heard a funny sound from in front of me that I know now was the gun firing. Then Koma slumped. It took me a few seconds to figure out what had happened.” She stooped to retrieve her second slipper and put them both on.

“Why were you together? Where were you going?”

She hesitated. Should she talk about the treasure? Ono caught her delay and turned a questioning gaze toward her. He needed to know, she decided, just in case it was connected to Tony’s death as well. “Koma claimed he was the caretaker of the treasure from the Spanish galleon Tony was searching for. I thought he was delusional, especially when he talked about seeing Ku.” She told him about her find at the cabin. “But maybe he really did know some-thing, and he was killed for it.”

Ono shook his head. “For what purpose? If he knew where the treasure was, wouldn’t the killer want Koma to tell him?”

Some sleuth she was. “I guess you’re right.” She stopped. “His body is in the middle of the clearing.” She didn’t want to go in there again.

Ono held up a hand and took out his gun. “I’ll handle this, Pilgrim,” he said in a bad John Wayne imitation.

What a goofball.
Leia found a log and started to sit down. “Not there,” Malia said. “The haiku trees are too close.”

The hairy ovaries of the haiku flowers made her break out in hives, so Leia was grateful her cousin had been quick to point out the danger. Leia nodded and selected another log. Malia joined her. Insects buzzed around her in a pleasant background noise that made the horror of the day’s events fade a bit. “I wish I could have reached Bane.”

“He’ll call. You know how spotty cell-phone coverage is on the island.” Malia reached down and plucked a blossom. “The way you long for him now says a lot.”

Leia didn’t answer. Bane’s strength and levelheaded assessment would be welcome about now, and that was the only reason she wanted him. She could see Ono through the brush as he knelt around Koma’s body and examined the ground for evidence. Now that she thought about it, the shooter had to have been standing near where she now sat. She rose and began to study the foliage on the ground.

“What are you doing?” Malia asked.

“I thought the shooter might have dropped something.” A glint of white caught her eye, and she saw three cigarette butts under a huge anthurium leaf. She started to pick them up, then thought better of it. Detective Ono would want to retrieve them to save any DNA on them. She called to him, and he joined her and Malia.

He knelt beside the butts and picked them up with gloved fingers, then dropped them into a paper bag. “Good job, Pilgrim,” he said, still in John Wayne mode. “I’ll have them tested for DNA. Whoever dropped them was standing right here.” He pointed out an area where the foliage had been flattened. “This is recent.”