Fatal Tide (14 page)

“Or maybe they were thrown a hell of a welcome-home party,” Nicholas said. “I’m never up early on the morning after.”

They were doing their best to make her feel better, Melis knew. It wasn’t working, but she forced a smile anyway. “Stop trying so hard. I’m okay with this. We’ll just have to be patient.”

“You’re not okay with it. You’re holding on by your teeth,” Kelby said. “We’ll give them another eight hours and then start to track them.”

“Tomorrow.”

He shook his head. “I’m not watching you sit vigil through another night like last night. I know you want them to come back on their own, but they’d better get a move on it.” He turned on his heel and headed for the bridge. “Four o’clock we start after them.”

“He means it, Melis,” Nicholas said. “If that whistle you wear will do any good, you’d better start using it.”

She shook her head in despair. “Nothing will do any good if they don’t want to come.”

“You want me to do a little shaman magic?”

“No, but a prayer might help.”

“No problem. Christian, Hindu, or Buddhist? I don’t have any influence in any of the other religions.” His hand touched her shoulder in comfort. “You should remember that old saying about as the tree is bent, so it will grow. The dolphins have affection for you. They won’t forget.”

“They’re not here.” She shook her head. “But they will be. I just have to be patient.”

At noon the dolphins had still not come.

Nor had they shown by two-thirty.

At three-fifteen a huge explosion of water broke five feet from where Melis stood at the rail.

Pete!

He clicked loudly and rapidly as he backpedaled and then dove into the sea.

“Where’s Susie?” Kelby had run to stand beside Melis. “I don’t see her.”

Neither did Melis. But Pete wouldn’t have left Susie.

“Over here.” Nicholas was on the opposite side of the ship. “Is that a dolphin or a shark out there?”

Melis ran to the rail. A dorsal fin was homing toward them, a dorsal with a
V
in the center. “Susie.”

Her head jutted out of the water and she clicked furiously at Melis as if trying to tell what had happened to her.

Then Pete was beside her, urging Susie closer to the ship.

“It’s about time you got here. I’ve been waiting for—” Melis broke off. “She’s hurt. Look at her dorsal.” She dove off the ship into the water. As soon as Melis’s head broke the surface she was calling to the dolphin. “Closer, Susie.”

“What the hell are you doing?” Kelby asked. “Get back on board and suit up.”

“I want to take a look at it first and see if we need to get her out of the water. If it’s bleeding, it’ll attract sharks.”

“And you’ll be dinner.”

“Hush, I’m busy.” She examined the dorsal. “If it was bleeding, it’s stopped now. I think she’s okay.” She swam around Susie, checking her out. “No other wounds.” She patted Susie on the nose. “See what happens when you go honky-tonking out on the town?”

Kelby threw her a line. “Get out of the water.”

She caressed Pete’s nose, then grabbed the line and headed for the ladder. “Nicholas, get them some fish, will you?”

“Right away.”

He was tossing herring into the water by the time she reached the deck. She took the towel Kelby handed her and stood drying off while she watched Pete and Susie devour the fish. She couldn’t stop smiling.

“It’s good to have them back,” Kelby said. “I never imagined I could become so attached to a couple of dolphins. I was beginning to feel like the father of a delinquent teenager.”

“What a concept.” Melis went back to the rail and stood looking down at Pete and Susie. “Maybe they had reason to be delinquent. I think that was an abrasion, not a bite, on Susie’s dorsal.”

“And that means?”

“Other dolphins often express their displeasure by rubbing against invaders. They’re not gentle. There’s a possibility Pete and Susie weren’t welcomed enthusiastically. It could be that they had some interaction problems to work out before they felt comfortable about leaving the band.”

“They’re here now.” His gaze lifted to the sky. “But they only have four or five hours until sunset. Will they leave again?”

“I think so. Unless they had a really rough time and are scared. But they don’t look scared. They’re blessedly normal. And if they came back once, they’ll do it again.”

“How do you know?”

“They remember the pattern we formed six years ago.”

“And they like you,” Nicholas said over his shoulder.

She grinned. “Hell, yes, they like me.”

“So what do we do next?” Kelby asked.

“As soon as Nicholas finishes feeding them, I suit up and let them get used to swimming with me in these waters.”

“I said
we
. They’re going to have to get used to me in the water too.” He raised his hand when she started to protest. “I’m not going to be like Lontana and harass them. You call the shots. But you know damn well it’s dangerous to swim without a buddy.”

“I have two buddies.”

“Well, now you have three. And I’m the one with the shark gun.” He turned and headed for the cabins. “I’ll go suit up while you have a discussion with Pete and Susie and tell them to be nice to me.”

It was just before sunset when Kelby reached down a hand to help Melis back on the
Trina
. “They didn’t range very far from the ship.” He took off his goggles. “Maybe they are afraid.”

“We’ll know soon.” She took off her compressed-air tank and moved over to the rail. Pete and Susie were still playing in the sea. “I couldn’t have asked for a better partner down there. You’re very good in the water, Kelby.”

“What did you expect? This is what I do for a living.”

She smiled. “Besides clip coupons?”

“Wilson does that for me.” His gaze went to the dolphins. “It was weird being down there with them. It’s their world. It makes you feel kind of inadequate.”

“How do you think they feel when they’re beached?” She shook her head. “Only with them it’s life or death.”

“It could be life or death for us in their domain too. But we have all the apparatus to keep us alive.”

“Unless it goes wrong. Then we could freeze to death in minutes. Their bodies just make the adjustment to furnish them with more heat. They’re incredibly well suited for the sea. It’s almost unbelievable that they originated on land. Almost every part of their body is— There they go.”

The dolphins had gone underwater, and only a dull gleam of silver showed beneath the surface as they swam away.

No use lingering here, staring after them. “That’s it.” She turned and headed for the cabin. “I’ve got to strip down and get in a shower.”

“Would you like to see the sonar imager first?”

She stopped. “What?”

Kelby gestured to a cumbersome tarp-wrapped bundle in the middle of the deck. “I had Nicholas get the crew to bring it up from the hold. I wasn’t sure we were going to get cooperation from Pete and Susie. It’s pretty cool.”

He reminded her of an eager little boy. “By all means, show me.”

He swept the tarp off the long yellow metal machine. “It’s the latest technology. See, it’s attached to the back of the ship and we pull it behind us. The sound waves bounce off the bottom of the ocean floor, and they’re measured and transferred to the graphs on the machine. It can even tell us what’s several feet under the bottom down there. It’s much more sophisticated than the one they used at Helike. That one they called the fish, but this one they nicknamed—”

“Dodo bird?”

He frowned. “Dynojet. And why the hell are you laughing?”

“Because it’s funny. Those extensions on each side look like little wings.” She went around to the head of the imager and started to laugh again. “Oh, my God.”

“What’s wrong?” He followed her to look at the head. He muttered a curse. “I’m going to kill Nicholas.”

Two eyes had been drawn on either side of the head, complete with sweeping long lashes.

“Are you sure it was Nicholas?”

“Who else would defile a fine machine like this?”

“You have a point. It looks like a pelican or some weird cartoon bird.”

He scowled. “Maybe it does. But dodos are extinct, and this is the latest technology.”

“I think you said that,” she said solemnly. “Sorry. I called it the way I saw it.” He appeared so disappointed that she added, “But your dodo is a nice, cheerful color.”

“Thanks for those patronizing words. At least I won’t have to coax the imager into helping us, like you do Pete and Susie.”

“I’m afraid I’d rather rely on the dolphins.” She turned away. “I’ll see you at dinner.”

“Billy will be pleased,” Kelby said. “He was developing a complex about you avoiding his meals.”

“We wouldn’t want that.” She smiled at him over her shoulder. “There’s little enough that’s normal around here.”

“I like this norm,” he said. “Even though you laughed at my imager. I’ve not seen you smile this much since I met you.”

“I’m happy,” she said simply. “Things have been bad lately, but these last hours were good. And I refuse to feel guilty for letting myself enjoy them.”

“By all means.” A smile softened his face. “Enjoy.”

Archer phoned an hour later, as she was going out the door of her cabin.

She stopped and looked at her phone on the nightstand. Jesus, she wanted to ignore it.

It rang again.

Bite the bullet. She turned and went back to the phone and answered it.

“You were very naughty,” Archer said. “And you know how naughty little girls are punished.”

Her hand tightened on the phone. The ugliness washing over her was almost overpowering. She’d hoped that the period of freedom from Archer’s venom would permit her to regroup, but it hit her with the same force. “Did you expect me to just let you pull me into that car?”

“I admit I expected you to freeze like a rabbit. I certainly had no idea you’d shoot poor Pennig.”

“I hope I killed him.”

“You didn’t. You grazed his neck, and he bled quite a bit. He was very angry with you. He begged me to let him have the privilege of chastising you, but I told him that I couldn’t bear to relinquish you. I have far too many plans.”

“You weren’t too eager to execute them after you failed at Las Palmas.”

“It was discreet to stay out of sight for a while. However, don’t think I didn’t have someone keep an eye on you. At the moment you’re near the lovely island of Cadora.” He paused. “And you’ve freed the dolphins. Don’t you think that’s risky?”

“Are you going to go after them with a harpoon? I’d like to see Mr. Peepers in a wet suit.”

There was a silence. “That’s not the first time I’ve been compared to that weakling. I don’t believe any comparison makes me angrier. Yes, I’ll kill the dolphins. I was planning on waiting until you’ve been in a house like
Kafas
for long enough so that you won’t care what I do. But I’ve changed my mind. You need to be punished now. I can’t think of anything that would hurt you more than killing your fishy friends.”

Fear knifed through her. There was a note in his voice that was dead serious. She’d been too defiant. It was so hard to remember when she was so filled with anger. It was time to backpedal. “The dolphins?” She didn’t have to fake a tremor in her voice. “I didn’t think you meant it. You’ll hurt Pete and Susie?”

“You’re frightened? I warned you. You should be more obedient. If you’re very good and give me the research right away, I might reconsider.”

“I . . . don’t believe you.”

“I’m being pressured to turn that sonic weapon over to my friend in the Middle East. That’s why I pushed a little hard myself in Las Palmas.”

“Pushed,” she repeated. “A good man died there.”

“And you got scared and took your dolphins and ran away.”

“Yes, I was afraid. Why shouldn’t I be? You keep at me. I can’t sleep. I can’t eat.” Her voice was uneven. “And now you tell me you’re going to kill Pete and Susie.”

“Poor child.”

“I’m hanging up.”

“No, haven’t you learned I’m in control? We’re going to talk a little longer about
Kafas
and what I’m going to do to the dolphins. Then I decide when we hang up. Are you listening?”

She waited a moment and then whispered, “Yes.”

“That’s a good little girl. Now we’re going to pretend we’re back at
Kafas
and I’m just coming into your room in the harem. . . .”

Chapter Thirteen

“You took long enough,” Kelby said with a smile when she walked into the main cabin. “I’ve had to pacify Billy for the last ten— Jesus.” His expression turned grim. “Archer?”

“He was in very good form.” Her lips tightened. “But so was I. I convinced him I was on the edge of breaking. I was really pitiful. A few more times and he’ll think he has me.”

“It was the usual bullshit?”

“As ugly as usual, but he’s added something new to the mix. I think he’s decided to change his focus. And there’s something you should know. He told me that he has someone keeping an eye on us. He knew we’d freed the dolphins.” She paused. “And he said he’s going to kill them. It’s my punishment for what happened in Las Palmas.”

“He’s threatened to hurt them before.”

“I don’t think it was a threat this time. I think he meant it.”

“We won’t let it happen.” He met her gaze. “But if you want to take Pete and Susie out of the area and pen them, I won’t object.”

“They wouldn’t be any safer. He’ll go after them wherever they are. They’re probably at less risk with the whole ocean to hide in. With all those hundreds of dolphins swimming around, how is he going to zero in on Pete and Susie? If we can keep him away from the ship and watch Pete and Susie like a hawk when they’re with us, it may be enough.” She shook her head. “God, I hope so.”

He nodded. “And I’ll have the crew keep watch on the water whenever they’re near.”

“I was just going to ask you to do that.” She looked at the beautifully appointed table. “I don’t believe I’ll have dinner. I’m not in the mood. Explain to Billy, will you?”

“Explain that son of a bitch is making you bleed inside? That’s hard to believe and harder to understand.” He rose to his feet. “Come on. Let’s get some air. Unless you’d rather go lick your wounds.”

She shook her head. “I’m not bleeding. I won’t give him that satisfaction. At first, listening to him was terrible. Now it’s still bad, but I’ve learned how to handle it.”

On deck now, she moved out to the rail and drew a deep breath. “It’s good out here—fresh, clean. Lord, it’s so blessedly clean.”

He didn’t speak for a moment. “Let’s scrap Marinth for the time being. I think we should go after Archer.”

She looked at him in surprise. “That’s not what you said on the island. I didn’t have collateral, so it was Marinth first. Then Archer.”

“I’ve changed my mind. I’m entitled.”

She shook her head. “I promised you Marinth. I’ll keep my promise.”

“Screw your promise. I’ll trust you, dammit.”

She thought about it and then shook her head. “If you’d made the offer before I talked to Archer tonight, I would have taken it in a heartbeat. After what happened in Las Palmas it seemed crazy not to go after him first.”

“But not now?”

“The sooner we find Marinth, the sooner I can concentrate on finding a foolproof way to keep Pete and Susie safe. That’s my primary concern. Besides, he may be coming to us if he’s after the dolphins.”

“That’s true. But what if there isn’t a Marinth? What if those tablets are all that’s left of the city?”

“Marinth first.” She turned to face him. “Now, shut up about it, Kelby. There’s something important I want to ask you.”

“I can hardly wait.”

“Don’t be sarcastic.” She moistened her lips. “Will you let me go to bed with you?”

He went still. “Now?”

She nodded jerkily. “If you don’t mind.”

“Hell, no, I don’t mind. You know better than that by now. I’m just curious. After that call from Archer I wouldn’t think it would be high on your agenda.”

“You don’t understand. He’s so filthy, he makes me feel filthy too. I choke on it.” She tried to smile. “But it’s all lies. I’m not filthy. I don’t feel dirty with you. You’re
clean,
Kelby. Everything’s natural and right. I feel like I do when I’m swimming with the dolphins. I need to feel that right now.”

He stared at her for a moment and then reached out and gently touched her cheek. “Nothing a man likes more than to be compared to a cold dip in the ocean with a couple of aquatic mammals.”

“They’re very special mammals,” she said unevenly. “And it won’t be cold.
I
won’t be cold.” She took a step closer and laid her head on his chest. “I promise.”

“She’s getting close, Pennig.” Archer smiled as he gazed out at the horizon. “I think I may have her soon.”

“Good,” Pennig said sourly. “I want to see her hurting.”

“You will. As a reward for that wound, I may let you visit her in the bordello I sell her to. There’s nothing like sexual domination to sweeten the punishment.”

“I don’t want to screw her, I want her dead.”

“You have no imagination. Death isn’t first, it’s last.” He tilted his head, considering. “But she may be feeling a little too safe. I shook her when I threatened the dolphins, but we have to keep the pressure high. She was actually quite insulting. It made me very angry. I think we may have to show her she can’t do that.”

“How?”

He picked up his phone. “By making sure she knows that there’s no place on earth or sea that she’s safe from me. . . .”

Melis was still sleeping.

Kelby very carefully and quietly got out of bed and quickly dressed.

He paused at the door. She hadn’t stirred. It was unusual for her to sleep this soundly. She was ordinarily up at dawn and moving around with restless vitality. Now she looked like a weary little girl, all tousled and warm, and so goddamn beautiful it made his throat tighten to look at her.

So don’t look at her. There were things to do.

He turned and left the cabin.

He found Nicholas on deck. He didn’t waste words. “Archer has a man close enough to know we’ve freed the dolphins. He’s threatened to kill them,” Kelby told Nicholas. “We need to know where he is and make sure he doesn’t get any closer.”

“It’s a big ocean.” Nicholas grinned. “But I’m a big man. You’re smart to pick someone so exceptional for the job.” His smile faded. “He called Melis?”

“Last night.”

“Bastard. We’ve got to do something about that son of a bitch—soon.”

Kelby nodded. “My thought exactly. We not only have to find the sentry, we have to find the mother ship. And as discreetly as possible. I don’t want Archer to know we’re zeroing in on him.”

“You think he’s on the
Jolie Fille
?”

“It makes sense if he’s staking out Melis. Wilson said his ship left Marseilles before we departed from Lontana’s Island.”

“And we’re going to take out the
Jolie Fille
?”

“Probably.”

Nicholas smiled. “Thank God for small favors. Now, this is a man’s game. I was getting tired of baby-sitting dolphins.”

“We’re all baby-sitting the dolphins.” He looked out at Pete, who had just surfaced. “Let’s hope they return the favor when Melis and I are forty meters underwater.”

The dolphins were probably only toying with her, Melis thought. At first, they had seemed to have a purpose, but for the past hour they’d been swimming through caves and around rocks and coral reefs. She could swear they were playing hide-and-seek.

Kelby swam up to her and signaled they should surface.

She shook her head and swam after Pete. One more try. The dolphins had led them farther from the ship than ever before in the last three days. The water was murkier here than it had been a short distance away. It was difficult to see Susie, who was swimming ahead of Pete. They disappeared behind a huge rock.

Melis swam around the boulder.

No Pete. No Susie.

Kelby swam in front of her and jerked his thumb upward. He was clearly exasperated.

Well, so was she, but she wasn’t giving up until she tried one more time to locate the dolphins. Kelby could just be patient until she had her chance.

She made the universal sign of derision with one finger and swam around him.

Five minutes later she still hadn’t caught sight of Pete and Susie.

That was it.

She signaled Kelby she was going up and slowly started the journey toward the surface.

She tensed as something brushed against her leg. She looked down to see a dorsal streaking away from her. Susie?

Kelby was behind her with the shark gun in his hand. He shook his head as if reading her mind. Not a shark. He made a swimming motion with one hand.

A dolphin. But it hadn’t been Susie or Pete. Through the cloudy water she could see that this mammal was bigger than either of them, and he was swimming with purpose toward—

My God.

Dolphins, hundreds of them. She had never seen a group this big.

Kelby was signaling her, asking her if she wanted to stay and investigate.

She hesitated and then shook her head. She kept going up. She broke the surface a few minutes later and waved at Nicholas in the tender some distance away. He waved and then sped toward them.

“Where’s Kelby?” Nicholas asked as he stopped beside her.

It was what she had been wondering. “I don’t know. He was right behind me.”

Kelby didn’t come to the surface for another two minutes.

She drew a sigh of relief. “So much for the buddy system,” she said as Nicholas pulled her into the boat.

“I wanted to see them at closer range,” Kelby said as he climbed onto the tender. “They’re all big, really big. Aren’t males bigger than females? Could they all be males?”

“Not with a group that large. Males do travel in their own subgroups once they leave their mothers, but we’re talking about a group of over a hundred males.”

He shrugged. “Maybe I was wrong. I didn’t want to stay away from you long.”

“Or maybe you were right.” She could feel excitement stirring as she thought about it. “If the subadult groups are that large, can you imagine how many dolphins are down there?”

“Why didn’t you want to stay down and check them out?”

“Males can be aggressive. They might have taken alarm and ganged up on us and attacked.”

“Why haven’t they surfaced?”

“I don’t know. They might have their own fixed behavior patterns. Maybe they’ll surface miles from here.”

“Are Pete and Susie safe down there with them?” Nicholas asked.

“I hope. They must feel safe with them.” She shrugged. “I thought Pete and Susie were just playing, but maybe they wanted to introduce us.”

“It would take a while to do the introductions to that many dolphins,” Kelby said dryly. “I might pass on it.”

She shook her head, excitement growing. “I don’t think you would. Dolphins were the little brothers of Marinth. They were protected by the Marinthians, so naturally they would increase in population. These kinds of numbers are unusual. We’re looking for the unusual.”

“But they haven’t been protected for a couple thousand years.” He added thoughtfully, “Once established, though, the basic numbers might stay close to the same.”

She nodded eagerly. “And there’s a large amount of silt down there.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Nicholas asked.

“If an entire island was washed away, wouldn’t there be a bigger silt factor?”

“Works for me.” Kelby frowned. “Let’s go back down.”

She shook her head. “Tomorrow. With Pete and Susie. I want to give them a chance to act as buffers for us. Don’t make the mistake of thinking all dolphins are like Pete and Susie. They’ve always been unusual. Dolphins can be as deadly as sharks in some situations. For all we know, those dolphins might have some ingrained genetic instinct to protect Marinth.”

“Weird,” Nicholas said.

Kelby’s brows lifted. “You claim you’re a shaman and it’s the dolphins that are weird?”

“It’s not a claim. And I reserve the right to be weird.” He turned the tender. “And I also reserve the right to stay above-water while you’re playing with the dolphins. Thanks to Melis, I’ve already had an experience with Pete and Susie that’s unforgettable. I don’t need to be assaulted by a hundred or so.”

They’d been back on board the
Trina
for two hours when Pete and Susie finally surfaced next to the ship.

“They seem okay.” Melis’s gaze raked the two dolphins as they came up to the rail and clicked at her. “No wounds. No trauma. They seem perfectly normal.”

“That’s good.” Kelby’s tone was abstracted. “I’ve been thinking. Maybe we won’t go down with the dolphins tomorrow.”

“What?” She turned to look at him. “Why not? You were all set to go back today.”

“And you said that the dolphins could be aggressive. Let’s make a try at letting technology determine if it’s worth our while.”

She sighed. “The dodo bird.”

“I paid a hell of a lot of money for that dodo bird. One day. It can’t hurt. It might give us an idea if there’s anything unusual on the ocean floor.”

“And it might not.” Trust a man to be besotted by gadgets. She shrugged. “I guess one day can’t matter after thousands of years. Okay, we’ll try the dodo.” She saw Nicholas jump into the tender. “Where’s he going?”

“Just a little reconnaissance. We don’t want to give Archer the advantage of surprise.”

She had been so absorbed with the dolphins she’d forgotten about Archer. She wished with all her heart she could afford to do that permanently. “No, we don’t want to give Archer anything.”

Golden fretwork.

Drums
.

Kafas.

She sat straight up in bed, her heart pounding wildly.

“Okay?” Kelby was wide-awake. “Bad dream?”

She nodded jerkily and swung her feet to the floor. “I’m going on deck.” She grabbed her robe. “I need air.”

He got out of bed. “I’ll go with you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Yes, I do.” He slipped his robe on. “Come on. We’ll do some deep-breathing exercises and then go down to the galley and get some coffee.”

“I’m fine. There’s no need—” He wasn’t listening. She turned and left the cabin. The night was cool and there was a slight breeze lifting her hair as she went to lean on the rail.

“Nice out here.” He didn’t speak for a few minutes, then, “Same dream?”