Shadow Zone (7 page)

“A
Helicopter
?” Jed Kelby said it as if he hadn’t heard Melis correctly.

Melis walked toward the stern of
Fair Winds,
holding the satellite phone tight against her ear. “Yes. It’s necessary, Jed. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t. You know I don’t like asking you for help with Marinth.”

“No, dammit, I wish you would. I’m your husband, and that place is as special to me as it is to you.”

“That’s not entirely true.”

“Well,
finding
it was special for me.”

Melis smiled. Marinth had been the passion—no,
obsession
—of Jed long before she had even heard of it. As she had told Hannah, her interest in Marinth had originally centered on the ancient civilization’s unusual interaction with dolphins, and how, thousands of years later, the local dolphin population still exhibited unique social behaviors with each other and human visitors. In addition, the Marinth dolphins’ highly evolved skeletal and respiratory systems allowed them to dive deeper and longer than any other dolphins on earth. But Marinth had held her once she’d been caught up in its unfolding story. Jed, however, had quickly moved on to other challenges, other adventures that took him to the far reaches of the world. He was currently in Micronesia, on the trail of a sunken Japanese destroyer that might have gone down with a fortune in diamonds in its hold.

“Marinth was only special to you when it was still so blasted elusive,” Melis said.

“That’s not true. It will always be special to me. It brought us together, didn’t it?”

“Don’t get all sentimental on me. I’m still not through teasing you about your attention deficit disorder.”

“Let’s get back to the helicopter. Why do you need it?”

“Hannah brought up the trellis. It’s reasonably intact, but there are dozens of missing glass pieces that need to be reconstructed before we can interpret the message on it. This could be it, Jed.” Lord, she hoped that was true. It had gone on so long, she was almost afraid to hope. “This could tell us what happened to the people of Marinth.”

“I hope so, Melis. It would be everything you’ve been working for.”

“It would.” She added lightly, “Don’t you wish you were here instead of chasing diamonds?”

He chuckled. “At this very moment, yes. No, not this minute. Every minute of every day. I miss you. Screw the diamonds. They don’t compare.”

She felt her throat tighten. No, they didn’t compare. Treasures were dazzling and the search exciting, but what she had with Jed was truly remarkable. Yet their relationship was based on freedom as well as love, and she would no more interfere with his life and purpose than he would with hers. He was an adventurer who traveled the world, but when they came together, it was fantastic. “I miss you too. If you get a chance, fly in and see what we’re doing here.”

“I might do that. The Japanese are giving me a king-size headache about that sunken sub. Things aren’t going so well here.”

“Which means that there’s no way you’ll change your focus until you get what you want. So I’m not going to see you anytime soon.”

“Unless you tell me to come.” His voice was suddenly grave. “Then I’ll be there for you. Anytime. You know that.”

“I know that.” For an instant she was tempted. No, she’d probably be so busy that she’d end up ignoring him for sixteen hours of the day. But oh would those other eight hours be fantastic.

Stop being selfish.

“No, go persuade the Japanese that they should let you have your diamonds. I’ll call you when you can come for a celebration.”

“I’ll be there. I’m happy for you, Melis.”

“Don’t be. Not yet. My lab here isn’t up to the job. I need to get that trellis to the museum right away.”

“Hence the helicopter.”

“Can you help?”

“I’ll get Wilson on it. If one of the corporate copters isn’t in the area, we’ll hire one with the juice to go out there and airlift your relic out. We’ll get it to you within a few hours. Happy?”

“Extremely. But I thought you had finally talked Wilson into taking a vacation.”

“I thought so, too, but an hour before we left Guam, he turned up at the dock. He said he was bored.”

“Well, working for you could never be boring.”

“That’s exactly what Wilson said. He’ll find you a copter, don’t worry.”

Four hours later, Hannah stood with Melis on the deck of the
Copernicus,
watching as the rented helicopter lifted off and headed east with its precious cargo. All around them, champagne corks popped, and crew members brought up bottles of whatever alcoholic beverages they could get their hands on. The first corks had popped the moment that
Conner Two
broke the surface, and Hannah had lived through enough end-of-expedition celebrations to know that the corks would still be flying at dawn.

Hannah turned toward Melis, who gazed wistfully at the helicopter as it disappeared into the distance. “I’m surprised you didn’t make them take you, too.”

Melis smiled. “It occurred to me, but I didn’t want to leave Pete and Susie. Not here.”

“They’re comfortable with the other people on your team, aren’t they? The crew of the
Fair Winds
?”

“Of course. They’re like family. And if it was anyplace else, I wouldn’t hesitate to leave. But here . . . Every time I come back to Marinth, I know I could lose Pete and Susie. They might decide to leave me.”

“That could never happen.”

“It could. They have a special connection to the other descendents of the Marinth dolphins. I don’t know what it is. Their brains may just be wired a certain way, but they communicate differently with them than they do with any others. Dolphins communicate with each other, you know. Every time I come here, Pete and Susie disappear for a few days. I think the Marinth dolphins call them.”

“But they always come back.”

“Their time away has been getting longer and longer. And when our last expedition ended, they didn’t leave with us. That was a first. They finally caught up with us almost a week later, but they were . . . different. A bit listless, maybe even depressed. It took almost a month for them to get back to normal. I’m afraid it may have been a turning point for them. They were young when I found them, but I may be losing them as they grow to maturity.”

Hannah watched Pete and Susie as they sped back and forth across the stern of the
Copernicus,
putting on a show for the crew. “You could stop bringing them here.”

“No, I couldn’t do that, especially if this is where they would rather be. I’d miss them, but they know what they want.”

“I can’t imagine you without Pete and Susie.”

“I can’t imagine it, either.” Melis managed a smile. “Anyway, I didn’t want to just copter out of here in case this is the last day I’ll ever have with them.”

“I think you underestimate how they feel about you.”

Melis’s gaze never left the dolphins. “That may not be enough, Hannah. The relationship of the dolphins with the citizens of Marinth was a strange and powerful bond. Very powerful. The Marinthians protected the dolphins, and the dolphins protected them. I know it sounds weird, but I think it seems to be still in existence. It’s as if they believe the Marinthians are still here.” She shook her head. “I know. Those ancient Marinthians perished thousands of years ago. But who knows if there’s not still a lingering memory in the dolphins’ DNA. I’ve heard of genetic memory, and dolphins are strange and wonderful creatures.”

Hannah had to agree with her as she remembered how Pete and Susie had saved her life in the pod only a short time ago. She had run across many odd phenomena in her career on the sea, and she could accept that there was too much she still didn’t know to discount anything.

And Melis knew worlds more than Hannah did about dolphins and was troubled. Dammit, she didn’t know what to do to help. Okay, skip the deep stuff and just rely on distraction.

She took Melis’s arm. “Come on. Stop frowning. You may have found the mother lode. It’s a great way to end the expedition, and the guys deserve their celebration. So do we. Let’s go see if we can out-party them.”

Customs Warehouse
Tenerife Airport

Madre De Dios
, he was curious about that box.

Carlos Nelazar stared at the large box he’d ordered stored conveniently close to the ramp doors for pickup. What was in it that could be worth the bribe he’d been offered to ignore the theft of some scummy artifact from the depths of the sea?

And was he a fool not to have demanded more? He had only a few more years before he retired from the Customs Department and got his pension. What if they found out he was involved in the theft?

Maybe it wasn’t an artifact, maybe it was jewels or coins, and he could grab a few handfuls. Yes, it would be smarter to open the box and find out if he should ask for more money or grab a percentage on his own. Screw those bastards who’d told him not to examine it. He had a right to know. He checked his watch. Nine thirty. They weren’t supposed to pick up the box before ten.

He lifted the crowbar. If he was quick, he’d be able to open, examine, and then nail the crate shut before anyone came to pick it up.

He had the box open within five minutes. Excitement gripped him as he first glimpsed the gleam of the colored stones. Jewels, it must be jewels.

Disappointment came over him. Only cheap crystals. No reason for anyone to be willing to pay such a high—

Or was there? There was something there, something that was holding him, drawing him closer . . .

“Pretty, aren’t they? Like drops of sunlight.”

He went rigid and slowly looked over his shoulder.

Relief surged through him. Only a woman, a pretty woman in a dark pantsuit, her hair in a tight chignon.

“You should not be here,” he said sternly. “This is a restricted zone. Please leave.”

Her gaze was still on the colored glass in the trellis. “I must have taken a wrong turn. Those corridors are so confusing. I’ll leave soon.”

“Now.”

She smiled sweetly and took a step nearer to him. “What were you looking at? You seemed to be so interested.” She stared eagerly down at the crystals. “Oh, yes, there seems to be a strange depth in those stones, isn’t there?” She stepped still closer. “Personally, I prefer emeralds or rubies, but I admit there’s a sort of mystique to—”

Pain.

Carlos doubled in agony as her needle-thin stiletto entered his heart.

By nightfall, the topside deck of the
Copernicus
was packed with crew members from both it and
Fair Winds,
drinking, dancing, and watching the four-member amateur rock band led by Josh, Matthew, Kyle, and a bikini-clad blond research specialist whose only function was, as far as Hannah could tell, to look good while she shook a tambourine.

Hannah turned away. The expedition was over, and she had gotten through it. Her first job without Conner. It was as difficult as she thought it would be, but working with Melis in addition to her usual team had been a good way to ease back into the groove. If only she had been able to finish what she had started.

She heard footsteps behind her and caught a whiff of that familiar pipe tobacco.

Ebersole.

“You know . . . I’m not the bad guy here,” he said.

She turned to see that he was holding a drink and wearing a tropical-print short-sleeved shirt. Very out of character for the buttoned-down executive with whom she had been working. “I know that, Ebersole. There were times when you went to bat for us, and I appreciate it.”

“I wish you would tell that to the crew. They’re looking at me as if I’m a monster.”

“They know what you’ve done for us. But you need to understand that these people are sailors, no matter how many advanced degrees they may have. And they’ll always think of you as a corporate bean counter.” She wrinkled her nose as she looked him up and down. “No matter how obnoxious you get with your wardrobe choices.”

He smiled and gripped the lapel of his brightly colored shirt. “Too much?”

“A tad. But I appreciate the effort. Next time wear it on the first day of the expedition instead of the last.”

“Good tip. I’ll keep it in mind.” He leaned against the railing. “AquaCorp didn’t just do all this out of the goodness of its icy corporate heart, you know.”

“Of course not. This was a great public-relations opportunity.”

“It goes beyond that. We did this for you.”

She laughed. “Now I know you’re lying.”

“No lie. You’re the only top-level designer who won’t tie yourself to one manufacturer. We know about the offier you received from Deepstar last year. Very generous. It would have given you a sizable stake in the company.”

“It wouldn’t have given me the biggest power of all.”

“What’s that?”

“The power to say no. That’s more important to me than stock options.”

“Evidently. Still, when bidding on lucrative government contracts, any company would love to guarantee that Hannah Bryson will be on board.”

“You have my phone number and e-mail address. I’m happy to discuss your contracts on a project-by-project basis.”

Ebersole leaned closer and spoke quietly. “You’ll be hearing from us sooner than you might think.”

Hannah studied him. “Good heavens, Ebersole. You’re talking like you want me to join your mob in a jewelry heist.”

“Nothing that glamorous, I’m afraid. But AquaCorp wants your help on a very delicate project. A project, we’re afraid, you may not be too keen on. We had hoped not to involve you, but we knew it was always a possibility that your assistance would be needed. That’s the real reason you had such an easy time talking us into this multimillion-dollar expedition.”

“What the hell is it?”

“I’ve said too much already.”

“Don’t give me that bullshit. You didn’t just accidentally say too much.” Her gaze narrowed. “There’s no one more calculating than you are, Ebersole. You dress up in your Hawaiian shirt and come here to smooth the way for the bomb AquaCorp is planning to drop on me. Then you take one step forward and two steps back. Talk to me.”

He shrugged. “Can’t do it. I have my orders. I told them I should be up front with you, but they preferred I try to be subtle. Anyway, don’t be surprised when you get our call. And please keep in mind what AquaCorp has done for you.” He turned away. “We’ve been good partners. We could kick it over the top with this project.”