Chapter 9 #2
Kimo crossed first, followed by Rex.
Angel waved from where he was arranging life vests, snorkels and masks. He waved at Kimo and Rex. “Aloha. I’m your deckhand, Angelo.”
“Aloha, Angelo,” Kimo responded.
Rex raised a hand at his teammate. “Angelo, where do we need to sit?”
Angel waved toward the benches lining each side of the interior. “Anywhere you like.”
Rex and Kimo sat on the starboard bench.
A moment later, two men showed up, wearing swim trunks and Hawaiian shirts that didn’t scream with their colors; they only chirped a little. They carried large gear bags and wore sunglasses and ball caps.
Kimo recognized Kiana’s guy, Devlin Mulhaney, but not the other man with him. She assumed it was Teller Osgood, sent from the Big Island by his boss, Jace Hawkins. She breathed a sigh of relief, knowing these men would provide cover on the boat while she, Angel, Leilani and Rex were diving.
The men boarded and found a seat on the opposite bench from Rex and Kimo.
Leilani unhooked the line from the cleat on the dock and tossed the line into the boat.
Angel grabbed it, wrapped it, lifted the lid of a box and laid it inside.
Leilani stepped aboard and drew in the gangway, stowing it on the side of the craft.
She straightened and smiled. “We had an entire family cancel because they all came down with something. So, this is all of us. Sit back and relax as we take you on an adventure you won’t soon forget.
” Her gaze swept the dock. “If you’re ready, we’ll get going.
Angelo will give you the safety briefing on the way out of the marina.
” She strode through the boat to the helm and started the engine.
Soon, they were on their way out of the marina with Angel reciting the safety briefing until they were well out of earshot of anyone at the marina.
Once they were in open water, Leilani cranked up the speed and drove the boat along the west side of the island, heading for Maalaea Bay.
As soon as they were reasonably out of sight of land, Devlin and Teller opened their gear bags and extracted a rifle and handgun, along with extra magazines full of bullets.
Kimo’s blood chilled, not so much at the weapons but at the fact that they might have to use them. What was the world coming to?
Rex reached for her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “They’ll have our backs.”
Kimo nodded.
Angel came through the cabin to hand Rex and Kimo wetsuits. A full-length one for Kimo to protect her injured leg and a shorter one for Rex. He grabbed one for himself, stripped out of his Windsong Tours polo shirt and slipped into the wetsuit. Then he took the helm while Leilani put on her gear.
Kimo shrugged out of her beach cover-up and stepped into the wetsuit. When she fumbled to find the armholes, Rex was there to help her. Once she was in it, he drew the zipper up the front, his knuckles skimming across her breasts.
Her breath caught and held as she raised her gaze to his. He stared down into her eyes for a long moment. “Everything’s going to be all right,” he said softly.
Kimo nodded, too flustered by how close he was and how much closer she wanted him to be.
He stepped back, took off his shirt and reached for his wetsuit.
She couldn’t help herself. Kimo feasted her eyes on the man’s broad, tanned chest, narrow waist and those loud, crazy-colored swim shorts.
“Good to see you’re getting some use out of your Ugly Hawaiian Outfit winner,” Devlin said. “It’s good that you’ll be wearing a wetsuit over those trunks so that you don’t scare the fish.”
Rex’s lips twisted. “Bite me.” He dragged the wetsuit up his legs and zipped it before Kimo could offer to return the favor.
Leilani handed flippers to all four divers, then a mask and snorkel to Kimo.
Rex held his up. “Got my own.”
Leilani nodded and checked the BCDs, regulators and tanks once more before taking the helm again.
Devlin rose to stand beside her as she showed him how to operate the tour boat. After a few moments, Dev took the helm while Leilani pointed ahead to the island, telling him what to look for and places he could pull into should he have to drive the tour boat.
Kimo hoped they wouldn’t come to that. She wanted to get there, find the camera and get back before another boat full of gunmen showed up to cause trouble.
Devlin pulled a small buoy out of his bag and set it on the deck.
Angel and Rex moved to sit beside Devlin to adjust their dive watches and add preset messages.
Kimo watched with envy. She’d always wanted subwave sonar capabilities but had chosen to spend her profits on additional photography equipment and software first. She leaned forward, watching them adjust the buoy and their watches, eager to learn more.
“We already have Are you okay?,” Devlin said. “And Surface now. What else should we add?”
“Low on air,” Rex said.
“We don’t know what we’ll find down there,” Kimo said. “How about Incoming bogey?”
Rex smiled at her. “That could mean anything dangerous—animal or human.”
“Good,” Dev said and keyed in the words.
“And how about Need help?” Angel added.
“Got it.” Dev keyed in the message and tested them out on Angel’s and Rex’s watches, using the onboard monitoring device. “Now you two send a message to each other.”
Angel sent one to Rex. Rex gave him a thumbs-up and sent a message to Angel.
Angel nodded. “Works.”
“We need to be vigilant out there. These people aren’t playing around,” Rex said. “They don’t want what’s on that camera to get out, and they probably don’t want anyone who has seen what was in that shipping container to live to tell about it.”
“That would be Kimo and Alana,” Angel said.
Rex moved to sit beside her. “We need to stay together. No more than three feet apart.”
Kimo’s brow furrowed. “We’ll be bumping into each other.”
“Better to bump into each other than to lose each other,” he said softly.
“I’ll be the same with Leilani,” Dev grinned as Leilani chose that moment to glance back at them and cock a questioning eyebrow.
“Don’t worry, babe. I’ve got you covered,” Dev called out over the engine noise.
Leilani and Kimo had spent many hours together diving around Maui and the other islands. Kimo trusted her abilities. Angel, an ex-Navy SEAL, as well as Rex, had trained extensively in scuba diving. They had the right team.
“We’ll start at the coordinates where we found the shipping container,” Kimo said, “and then move toward the reef. We were on our way back to the dive boat when the other craft arrived and ran over Alana and then dragged her onboard. I headed for the reef when they came after me. I was close to the reef when bullets hit my scuba tank and grazed by leg.”
Rex reached for Kimo’s hand and held it as she continued.