Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
An eruption of bubbles causes a flare of panic inside of me. For a beat I wonder if the cave is being inundated by some new water source, but soon the glow of a handheld light creates a circle in the water below us.
Scout pushes me toward the ledge. “Move over there.”
“Are you worried?” I squeak, as if the Loch Ness monster could be making those bubbles.
“I can handle anyone. You don’t need to be afraid.”
Said so confidently. I watch the man that kissed me turn into the warrior in a single beat of my stressed heart.
The light grows brighter as I back away from the growing field of bubbles. “What the heck is another diver doing in here?”
“Causing trouble.”
“Maybe it’s one of your men. ”
“Doubt that.”
Oh how right he is. Nothing could have prepared me for the face that emerges from the gloomy water a few seconds later.
I wish it was Loch Ness instead.
“Keith!?” I fumble for words as anger rips through my veins like razor blades. “What are you doing here?”
Dark blue eyes locked on me, Keith gives me an evil smirk. “Aria, what do you think I’m doing?”
My throat is nearly glued shut from my fury. “Diving in a cave where you have no business being.”
He pulls off his mask, and tugs off his hood, revealing his jet black hair and the scar on his forehead. The tiny white line on his skin he tells people he got in combat, but I know is from passing out drunk and hitting his head on a coffee table years after he was out of the Army.
Scout slices a look between us. “I take it you two know each other.”
“We worked together before I joined Griff’s company,” I grit out. “Scout, we should go. The rain is going to be starting soon.”
Keith lazily swims toward me with his usual smartass expression on his pale face. “Don’t want to hang out while I do some recon on the cave? Maybe I’ll find the missing woman and get the big payout.”
I grit my teeth and fight the urge to tell Keith off.
Scout inserts himself between us, then answers for me since I’m already geared up. “You missed the party. Where’s your dive buddy? Hate for you to have an accident.”
Like with a dive knife at the end of a SEAL’s arm?
Not the least bit concerned, Keith smiles. “He’s coming. ”
Scout’s tone is almost as icy as his pale eyes . “You were told to leave.”
The difference between two men has never been more stark. Keith’s dull, soulless gaze flicks over Scout’s face as he floats lazily in the water. “What’s it to you?”
Scout is not lazy. Or relaxed. “I’m the fucking lead on this aspect of the investigation. That’s what it is to me.”
“Then you should have hired Blue Guard for the job.”
I spit my regulator out as fire races up my spine. “They didn’t hire your team, Keith. They hired Griff. You need to get lost.”
Keith makes a point of looking around dramatically. “Don’t see your big bad brother. Given that you’ve got some two-bit backup diver, figured a real rescue team needed to step in.”
A low growl from Scout has my skin prickling.
“You’ve had your warning. I’ll have the feds remove you for tampering with my investigation.”
With a creepy smile, Keith looks around the cave. “Just diving in a public cave. Good luck on getting me removed for that.”