Kimo’s Hero (Brotherhood Protectors Hawaii #8)
Chapter 1
“Ready?” Alana gave Kimo a thumbs-up.
“Ready.” Kimo Kekoa returned the gesture, adjusted the regulator in her mouth, held onto her mask and her camera and tipped backward off the dive boat into the inky-black waters of the ocean.
As soon as she sank beneath the surface, she breathed air from the scuba tank, righted herself in the water and kicked her flippers, sending her away from the dive boat they’d anchored off the shore of Maui.
The night dive was for the specific purpose of capturing the beauty of bioluminescence. The moonless sky and the warmth of summer made the night perfect. Already, they’d seen the eerie blue-green glow of the tiny plankton lighting up the shoreline.
As soon as Alana swam up beside Kimo, they dove deeper and swam nearer to the shore, hoping to get photos of marine life with the backdrop of the blue glow.
No sooner had they dove downward, swimming toward the shore, than a turtle swam up from the ocean floor. While Alana shined an LED light, Kimo aimed her underwater camera at the turtle, catching the image.
The turtle, apparently curious, circled Kimo and Alana for several minutes, giving them every angle to capture the free-flowing beauty of the creature before it swam away.
Kimo’s viewfinder followed until the turtle disappeared into the darkness.
A hand on her arm made her turn toward her friend.
Alana pointed toward a rocky reef. Movement drew their attention to the camouflaged legs of an octopus, clinging to mottled gray rocks.
Kimo swam closer, snapping more photographs, excited to add the octopus to their shoot.
When the octopus slipped through a crevice, disappearing out of sight, Alana and Kimo rose above the rocks, searching for their next subject.
Colorful fish flitted past them. Again, Alana shined the light while Kimo photographed, at times, capturing the blue haze of the bioluminescence in the background.
After they’d been underwater for forty-five minutes, never going much deeper than twenty or thirty feet, Kimo motioned to Alana, tapping her dive watch.
Alana nodded, gave the OK sign and swam over the top of a reef, heading toward the dive boat, shining her light into the cracks and crevices of the jagged rocks.
Kimo swam alongside her friend, camera at the ready. It never failed that when she set it aside, some of the most spectacular sights appeared, whether they were fish, turtles or other marine life, and by the time she raised her camera again, they’d be gone.
This time, Alana’s light bounced off straight, parallel lines on the other side of the shallow reef. Straight lines weren’t natural in this environment where varied shapes of rocks, coral and seaweed should have been.
Kimo and Alana exchanged glances. Both women shrugged and then moved closer.
Once they cleared the reef, a large parrotfish swam past them. Kimo focused on the colorful fish, snapping a stream of photos of it as it swam away. Beyond the parrotfish, a shipping container appeared, settled onto the sandy surface of the ocean floor.
As Kimo neared the container, she saw the door was slightly ajar, but not enough to see inside.
Kimo grabbed the door and tried to push it wider. It didn’t budge.
With the oxygen nearly gone in her tank, she shook her head and motioned for Alana to ascend. Alana checked her gauge, nodded and started up.
Kimo dropped a pin on her dive watch’s GPS, marking the spot, and followed Alana to the surface.
They emerged, not far from their boat, swam over, slung their flippers over the side and climbed the ladder.
“That was amazing,” Alana exclaimed. “Those photos of the turtle and the octopus will be great for the dive brochures. Still, I’m curious about that shipping container.”
“Me, too.” Kimo pulled off her mask and snorkel, shrugged out of her buoyancy control device and set it, with the tank, on the deck. She helped Alana out of hers, then straightened.
The steady blue glow of bioluminescence lit the ocean near the reef and shoreline, filling Kimo with her own wonder and amazement. “It’s beautiful.”
Alana stood beside her. “We picked a perfect night for this.”
Kimo nodded in the faint glow cast by the required lights affixed to the bow and stern of the small boat. “Thanks for coming with me when I’m sure you’d rather be with your fiancé.”
Alana draped an arm over her friend’s shoulder.
“How often do we get to witness such a colorful display of nature? I have the rest of my life to spend with Vance. I can spare a night of diving with my dear friend, especially when we’re treated to such an impressive display.
” She let her arm fall to her side. “So, are we done, or are we going back down for more impressive shots?”
“If you’re up for it, I’d like to go down for a little longer. Maybe take a pry bar and look inside that container.”
“I’m up for it and curious as well,” Alana said.
“I just want to download what I have onto my laptop first.”
“And while you download,” Alana said, “I’ll switch tanks.”
Kimo smiled at her friend. “Great. I won’t be long. Hopefully, we can be back on shore by midnight.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Alana said. “I might even get a good night’s sleep before Vance and I meet with the wedding planner to go over wedding venues.”
Kimo frowned. “You’re meeting with her tomorrow?”
Alana sighed. “She insists. If I had it my way, I’d be satisfied with a small ceremony in front of a justice of the peace. Vance is the one insisting on a venue and all the things.”
“Speaking of wedding planners, why didn’t you go with Kalea’s friend, Casey, for a wedding planner?”
“You know I love Kalea, but she’s on the Big Island, Casey’s on Oahu and Kinsley is the sister of Vance’s friend here on Maui. Plus, Vance is paying for the planner and the venue.”
“You realize it’s your wedding, too,” Kimo reminded her friend.
“Yeah, but neither one of us has been married before. I figure if Vance wants a fancy wedding, he deserves one.”
“Did you tell him you didn’t want a big wedding?”
“When he first asked. But he was so excited about planning. I didn’t have the heart to tell him it was more than I wanted.”
“You should, you know.”
“It doesn’t matter that much to me as long as I don’t have to do all the work.
Since he hired a wedding planner, I won’t have to worry about all the fine details.
Kinsley has it all under control.” Alana removed the regulator, unclamped the tank and removed it from her BCD.
She replaced it with a full tank, tightened the strap and locked it in place.
“We just have to tell her a few of our preferences and off she goes to make it happen.” She straightened and grinned.
“You still going to be one of my bride’s maids? ”
“Of course,” Kimo laid a towel across her damp legs, settled the laptop on it and booted the hard drive. Once the screen blinked to life, she downloaded the images from her camera onto the computer and cloud.
By the time she was done, Alana had the second BCD loaded with a fresh tank. She glanced across at Kimo, one corner of her mouth quirking upward. “We’ve known each other for a long time, but I’ll never understand why your name is Kimo,” Alana said. “It’s typically a male child’s name in Hawaiian.”
Kimo snorted. “It’s simple. My father was so proud of his first and only child’s birth, he blessed me with the name, gender be damned. I weathered some kidding as a child, but it didn’t bother me. My folks loved me and I loved them.”
Alana shook her head. “Actually, you’re a complete badass, so the name fits.”
Kimo grinned. “Thanks.” She slid the laptop into its case, shoved it into her backpack and placed it on the shelf near the helm alongside the fire extinguisher and radio. She sorted through the tool cubby until she found a metal pry bar and laid it on a bench.
When she turned, Alana held up her BCD and helped her slip it over her shoulders.
Kimo buckled it in place and helped Alana into hers.
She pulled her mask and snorkel over her face.
After a quick glance at her gauges and an air test, she grabbed the pry bar, laid it on the rear platform and sat beside it.
Kimo tugged her flippers over her feet, picked up her camera and waited for Alana.
“Ready?” Alana asked, flashlight strap looped around her wrist. She held up the pry bar. “I’ll take the pry bar.”
Kimo nodded, held onto her mask with one hand and the camera on the selfie stick with the other. Then, she pushed off the back platform, sliding into the water.
Using the pinned location, Kimo led the way with Alana at her side, shining the flashlight at the ocean floor ahead of them.
They arrived fairly quickly.
Alana handed the flashlight to Kimo and applied the pry bar to the container door.
Kimo understood shipping containers sometimes slid off cargo ships during storms. This one could have done the same.
However, most cargo ships didn’t come this close to shore.
She was curious about its contents. If it had been there long, the contents could have disintegrated unless it was made of plastic, glass or something equally resistant to erosive effects of warm salt water.
Alana jammed the pry bar into the narrow gap between the door and the side of the container and fought for a way to lean into the metal bar without floating away from it.
She planted her feet against the side of the box, gripped the bar and pulled while pushing the box with her feet.
The weightless effect of the water didn’t give her much leverage, but the door moved slightly, displacing the sand in its way.
Kimo hurried forward and slid her foot across the sand in an attempt to clear the path the door must take to open.
Another attempt, pulling back on the bar without as much sand in the way, allowed the door to open another three inches before bogging down in the sand.
Alana lowered the bar and swam backward, allowing Kimo to move close enough to shine the flashlight into the box.