Chapter 13 #2
Rex swam beside her, alternating between looking ahead and keeping an eye on their six.
Something shiny caught his attention.
It must have caught Kimo’s eye at the same time because she shot ahead.
They arrived together near a massive rock outcropping. As they fought the current and waves pushing them into the jagged edges, they reached down and brushed away sand, revealing the tank and BCD Kimo had abandoned.
Rex’s gut clenched when he saw the bullet hole in the tank. Had it been a foot higher, the bullet would have struck Kimo in the back of her head.
Having found the BCD, they left it standing in the sand and dug all around it, looking for the camera.
When no amount of digging unearthed it, Kimo moved over the rocks.
Rex followed, searching the cracks and crevices while trying to keep from being scraped across the jagged surfaces.
Suddenly, Kimo disappeared behind a large boulder.
His heart lurching into his throat, Rex hurried to follow.
He found her struggling to reach into a crevice, her fins flipping, as she tried to push deeper.
When she seemed to be making no progress, he tugged on her tank.
Kimo’s head came up, and she hovered over the crevice, jabbing her finger downward.
Rex moved over the spot and stared down.
A camera lay wedged several feet down between rocks. Too far for Kimo to reach, but maybe not for him.
Rex leaned into the crevice, stretching his arm as far as he could reach, which was at least two inches short of snagging the strap on the camera.
The bulk of the tank and BCD kept him from getting deeper into the crevice.
When he came up, Kimo tried to dive in to try again.
Rex stopped her and held up a hand for her to wait. He pointed to himself and down at the crevice. He would try again. Then he unbuckled the straps on his BCD.
Kimo’s hand closed over his, and she shook her head.
Rex grabbed her fingers and squeezed them gently. He set her hand away from him and completed the task of shrugging out of his BCD and tank, careful to keep the regulator in his mouth as he set it on a nearby rock. He took her hand and placed it on the tank. Motioning for her to hold onto it.
When he was sure she understood, he took a deep breath, removed the regulator from his mouth and dove into the crevice.
He pulled himself deeper and stretched his arm into where the gap narrowed. The tips of his fingers curled around the strap. He tugged gently, afraid that if he jerked it upward, it would wedge itself into the rock. The camera moved several inches and jammed.
Rex released the pressure on the strap, letting the camera fall an inch. With a twist of his hand, he turned the camera slightly and lifted again.
Again, the camera stopped where the edge of a rock jutted out.
His lungs starting to burn, Rex kicked his fins, moving to a little different angle over the camera. He let the camera drift downward and then brought it straight up, not at an angle, avoiding the jutting rock.
By the time he had the camera free of the tight space, his lungs burned with the need to breathe.
A hand clamped on his ankle, dragging him upward.
When his head cleared the crevice, Kimo was there, placing her regulator into his mouth.
Rex sucked in a breath and let it out, then sucked in another as he held up the camera.
Kimo hugged him hard and briefly.
They buddy-breathed over to the other BCD and tank. Kimo took the camera, attached it to her BCD and helped Rex into his tank.
When he was breathing normally with his own regulator, he sent the message, Found it, and followed with Surface Now.
With one hand on the camera, holding it snuggly to her chest, Kimo reached for Rex’s hand. She squeezed it and then swam back to the damaged BCD that would serve as additional evidence of treachery.
Rex hooked a hand through the harness.
As they slowly ascended, Rex kept an eye out for motorboats overhead and attack divers below.
Leilani and Angel joined them as the tour boat circled and stopped close to them.
The waves had grown rougher in the time they’d been down. Devlin had to help them out of the water and onto the deck.
When all were safely aboard, Teller turned the boat around and headed for the Lahaina marina.
They stripped out of their gear and stowed it safely. Rex removed his underwater sports camera from the BCD vest, glad they hadn’t run into any attackers during their dive. He shoved it into his pocket and sat beside Kimo.
Leilani took over at the helm.
Kimo sat with the camera in her lap, pushing buttons, her brow furrowing. She glanced up and shook her head. “I can’t get it to work.”
Rex held out his hand. “Let me see.”
She handed it to him, pushed to her feet and started stripping out of her wetsuit.
“They said they wanted the camera. They didn’t say anything about a requirement for it to work.” Devlin pointed out from his position near the back of the tour boat, where he held onto a post for balance and his rifle should anyone slip up behind them.
Rex tried to turn on the camera. “Most likely the battery is dead.”
“My charger and spare battery were on the dive boat they took.” Kimo shook her head and turned away.
Curious about how the camera worked, Rex turned knobs, flicked switches and opened the compartment that held the storage devices. This camera used a similar SD card as his smaller sports camera.
Rex pulled his little camera out of his pocket and opened the disk storage compartment. The SD cards were the same size, if not the same storage capacity.
Kimo had moved to stand near Leilani, staring at the path ahead, talking with her about Alana and the last time they’d had a girls’ night out.
Rex switched the SD cards in the cameras and closed the compartments. As Devlin had pointed out, the trade was for the camera. Rex stuffed his camera into his pocket.
Leilani drove the tour boat into the Lahaina harbor and slowed as she neared the slip. “We’ve got company.”
Rex stood. He’d noticed the Maui Police Department vehicle parked in front of the Windsong slip.
“Please, don’t let it be Detective Sykes,” Kimo murmured as she rose to stand beside Rex.
At that moment, Detective Sykes stepped out of the vehicle.
“Isn’t he the jerk who raked Kimo over the coals?” Leilani asked.
Rex nodded. “That’s the one.”
“Should I park or make a run for it?” Leilani whispered, without moving her lips.
“He’s seen us,” Angel said. “You might as well park.”
“It’s not like we’re guilty of anything,” Devlin said, having stowed the weapons in their gear bags and beneath one of the benches.
Leilani pulled into the slip. Angel jumped out and hooked the line over the cleat on the dock, securing the boat.
Rex stepped off the boat onto the dock. “Detective Sykes, what brings you out so early?”
“I could ask you the same.” The man’s gaze looked past Rex to land on Kimo. “Ah, I see you found your camera, Ms. Kealoha.” He held out his hand. “I’ll take that.”
Kimo’s face blanched as she clutched the camera to her chest. “It’s mine.”
The detective wiggled his fingers impatiently. “You’re the one who reported a mysterious shipping container. Did you or did you not take photos of the supposed container?”
“It was there.” Kimo’s brow lowered.
“You didn’t answer my question.” Detective Sykes skewered her with his glance. “If there are photos on that camera, I have to enter them as evidence.”
“But I need the camera,” she said. “I have to have it.”
“You can get it back after we’ve had a chance to review any evidence of your claim.”
“But that could be weeks,” Kimo cried.
The detective shrugged. “Or months. Hand it over.”
Kimo didn’t move.
The desperation in her eyes made Rex want to pull her close and save her from the pain, but he couldn’t. Not now. He stepped back onto the deck and held out his hand. “Give me the camera, Kimo,” he said softly.
Tears welled in her eyes. “You know what it means,” she whispered. “I can’t.”
Rex’s hand covered hers, holding her camera to her chest. “You have to.” Then, so quietly only she would hear, he said, “Trust me.”
For a long moment, she held tightly to the camera. Finally, she loosened her hold and let him take it from her.
Rex handed the camera to the detective. “Is that all you wanted from Ms. Kealoha, or are you going to bully her again?”
Detective Sykes took the camera and stared down his nose at the men and women on the boat. “I’m only doing my job. You’d do best to keep comments like that to yourself.”
“Or what?” Rex challenged.
The detective’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Don’t test me, Johnson. Your father’s money can’t buy your way out of everything.” With that parting jab, the detective climbed back into his vehicle and drove away.
Rex turned back to Kimo, his heart squeezing hard in his chest.
The look of betrayal radiating from her expression was almost as harsh as her whispered words, “What about Alana?”
Rex glanced over his shoulder to make certain Detective Sykes had truly left. When the man’s vehicle had moved out of sight, Rex hooked Kimo’s arm and led her inside the tour boat.
The others followed. No one said a word.
Rex pulled his camera from his pocket, opened the compartment and dropped the SD disk into Kimo’s hand. “Sykes might have the right camera, but he has the wrong disk.”