Deadly Deceit (26 page)

Alvita looked at her, then sat forward as if coming out of a daze. She got up, and pushed the chair back under the table. “You people say you want to help, but you come out here and you just, you just turn a blind eye.” She headed for the door.

Alvita was back to her normal self, Jess thought. Time to go back to the office.

But Alvita stopped at the door and turned. “If you had any sense,” she said, “you’d go back home now.” And with that, she walked out.

It was only later, when Jess was back in the office, that Alvita’s words kept milling around in her head.
You people come out here and just turn a blind eye.
What did she mean by that? Her voice had been calm and level, but Jess had heard something else. Frustration? Despair? The more Jess thought about it, the more she believed Alvita knew what was happening in these islands. Was she involved? Or just complicit in keeping quiet about it.

Jess remembered the midnight ceremony on the beach, the hooded figure, the chanting, and the flames. Alvita had embraced those people. Why? What was she up to?

If you had any sense, you’d go back home now.
Alvita’s last words seemed more chilling now, like a warning. Perhaps even a threat?

One thing Jess knew for sure. She couldn’t trust Alvita either.

“Welcome to the Columbus National Marine Park,” Brad shouted, cheerfully, to Tom, as the dive boat skimmed across turquoise water and sped towards the reef. “The Aquarium’s my favourite dive spot.”

Tom, Brad, Charles and Carrie, all dressed in wet suits cut off at the knees for the warm Caribbean water, sat chatting in the boat for the short ride, while one of Brad’s local employees steered.

“You promised me lots of fish,” Tom shouted back, over the noise from the outboard engine and the wind.

Brad laughed. “You just wait. The reef ridges rise and fall sharply at that point, creating wonderful sand canyons in between. Fish love ’em. And you’ll see boulder star coral and sponges like you’ve never seen them before.”

Tom smiled. Sally must have told Brad by now that Jess knew about his Spanish wreck. If Brad was upset the secret was out, he wasn’t showing it. In fact, his infectious enthusiasm was catching. Anyone would think it was
his
first trip out to ‘the wall’.

Tom focused on the breakers hitting the reef to the north of Grand Turk, where the Aquarium was located. He was every bit as eager to get into the water as Brad. It had been a while. Now, staring into the distance, he felt Carrie’s eyes on him. He hadn’t expected her to join them. Charles was Brad’s partner in the dive business and on holiday, but Carrie had a job to do. He turned sideways to her: “So, who’s looking after the kids today?”

“I give myself Friday afternoons off.” She flicked her blonde hair off her sun-tanned face. “The kids come in on Saturday mornings too. They see more of me than their mothers.”

“Lucky kids.” Carrie was one of the most attractive school teachers he’d ever come across. And he couldn’t help but notice how good her model-like figure looked, snuggled into a wetsuit.

Her laugh was deep and flirtatious.

Brad gave him a wink. “You’re in there.”

Carrie pulled a face at Brad. “Ignore him, Tom. Just because he can’t keep his eyes off the girls.”

Tom smiled back, thinking how easy they were in each other’s company. They were obviously both serious about diving. Back at the Dive Centre, Carrie had been every bit as professional as Brad in the way she kitted herself out, and checked all the equipment. Brad had also taken care to satisfy himself that Tom was a competent diver. He’d insisted on running through all the equipment and emergency procedures in the pool before leaving. He also checked all the oxygen tanks, breathing regulators, masks, and fins before his helpers put them into the boat. Brad was thorough, and Tom liked that.

“
Oi!
Watch my
foot!
” Charles shouted, grumpily, as Brad changed seats.

Charles looked almost comical in his wetsuit, with his protruding gut, and red face. Tom couldn’t help but compare Brad’s fitness and easy personality with his twin brother’s. Even now, while Brad was chatting away, poker face sat quietly. Charles probably wasn’t even listening to the conversation. “You okay?” Tom asked him.

No reply.

“Charles…?”

“What? Oh, yes.” He nodded.

“How’s Rebekah today?” Tom guessed she was occupying his thoughts.

“Still the same. This business with Benji and that voodoo curse has really got to her.” He shook his head. “Never seen her like this before.”

The way he said that made Tom think Charles had known Rebekah for quite some time. Is that why he came down here regularly, he wondered, to see her? Or was it really to see Brad and to keep an eye on his investment in the Dive Centre?

Tom left Charles to his misery. He was happy to be out on the water, and he wasn’t going to let anyone spoil his mood. He smiled again as he leant over the side of the boat and looked down at the brilliant colour and purity of the water below.

“Visibility averages about 100 feet down there,” Brad shouted over.

Tom nodded. He loved the ocean, and feeling the wind in his face. He’d been born and brought up at the coast just south of Sydney. Being in or on the water was second nature to him. So it was an irony that he found himself living and working in land-locked Canberra. Initially, he’d been flattered to be head-hunted for such a high profile job. It was interesting, and the travel great. But now he was out and about, he wondered if he really did want a desk job. He looked up to see Carrie studying him.

“Penny for them?” she said.

“Just pondering the meaning of life.”

She laughed. “You’re
supposed
to be enjoying yourself, Tom.”

“I am, but it’s hard to leave everything behind.”

“Yes, I suppose you get to see everything in your job.” She paused. “Nature red in tooth and claw?”

“Tennyson?” he asked

The surprise on her face made him smile. “Even policemen get an education in the colonies,” he said, with some satisfaction.

She laughed. “When I lived in Africa, my father repeated that quote like a mantra. Of course over there, the reality was very true. The weak die, and the fit survive. Gives you a different perspective on life.”

“Come on you two,” Brad shouted, as the boat slowed. “We’re here.”

When the boat stopped, Brad lined up the oxygen tanks for everyone.

“Don’t forget,” he said, sternly. “We’re only going down to maximum depth of 60 feet today. No more. And I want the four of us to stick together. I’ll be Tom’s buddy because it’s his first dive here.” He turned to Carrie and Charles. “You two look out for each other, if we get separated.”

They both nodded.

“Right, let’s get ready.” He handed Tom an oxygen tank, then one to Charles.

A strong wave rocked the boat, and Charles fell backwards onto the deck, ending up with a tank on top of him.

Brad laughed. “You need to lose a bit of weight, bro’. Get your sea legs back.”

It was Tom who picked up the tank and stood it on one side while he pulled Charles to his feet. He helped him strap on his cylinder, then put on his own.

Fins and masks in place, they inserted their breathing regulators into their mouths, and sat on the side of the boat. One by one, they leant back and toppled into the sea.

Tom was surprised at how warm the water was outside the reef. He’d expected it to be colder.

Brad touched the forefinger and thumb of his right hand into the shape of an ‘o’ – for okay. Then he disappeared under the waves.

Tom followed. Descending feet first, he held his nose and blew through it to release the pressure from his ears and sinuses. He felt a rush of adrenaline as the feeling of weightlessness took over. It was the freedom from gravity only diving seemed to give him. Releasing air from his life jacket to counter his buoyancy, he kicked down. Now, he was even more amazed at the clarity of the water. Objects always seemed bigger and closer in water than they actually were. Soon, he was tuning out the bubbling sound of his exhaling breath, and the comforting whoosh of air as he breathed in, to enjoy the eerie silence of the deep.

With Brad in the lead, it didn’t take them long to get down to the first canyon. A large, solitary fish swam past. Before they left, Brad had shown him a catalogue of fish they could expect to see at this dive spot. With its tawny colour and stripy markings, Tom reckoned this one was a Nassau grouper. Mouth gaping, the fish was curious and swam up to him for a closer look. Tom wanted to stay, but Brad signalled to keep going.

They swam a few metres on, until Brad pointed to a brightly coloured fish, close to the coral.

Silvery red, and with orange-gold stripes, Tom was fascinated. When he got closer, and saw the fish’s large eyes, and rear dorsal fin sticking up, he knew it was the unmistakable long-spine squirrelfish. None of the fish he’d seen so far could be found in Australian waters.

Following Brad up the steep side of the reef, he looked behind to check Charles and Carrie were there. They both gave him the okay hand signal. He signalled back, and followed Brad over the top of the reef and into another canyon. Suddenly, he noticed the current strengthening. It surprised him because Brad said there wasn’t much of a current in the summer months. He could feel himself being dragged along, and had to kick and breathe harder to keep up with Brad.

Descending into the canyon, they kept close to the reef wall to get a good look at boulder star coral. Suddenly, Brad pointed downwards excitedly.

A green sea turtle sat quietly on the bottom. Enthralled, Tom swam down for a closer look. The turtle’s shell was an olive brown colour, and its skin green. The creature looked huge – about four feet long. Mesmerised, he watched it for a while. The turtle didn’t look frightened in the face of this intrusion, but Tom knew a green sea turtle couldn’t pull its head into its shell like other turtles, so it was hard to tell if it felt threatened or not. Reluctantly, he decided to move on.

But when he looked up, he couldn’t see Brad. He looked back. Where were Charles and Carrie?

He was alone.

Kicking hard, he tried to catch up. But, in just a few yards, he had to stop. He couldn’t catch his breath. What was wrong? He checked his pressure gauge.
No air!
The shock rippled through him. Knowing vibrations travel fast in water, he tried to make some noise by banging on his oxygen tank to attract attention.

No-one came.

Now, he had no time to think, or do anything other than make an emergency ascent to the surface. He was around 50 feet down. How long to get to the top, he wondered? Would the air in his lungs run out? His training kicked in. Swift, but steady, he breathed out as he swam up to the surface, slowly inflating his life jacket as he went. His heart was pounding in his chest, but he knew he had to keep calm or he’d be dead.

On he went… towards the light. Keep going…

Kick…

He felt dizzy… Keep going…

His lungs felt they would burst.

Kick… kick…

Finally, he broke through the surface. Gasping for breath, he tore off his mask and trod water. Trying to control his in and out breathing, he felt like he’d run a marathon. But he kept a controlled rhythm until he finally regained his breath.

Only then did he look around for the dive boat.
Shit!
Nothing but ocean. He started shouting to attract attention, but there was no-one, and nothing, but water. The strong current had dragged him way off course.

He looked up at the sun to get his bearings. Then his blood ran cold when he turned back and saw a black shape looming below. He braced himself as it came to the surface.

Carrie!

She pulled off her mask. “My God!” She sounded as breathless as him. “Are you okay?”

“I had to make an emergency ascent.”

“I heard a noise in the canyon. When I turned and couldn’t see you, I swam back. I knew there was something wrong when you started your ascent. But I couldn’t catch up in time to help.”

“I ran out of air.”

She frowned. “We haven’t been down
that
long. You checked your tank, didn’t you?”

“Yes. Must have a problem… And there’s no sign of the boat.”

As she looked around, Tom noticed how calm Carrie was.

“We’ve drifted off course in the current.” She held onto his arm. “Brad’ll come looking for us with the boat. Ditch your lead belt. It’ll be easier to stay afloat.”

Tom did as he was told. He was surprised at Carrie’s strength as they held onto each other. She was holding him up, rather than the other way around. And she seemed completely at ease, as if she were treading water in a swimming pool rather than in the ocean. “What if he doesn’t come?” he said.

“He’ll be here,” she said, firmly. “He knows the currents.”

They floated together on the surface for a while, but the swell was increasing with the wind. “We should try and swim back to shore,” he said, although he couldn’t actually see land.

“No, we must wait. Brad won’t leave me out here.”

They bobbed about in the waves for what seemed like an eternity, although it was probably only 15 minutes. Then he heard the sound of a motor. Relief flooded through him when he saw the boat heading in their direction.

They both started shouting, and waving their masks in the air, to attract attention.

“What the
hell
happened?” Brad shouted as the boat pulled up alongside them.

“Tom ran out of air,” Carrie said. She grabbed the side of the boat and pulled herself up. “I saw him make an emergency ascent from a way off, and followed him up.”

Brad and Charles helped her into the boat first, then Tom.

Tom was angry with Brad. “You were
supposed
to be my diving buddy.”

Brad looked devastated. “Sorry, mate. Never known the current so strong down there in the summer.”

“What are you playing at, Brad?” Charles shouted, his voice hard. “Didn’t you check all the tanks?”

Tom turned to see how pale Charles was. Anyone would think
he’d
nearly drowned. Why was he so upset?