A Whisper of Danger (30 page)

Through the hazy gray water he could see a distant movement. Frantic movement. A discarded air hose. Arms and legs flailing.
Jessie!

Adrenaline surging through him, Rick shot toward her as fast as his flippers would propel him. Instantly he could see she was in serious trouble. An eel hung suspended half out of its hole, darting at her with its long teeth bared. Jessie had lost the mouthpiece to her scuba tank, and she was futilely waving some kind of rod at the creature.

As he approached, Rick realized she was losing ground fast. Already her face had turned an ugly shade of blue gray, and her movements were lethargic. She was too deep. Too frightened. She was drowning.

Lord, help me! Please don’t take her, God! Not now!

Surging forward, he threw one arm around Jessie and brandished his knife at the eel. Without a speargun, there was no way he could kill the thing. It was angry and aggressive in defending its territory. But Rick knew that almost any wild animal could be evaded. Holding Jessie around the waist, he paddled backward. The eel followed for a moment, taking nips at his fins, then it hung back.

The instant he felt they were at a safe distance, Rick grabbed one of the octopus hoses that was attached to his air tank. The secondary air source had been designed for a situation like this, but Rick had never used one except in training. As he kicked toward the surface, he placed the breathing gear in Jessie’s mouth and turned on the air supply. She was limp, dangling in his arms. The light reflecting through the water gave her skin a gray pallor. As they rose, the water cleared to indigo, blue, and finally emerald green.

“Jessie!” Rick cried as he burst above the surface. “Jessie, can you breathe? Come on, sweetheart, breathe for me!”

He swam her to the diving boat. With a strength born of terror, he hauled them both on deck in seconds. Fighting fear, he jerked off his face mask and hers and began to compress her chest with his hands.

“Jessie, breathe. Breathe!” He covered her mouth with his and exhaled. Her rib cage rose as her waterlogged lungs filled with air. He pushed again. Breathed into her again. Prayed.

God, oh God, help me!

“Come on, Jessie! I love you.” He compressed her chest. “I love you, Jessie.”

She coughed. Water burbled out of her mouth. “Rick,” she croaked, and curled into a fetal position. Coughing, groaning, she rolled against him.

“Breathe, honey,” he whispered. “Breathe the air.”

“I’m sick,” she murmured. “I’m going to be sick.”

He held her head as she retched into a bailing scoop he managed to grab in the nick of time. Smoothing back her hair, he could only thank God she had survived. Her skin felt cold, and her arms were covered in goose bumps. Cradling her, he wiped her face with a towel. Then he wrapped another towel around her and lifted her into his lap.

“You okay, Jessie?” he murmured, studying her ashen face. “Can you breathe?”

She let out a moan. “Rick . . .”

“I’m right here, Jessie. I’ve got you.”

Her violet eyes flickered open. For more than a minute she stared at him, sucking in air, her gaze searching and memorizing his features. Then she let out a deep breath. “I was dead,” she whispered.

“No.”

“Almost.”

“I should have stayed with you, Jessie. I promised I’d protect you, but I—”

“Shhhh.” She shut her eyes. “I wandered away. Wanted to see the wreck. My fault.”

He stroked his fingers over her wet hair, relieved at the gradual return of the pink blush in her cheeks.
Lord, I almost lost her again—this time forever.
Fear still ricocheted through his chest, making his heart hammer and his pulse throb in his ears. In his arms she felt light, fragile, a delicate treasure that had nearly slipped through his fingers.

“I love you, Jessie.”

Her eyes slid open again. Wide, seeking. Damp black lashes nearly touching the arch of her eyebrows. Mouth parted. Lips flushed and full.

“Did you hear me?” he asked.

“Yes.”

That was enough. He didn’t expect a response. He just needed her to know. Maybe after she felt better, she would push him away again. Even so, he wanted her to understand how he felt. He loved her. He always had. Always would. Nothing could change that.

Head resting on his shoulder, she shut her eyes and seemed to sleep. He lost track of the time, content to let her trust in his strength, watching the sun sink into the pink-and-orange sea. And then heads began bobbing up around the boat. Hunky. Andrew. Splinter.

“Rick!” The boy waved a long skinny arm. “Wow, you should see what we’ve got in the hoisting basket. It’s mondo awesome!”

“McTaggart, where’ve you been?” Hunky hollered. “We needed your help, man. We’ve found a chest!”

“It’s embedded in coral.” Splint heaved himself onto the diving platform. “We can’t get it out, but—hey, what’s going on with Mom? Are you okay, Mom?”

“She had a close encounter with an eel.”

“An eel!”

“I hate eels,” Jessie said, lifting her head and giving her son a warm smile. “Did you have fun, big guy?”

“Mom, it’s totally unbelievable down there. You should’ve seen Hunky and Andrew and me working on that pit. We found dishes and teacups and a clay pipe and a little statue. We even found a gold chain! Did you know gunk doesn’t grow on gold? Remember how silver clumps all together in those biscuits? But not gold. Gold stays shiny. We think there might be gold in the chest, but we can’t get it out of the coral. It’s metal. Hunky blasted it with the airlift, but it wouldn’t budge. Are you sure you’re all right? You look kind of green.”

“I’m fine, sweetheart.”

“Whoa, what’s in this bailing scoop? Mom, did you barf on Rick again? Yuck-a-roli, how could you do that?”

“She missed me this time, scamp.” Rick ruffled Splint’s rapidly drying hair. “Hey, you’d better help Andrew haul that basket up. Looks like it weighs a ton.”

“McTaggart, you’re needed as well,” Hunky hollered over his shoulder. “Enough lollygaggin’ with your fair lady. Come and give us a hand.”

Rick slid Jessie from his lap to the padded bench. “Are you going to be okay?” he murmured.

“I’m fine. I think I’ll leave the Poseidon adventure to you professionals, though. I’ve had enough eels to last a lifetime.”

“You found the entire front half of the ship, Jessie,” he said. “You’re as professional as any of us.”

“I bet I’m the first diver who ever ran completely out of air.”

“You’re not. And I bet you’ll be back in that water by tomorrow.” He gave her a wink. “You’ve been bitten by the treasure bug.”

“I’ve been bitten by an eel. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are fang marks on my flippers.”

He laughed. She was smiling as he turned to join the efforts of the crew in hauling up the hoisting basket.

“Hey, Rick,” she called.

He swung around.

“Thanks. For everything.”

“Anytime.”

Standing at the rail of the hydrofoil, her hair blowing away from her face, Jess recognized the tall figure waiting at the edge of the Dar es Salaam wharf. In his Sunday suit and tie, Rick cut a handsome silhouette. He lifted a hand, and Jessie’s heart turned over.

I love you,
he had told her.
I love you, Jessie. Did you hear me?

Yes, she had heard his deep voice reverberating all night long. He loved her. How long had it been since anyone had spoken those words to her? Other than Splint, with his boyish hugs and chocolate-cookie smooches, it had been ten years.
I love you, Jessie.

The words felt so good, so warm, so right—and yet they frightened her beyond belief. A thousand questions had swarmed through her mind all night. Did he really mean it when he said he loved her? Or had it just come out of the impulse of the moment after he had rescued her? If he meant it, what would he do about it? What should she do about it? Did she love him?

“I believe a storm will come,” Hannah said beside her. “Look there, in the east.”

Jess looked back over her shoulder toward the island of Zanzibar. As Hannah had noted, a huge bank of gray clouds was building on the horizon. They would probably bring rain. A good thing, if Solomon’s observations could be trusted. He had told Jess the plants were suffering. “They wish to drink water,” he had said. “They are thirsty.”

Strange man. Again she wondered if Solomon could have murdered Dr. bin Yusuf. Possibly. In the days since Splint’s discovery of the bloody urn, Jess had watched Solomon carefully as he went about his business. He was clearly enamored of Miriamu. Jess didn’t know how she had missed it.

“I believe the rain is going to bring big waves,” Hannah said. “This I do not wish to see.”

“Mama Hannah? I’ve never known you to be afraid of anything. If it’s a little choppy this afternoon, are you going to worry about riding back on the hydrofoil?”

“I think of that disobedient man Jonah.”

“Jonah? Who spent three days in the whale?”

“Three days and three nights. ‘I sank beneath the waves, and death was very near. The waters closed in around me, and seaweed wrapped itself around my head. I sank down to the very roots of the mountains. I was locked out of life and imprisoned in the land of the dead. But you, O Lord my God, have snatched me from the yawning jaws of death!’”

“Mama Hannah!” Jess couldn’t hold back a laugh. “That’s so morbid.”

“I remembered it when you told me yesterday about what happened to you at the bottom of the sea.”

Jess took the older woman’s hand and held it tightly. The dark coffee-colored skin felt loose and soft, like an old well-worn handkerchief. How many times had Hannah’s hands soothed the fears of her four
totos
? It had never occurred to Jess that one day her own hands could reach out, comfort, and reassure the one she loved so deeply.

“If it’s too rough, we’ll wait here in Dar es Salaam,” she told Hannah. “We won’t cross on a stormy sea, okay?”

The dark brown eyes glowed as they studied the approaching wharf. “I wait with great happiness for the day I will greet my Lord in heaven,” Hannah said softly. “I am not afraid of death. But if I can choose at all, I will not wish to face it at the bottom of the ocean. Water is good for drinking. Good for bathing. Maybe good for swimming. But ehh . . . these old Kikuyu bones of mine wish to be laid to rest on the land.”

Jess slipped her arm around the frail shoulders. It sobered her to think of ever losing Hannah. What would she do without the security of knowing this woman loved her and was always available to her? The thought dampened her spirits as she stepped off the hydrofoil onto the wharf.

“Rick, guess what!” Splint danced toward the tall man. “You know that chunk of conglomerate Hunky let me keep last night? I found something in it! Take a look at this!”

“Hey, it’s a buckle.” Rick clapped the boy on the shoulder. “It’s in good shape, too.”

“I was super careful chipping it out. You should have seen me. I did it with a little pick and a toothbrush, just like you showed me. And I found something else. How about this?”

“A spike. That’s great.”

“It was in the conglomerate, too.”

“Morning, Jessie,” Rick said, his blue eyes brilliant in his deeply tanned face. He held open the car door for her. “How are you feeling today?”

“I’m fine.” She was so used to seeing him in his bathing trunks, she felt tongue-tied at this suave gentleman. “Mama Hannah thinks a storm is blowing up.”

“She’s right. Don’t worry, Hannah; they won’t operate the hydrofoil unless it’s safe.”

“Ehh.”

On the ride to Daniel McTaggart’s church, Splint chattered nonstop about the shipwreck. Rick listened and responded, but his focus was clearly on Jess. He complimented her dress. He asked if the breeze blowing through the open car window was bothering her. He commented on the high quality of the artifact sketches she had been giving him and how pleased he was with her work.

Jess let herself enjoy the masculine attention. In fact, she felt almost giddy, like a schoolgirl whose pigtail has just been dunked in ink by the cutest boy in class. She not only enjoyed Rick, but more and more she was growing to trust him. She trusted his words to be true. She trusted his promises to be fulfilled. She trusted his actions to be honest and fair. Was she a fool?