The Oracle's Message (22 page)

Two weeks later, Annja sat on the dock by the dive master’s shack at Club Noah. She was watching a single sloop carrying one person make its way toward the shore. The balmy breezes blew warm air over her skin. The sunset she’d come to know and love repeated its daily fireworks display. And the turquoise waters of the South China Sea lapped at her feet.

The sloop’s motor churned a white frothy wake behind the boat and Annja smiled as the boat drew closer to the dock.

She stood and waited for the person driving it to toss her the rope. When he did, Annja caught it in one hand and tied the sloop to the dock so the coming high tide didn’t carry it out to sea.

The man stepped onto the dock. The wet suit he wore made him look like a pear in a strange bag, but he seemed completely unfazed by his appearance and only smiled at Annja as she approached him.

“I wondered when you’d get back,” she said.

“It took me a little longer than I thought it would.” He nodded at the boat. “Give me a hand with these, would you?”

He handed Annja the set of oxygen tanks and diving gear. Annja carried them up to the dive master’s shack. The little man working there accepted them without saying a word. He only smiled when Annja said thank-you.

Back on the path, the man in the wet suit waited for her. Annja walked next to him as another breeze blew the palm fronds nearby. “You don’t seem surprised to see me,” she said.

The man shrugged. “I knew you’d figure it out eventually.”

Annja nodded. “I decided you’d have to bring it back by ship. There was no way something like that could go undetected by an airline after everything that happened.”

He nodded. “You guessed right.”

Annja shrugged. “The timing made sense. I had to figure in a number of stops along the way. Other ports of call. I knew I had some time to rest up before coming over here.”

“But here you are.”

Annja smiled. “I have to admit I’m a bit amazed by this. I mean, I’m assuming you gave it back to the Jiao.”

He nodded. “It was the only proper thing to do.”

“I agree. It’s just…” Annja’s voice trailed off.

“What?”

“Well, frankly, it’s a little out of character for you. I’ve known you for a long time and you’ve always struck me as someone who only cares for his own agenda.”

Roux smiled. “And what makes you think this isn’t in keeping with my agenda?”

“Well, you’re being somewhat altruistic here.”

“Am I?”

Annja frowned. “Aren’t you?”

Roux stopped and looked at her. “Annja, it’s true that we’ve known each other awhile now. But I’ve been alive a lot longer than you. And the benefit of me being around for so many years is that I tend to have a more wide-reaching perspective than normal people. I don’t say that to pretend that I’m better than you—I say that only as a matter of fact.”

“All right.”

“As such,” Roux continued, “it’s entirely possible that I might have foreseen this very thing happening. And I decided that I needed to take steps to rectify the situation before something very old and very powerful fell into the wrong hands.”

“Much the way you told me that the sword might have led me here.”

Roux smiled, his eyes gleaming in the early twilight. “We are both beholden to the same things.”

“Sometimes,” Annja said. “We haven’t always seen eye-to-eye.”

“True,” Roux said. “But when we do, it is something that borders on deep friendship.”

Annja regarded him for a moment. “How did it go when you took it back?”

“The place is a mess, of course. Heinkel certainly made a convincing show of it with his explosives, but the Jiao are a resilient bunch. They’d already made a number of repairs and have been trying to figure out how to power their world.”

“So they greeted you like a savior?”

Roux chuckled. “I was afraid of being met with violence, but yes, they were quite relieved. I think they made me an unofficial ambassador or something like that. In any event, it won’t matter. They sealed the entry in the cistern. I doubt they’ll be having any more visitors. That is probably better than the way things were.”

“You really believe they’ll be safe that way?”

Roux shrugged. “I have no idea. I could only suggest they do certain things. Apparently there’s a bit of a power struggle going on right now. I made sure I conducted my business and then got out of there before one side tried to use me as a pawn in their quest for glory.”

“Smart move,” Annja said. They started walking again and the main pavilion loomed ahead of them.

“So, what happens now?” Roux asked. “You came all this way to see if you were right about me?”

“I figured you had to have the pearl when Vic told me you’d up and disappeared. That led me to believe that you had to have been following me underwater throughout most of the chase from the boat.”

Roux smiled. “It wasn’t exactly easy. And that thing you did with the shark—most amazing. Still, I hung around long enough to see you take care of business. And then when Spier swam off, I followed him. He had a bunch of minisubs a few hundred yards away. They were all gassed up and ready to use as their escape method.”

“So, you availed yourself of one of them, I take it?”

Roux grinned. “Well, it would have been a waste not to. And me having to lug the pearl back, it just made sense.”

“Where in the world did you surface?”

“Newport, Rhode Island, actually,” Roux said. “I happen to know a lovely woman there who let me shower and get changed. And then, it was a simple matter to arrange transportation and get on a ship.”

“While I was recuperating in a hospital on Martha’s Vineyard,” Annja said. “And then dealing with Spier showing up at my home—
my home!
—unannounced.”

“I sent you flowers,” Roux said.

“A poor substitute for actually being there,” Annja said with a sigh. “But it all comes out in the wash, huh?”

Roux nodded. “I’m starving. I think I could very probably eat one of those roasted pigs all by myself.”

Annja smiled at him. “Is that an invitation?”

“Does it need to be? Why can’t two old friends just sit down and have a decent meal together?”

“I never said they couldn’t,” Annja said. “Just go light on the whiskey tonight, okay?”

Roux feigned shock. “Are you dictating how I should lead my life now?”

“Not exactly.”

“Well, good, then.” Roux stopped in front of a cabana. “I need to get changed. They tend to frown on wet suits as dinner apparel.”

“With good reason,” Annja said. “It’s a terrible look for dining.”

“Is it?”

“There’s a similarity to a penguin, I think,” Annja said.

“In that case, I shall endeavor to present myself better.” Roux headed up the walkway. Annja watched him a moment longer.

“Don’t stand me up, Roux. You don’t want to see me upset.”

Roux laughed. “I’ve seen you upset, Annja. And I wouldn’t dream of standing you up.”

“In that case, I’ll see you there.”

Annja walked on toward the pavilion and turned to watch the sun sinking below the horizon. She could see the first stars coming out in the night sky and felt relaxed.

Genuinely relaxed, she realized.

She walked into the pavilion. As she did so, she met the waiter en route to the small table at the edge of the pavilion overlooking the beach and the crashing surf.

“Good evening, Miss Creed,” the waiter said. “Two for dinner tonight?”

Annja smiled. “Yes. How’s the
lechón?
”

“Simply incredible, if I do say myself. I dug the pit for it earlier today and the wait has been worth it.”

Annja nodded. “That sounds wonderful.” She sat down and stopped the waiter just before he left.

“Tell me something—do you have any Krug champagne?”