Authors: Moore-JamesA
"I can
find someone else if I need to, Charlie.
I won't be thrilled, but I can find someone else and you can head home
with the rest of them in a day or two."
Charlie was
not the sort of man who shirked his duties.
I can tell you that as easily as I can tell you a good cure for a bright
day is a pair of polarized sunglasses.
I
made the offer because I knew in advance what his answer would be.
"No.
I signed on and I'm here, but Joe you better
never put me in this position again."
He pointed a finger at me.
"And I better not hear a goddamned thing about this back in town or
anywhere else.
I don't make fun of
people for going to church and I expect the same courtesy in return."
"That's a
deal.
Now put a smile on your face and
go flirt with the college girls."
"It was
on my planner."
Charlie walked down
the gangway and went about his business, which in this case was helping to load
the boxes of equipment the college types had brought along with them.
I called my other two out to help him and
they made short work of the supplies.
The college kids looked perfectly happy to let them handle all of the
work, but the doctor showed an unexpected amount of backbone and ordered them
to help.
I guess they were all there for
the extra credits or something.
Dr. Ward and
his girl Friday came onto the yacht, and I had to suppress a smile.
The man was dressed in shorts and a polo
shirt and looked about as comfortable as a nun in a bikini.
The girl with him was dressed in cutoffs and
a plain white T-shirt.
I could see her
bathing suit under it, a one-piece black affair.
I was struck again by the fact that she just
didn't look like the academic type.
I'd
have expected her to be on the track team or maybe the women's volleyball team
instead.
"Nice to
see you again, Captain."
The man
was still meek, but he put on a better show of confidence when his students
were around; even his handshake was firmer.
"Nice to
see you again, too, Doctor.
What are the
plans for today?"
"Mostly
we just want to take a little run around to the reef out there and do some
visuals and do a quick dive to get a feel for the reef.
Nothing extreme."
I looked out
to the reef.
It could hardly be called
an island, but there was a good-sized chunk of land out there, and even from
where we were I could see the waves slapping against it.
"You know
what that's called, right?"
The man looked
at me and nodded.
"The
Devil's Reef."
"Judging
by the waves out that way, you might want to tell your kids to be careful.
It looks like there's one hell of an
undertow."
"Oh,
don't you worry.
Diana here is a certified
Dive Master and has over two hundred dives under her belt."
That explained
the physique.
"Just so you know
,
pieces of land like that normally earn their names."
Diana looked
my way and smiled.
She had a nice smile
and the sort of easygoing demeanor that would have had a lot of men thinking
she was either lesbian or flirtatious.
I
saw the way she looked at Charlie.
I
would have put my money on her not liking girls that way.
"The
Devil's Reef got its name from alleged activities dating back to the eighteen
hundreds, Captain.
There were rumors
that the people around here were consorting with demons."
"And
there are stories of shipwrecks that happened here, too.
My guess is the reef out there had a lot to
do with them."
I pointed for her to
see what I meant.
The scabbed black reef
rose prominently in a few areas, but by looking at the waves and the way they
fell, you could see where a good portion of the land was just under the
waterline.
"There are a few spots
there where the land barely even rises out of the water and the tide is just
starting to come in.
I can bet a few of
the early wrecks happened because a lot of that reef is submerged when the tide
is up."
"Well,
according to what we've heard, there are some interesting caves down below that
reef, and that's what we're going to be looking into."
"You'd
think a thing like that would have been studied by now."
"A few
people have tried.
Not many of them have
returned without injuries.
We aim to be
very careful, Captain Joe."
"How big
a set of caves are you talking about, anyway?"
"No one
knows.
There have been estimates given
by sonar that make them seem pretty spectacular."
"Is that
how you plan on mapping these things?
With sonar?"
Diana nodded
her head.
"And
other things.
The sonar's just to
make sure the measurements are accurate."
"Gonna be
disappointed if the caves aren't there?"
"Oh,
they're there.
I've seen them."
"Really?"
The girl
nodded her head.
"I was on one of
the last expeditions to try this.
That's
why Dr. Ward asked me to come along."
I looked in
Ward's direction, but he'd already wandered off, fretting over the equipment
that his students had brought on board.
"Did you
see anything interesting down there?"
She looked up
at me, her blue eyes seeming darker than they had a few minutes earlier.
"Oh, yes, I saw things."
"Like
what?"
"Let's
just say there might be some truth to the stories of devils."
Before I could
make another comment, she was on her way, heading to where the rest of the
students and the doctor and the two ghost hunters were all gathered together.
I stayed where
I was and thought about her words.
She
had piqued my curiosity.
I also thought
about Charlie and how he might wish he'd taken me up on my offer before it was
all said and done.
An hour
passed, maybe a little longer, and then it was time to go back out.
The reef was only a little over a mile
away.
Not the sort of swim I was
interested in making but not bad in a yacht.
The waters were as tricky as I feared they'd be, with odd currents and
the sort of shale outcroppings that could tear the hell out of a vessel if you
got careless.
I used the sonar to make
good and damned sure I stayed well away from the hidden dangers.
Then I dropped anchor and set myself up for a
little fishing.
Seven people
total got into suits while I was doing the driving, and within minutes of
anchoring, they were ready to dive into the waters.
I couldn't have much cared one way or the
other.
I was aiming to see if I could
get into an argument with a bluefish.
The waters
were dark and murky, the sediment around the area lifted with almost every
wave, but the rumor was that the fishing was supposed to be damned good.
I aimed to test that theory out for myself
before the trip was done.
Rocks and
risks aside, if the stories were true, I might be able to take advantage of it
the next time I hired out for a fishing trip that was longer than a day.
Now and then you need to scout around for new
ways to keep the business going.
I didn't catch
anything, but I got a few nibbles.
The divers got
lucky, if luck is the right word.
They
came up one at a time, eager to get back onto the yacht and shivering from the
cold water.
Charlie was good enough to
have hot coffee waiting for them, and they probably would have kissed his feet
right then.
With the girls that had gone
on the trip, he probably would have let them, too.
I set aside my
gear after reeling in the empty hook.
Something had taken the liberty of nibbling the food off my hook.
That's the problem with little fish and a big
piece of bait.
"Jan?
"
Dian was looking around with a frown on her face, her
wet hair sticking up like a porcupine as it dried in the warm evening air.
"Has anyone seen Jan?"
Another diver,
this one a man with possibly the longest legs I'd ever seen, looked around and
shook his head.
"He was right
behind me, Di."
Just when they
were starting to look worried, I heard the splashes against the side of the
Isabella
, and looked over to see the
last diver.
He looked like he was maybe
fifteen, and his face was drawn and pale.
His regulator was dangling in front of him in the water and he kept
reaching for the ladder to the deck but without much success.
I slipped
myself over the top rung and scurried down as quickly as I could.
I didn't know for sure if there was a
problem, but he certainly acted like he was in pain.
The kid rolled
his eyes at me and managed a half smile as I grabbed his wrist and started
hauling.
I wound up getting soaked in
the cold waters when I had to actually lower myself below his level to hoist
him up.
He had a dry suit; I had a pair
of shorts.
I think it took a couple of
hours for my testicles to return to their normal location after that
splash.
Even with the tank on his back,
it wasn't that hard to get the kid onto the ladder and help him get up to the
deck.
Long before we'd finished climbing,
Charlie was there lifting Jan to safety.
Diana ran over in a hurry, her face almost panicked, and started looking
the kid over as he was escorted to a seat.
Charlie didn't even bat an
eye,
he just started
unfastening the kid's equipment and setting sit aside.
"Jan!
What happened?"
Diana took the damp towel from her own
shoulders and spun it around the kid's, her eyes still looking him over.
She let out a weak moan when she saw the red
running down his leg.
It was about that
time that I noticed my clothes dripping pink-tinged water.
Diana peeled
him out of his suit before the kid could even protest and we got a good look at
the source of his blood loss.
Something
out there had taken a chunk out of his leg, and the wound was flowing freely.
I was smart enough to spend some of my winter
months every year working as a paramedic.
It kept me
from
going
stir-crazy and stopped Belle from wanting to smash my head
in with a frying pan for being under her feet constantly.
I pointed at
Charlie and he ran into the cabin to get the medical kit.
Diana was looking over the wound and I
squatted next to her.
"Let's see
that a bit better."
I tried to be
gentle, but the kid winced when I touched him and let out a hiss when I lifted
his calf.
The wound was deep, but the
cut was almost surgically clean.
Still,
looking at it, I couldn't help but think he was very lucky.
I'd seen shark bites before, and judging by
the size of the wound, if it had gotten a better grip the thing could have
probably taken his leg off from just below the knee.
There were angry red marks where the teeth
had scraped and a few spots where the skin had broken.
Mostly they were just abrasions, and not
enough of a mess for him to be in serious danger of an infection.
"You're a
lucky man, Jan.
That was closer to
trouble than you want to know."
Diana leaned back to let Charlie hand me my kit and I pulled out a
bottle of hydrogen peroxide and a bundle of gauze.
None of the wounds looked deep enough to be a
serious issue, so I poured the solution over his leg and watched it fizz
furiously.
I looked very carefully, and
only saw two minor problems.
I gauzed
over both of those and then wrapped his calf with several layers more of the
sterile cotton.
"What the
hell bit him?"
"If I had
to guess, I'd go with a sand shark, but a big one."
Charlie
practically carried the kid inside the cabin and laid him down on one of the
three sofas built into the main part.
Isabella's Dream
is a comfy place if
nothing else and the kid looked like he could use a little comfort.
We had blankets on board and in no time Jan
was wrapped up, lying back and resting.
I knew his leg was going to look like crap as soon as the bruising
finished.
I checked him
over one more time, just to make sure there weren't any unpleasant surprises,
and there weren't.
He'd be walking
again; he just wouldn't be thrilled about it.