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“Yes. We’ll keep below the surface to stop this damn beeping and go as far as we can on that scooter.”
I did the math in my head. “With both of us on the scooter as well as our spare tanks, it will slow it down.”
“It’s better than nothing. We’ll go down to Rhino, get the scooter, find those additional tanks, and keep going.” His hand brushed the back of my hand. “Come on, Indy. I need you to take the lead on this.”
“Jesus, I take back my offer of more kisses.”
He cupped my cheeks and crushed his lips to mine.
I shoved him away, laughing. “Hey.”
“There’s more of that when we reach dry land.”
I was torn between drowning him and believing in him. But one thing was certain: if we got through tonight, I wanted to spend more time with Officer Fancy Pants.
That was one hell of an if, though.
I huffed. “Okay, but you need to follow my instructions to the T.”
He nodded, all serious.
“I want you to concentrate on your breathing. Slow and steady will use less air. We’ll keep at around eleven feet below to stop that beeping, and that will help prolong our dive time. We can descend fast. I’m talking kicking like crazy. Then let me handle our ascent, okay?” I heaved a massive breath, hoping I didn’t regret this. “Let’s go.”
We put our breathers in and lowered beneath the surface. I turned on my flashlight, and swimming beside me, Tyler added his light beam to mine. The water grew colder as we sank into the darkness. Finally, the beeping stopped, and an eerie silence surrounded us like the ocean, too, was mourning the loss of one of its connections between man and nature.
Rhino’s broken form loomed beneath us. My boat was never pretty like Kane Devlin’s, or fast like Ryder’s patrol boats. But she had beauty in her strength, and my heart nearly cracked in two seeing her so broken. Rhino’s torn metal skin had a gaping hole through the middle of it, exposing the innards that made her my family home.
I was so glad Dad wouldn’t see our boat like this. It would have ruined him all over again.
Floating scrap hovered around the wreck as if it, too, couldn’t let go.
We reached the equipment room doors, and a weight as heavy as life itself crushed my chest. A sob burst from my throat, and a rush of bubbles released from my mouth.
Tyler turned to me, his eyes questioning in our lights.
Panic clawed at my insides. I shook my head. Pressure gripped my chest, and my grief took over me, thick and suffocating.
Tyler wrapped his arms around me.
I didn’t want to cry, but my tears came, fogging my mask and obscuring the broken images of Rhino from me. Despite the barrier of our wetsuits, Tyler’s warmth was the embrace I needed to settle the chill in my bones.
Tyler eased back, and I let water into my mask to clear the fog. There was no clearing the tears swimming in my eyes.
He squeezed my wrist and indicated that I should swim away.
I didn’t argue. I couldn’t go into Dad’s final resting place.
Casting my gaze over the ruined deck timber, I swam along the side deck.
This wouldn’t be the last time I would see Rhino. I would come down and salvage—I gasped.
Mom’s locket!
Scooping my hands through the water, I swam to the trap doors that concealed our secret room. The doors were still intact. Bracing my feet on the deck, I pulled the door upward, and dozens of bubbles were released as it opened.
I swam down the steps with my heart in my throat. The room was a mess. Everything that had been on the shelves had catapulted across the room when Rhino hit the bottom. I kicked across the room to the corner cabinet.
No. No. No. The shelves were empty.
