Dangerous Depths

by Colleen Coble

  “I’ll get her tucked in,” Malia said. “Go feed Bane. We’ve got most everything she wants packed up. We’ll go in the morning.” She assisted Ipo to her bedroom.

  Bane followed Leia to the kitchen. “Maybe I should cook. You might try something weird on me.”

  Though he was trying to joke with her, he realized he still couldn’t look at her. It would take some time to process what she’d told him.

  “Too late. I’ve been wanting to try a recipe for gon lo mein. It has oyster sauce in it.”

  He curled his lip. “Gag a maggot. That doesn’t sound like something I’d want to try.”

  “Live a little! You never know—you might like it. Remember the broccoli casserole I fixed that you thought you’d hate? It was on our second date.”

  “That was a fluke. You always think I’ll like it if I just try it. I don’t know why you have to try new recipes. I like my tried-and-true favorites. Spam with hash browns, macaroni and cheese, teribeef sandwiches, huli huli chicken. Normal stuff.”

  “This is normal.”

  “For who? Not for me.” He rummaged in the refrigerator past little dishes of leftover casserole that were beginning to sprout colonies of mold, half-eaten containers of yogurt, and carrots that had begun to lose their color. Even Ajax turned up his nose at the yogurt, the only edible thing in the refrigerator. “There’s nothing good in here. I don’t think you’ll find the stuff you need to make that lo mein thing.”

  “I brought it a while back.” She went to the cupboard and pulled down some cans, then stepped to the back porch and brought in a bag of frozen vegetables from the freezer. “Trust me, it will be good.”

  “I don’t have much choice,” he grumbled. “Can you leave the oyster stuff out of mine?”

  She lowered her brows and shot him a look. “No. Just sit down and be quiet.”

  He grinned. “Taking charge, are we?” Pulling out a chair at the table, he plunked down on it and stretched out his long legs.

  She worked in silence, and Bane couldn’t think of carrying on a conversation. Leia finished the meal preparations and set it in front of him. “See what you think.”

  He took a bite. “It’s better than I expected,” he admitted. He dropped a bite on the floor to Ajax, who snatched it up. “Ajax agrees.” He began to shovel the food into his mouth. “Do you think we’re really going to find anything at the fishpond?”

  Her shoulders tensed. “Not really, I guess. I wish we would. I’m ready for this all to be over.”

  Maybe it was all over. Between them anyway. He clenched his teeth at the thought. No, he wasn’t ready to let it go. He loved Leia, and he was going to have to figure out a way to make this work.

  Eva peered out her window into the moonlight. She felt funny tonight, like there were bugs crawling on her skin. When the bad dream woke her, she wanted to go find her mother, but Mama got mad when Eva told her about her dreams. She said to think nice thoughts and go to sleep, not wake her up. It was hard to think nice thoughts when there had been a monster under her bed.

  The scary part was that the monster seemed to want to eat Leia. Eva hugged herself and tried not to cry. It was very late so she knew she couldn’t call her sister. Leia wouldn’t care, but she might wake up Tûtû. Eva wanted her sister though. Leia was the one person who never made Eva feel stupid. She couldn’t let any-thing happen to Leia. Eva looked at the phone again. She had to call her sister.

  The moonlight whispered around Leia and Bane as they retraced their steps to the grove where they’d found the fish-pond. The moonlight illuminated the clearing like a giant lamp. “Do you think we’re going to find anything?” Leia asked Bane, who was holding back a large frond to allow her to pass. He carried a shovel in his other hand.

  He shrugged and let the branch fall back into place. “Maybe. At any rate, we’ll have an adventure.”

  She stopped. “Listen. Do you hear something?” It almost sounded like someone chopping something. A rhythmic thwack resounded in the forest.

  “I hear it. It sounds like it’s coming from the fishpond area.” He put his hand on her forearm. “Hang on, let me check it out.”

  “I’ll go with you.” She fell into step beside him.

  “I know better than to argue with you.”

  She couldn’t hide her smile. “Smart man.” He took her hand, and she let him keep it a few minutes. The warm pressure of his fingers made her forget all the reasons she couldn’t be with him, all the things she’d told herself in the night about why she could never marry. She made a show of moving a branch out of the way so she could pull her hand out of his grasp. He didn’t try to take it again, and she wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or not.

  The sound was just beyond the last stand of trees. Bane held out his arm. “Wait, let’s not just bust through and startle whoever it is.” He parted the branches to look into the clearing.

  Leia peeked through the leafy window with him. A man with a shovel bent over the ground. Holes had been dug all over the clearing, and some still gaped open while others had been back-filled. “What’s he doing?” she whispered.

  “I’d say he’s looking for the treasure.” Bane’s voice was grim.

  “How would he know where to look?” Leia had visions of some-one skulking outside the house listening to all their conversations.

  “Maybe he got it out of Koma.”

  She’d rather believe that. “Can you tell who it is?”

  “He’s too far off. Let’s go around to the other side and see if we can get a glimpse of his face. Try not to make any noise.”

  She nodded, and they crept through the jungle, moving north. “At least he’s not digging where Tûtû told us to,” she whispered when they finally stood with the ocean to their backs. She could hear the sound of the surf in the distance.

  “Listen! Someone else is coming.” Bane grabbed her arm and dragged her down into the foliage.

  Leia held her breath as someone passed by. She peeked out from behind the fronds and saw a familiar form. She tightened her fingers on Bane’s muscular forearm. Bending close, she whispered in his ear. “It’s Jermaine.” He nodded, and they stood and crept for-ward again. Peeking through the leaves again, she watched as Jermaine approached the figure in the clearing. The two spoke in tones too low to make out words.

  She was beginning to think it was an accidental meeting until the man they’d seen digging stepped back and lifted his shovel. Before they could react, he whacked Jermaine in the neck with it. Even from here, she could see the blood spray out from Jermaine’s neck. “He’s severed his carotid artery.” She didn’t bother to lower her voice.

  She jerked away from Bane’s restraining hand, then parted the foliage and barreled into the clearing. “You there, get away from him!”

  The man’s face was startled as he stared at them with vivid green eyes. Dropping his shovel, he disappeared into the forest. Bane shouted and ran after him with the shovel they’d brought from Ipo’s while Leia went to help Jermaine. He was still conscious, but just barely. His lips moved, but she couldn’t make out the words. “Don’t try to talk. We’ll get you help.” She pressed the heel of her hand against his neck, but blood continued to spurt. She needed a cloth or something, but she had nothing. Crouching over Jermaine, she used both hands and applied as much pressure as she dared. “Bane!” she yelled. “Hurry!”

  She couldn’t do this alone. Praying for God to help her, she worked on the young man. The blood flow began to taper, and she thought maybe she was going to be successful in saving him.

  “Made a mistake,” Jermaine whispered. “Should have known.” His eyes rolled back in his head, and the blood flow slowed, then stopped.

  “Jermaine?” Leia pressed her fingertips against his neck. No pulse. Her hands fell to her sides.

  Bane reached her side. He was breathing hard and perspiring. “He got away.” He knelt by her side and looked down at Jermaine’s sightless eyes. He reached down and closed the young man’s lid
s.

  “I’m sorry.” He slipped his arm around her shoulders and hugged her to him.

  She pulled away. “I need to wash my hands.” The coppery smell of the blood nearly made her gag.

  “The water is close. Let’s go get you cleaned up.”

  He took her hand, not seeming to mind the gore on it. This time she didn’t pull away. His strength was all that kept her putting one foot in front of the other. He pulled branches out of their path and led her to the beach. The fresh scent of the sea purged her lungs of the blood’s pungent odor. She ran forward, up to her knees in the rolling waves. Plunging her hands into the warm water, she washed the gore in the cleansing power of the ocean.

  “Now what?” Leia asked.

  She was looking to Bane for answers, and he wasn’t sure he had any. “I wish this lousy cell phone would work. We need to report what happened right away, but I hate to leave without checking out the site your grandmother said to dig. We can’t do anything for Jermaine anyway, so I’d like to dig at the site first.”

  He’d expected shock and censure, but she nodded. “I’m so tired of this. I just want to get to the bottom of it. It shouldn’t take long to dig a hole and see if there’s anything there.”

  “I left the shovel in the clearing. Let’s go.” He took her hand and helped her through the rough terrain back to where they’d left Jermaine. When they stepped back into the open meadow, his eyes went to where they’d left the young man’s body. He froze. “Jermaine’s body—it’s gone!” He dropped her hand and ran to the spot. Surely this was where they’d left him. He took in the matted, bloodstained grass. His head came up, and he gazed around the clearing. Jermaine’s body had vanished.

  Leia was still standing where he’d left her. Her eyes were wide, and she had her hand to her mouth. “I don’t like this, Bane. Whoever killed him is still here. He’s taken the body. What if he’s watching us now? We need to get out of here.”

  He glanced around. “I think he’s gone now. Go sit by that big tree. Climb it, if you’re game, and watch for anyone coming while I dig the hole.” She nodded, and a bit of the shock left her face. She hurried to the large monkeypod tree he indicated and began to scramble into its twisted branches. “All clear?” he asked her.

  She nodded. “I don’t see anything. It’s getting too dark. The moon is coming out, but it’s still hard to see very far.”

  He grabbed the shovel that he’d dropped into a thick clump of ti. Striding to the big mango tree to the north of the fishpond, he found the remains of the tree trunk just where Ipo had said. Fifty feet took him to a small rise that was covered in wild orchids. Thrusting the shovel into the fertile ground, he uprooted the plants and laid them to one side so he could replant them when he was done. It was hard digging in slippers, and he wished he had his hiking boots. He pressed on, bringing up the moist earth in heavy shovelfuls. About two feet down, the shovel struck something. His excitement surged, but he told himself it could just be a rock. He began to dig around the obstruction. If it was a rock, it was a large one.

  He dropped to his knees and began to feel with his hands. The rough surface had regular grooves in it, like a wooden chest. “I think I’ve found it!” he yelled to Leia.

  “I’m coming,” she called.

  He heard her feet thump on the ground, but he didn’t turn. When Leia joined him, they both began to scoop out dirt with their hands. It was fully dark now, but moonbeams illuminated the hole enough to keep working. Sweat trickled down his back and soaked his T-shirt. “I think we’ve almost got it loose.” He struggled with a tree root that had entangled the box until he succeeded in breaking its grip. The large chest lay exposed. “Can you help me lift it out of the hole?”

  “I think so.” Leia got her fingers under the end of the chest and began to lift. “It’s heavy, but I think I can do it.”

  He hefted his end, and they succeeded in maneuvering the cumbersome object out of the hole and onto the solid ground. “Open it,” Leia said, her voice hushed. He nodded and tried to lift the lid. It was locked.

  He seized the shovel and stood. “Stand back.” He hit the lock with the back of the shovel, again and again, until it broke. “You want to do the honors?” His smile felt huge as Leia reached toward the lid.

  She touched it. “I’m almost scared,” she whispered. They stared at each other, then she lifted the lid to reveal a small jumble of jewelry and gold coins. She frowned. “I expected more,” she said.

  The jewelry and gold coins barely covered the bottom of the chest. Bane had reached to pick up a coin when he felt something hard dig into his back.

  “Step away from the chest,” a cold male voice said. “Don’t turn around.” A burlap bag was thrust into Bane’s hands. “Put the stuff in the bag and don’t try anything, or I’ll shoot you both. The girl-friend can help too.”

  Bane’s anger rose, but he didn’t dare turn and attack. Not with Leia here. They both began to drop handfuls of jewelry and coins into the bag. He felt keen regret as precious rings, brooches, and coins went through his fingers and into the bag. To come so close and now lose it left a bad taste on his tongue. Maybe he could over-come this guy. His thoughts raced to find a way out. His fingers scraped the bottom of the wooden chest, and he got the last pieces into the bag.

  “Where’s the rest of it?”

  “That’s all there is.”

  The man swore, and the gun dug deeper into Bane’s back. “Drop the bag behind you. Don’t turn around, either one of you.”

  There went his idea to hit the guy with the bag when he handed it to him. Bane eased the burlap bag to the ground behind him. If only he still had the shovel at his fingertips, but he had nothing, no weapon other than his bare hands.

  “Count to one hundred before you turn around, or your girl-friend gets a bullet to the head,” the gruff voice warned. “Start counting.”

  Bane curled his fingers into his palms. If only Leia weren’t here, he would whirl and jump the guy. It was foolhardy to try it, he knew. The hard gun dug in again, and he began to count. “One, two, three . . .”

  “Keep counting.”

  The gun was removed, and he heard a soft umph and the sound of footsteps running away. “Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen . . .” He stopped and turned cautiously. There was no one there. Leia was gone too.

  The man’s hand smelled of onions as he kept it clasped over her nose and mouth. Leia struggled to free herself, but the man kept an iron grip on her and dragged her behind the other man. Her captor paused, and his grip slackened. Leia bit down on the finger closest to her mouth. His stifled scream sounded like a snort, and he turned her loose. She darted into the thick vegetation to her right.

  Leia dived under a thick bush. The moon hid its face behind a bank of clouds. On both sides of her, the jungle was alive with sound: crickets chirped, tree frogs croaked a deep bass melody, and some larger animal thrashed through the underbrush. Probably a deer, she told herself. She could hear the men whispering as they searched for her, and she held her breath. The sound of their voices faded, and she prayed they were giving up.

  She crawled out from under the bush and hurried along a narrow path she recognized that led back to her grandmother’s cottage. The air around her seemed to thicken, and it almost sounded as though someone or something stalked her again. She whirled and stared into the encroaching darkness. Her knees were barely sup-porting her as the adrenaline raced through her body. The only sound that came to her ears was the waterfall behind her. She forced her feet forward.

  A twig snapped behind her, and she whirled again, her heart pounding loudly in her ears and her breath was labored. The soft, furtive noises seemed deliberate—and full of malice. She wished she could convince whoever was pursuing her that she knew nothing about Koma’s secret.

  Her feet moved forward again of their own volition. She wanted to break into a run, but she knew she didn’t dare. Panic would over-take her, and besides, it was too dark and the path too treacherous to r
un along it in the dark. She’d fall and break something. She wished she had a weapon. Anything. Her gaze swept the dark ground. A stout stick would do, but all she saw were twigs and branches too small to inflict any damage. A couple of sharp-edged rocks lay along the side of the path, and she stooped and grabbed them up. These would be better than nothing. Hefting a rock in each hand, she hurried as fast as she dared down the hill toward home.

  She felt rather than saw the attack when it came. A wind of movement rushed past her, and she heard the rustle of leaves as someone propelled toward her. She turned and raised the rock in her left hand to defend herself, but a hard body rammed into her and drove her to the ground. She fought with the calloused hands that wrestled her. The scent of decaying leaves and moss enveloped her, then she smelled tobacco and mint on the man’s breath as he leaned over her and pinned her hands to the ground above her head.

  “You’re a wildcat,” he panted. “I’m going to have to hurt you if you don’t lay still.”

  She redoubled her efforts, but he was too strong for her. A gash caked with blood marred his forehead, and she recognized his face but couldn’t place it. “I’ll do worse than cut your head if you don’t let me up.” She tried to bite his wrist, but he jerked it out of the way, releasing her right hand. She brought it up and smashed the rock against his cheek.

  He yowled, and both hands flew to his face. She managed to get her knee up and jammed it into his groin. He uttered a screech that would have been funny if the situation weren’t so desperate. With him incapacitated, she scrambled out from under him and tried to get to her feet, but he grabbed her ankle and jerked her back.

  “I’ll teach you,” he growled.

  “Logan, that’s enough.” The second man moved into view. Though it was too dark to see him clearly, he exuded authority and menace.

  Before Leia could make another attempt at escape, he trussed her hands and feet together. The first man grabbed the rope around her wrists and jerked her to her feet. “I can’t walk like this,” she said. She’d lost a slipper in the struggle as well.