Breathless Encounter: Breathless EncounterThe Dark Side of Night

by Cindy Dees

  The first shock of the water caused her momentary panic. But then the necessity of donning and clearing her mask, checking her oxygen flow and going through the other routine safety checks of diving came back to her. She’d dived a thousand times and the familiarity of the routine calmed her slightly.

  It helped that she could see. The water was bright and visibility was excellent. This was nothing like the night she’d nearly drowned, when everything had been black and so terribly cold. She backed away from the turbulence of the Nymph’s propellers as the white hull started to pull away. In a matter of moments, it had retreated entirely out of sight and the water calmed around her.

  The ocean stretched away in every direction, blue and featureless. Below, she saw no hint of the underwater mountain she knew to be there, just more blue fading gradually to black. Where was Aiden? She’d had some vague notion of him materializing out of the depths by her side. But as the silence pressed in around her, the absurdity of that idea struck her forcefully.

  In fact, the absurdity of this whole dive struck her forcefully. What on earth had she been thinking? Unlike Aiden, she couldn’t swim all day long and just hang out underwater until the Nymph got around to reappearing. She was alone. In the middle of the freaking ocean. Okay, this had been a really stupid idea.

  Her best bet was probably to find Aiden as soon as possible. There was a gigantic volcano underneath her that measured a mile across, and he was somewhere on its face, exploring the caves peppering its sides. Sure. She’d just pop down a couple hundred feet and wave a cheery hello.

  What in the hell had she been thinking? She hadn’t been thinking at all; she’d panicked over the man she loved and had acted on impulse like she always did. And like always, she’d gotten herself into yet another awful pickle.

  The first order of business was to manage her oxygen. She could be out here for hours. And that Russian ship might loiter for a while before it sailed on. Hopefully, it was just coming to check out a radar blip that had parked over a sensitive spot for a bit too long. When the Russians realized that whatever vessel had been anchored here had moved on, hopefully they would be on their way, as well.

  Hopefully.

  If not, she was screwed. The next order of business was to figure out where she was right now. If and when the Nymph came back to pick up her and Aiden, they would no doubt return to this spot. Before she drifted too far or got completely turned around, she needed to take a position fix.

  But with what? She had no idea what equipment was stored in her combination utility and weight belt. She opened the various pouches, exploring their contents, and was mightily relieved to come across a GPS unit tethered to the belt. She wasn’t familiar with the model, but fiddled with it for a minute or so and managed to get it to display a current position. She memorized the coordinates carefully. Her life no doubt depended on remembering those numbers. In addition to the GPS, she found an array of useful doodads. Compass, knife, nylon cord, flashlight, even a camera. Whoever maintained this rig was very good.

  She had maybe ten minutes until the Russian spy ship arrived. She might as well surface until then and preserve her oxygen. And besides, she was curious to see if the ship was the same one that had sunk the New Dawn. She was, by God, taking pictures of it if it was, and suing the Russian government for damages when she got home. Assuming she got home.

  She didn’t have long to wait to spot a tall, sleek silhouette on the horizon. The Russian ship was much bigger than she’d expected. Or maybe it just looked that way from down here in the water without the illusory safety of a boat around her.

  The prow was narrow and sharp, like she remembered. And the hull was black, too. She didn’t remember the bristling array of antennae and satellite dishes from before, but maybe they hadn’t been deployed, or maybe she’d been too busy jumping overboard to notice them. Scowling, she pulled out the digital camera and snapped a few pictures.

  She dared not get too close to the massive ship lest she be spotted. As it was, she worried that her bulky steel dive tanks might set off some kind of alarm. Over the next few minutes, the ship executed a ponderous turn and came to a halt broadside to her, maybe a half mile away. Dang. No way would Aiden surface now, with them parked overhead. Assuming he thought to look up and spot the black hull. Maybe he could hear a ship that size. Sound traveled extraordinarily well and for long distances underwater, after all.

  She pulled her mask back on and unstowed the snorkel from her belt. She paddled away from the spy ship, facedown in the water, searching for any sign of a blond merman rising up out of the depths. Aiden had to be here, somewhere. The act of floating on the light swells and letting the currents carry her along was actually kind of relaxing. She would probably never like deep water or dark water again, but she at least could handle it when she had to.

  It was probably because she wasn’t using her oxygen tanks and the water was silent around her that she heard the splashing. She lifted her head and looked toward the Russian ship. She was in time to see two black-and-yellow objects fall toward the water.

  The Russians were putting divers into the water? Were they coming for her? Or worse, were they going after Aiden? He was down there free diving with no supplemental oxygen and no weapons to defend himself!

  She looked down toward the beckoning abyss below. Aiden was down there somewhere. Alone. Unaware of the threat headed his way. Could she do it? Could she make a deep dive to find him and warn him?

  She snorted mentally. Did she have any choice but to try?

  Squeezing her eyes tightly shut, she put the mouthpiece in, turned on her oxygen tank and headed down.

  Chapter 14

  Sunny grimaced as her ears popped. That felt like about twenty feet deep. The belt probably had a depth gauge in it somewhere, but it didn’t much matter how deep she was. She’d descend until she found the volcano.

  She figured her best bet to find Aiden was to head pretty much straight down from the Nymph’s last position. The yacht had repositioned last night to the south face of the volcano, and although she hadn’t been part of the discussions around that move, it was a good bet that was where Aiden was exploring today.

  About thirty feet down, the water started to go dim. By fifty feet down, it was twilight dark, with no color and only shadowed shapes visible. A school of small fish flashed into sight, startling her horribly. She splashed backward violently as they flashed out of sight just as quickly.

  Crud. She had to slow her heart rate. The faster she breathed, the less air she’d have to find Aiden. She could do this. She had plenty of oxygen. The pressure hadn’t crushed her. She could swim back to the surface if she got too freaked out. She. Wasn’t. Drowning.

  * * *

  Aiden rewound his rope as he backed out of the cave. He’d been hopeful that this cave with its heavy overhang and strong, inward current flow might have trapped the missing communications satellite. He had found a few planks of coral-encrusted wood that looked like part of a shipwreck, but that was it.

  How ironic would it be if he found the wreck of Sunny’s parents’ boat down here? Although the idea of having to tell her he’d found the Sunshine Girl, or even their remains, made him shudder. That wound, although old for Sunny, wasn’t the kind that ever healed.

  He could only hope the new wounds he’d inflicted on her would heal with time. Steig was right. She did love him. She’d made no secret of it. But they hadn’t known each other all that long. It would pass, right? Although he doubted his own feelings for her would pass anytime soon.

  He’d had a lot of time alone down here to think over the past two days. He’d tried a hundred times to find a way to be with Sunny. He could even wrap his brain around the idea of her being a constant source of worry for him. It would stink, but he would work through his fear if it meant he could be with her.

  But it all came back to her s
afety. If he loved her, he would never expose her to the risks that came with his work. Russians had tried three times to kill her now, assuming those thugs in Djibouti hadn’t been random thieves. Given how long and hard that bunch had followed him and Sunny, he didn’t think they were.

  But, he argued with himself, if she was already on the Russians’ radar, maybe she’d be safer with him around to look out for her. His best bet to protect her was to find that damned satellite and render moot any film she might have shot of the Russians trying to find it.

  But if not the Russians, the next enemy he made would find out about her and go after her, and he’d be right back in this position. And more important, she’d be right back in danger. It wasn’t as if he could ask her to move onto the Winston compound in Colorado and never come out again.

  The cave opening came into sight and he headed for the oxygen tank he’d dropped by the cave entrance. He took a long pull on the mouthpiece and checked the regulator. Plenty of air left. It saved him a ton of time not to have to surface several times per hour, and his body seemed to be adjusting more and more to these depths the longer he spent down here. He didn’t want to think about the asthma attack he was going to suffer the first time he had to go running after Sunny again—

  He swore to himself. Yet another reason to stay away from her.

  Except no matter how logically his brain analyzed the problem, his heart was having none of it. He loved her. He wanted her. He felt as if he was cutting off his right arm to leave her. His heart shouted at him to give up this superhero stuff and live out a normal life with her. On land. Someplace anonymous. Far from any Russians or bad guys who might want to hurt either of them.

  He swam to his right, scanning along the face of the volcano for the next likely cave to search. He particularly liked this face of the volcano because the prevailing currents pushed water into the caves, where jagged edges and crannies were waiting to snag any flotsam that drifted in.

  His thoughts drifted back to Sunny as they always seemed to. Steig’s damning accusation prodded at him. Was that it? Was the real reason he was being so pigheaded about Sunny nothing more than guilt? Lord knew, he had plenty of reason to feel guilty for the cavalier way he’d treated women over the years. Although it wasn’t as if he’d made promises to any of them. And he wasn’t getting hate mail and death threats from any of them. Was he being too hard on himself? Had two years’ worth of self-imposed celibacy been punishment enough?

  A school of fish flashed past him and he turned his head to watch them go by. Individually, the kingfish were mostly shorter than his forearm. But the entire school would have swallowed a bus. That wasn’t a typical cruising speed for that species. They were fleeing from something in alarm. It was probably a barracuda or some other large predatory fish. While he’d never had any trouble from sharks or the like—they seemed to recognize him as a large predator fish to be given wide berth—he nonetheless didn’t need to startle one. He scanned the water in the direction the kingfish had come from. The water was beautifully clear down here, but the darkness limited what he could see.

  He thought he caught a glimpse of something large, but it was swimming nearly vertically downward. That was not at all typical of any fish. Alarm coursed through him. That wasn’t...

  Surely not. Why would Steig have sent another diver down here? He glided toward where he’d seen the shadow. Whoever it was, he was descending fast. But then the diver must have spotted the cliff face, for he stopped abruptly. Turned from side to side, no doubt examining the cave-pocked wall.

  Aiden spotted the orange-and-yellow-striped dive tanks the Sea Nymph packed. Yup. One of Steig’s guys. He swam toward the visitor. But as he neared, he spotted legs. Legs not wearing a wet suit. And a brightly colored T-shirt. What the heck? Alarmed anew, he kicked forward powerfully. The diver turned toward him and lurched hard.

  He held his hands up in apology for startling the diver and drifted in close and saw...Sunny?

  What on earth? And what was she doing down here? She hated even getting wet, let alone diving. And in deep, dark water? He was well and truly alarmed now. He flashed her the American Sign Language signal for a question mark and prayed she knew the language, which many divers used for underwater communication.

  She spelled out a single word. R-U-S-S-I-A-N-S.

  He pointed over his head and she nodded. He stared out of his mask in dismay. The Russians were up there? Was the Nymph all right? Was it under attack? Is that why she was down here? He signed rapidly and she shook her head, signaling him to go slower.

  Is the Nymph all right?

  Gone, she signed back.

  Gone?

  Left the area. Will come back later.

  How much later? How much air do you have?

  Maybe two hours at this depth. Do you need to go up to breathe?

  I’ve got a tank, he signaled.

  He should probably go fetch it and get her up to shallower water where her air would hold out longer. But then she reached out to touch his arm. He jolted at the contact of her fingers on his skin.

  She was signing again. Russian divers coming.

  Holy crap. How many? he signed urgently.

  At least two.

  He had to get her out of here. Now. Follow me.

  She nodded as he turned and swam strongly for his air tanks. With her fins, she was able to keep up with him for the most part.

  But then another wave of kingfish sped past them. And more alarmingly, a tuna that had to weigh five hundred pounds. Anything that fish would flee was bigger or badder than a shark. Like a human.

  He kicked harder, burning more energy. Sunny looked as if she was going about as fast as she could.

  And then he heard it. The rumble of an underwater propulsion device. They were like underwater Jet Skis for divers and could cruise at several times the speed even he could go.

  Sunny looked over at him frantically and pointed at her ear. He nodded grimly. They wouldn’t be able to outrun the Russian divers. They would have to hide. They weren’t even close to his tanks, yet. But they had no choice. He headed toward the volcano and picked out a likely cave. It was large enough to accommodate Sunny’s gear, but otherwise unimposing.

  He hadn’t been inside this one and had no idea how deep it was or how fast it petered out. He took a moment to secure the end of his line to an outcropping just inside the entrance. He turned around to make sure Sunny’s equipment didn’t snag on anything, and spotted her outside the cave opening.

  She was balking.

  He swore violently to himself. He’d assumed because she’d made it down here that she’d somehow gotten over her fear of drowning. But apparently, her newfound courage didn’t extend to dark, cramped caves.

  He swam back out to her. Gestured for her to go in. She shook her head sharply in the negative. He pointed at his ear and then signed, Have to.

  Even in the dark, and even through the thick glass of her mask, he could see the terror in her eyes.

  I’ll be with you, he tried. No dice. Crap. That UDV was getting really close now. He could feel the vibrations of it through his skin.

  I love you, he signed. I can’t lose you. Not like this. Please.

  Shock registered in her eyes, followed loosely by doubt. He swore. She thought he was lying to her to coax her into the cave. He signed the universally recognized symbol for cross my heart.

  She gave him a very small nod. He reached for her and stretched out on his back. He pulled her down on top of him until they were body to body, mask to mask. The glass plates actually touched as he kicked them backward into the cave.

  She stared down at him as the rocks swallowed them. And then it was too dark to see her face anymore. But she clung to him as if he was her only lifeline. As always, their bodies fit together perfectly. Lord, he would never get enough of this w
oman.

  Her fingers tapped his mouth lightly. Then she fumbled behind her neck for something. Ahh. She must be looking for her pressure regulator. On most tanks, it had a valve that could be used as an alternate mouthpiece in case the main one failed. Smart girl. And if she was thinking about things like that, then she had her panic under control.

  He reached around behind her and gently disengaged the regulator from its clip. He pulled the flexible metal tube around her and put it in his mouth. He drew in a long, badly needed breath of air. Her fingers touched his face beneath his mask, and he used his free hand to do the same to her. Even seventy feet under water, her skin felt smooth and warm, like sunshine made into flesh.

  He was so proud of her. She’d pushed through true terror to come down here and warn him. And then it hit him. Only love could have made her do such a thing. She loved him. Really, truly loved him. His heart expanded with joy until it felt as if it would explode right out of his chest. Who was he trying to kid? He loved her, too.

  He adjusted the buoyancy of her weight belt slightly so her body weight would hold him down, and they floated in equilibrium inside the cave together. It was spooky. He felt almost like an unborn child. The regulator was his umbilical cord, this cave and the ocean his mother.

  Truth be told, Sunny was the one who’d given him life. She’d brought laughter and emotion and excitement into a world that now seemed dull and gray by comparison. She’d been his own personal sun and shined her love down upon him. How stupid had he been to think he could live without her?

  They would simply have to find a way to make it work. She would have to agree to stay in the Winston compound when he was out on missions, or he’d have to hire a team of bodyguards to watch her. Assuming he hadn’t already hurt her so badly she wanted nothing to do with a long-term relationship with him. If she’d have him, when they got out of here, he was taking her into his arms and into his life and never letting go.

  A beam of light cut across his dreams, severing his thoughts as neatly as a sword. How had the Russians found them? Sunny exhaled hard beside him and a cascade of bubbles tickled his arm. He’d forgotten. Scuba divers left a trail of carbon dioxide in their wake. Unlike him; he held his breath when he was down here.