Coastal Fury Boxset (1-3)

by Matt Lincoln

  “Are we chopped liver?” Holm complained good-naturedly.

  “You’re the so-called enemy,” Header answered in a flat tone that settled any further joking. “I prefer days like this, when we’re allies.”

  I did, too. On most days, a run-in with Header would mean a fight or, more likely, a chase to apprehend him. Neither idea appealed to me, and I hoped I never had to engage against him.

  13

  Tessa watched Ethan’s team prep their Geiger counters and lead-shielded canisters. The enormity of the case hit her stronger than before as she got into her dive gear and readied her photography rig. Even though she was perfectly safe from the mysterious radiation at the bottom of the Great Blue Hole, the thought of being anywhere close to it made her skin crawl.

  At the moment, she wasn’t sure she would thank Donald for pushing her to get the certifications she was using for this particular dive. Reef and wreck diving was fun, and she didn’t mind more technical dives, but she didn’t live for it the way others did. Others like Ethan.

  She noticed him steal glances in her direction. He seemed as conflicted about her presence in Belize as she was. The first MBLIS case she was involved in opened both their eyes about the level of control her honorary uncle could choose to wield their lives.

  “You ready?” Captain Header asked as he took the seat next to her.

  Tessa looked up from where she was putting on her flippers.

  “Yeah.” She patted her camera with a smile. “This will be different from my usual underwater photography.”

  “Marston is a great dive partner,” he said with a smile. “He saved my ass once or twice.” A shadow crossed his face. “One of the best guys I ever worked with. I’d steal him from the agency if I could.” He winked and stood. “Get some photos of the cave formations while you’re down there. Nothing like it, as far as I’ve seen.”

  “I’ll do that.” She raised a brow. “I’d be happy to email you some copies.”

  The captain laughed. “Nice try, paparazzi.”

  “Had to try.” She grinned and then lowered her voice. “For what it’s worth, if you ever want me to tell your story without compromising your group, get in touch.” He pulled back slightly. “I understand your hesitation, that’s why I’m only saying it once. I promise.”

  He nodded. “Journalists aren’t in the habit of asking my permission before trying to do a feature. You’re a different breed.”

  “I’m an environmental reporter, and a lot of my work involves the ocean.” She felt eyes on her and saw Ethan watching her speak with Header. He wore a neutral expression, and she couldn’t help wondering about his thoughts. “I’m covering this investigation because it directly involves one of the World Heritage Sites and because a lot of what MBLIS does has an effect on the Caribbean ecosystem.”

  “Is that the entire reason?” He grinned toward Ethan.

  “I’ll leave you to speculate,” she told him with an eye roll. “Thank you, Captain Header.”

  He stuck his hand out. “Call me ‘Jake.’ All my friends do.”

  She shook his hand, surprised at the quick turnaround. “Thank you, Jake. Call me ‘Tessa.’”

  “I’m gonna call you ‘Late to Entry’ if you don’t get moving, woman,” Ethan laughed. Behind him, Birn and Muñoz stepped into the water. Robbie had his mask in place and stood at the edge of the hatch door. Ethan turned toward the Wraith’s captain. “Thanks, Jake. You can talk to Bonnie if you need to vent some air.”

  “Have a safe dive!” Bonnie waved from where she was setting her mobile lab. “I might collect more specimens, Ethan, but we’ll be back before you so the Wraith won’t eat anyone.”

  “Thaaanks.” Ethan turned toward Tessa. “Remember the plan?”

  “You take point, Robbie goes left, and I stay close. If I see something that’s not regular trash, I’ll let you know.” She’d elected to carry a mesh bag in case she did find trash, even though it was unlikely. It was her thing. “Let's do it.”

  The guys went in ahead of her. She followed and itched to explore the reef that stretched behind and ahead of them. The drop-off, however, loomed to her left. Beyond the bright, sandy floor was the Great Blue Hole’s cerulean abyss. A group of hammerhead sharks passed near the surface above the Hole, and a delightful thrill passed through her body. Most people feared sharks, but smart divers rarely had to worry.

  Ethan and Robbie led her to where they said they’d left off the day before. Wall dives, especially deep ones like this, weren’t her favorite. She quelled the wave of anxiety that always accompanied such a dive, and she focused on her camera and even breaths.

  As they descended, she took a few shots from behind as they swept the Geiger counters along the wall. About sixty feet down, they hit the thermocline where the tropical water met with the cold layer below. The layer looked like mist on a cool morning. She took some shots of the cloud-like formations and then sank through with a shiver. Well, several shivers, until she acclimated to the colder water. That was her least favorite part of deep diving. Even with a thicker suit, the chill always worked its way to her bones.

  The water cleared again, and they descended with no issues. Tessa spied an interesting, if small, ledge nearby. She got Ethan’s attention and pointed to it with her camera. He gave an okay signal. It was an easy few kicks over, and she spied what looked like a patch of algae hanging on its far side. She took a few photos as she approached, but something seemed off about it.

  Once on the far side, she shined her dive light on the object. It was some sort of blue fabric, maybe a hand towel that fell from a boat. It didn’t look like anything special, but they had a protocol. She flashed her light at the other two, and they responded by flashing back. As they swam over, she snapped a few more photos.

  Robbie reached her first, and she backed off to photograph him checking it out. He gave a sudden kick backward and gestured at Ethan and then the Geiger counter.

  Tessa’s stomach tightened as Robbie waved her close to get a picture of the readout. A red light pulsed next to the number to warn of danger. She captured the device’s face and then moved back. Logic dictated that it was unlikely she got any exposure worth caring about. Anxiety spat in the face of logic, and her chest tightened. To keep her breathing even, she visualized one of her favorite tide pools and its peaceful biodiversity. Her heart calmed, and she settled.

  Even as she dealt with her fears, she documented the collection process. Robbie used a grabber to move the towel from its perch and into the container Ethan had attached to a lift bag. It was at the end of a tether that was out of range of his body, but he still had to bring it close to twist the cap onto it. He finished and gave her an okay signal. As if nothing happened, he and Robbie went back to the section of the wall that they were scanning before working their way back. Their grid approach was thorough and, given their extensive diving experience, quick.

  Soon, they were to the bottom of her certification level. The upper portion of the massive cave was accessible and oh, so tempting. Stalactites… the largest she’d ever seen on land or underwater… stood guard narrowly within range of her ability to photograph them. There was a chance the photos wouldn’t come out, but she’d be damned if she didn’t try. Hauntingly beautiful scenery like this was a rare find. While it’d been photographed by hundreds of visitors, she was there, in the moment, and it was hers to try.

  Ethan and Robbie made quick work of checking the last section of the cave entrance before rejoining her with an all-clear. They’d never left visual contact with her, even though they went deeper than she was allowed.

  The cold water was starting to get to her, and she was more than happy to ascend. They couldn’t get to the warmer upper levels fast enough. Patience wasn’t her best trait, but she always followed dive plans. That didn’t mean she loved the dive stops to avoid the bends. She just wanted to chase the chill from her body.

  Tessa managed not to think about the find of the day until they surfaced near
the Wraith. Ethan set the container on the hatch door before getting out of the water. He took Tessa’s camera rig and then gave her a hand. She didn’t need it, but she wasn’t going to say “no.” When she grabbed his hand, she didn’t want to let go. That wasn’t an option, so she gave his hand a squeeze and then moved on to get her gear off. Robbie was the last out of the water.

  Jake took the lined canister and set it in a mesh cargo space on the wall. Tessa took a seat on the other side of the boat. Birn passed his Geiger counter over the canister.

  “Signed, sealed, delivered,” he declared. Tessa stared at him. “Well, not SSD, but it will be in a couple hours. The radiation’s contained.”

  Tessa kept her thoughts to herself as she stripped down to her swimsuit and then put her shorts and shirt from earlier back on.

  “You okay?” Ethan sat next to her like Jake had earlier. The difference was Ethan’s nearness sparked a light in her heart. “It looked like you had a hard time for a minute down there.”

  So he’d noticed. The anxiety attacks were embarrassing but manageable.

  “I handled it. The reading on that cloth surprised me is all.”

  He kept his voice low, below the clatter of the others removing and storing dive gear. “Has this happened before?”

  She met those sapphire eyes. Sometimes, they were lighter, she’d noticed, depending on the surroundings. A little like hazel eyes, but blue.

  “Not that often,” she insisted. “I have an instructor who has helped me through it. Seriously, I’m fine.”

  Ethan’s brow wrinkled, but he spoke no more of it. Since he had the pull to get her certification revoked, she chose not to admit the extent of the problem. Yes, it was dangerous to dive with anxiety, but like she said, she knew how to handle it.

  When it was time to go, she strapped into her seat next to Robbie. Ethan had all the luck in getting to sit in the co-pilot seat next to Jake. Maybe, if she were lucky, she’d get to ride up front someday and be able to tell a tall tale from the sea.

  14

  Although she tried to hide it, I saw Tessa was shaken by her close encounter with the fabric she’d found. She shot backward after taking a photo of the Geiger numbers, and she breathed fast and unevenly while Holm and I collected the item. When she lowered the camera between shots, her widened eyes spelled trouble.

  My heart quickened, and I made a hand sign to Holm to indicate the situation. He paused as he used the grabber, took a quick look, and nodded. We couldn’t call the dive until the fabric was contained, which meant we’d have to dive again later after getting her to the surface to clear the rest of the area.

  As soon as I got the lid in place, Holm went to check on her in a subtle move to avoid making the situation worse. I kept the canister on its lift-bagged tether far away from her.

  I had to give her a ton of credit. By the time Holm reached her side, Tessa had calmed down. Her breathing was regular, and her movements were more fluid. The cave floor was the last area to check. It was twenty feet below her cert. Holm only went about ten feet below where she hovered and kept an eye while she took pictures of the top part of the cave. I made quick work of the job and rejoined them.

  I’ll never know if she realized how close we watched her that day. It scared the ever-living shit out of me. She handled the ascent like a pro, but once on the boat, she got skittish around the canister. For some people, the very idea of being close to radiation approached phobic levels. Tessa appeared to be one of those people. To overcome her panic down there spoke to her courage.

  Still, I kept an eye on her while we checked in with Muñoz and Birn. They’d returned about fifteen minutes before we did.

  “We didn’t find anything, but it was a beautiful dive,” Muñoz reported. “It got a little cold down there, though. My partner didn’t like that part so much.”

  “Hey, you’re the one who signaled she was cold,” he protested. At my raised brow, he waved off the concern. “It was on the ascent, and she warmed up pretty quickly.”

  “Noted,” I said.

  I also noted her indignation. Fortunately, we didn’t need to perform deep dives that often. Muñoz was a hell of an agent and a badass in a fight, but that didn’t change that fact that her petite size made it easier for her to get hypothermic.

  Before we left the dive site, I sat next to Tessa.

  “You okay?” I asked in a low voice. Even though I didn’t want anyone to hear, I had to check in with her. “It looked like you had a hard time for a minute down there.”

  “I handled it.” Something about the look in her eyes worried me. “The reading on that cloth surprised me is all.”

  “Has this happened before?”

  If so, Farr needed to know before sending her on underwater assignments. Assuming he didn’t know.

  “Not that often.” Her cheeks reddened. “I have an instructor who has helped me through it. Seriously, I’m fine.”

  No, she wasn’t fine. She had no business diving with us that day. By all rights, I should’ve reamed her out for it, but I didn’t have the heart… not in front of everyone else. It was Farr who encouraged her to push her luck and Farr who knew she could be in danger due to anything from radioactive debris to being present if we faced down a suspect. I planned to call Farr as soon as we got back to the Villa, if not sooner.

  On the ride back, Header appeared more relaxed, and he kept Wraith to the fifty-knot cruising speed of the day before. In the back, I noticed Bonnie chatting as animated as usual. Her hair and clothes were dry, so if they’d gone diving, it would’ve been quick.

  “Did Bonnie take samples or anything today?” I casually asked Header. “She was stoked about what she brought back yesterday.”

  “Rosa took water samples. She said she wants to test for, uh, stuff.” He chuckled. “I took her word for it. As long as the water’s good, I’m happy. Why do you keep calling her ‘Bonnie,’ anyway?”

  “You haven’t met Clyde. Those two barely leave the lab, it seems like. Their last names are Bonci and Clime. Since they work together so well, the office joke became nicknames, something they’ve embraced.”

  “Joe designed a new Lab Rats shirt with Bonnie and Clyde rats,” Bonnie said from her seat. I hadn’t realized she was listening. “They’re supposed to be delivered to headquarters next week.” She grinned. “We ordered enough shirts for the entire unit.”

  Birn groaned. “I’m so glad.”

  Muñoz elbowed him. “It’s cute. I’ll be happy to take a shirt,” she told Bonnie, who blinked.

  “It’s a gag gift, but if you like it, I’ll give you two.”

  Header looked over at me with a confused expression.

  “Jake, Sylvia Muñoz is a many-faceted jewel,” I informed him. From her seat, she crossed her arms and gave me her patented death glare. “You, she will not like, because you allegedly break international law. When she does like someone, she’s quite friendly.”

  “And if I like you and you piss me off, I drag you to a surprise training session to teach you respect.” She pointed to her eyes and then to either Header or me, I couldn’t tell which. “You boys better watch yourselves.”

  “Ma’am, yes, ma’am!” Header said through an appreciative laugh.

  Muñoz ignored him after that, but she radiated less anger toward my friend, the lawbreaker. I wish I could tell her about Header’s connection to Dare Lemon, but limiting it to need-to-know was part of the deal.

  Back at the boathouse, Header disappeared for a few minutes. When he returned, he had news.

  “My submersible will be here tomorrow night,” he told me. “That’s the earliest I could do. It was in use.”

  I didn’t ask for details that could incriminate him. It was easier not to think about the reality that put us on opposite sides of the fence except for this one short week.

  “See you in two days, then,” I said.

  My team was waiting for me on the catamaran. I tossed a salute at Header, which only served to annoy Mu�
�oz, and maybe Birn. He wore a frown when I got to the console. Yeah, I was on thin ice just by associating with Header. They didn’t know what he and I went through in a few intense months. Not even Holm knew, and he was my best friend. Header was a damned hero, and nobody would ever know.

  I was agitated as we left the boathouse behind. Sometimes to do good in the world, real good, a guy had to break the rules. God knows, I broke a few rules to get things done during my career. But because I had the veneer of my service and special agent status, and because I got results, those moments got overlooked. A guy like Header wasn’t much worse. The difference was that he had pissed off the wrong people, and that got him where he was.

  The others chatted and enjoyed the uncharacteristically mild weather as we approached the marina in Belize City. Two figures stood near the slip during our approach. It turned out to be Clyde and Warner. They had big grins as they helped tie the catamaran to the dock.

  “What are you two so excited about?” Holm asked with a smile. “Win some huge gaming competition?”

  Clyde shook his head, and Warner’s grin widened.

  “It took a couple of hours, but we figured out the numerical code on that tag,” Clyde told us. “It was a serial number for, get this, radioactive isotopes used in medical imaging. Not bad in the right doses, but yeah, they can be awful in the wrong setting.”

  “Are you saying it was a label?” I asked.

  Warner nodded. “Sort of. It was a tag attached to the vial. We tracked it to the hospital where it was delivered.” He interlocked his fingers and then stretched his hands palm out, which made his knuckles crack loud enough for even Bonnie to cringe. And she was a master cracker of knuckles. “I did a little poking and prodding to trace its route.” He shook his arms out. “It went to Cliffside General Hospital in Tampa, Florida.”

  “The place that built a hill to make a ‘cliff’ a few years ago?” I laughed. Tampa didn’t do cliffs. “Who handles their medical waste?”