Going Deep (Divemasters Book 2)

by Jayne Rylon

  “Your idea wasn’t a bad one.” The guy grinned. “However, my plans are much simpler than that. We’re here to eliminate the algae and keep you from publishing anything about its existence.”

  “No!” Sabine shrieked. “Why? Why would you do that?”

  “Because the clients I represent have fortunes invested in cancer treatment. Hospitals, equipment, expert doctors, and chemotherapy drugs that do a perfectly fine job of making buckets of money. If there’s a cure…all that goes out the window.” He frowned. “You’re not going to eradicate the source of their income. Ruin their lives. They won’t let that happen. You should have learned that from your mentor.”

  “That’s ridiculous! What about all the lives it will save?”

  She should have saved her breath, Miguel thought. Someone, or someones, as evil as this, who were driven by greed and selfishness, would never listen to reason. All the lives in the universe weren’t nearly as important as their own financial security.

  It didn’t matter to them what the body count was so long as they could enjoy their spoils. He’d worked for clients like them sometimes as a divemaster.

  Disgusting.

  Sabine broke then. She pleaded. Told them she’d help them design other drugs to replace their cash flow. Promised to work for free in exchange for their reconsideration.

  Instead, a rumble shook the entire boat.

  Everyone froze, in shock or anticipation.

  Then one of the goons grinned and relayed the message he’d received through his headset. “It’s gone.”

  Time slowed to a crawl. A million things happened at once.

  Sabine screamed. She launched herself at the man in her cage.

  At the same time, the guy in Miguel’s cell smirked. His trigger finger twitched.

  Miguel braced himself.

  A gunshot followed.

  But not the one that would end his life. The man threatening him, however, wasn’t so lucky.

  He fell, dead before he hit the floor.

  Soldiers, US Navy SEALs, stormed the brig. They captured the boss and as many of his accomplices as they could. Others, they killed. It was over in a matter of seconds.

  Miguel rushed across the gap between their cells to Sabine. He cradled her in his arms, trying to quiet her hysterical wails. When he couldn’t, he lifted her into his arms and headed for the exit, ignoring the shouts of the soldiers around them, but not before pausing to pluck her ruined necklace from the floor and tucking it into his pocket.

  Nineteen

  Back on the Divemaster, Sabine sat in a stupor as they were debriefed by a combination of military personnel and her friends. Miguel hadn’t left her side for an instant and Tosin had taken a seat on her other side, bracketing her.

  “As a decorated pilot, Waverly had some pull when it came to the Navy. Captain Alex had even more. Together they reached out to high-ranking sources and explained the nature of the situation. Though Sabine and Miguel’s lives were personally important to us, the recovery of the cancer cure prototype was certainly deserving of government intervention, so we focused on that in our plea for help,” Archer explained.

  “I appreciate everything you did,” she mumbled.

  “I wish they’d gotten there ten minutes sooner.” He sighed, scrubbing his temples.

  Just then the door opened and one of the WHOI staff who was still onboard entered the room. “I’m sorry to confirm that the algae bed is gone. Utterly destroyed. There’s nothing left in a quarter mile radius of the site.”

  Sabine couldn’t sit still a moment longer. She rocketed to her feet, frantic to search for any hint of the algae still alive.

  “Where are you going, lindeza?” Miguel asked. He sounded surprised that even now she couldn’t find it in her to quit.

  “The lab. Or what’s left of it. Maybe there’s some residue on my equipment.” Refusing to accept the truth, she ran to the dive platform and ducked under the crime scene tape keeping guests out of the fire-damaged area.

  She had only one goal—to salvage some scrap of the prototype cure she’d whipped up yesterday and hope she could synthesize it in the lab. Make some artificial version with the same properties. Something. Anything. Even if it wasn’t as potent as the original, natural substance, it could still be revolutionary in the fight against cancer.

  Sabine stumbled when she saw the extent of the damage. Half-delirious, she staggered toward the ruins of her laboratory.

  “Wait!” Miguel called after her. But she didn’t.

  She pawed through the debris, looking for a test tube, a Petri dish, anything that might have even a dot of algae on it. After a few minutes, and several new cuts, fresh blood was all she had to show for her efforts. Just like Heinrich’s lab in Germany, her workspace had been leveled.

  Now she knew why.

  Sabine cursed. Not again. It couldn’t all be for nothing.

  “Hey, shhh.” Miguel refused to back down this time. He bundled her in his arms and physically removed her from the wreckage. “The ocean is a huge place. We will find more. There could be other spots just like it along the channel somewhere. We didn’t even look at a fraction of the seabed there.”

  In her heart, Sabine knew they could look forever. It wouldn’t matter because it wasn’t there to find. On the verge of losing her mind, she didn’t see Banks approaching at first. He called softly to her, getting her attention when he waved her and Miguel over discreetly.

  “Come with me, please. I need to show you something.” He didn’t wait for a response, striding from the room before any of the law enforcement officials could bog him down with requests or start asking too many questions.

  They followed him to his office on the bridge of the ship in silence.

  Captain Alex stood outside the door, feet spread, arms crossed, and a gun strapped openly to a holster around his waist.

  Sabine looked at Miguel. He shrugged, unable to answer the questions assaulting her, but his spine straightened and he tugged her closer. If the captain felt there could still be danger, she trusted the guy. So did Miguel, apparently.

  Neither of them could survive another threat like the one they’d lived through. She would never forget the moment she thought she would lose him, and how narrowly they had escaped even more tragedy today.

  Banks turned to them and spoke in a whisper that had them huddling close. “When I set up the laboratory, I used the best practice standards of the American Chemical Society, which recommends daily backups.”

  “You’ve got copies of my files?” Sabine showed some interest at that, a tiny spark of her former self. “That’s great, Banks. But that’s not the most important thing. The algae. Without it…all I have is documentation for something that once existed and is now extinct.”

  She thought she might get sick admitting it.

  “The protocols included duplication of files, notes, and office materials. It also specified proper storage of samples in redundant refrigeration units on separate power supplies in case of outages that could spoil entire research projects.”

  He changed their lives, and the world, with that one admission.

  “You’re saying you have a tiny bit of the algae preserved?” Sabine looked like a sea otter popping its head out of the water and glancing around, perking right up. “It’s scary to work with such a limited resource, running tests and trying to figure out how to culture something we could accidentally annihilate in the process, but if we’re careful… Please, tell me you did that.”

  “I did.” He swallowed hard. “But it didn’t turn out quite like I thought.”

  Fuck, how many ups and downs could they go through before they finally gave up? Sabine didn’t know if she could handle another blow.

  “You’re scaring her, Banks.” Captain Alex shook his head. “Get to the point.”

  Banks pointed to the edge of his door. That’s when she noticed the faint blue light pulsing around it. “Is that—?”

  Sabine rushed forward and flung ope
n the door.

  Algae covered every surface in a dripping blue goop.

  “Apparently it doesn’t mind being out of the water.” Captain Alex chuckled. “It busted right through that wine chiller he hides his personal stash in and took over the place.”

  Globs plopped from the ceiling onto piles forming on the already coated floor.

  “If this wasn’t the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,” Sabine whispered as if in a sacred temple, “it would be totally gross.”

  Captain Alex and Banks laughed.

  Sabine whooped then launched herself at Banks. She kissed him with a giant, noisy smack, full on the lips. “We owe you everything. The world owes you.”

  “Hey, I guarded the door.” Captain Alex tapped his toe, as if he could possibly be upset.

  Sabine grinned, then treated their captain to the same effusive treatment before flying into Miguel’s open arms for a decidedly steamier kiss.

  Then, with one lingering glance at their miracle, they closed the door tight.

  Twenty

  Miguel didn’t bother talking to Sabine as they headed to his cabin. There wasn’t much to say, nothing to compete with how he felt right then. He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it a dozen times, though. When they closed the door behind them, safe inside their refuge, she whispered, “In the morning, I have to go. Waverly is coming for me as soon as the private jet is ready to take off.”

  He nodded once. “I know. However long it takes, I’ll be here when you’re ready to come back.”

  Nothing had changed since she’d argued that this was his place.

  In his heart, he believed she’d been right. Except that without her, it wouldn’t be the same.

  From his pocket, he withdrew the broken necklace she’d worn during her stay. He grabbed the small tool kit he used for working on his gear from one of his shelves then plopped into the desk chair to repair it as best he could. In order to reattach the part that had been torn, directly in the center, he used some monofilament he had in his tackle box then drilled a small hole in an unusual shell he’d pocketed on one of their collection dives.

  When he’d finished, the shell looked like it had always been there. It dangled from the line that now hung down off the main strand of the necklace and would land somewhere at the top of her cleavage.

  He stood, surprised to find her nude, sitting on the edge of the bed behind him, watching.

  Miguel smiled as he approached, holding out his gift. She pulled her hair off to the side then lifted her chin, giving him full access to her graceful neck.

  “This belongs to you.” He fastened the homemade jewelry, hoping it might remind her of him during the long months ahead. “Same as I do.”

  “I wish I had something to give you in return.” She frowned until he kissed the downward curve of her lips.

  “All I want is you.” He stripped off the shirt and shorts he’d donned in a matter of moments when the fire alarms had roused him earlier. Naked, he leaned down and into her, taking her to her back on their bed.

  “You already have that, Miguel.” She kissed him tenderly then paused, staring up at him as she promised, “I love you.”

  His heart seemed to do a backward roll right there in his chest.

  “Thank you.” She hadn’t had to give him that reassurance. In some ways it made things messier, but he was so glad she had. “I love you too, lindeza.”

  He covered her completely then, hoping to impress himself on every inch of her. He entwined their fingers and brought her hands up beside her head before kissing her endlessly. Or for as long as he dared, knowing their time could run out any moment now.

  His body moved over hers, reveling in the caress of her skin over his, even as he tried to imprint himself on her. Without taking his hands from her, he glided across her until his cock aligned with her opening.

  It took longer than if he’d let go of her to guide himself inside, but he didn’t want to do that until he had to. So he used his hips to work himself into her bit by bit. It seemed only fair since she’d done something similar to him, taking up residence in his heart during her time onboard.

  Sabine gasped, her mouth opening as she concentrated on the pleasure he imparted.

  He took advantage, kissing her, rubbing his lips over hers softly before licking along just the tip of her tongue. The barest of contacts set them both on fire.

  Though he tried to drag out their lovemaking for hours, the sense of urgency built fairly quickly. Desperation began to seep from him and it manifested in the driving thrusts of his cock through her clenching rings of muscle.

  Sabine’s legs shifted, hugging him tight as she prepared to shatter.

  And when they came, they came together.

  Her pussy milked every drop of come from his balls, holding as much of him as he could give deep within her. Completely empty, he crashed to the mattress and drew her on top of his heaving chest. He wrapped his arms around her and didn’t let her go.

  Until he had to.

  A while later, a knock on the door startled them both. Miguel called out, “Yes?”

  “It’s time,” Waverly answered, reminding him of a guard calling a prisoner to execution. He had to keep reminding himself that this was the opportunity of a lifetime for her and one that would end suffering for millions of people.

  A broken heart meant nothing compared to that.

  Two broken hearts even.

  He kissed Sabine one last time, until the sheen in her pretty eyes receded some. “Ready?”

  “No.” She stood and dressed then grabbed her purse, not bothering to pack her suitcase. Having her things there would be a comfort to him even if it was an illusion. “But I’m going anyway.”

  Miguel nodded. “You’ve got this.”

  They marched to the helicopter together, as if they were walking the plank.

  He was surprised to see not one, but three other choppers circling the Divemaster when they got there.

  “Uncle Sam is committed to providing security for the trip and in the undisclosed location where they’re setting up Sabine’s temporary laboratory. She’s going to be fine, Miguel,” Waverly promised.

  He nodded, but it didn’t feel fine.

  Not when her palm was sweaty against his, though her fingers felt like ice.

  Brave and glorious, she stood beneath the wash of the propellers, her hair rioting around her. His sea glass and shell necklace made her look like some ocean goddess.

  Miguel couldn’t possibly have loved her more. He told her so in between kisses, taking one more and one more until there were no one mores left.

  Tosin, Archer, Banks, and Captain Alex stood at the edge of the helipad, waving as Sabine climbed into the helicopter. She turned just before shutting the door and said, “I love you, Miguel.”

  “I love you, too. Until next time...” He lifted his hand to wave. It had been impossible to say goodbye.

  “As soon as I can, even if that’s years.” She winced then blew him and the rest of their little gang kisses before disappearing inside.

  He stood on the deck and watched the flock of helicopters as they raced for the shores of Maui and the private jet that would at least ensure her comfort until she got wherever they were taking her.

  And then she was gone.

  Twenty-One

  Miguel sat at the long outdoor dining table, pushing food around his plate without any intention of eating the rest of it. Nothing seemed appetizing. Hell, even diving didn’t sound very good right now. Maybe Tosin wouldn’t mind guiding Miguel’s group today.

  It took a while, but he finally realized that his friends had stopped talking. They exchanged worried glances over his head. He pretended not to notice. After all, what could he say? That he was fine?

  Everyone onboard knew that was a lie.

  Tosin broke their silence. “Dude, when are you going to quit moping and go after Sabine?”

  “You want me to leave?” It pissed him off after what he’d gi
ven up to stay.

  “Of course we don’t,” Banks jumped in then. “But it’s clear that being here without her isn’t good for you anymore.”

  Archer and Waverly held hands as they studied him. He hated the pity in their stares. Waverly tried to smooth things over. “I know how you feel. It was hell being apart from Archer. I did it for ten years. Don’t recommend it, either. To be perfectly honest, the first few were miserable and the ache never entirely went away. I regret how much time we wasted. None of us want that for you.”

  “We’ll be here when you’re ready to come home. With Sabine,” Archer promised.

  “Won’t you need another partner? Someone to fill my spot?” He cleared his throat then spoke one of his worst fears aloud. “It could take years. Will I have to sell my share in the Divemaster so you can keep going without me?”

  Now he was glad he hadn’t eaten much—otherwise he’d probably be hanging over the railing like a landlubber who hadn’t gotten his sea legs yet. Still, they were right. If that’s what it took, he’d do it.

  Living without Sabine wasn’t living at all.

  She’d been gone for a month and though they tried to talk every day, the truth was that she was busy with incredibly important things. Given her schedule and the crazy time differences between them, it was tough. He felt like he was losing touch with her.

  It’d been three days since she’d even answered his emails.

  Maybe she hadn’t had nearly as much trouble forgetting about him as he’d had moving on without her. Shit.

  “Don’t be a dumbass.” Tosin shoved him. “No one is letting you cash out. You’ll come back. Eventually.”

  Why didn’t that do much to make Miguel feel better? Probably because his friend didn’t seem hundred-percent confident even as he said it.

  He nodded, then tossed his balled up napkin onto his plate. “Okay.”

  It was time to find his woman, wherever she might be in the world right now.

  That turned out to be a far easier task than he’d imagined. When he stood, he noticed a sleek powerboat racing directly toward the Divemaster, which was now anchored off the coast of Kauai.