Fatal Tide

by Iris Johansen

  “Coffee?”

  Melis opened drowsy eyes to see Kelby standing by the bed with a cup and saucer in his hand. He was fully dressed and looked as if he’d been up for hours. “Thank you.” She sat up and reached for the cup. “What time is it?”

  “A little after ten.” He dropped down into the chair with his own cup of coffee. “You slept like a rock. You must have needed it.”

  “I guess.” She didn’t remember anything after the moment she had drifted off. “How long have you been up?”

  “A few hours. I had some arrangements to make.”

  “What kind of arrangements? Departure?”

  “There were a few other preparations to take care of.” He took a drink of coffee. “I talked to Cal in the hospital and got the name of Gary’s next of kin. He has a sister in Key West. I called her and broke the news. She wants his body shipped to her for the funeral. Wilson’s on his way here to take care of the details.”

  “I was going to do that.”

  “I thought you were. But Wilson excels at details.”

  “Gary was my friend, Kelby.”

  “Exactly. So I can’t see him wanting to cause you any more stress. God knows you have enough.” He went on, “I called Lieutenant Lorenzo, and he’s going to send a police car for you at eleven. He said you should be finished by two and he’ll give you a police escort back to the ship.” He sipped his coffee. “We should be ready to leave by five. How do we set the dolphins free?”

  “You anchor out to sea and I take the tender close to the tank. We open the sea door and let the dolphins out. They’ll be confused, but I’ll talk to them and hopefully they’ll follow the tender back to the ship. Dolphins usually love to jump and swim in a ship’s wake.”

  “Hopefully?”

  “They could just take off. I’ve attached radio tags, so if they do, I’ll probably be able to find them again.”

  “Hopefully. Probably.” His gaze fastened on her face. “You’re scared you’ll lose them.”

  “You’re damn right I’m scared. I’m scared they’ll become disoriented and end up in some fisherman’s net. I’m scared they’ll know they’re home and go to wherever their family is. I’m scared Archer is out there somewhere ready to stick a harpoon in them. I need them to keep close to the ship, and I’m not sure I can make them understand.”

  “But you think you can.”

  “If I didn’t think I could, I wouldn’t have brought them. I’m relying more on their instinct than any communication. I told you that sometimes I think they read my mind. I hope this will be one of those times.” She set her cup on the nightstand. “I want to go check on the dolphins before I go to the police station.” She swung her legs to the floor. “They’re going to have another high-stress day, and I have to make sure they’re up to it.” She headed for the bathroom but hesitated at the door and looked back at him. “Thanks for calling Gary’s sister. It would have been very difficult for me.”

  “It wasn’t easy for me either. But it had to be done and I didn’t want you doing it.” His lips tightened. “I hope that’s the last of that kind of duty either one of us will be faced with.” He stood up. “I’ve got a few orders to give the crew and then I’ll meet you at the gangplank.”

  “You’re going with me?”

  “Everywhere. Every minute. Unless you’re with the police, you’re not going to be out of my sight. I learned my lesson last night. Never delegate.”

  “But then it might have been you with the bullet between your eyes.” She went rigid as the thought hit home.

  “I’m more guerrilla savvy than Gary. I’d have been on the watch. I’ll see you on deck.”

  She still stood there after the door closed behind him. She was suddenly ice cold with panic. She had never imagined that Kelby could be harmed. He was too confident, too tough, too alive.

  Kelby shot.

  Dear God, Kelby dead.

  The tank gate was open.

  Melis held her breath and waited until Pete and Susie discovered it.

  One minute.

  Two.

  Three.

  Susie’s snout suddenly emerged through the opening.

  “Good girl,” Melis called. “Come on, Susie.”

  Susie erupted in a sonata of clicks as she swam toward the tender.

  “Pete.”

  No Pete.

  She lifted her whistle to her lips and blew softly.

  No Pete.

  She blew louder. “Dammit, Pete, stop being stubborn. Get out here.”

  His bottlenose snout appeared at the opening, but he didn’t come any farther.

  Susie clicked nervously.

  “She’s getting upset,” Melis said. “She needs you.”

  Pete hesitated, but when Susie’s clicks increased in volume he swam out of the tank toward the tender.

  “Talk about hard to get.” Melis turned on the engine. “Come on, let’s get to the ship.”

  Would they follow her or go off on their own? She glanced back twice in the next few minutes. They were following. So far, so good.

  No, they’d disappeared!

  She breathed a sigh of relief as she saw two silver bodies arch out of the water in a high jump. The dolphins had only dived deep before the jump. They were flexing their muscles and skills after the long incarceration in the tank.

  The Trina was just ahead, and she could see Kelby and Nicholas Lyons standing on deck.

  “It’s working?” Kelby called.

  She nodded. “They’re following. It took a little doing getting them out of the tank. Pete isn’t in a trusting mood right now. He’s been through too much.”

  “Can’t blame him,” Nicholas said. “What can we do?”

  “Nothing. I’m coming on board and I’ll feed them. Then I’ll go swimming with them and sit on deck and talk. We’re not going anywhere until they get accustomed to the idea that I’m on the ship and that’s where they’ll find me.” She glanced over her shoulder. The dolphins were still jumping and playing behind her. She guided the tender close to the stern of the Trina. “Throw down the ladder and I’ll hurry on board while they’re distracted. I don’t want them getting anxious.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “I brought you a sandwich.” Kelby sat down beside her, on the deck. “Billy was getting upset that you refused his dinner.”

  “Thanks.” She bit into the ham sandwich, her gaze still on Pete and Susie. “I don’t want to leave them. This period is critical. They’ve got to become used to the idea of me on the ship.”

  “And are they?”

  “I think so. They’re staying close and playing around the Trina like they did the Last Home all those years ago.” She paused. “But at sunset they’d leave me and go wherever home was to them. It’s almost midnight and they haven’t left me yet.”

  “Is that good?”

  “I don’t know. They may sense they’re not in their home waters yet. I almost hope they don’t go. I have no idea what would happen if they tried to search for their family group and didn’t find them.”

  “If they stay here tonight, can we start the engines at dawn?”

  “Yes, but we have to travel very slowly. I want to talk to them. They need to hear my voice.” She finished the sandwich. “They already seem oriented to the open sea again, but they’ve got to connect it with me. I have to be part of the big picture.”

  “They don’t appear to have lost their affection for you.” He paused. “Archer hasn’t phoned you?”

  “No, maybe he’s lying low after all the police furor over Gary’s murder.”

  “I wouldn’t count on that lasting too long.”

  “I’m not counting on anything. I’m just grateful for whatever respite I get from him. I need to concentrate on Pete and Susie.”

  “You’re certainly doing that.” He took off his windbreaker and formed a pillow with it. “If you’re going to be here all night, you might as well be comfortable.” He set it on the deck and stood up. “
I’ll keep running coffee and sandwiches.”

  “You don’t need to do that.”

  “Yes, I do.” He leaned on the rail and gazed out at the dolphins. “Jesus, I see their eyes glowing in the dark. I never noticed that before. They look like cats’ eyes.”

  “They’re brighter than cats’. They have to function in the depths and withstand light levels below the surface that might hurt a human.”

  “You said the concept of Flipper was way off base, that they were alien. Yet I look at them and all I see is a couple of cute, funny mammals. How are they alien?”

  “You name it. Their auditory potential is staggering. Their frequency range is ten times greater than yours. They can actually form pictures in three dimensions with their echolocation and process them faster than any computer.”

  “Now, that’s pretty alien.”

  “They have no sense of smell. They swallow everything whole, so taste isn’t important.”

  “Touch?”

  “Touch is very important to them. They spend maybe thirty percent of their time in physical contact with other dolphins. They don’t have hands, so they use every part of their body to caress, to investigate, to carry things around.” She smiled. “You’ve already seen them play.”

  “I’ve noticed they rub and stroke each other. But that makes them seem more human than alien.”

  She nodded. “But there’s one other difference. We don’t think they sleep. If they do, it’s with half their brain. And a Russian scientist measured their REM and they don’t dream.” She gazed out at Pete and Susie. “That seems the strangest thing to me. They don’t dream.” She shrugged. “Of course, that could be a blessing.”

  “Or it could be the reason they haven’t come back onshore where they started and taken over. You can’t accomplish much without a dream.”

  “Maybe they have another way to dream. The way their minds work is a mystery to us.” She paused. “But it’s a wonderful mystery. Do you know there’s a place on the Black Sea where children with mental traumas and disorders are encouraged to play in the sea with the dolphins? Some positive medical progress has been reported and, at the least, the children are soothed and happy when they leave. But the most interesting thing is that at the end of the day, the dolphins are grumpy and disoriented. It’s as if they take away the children’s disturbance and give them their own serenity.”

  “That idea is pretty far-fetched.”

  She nodded. “There’s a lot of skepticism about the program.”

  “But you believe it?”

  “I know what they did for me. No one was more disturbed than I was when I arrived in Chile and first saw the dolphins.”

  “And they brought you peace.”

  She smiled. “You remember I told you that?”

  “I remember everything you’ve ever said to me.” He started down the deck. “I’ll see you in an hour with fresh coffee.”

  She watched him walk away before she lay down on the deck and propped her head on his jacket. It smelled of lime, salt air, and musk and was still warm from his body. The scents were vaguely comforting as her gaze returned to the dolphins.

  “I’m here, guys,” she called. “No one is going to hurt you. I know it’s a little weird, but we just have to get through this.”

  Keep talking. Let them hear you and identify you. Keep talking.

  They started the engines at six-thirty the next morning. They allowed an hour for the dolphins to become accustomed to the sound and vibration, and then the Trina slowly began heading east.

  Melis’s hands clenched on the rail. Pete and Susie hadn’t moved from the area where they’d been swimming. “Come on, we’re leaving.”

  They ignored her.

  She blew her whistle.

  Pete hesitated and then swam in the opposite direction. Susie immediately followed him.

  “Pete, you come back here!”

  He disappeared beneath the water.

  “Shall I stop?” Kelby asked.

  “Not yet.”

  Susie was gone, too, following Pete into the depths.

  Lord, what if they’d left her? What if they’d decided to—

  Pete’s head suddenly broke the water three feet from where she stood on deck. He chortled gleefully as he rose and paddled backward upright in the water.

  She went limp with relief. “Okay, very funny. Where’s Susie?”

  Susie’s bottle nose appeared next to Pete and clicked shrilly as she tried to imitate him.

  “Yes, you’re both wonderful. Showtime’s over,” Melis said. “We’re leaving.”

  And they were following. Cutting through the water after the Trina. Playing and riding the wake.

  “It’s a go?” Kelby asked.

  “It’s a go,” Melis murmured. “Give them another hour and then you can up the speed.”

  “Good. Otherwise it would take us a week to get to Cadora.” He gazed at the dolphins jumping in the wake. “God, they’re beautiful. Makes me feel like a kid again.”

  She was feeling the same euphoria. Only her joy was mixed liberally with relief. “They’re feeling like kids too. That was definitely a practical joke Pete pulled on me.”

  “Do you still have to talk to them?”

  “For safety’s sake. But if they keep jumping, they won’t pay any attention to me. How long until we get to Cadora?”

  “Depends on the dolphins.” He turned and headed for the bridge. “At least before sunset.”

  Her relief was abruptly gone.

  The sun setting in Pete and Susie’s home waters. Instinct and genetic memory would go into play.

  Would they leave her?

  Cadora loomed dark and mountainous against the pink-lavender sky. The sun was setting in a blaze of fiery glory.

  And Pete and Susie were still hovering nearby, even though Kelby had cut the engines.

  “Now what?” Kelby asked.

  “Now we wait.” She leaned on the rail, her gaze on the dolphins. “It’s up to you, guys. I’ve brought you home. Your choice.”

  “It’s been a long time. Maybe they don’t realize it’s home.”

  “I think they do. Ever since we got within sight of the island, they’ve stopped playing and become subdued.”

  “Afraid?”

  “Uneasy. They’re not sure what to do.” She didn’t know what to do either. She had never felt more helpless since that moment years ago when she’d seen the dolphins caught in the nets off Lanzarote. “It’s okay,” she called. “Do what you need to do. It’s okay with me.”

  “They don’t understand, do they?”

  “How do I know? Scientists argue about it all the time. Sometimes I think they do. Maybe they don’t process information like we do, but they might be sensitive to tone. I told you that their hearing is terribly keen.”

  “I’ve noticed.”

  Pete and Susie were swimming slowly around the ship.

  “What are they doing?”

  “Thinking.”

  “They’re not doing that clicking thing. Are they communicating with each other?”

  “They do communicate without sound. No one’s sure how. I’m leaning toward the theory that says mental telepathy is the only explanation.” Her hands tightened with white-knuckled force on the rail. “We’ll see.”

  Five minutes passed and the dolphins continued to circle.

  “Maybe they’d settle if you fed them,” Kelby suggested.

  She shook her head. “I don’t want them to settle. I can’t force them or persuade them now that we’re here. What has to be, has to be. I took them away six years ago and now I’ve brought them back. They have to be the ones to decide what— They’re going!”

  Both the dolphins had dived deep beneath the water.

  She watched. They didn’t surface.

  Minutes passed and there was no sign of Pete and Susie.

  “Well, it seems they made their decision.” Kelby turned to look at her. “Are you okay?”

  “No
.” She said unevenly, “I’m scared they won’t come back.”

  “You have the radio tag.”

  “But that’s different. It wouldn’t be voluntary. I’d be interfering in their world.” She sat down in a deck chair, her gaze on the horizon now darkening to twilight. “So I wait until dawn and see if they come back.”

  “You said they did before.”

  “But that was before Phil harassed them and drove them straight into those damn nets. They might remember that and decide to stay away.”

  “And they might remember six years of kindness and friendship with you. I’d say the odds are in your favor.” He sat down beside her. “We’ll think good thoughts.”

  “You don’t have to stay here with me.”

  “You’re not going to bed, are you?”

  “No, they might come back tonight.”

  “Then I’ll stay. You wouldn’t have let the dolphins go if it hadn’t been for me. I feel a certain responsibility.”

  “I’m the one who’s responsible. I knew what I was doing. I needed you and I knew there was a price to pay. Phil told me you had the same passion he did and there wasn’t any doubt we’d end up back here.” The moon was up and she could see the silver reflection on the dark water. But there was no sign of a dorsal fin anywhere within view. “He was right. Why? Why do you have to find it? It’s a dead city. Leave it buried.”

  “I can’t. There’s too much to discover. All that beauty. All that knowledge. Who knows what else we can find? My God, even that sonic apparatus would be a blessing if it was used in the right way. Are we supposed to ignore thousands of years of learning and technology?”

  His expression was lit with excitement. She wearily shook her head. “You sound like Phil.”

  “I’m not going to apologize for wanting to bring Marinth to life. I’ve wanted my shot at finding it since I was a kid.”

  “That long?”

  He nodded. “My uncle brought me all kinds of seafaring and treasure books to read on board. A couple of them mentioned Marinth, and he dug up an old National Geographic for me describing Hepsut’s tomb. I was hooked. I used to lie in bed and imagine swimming through the city, and everywhere I looked there was adventure and wonder.”