In addition to the vision of the Garden of Eden, Lil saw a mighty river. The watercourse raged through a desert region, whitewater pounding. Lil followed the illusion down, through the river and toward the sandy bottom. The sights gained speed, whisking her along in this underwater scene until she spied a verdant meadow.
When the visions ended, Lil realized that tears coursed down her cheeks. She raised a trembling hand to brush them away, clearing her sight. The moisture created a trail of mud from the sand that already resided on her face. She looked down to find an innocuous glass ball residing in the palm of her hand.
“Are you all right, my dear?”
The concern in Clayworth’s voice failed to move her. Lil felt oddly numb, unable to respond verbally. She passed the crystal to Clayworth. He took it, almost reflexively, but nothing happened. His penetrating gaze never faltered. Apparently, she had drained all of the magic from the relic. Either that or Lil was the intended recipient all along. She found that difficult to believe since the orb had to have been here for centuries, since Gobekli’s original creation. Whatever the case, Lil had all the answers she needed.
“We’re done here.”
“But we’re just getting started,” Clayworth argued. When she didn’t respond, he tried another tack. “What did you see? Where are we going?”
“I’m sorry, but unless you’ve been modest about your credentials, you are not going anywhere. Stay here and catalogue these finds, Professor. You deserve the credit and I no longer require your services. I do, however, have need of a qualified scuba diver.”
Chapter Six
Dana leaned against her elbows on the aft railing of the forty-two foot Newton Dive Special. She squinted behind her sunglasses as her gaze tracked over the water to San Diego’s Mission Beach. The deck shifted beneath her feet as she automatically adjusted her balance. The sun shone down over a perfect blue sky. Whitecaps churned out from behind the boat as the distance from the bay increased. Dana was barely aware of the beautiful scenery.
“Are you okay?”
Dana looked over her shoulder as she identified her friend’s voice. Louise Troutman presented the image of a true California girl with her medium length, sun-bleached blond hair and rich, bronze tan. Even at thirty-two, Lou sported an athletic build and full breasts. Counter to her outward appearance of a fun-loving beach bunny, Lou possessed a compassionate soul and high I.Q. Lou joined Dana at the railing, seeming completely comfortable in a skimpy yellow bikini and bare feet.
Dana resisted the urge to shout that of course she wasn’t okay. She had seen her best friend murdered right in front of her in a dark, smelly alley. “I’m fine.”
She hoped that Lou wouldn’t argue the point, and for a moment it seemed she would get her wish. Lou looked out over the water and then sighed. “I know you’re hurting, sweetie. Frannie was a good friend. It’s okay to mourn her.”
For some reason it angered Dana that Lou would give her permission to grieve the loss of her best friend. She lashed out without considering her words. “Well thank you so much for your understanding. I don’t know how I could have gotten through the day without it.”
“Hey now, wait a minute.” Lou’s mood quickly shifted. “You have no right to take it out on me. We all love you, but you’re not going to talk to me that way, Dana.”
Dana wanted to do more than yell. She wanted to punch something, anything, if it would take care of the pain in her heart. Francene had been like a sister to her. Fury still seethed, but Dana realized Lou was right. She wasn’t being fair, but her ire had nothing to do with Lou. In fact, that fury was the reason Dana was on this trip. Since that horrible day in Istanbul a few weeks ago, she seemed to sway between unexpected and uncontrollable tears to bursts of intense anger. She hoped that a few days away from work would help her to settle her emotions.
“I’m sorry,” Dana apologized, squeezing the railing until her knuckles turned white. “I’m just so angry.”
“I think that’s normal. I’ve heard that it’s called survivor guilt or something like that.”
Dana shook her head. “It’s more than that. I’m furious because Frannie died and I didn’t do anything to help her. A bunch of thugs killed her and I couldn’t even fight back. It’s my fault.”
“Now you stop that. The only ones at fault are the men who attacked you. They killed Francene, not you. Fran would have understood that and she’d be really pissed that you’re blaming yourself.”
As she thought about Fran, Dana realized the truth of the words. A slight smile graced her lips. “She would, wouldn’t she?”
“Yes. At least you took some time off from work afterward. That was a smart thing. When are you going back to the Institute?”
“I don’t know. In about a week or so. I haven’t taken a day off in a long time and couldn’t think of anything more fun than actually diving for pleasure.”
A shout from the bow of the boat caught their attention. With her eyes on the crew scrambling about the deck, Lou responded. “Well diving Wreck Alley has got to be better than teaching scuba diving to a bunch of scientists and students all day.”
Dana was tempted to respond that she didn’t always teach diving, but she hadn’t actually participated in a research project outside the Institute for over a year. Instead, she followed Lou toward the front of the Sea Witch as the charter crew prepared to anchor the ship. Lou’s husband, Bill, had set about preparing the diving equipment. He smiled at Dana as they approached and she noticed his bloodshot eyes. Dana liked Bill, but she didn’t approve of him drinking beer right before a dive. The fact that she wasn’t his boss was the only thing that prevented her from making a comment.
“Coming through!”
Dana leapt to the side as the only child aboard the Sea Witch darted past her. Thaddeus Troutman raced to his father’s side and dropped onto his knees with such force that Dana winced in sympathy. The eleven-year-old didn’t seem to think anything of it as he started to pull out his own gear from a diving bag.
“Are you sure about this, Lou? I know Thad is certified for open water, but wreck diving is pretty dangerous, even for experienced divers.”
Lou shrugged. “He’ll be all right. Thad has over forty dives this year alone. Besides, we’ll be right with him the whole time.”
“I don’t know. This is the Ingram Street Bridge. A person could get easily disoriented in that jumble of concrete, steel and pillars.”
“You worry too much. Besides, it’s a great place to see a lot of fish with all the algae.”
Dana had to concede the point. As a Divemaster, she’d have preferred Thad have an Advanced as well as a Wreck Diving certification. The water here was about a hundred and ten feet and that was over the Open Water diver limits. She made a mental note to keep a close eye on the boy.
“What about Bill? How much has he had to drink?”
“Oh, he’s fine. Lighten up, Dana. Have some fun for once.” Lou squatted beside her family and took a wetsuit from one of the bags.
“I have fun.”
Lou paused in donning the shorty. The shortened arms and legs of the suit resembled something a surfer would wear. “Sure you do. Have you considered asking the university to let you join in a research dive?”
It sounded like a great idea. Getting out of an Olympic-sized pool and into the ocean was an appealing prospect. “I’d love to, but U.C. doesn’t have any research projects going right now. Anyway, if I wasn’t there, who would teach students how to place samples into gear bags or rescue techniques to future scientists?”
Lou didn’t respond so Dana focused on her own equipment. Unlike the Troutman family, she enjoyed warmer waters in which to dive. The California bay waters averaged sixty-eight degrees at the height of summer due to the Alaskan current. As a result, she chose a full-body wetsuit instead of the shorter version the Troutman family preferred. The green neoprene slid on easily over her full-body Lycra dive skin. The thin full body suit allowed Dana to pull up the wetsu
it without struggling or chaffing the skin on her knuckles by having to tug. Neoprene was notorious for sticking to skin and difficult to put on once a person started to sweat.
With her feet bare, Dana lugged her bag over to the aft dive ladder and sat down next to the tank racks. Although the charter boat offered equipment rental, Dana had brought her own oxygen tanks. She zippered thick-soled booties onto her feet and stood to snap the weight belt in place. The square yellow weights settled uncomfortably onto her hipbones, but would be fine once she entered the water.
By the time Dana snapped her buoyancy control device, or BCD, onto her back with the tank and regulators in place, the others were ready to go. Dana noticed that Thad wore a pony tank. Considering his height, she thought the shorter O2 tank a good choice.
“Come on, Reed. We don’t have all day.”
“Yes we do,” she responded to Bill’s teasing. “I’m almost ready.”
Dana strapped on a dive watch before buckling her sheathed knife onto her right calf. Then she grabbed her mask, snorkel and fins.
“All right, I’m set. Everyone check your watches. At a hundred feet, we’ll only have about seventeen minutes of air.”
Thad didn’t wait for her admonishment. Like a youngster on a sugar rush, he hooted and leapt from the back of the boat. Dana blinked water droplets out of her eyes while Bill and Lou followed their son’s example. Instead of putting her fins on in the water like they did, Dana eased down on the top rung of the ladder to put on her mask and fins. Once completely dressed, she eased into the water.
A short distance away, Dana spotted orange buoys that marked permanently installed ascent lines. The cables marked the way down to Wreck Alley where the city of San Diego had intentionally sunk six vessels along with the Ingram Street Bridge as a diver’s attraction. As an experienced diver, Dana still carried her own emergency signaling equipment, but didn’t think she’d really need them.
“Let’s go,” Lou said, placing her regulator in her mouth with her eyes pinned to Dana. The boys had already disappeared under the surface.
Earlier, they had all agreed on their dive teams. The boys would swim together while Dana and Lou were paired as dive buddies. Lou could be impulsive, but they had been on enough trips together for Dana to know she would never violate that basic rule of survival. Dana clamped her teeth down onto her regulator and gave Lou the okay sign.
They took their time descending, enjoying the water and the fish that swam all around. Just like anyone else, Dana wanted to reach the bridge and begin exploring but it wasn’t worth decompression sickness to get there a few minutes faster. The crystal blue California waters were heaven, encasing Dana in silence and tranquility. She felt the peace settle over her as she escaped the noise of everyday surface existence while life still thrived all around her in these blue depths. For the first time since Francene’s senseless death, she felt balanced. Dana followed behind Lou. She kept her partner in sight at all times and before long, she spotted the murky outlines of the Ingram Street Bridge.
Dana knew the bridge was intentionally dumped here after city officials replaced it in 1985. At that time, the ocean claimed the steel girders and asphalt roadways. Heavily encrusted with algae and barnacles, the bridge was the perfect haven for fish of every species. Far below, she could see Thad and Bill at the outer edges to the hulking mass. She left the ascent line and struck off at a downward angle behind Lou. She was still a little peeved at Bill’s reckless drinking prior to the dive. Even though he only had a single beer during the short fifteen-minute ride from Mission Beach, there were other concerns.
The top of the bridge remains lay at one hundred feet from the surface. Depth and ocean pressure caused oxygen to compress, resulting in certain effects on the human body. Every fifty feet of depth was equivalent to a shot of whiskey. By her calculations, Bill was down two shots and a bottle of beer. He probably had a slight buzz. Dana reminded herself that she wasn’t an instructor to these people. They were her friends and wouldn’t appreciate a lecture on scuba safety. With that in mind, she decided to try to relax and just enjoy the dive. They would only have another twelve minutes before they would have to surface.
Dana waved to Lou and indicated that she wanted a closer look at a school of garibaldi fish. She was careful not to move too close since male garibaldis could become quite aggressive when defending a nest of recently laid eggs. The bridge was a popular nesting ground for the bright orange fish and Dana didn’t want to take any chances. Garibaldis could grow up to fifteen inches and would bite. Dana looked back over her shoulder to see if Lou had followed and caught movement from the corner of her eye. Upon taking a closer look, she noticed Bill swim underneath a shattered segment of steel girders.
The motion of his fins kicked up sand from the ocean bottom, obscuring the normally clear blue view. Bill disappeared inside the massive structure with Thad close on his heels. Part of the fun of wreck diving was exploring old ruins. Dana forgot about the fish and swam over to the outer edge of the bridge. She saw Thad very near his father and searched around for her own scuba partner.
Lou also seemed intrigued by the boys’ activity and swam toward the place where they had entered the pile of concrete and steel. Dana reached the spot first and peered through the tight opening. Bill had just settled onto his knees. He withdrew an underwater camera from a mesh gear bag and began snapping pictures. Multiple species of fish, some small and some large, darted all around. The boys were inside a small clear area, surrounded from above and on all sides by debris. Dana could see numerous openings from every vantage point, providing avenues of ingress and egress to the sea dwellers.
Through one of the larger holes, she spotted a sea lion. Dana easily distinguished the difference in the animal from a seal due to its protruding ears. Fascinated to see the sea lion in its pursuit of food, Dana reached for her own camera.
Bill had his back to the sea lion as he photographed schools of brightly colored blue and yellow tangs, garibaldi, crab and sea fans. He hadn’t spotted the sea lion nearing his location. Dana thought it would be a great opportunity to get a shot of Bill with the animal behind him. Sea lions often played with human divers and Dana didn’t consider this one any different. She swam part of the way into the opening to get a closer view and brought her camera up to focus on the scene.
At the same time, the creature suddenly darted into the artificial cavern. It headed directly toward the small buffet of smaller animals, unmindful of Bill and Thad in the vicinity. Then, several things seemed to occur almost simultaneously. Dana noticed Bill start in surprise when the sea lion zipped by overhead. He rose up from his knees and the wake from the animal’s actions caught him unprepared. Bill’s mask loosened from the movement and slid up from his face. An experienced diver, he automatically reached for it. Fish scattered about, sensing a predator, and the sea lion rammed into the side of the bridge as it turned in pursuit.
Dana felt the structure tremble from the impact. She dropped the camera as she started forward, instinctively intent on protecting Thad. The eleven-year-old had pressed backward against the bridge pilings when the sea lion entered so unexpectedly. With his hands clutching rebar, he was the perfect image of a terrified boy. Dana’s eyes darted back and forth as she attempted to take in every detail.
Bill grappled with his mask and pulled it into place. As Dana watched, he tilted his head back and exhaled to clear the water from his faceplate. Unaccountably, she was aware of the bubbles floating upward from the force of his exhalation at the same time that the sea lion crashed into Bill. The animal wasn’t trying to hurt him, merely chasing its lunch. Unfortunately, the impact threw Bill back against the ruins with enough force to make them tremble again. Loosened debris rained down and Dana automatically ducked her head, but the mask prevented anything from going into her eyes. The sea lion darted back out through another sizeable hole and disappeared from view.
She hurried toward Bill, intent on checking his injuries. Thad seemed fine and
now that the sea lion had vacated the premises, he also swam toward his father. Bubbles poured from behind Bill, headed toward the surface. The speed of flow indicated a problem with his oxygen system. She was afraid that if she didn’t get to him fast enough, he would suffocate or drown.
Dana reached the downed man’s side. He had fallen backward against the wall of concrete and his head lolled to the side away from her. As she drifted onto her knees, she noticed that Bill’s mask had come off his nose and eyes, resting over his forehead. He was still breathing.
With the medical emergency on her hands, Dana needed Thad’s help. She noticed the panicked look on the boy’s face. Thad reached out and tried to pull the mask back into place on Bill’s face, but there wasn’t time for that. Dana grabbed Thad by the shoulder of his shorty and jerked him around to face her. She disregarded the angry look on his face as she shoved her diver emergency signaling gear to him. Thad hesitated for a fraction of a second before he caught on and grabbed the bag out of her hand. Once he had the emergency float and whistle, Thad scooted out of the bridge ruins and headed for the top. Dana could see the tips of his fins as he swam toward the surface. She hoped he would remember to make a brief safety stop along the ascent line or she might have a second crisis on her hands.
As for herself, Dana hadn’t time to make a safety stop. She couldn’t take that chance with Bill’s life. She finished settling Bill’s mask into place. He still had the regulator in his mouth but a quick glance over his shoulder told Dana that his regulator had snagged on a jagged piece of rebar. The hose had ripped and his oxygen supply was streaming out through the opening. Dana grabbed Bill’s pressure gauge and was alarmed at the rate with which his air diminished. She hooked Bill under the arms around his chest and started for the opening. Towing her friend’s husband along, it was a tight squeeze to fit through the hole. Dana hugged Bill’s back against her chest and held his regulator in his mouth as she started up.
Beyond the Garden Page 9
