by Lark Brennan
Her rational mind wanted to believe they’d locate a strong current, to cling to the remote possibility that the bottlenose pods had escaped the horror of the red orphic. Reaching behind Bodie’s seat, she located a flare-gun type hand launcher and two cartridges of orange dye. “You’ll have to open the door to aim.”
“No problem.” After wedging the sensor on the console where he could track their position, he took the launcher from her and loaded the two cylinders into it, one after the other.
The blue dot on the sensor screen moved steadily toward the white line. Lex’s pulse ramped and her hands grew clammy on the controls. Please let there be a current.
Bodie jerked the door handle with his left hand and braced the door open with his right shoulder far enough to aim the launcher at the sea below. “Just a little farther.”
Two loud pops echoed in the cabin followed a second later by a dull explosion as the canisters hit the water. He leaned out the door and peered down at the water. “Done. If the current is swift enough to carrier those pods at thirty-five knots per hour, we should see some movement in a few minutes.”
“I’ll circle around,” she said, “The dye might not penetrate a deep water current where the dolphins can swim.”
He pulled the door closed and locked the latch. Retrieving the sensor, he rested it on his knees and gazed down at the screen. She glanced at his sensor and corrected her course. “I’ll take us down a little.”
“The dye should be visible dead ahead.” He reached for the binoculars sitting at his feet and brought them to his eyes. “It’s spreading.”
As they approached their target, Lex checked the sensor screen to gauge their position. A mile away her pulse spiked. Let the dye show a strong current. Please.
“Shit,” Bodie said. “Do you see this?”
Her heart sank. Instead of the orange river flowing northwest, the dye fanned out to the south-southeast toward the red orphic. “The dye is flowing in the opposite direction. They didn’t get caught in a current.”
Chapter Eight
Nothing on the scanner screen surprised Bodie, and the pale blue and green orphic suited him just fine. It didn’t mean there weren’t any ghosts or spirits on Jost Van Dyke, it just reduced the likelihood that any spirits there were really pissed off.
“You might want to stash your toys for landing,” Lex said as Silverbelle dropped over the chop outside Little Harbour. “We’ll anchor out here until I find out what’s going on with the dolphins. I’d hate to land on somebody’s head in there.”
With a click the sensor went dark and locked. He slipped it into his bag, pocketed the ComDev, and braced for his first rough-water landing.
Two skips and a bump and the pontoons settled with a rocking glide. Lex flipped a lever, releasing the anchor with a splash and quiet whirl of line before steering with the current to set the hook.
The bay in front of them sparkled in the afternoon sun. A half dozen sailboats and two small fishing boats spotted the pale turquoise water edged with rocky shore and short stretches of snowy white beach. Rock and scrub hills rose from the shoreline and three open-air beach bars offered cold drinks and hot food. At least their colorful signs did.
“Okay, here’s the plan. I’ll try to debrief the dolphins while you work on the sensor. When I signal, bring Silverbelle into the dock over there at Sidney’s Peace and Love.” She showed him how to raise the anchor and start the water jets to drive the seaplane in. “So at least try to pay attention to me while I’m out there doing the hard duty.”
“Got it. Pay attention and take the plane to the bar.”
With a pat on his knee, she opened the pilot’s door. “Goddamn, Bodie, I can see why you were the pride of M.I.T.”
Princeton, but whatever. She worked quickly, pulling a pair of cords that instantly inflated the craft. A twist and pop of an aluminum frame and presto, a boat. With one hand she lifted a small outboard motor from the bag and clicked it on the stern. The Foundation certainly didn’t scrimp on equipment.
“What if your homies don’t show the love?” he asked.
She stepped into the boat. “Your attempt at humor is so lame.”
The snap of her comeback was off. For the first time, he saw a glimmer of uncertainty in her bravado. “Maybe this isn’t a good idea,” he said.
“This is what I do. I’ll find out what happened and maybe the intel will strike a chord in that brilliant brain of yours.” And with that the boat took off toward the harbor at a brisk clip.
He figured she knew what she was doing. If anything went down with those dolphins, he should be able to get to her quickly.
He retrieved the sensor from his bag and took his ComDev from his pocket. While waiting for the sensor to boot up, he ran his thumb down the inside of his forearm where the mysterious symbols now marked his skin—ink put there by Durand while Bodie had been unconscious. He’d be damned if he was going to give the S.O.B. the satisfaction of asking what they were. Durand Tech QR codes, probably. And then there was the added bonus of the government agents who had shot him. One thing he and Mark agreed on was that those suckers would kill him if given half a chance—which is exactly what he was doing.
Chapter Nine
So Lex and Bodie had made it to Jost Van Dyke. Mark zoomed in on their signals on the screen as he lounged in the plush leather armchair of the Gulfstream V.
He’d logged into the Ariel’s tracking system and after listening to Lex’s voicemail this morning he’d downloaded the data on the dolphins’ disappearance. One benefit of providing all the Foundation’s equipment was being able to tap into the system at will. When the GPS data was processed against Bodie’s sensor data, he’d seen the red spot and immediately wiped the data from the Durand Tech monitoring system.
Flexing the tight muscles of his back, he rolled his shoulders to ease the stiffness of two hours piloting the jet through bad weather. When the skies cleared, he had turned the controls over to his co-pilot and come back to work. His long legs, clad in ancient jeans, ached for a punishing run.
A notification popped up on the screen. Bodie had attempted to log into the network. As Mark had ordered, this time access was denied.
“Sorry, buddy, we can’t let the mole find out what you’re doing. You and Lex need to fall off the DT radar for a while.”
Three denied attempts triggered a lockout. Invalid login. His cell phone buzzed. Caller I.D. read Flynn. He let him go into voicemail.
A text came through. Access denied? WTF?
Succinct and to the point. Mark liked that about Bodie. He tapped in a reply. System down. Security breach. You’re on your own.
How long?
“Patience, man. It’s for your own good.”
HOW FUCKING LONG?
“As long as it takes.” Mark said to himself. He then placed a call and heard two rings before the pick-up. “I’m on my way to Mexico. Bodie’s locked out of Durand Tech until further notice. Don’t be surprised if you get a call from Lex in the next twenty-four.”
“She calls, I’m telling her the truth,” Adrien replied.
Although technically he reported to Adrien, Mark needed the Sentier to do as he asked this time. “The truth is there’s a security breach and it’s dangerous for Bodie to upload his data. The guy’s going to figure out what’s causing the orphic disturbances and when he does, no one on our end except you or me can get that intel.”
“You’re sure Tolian’s involved?”
“No, but whatever’s going on is ugly and he’s my prime suspect, just like he is in Mexico.” They’d already argued about Mark’s decision to look for the two Protectors who had gone missing on assignment on the border. They both knew that before becoming Sentier Adrien would have insisted on going himself, so he didn’t have a convincing argument against Mark taking the mission.
“Don’t let this get personal,” Adrien said.
“A little late for that.” Ten years give or take a few months. “I’ll check in when
we’re headed home.”
“Be careful.”
Mark ended the call and glanced down at his ComDev. Two more texts from Bodie. Persistent dude. And royally pissed off. So what was new? Since that night three years ago in Boston they were forever linked by the bond of Bodie’s resurrection. If he had a conscience, Mark might feel guilty about leaving the fledgling revenant to his own devices in a hostile environment. But educating him would have exposed him to too much of the psychic world and posed its own set of problems. So instead Mark had marked Bodie with the most powerful protection he could provide and stuck him in the relative safety of Fat Dog to face his new reality alone.
Need more memory for continuous scan. Critical!!
Sorry.
The message came back almost instantly. Wrong answer!
No doubt, but he’d figure something out. Just in case the big guy needed a little extra motivation to stay in the game, Mark tapped in a final message. Work with it. Anything happens to Lex—I’m coming for you. His thumb hit send.
Clicking the ComDev to vibrate, he slipped it into his jeans pocket. As long as there was a traitor within the Protectors, Lex and Bodie were safer on their own. Together they could be the perfect no-tech weapon—more powerful against the evil invading the Caribbean than any computers or sensors. Either they bonded and utilized their joint abilities or… the alternative could be worse than fatal.
• • •
Three dorsal fins glided toward the Zodiac. Lex slowed the boat and waited, focusing on greeting the approaching dolphins telepathically. Her senses opened to their psychic energy.
A second later she jerked backward, her head reeling with a hard kick of aggression, fear and madness. Their emotions. What had happened to these gentle creatures? Reinforcing her shield to detach and steady herself, she collected her energy.
Further in the cove, a dozen agitated bottlenoses churned the azure water into a froth. The reality of the situation gripped her. They were out of control and she had no idea how to help them. Her own brief contact with red orphic had been horrifying. How much worse had it been for them?
At the mouth of Little Harbor the three gray bodies of the sentries arched and dove.
Concentrating, she projected well-being. Friend. Help. Safe. When in a cooperative mood, these mammals were capable of complex communication. Not speech thought, exactly, but narrative of a sort. All crazy jacked up, she’d be lucky if the telepathy and empathy combo blast penetrated at all. Why did the insanity remain this far from the red orphic spot?
A thump on the bottom of the Zodiac threw her off the flimsy fiberglass bench onto the heavy fabric floor. Another snout rammed the buoyant hull, pushing the boat away from the cove.
Her focus wavered and sweat ran into her eyes and burned. Another gray shape torpedoed toward her, this time with the speed to capsize the Zodiac and toss her into the clear blue. In their element, she was toast. Death by ramming—not how she’d planned to spend her day.
Clutching the frame of the Zodiac, she braced herself for the hit and projected friend calm safety peace at the dolphin as best she could through her own anxiety. Friend calm safety peace over and over like a mantra. The dolphin veered away at the last instant, grazing the bow hard enough to shove the inflatable backward. Her lungs expelled the breath she’d been holding.
Her mind reached out to the two males cruising in front of the Zodiac, testing their thoughts and projecting calm. Their aggression had ramped down a little, but not the terror or confusion. Friend. Safe. Friend. Safe. Normally these beings didn’t hold onto fear once the danger passed. Their minds didn’t work that way.
A dark shadow came at her like a torpedo, hitting the canvas bottom of the boat so hard she was propelled into the air, pain shooting through her feet and legs. Time went slow-mo. Friend. Friend. Friend. Splash. Water was her element. Warm, familiar. She projected calm to the dolphins as best she could.
They backed off. The two she could see swam sentry between her and the cove while the flipped Zodiac drifted away toward Tortola. Treading water, she tried one more time to focus on a single dolphin and recognized the one the team called Chuy.
“Okay, big guy,” she murmured. “How can I help you?”
Through the riot of impressions, an odd pattern emerged. A burst of light, the sensation of being whirled out of control. Pressure. Darkness. Despair.
The blow to her hip shocked her back to herself and she gasped in a mouth of water. Coughing, she kicked to keep her head above water, fighting the pain shooting up her side.
A dolphin had rammed her! Off to her right the fin surfaced heading away. Not comforting. Standard procedure. Get up to top speed and head-butt the target. Great way to kill sharks.
She watched the fin rise, the sleek gray body arch out of the turquoise sea and disappear. The Zodiac merrily escaped, bouncing on the waves in the channel a hundred yards away now. Lex gritted her teeth against the throbbing in her hip and swam for the boat.
Concentrate on distracting him. Unfortunately the pain and I-don’t-want-to-die combo wasn’t conducive to focusing. With every stroke she attempted to project Turn back and All is well, but dark and deadly came barreling at her from behind and her senses reeled.
She shoveled the water frantically. A wave crashed over her head from behind. Limbs flailing, she fought to break the surface. This was it.
A huge hand caught her wrist and yanked her straight up into the air. Her arm felt like it was being wrenched from her shoulder, then a heavy weight caught her around the waist and slammed her against a wall of muscle, knocking out the little breath left in her lungs.
Holding tight to the massive arm, she struggled for air and tried to find footing.
“Easy, princess,” Bodie said close to her ear. “I’ve got you.”
She sagged against him, her back pressed to his chest. He’d saved her life.
“Thanks,” she managed, “I think I can stand on my own now.”
He released her slowly, making sure she had a firm grip on the strut of Silverbelle and was steady on her feet before letting her go.
“Get in the back and hook the boat as we pass it,” he said, climbing into the pilot’s seat.
She started to argue then collapsed in the back exhausted. The Helio started to move, bumping her injured hip. Pain spiked up her side and tears filled her eyes. Her teeth clenched over a profanity.
“You okay?”
“I’m fine. Just shaken up a little.”
Through the open door she saw the dolphins swimming alongside the plane for a full minute before turning back to the cove, but she couldn’t bring herself to try to communicate with them. Her mission was a dismal failure. Whatever happened to those creatures had changed their very natures and no psychic suggestions or frolicking in the bay would heal them.
• • •
Once they’d picked up the Zodiac, Bodie assured himself Lex was okay before relinquishing the controls. He was relieved when she climbed back into the pilot’s seat. Pulling out a knob near her foot, she glanced over at him. “We’re just going to the next cove so we’ll stay on the surface. You’ll want your seat belt.”
He clicked it in place just as the seaplane lurched into high speed. Jets on the pontoons shot them across the water at breakneck speed. They pounded into the waves heading west. Shit, the last time he’d gone this fast and hard in the surf he’d had a waverunner wailing under him, but these jets were disconcertingly quiet.
His legs braced to cushion the impact of the chop. “I’m guessing the debriefing didn’t go well.”
“Their mental patterns didn’t even resemble dolphin thought. Hand me my ComDev, will you?”
Her device was exactly like his—Durand Tech’s latest model. Even so, his confidence in her multitasking abilities had its limits and he didn’t hand it over. “I’ll hold, you talk.”
A beat of you’re-kidding, and she ordered the phone, “Call David.”
Latham picked up on the second ring. “
How’s it going?”
“Interesting.” She glanced at Bodie and shrugged. “I need Ash and Olivia to dig up everything they can find on dolphin attacks and send it to me.”
“Attacks on what?”
“Humans.”
“Humans? They didn’t come after you, did they?”
“I’m fine.”
“Geez, Lex. I told you to take someone else with you. That Flynn guy…”
“You’re on speaker, David.”
Bodie couldn’t resist. “Hey, Latham.”
Silence stretched across the connection.
“Just have them run a search,” Lex said. “We’ll stay in Jost Van Dyke and keep an eye on them from the beach this afternoon.”
“The Ariel will be there by tomorrow,” David replied.
Lex’s mouth tightened. “Not necessary.”
“Not your call. See you in the morning.” He disconnected.
“Shit.” Lex muttered. “Remind me to fire him.”
“Give the guy a break. He’s besotted.”
“Jesus, what kind of word is that?”
“It means…”
“I know what it means. I just can’t believe you used it in conversation.”
“So what’s the plan? Assuming you have one.”
“Get some lunch while you reprogram the DT scanners. Then we try to figure out what happened to my buddies out there.”
Reprogram the scanners, huh? “There’s been a security breach at DT—I texted Mark and he said I’m locked out for the time being. By the time we finish lunch my access should be up and running again.”
Her sidelong glance was full of suspicion. “Security breach? Does this happen a lot?”
“Never. Don’t worry, I’m on it.” Or he hoped he was.
Silverbelle rounded the point and headed toward a clear blue cove filled with an assortment of boats, mostly moored and anchored. Scrub-covered hills rose around the bay’s rocky shoreline, which was broken at the center by a stretch of white sand beach. Lex slowed to a civilized speed that wouldn’t create a wake and he gave her points for good boating manners.
