Lyra thought for a moment. “I don’t think so.”
“Okay… good.” He took her outstretched hand and gripped it. “You’re going to be all right.”
She adjusted her head in Boone’s lap and looked up at him, her face upside down from his vantage point. Her large eyes, a deep brown, shone with moisture. After a moment, she removed the oxygen mask with the hand Boone wasn’t currently holding.
“No, let’s keep the mask in pl—”
“I will put it back.” She reached up with her free hand and stroked his cheek. “You saved me.”
Boone smiled. “Maybe a little.”
“Thank you, Boone.”
“De nada.”
The corner of her mouth quirked into a smile, dimpling one cheek. “Did you give me mouth to mouth?”
“Uh… no.”
“Good. I would have hated to have missed that…” She stroked his face, and her fingertips brushed his lips.
Boone reddened and retrieved the oxygen mask. “Well, if it makes you feel any better, you did throw up in my ear.” He freed his hand from hers and pressed the mask into her palm before guiding it back to her face. “Let’s keep the mask on, okay? I need to call Emily and let her know where we’re headed.”
Boone stretched his arm out for his drybag, the rough transit having rolled it under the portside bench. Dragging it closer, he located his phone and made the call… and Emily’s drybag rang from its place in the corner of the cockpit. Oh… right… I left her in the water. He began scrolling through his contacts to find Jorge, but his phone suddenly rang with an unidentified number. He tapped the phone and answered. “Hello?”
“Boone!”
“Em, thank God!”
Emily was overjoyed to hear Boone’s voice… and from the relief she heard in it, he was happy to hear hers too.
“Where are you? I’m so sorry I left you, but—”
“Shut your gob, it was the right move. And Jorge plucked us out, no worries. I even got a date out of it.” When Boone laughed, Emily plowed ahead. “Listen, we left Iberostar in a taxi about five minutes ago and the cabbie was good enough to loan me his mobile. Where are you? How is Lyra?”
“She’s fine.” Boone mentioned some of the symptoms to Emily, but stressed that she was breathing well and didn’t seem to be suffering from anything serious, all things considered. He explained where they were taking her.
Em turned to Calypso and repeated what she’d been told. Callie nodded, seeming to mull something over. “So she’s going to be okay?”
“Yes.” Em returned to the call. “What about you? Any symptoms?”
“No. Once I had her breathing, we made a fast ascent, but not crazy-fast. Still, I’ll let the doc at the facility decide if I need to spend any time in the chamber.”
“Boone, what happened down there?”
“I don’t know. Her integrated showed 2200 psi, but that tank was bone dry. I didn’t see any leaks… did you see any sudden eruption of bubbles coming up from the swim-through?”
“No, everything looked normal from above.”
“I just can’t explain it. Hey, we’re about to reach the Aqua Safari pier in midtown. I gotta go. Get to the boat and get your phone. I’ll be at the hospital on 5th Street South.”
“Okay, see you soon. Love you.” She hung up, then laughed.
“What?” Calypso asked.
“Oh, nothing… Boone and I just have a habit of meeting at hospitals.”
Calypso gave her a quizzical look, then stared out the window for a moment. “What did he say happened?”
“He isn’t sure. The computer said she had plenty of air, but she didn’t.”
“Nicholas said he watched them fill the tanks himself,” Callie said. “Well, I’ll need to get my belongings anyway, so I’ll take her gear back to the Apollo and have it inspected.”
“After you see your sister,” Em prompted.
Callie shrugged. “You said she was fine. I’d only be in the way.”
“Well… there’s a good chance Lyra’s gear will go to the sss facility. A diving accident like this, they may check things out.”
“Oh. In that case…” She leaned forward in her seat. “Driver, drop me at the Puerta Maya pier.”
“Wait, what? What about your personal belongings… and your… hat?”
“I’ll send someone for them.”
The taxi was nearing the cruise ship terminal and turned off the highway, coming to a stop outside the Puerta Maya Shopping Mall.
“Here’s fine,” Calypso said. “Pop the trunk, please?” She opened her door and exited, going around back to retrieve her tank, vest, and regulator. Emily had left her rig to pick up from Jorge later, but Calypso had insisted on bringing hers. She came back around to the side of the cab. “Thank you for the dive, Emily. I’m sorry if I’ve been mean to you.” She started to go, but turned back. “Oh… and thank Boone for saving my sister’s life.” With that, she closed the door and trudged toward the piers.
Emily watched her go as the cab pulled away, heading back to the highway. I can’t decide if she’s a nutter, or just an arsehole, she thought.
“Señorita? To San Miguel now, si?”
“Si. Aqua Safari pier, por favor.”
Dr. Aguilar, the attending physician at the sss Hyperbaric Facility, ushered Lyra up the steps into the spherical chamber, painted white with red and blue stripes. “You will need to remove your jewelry,” he said, gesturing to a necklace she wore. “Earrings as well.”
Lyra began removing the necklace, a small bow and arrow dangling from a thin chain of platinum. She had stripped out of her wetsuit and now wore a thin blue hospital gown a nurse had provided. “My dive watch, too?”
“Yes. Anything metal. Oxygen levels in the chamber will be maintained at normal levels and you will be given on-demand oxygen via masks, so there isn’t the same risk of a spark that you would find with hyperbaric oxygen therapy. That being said, this is a prudent precaution.”
Boone had already communicated everything he could about the accident during his call from the Lunasea, and it had been decided that Lyra would need to receive treatment immediately. Boone and Ricardo had brought her to the facility by taxi as soon as they had tied up at the pier.
“You are welcome to receive treatment as well, Mr. Fischer,” Dr. Aguilar offered.
“I think I’m fine. I’m not showing any symptoms…”
“As I’m sure you are aware, symptoms can arise later; twenty-four to forty-eight hours sometimes.”
Boone hesitated, looking toward the chamber. Inside, he could see two beds. “I’m not sure it’s necessary…”
Lyra beckoned with a finger. “Don’t be silly. I promise I won’t bite.”
“No, it’s not that… I can’t bring a phone in, right?”
The doctor shook his head. “No.”
“Well, I’m thinking I may need to talk to Emily… and the boat is sitting unattended at the pier.”
“That is not a concern,” Ricardo said. “I will go back now and move the boat if needed.”
Boone turned to Dr. Aguilar. “Well, doc… if you were me?”
“I would take the treatment. It’s better safe than sorry and it will be in use anyway. It’s a multi-place, double-lock chamber, so we can bring you out early if Ms. Othonos requires further time inside. And you can communicate with me, if you need to speak with your crew mates.”
“All right.” Boone removed his dive watch and sport sandals, then took his phone from a pocket of his cargo shorts and handed it to the doctor.
“Your necklace, too.”
Boone reached up to the hollow of his throat. “This? It’s glass on a leather thong, no metal. A Statian Blue Bead. I can take it off, though…”
“No, glass is fine.”
Boone stepped
up to the chamber. “Ricardo, head back to the boat and meet up with Emily. Oh! And tell her to gather Lyra’s gear and bring it here.” He ducked inside. The entrance wasn’t overly small, but Boone’s great height required him to bend over to avoid banging his head.
“It’s very cozy,” Lyra said, standing near the back of the chamber. “Would you prefer one bed or the other?”
“Lady’s choice,” Boone said, shuffling his bare feet.
Lyra sat on the bed nearest to her and then reclined on her side, tossing her hair dramatically. She laughed, smiling brightly. “You must admit, Boone… there is something romantic about this.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” a voice said from the door. A portly woman in scrubs turned her back on them and closed the inner door, rotating a latch into place, sealing herself in with them. “Not unless you are into threesomes.”
Boone grinned and sat on the other bed. “I’m guessing you’re in here to check our vitals?”
“Correct. I am Nurse Vargas, and I will be your ‘tender.’ Now, if you’ll both lie down, please, I’ll fit you with the on-demand oxygen masks.”
After a few minutes, the intercom crackled. “Can everyone hear me?” Dr. Aguilar’s voice came from a speaker overhead. “I will begin increasing pressure in three… two…”
“One moment…” Emily said, digging through her pockets for the wad of pesos Jorge had given her. While the U.S. dollar was very welcome in Cozumel, one could get better value with the local currency. Emily found the money Jorge had loaned her and gave the taxi driver the fare and a generous tip.
“Gracias!”
“And thank you for getting me here so fast, and in one piece!” Emily hopped out next to the venerable Aqua Safari dive shop. When she and Boone had first arrived in Coz, they’d actually rented a room above the shop until they’d found a place. Racing across the grassy median that divided the main drag, she ran onto the short pier toward the Lunasea, tied up on the south side. She stumbled to a halt, well short of the dive boat.
“What… the bloody hell… is that?”
Hovering above the water alongside the Lunasea was a small quadcopter drone. Emily could just make out a camera on the underside. The drone pivoted slightly, examining the length of the boat. After a moment, it rose, moved over the boat, rotated, then began to descend toward the deck alongside the dive benches.
Emily began moving again, reaching the bow of the Lunasea in moments. She paused to retrieve a gaff hook pole they kept clipped alongside the cabin near the bow, handy for hooking mooring lines. Then she stepped across onto the gunwale and moved around the side of the cockpit, gaff hook at the ready. Reaching the end of the cockpit, she jumped down to the deck, braced herself, and swung.
Her sudden movement must have been spotted by what might have been a wide-angle lens. The drone abruptly pitched back, rising several feet in an instant. Emily’s swing went wide and she stumbled. The quadcopter spun 180 degrees and the lens of the camera pointed right at her. She raised the pole and advanced, but it simply backed up over the water, its “eye” still on her. After a moment, it pivoted to focus on the dive bench, then rapidly rose into the air and raced to the south.
“What was that?” Ricardo, out of breath, ran up to the boat.
“A drone.”
“Who’s driving it?”
“I dunno… some tourist on one of the cruise ships, maybe.”
“Why were you trying to hit it?”
Emily looked at the pole in her hand, then burst into laughter. “You know… I have no idea. Just seemed like the thing to do! Maybe I thought it was full of sweets.”
“Where is the sister… the sullen one? Callisto?”
“Calypso. She wanted to get off at her ship.”
“Really? And not see Lyra? I swear… rich people.” He climbed across to join Emily.
“How are they? Boone and Lyra?”
“They are fine. They are both in the chamber.”
“He’s in there with her?” Em snorted a laugh. “Oh, I’m going to have a field day with that. Lemme get my mobile and give him a bell.”
“He can’t have his phone inside the chamber, but he wants Lyra’s gear brought over.”
“Right! We need to figure out what went wrong.” Em went to the portside bench and found Lyra’s rig. She swiftly detached the regulator from the tank and twisted the valve open and closed. “Boone was right. Bone dry.”
Ricardo looked at it closely. “I don’t see anything wrong. O-ring is in place, no signs of damage.” He slid it from the rack and hefted it across to the pier.
Emily detached the inflator hose from Lyra’s bcd and picked up the vest and regulator. As she crossed the deck to hand them to Ricardo, her eyes strayed to a Bubble Chasers tank. “Wait a tick…” Setting down the bcd, she attached Lyra’s regulator to one of their fresh tanks.
“What are you thinking?” Ricardo asked, reboarding the dive boat.
“Just spitballing,” Em said, opening the valve. “We know our tanks have 3200 psi. If there’s nothing wonky about Lyra’s tank, then…” Her eyes went wide. “Blimey… have a gander at this.” She held up the integrated computer and turned it toward Ricardo.
“5400 psi?! Impossible, the tank would explode.”
“Boone said this read 2200 when she ran out of air in the Devil’s Throat.”
“3200 plus 2200 is…”
“Exactly. This computer showed a full tank before we dived. I know. I checked it.”
“So… a computer malfunction?”
Emily shook her head. “That would only half explain things… and I don’t like what the other half is. They said they got these from Apollo’s shipboard dive shop. Well, whoever filled Lyra’s tank… didn’t fill it.”
“Wait. You are saying… what are you saying?”
Lyra looked confused as Emily finished laying out her hypothesis over the chamber intercom.
“I think she’s saying the accident might not have been an accident.” Boone said.
“So… someone was trying to kill me?”
“Or Calypso.” Emily mused from the speaker. “It was a coin flip which of you got the dud tank.”
“Except… that computer would have to be matched to the tank,” Boone pointed out.
“True… and they were,” Emily said. “The driver, when he took their tanks out of the boot… two of them were already rigged up.”
Boone looked over at Lyra lying on the bed across the chamber, the hospital gown doing a poor job of covering her long legs. “I wonder…”
She looked back at him. “What?”
“Your bcds and regulators… are they your personal gear?” Boone asked Lyra.
“No, we just use what the shop gives us.”
“You wear different sizes?”
“No… we both wear a small. We each just picked one when we were on the boat.”
Boone couldn’t see Emily, but he knew she would be viewing them from a screen at the control station in the adjoining room. Looking up, he found the camera for it. “Dr. Aguilar, are you there?”
“Yes, Mr. Fischer.”
“Do you have someone on staff who can examine the computer? Run a diagnostic or something?”
“I know a specialist who repairs dive computers for the shops. I will call him in.”
“Great. And I think I’m good with the treatment. Okay for me to step out?”
“Well… if you’ll bear with us for another thirty minutes, we can call it two hours and Nurse Vargas can check your vitals again.”
“What about me?” Lyra asked.
“With you, Miss Othonos, I wish to continue the treatment for the recommended five hours. Given your out-of-air situation, it would be highly advisable, especially considering that you displayed symptoms of dcs, according to Mr. Fischer.”
Ly
ra sighed and lay back on the bed. “I don’t want to be alone.”
Boone looked up at the camera. “Em, you told Callie where we’d be?”
“Of course.”
Boone sat on the edge of the bed. “I’m sure your family will be here any minute.”
“Angler, this is Palantir.”
“Go ahead, Palantir.”
“I have an assignment. Time sensitive. I’m going to allow one of your team to break curfew for this. Have them take a taxi to the Aqua Safari pier in San Miguel. It’s a concrete pier across from the intersection of the main oceanside street and 5th Street South. There will be a dive boat there, the Lunasea. Board the boat and retrieve a tank, regulator, and buoyancy vest located on the bench on the port side. They will be marked ‘Olympus Cruises.’ Are my instructions clear?”
Angler didn’t like the sound of this. Everything had been carefully planned, and this was not a part of any of it. “I’m assuming we want a low profile on this?”
“If possible, but speed is of the essence. Whoever you choose, have them wear the crew clothing I provided. If anyone asks about why they’re taking the tank, they’re retrieving it for Olympus Cruises. Now get moving! No telling how long the boat will remain. Palantir out.”
“Tolstoy… since you’ve been sneaking out anyway… you hear all that?”
“Da. I get to stretch my feet?”
“And your legs. And Potluck? You’re going too. Keep Tolstoy from wandering into Cuban cigar stores and tequila shops. Get changed and be out the door in three minutes.”
Tolstoy and Potluck scrambled for their suitcases as Angler sat down heavily in a plush chair.
This sounds like a screwup. And we’re pulling cleanup duty.
Boone and Emily entered the main lobby of the hospital, heading for the sunlit street outside the tinted glass doors.
“You two seemed very cozy in there,” Em said.
“Lemme guess… you spied on me for a while before you turned on the intercom.”
“And that hospital gown she had on didn’t leave a lot to the imagination.”
Deep Devil (The Deep Book 4) Page 12
