Message From Viola Mari (16 page)

“Are you sure about this?”

“I’ve been in touch with Gina Martinelli at the University of Hawaii observatory. I told her to see if she could get a glimpse of this mass of comets through the telescope. She’s had trouble detecting them--they’re only visible when illuminated a certain way. But she sees evidence of some kind of massive approach. She’s been pestering NASA and the Secretary of Defense, too, but to no avail. We don’t have much time. I have to travel through one of these tunnels to find out if we can somehow escape.”

He shook his head. “That sounds risky, Marissa. We don’t want this journey to be a one way trip for you.”

Impatient, I raised my hands and let them flop to my sides. “If someone doesn’t act soon, we’re all going to die.”

Matt pursed his lips and scratched his chin. After a long pause, he said, “Very well.”

“I have a favor to ask and it’s major.” I clung to the possibility I’d once again awaken wrapped up in sheets warmed by Justin’s body instead of to a cold empty bed.

Matt frowned. “Well, I don’t see how this whole thing can possibly get much crazier?”

“I want to enter tunnels I believe are located near Half Moon Caye.”

“Near where?” Matt touched his hand to his forehead as if stricken by a sudden headache.

“It’s in Belize. Where Justin disappeared. But we’re going to need to hire some security personnel. Other people know about my research. And they’ve stolen some of my notes.”

“Are you serious?” He frowned and scratched his chin. He seemed to be fighting a battle within himself as to whether he should believe me or write me off as over the edge.

“I wish I wasn’t. I still somehow think I was the reason for the boat accident.”

“Right now let’s stay focused on getting to the tunnels. I’ll book our flights right away,” said Matt. “Why don’t you gather what you’ll need for the trip from here and I’ll call for a police escort to accompany you to your house.”

I flew with Matt and five other scientists to Belize City on the first available flight. I struggled to get comfortable in my seat, which angled my head and neck uncomfortably forward, but since it was a red-eye flight, eventually I fell into a restless sleep.

He rose up on a platform from one of the green craters. He gazed at me with those familiar I want-you-naked green eyes. As I swam toward him, he slowly sank back down into the glowing green gel. I landed in the gel in front of him, grasping him around the waist. “I love you, Justin,” I said. But he didn’t answer. And then I sank into the green gel, which slurped at our feet. The gel swallowed me and I tried to swim through it, but my arms and legs were too weak.
Why did I stop training?
If only I hadn’t had dumped my healthy lifestyle for that stupor of liquor and clinical depression, maybe I could have saved him.
I slowly choked on the sticky, unoxygenated green gel.

“Marissa, wake up.” Matt tapped me on the shoulder and gazed at me with concern. “That must have been one hell of a dream. You’re shaking.”

I jerked upright in my seat. “Oh, it was nothing.” But I’d seen Justin standing so close just a minute ago, even if it had only been a dream. And now it hurt to breathe.
Justin
, my heart called out.

Chapter Twenty

A chartered boat took us to Half Moon Caye late the next morning. We persuaded two local police officers to accompany us to the island. I read off the coordinates where the boat had crashed on the leeward side of the island to the boat pilot. He programmed them into his GPS and steered the boat toward our destination. The boat crossed open ocean until we reached the turquoise shallows of the Turneffe Islands and then plunged through deep ocean toward Lighthouse Reef, a reef rimmed by three islands, including Half Moon Caye. I wrung my hands together and paced across the deck as we bounced over one wave after another. Motion sickness never troubled me. Matt, on the other hand, a typical executive who rarely ventured out in the field, leaned over the deck on more than one occasion to vomit.

We veered toward that familiar white sliver of sand surrounded by shallow turquoise water. The boat pilot announced a brief stop on Half Moon Caye to refuel. I found this plan odd, as the island, which lacked any structures other than a restroom facility, a bird watching tower and a smattering of picnic tables, had appeared far too remote for any kind of commercial services.

Two crewmembers groaned with exertion as they pulled the front of the boat up onto the sand. Everyone waited for me, the only woman onboard, to disembark first. The instant I stepped into the sand, the
click
of a safety release startled me almost as much as the hand that reached out from behind a tree to grab me.

The man’s angry breath blew against my neck and his grasp around my chest forced every ounce of air from my lungs. “Keep your hands in the air or she’s dead,” said a familiar voice.
Raoul. This guy is like bad food you keep burping up.

The boat driver, a man named Manuel, snatched the handguns from the holsters of the two police officers. He pointed one of the Glock nine millimeters toward everyone on the boat and waved it in the air. “Off the boat,” he ordered.

I guess he’s not one of us, I thought. I wondered whom else I couldn’t trust.

As the men filed off one by one, Manuel grasped Matt’s arm. “You, stay.”

Matt halted abruptly and then stood on the deck, shifting uncomfortably on his feet. Manuel jumped down from the boat. He ordered the others to walk in front of him toward the forested part of the island where the rare red-footed booby birds nested.

“Get back on the boat with your boss,” said Raoul. He released his crushing grasp but prodded me forward with his gun.

Once I stepped up on the boat, I turned to face him, my legs trembling. “What did you do to Justin?”

“If he’d stayed in the cabin and minded his own business, it never would have happened.” Raoul sneered when he spoke, revealing an ugly row of uneven teeth.

“What never would have happened?” I thrust my hands on my hips, wanting more than anything to punch him relentlessly and break every bone in his face. I would have too, had he said the words that I didn’t want to hear. That he’d killed Justin. That I’d never see him again.

“If your nosey boyfriend hadn’t followed us, I wouldn’t have had to hurt him.”

“Followed you? But he was in the room with me.” I asked the question I could bear to hear answered instead of the one I feared asking the most.

“You must have been asleep when he stepped out. He overheard us talking in the hall, saw me holding your notebook and tried to grab it from me. That’s when I shot him.”

That was definitely the wrong answer. Murderous out-of-control anger boiled over. “Shot him!” My eyes burned with tears and I pummeled his chest with my fists.

“Take your hands off me, you stupid bitch.” Raoul shoved me roughly across the deck and I tripped and fell back on my bottom.

I jumped to my feet, dashing toward him again with my head aimed at his stomach.

“Maybe I’ll have to shoot you, too.” He grabbed me by the head half way through my rush. “Although it would be a shame. I’d think you would want to find out what all this research you’ve been doing is all about.”

I shook my head free from his grasp and glared at him. My voice shook and tears welled from my eyes as I yelled, “My research means nothing to me compared to Justin. Did you kill him?”
Oh, please just say no.

“I tried to, but my bullet barely grazed the sucker. Hit him in the lower leg. I never saw him again after that.”

My relieved exhale felt like it infiltrated every fiber in my body.
Maybe he’s still alive.
No more rash moves.
Plot out every step from now on with a cool head.
All at once, a plan hatched in my mind. “You didn’t kill him,” I gushed. I allowed happy tears to flow like a waterfall from my eyes. “He could still be alive, oh, he could still be alive, I’m so happy.” I jumped up and down and sobbed even louder.

Raoul’s eyes widened in surprise and he stepped back. Overwhelmed by my emotional spectacle, he never expected my well-aimed roundhouse kick, which launched the weapon from his hand. He grabbed his hand for long enough for me to snap out another kick in a more fortuitous place. This kick had him moaning and twitching on the ground clutching his groin.
I guess I’ve still got a little bit of conditioning left in me after all.
Matt quickly rushed to my side. He held the Glock to Raoul’s head while I rummaged through the storage lockers to find some rope.

“Let’s go find the others,” I said to Matt once we’d tied up Raoul.

“Are you sure you’re up to this?”

I was about to ask you the same thing.
“Do you know how to shoot that thing?” The Glock nearly slipped from his hands.

Matt shook his head.

What do executives know how to do? That’s what I’m wondering.
“I’ve had some training.” I held out my palm and Matt dropped the gun into my hand. “We should grab a knife or two in case they’ve been tied up.” We rummaged through the storage lockers and pulled out two knives. I clutched the gun in one hand and a knife in the other as we sprinted into the forest.

I heard a distant echo of voices. Once we reached the margin of the forest, I spotted the group. My eyes struggled to adjust to the brilliant light as we emerged from the obscurity of the jungle. Their hands tied behind their backs, each person was attached by carabineer to a circle of rope that rounded the base of a bird-watching tower. “We have to find a way to distract him,” I whispered.

“How do you plan to do that?” Matt asked.

I wasn’t sure how to respond until one of my fellow scientists, Thomas, made a toilet request.
That could work.
Manuel unhooked him and prodded him toward the edge of the forest with the butt of his gun. He never expected my sudden attack from behind a cluster of palms.

I burst from the bushes, slicing his weapon-holding arm with the butt of my gun. Upon impact, the gun flew from his hand and Matt managed to catch it.
Talk about a miracle.
“Don’t move or I’ll shoot.” I grimaced and flexed every muscle in my arm to show
I was serious. And I was. My patience had run out. I wanted to get on the boat and get to Justin the millisecond the rocks transformed again.

Manuel scowled, but raised his hands in the air. Matt and I freed my co-worker Andy and then used his rope to tie Manuel to a tree. Then we walked around and freed everyone else. “Are you just going to leave me here?” Manuel asked.

“I’m sure the tourists will eventually find you. You’re lucky I don’t cut you with this knife and throw you out in that water for fish bait.” I raised the knife menacingly in his direction.

“You wouldn’t?”

Don’t kid yourself, slime ball.
“Why shouldn’t I?” I walked toward him clenching my teeth, pointing the unguarded knife toward his throat. “Your partner tried to murder my lover. And I’ve been a raging lunatic ever since. Just about anything could send me over the edge right now.”

I lowered the knife and prodded his upper arm with its tip until a small thread of blood appeared. “Now do you promise to leave us alone?”

Wide-eyed Manual nodded furiously. Sweat beaded and then dripped down his deeply bronzed forehead.

“Say it,” I ordered, pushing the knife a little deeper into his flesh. “Because I swear to God if I see either of you again while we’re here, I’ll slice you to ribbons.”

“I promise not to bother you again.”

“Very well.” I pulled back the knife and sheathed it.

When we got back to the boat, Raoul was nowhere to be seen.
Damn.
We all knew how to navigate a boat, so it wasn’t difficult to get underway. I asked one of the police officers to help me re-enter our destination coordinates and then the stronger men pushed the boat back into the water.

The crash site was only ten minutes offshore. I tried to use my radar instruments to access depth profiles, but saw only the local topography, uninterrupted by any NRG sites. I’d have to wait until the minerals reconfigured to locate them. “I’m going to go down and take a look,” I said. “I want to see if there are any fragments of the crash lying around.”

“I’ll go with you,” said Matt.

I slid on a wetsuit and then swung the rest of my scuba gear onto my back. Matt and I checked each other’s gear before we rolled off of the boat into the water.

“Watch out for anything suspicious,” I said. “Raoul is probably lurking around here somewhere.”

Matt and I descended to the bottom of a shallow incline at about one hundred eighty feet. At that depth, our light-drained surroundings appeared a shadowy, deep blue hue. Flipping on my large light and shining it across the sand, I noticed some of it looked slick and smooth, like my glassy rock sample. We’d planned to swim around the perimeter in opposite directions to cover the area quicker. Using my light to illuminate my swimming path, I searched for shards of evidence. The glassy margins of the NRG site appeared to be free from debris. I could see Matt circling around toward me. Once we met, we decided to pan the entire area of the crater. Swimming up and back became tedious. The middle section of the crater was probably two hundred feet in diameter. After we’d covered more than half of it, I began to lose hope.
All I need is just one small tidbit to show that he was here. Just one.
Please let me know you’re alive, Justin, my mind pleaded. And then my lamp illuminated a silver earring, the single strand of chain he always wore in his left ear. I shrieked, forcing a burst of bubbles out of the sides of my mouthpiece.
Oh Justin, I knew you had to still be alive.
And all at once the ocean I’d loved all my life felt magical to me again—it washed around me like a familiar, soothing womb. It’s going to be all right, it seemed to say. And a warm calm settled in my belly. I picked up the earring and pressed it to my lips.
I love you.

I gave Matt the
thumbs up
sign and we ascended for the surface. Once we surfaced, I was so excited, I burst out talking, forgetting I still had the regulator in my mouth. Hearing the tubal echo, I pulled it out and spoke. “It’s Justin’s favorite earring. I know he was here. He must have travelled through the tunnel that night the boat crashed. Now if the rocks would just change, we could travel through and find him.”