“No, but I’m watching out for you.”
Her radio crackled and a female voice came over.“Dot fifteen.”
Dot’s heart lurched.Nhiari was alive and using their secret code.She pressed her button.“Dot eleven.”Then she switched to channel thirteen.
“Heading to the waterhole at sunset.”
Dot exhaled.She was safe.“Want me to join you?”
“No, I need to be alone.”
Odd.“You coming back tonight?”
“No.”
“I’ll check the lighthouse is working.”Dot waited, but no response came.“Damn it.”
“What was that about?”Sam asked.
She wiped away the sweat trickling down the back of her neck as hope filled her for the first time.“Nhiari’s safe, and she wants me to call off the search.”
Sam frowned.“How do you figure that?”
“It’s a code we set up at the academy.”Could she fully trust Sam?Waterhole meant Nhiari was safe.It was her happy place.Sunset meant she was to the west of where she had been.Dot had asked her if she needed rescuing and Nhiari’s request to be alone meant to call off the search.
But the only reason to use the code was because she didn’t trust who was listening.Was she worried about Stonefish, or one of their officers?
It also meant she was working with Lee.But to what end?
“Could Lee have forced her to use it?”
Dot shook her head.“No, only we know what it means.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“If I call off the search too soon, Stonefish will be suspicious.I’ll keep them searching to the east of the ranges today.”She switched back to the main channel on her radio.
“Dot, do you read?”
Dispatch.
“Yeah, what do you need?”
“What was the call about?”
They hadn’t recognised Nhiari’s voice.“Nothing, just testing something.I’m almost done here.Be back by midday.”
“Copy.”
Sam raised his eyebrows.“You didn’t tell them Nhiari was safe.”
“If she’d wanted them to know, she would have told them herself.”Dot continued to bag the evidence.“I trust she knows what she’s doing.”But it didn’t mean she would avoid the west of the ranges.In fact, she might head to the lighthouse this evening.It was her happy place and she could do with some time alone.If Nhiari was in the area, she’d make herself known.
Over by Sam’s boat, Oliver was climbing back into the tender with Sherlock.His black wetsuit clung to his skin, proving he hadn’t lost any of the muscle from his youth.If anything, he’d bulked out a bit, which made the suit fit him even better.
Not that she cared.
He’d be diving for at least forty minutes, so hopefully she would be gone before he surfaced.
