Her body.
Kimo fought the sob rising up her throat. Her friend… Was she dead?
“He’s gotta be dead; the bubbles are slowing.”
“We don’t have time to dick around. We need to clean up the mess and get the hell out of here.”
As the engine revved, the spotlight moved from where the tank had landed to sweep across the ocean’s surface.
When it came her direction, Kimo ducked behind the rock and sank beneath the water, her snorkel the only part of her sticking up.
The light moved past her as the boat slowly circled.
Each time the boat and spotlight turned away, Kimo swam in the opposite direction, putting as much distance as she could between them. She stayed hidden in the reef, less afraid of sharks or stinging creatures than she was of the men with guns still searching the water for her.
All she had to do was wait for them to leave, then she could swim back to the dive boat and call for help.
Finally, the boat sped away.
Kimo watched as it slowed again, the spotlight slipping over the dive boat where they’d left it anchored.
Minutes later, the boat took off, with her dive boat in tow. So much for using the radio to alert the authorities. She’d have to go ashore and find a house to call for help. On the side of Maui where she was, homes were few and far between.
Once the two boats disappeared into the darkness, Kimo looked around at the blue of the bioluminescence, its brilliant glow undulating toward the shore, the tiny plankton sparking to life as the waves stirred them over the reef and against the sandy Shoreline.
While her best friend had been injured, and possibly killed, nature never even held its breath. The fish continued to swim, and stars twinkled overhead. Kimo struck out for shore. The sooner she could get a call through, the sooner the Coast Guard could be on the lookout for the boat and the men who’d taken Alana and bring her back.
Chapter 2
By the time Kimo made it to shore, she was cold and beyond exhausted. It took all her strength just to drag herself completely out of the water and up onto dry sand. She lay there, praying for the strength to keep going, knowing Alana’s life depended on it.
For a moment, she closed her eyes.
Cool saltwater wrapped around her legs, tugging at her, chilling her body all over again.
She gasped and crawled further ashore.
The tide was coming in, creeping up the beach. She must have passed out. For how long?
Kimo’s gaze shot to her dive watch. The last time she’d looked at the watch had been when she and Alana had climbed aboard the dive boat to refresh their scuba tanks and download photos on her computer. That had been...
Her stomach roiled. “Three and a half hours?” She must have passed out. Her arms wobbled as she pushed herself up to a sitting position. Pain shot through her calf, where sand ground into a slash in her skin, made by the bullet that had struck her in her mad scramble to get away from the attackers.
Her head swam, and she swayed unsteadily. She couldn’t pass out again. Too much time had passed already, and she was no nearer to getting help for Alana. She forced back the gray haze and stripped the flippers from her feet.
Fatigue and blood loss made it a struggle to get to her feet. She stood in her water shoes for several long moments, securing her balance as she scanned the nearby hillside. Most beaches on Maui had some way to access them. She just had to find it. This particular beach wasn’t typical and didn’t look like one of those highly visited strips of sand. Some beaches were only accessible by water. She hoped this one was not that case.
Having dived all around Maui, she tried to remember which beach this was on the west coast. They’d chosen to photograph the bioluminescence in a less-traveled area of Maalaea Bay. If she was right, this small beach was close to Kihei Road. It should have a gravel road or path leading up to the highway where she could wave down a car that might pass by in the wee hours of the morning.
Kimo slogged her way across the sand and through an outcropping of rocks to find a trail that led up the hill and emptied directly on the paved road. During the day, cars would park along the roadside. People would climb down to the beaches and snorkel.
In the middle of the night, the shoulders were empty. She prayed there would be some traffic on the road. If not, she’d work her way toward one of the resorts along the coastline. She looked left, then right. If memory served her correctly, left would take her to the nature preserve. Right would lead to one of the many resorts showcasing the Maui coast.
She turned right and plodded steadily, searching for headlights, porch lights, or brightly lit entrances to swanky resorts. At the first resort gate or any sign of other humans, she’d throw herself at the gatekeeper or the individual’s mercy.
Kimo had gone a mile when a set of headlights appeared in the distance. Rather than stop and wait for it to come toward her, she staggered faster. The sooner she got help, the sooner they could find Alana.
As the headlights approached, Kimo raised her arms and waved frantically, standing in the center of the road, too tired to care if she got hit, yet praying the driver was paying attention and would see her before that happened.
