She laughed. “You scared me, going after the man with the speargun.”
“He missed the first time.” Rex inhaled and let it out slowly. “He might not have missed a second time. I couldn’t let him reload. But I left you, and I shouldn’t have.”
“You had to stop him—and you came back.”
Once Angel was on the tour boat, they worked at stripping out of their BCDs, tanks and fins.
“I take it you ran into some trouble down there,” Devlin said as he helped stow tanks.
“We did,” Rex said.
“We had some excitement up here, as well,” Teller said.
“A boat with a couple of men played chicken with us and then opened fire.” Devlin grimaced. “I’m sorry, Leilani, but some of those bullets hit your boat.”
“As long as you two are okay, we can fix the boat,” Leilani said as she shrugged out of her BCD. “We just have to get it back to the marina before it takes on too much water.”
“The camera?” Teller asked.
Kimo shook her head. “We didn’t find it.” She glanced toward Leilani, her lips pressing together.
Leilani shook her head. “We didn’t see the camera or the ditched BCD and tank.” She glanced toward the sunset. “We could go back down, but it’s hard enough to search for them in the daylight. We can start again first thing in the morning.”
Kimo faced the west where the sun had sunk below the horizon, leaving them in the gray haze of dusk. “That storm is supposed to hit us late tomorrow night.”
“Already the ocean is stirring,” Angel said. “The waves are growing and will be worse tomorrow. Will it be too dangerous to dive?”
“Dangerous or not,” Kimo squared her shoulders, “I have to find that camera.”
“I’ll be out here at first daylight,” Leilani promised.
Angel frowned his displeasure. “I’ll be with you.”
“As will I,” Kimo said.
Rex wasn’t any happier than Angel about the rough seas and the possibility of running into more trouble from whoever had come at them that day. Kimo wouldn’t be deterred. If Kimo was going down again...
Rex met Kimo’s gaze. “I’ll be here, too.”
Leilani took over the helm and drove the tour boat north toward Lahaina.
Angel held up his cell phone. “I’ll update Hawk on how it went.”
Rex nodded and helped Kimo out of her wetsuit, peeling it down her body and exposing her bright red bikini. His lips twitched at the cheerful color and style that seemed so incongruous with the danger they’d just faced.
Then again, she was an underwater photographer, not a military-trained operator. She shouldn’t have to be worried about attacks from humans. Nor should she have found a container full of dead people.
Kimo slipped her cover-up over her shoulders, twisted her damp braid around the crown of her head and fit the floppy hat over it.
Rex was amazed at the transformation from a serious diver who had just been attacked underwater to vacationing Mrs. Lovejoy. She seemed so calm and collected. Her Hawaiian heritage gave her an exotic beauty unlike any he’d ever encountered. He found it harder and harder to pull back and remind himself she was the client. He was the protector.
Rex moved away in an attempt to put distance between himself and Kimo. He stripped off his wetsuit, pulled on the loud Hawaiian shirt and grabbed his cell phone from where he’d stowed it near the helm.
As they neared the marina, Leilani reduced their speed to comply with the no-wake zone and maneuvered the tour boat into its slip. Angel leaped out onto the dock and secured the lines.
Rex’s phone pinged with an incoming text from his father. He frowned down at the message.
JJohnson: If you want to talk to Holte, meet me at Maalaea Small Boat Harbor at 9:00 pm tonight. Dress code formal attire. Come alone
