Rex helped Kimo into her BCD and buckled her straps.
Kimo returned the favor.
After she buckled his BCD in place and checked his gauges, he pulled her close and kissed her. “Be careful out there and stay with me.”
She gave him a tight smile. “You be careful, too. I kind of like having you around.”
Kimo turned to the divers. “I want to do this differently this time. I’ve been thinking about what happened and where we were when we were attacked. I’m going to try to recreate the directions we were heading to the best of my memory. Bear with me and follow.”
Leilani and Angel were first into the water.
Kimo and Rex followed, switching the little camera on as he submerged.
Kimo kept close to the surface and started out swimming at an angle away from the reef for several yards. She slowed, brought her head out of the water, glanced around and turned back toward the reef, again at an angle, not directly toward it.
Now, she was swimming directly for the reef, kicking harder and faster.
When she came within several feet of the dark mass of rocks, she slowed and motioned for Leilani and Angel to search to the right.
Kimo turned left and followed the line of rocks, moving slowly at first.
Rex swam beside her, alternating between looking ahead and keeping an eye on their six.
Something shiny caught his attention.
It must have caught Kimo’s eye at the same time because she shot ahead.
They arrived together near a massive rock outcropping. As they fought the current and waves pushing them into the jagged edges, they reached down and brushed away sand, revealing the tank and BCD Kimo had abandoned.
Rex’s gut clenched when he saw the bullet hole in the tank. Had it been a foot higher, the bullet would have struck Kimo in the back of her head.
Having found the BCD, they left it standing in the sand and dug all around it, looking for the camera.
When no amount of digging unearthed it, Kimo moved over the rocks.
Rex followed, searching the cracks and crevices while trying to keep from being scraped across the jagged surfaces.
Suddenly, Kimo disappeared behind a large boulder.
His heart lurching into his throat, Rex hurried to follow.
He found her struggling to reach into a crevice, her fins flipping, as she tried to push deeper.
When she seemed to be making no progress, he tugged on her tank.
Kimo’s head came up, and she hovered over the crevice, jabbing her finger downward.
Rex moved over the spot and stared down.
A camera lay wedged several feet down between rocks. Too far for Kimo to reach, but maybe not for him.
Rex leaned into the crevice, stretching his arm as far as he could reach, which was at least two inches short of snagging the strap on the camera.
The bulk of the tank and BCD kept him from getting deeper into the crevice.
When he came up, Kimo tried to dive in to try again.
Rex stopped her and held up a hand for her to wait. He pointed to himself and down at the crevice. He would try again. Then he unbuckled the straps on his BCD.
