Finn clears his throat and continues. “We’ll dive as far as we can to ninety-five degrees Fahrenheit and then turn on the cooling.”
“We discussed ninety-three. We can’t shed body heat when it gets much warmer,” Scott says.
Finn nods. “The thermal layer cools things down rather quickly when activated.”
“Have you thought about sudden temperature increases?” Jamie asks. “I don’t remember that coming up in the training.”
“The suit’s outer shell provides a brief buffer against acute temperature spikes. Should the water reach ninety-nine degreesFahrenheit, the barrier gel and coolant veins will activate automatically, regardless of operator engagement. Short of a sudden rise over five hundred degrees, this remains survivable. With the gradient factored in once the gel activates, eight hundred degrees is considered the upper bound. Much beyond that, the suit’s exterior fails. Almost instantly.”
“This is insane,” Jamie says. “I don’t want to go out like a boiled egg.”
“More like a marshmallow, J,” Liam says and chuckles.
“You’re gonna ruin s’mores for me, man.”
“Team, any way we look at this, it’s going to be extremely dangerous.” Scott grimaces. “I can’t guarantee your safety. If anyone wants to step out—you have my blessing.”
No one takes him up on his offer.
“Well said, Scott. Everyone needs to make their own call,” says Finn.
Scott ignores him and continues. “We’ll have three divers on a team. Two in the hot zone and one at the cutoff for safety. On the next dive, we’ll have two dive teams. But only one this time. It’s Finn on data. Nathan is on the line, and I’ll be the safety. We’re taking theHecate.”
“What time are we meeting at the docks?” I ask.
“Three p.m.,” Scott says. He looks around the room as if he’s memorizing everyone’s face. “Get some rest.”
After eating a light dinner, Crystal and I compared notes on our days. She spent the afternoon at the police station after encountering that same creep who was trying to grab Natalie.
When we discussed the Land Rover’s Washington, D.C. plates, she panicked and told me she’d seen it before—at the diveclub. Even before I came back to Maverick Key. This guy has had eyes on my family.
I’m grateful to Wes for hiring protection for Natalie, but I’m still worried about Crystal.
“Maybe you should stay at Mads’s. Take the couch or snuggle in with Natalie?”
She thinks for a moment and frowns. “No. My place is with you, Nathan. I’d rather keep Natalie safe while we figure all this out.”
“Maybe we can convince Wes to hire a second bodyguard?” I’m only half joking.
She smirks, wrinkling her nose. “Uh, that’s a hard no. I’m not sleeping under the same roof with another Ziddo.” She shivers. “Besides…” She smiles coyly, snuggling in closer. “I have you to protect me.”
That should be flattering, but I feel a twinge of uncertainty. Can I protect her? I’m not around her 24/7.
“How long are theHecatetunnels?”
“We’re not certain, but on sonar it appears to be the longest and deepest passage in Carter’s Drop. Approximately fourteen hundred meters in total length with a depth of over a hundred fifty meters in the deepest branches.”
Our dive plan takes us as far as five hundred meters and to a depth of as much as eighty meters tomorrow.
“Please dive the plan, Nathan. If anything’s off, don’t push it. And watch out for Finn. Leave his ass if he goes rogue again.”
I give her a kiss. “I’ll put safety first, I promise.”
“Yoursafety.”
“Has there been anything new from the police?”
“They were useless today. They’ve got nothing on who killed Walter or who theBig, Mean Man maybe. They pretty much laughed off what happened to me at the press conference. But they said they’d look into it.”
