Rae: “So—how many college courses you took in customer service skills?”
Rae watched asVirgil suited up. “Like the Speedo, sweetheart,” Rae said.
“So do I, actually,” Virgil said, as he pulled the dive skins up his legs. “I almost bought one of the slingshots, but, you know, I’m kinda body-shy.”
“Right,” Rae said. To Andrews: “Willy’s the least body-shy man you ever met. Not that he necessarily has anything to brag about.”
Virgil: “Hey!”
“I didn’t need to know any of that,” Andrews said. She watched as Virgil set up his equipment. He’d drilled with equipment setup every morning for a month and could do it with his eyes closed, with his toes.
When he was ready, she asked, “Well, at least you checked your pressures first thing. I look for that. When do you start getting narced?”
Virgil said, “At about a hundred and ten, I’m aware it’s in the background. At a hundred and thirty I’m there, but not a problem. I can do a hundred and fifty or a hundred and sixty and get the work done, but I’m narcing. Much deeper than that, I definitely need Trimix if I’m going to get anything done. I’ve been to two hundred and ten on air, but I was goofier than a shithouse mouse.”
“As long as you know.”
When they were both ready to go, Andrews said, “You lead,”and Virgil slapped one hand over his mask and mouthpiece and stepped over the side into the warm green water.
“What was allthat about?” Rae asked Rolf, after Virgil and Andrews had gone under. “The narc thing.”
“Nitrogen narcosis. You soak up too much nitrogen, you start getting high. If you don’t know how to handle it, you can die. You ever had nitrous oxide at the dentist’s? To relax you?”
“No, but I done whippits at the grocery store.”
“Then you’ve been narced, or something close to it.”
The day wasbrilliantly, almost blindingly blue, with a mild breeze—almost nothing, but tasting of salt and smelling of seaweed—and some negligible current. As the boat swung gently on its hook, Rae got her sun and Rolf worked his iPad, complaining every once in a while about the weak-ass cell phone service. Virgil and Andrews surfaced after forty-five minutes, sat and talked in scuba code for a while, then they went down again.
When they came up the second time, they stopped for dinner and to watch the sun drop closer to the palms on Key Largo. After they’d shed their gear, Rae asked Andrews, “Well? What do you think?”
“He’s not terrible,” she said.
Rolf said to Virgil: “Jesus. You must be good. That’s her second highest rating after, ‘He’s okay.’”
Virgil asked, “Am I still in the running for ‘okay’?”
“We’ll see after the night navigation,” Andrews said.
With the sunon the horizon, Andrews put on a fresh tank and they went down a third time; when they resurfaced, in total darkness, Rae asked, “Well?”
“He’s okay,” Andrews said.
“Yes!”
“But maybe a little reckless. I’m going to have to say that when we talk to your... supervisors.”
“Why reckless?” Rolf asked.
“He cut his lights and did a blackout figure-eight around the tits. Stuck a light on his tanks so I could follow him.”
“Yeah, that’s... not totally recommended,” Rolf said. He asked Virgil, “You hit anything?”
“Not a thing,” Virgil said. “But I’m the tiniest bit tired. I haven’t done this for a while and I got some leg cramps. Hurt like hell. But the Genesis—I love the Genesis more than sex. I mean, except with sex with Ally, when she does that reverse cowgirl thing...”
“Shut up,” Rae said. “Let’s get back.”
Regio and Langewere waiting at the marina as Rolf eased the boat into its slip. Andrews gave her report: “He’s as good as they come. But reckless.”
