A Coral Kiss Part 31

He knew what it had cost her to get up onto the ledge with the skeleton, but she hadn't hesitated. Amy was good in a crisis he realized, not for the first time. She did what had to be done and worried about the emotional trauma later. He'd worked with too many men who came apart during the actual crisis not to appreciate her inner fort.i.tude. Amy was a good friend to have at his back.

Jed watched the dive light flicker back and forth in a sweeping arc under the surface. He eased his knife out of the sheath on his forearm. The timing would have to be just right. He wondered if the intruder would see the silvery mirror that indicated the air pocket. With any luck the b.a.s.t.a.r.d wouldn't make the discovery and realize what it might mean until it was too late. It would seem to whoever was swimming down below that his quarry had simply disappeared in the dead end pa.s.sage. Beside him Jed heard Amy draw in her breath. He could feel her tension as well as his own and knew she had figured out what he planned to do. He heard a soft noise in the darkness and realized Amy had taken her own diving knife out of its sheath.

"If you use it," he whispered, "just be sure you get a look at your victim first. I'm tired of being stuck with knives."

"Oh, Jed, have a little faith."

He grinned briefly in the darkness and then shushed her as the light under the water came closer. His silent laughter vanished. It had to be now.

Jed adjusted his mouthpiece and mask. Then, using a giant stride that would take him out and over the intruder, he jumped into the water.

The other diver heard the splash and tried frantically to dodge out of the way. Jed saw the dive light swing crazily upward to pin him but it was too late. He was already on top of the man, his knife slicing through the regulator hose. A furious bubbling ensued and the intruder panicked.

The dive light spun lazily in the water and dropped to the floor of the cave. The beam shone uselessly along the bottom, leaving the two men to conclude the battle in darkness.

Jed swam back out of the way of the frantically struggling diver. He used the pale gleam of light on the floor of the cave to orient himself toward the surface, then kicked out swiftly. "Turn on a light," he called to Amy when his face was above water.

Instantly she did so, sweeping the beam along the top of the water.

Jed swam toward her, reaching up. "Let me have it."

She thrust the dive light into his fingers and he whirled to pick out the writhing diver. Whether by luck or because of the new light, the intruder had found the air pocket. His head bobbed out of the water just as Jed swung the beam toward him. He was gasping desperately for air.

"b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" Vaden hissed.

Jed realized Vaden was still clinging to something under the water. He flicked off the light and shoved himself abruptly to one side just as Vaden fired the speargun under the surface. The spear hurtled uselessly against the wall of the cave, missing Jed's thigh by a reasonably healthy margin.

"Dammit, I'm getting tired of people trying to take potshots at the source of my love life." Jed dove deep, switched on the light and swam up behind Vaden. Keeping his grip on the light, he circled the man's throat with his arm and let Vaden feel the point of the knife against his neck. Vaden stopped struggling.

"I shoulda killed you the other night, Glaze."

"You weren't fast enough. I hope you work cheap, Vaden, because your employer sure isn't getting his money's worth out of you." Jed gave him a push toward the ledge. "Get out of the way, Amy. We're going to show Vaden our little picnic spot."

She flicked on another dive light and edged aside as far as she could. "What are we going to do with him?"

"Leave him here with Boney while we see what's going on out front. Get into the water, Amy. Bring the box and the reel with you."

She did as he instructed, sliding down over the edge of the rocky ledge. When she was clear Jed methodically stripped Vaden's knife and gear, dropping the equipment to the bottom of the cave.

"Okay, Vaden, your little swim is over. Get up on the ledge.

"What the h.e.l.l do you think you're doing, Glaze? You can't leave me here."

"What's to stop me?" Jed asked with casual interest.

"You stupid b.a.s.t.a.r.d, don't you realize it's all over for you?" Vaden hissed as he crawled onto the ledge.

"They'll get you when you leave the caves."

"You'd better hope they don't. If I don't come back for you, you won't be leaving here at all. There's no way in h.e.l.l you could hold your breath long enough to make it to the main corridor. You'll probably drown somewhere between here and the entrance to this pa.s.sage. Now, why don't you tell me exactly what I'll be facing out front? Try to keep the details reasonably accurate if you want me to come back for you."

Vaden, as Jed had guessed, was at heart a practical man. He valued his own skin above everything else.

After a few seconds he started talking. The information was given grudgingly, but it was supplied. Under the circ.u.mstances, Jed was inclined to believe most of what he was being told.

"Guthrie's out there with Renner," Vaden muttered.

"Weapons?" Jed asked.

"Guthrie's got my .357 Mag and he's good. Renner's got a cute little Beretta, but I wouldn't worry about it too much. He just bought it for show, I think. Probably thought it looked good with his Italian designer sporteoat. Look, Glaze, you and me, we could work something out. Let me have the woman's tank and I'll go out of here with you. Between the two of us we can take Guthrie and Renner. Leave the woman here. You can come back for her later."

Jed smiled faintly. "Sorry, but in a situation like this, I'd rather have someone I can trust backing me up.

You know how it is, Vaden. I hope you're not afraid of the dark." He turned around. "Okay, Amy, let's get going."

"G.o.dd.a.m.n! Wait a minute. You can't leave me here without a light," Vaden yelled.

"Your light's on the bottom. If you want it, I suppose you could try diving for it." Jed glanced down and saw the faint beam s.h.i.+ning in the watery depths. Then he signaled to Amy. She handed him the reel and ducked under the surface, the box and dive light in one hand.

When they reached the entrance to the main pa.s.sageway, Jed instructed her silently to leave the box there. She hesitated a fraction of a moment and then obeyed. When it was safely settled near the gravel fall, they swam on out into the main corridor and headed toward the entrance pool. Jed took the lead, handing the reel to Amy. He wanted his hands free in case Guthrie had decided to see what was keeping his partner.

When they were almost at the entrance, Jed turned off his light. Behind him Amy took the cue and did the same. They coasted forward along the nylon line, waiting for the point where they could lift their heads above water.

Jed reached it first and surfaced silently. Amy swam up beside him. The darkness was not so intense here because they were only a few feet from the entrance. Jed listened to the light, spattering sound of raindrops on the pool's surface. The storm was drifting closer to the island. It wouldn't last long but it could become very intense for a short period of time.

In the meantime, the rain might add an extra dimension of cover. The light, soothing noise was interrupted by Renner's harsh voice.

"What the h.e.l.l's keeping Vaden? He should have found them and taken care of Glaze by now. You guys are supposed to be such hot s.h.i.+t. I'm paying you enough. But all I get is incompetence."

"Settle down, Renner. Give him time. We don't know how far into the caves he had to go before he found Glaze and the woman." Guthrie sounded concerned in spite of his canning words.

"This whole thing is blowing wide open," Renner muttered. "I should have handled it myself."

"You are handling it yourself, remember? You're giving the orders," Guthrie mocked.

"Dammit, who is Glaze, anyway?" Renner asked. From the sound of his voice, it wasn't the first time he'd put the question to Guthrie.

"I've told you, I don't know who he is. My guess is that he knew LePage and got his information from him."

"That's what I've been figuring, but now I'm not so sure." Renner spoke slowly, as if he were mulling over the details of his a.s.sumption and found something lacking.

"What else could he be but another free-lance who got a line on the emeralds through LePage?" Guthrie demanded. "Stop worrying about it. When this is all over he'll be out of the picture. He's probably out of it by now, come to that. I've told you Vaden can take care of himself."

A flashlight moved along the edge of the pool. Jed caught a glimpse of a shadow behind it and realized Renner was pacing agitatedly around the water's edge.

"What if Vaden's already taken care of Glaze and has decided to open the box and hide the emeralds somewhere inside the cave?" Renner mused angrily. "I can see it now. He swims out of there with the box, then he acts astounded when we open the thing and find out it's empty."

Jed shoved Amy gently back out of the way and then moved a little closer to the mouth of the cave. He was careful to keep himself out of sight behind a s.h.i.+eld of rock. If Guthrie or Renner shone the flashlights in his direction they wouldn't be able to see more than a couple of feet past the entrance, but Jed didn't want to take unnecessary chances.

As Renner's agitation increased so did Guthrie's. They continued to toss verbal barbs at each other while they waited for Vaden.

"You should have gone in there with him," Renner grumbled.

"We agreed that someone who knows what he's doing should watch the entrance. It's not like Vaden's unarmed. He's got the speargun."

"You told me the range on the speargun is short, six or eight feet maybe," Renner reminded him.

"Beyond that, you said, it's not very accurate and it doesn't have much punch."

"Six or eight feet is enough to give Vaden the advantage. Don't forget, Vaden and I saw Glaze go into the water earlier. He wasn't carrying anything except the light and the reel."

"But there are two of them down there. Glaze and the woman."

"Believe me," Guthrie drawled, "the woman isn't going to be any problem. Glaze is the only one we have to worry about."

"Okay," Renner snapped, "so I'm starting to worry already. So what the h.e.l.l are you going to do?

Vaden's been gone too long and you know it. He must have run into trouble."

There was silence instead of the usual mocking rea.s.surance from Guthrie. Then he said slowly, "By now Glaze and the woman must be nearly out of air, a.s.suming Vaden hasn't finished them off. They were in that cave a good fifteen or twenty minutes before Vaden went in after them. I know they only have single tanks. I saw 'em myself."

"What happens now?" Renner hissed. "Do we just wait for Vaden to reappear?"

Guthrie moved along the edge of the pool. Jed could see the s.h.i.+fting pattern of shadows. A few more minutes crept past. Jed saw Guthrie aim the beam of his flashlight at his wrist.w.a.tch.

"I think you're right," Guthrie announced calmly. "Vaden should have been out by now. And Glaze and the woman have run out of air. Maybe Vaden blew the whole thing, just like you said. Maybe Glaze got him. That means all three are dead."

"And the box is just sitting down there." Renner swung the flashlight in a savage arc toward the cavern entrance as if willing Vaden and the box to appear. "We've got to get that box, Guthrie. I've waited too long, made too many plans. I want it. I'm not leaving this island until I get it."

"I'll go down and take a look."

Jed listened to the clink of equipment as Guthrie strapped on his diving gear. He edged farther back into the shadowed cave entrance. He sensed Amy waiting silently behind him and wished he could tell her what was going to happen next. But he didn't dare utter a sound.

There was silence from the two men at the pool's edge.

The rain began to spatter more heavily on the water. Then came the sound of Guthrie making his way into the pool.

"Guthrie!" Renner called just as the other man went into the water. "No tricks, you hear me? I'll be waiting out here and I've got the Beretta."

"Don't shoot off your big toe with it," Guthrie advised. He disappeared under the surface.

Jed sank down into the water, gathering a length of the nylon line into a loop. He waited, watching as Guthrie's light flicked on and cut a narrow path through the gloom. In another few seconds the other man would be swimming past Jed's hiding place.

The light moved through the water until its source was directly in front of Jed. He moved out behind Guthrie to drop the loop around the man's throat.

It was like landing a thras.h.i.+ng, heaving, desperate shark, but it was all over very quickly. Not quite as quickly as it would have been if he'd used his knife, Jed decided, but he resisted the temptation now for the same reason he had resisted it earlier with Vaden. The simple truth was that Jed didn't want Amy to watch him get his hands b.l.o.o.d.y. Jed waited until Guthrie went limp and then he pulled him to the surface.

Guthrie groaned as Jed used the nylon to bind his hands behind him.

"Hold his head out of the water, Amy, or he'll drown."

"Guthrie!" Renner's startled shout was evidence enough that he realized something had gone wrong. The flashlight played erratically around the cave entrance. "What's going on? Where are you?"

"Guthrie's a little tied up at the moment," Jed called back. "But I don't think we need to worry about him.

We've got some business to discuss, you and I."

"Glaze? Where are you? Come on out and don't try any tricks. Where's the woman?"

"Amy and I are both here. But what really matters is that we're the only ones who know where the box is. I hear you sell stocks and bonds for a living. As it happens, I'm pretty good at dealing with salesmen.

Interested in making a deal for the emeralds?"

Chapter Eighteen.

"You want to deal, Glaze? Sure, we can deal. On my terms." There was a high-pitched edge to Renner's voice that Amy couldn't quite identify. It was as though the man was halfway between blind rage and hysteria. Treading water behind Jed, trying to keep Guthrie's lolling head out of the water, Amy had the distinct impression Renner was capable of killing, either from panic or out of sheer fury at the way his plans had gone awry.

"Amy and I know where the emeralds are, Renner. But to get them we'll need to refill the tanks. We're out of air. There's a compressor at Slaters'."

"You'll bring out the emeralds, is that it?"

"That's it," Jed said evenly. He stayed in the protective shadows of the cave entrance.

"In exchange for what?" Renner yelled.

"I'll settle for an even split of the stones."

Amy glanced at Jed. In the dim light seeping through the entrance she could just barely see the hard lines of his profile.

"Who are you, Glaze?" Renner shouted. "Who the h.e.l.l are you? How did you get into this? How did you know about the woman? About the caves? About everything, dammit?"

"We can talk about that after we've made the deal. What do you say, Renner? I'll even throw in a couple of freebies."

"What freebies?"

"I've already given you one. I took care of Vaden for you. I'll do the same for Guthrie here."

"He's not dead?"

"Not yet. I got the impression you hired him and Vaden to do the garbage work for you. Well, you got what you paid for, Renner. The world is full of incompetents. But for a split I'll take care of all the outstanding problems here. And you've got a lot of them. Believe it. If you want to get out of this with the rocks and your skin, you'd better think about doing business with me."