first. Annja watched them slowly rise toward the surface. Spier and Gottlieb went up next and then Hans and Annja started their ascent.
Annja watched her air bubbles.
Hans watched her as they rose together, his eyes locked on hers.
Annja tried to grin at him, but she tasted more salt water and gave up trying. There’d be enough to talk about once they got back onto the boat.
Sunlight filtered down through the waves and Annja could feel its warmth even ten feet below the surface. A few small fish rose to investigate her, but then quickly scattered when Hans moved his hands in the water.
Annja kept her eyes always moving. She could taste the last third of her oxygen now. It was stale in her mouth.
Spier had timed his exploration perfectly.
Annja broke the surface a few minutes later and saw that dark, angry clouds blotted the horizon.
The sloop bobbed in the waves nearby. Mueller and Heinkel were already aboard, with Spier and Gottlieb closing in on the sloop.
Hans came up next to her. “You all right?”
“Absolutely.”
Hans noticed the clouds. “Looks like things are going to go downhill from here, don’t they?”
“Definitely going to rain. Hard.”
Hans nodded. “So, it will be a good afternoon for a hearty lunch and then perhaps a nap.”
“A nap?” Annja asked.
He winked. “I’m a growing boy. I need my rest.”
She pushed him toward the sloop. “Let’s get aboard.”
She swam over to the sloop and Hans helped her climb up. Heinkel took her oxygen tank and weight belt. Gottlieb handed her a towel and Annja rubbed it over her hair.
Spier smiled at her. “So, Annja, what did you think of our first dive?”
“It was bigger than I imagined. I thought it was just like any other reef when I started to explore it yesterday.”
Spier laughed. “Hardly. Although I’m not surprised you were drawn to it. It’s intriguing, isn’t it?”
“You could say that.”
“So, are you convinced?”
“About what?”
“That the reef is, in fact, the remnants of a lost city.”
9
“How can you be so sure?” Annja asked as the sloop whisked them back toward the Club Noah resort. “Those ruins might be something else entirely. There’s no record of the civilization ever existing.”
“But the pearl had to come from somewhere, didn’t it?” Spier’s eyes sparkled in the fading sunlight.
Annja glanced to the west and saw the clouds growing darker. They’d be lucky to get back to the dock before the sky opened up on them. Already, the waves they bounced over were churning white as the wind kicked up.
“We don’t have the pearl yet,” Annja said. “So, there’s no way of knowing for sure where it might have come from.”
Spier smiled as if he were humoring a child. “I think we’ll be able to convince you more fully on our next dive.”
Hans frowned. “That likely won’t happen until tomorrow. Judging from the approaching storm, it’s going to be quite unsettled for a while.”
Spier shrugged. “We could always go night diving tonight once the storm clouds pass.”
“A night dive?” Annja frowned. She hadn’t gone night diving in a very long time. The risks of diving at night were always so much more than during the day. For one thing, visibility was almost nonexistent unless you had state-of-the-art lights.
“We’ll be fine,” Spier said, as if reading her thoughts. “We’re all experienced night divers and Heinkel here has brought along the powerful lamps we’ll need to set up on the reef.”
“You think the dive master will let us take his boat and gear out for a night dive? He strikes me as rather easily upset,” Annja said.
Hans laughed. “A few well-placed dollars should suffice.”
“More bribery?”
Spier shrugged. “Why not? At least this way we know we’ll be able to get what we came here for.”
“And what did you come here for?” Annja asked. “I mean, I know you want the pearl and all, but for what purpose?”
“I thought I told you
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