“You’re not you when you’re with her. Well, you’re you, but not all of you. I don’t know if it’s because she’s so smart, or exotic, or whatever, but I can already see that you take a step back when you’re around her. You’re like eighty percent of you when she’s around. You’re too badass for that. Besides, my girlfriend thinks she’s a bitch, and I don’t want you bringing her to the wedding.” He turned on his heel and strode away. “Time to dive!” he called back to Dane.
“Whoa! What…? Did you say wedding?” He followed Bones away from the arch toward the lake where the rest of their party waited.
“Not so loud,” Bones said. “I haven’t let anyone in on this little secret of mine.”
“Have you at least let Amanda know?” Dane kidded.
“She doesn’t yet know that she’s in love with me,” Bones said. “But she’ll figure it out. They all do eventually.” Bones gave him an evil grin. “Just kidding. I do like her, though, and I’ll probably keep her around for a while. It would make things a lot less tense if those two would get along. Maybe I could tell Jade we’re engaged, and then she’d lay off.”
Dane threw his head back and laughed, clapping his friend on the shoulder. There was no one quite like Bones, and having him here made everything better, even if he did occasionally cause Dane to ponder things he’d rather not think about.
The water was pleasantly cool, and Danes knifed through it like a dolphin at play. It felt so good to be back in fins and a mask, even if it was only for a brief lake dive. In no time, he and Bones had crossed the lake and were now treading water below the exact spot Amanda had indicated. They double-checked their tanks and valves, waved to the three who waited ashore, and dove.
The sun filtered through the greenish water in wavy beams of gold, putting him in mind of a jungle far away and a long time ago. He suppressed that unbidden memory before it was fully formed, and locked it back where his other demons were imprisoned. He supposed he’d have to exorcise them some day, but not today.
They worked their way along the face of the submerged canyon, their lights playing across the rugged surface. It was surprisingly free of silt and debris. The sunlight played out quickly, leaving them in a frustrating half-light that played tricks on their eyes and turned shadows into phantom doors and windows that vanished under closer scrutiny.
They reached the bottom and turned to ascend, spreading out to cover a new swath of rock. Bones hated this kind of methodical search, but Dane enjoyed it. There was something about the precise, leave-no-stone-unturned method that appealed to him. It amused him that he and Bones could both be former military, but so different in their approaches. Dane could have been a career officer had he wanted. Bones was fortunate to have avoided being kicked out of the Navy entirely. He’d been good at what he did, but lived on the edge of serious trouble.
Three passes later, Dane was growing concerned that they might not have sufficient air for what was becoming a lengthy search when his light struck something that was definitely not a natural formation. Swimming closer, he saw the keyhole-shaped doorway of an Anasazi dwelling. He blinked his dive light at Bones until he received a return signal, and waited as his friend joined him. They shone their lights in and played them through the small room. It wouldn’t be much to search, but there were other problems. One concern would be the inevitable silt that would be stirred up as they entered. The other was the size of the doorway. Dane would be able to squeeze through, but not with his tank strapped to his back.
Getting Bones’ attention, he traced the shape of the doorway, pointed to his tank, and drew his finger across his throat. Bone nodded and immediately helped Dane remove his tank. Once free, Dane took a breath of air, exhaled, and squeezed through the opening. They had not worn dive suits for what was to be such a brief dive in relatively warm water. The coarse rock tore his t-shirt and scraped his shoulders as he forced with way through. He managed to bark his shin for good measure as he swam inside. Once in, he turned back to the doorway, where Bones held his tank for him to take another breath.
The decades of silt that had blanketed the inside of the ruin now churned throughout every square inch of open space, limiting visibility to less than a foot. He began with the corners, feeling blindly until he collided with the far wall, working his way along the bottom edge. The right corner revealed nothing. The back wall seemed to be hewn into the rock of the canyon wall. There were no stones to break loose, and no sign of Fray Marcos’s symbol.
He swam back to the doorway, startling Bones who jerked as Dane appeared from the storm of silt. As he took a few breaths, waiting for his heart to stop racing, he shook his head to indicate he had found nothing.
A search of the other corner was no more fruitful. Based on their relative locations, he knew the shadow of Rainbow Bridge would strike the lower part of the back wall, so he took time to swim slowly across the back of the room, scouring the wall with his fingertips, hoping to feel if not see the cross and clover he sought.
By the time he had crossed the room, his lungs were screaming for air and his head felt like it would explode. He had always been able to hold his breath longer than anyone he knew, even the other SEALs with whom he had served, but this time he had pushed himself to his limit. He turned and pushed off from the wall, shooting toward the doorway.
Red light exploded in his head as he crashed into the opposite wall. He involuntarily sucked in and had to suppress a cough as water burned his sinuses. He had miscalculated. The doorway could not be far, but where was it? He could see almost nothing in the cloud of particles that roiled around him. Had he overshot his target, or fallen short? His ears now rang from the combined effects of oxygen deprivation and the blow to his head.
Calming himself, he placed his hands on the walls and felt his way along. His body screamed for air, and it was all he could do to maintain control. It was a small space, he reasoned, and he would find the doorway soon.
His field of vision narrowed and the world was tinted red. He felt his lungs cramp, and he began to fade.
And then a beam of light sliced through water directly above him. Bones must have known it had been too long and shone his flashlight through the hole to serve as a homing beacon for Dane. Swimming up to the doorway, he felt a surge of relief as he bit down on the valve and felt blessed air fill his lungs again. It didn’t take him long to feel revitalized and ready to renew the search. Where to look next?
He tried to visualize the position of the sun and the arch. Where would the shadow fall? The angle would be steep. Perhaps not the corner…
He remembered the dive he and Jade had made together in the well. Fray Marcos’ symbol had been in the center of the floor. Of course, that had been a trap, breaking the seal to a drain. That wouldn’t be the case this time. There was no way anyone could have had the foresight to know that these dwellings would someday be flooded by a man-made lake. In any case, it wouldn’t hurt to check, and he was out of ideas.
A few more breaths, and he was back to searching. With patient care his fingers probed the floor, searching every crack and indentation until he felt a circle. Hastily he scrubbed the area around the shape until he had uncovered a clover. This was it!
He needed two more trips back for air before he could finish the job, but soon he and Bones were headed back across the lake, another box secure in his dive bag.
Chapter 20
Dane and Bones sat in reclining pool chairs, soaking up the moonlight and the aroma of sage drifting on the dry breeze, barely suppressing the chlorine smell of the hotel pool. He trailed his finger absently across the condensation on his bottle of Dos Equis and pondered their next move.