Dead Reckoning (45 page)

“This doesn’t make sense.” She cupped a hand over her forehead. “We’re farther into the caves. Farther away from help. We have no food. No supplies. And Reece probably has no idea where we are.”

“I met Reece about five years ago.”

Shiloh paused, not surprised he’d completely evaded her objections.

“He sat through several lectures I gave at Langley.”

She didn’t want to think about Reece, didn’t want to think about never seeing him again. “Dad—do we really need to talk about this?”

Her father eased himself down and let out a relieved sigh. “Graduated top of his class. I think he actually made a couple of perfect scores and scared the Academy spitless.”

“He does that to everyone.”

Her father laughed, a wonderful sound, even though its weakness bounced off the cave walls. “A few years later … on a complicated mission … I tapped Reece.” He lay quietly for a while, then continued. “He did it. Pulled it off . Like a pro. But … in debrief … he got mad, lips flat, eyebrows tight.”

Shiloh couldn’t help but smile. She’d seen that look more than once.

He drew in a ragged breath. “Asked him what … wrong.” A gurgled chuckle echoed around them. “He quoted my lecture, verbatim. Told me I was either wrong before or I was lying right then.” He panted as though out of breath.

Shiloh rolled her head to the side, concerned at the way her father panted from the effort of just talking. The glow of the lamp enabled her to see his smiling profile.

He coughed, his chest seizing. “Vowed to drop … if I didn’t come clean.
‘I can deal with half-truths, but not lies, not from the man I want to imitate,’
he said.” Her father swept his wet hair from his face. “I’d never had a trainee … call me out like that.”

She relaxed a little at the way he’d been able to finish that sentence. Maybe he was okay. “Is there a point to this walk down memory lane?” Although she taunted him, Shiloh was enjoying the story, glad her father thought so highly of Reece. Yet part of her flirted with jealousy that Reece had had more interaction with her father than she had in the last fifteen years.

He gave her a pointed stare. “Reece loves you, right?”

On her back again, Shiloh licked her lips and tasted the salty sea. “Wh—Are you going somewhere with this?”

“Aren’t I always?”

She couldn’t help the smile. “Okay, yes, Reece said he loved me.”

“Then don’t doubt him. If he could remember something from my lectures two years prior … he’ll remember … conversation you’ve had in the last few months.”

Kneading warmth spread through her chest at his words, infusing her with a solid dose of hope. Yeah. Her dad was right. “So you think he’ll figure out about the caves?”

“Mm …”

Shiloh peeked at him, confused by his distant answer. “Dad?”

He didn’t respond.

“Dad?” She stumbled to her feet and slogged toward him. “Dad, are you okay?”

Nothing.

“Dad!” Shiloh nudged his shoulder. She pressed her fingers against his neck—startled at the chill of his flesh. A faint pulse.
“Please, Dad … just hold on.” He looked pale. Or was that from the blue lamp light?

Shiloh lifted his arm around her shoulder and burrowed against his side, hoping to keep both of them warm. She realized that in that dark moment God had given her something she’d longed for since she was a little girl—to be in her daddy's arms.

But what if he died—left her alone in this cave? Cuddled against him, she closed her mind against the stillness and fear. Amid the repetitive dripping of water, she was carried back to her childhood. A night when her mother placed her hands over Shiloh's steepled hands.

The Lord is my shepherd

I shall not want

He makes me lie down

Beside the still waters …

Voices scampered through her dreams, tugging at her. Shiloh sat up. The images floated in and out. Dark ones— the careening of her life as her mother died. Odd ones—her father as he sat alone in his bedroom with her mother's picture. New ones—when Reece laughed and chased her through the waters of the bay. A large splash. Water spraying a thousand tiny droplet images across her face.

A bright light stunned her. She winced and turned away.

“Shiloh!”

Hand shielding her face, she glanced over her shoulder. Blurry vision confused her.

“Shiloh. Thank God!”

Again, she blinked. This time, Reece's face loomed before her. She gasped. Was it really him? She reached for him. Touched his dive suit and cold face. “Reece?” She tried to shake the cobwebs from her mind. “Am I dreaming?”

A regulator dangled below his smile. “Do I look that good?”

With a guttural cry, she grabbed him and yanked herself into his embrace, arms tight around his neck. “You remembered. You came.” Then she shoved him back. “We have to get out of here. There's a bomb.”

“Wait,” one of the other men said. “You saw it?”

Shiloh looked at him and blinked. “Uncle Shaun?”

“Shi, the bomb. Where did you see it?”

“Above the caves.” She brushed her hair from her face. “On one of the pipes leading from Butcher.”

After securing a mask and tank to her father's unconscious form, Shaun hoisted him toward the water and looked at Reece. “Can you take care of that?”

“On it.” He off-loaded a secondary tank and helped her into the straps. “I want you to take me to it. Once I see it,” he said as he slipped a dive mask and regulator over her head, “I want you to make for the surface.”

And leave him?

“I mean it, Shiloh.”

She stuffed the regulator in her mouth and dove into the water. Within seconds, they cleared the main entrance to the cave. A heavy wave stirred around her. Bright and steady, a beam of light sliced through the dark waters overhead. In the dispersed beam and murky water her uncle and father headed to safety.

Reece swam up next to her with a dive prop, the engine churning the waters. With two fingers, he tapped his watch. In other words, they were running out of time.

She grabbed the handle of the prop and pointed in the direction of the burdened pipe. With the motorized propellant, they made the site within minutes. Reece approached the device carefully, motioning her back.

Keeping her distance, Shiloh watched him. Amazement and admiration rippled through her with an unnatural dose of fear. She didn’t want to die. Maybe there’d been a time not too long ago she wouldn’t have cared, but now that she had Reece and she’d made her peace with her father, she wanted to live. Wanted Reece to live.

Yet there he treaded water, laboring over an explosive that could blow them both to heaven in the blink of an eye.
God, protect him!

He swirled toward her. Shook his head. Behind the mask, she saw the worry in his eyes.

They were going to die?

No. They weren’t. An idea lit into her. She tapped Reece, made a few hand signals. At first, he objected. But he reconsidered.

With great care, he freed the bomb straps from the 8-inch pipe. Together, they secured it to the dive prop, using delicate moves to fasten the straps and tighten them. If they couldn’t get it to stop, then they could scuttle it into the deep ocean. No one would get killed, and the city would be safe.

Her heart thrummed like the engine as they revved it. She checked the gauge. Less than two minutes! Holding the sides, she waited as Reece rigged the prop to maintain full throttle.

He pushed her away, resolute.

Shiloh gulped but propelled herself away. Wasn’t he coming? Surely he wouldn’t try something stupid.
Reece, please …
She slowed her pace, the distance between them growing. Her heart staggered as another few seconds passed without him.

Like a rocket, the prop angrily bolted from Reece.

Relief swept through her as he launched toward her. Shiloh paddled her legs furiously.

The bomb sped through the distant, dark waters. Not visible, but deadly dangerous all the same.

Shiloh kicked harder. Up. Away.

She’d no sooner seen Reece's dark form glide next to her than a deep rumbling rent the serenity of the sea. He reached out and grabbed her. The concussion of the explosion tumbled them faster. Shiloh dug her fingers into him. With the near-centrifugal force rocketing them through the sea, there was no telling where they’d end up. At some point, the force ripped them apart.

Like a missile, she sailed up. Out of the water. And plopped right back in. Shiloh pushed herself back to the surface. Above water, she flipped off the mask, turning, searching. Where was Reece? Where did he go? “Reece?” Her head spun. Ears rang. She scoured the darkened water for him but only saw flames dancing over the tumultuous sea. “Reece!” A spurt of water hit her temple.

She jerked to her right. Where was he? “Reece?” Water hit her again. This time—she saw where it came from and grabbed at the spot, realizing she was getting gleeked, hit by a stream of water.

Laughter suffused the night. “Okay, okay. I’m here.”

“I can’t believe you’re playing around.”

“Why? We beat the bad guys. Defied death yet again. I daresay you might be getting Anubis a bit miffed.”

She laughed. “You really enjoy this, don’t you?”

“Beating the bad guy? Absolutely.” He waded closer to her. “You did real good, babe.”

“Babe, huh?” She wrapped trembling arms around his neck. “You knew I wasn’t going to help Sajjadi, didn’t you?”

“I don’t fall in love with terrorists.” He motioned behind her where a black boat pounded across the waves toward them. “So I knew whatever idea you got into that beautiful mind of yours, I had to trust you. No matter how much it killed me to let you go.”

Shiloh smiled at the man before her, a hero and guardian, just like her father. “So, guardian, do I get to be a star?”

“Why would the sun want to dim her brilliance?”

She laughed. “Kiss up.”

Reece grinned unabashedly as a strobe of light struck them. “If you insist.” He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. “So, I know this preacher …”

R
EADY?” REECE GRINNED AT HER, REGULATOR POISED IN FRONT OF HIS
mouth.

With a grin, she shoved backward off the boat, launching into the warm waters of Mumbai Harbor. An hour ago Reece had rushed into her flat and announced that a clearance for an archeological dig had just come through the consulate's office. The professional archeological team would arrive in two days. That gave Shiloh twenty-two hours to scour the site and see what they were coming after. The temptation was too much. She’d fled the apartment with him to the open water. Miller waited with Bronco and Stick. Because Toby had provided the information, he’d bartered his way onto the trip with Julia.

Three months after Sajjadi had been taken down and all she had to show for the nightmare were two small, pink scars. Reece called them her red badges of courage. She wagged her feet, propelling herself toward the ocean floor. Rumor of Greek pottery twenty meters below lured her deeper.

Reece swam into view, the blue glow of his shoulder lamp shattering the darkness around him. His presence spurred her on. He had promised to help her train for the Pacific Rim Challenge, but it just didn’t have the allure it had once
held. She was right where she wanted to be for the first time in her life.

Another ten meters provided the first signs of coral. She took her time, surveying the area and videotaping it, so the team on the surface could track their movements and mark the location. If they did find something, they could come back with better equipment.

Five yards to her right, she spotted a mound in the silt. She tapped Reece and paddled toward it. It didn’t look ancient. As a matter of fact … She lifted the object, confused when a wide-mouthed jar in the shape of a monkey smiled back at her. What … ?

Reece removed the lid.

Inside, she spotted a black object. Too bizarre. She reached for it. Her fingers tracked over the black object.

His light flared into the jar and hit the box.

A
jewelry
box. She peered at him through her goggles, her heart stuttering.

He shrugged.

Shiloh lifted it and popped open the lid. A ring gleamed back at her with a princess-cut diamond. She widened her eyes. Looked at Reece.

He cocked his head and raised his eyebrows, as if saying, Well?

She catapulted toward him. He caught her and wrapped his arms around her tightly. They spiraled through the water in each other's embrace. After a moment, she touched down on the sea floor with Reece. He pointed to the surface.

Torpedoing upward, she gripped the ring tightly in her hand. Light fractured the blue-green waters, streaking out from the dive boat. Memories of months previous when her life had turned upside down darted through her mind, but she shoved them behind her. Her future felt promising for the first time. Reece had been patient, but firm and loving with her.
Once-a-week dinners with her father had built the bridge to restore their relationship.

A school of fish swarmed around her, as if they, too, celebrated her discovery of the ring. His proposal. Yes, absolutely, she would marry Reece Jaxon.