Blue Abyss: Timewalker Chronicles, Book 3 (The Timewalker Chronicles) Read Free Page B

training. All she had was her dive gear, a camera, a few knives, a black market SPP-1M pistol strapped to her leg, and a stubborn streak that had defeated both her parents, five psychiatrists and three school counselors. Both the pistol and her dive crew had cost a fortune. But she’d pay any price for peace of mind. The man at the other end of her spool line, in the adjoining, normal cave, was a stone-cold ex-S.E.A.L. that she’d begged, stalked, and pursued relentlessly until he’d given in and agreed to help her.
    He’d brought two experienced divers with him to complete her crew. She needed their help. Only a suicidal idiot would dive without a team. The Navy boys agreed to work for her, but wanted to know what she was after. She lied, of course. Made up a tale about scientific grant money, climate change, and fossil hunting. Thankfully, money solved a lot of problems and a lot of money answered a lot of questions. She paid them extremely well to feed their adrenaline addiction. Having them around gave her peace of mind, made sure the nightmares would never be made real.
    In every dream she’d died completely unarmed and alone.
    Like hell. She tugged on the spool line so her dive partner would know that she wasn’t coming out. He was around the corner in under a minute, scowling at her through his dive mask.
    He pointed up and out, back they way they had come, then moved his index finger back and forth between the two of them, followed by his hand moving like a talking mouth.
    So, he wanted to discuss first? No. She wanted to go now. What were they going to do any differently? They were both armed, both experienced divers. Nothing would change, and these boys would probably call it in to someone in the military or try to talk her out of it. Or both. She shook her head and pointed deeper into the cave. She was going, with or without him.
    Her S.E.A.L buddy nodded and she watched, amused, as he did a weapons check before giving her a thumbs up. He was ready to rock and roll, to find out what was down here.
    She hesitated, at war with herself, gaze glued to the now glowing symbol mere inches from her face. Danger, Will Robinson, danger! Don’t touch the pretty alien stuff.
    Oh, yeah. She could hear just hear Servo and Crow on Mystery Science Theater 3000 , the shadows of their heads bobbing with glee while making fun of her dumb move.
    Screw it. So, she was acting like an idiot heroine in a stupid “Z” movie. She couldn’t leave without taking the chance. She couldn’t leave until she knew for sure. If she’d finally found him, she couldn’t leave him in the hands of the monsters. Not for one more minute of one more day. Not for one more nightmare. Not without knowing exactly what two years of searching and hundreds of bad dreams had led her to discover. She needed answers. She needed the truth.
    Mari patted her leg, her waist, her shoulder and opposite thigh. Gun, knife, knife, knife…check.
    She swam through a man-made entryway into a dimly lit space that contained two closed doors, one directly ahead and one to her left. The entrance she’d used slid closed behind them, sealing them both inside like minnows trapped in a snow globe. Her weightlessness lasted less than a minute, then her feet hit solid rock as all the water drained from the landing area. Eighty pounds of gear threatened to sling her backward or buckle her legs, so she let the water settle her into a seated position and stared at her now useless flippers. Her dive partner sank down beside her. Breaking the seal on her face mask, she tasted the air, but found nothing suspicious. It smelled about as close to an above-ground coastal cave as a dentist’s office would. She smelled a bit of salt, humidity, and strange chemicals she couldn’t quite identify, but not much else.
    She shrugged out of the Inpiration xpd rebreather and back-up tank, unbuckled her BCD and harness before letting all of her gear slide easily off her back. She settled them