The Aloha Reef Collection by Colleen Coble

Author:Colleen Coble
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2014-07-07T00:00:00+00:00

FOUR

The research vessel Pomaik’i floated about a mile off Kalaupapa Peninsula. There was no place Bane would rather be than standing on the bow of a ship with the throb of the engines radiating up his legs. The wind was in his face as he stood on the metal deck with his feet planted apart and surveyed the whitecaps just off the bow. Ajax, his Irish setter, lay at his feet. The dog whimpered at the whine of the crane that labored on deck.

His boss, Ron Pimental, joined him at the railing. About forty, he reminded Bane of one of the many mynah birds on the islands—slicked-down black hair and rapid, jerky movements. He was in constant motion, which accounted for his thin frame. He popped a handful of unsalted peanuts into his mouth. “They’re raising the plane now. Good job finding it so quickly.”

“I want to know what happened to it.” Bane refused Ron’s offer of peanuts and watched the boom crane lift the plane. The waves churned white foam as the plane neared the top of the water. Flotsam from the bottom boiled to the surface around the aircraft, and Bane leaned over the railing to watch. He itched to find the cause.

“We owe it to Tony,” Ron agreed. “I want to find the ship now more than ever. I’ll see Tony’s widow gets her share, of course.”

“Candace will be glad to hear that. She could use the money.” Bane hadn’t slept much last night. He knew Tony would expect him to help his widow. He turned as footsteps clanged on the metal deck, and one of the technicians, Logan Masters, joined them.

“Ron, there’s something on our new sonar you need to see.” Logan’s red hair was a punctuation above a freckled face. He could have passed as a stand-in for Rugrats character Chuckie Finster minus the glasses.

“In a minute.” Ron turned back to the plane. “Bane, do you think there’s a chance Westerfield Salvage has gotten wind of what our equipment can do? Could they have planted an explosive device to bring you down?”

“I suspected sabotage from the first. I heard a bang that almost sounded like a small bomb before I lost control. Do you think Westerfield is capable of doing something like that? What would be the point?”

“Sam Westerfield is capable of anything.” Ron tossed a peanut shell into the water, then cocked his head like a bird. “He particularly likes to humiliate me. If he finds the wreck before we do, he’d get his papers filed first to arrest the shipwreck, and we’d be out in the cold. If he had an inkling of how advanced this new equipment is, he’d do anything to remove it from our arsenal of search options.”

“What makes you think he knows about the new seafloor scanner we developed?” Bane wanted to know.

“Nothing I do ever goes unnoticed by him for long. I’ve never figured out how he finds out my business, but he always does. I suppose one of my men is on his payroll.

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