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CSI Underwater Mysteries
Category:
Mystery/Suspense
Publisher: Beyond the Page Publishing
Type: Fiction
Pages: 272
Copyright: Oct 7, 2011
ISBN-13: 9781937349196
Price: $2.99 (eBook)
Third in the highly acclaimed Hannah Sampson Underwater Investigation Series.
Trying to save an endangered species doesn't normally make one a target for extinction. But police diver Hannah Sampson has her doubts when she pulls her friend Elyse out of the sea, barely alive. Although the chief believes it was an accident, Hannah knows Elyse is a staunch environmentalist and never hesitated to harass anyone who threatened her beloved natural habitat. Hannah is sure this is no accident-but attempted murder. Now, she must find the would-be killer before he finishes the job.
Excerpt
At 12:03 the sea quivered. Then it exploded. The cat, whom I’d graciously allowed to curl at my feet, flew across me, claws extended, fur flying, and hit the ground running. So much for gratitude. I wrestled with a damned tangle of sheets that held me like a mummy. Finally they set me free, and I landed beside the bunk on my ass as the Sea Bird pitched up one side of a rolling wave and slammed down the other.
I fought my way to my feet as the boat crashed down onto an ocean that seemed to have turned to concrete. I wanted out of the floating horror house before the thing sank. I clung to anything that was bolted to the floor, pulled myself out of my cabin, into the salon, and made it up the steps to the deck. I didn’t like what I saw. This was not what I considered a good start to the week.
The ocean was a confusion of flaming waves. In the middle of it all was the Caribbe, Elyse Henry’s boat—burning. Flames shot out of the roof, pointing hellish fingers to the sky. I jumped onto the dock and raced toward the heat.
The entire right side of the vessel was already consumed in fire and angry waves crashed against her hull. Where the hell was Elyse? Still inside? No one could survive long in the inferno.
“Elyse! Elyse!” I shouted, frantic and disoriented.
Sadie skirted the edge of the dock, whining, tail between her legs. Neither one of us knew what the hell to do.
The Caribbe was a clunky flat-bottomed boat with boxy living quarters perched on top. The fire was concentrated in the galley. Flames flashed out the hatches.
If Elyse were still on board, she could be back in her cabin, trapped, maybe unconscious. I had to get to her before the gas tanks exploded.
I knew better than to spend any time thinking it through. If I did, I might flinch, wait a second too long, and then it would be too late.
“Stay, Sadie,” I demanded firmly. She’d be right on my heels otherwise.
I jumped onto the aft section of the Caribbe, which was still secured to the cleat on the dock. Just about the time my feet touched the deck, the frayed line broke and the Caribbe began to drift out of her slip and away from the dock. At least the Sea Bird and the other boats in the marina might be spared the flames.
Then, kaboom! A whoosh of hot air pummeled my face, and a ball of fire roared through the Caribbe. The blast hit like a freight train, flinging me off the boat into air and space. I hit the water and was hurled toward the sea floor, tumbling. Finally, my momentum slowed and I fought my way up, arms flailing, feet kicking hard.
Miraculously, I made it to the surface, gasping for breath, but somehow still in one piece. I was surrounded by smoke and patches of flaming oil. I choked up diesel-filled salt water and sought out pockets of air in the burning liquid, trying to see past the smoke though eyes that stung and teared. I was desperate to catch sight of Elyse. I forced my arms and legs into action. Treading water, I whipped around in a circle, searching the darkness and smoky gloom. Nothing.
Then Sadie began barking furiously from the edge of the dock, her fur prickled, her snout pointing at what looked like a rag doll drifting in the water. I swam to the floating mass, my heart pounding, flames licking my arms. I feared what I would find. I knew it was Elsye. By the time I got to the place she’d floated, she had disappeared under the water.
I filled my lungs with hot acrid air and dove. What I wouldn’t do for a scuba tank, face mask, and fins now. I went down, arms sweeping, searching, eyes shut tight against the brine. I’d done this before, searched blind in water so mucky it was black. But never without my gear, never in water on fire, and never for a friend who had just gone under before my eyes.
I kicked hard, forcing my body down, hand outstretched, praying to grasp a sleeve, hair, a foot, anything. Nothing but empty water washed through my fingers.
Out of air, I surfaced back into the flames, sucked in another breath, and dove, heading for the bottom. I hit sand and fought to stay under against the powerful ocean forces determined to shoot me back to the surface.
Grasping desperately at the turtle grass that grew along the sea floor, I edged along the bottom, seeking, on automatic now. I swept my free hand back and forth, feeling my way through the water, doing what I’d been trained to do. I brushed against rocks, a conch, a sea cucumber.
God, where the hell was Elyse?
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