Ocean Prey (A Prey Novel #31) - John Sandford Page 0,77
that, I definitely need Trimix if I’m going to get anything done. I’ve been to two hundred and ten on air, but I was goofier than a shithouse mouse.”
“As long as you know.”
When they were both ready to go, Andrews said, “You lead,” and Virgil slapped one hand over his mask and mouthpiece and stepped over the side into the warm green water.
* * *
“What was all that about?” Rae asked Rolf, after Virgil and Andrews had gone under. “The narc thing.”
“Nitrogen narcosis. You soak up too much nitrogen, you start getting high. If you don’t know how to handle it, you can die. You ever had nitrous oxide at the dentist’s? To relax you?”
“No, but I done whippits at the grocery store.”
“Then you’ve been narced, or something close to it.”
* * *
The day was brilliantly, almost blindingly blue, with a mild breeze—almost nothing, but tasting of salt and smelling of seaweed—and some negligible current. As the boat swung gently on its hook, Rae got her sun and Rolf worked his iPad, complaining every once in a while about the weak-ass cell phone service. Virgil and Andrews surfaced after forty-five minutes, sat and talked in scuba code for a while, then they went down again.
When they came up the second time, they stopped for dinner and to watch the sun drop closer to the palms on Key Largo. After they’d shed their gear, Rae asked Andrews, “Well? What do you think?”
“He’s not terrible,” she said.
Rolf said to Virgil: “Jesus. You must be good. That’s her second highest rating after, ‘He’s okay.’”
Virgil asked, “Am I still in the running for ‘okay’?”
“We’ll see after the night navigation,” Andrews said.
* * *
With the sun on the horizon, Andrews put on a fresh tank and they went down a third time; when they resurfaced, in total darkness, Rae asked, “Well?”
“He’s okay,” Andrews said.
“Yes!”
“But maybe a little reckless. I’m going to have to say that when we talk to your . . . supervisors.”
“Why reckless?” Rolf asked.
“He cut his lights and did a blackout figure-eight around the tits. Stuck a light on his tanks so I could follow him.”
“Yeah, that’s . . . not totally recommended,” Rolf said. He asked Virgil, “You hit anything?”
“Not a thing,” Virgil said. “But I’m the tiniest bit tired. I haven’t done this for a while and I got some leg cramps. Hurt like hell. But the Genesis—I love the Genesis more than sex. I mean, except with sex with Ally, when she does that reverse cowgirl thing . . .”
“Shut up,” Rae said. “Let’s get back.”
* * *
Regio and Lange were waiting at the marina as Rolf eased the boat into its slip. Andrews gave her report: “He’s as good as they come. But reckless.”
She told them about the figure-eight navigation in the dark. “You won’t want to do that with Jerry,” Regio told Virgil. “He drowns, I’m out of a job.”
“There’s always room for a rent-a-goon in Vegas,” Virgil said.
“That’s really funny,” Regio said, with a snake-like stare.
Across the street at Morgan’s Inn, Lange patted Virgil on the back. “That was everything we needed to know, pal. Including the figure-eight. She seemed damn impressed.”
“Like I told you, I can dive,” Virgil said. “I don’t do overheads, but I’ll do anything else you got.”
“So when are we doing it?” Rae asked.
“We’re thinking tomorrow night, at least for a trial run,” Regio said. “It’s supposed to be quiet water out there. Like Rolf was saying, there’s a cold front coming, and it’ll get rougher when that goes through.”
“Bring the cash,” Virgil said. “Lots of cash.”
Regio smiled. “We will do that. And we’ve got a few things for you to look at.”
Inside their room, they had two oval-shaped lift bags of two hundred pounds lift capacity each, two black torpedo-shaped mesh bags to hold the drug containers, and two pen-sized waterproof LED flashlights with sliding hoods.
“You need to figure out how to hook all this up to your equipment,” Lange said. “When it’s time to pick you up, you’ll be right on the surface and you hit us with a hooded flashlight. It’s bright, but with the hood pushed out, nobody will see it but us. We’ll drift up to you, you hook the ladder, you get out of your plate and wing and we’ll pull it aboard with the tanks. You come up the ladder, we’ll help you if you need it. Then we’ll all be there for the lift bag, if it’s got anything in it.”