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Blainehis tile below It wouldn&039;t have been pretty, but - by now - it was over Tiain, and quite brave Altogether rather res turned out sometimes

At fifteen feet fro a trimix made rest stops absolutely necessary to ensure that no bubbles brewed in his bloodstreaood to vent so a pit stop If life had been different, that&039;s what he would have done: raced cars at high speed He certainly had the balls for it

Looking down, he saw a shape h the water It circled coyly under him His watch indicated that he had been at fifteen feet for only a minute - he should stay at this depth for another two minutes at least

Beneath hi up his way

Wouldn&039;t that be ironic? he thought Get the artifact, kill Peta, and have a shark rip h of a rest stop, he thought, kicking toward it

In moments, he broke the surface The water had turned choppy and he could feel a breeze building up from the southeast Little whitecaps slapped him one way and the other as he treaded water He swa his vest and tanks in the water, he cliear behind him In short order, with his wet suit unzipped to the waist, he had the engine going and had cast off fro into his shorts This was one prize he would keep very close to hie, and looked down, hoping to see the shark Keep coht, and I&039;ll put a damn bullet in your primeval head

For a split second, he believed he could see it in the deep water below hiiven up the chase

He tossed away the towel, then eased back the throttle, prepared for a nice, leisurely cruise back to the shore The boat belly-whapped on the choppy water, sending a cool spray shooting back at hiht out a silver metal box from under the foredeck hold, popped open the latches, and re it on, he said, "Frikkie"

The phone dialed auto: once, twice Coht You have to be there This is what you&039;ve been waiting for

"Yes?"

"I got it"

"Good Correct thatGreatTake care with it"

Blaine smiled "It&039;s as safe as e-looking thing I do hope it orth that beautiful woman&039;s life"

"Wait! What did you just say?"

"Peta I thought it ht be tidier if she didn&039;t surface to ask questions Seemed like a nice place to leave someone buried She and Simon kind of disap - "

"Go! The hell! Back! Now!"

"What?"

Even as Blaine spoke, he started cutting the wheel of the boat, turning around It rocked as its oake hit it from behind, and for a unned the throttle

"Are you going back?"

"On my way Now tell me - "

"You idiot Did I tell you to kill her?"

"No, Frikkie, but it seemed like ahow you sayno-brainer Why would you - "

"Because she still has a piece of the artifact, you fool!"

The Venezuelan let that sink in This was not good People rarely screwed up on Frikkie

"You&039;d better hope to God she&039;s still alive down there, Blaine And if she isn&039;t, you&039;d be better off not coain yourself"

He didn&039;t respond He could only think that it had been a long time since he&039;d left her in the cave The best chance that she was alive was if she was soases from her tanks Slim possibility of that, but a possibility nonetheless