Rogue Angel 46: Treasure of Lima Read Online Free Page B

wanting the two of them to become separated in the maelstrom.
    While still fairly powerful, this latest aftershock was weaker than the previous two and was over almost before it had begun. When it had passed, Annja found herself pressed up against the wall of the cenote, still holding tightly to Manuel. Their masks were close enough together that she could see him watching her through the glass.
    You okay? she signed.
    He nodded, then pointed upward.
    This time she obeyed. Still holding on to him, she kicked for the surface.
    * * *
    A RESCUE TEAM from the resort was waiting for them when they surfaced, summoned by a call for help on Steve and Julie’s cell phone.
    The water level was substantially lower when they surfaced than it had been at the start of the dive, so Annja had to wait for new ropes to be tied off and thrown down to them before she could get them out of the water. She tied one rope around Manuel, secured another around herself and then gave the line a sharp tug to indicate that they were ready. Minutes later the ropes were pulled taut and the two of them began rising into the air.
    Annja helped Manuel spit out his regulator and remove his mask, before doing the same herself. When she was finished, she looked up to find him watching her, an unusual expression on his face.
    “What’s wrong?” she asked, concerned.
    He continued to stare at her, then seemed to find his courage.
    “Down there, in the water,” he asked, “was that a sword?”
    Annja’s pulse kicked up a notch. How much had he seen?
    “A what?” she asked, buying time.
    “A sword.”
    The hesitation in his voice told her that even if he had seen her conjure her sword out of thin air, his rational side was trying to find some other explanation for it all.
    Annja laughed. “A sword? What would I be doing with a sword in the middle of a cave dive?”
    He frowned. “It sounds silly, I know, but I could have sworn...”
    “Silly, yes, but not entirely unexpected. You were banged up pretty good down there, after all.” She grinned, as if to show she didn’t think ill of him for seeing things, and breathed a sigh of relief when rescue workers reached them.
    Ten minutes later a doctor had pronounced them fit to travel and they were loaded into a waiting SUV. The quake had been worse deep underground than it had been topside; there were a few buildings with minor damage to them and a fair number of palms that had been uprooted, but the general area appeared under control. Since the resort was on the way to the hospital, the driver stopped long enough to let Annja and the other guests get out before continuing on to the hospital with Manuel and a few others who had suffered minor injuries in the quake.
    As she was getting out of the truck, Manuel reached out and caught her arm. “Thanks for saving my life,” he told her. “I owe you one.”
    “Nonsense,” she said. “You would have done the same for me. That’s why they call it buddy diving, right?”
    “Right, but still, the least you can do is let me buy you a drink.”
    She agreed and they made plans to meet later that evening, provided Manuel was allowed to come back from the hospital. As the truck drove away from the resort, Annja grinned.
    Once again, her intuition had been right.
    Annja stayed behind to assist with unloading the dive equipment from the truck since Manuel couldn’t do it, then helped the rest of the crew purge and refill the tanks with clean air so that they’d be ready for the next group in the morning.
    She was standing in the shade at the back of the dive shack, hanging the neoprene wet suits that had been used during the afternoon’s adventure, when she spotted a blond-haired woman talking earnestly with two members of the Policía Turística, or Tourism Police. Officers from that particular branch of the Ministerio de Seguridad Pública, or Ministry of Public Safety, were in charge of ensuring the safety and well-being of those who travelled through Costa