Page 155 of Speechless
“The only handcuffs you’re allowed to wear belong to us.”
I didn’t wait for her to respond and dove. Flippers made gaining leverage difficult, but I braced myself against the reef andpulled.Dust choked the water as the coral broke apart, the metal groaning even underwater. But it did move enough for me to see inside.
Holy shit.
There it was.
A metal barrel. The kind you saw on docks that contained oil, or, in this case, something much worse. I took the picture and a couple of extras. One was all the evidence Trinity needed. If this was all true, there would be more than one investigation, and it would be found.
I swam to the surface, dragging my hands up Trinity’s legs where she tread water. “Oh my god,don’tdo that. You could have been a shark.”
“Had I been a shark, I would have bitten you before you even realized. Or, more likely, ignored you completely. Sharks are more scared of humans than you are of them.”
“I’m not sure that’s true.” She mumbled the words into my shoulder as I supported us both. “The big ones are really fucking scary.”
“I promise the big ones are nowhere near here.”
“Good.”
Making sure we were out of hearing distance of the other snorkelers, I grinned at her. “I got it.”
“The picture?”
“There’s a metal barrel in the trunk.”
Her mouth dropped open. It was so fucking adorable, I wanted to devour those lips and make them mine. “Really?”
“Really. Should be what you need.”
“Thank you.”
I gripped her hair firmly and spun so the sun wasn’t in our eyes. “But you are going to be careful with this, Trinity. You are thinking about exposingbillion-dollar companies for fraud and other crimes. There’s a reason your source was nervous and the flash drive was so heavily encrypted. These people don’t care about one person’s life. Especially with that kind of money on the line.”
“It’ll be okay,” she said with a smile. “I’ve been reporting for a long time. I know what I’m doing.”
“I’m sure you do, and I have no doubt about your skills. But youwillbe careful with this. No more meeting sources alone, no putting yourself in harm’s way, and as little a digital trail as possible. Do you understand?”
She saw the look on my face. I wasn’t fucking around. Trinity swallowed. “I understand.”
“Good.”
A commotion came from the boat, one of the tour guides pointing behind us and shouting. We were too far away to hear them clearly, but the rest of the swimmers immediately started swimming in the direction the man pointed.
“What’s going on?”
“Let’s find out.”
We turned and ducked beneath the water?—
Rays.
A giant school of rays swam in the near distance. Gargantuan and slow, the school was like a creature in itself. The rays migrated this time of year.
I grabbed Rin’s hand and lifted my head. “Want to get closer?”
“Yes.”
We swam.
