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LENGTH: Almost Category
SENSUALITY:Carnal

Cover art (c) Jenny Dixon 2003
ISBN 1-58608-320-1
Download $4.50

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Rating: Contains explicit language, profanity, graphic sex and violence.

"Those of you who read the first book may remember Adonis. This book tells us what happened to him. Adonis makes a wonderful hero and Stevie is a strong heroine who develops a soft edge for him, and who would blame her? Even though “Neptune’s Daughter” revisits familiar territory it is quite different to its predecessor. It is edgier, more violent, and erotic than the first book was. Overall, this installment of the series provided a quick, entertaining read with good, steamy love scenes. I do look forward to read the next book in this series." Mireya Orsini, Just Erotic Romance Review Newsletter

"A sensual tale of underwater romance, NEPTUNE'S DAUGHTER grabbed me from the very beginning. Readers meet Adonis, a hero with a heart, and Stevie, the woman who steals that heart, and instantly will fall in love with both of them. The author weaves a lot of emotion, passion, and danger into her story and makes it a delightful read. I especially liked discovering where the title of the book comes in. I won't tell you, because you need to ferret that secret out for yourself." Romance Reviews Today

NEPTUNE'S DAUGHTER

By

Marie Morin

© copyright July 2003 by Marie Morin

Cover Art by Jenny Dixon, (c) copyright July 2003

ISBN 1-58608-320-1

New Concepts Publishing

Lake Park, GA

www.newconceptspublishing.com

Chapter One

Serious scientists had never agreed that there was anything out of the ordinary about the Bermuda Triangle. A few had conducted half hearted investigations and had decided that, despite the numerous, bizarre accidents in the area, it was purely folklore, or urban legend. Despite her tenuous ties to the scientific community, however, Stephanie ‘Stevie’ Reynolds was inclined to reserve judgment.

If she had an area of expertise--which was also a matter up for debate in the scientific community--it was the Bermuda Triangle, and her own experiences had made her more inclined to believe it was just a little more than folklore.

At least some of the incidents could be put down to nature, incompetence, or the greed of man, probably most of them, but there were a handful that no one had been able to explain away. The fact was, the Bermuda Triangle formed something like a ‘weather bowl’. It was an enormous body of water surrounded by land, in the tropics, which sometimes created unusual weather conditions and sometimes merely acted as a catch basin for the stranger manifestations of nature, but in either case, it was a location rife with sudden, violent and potentially unusual weather conditions that could and had cost many people their lives. Since it was also a high traffic area, bingo! lots and lots of strange accidents.

And then there was the drug trade and modern day pirating, a spin off of the drug trade. Only a couple of months earlier, Stevie had stumbled upon one Miami drug lord’s underwater cache.

The results had been … unpleasant … for everyone involved, except the Coast Guard, of course, who’d gotten credit for the bust of the century. Stevie had not only found herself in the limelight as a witness, she’d been forbidden by the authorities to conduct any more studies in the area until the case was resolved, and not so subtly threatened by the drug kingpin that had been arrested.

She was no fool. She might be considered obsessive about her work; absentminded by friends and coworkers; and a crack pot by her fellow colleagues, but no one had ever suggested that she was stupid. The drug lord’s threat had terrorized her for weeks, until it had finally occurred to her that this was something in the hands of providence.

The authorities could not protect her. The drug lord had connections, and he would either have her killed, or not. It didn’t matter where she was holed up, he could find her if he wanted to and she would die if the fates decreed.

That being the case, she didn’t see much sense in trying to hide. She wasn’t ready to die. She fully intended to be as careful as she possibly could, but she also knew she would be a raving lunatic if she remained in hiding, with nothing to do but worry about when and where and how the drug lord would strike.

Having decided to at least live her life as she saw fit as long as it was still hers, she’d slipped her leash and chartered a small boat for a short excursion into the Triangle.

She was also resolved on one other issue. If she ever stumbled upon another underwater drug cache, she was going to pretend she hadn’t seen it. To hell with being a good little citizen. If she’d known before what she knew now, she’d never have gotten involved to begin with.

The authorities had treated her as if she was a criminal herself when she’d reported it, questioning her in a Gestapo fashion for hours and hours, searching her apartment and lab, tapping her phone, following her. When they’d finally decided she was ‘clear’, they’d imprisoned her, calling it ‘protective custody’. Contrary to what a lot of people seemed to believe, protective custody wasn’t for her benefit. They just wanted to make sure she lived long enough to testify. After that, she was on her own.

It was that, in large part, that had been the deciding factor in the ‘insane’ excursion she was currently enjoying.

With an effort, Stevie shrugged her unpleasant thoughts off.

She was here to enjoy herself and put all of that behind her. If she was going to drag the ‘baggage’ along, she might just as well go back into protective custody.

She stopped and looked around. It was then that she discovered that she’d lost all track of time and, as bad or worse, she hadn’t been paying attention. She hadn’t mentally ‘flagged’ any landmarks.

Her heart skipped a beat. She checked her air gauge. To her dismay, she saw she had less that twenty minutes left on it. That meant she’d been ‘star gazing’ for more than thirty. She could have wandered a mile or more from the charter boat, depending, naturally, on just how fast she’d been swimming.

Instinctively, she looked up.

Not very surprisingly, she couldn’t see the hull of the boat.

She looked at her gauge again.

There was no cause for panic—at least not yet. She had more than enough time for a leisurely ascent. She might have a long swim once she got to the surface, but that wasn’t cause for panic. Air wouldn’t be an issue. Time wouldn’t even be an issue. The guy had been paid. When she’d left him he had been very happily fishing on her dime. Unless a squall came up, there was no danger.

Still, and regardless of what everyone seemed to think given her status as witness, she wasn’t the type to take unnecessary risks. She decided she would just take a few more pictures to study later and then mosey on up to the surface.

As she looked around for something worthy of a few photographs, she spied a wreck just a short distance away. It looked to be a fairly modern vessel … possibly a hurricane ‘victim’ or pirates. She wasn’t inclined to explore it. Exploring wrecks was for tourists, treasure hunters and idiots. They here inherently dangerous and could become a death trap for underwater explorers, even seasoned veterans. Wrecks were a popular spot for sea creatures, however, since they provided shelter for the smaller creatures that were at the bottom of the ocean’s food chain.

She decided to go over and have a quick look. If nothing else, the wreck would provide an interesting backdrop for a photo shoot, and since freelance photography paid for a good bit of her research, she was always on the lookout for something to sell.

She checked her gauge again when she reached the wreck, and decided she could spare ten minutes at the very most.

A small school of fish burst from a break in the hull as she neared it. Lifting her camera, she followed their ‘flight’, wondering if she’d spooked them, or something else.

She peered toward the gaping hole, but the wreck was fairly intact and dark as a pit inside. If anything dangerous was lurking there, she couldn’t see it.

All the same, she decided to move around to the other side. She could take some shots of the prow.

The boat was resting against a short outcropping of lava rock. As she rounded the pillar, however, she saw something unexpected, a tail fin of surprising proportions.

She stopped abruptly, eyeing the fin with a mixture of caution, curiosity and carefully leavened excitement. It was predominately blue. Mentally, she ran down her list of ‘blue’ fish, indexed under proportions. She came up with a blank.

This thing was huge. From the size of the fin, she figured it must be as big as a dolphin, at least.

She sucked in the side of her cheek, gnawing on it worriedly—a habit she’d unconsciously picked up when she’d consciously laid down nail biting. She really, really wanted to get a better look at the creature at the other end of that tail. On the other hand, she most definitely didn’t want to tangle with anything that big if it objected to the strange ‘fish’ in the wet suit. She wasn’t armed with anything but a camera. If it attacked, she had no way to defend herself.

Finally, curiosity won out over caution. The coloration of the tail fin indicated some sort of tropical variety, but the majority were generally tiny. She had to see—and photograph if at all possible—what was on the back side of the rocks.

Lifting her camera into position, she eased around the rock slowly, clicking the shutter as she went.

The tail fin was attached to a long, parti-colored tail, almost snake-like in that it did not widen perceptibly as she followed the coil around the rock.

She dropped her camera when she reached the other side. Fortunately, it was attached by a cord to her belt or it might have been lost forever, for she was too dumbfounded even to look to see where it landed.

A man was attached to the tail—It looked like a man. Pale hair drifted lazily in the sea currents as if the yard long tendrils had a life of their own.

Unless one counted the sword strapped to his ‘waist’, or the trident propped against the rock beside him, the ‘man’ wasn’t wearing anything from the waist up—no mask, no air tank in sight. His arms were crossed over his bare chest. He appeared to be deep in thought, and not very pleasant ones at that. A scowl marred his brow. His lower lip was thrust forward, for all the world like a petulant child denied their treat.

Stevie stared at the vision for several moments, wondering if she was seeing things. That thought prompted her to check her tanks. Maybe she was seeing things. Maybe she had a bad connection and was getting too much or, more likely, too little oxygen? Maybe she’d run out of oxygen and was breathing her own stale air? Hallucinating from carbon dioxide poisoning?

That thought brought her head up once more. She hadn’t noticed any breathing bubbles escaping his nose or mouth. Maybe he was just a wax figure of a merman, or something like that?

He was definitely no wax figure, most definitely a living, breathing creature. He was looking straight at her when she looked up again.

Chapter Two

They gaped at each other in stunned surprise. Unfortunately, in Stevie’s case, gaping meant she lost her grip on her mouth piece. It floated down--tiny, precious, air bubbles escaping.

She snatched it up and shoved it into her mouth again, forcing the briny sea water out of her mouth the best she could, swallowing the remainder with some difficulty so that she could breathe from her air hose.

If she’d had time to think about it, she would have expected the ‘vision’ to have vanished by the time she recovered her composure. Even if she wasn’t just imagining things, most any sort of wild creature, when confronted by another, would not wait around to see if they’d just been confronted by a predator.

Instead, when she looked up again, she saw that he was studying her with interest, a faint smile curling his lips.

For the first time, she realized that he was stunningly handsome, in a purely classical sense of the word. His precisely chiseled features reminded her of nothing so much as a statue of a Greek god.

Except for the fact that he was obviously flesh and blood—no statue—and his hair was clearly blond—She was fairly certain Greeks were inclined to be dark, not fair.

She remembered her camera quite suddenly. Snatching it up, she pointed it at him and held the button down. Even with the low light conditions, the shutter clicked a half a dozen times before he moved….

Toward her.

She dropped the camera. He was almost nose to nose with her, a faint, disapproving smile curling his lips. He wagged a finger at her, as if to say ‘Naughty, naughty! Don’t do that.’

I can not allow it. It is forbidden.

Stevie frowned at him, studying his lips, but decided she must have imagined she’d heard him speak because his lips weren’t moving, hadn’t.

He reached down and picked up her camera, studying it with obvious curiosity.

Stevie snatched it away from him.

His brows rose at her rudeness. Not that she gave a damn. It was her frigging camera and she wasn’t about to let some—whatever the hell he was—destroy such an expensive piece of equipment. To say nothing of the value of the pictures it now held.

He frowned. The loss will cause you hardship?

His lips still hadn’t moved, but Stevie was in no doubt that she’d ‘heard’ something. She checked her air gauge and her heart skipped a beat. She was running on fumes. Where had the time gone? She couldn’t have lost that much air when she’d dropped the mouth piece.

She was in deep shit.

This is a crudity, yes? What does it mean?

It means I’m a dead woman. I’ve run out of air and I’m too deep to surface fast enough. Shit!

Give me the devise and I will help you.

Like hell! Have you got any idea how much I paid for this frigging thing?

No.

Well, I can’t replace the damned thing! And no way am I handing it over to a frigging fish, particularly when there’s nothing you can do--What am I doing? Arguing with myself when I ought to be at least trying to swim for it!

She pushed away from the creature and began stroking for the surface. Even if she made it, she was going to end up with the bends, but she might survive that. She wasn’t going to survive long without air.

She discovered the ‘merman’ was swimming effortlessly alongside her.

She spared a moment for a shooing gesture. Apparently, he wasn’t easily put off, however, because he continued to dog her steps. She thought she heard a deep sigh, as if of resignation, and discovered he was frowning. In the next moment, some strange ‘thing’ appeared around her and she dropped to the bottom of it as if she’d suddenly lost buoyancy.

It looked like a giant bubble of air.

It is. You can take the breathing device off. It is safe.

He was out of his mind, of course, but she discovered she was sucking on nothing at about that moment. She ditched the mouth piece since it was no longer of any use, wondering if she could actually hold her breath for five minutes. The record was considerably less than that and she had never even come close to the record.

You can breathe. There is air inside the pressure bubble. I am afraid I am going to have to take your camera, though. I apologize, but it is forbidden. I have already been banished for a year. It is nearly up and I want to go home. If I allow you to take it, I may be banished another year.

She’d begun hallucinating from lack of air. She gave up the fight and sucked in a lung full of … air. She expelled the air and breathed again. It was air. Tentatively, she lifted one hand and felt around the space. The sides of the bubble yielded, stretching as she pushed against it.

She snatched her hand back, fearful that she would burst it.

Looking around, she discovered that the merman was holding it, pushing her along in front of him.

She was completely at this thing’s mercy.

Shit!

I do not think that is very ladylike.

Kiss my ass!

His brows rose, doubt and hopefulness crossing his features. You want to make love?

She glared at him, but he didn’t appear to be joking. What was she thinking? He hadn’t said anything at all!

It is telepathy.

She was taken aback, as much by the comment as by the fact that her brain seemed to be providing her with at least semi-logical explanations for the unexplainable. Well, I’m not telepathic!

I know, but I am, so it does not matter. I can hear your thoughts.

It might not matter to you, buster, but it damn sure matters to me!

My name is not Buster. It is Adonis.

Stevie gaped at him for a long moment and then burst out laughing. She laughed until tears streamed down her cheeks. When she finally managed to contain herself, she saw that he was looking affronted. Sorry! I’ve never heard anyone admit to being an Adonis.

He looked puzzled. I am not AN Adonis. I am Adonis. There was a lengthy pause, and then—What is an Adonis?

Somebody like the original Adonis—disgustingly conceited.

He stopped abruptly, glaring at her. I AM the original Adonis, the ONLY Adonis and I am NOT conceited!

Hey, Stevie thought placatingly, glancing worriedly toward the surface and wondering if she was going to make it after all, don’t go ballistic on me. I was just talking about the myths … you know, the Greek myths about the god Adonis?

They never said that!

Stevie sighed, realizing that she was probably dead already. She’d never done any research on death herself, but she knew the brain was the last thing to go, at least parts of it. Undoubtedly, death produced some pretty bizarre hallucinations as sections of the brain died off. Or maybe it was the carbon dioxide?

Do not change the subject.

What subject?

You insulted me….

I did no such thing!

You said I was conceited!

I said THE Adonis was conceited. There’s a difference.

His lips tightened. How can there be a difference when I am Adonis?

Stevie let out a long suffering sigh. Is English your second language or something?

Yes.

Oh. Well, I guess that explains it. You just misunderstood me.

I understand English very well.

Oh. Well, it’s all a lot of nonsense anyway. They’re just stories.

About me.

Not about you! Good God! They’re made up stories. Even if they were based on somebody that lived way back then--which I admit they could be given some of the more recent archeological discoveries--it has nothing to do with you. And anyway, I didn’t say you were conceited. I don’t even know you. I was just talking about the stories … ancient myths--or ancient history--whichever way you want to look at it.

But there were stories?

Stevie shrugged. The guy thought he was so beautiful that he fell in love with himself when he saw his reflection in the water, fell in and drowned, for God’s sake! You can’t get much more conceited than that!

His lips tightened. That was Narcissus … and it was not like that at all.

Oh. Well, wasn’t he the equivalent … never mind! You’re right. It wasn’t Adonis. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, do you think you could get me to the surface?

Obviously, you know nothing about mythology.

Not much, actually. I read it for entertainment when I was a kid, but I’ll have to admit all the stories just seem to run together after a while. Then too, the names can get confusing. I could’ve sworn … but … He was supposed to be handsome, though, right? One of the goddesses fell in love with him?

Venus … but I would rather not talk about it.

Impressive! The goddess of love, no less!

That was a long time ago.

Yes. A long, long, longgg time ago!

It was not that long ago!

Jeez! You do like to argue, don’t you? Look, I’d love to hang around and debate all this with you--or let you set me straight—but I really do have to get back to the surface. My charter captain’s going to think I’m a lost cause and leave me.

He glanced around, as if searching for something. You are right. He started the boat up. He is sailing it around in circles, searching for your body.

Shit! Hell fire!

I am SURE that is not ladylike language.

Did I TELL you I was a lady, damn it!

No.

Well, there you are!

You are not a lady?

The only ladies around these days are the hypocrites that hate everybody else who’s having fun. No!

Will you make love with me then?

Stevie couldn’t have been more stunned if he’d slapped her. For several moments she couldn’t decide whether to laugh of cuss him out. It occurred to her after a few moments, however, that she’d asked for it. NO!

I have been really lonely.

How sad! Despite the sarcasm in her voice, however, she couldn’t help but feel sympathy for him. Solitude was all very well when it was by choice. It could be agonizing torture when one was desperate for human contact.

Really. I have not even spoken to another human being in ten months.

Really?---What do you mean ‘another human being’?

No one here but me and the fish. The dolphins….

But you ARE a fish!

I am not!

There was a LOT of indignation in those thoughts, but Stevie paid it no mind. After all, it wasn’t like she needed to mind what she was thinking when she was arguing with herself. You’ve got a fish tail! That makes you a fish.

It makes swimming easier. It is not permanent.

Take it off then.

I can not take it off.

Ah ha! That’s what I thought!

He frowned. In the next moment, the tail vanished. In it’s place was two, or maybe three, legs. Stevie peered through the gloom. Two legs and one hell of a cock! Jesus Christ! Put that thing away! It looks dangerous! Stevie thought, torn between admiration, horror and … well shock.

Adonis looked down at himself. I thought women liked big cocks.

Big cocks, yes. That thing looks like a baseball bat. How many women do you know that could handle something like that, for God’s sake!

He glared at her. Well, if you do not want it any way, I would rather keep it like it is.

Just like a man. Does it do tricks?

What?

Just wondering.

He looked at her suspiciously.

She batted her eyes at him, but refused to ‘think’ anything.

His look of suspicion gave way to one of surprise. You can block telepathy?

I can? How convenient. Next time I run into somebody that can use telepathy, I’ll be sure to remember it.
I can see that you are being humorous, but I am serious. It is a rare and unusual ability, especially among mortals.

Mortals? So you’re not mortal, but you are human. Is that what you’re saying?

Immortal.

Right.

He looked as if he was considering arguing over that, as well, but at that moment the bubble broke the surface and promptly vanished. It was as if she’d suddenly had support snatched out from under her … which she supposed later that she had. Stevie swallowed a gulp of sea water as she sank beneath the waves. She came up coughing, aware that the burning pain in her lungs seemed to dispute her theory that she’d been hallucinating.

The sound of a motor caught her attention as the spasm passed, and she looked up in time to see her charter boat bearing down on her. Pulling her mask off, she waved it in the air, shouting for all she was worth to be heard above the roar of the engine. To her relief, the man waved back and then disappeared inside the wheel house once more.

Adonis surfaced beside her, smiling. Despite her turmoil, Stevie felt her heart skip a beat. He really was heartstoppingly gorgeous, especially when he smiled and his blue eyes twinkled with devilment. She had no trouble at all picturing him as a rogue and a lady killer. He must have broke a thousand hearts since he’d turned five.

What was she thinking? He wasn’t real.

“You are so beautiful.”

The flush brought on by her coughing spasm had only begun to subside when he made the comment. Blood rushed back into her cheeks with a vengeance. She would have been uncomfortable with such an assessment at any time. Now, with her long, dark hair plastered to her head and hanging in rat tails, the crimp in her face from the mask she’d been wearing, and the charming purple hue her blush had almost certainly added to her complexion, she could just imagine how lovely she was.

“Thanks. I have to go now.”

“Will I see you again tomorrow?”

Stevie gaped at him. “God, I hope not. If I’m still hallucinating tomorrow I might check in to a hospital and get my head examined.”

He frowned. “Why do you think you are imagining me?”

“Hmm. Let me count the ways.”

“It is because of the tail? I explained that I had only shifted to make traveling underwater easier.”

“Oh! I missed that,” Stevie said sarcastically.

“I detect a note of sarcasm.”

Stevie rolled her eyes. “You should vanish right about now. The charter captain might see you and then I couldn’t explain this away.”

He glanced behind him and ducked beneath the waves abruptly.

A moment later, she felt a tug on her waist and looked down. The ‘creature’, who’d referred to himself as Adonis, was tugging at the cord that secured her camera to her belt. Stevie kneed him in the face and struck off for the boat as fast as she could pedal.

To her surprise, he didn’t follow. She couldn’t believe she’d actually stunned him. The water prevented her from moving fast, or striking hard and, in any case, even if she had hit him he would have been moved away from the blow, not into it. She neither saw, nor felt, him again, however, and reached the boat without incident.

The charter captain leaned over the side and hauled her aboard, scowling. “I thought you knew what you were doing? I was on the point of calling the damned Coast Guard to look for you!”

“Sorry! I get too involved with my work sometimes and loose track of the time.”

“Sorry doesn’t get it, lady! I won’t be bringing you out again if you’re going to pull stupid stunts like that! I make my living with this boat. I can’t afford to have it confiscated as a frigging crime scene!”

“I told you it was an accident! I’ll be more careful from now on!”

He didn’t look mollified in the least, but apparently decided to let it go. Turning away, he stalked off to the wheel house.

Stevie turned to scan the waters around the boat, searching. In a moment, a head appeared above the waves. The late afternoon sun glinted off of his hair as if it was made of pure gold. Shaken and still feeling more than a little disoriented from her experience, Stevie lifted a hand tentatively and waved. She didn’t mean it as a taunt. He’d saved her, whatever—whoever he was, but she supposed, considering his insistence on having her camera, he might have construed it that way.

He stared at her, but he didn’t wave back.

Chapter Three

Stevie had to suppose she was suffering from shock. Truthfully, she couldn’t detect any of the more common symptoms—drop in body temp and blood pressure—but in other ways she felt much like she’d heard accident victims describe the aftermath—much as she’d felt when she’d been involved in a devastating car wreck herself--stunned and disbelieving, unable to think clearly or rationally.

She spent the whole trip back to the docks going over and over what had happened, what she’d said—or thought—what he’d ‘communicated’. The entire incident was just plain bizarre. And she could think of no logical explanation for it, none at all.

It wasn’t until they hove to at the docks that Stevie realized that she was clutching her camera to her chest as if it was a life preserver. She had no idea how long she’d been holding it in such a fashion, but her arms and hands and fingers ached from the ferocity of her grasp.

She was still wearing her wet suit. She hadn’t even gone below to change. Still had her tanks on her back, her flippers on her feet.

If the captain had said one word to her after he’d chewed her out, she wasn’t aware of it.

Shaking herself from her stupor, Stevie went below to change into her street clothes, gathered her wet suit and swimming gear, and disembarked. The diving gear belonged to the captain of the boat, fortunately, so she didn’t have to worry about lugging the heavy tanks back to her rental car.

A tall, nondescript man in a black suit stepped into her path as she reached the main dock. Stevie wasn’t even aware of him until she came up against the ‘black wall’ of his chest. She fell back a step and looked up at him, her jaw at half cock.

“If I’d been a wise guy, you’d be dead right now, Ms. Reynolds.”

Recognition dawned. Anger surged forward to dispel her preoccupation. “And, if I’d drowned out there, I’d be dead. Or, if I’d gotten hit by a truck on the way here, I’d be dead—You aren’t, and I’m not, Parker. So, if you don’t mind, get the hell out of my way.”

His lips flattened. “You’re a government witness in a high profile case, Ms. Reynolds. Need I remind you that you’re supposed to be in protective custody?”

“NO! Really?” Stevie exclaimed sarcastically, then pushed past him.

He fell into step beside her. “I’m going to have to insist you come with me, Ms. Reynolds.”

“Insist all you want. It won’t do you any damned good.”

He grabbed her arm, pulling her to a halt. “What is it with you, anyway? Do you have a death wish or something? You know you’re a dead woman if we don’t keep you under wraps until the trial. Afterwards, when we’ve sent him away, it’ll be safe enough to return to your normal activities. But not now.”

Stevie glared at him. “Do you see stupid stamped on my forehead?”

He looked taken aback. “I beg your pardon?”

“Look, the frigging newspapers plastered my face all over the front pages from here to Antarctica! They might just as well have painted a damned bulls eye on my forehead while they were at it. The man’s a drug kingpin. He doesn’t get out on the damned streets and sell the stuff himself. He has hundreds, maybe thousands of people working for him. Do you honestly think it’s going to do me one bit of good if you lock him up? Or do you just think I’m stupid enough to believe it?”

“We offered you the witness protection program.”

“So, I just walk away from everything? New life, new career, no family, no friends? Give up everything in the world that means anything to me, all just so I can go and testify for you guys so you can get good reviews in the newspaper? Fuck you!”

“We can make you go to court and testify, you know.”

“Did I say I wouldn’t go? I never said I wouldn’t testify. If I’m still alive by then, I’ll be there with bells on.”

“I’m afraid that’s not good enough,” he said grimly, grasping her arm once more. “As I said before, I must insist that you come with me … for your own safety.”

Stevie was just contemplating knocking him cold with her camera case when a wet, smacking sound diverted both of them. Agent Parker stiffened. Feeling the hairs stand up on the back of her neck, Stevie slowly turned her head, expecting momentarily to feel the impact of a bullet through her skull.

What she saw, however, was so stunning she dropped her camera case and duffel bag from suddenly nerveless fingers. Perhaps two yards away from her, a man stood on the edge of the dock, dripping water, as naked as the day he was born. Stevie had never considered herself a prude, but the sheer volume of exposed flesh was enough to send her brain into catatonia for at least a half a dozen heart beats. It had just clicked in her brain that she’d never seen such an impressive male member in her life when she realized she had.

“She said she didn’t want to go.”

His voice drew Stevie’s gaze to his face at last … and still she stared at him blankly for several moments before recognition dawned.

Apparently Agent Parker was as stunned as she was, because he couldn’t seem to think of anything to say at all.

“Adonis?” Stevie said questioningly.

As she turned back to look at Agent Parker a hornet flew past her ear, leaving a trail of heat in it’s wake. Agent Parker let out a grunt, as if he’d been struck by a baseball bat in the solar plexus. As she stared at him in surprise, trying to figure out what had caused the hole in his shoulder, blood erupted from it like a fountain someone had just turned on. Confused, she leaned toward him, looking at it more closely, noting with some surprise that he had his gun halfway out of his shoulder holster. As she turned to look at the gun, another hornet whipped past her, this one just above the crown of her head.

She reached up, felt her hair, then glanced up at Parker to see what he thought of it. A perfectly round, blackened hole had appeared in Agent Parker’s forehead. She stared at it blankly, but finally her sluggish brain—click, click, clicking—added a sum that sent a spurt of adrenaline through her system. She grabbed for his gun just as something that felt like a pickup truck slammed into her, carrying her over the railing and off the edge of the dock. The gun she’d just grabbed was jarred from her fingers by the impact of the blow. Numbly, she watched as it skittered across the dock and came to rest against one of the posts. It seemed as if she fell forever. Then, her feet struck chilly water. It was almost as if the water reached up to consume her. Before she could do more than draw breath to scream, she was surrounded by it.

She swallowed a mouthful of water and choked. Coughing, she only managed to drag more water into her mouth. Panic clouded her mind. Reason fled. She struggled toward the surface. It was some moments before she realized something was holding her. She began clawing at it mindlessly, trying to reach the surface of the water.

All around her, hornets shot into the water, peppering the surface and penetrating well below.

Quite suddenly, she sucked in a lung full of air. She was wracked by coughs, however, for some time before she became aware of her surroundings once more, aware enough to realize that she had not surfaced. She was encased once more in a protective bubble.

No sooner had that dawned upon her than she looked around for Adonis. He was behind her, pushing the bubble that encased her toward the ocean bed.

“Where are we going?” she asked, to shaken to consider whether or not he could actually hear her.

Deeper.

“Why?”

The man was shot, but I do not think they meant to shoot him. I think they were trying to shoot you. Why?

She stared at him for several moments, digesting his observations, but, even though she had not consciously accepted it, she knew very well that she’d just escaped a hail of gunfire. “It’s a long story,” Stevie muttered.

You do not have time to tell?

Stevie sighed impatiently. “I don’t FEEL like telling it again! You have no idea how many times I’ve had to tell the story, over and over and over. They might as well have just come right out and called me a liar.”

You don’t have to tell me if you do not want to.

His words didn’t calm her so much as they reproached. Shame filled her. This was twice now that he’d helped her and all she’d done was snip at him as if it was his fault she was in trouble. “I’m sorry. I’m not usually so rude. Really! Thank you!”

You are welcome.

“It’s about drugs, OK? I found some while I was doing research, an underwater cache. I reported it. The drug dealer’s going to jail, and he wants me dead so I can’t testify and help send him to jail.”

Adonis stopped, treading water, frowning thoughtfully. You found it? You saw him put it there?

“I got a picture of the boat as they were leaving. The Feds traced it to him. I radioed the coast guard as soon as they were out of sight. They were waiting for him when he docked in Miami. My testimony and photo place him with the drugs less than an hour before he docked in Miami. Without me, all they have is the fact that he took his boat out for a cruise.”

She paused for several moments, not certain she even wanted to recount the worst of it. “He, or his men, at his orders, murdered the captain of the boat I’d chartered, because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time—because I asked him to take me to that spot—so that’s murder plus felony drug trafficking. You starting to get the picture?”

You can not blame yourself for the death of the man.

“Unfortunately, I can and do. He wouldn’t have been there if it wasn’t for me.”

He ran the risk of some sort of accident, or even running into drug runners, every time he went out. You should not blame yourself when you could not have had any way of foreseeing what would happen.

“In a way, I know you’re right. I didn’t deliberately lead him to his death, but I can’t shake the guilt anyway. It’s something I’m going to have to get used to living with.”

What is protective custody?

The question effectively distracted her from her disturbing memories. “Like jail! I’m not supposed to be a prisoner, but in actuality I am, because I can’t go anywhere or do anything I usually do. I can’t even go home.”

So you ran away?

She shrugged. “Sort of.”

His brows rose.

“OK. Yes. I ran away. I got tired of being cooped up, waiting for some drug dealer to sneak up on me and blow me away, and I took off. I don’t see that I was any safer with them. Everybody knows there isn’t a law enforcement agency in the country that isn’t rife with corruption. Sooner or later, they would have paid somebody off and found me, and it wouldn’t make any difference how many agents were around.”

* * * *

“You think we got her?”

“No.”

“We could’ve though.”

“And we might not have. You really want to go tell Carlos we’re pretty sure we got the bitch?”

“No.”

“Neither do I.”

“They’ve been down there a long time. They must have drowned already.”

“What if they only swam under the fucking pier and surfaced? Did you think about that, stupid?”

“Don’t call me stupid.”

“Fine! You go tell Carlos you think they drowned.”

“What’re you going to tell him?”

“I’m going to tell him some weirdo came out of nowhere and played hero.”

“That was weird. You know something even weirder than that? He looked like he had a tail when he first climbed up on the dock. Did you see that?”

“You been snortin’ some of the product?”

“I ain’t got more than a little buzz.”

His buddy gave him a doubting look.

“No shit!”

“Right!”

“Really. But now you mention it, I could use a hit.”

“You really are stupid, you know that? You go back, flyin’ high, and tell the boss we missed and he’ll gut you like a fish.”

“What are we gonna do now, Pete?”

“Shut up! Don’t be using my name, man! You don’t know who might be listening.”

“Sorry. What’re we gonna do?”

“We’re gonna find a good spot and wait and see if our fish climbs back outta that water, that’s what.”

“How long are we gonna wait?”

“You got somewhere else you need to be?”

“Shit! I just asked. Do you have to be such a fucking asshole all the time?”