CHAPTER 57
Ashley watched the huge manta ray glide past, revealing a pale underside vented with long gill slits. Despite his devilish appearance, with what looked like two horns jutting from his brow, Spirit was a harmless filter feeder. A favorite of the tourists. He’d been with Oceanus since the opening of the resort, already quite large when he’d been captured off the coast, and had grown quickly. He was now nearly fifteen feet across. The habitat in Pirate’s Cove, despite its size, could no longer contain him, and Mr. Barbas was keeping his promise.
Today, Spirit would go home.
Ashley stood in the dappled light of the softly lit, below-ground viewing tunnel. Most of the light usually came in from the aquarium itself, where sunlight refracted down through the water from the outside world. But the sun wasn’t up yet.
She smiled as the ray disappeared around a bend in the tank. She looked over at Barbas, who stood a short distance behind her, talking with a few of the aquarists. This was something she appreciated about the man. Even if he didn’t really want to part with a main attraction, and might have kept the animal forever if he could, at least he had the decency to listen to his aquarists and accept when it was time to—
“Ashley?”
She turned. Striding down the rock-walled corridor, in his proud but uneven gait, was Valerie Martell’s uncle. Beside him walked another rough-looking man she’d never seen before—much taller than Mack, younger, and wearing a cowboy hat.
“Mack! How are you, love?” She gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek.
“Same as always. How are you?”
“I’m all right, you know. What’re you doing down here? I thought they’d already closed off this tunnel?”
“Apparently not where we came in.” He thumbed at the younger man next to him. “Sturman here wanted to see the aquariums.”
She recognized the name from a conversation with Val. She turned to him. He wore a plain white T-shirt and jeans. He was attractive, but not in a Hollywood way—more like an old leather jacket, with stubble along his jawline and wrinkles creasing his skin. She could tell he’d led a hard life.
She said, “I’m Ashley. I work here at Oceanus.”
Sturman took his hat off and shook her hand. “Will Sturman. Val’s told me a little about you. You are tall.”
She smiled, looking down at her feet. “The heels add a few inches. Did you come down to see her?”
“I reckon so.”
“Are you getting along again, then?”
He smiled. “We’d have to ask her.”
“Indeed. So Val said you work at an aquarium back in California?”
“That’s right. You done a pretty decent job here. How do you keep the pH, the salinity regulated in such big tanks? And how do you keep the water fresh?”
“Well, I’m no expert, but it has something to do with the high volume flowing in directly from the ocean. The water in here turns over pretty quickly.”
“I’ll be damned. So how you get a job at this place?”
“Well, you could start by asking Mr. Barbas.” She pointed at him. “He’s the owner.”
Sturman nodded, fitting the straw cowboy hat back on his head. “I don’t wanna interrupt him now. He looks busy.”
“We’re almost ready for the release. The helicopter will be coming in very soon.”
“Amazing,” Sturman said.
“I’m assuming you’re both here to watch?”
Mack snorted. “Not me. Just Sturman and Watson. Seen enough helicopters and big fish in my life. I’m headed to the casino.”
“Eric’s here?”
Just then, he came around a corner in the tunnel.
“He had to visit the little boys’ room,” said Mack.
They locked eyes for a moment, and Ashley felt her face flush. This wasn’t the time.
“Well, I’ll make sure they allow you to stay down here, if you’d like. Now if you’ll excuse me, gentlemen, I need to get back to work.” She turned away.
When Ashley walked up, Barbas was pointing at the heavy security doors at the end of the elaborately formed hallway. He and the aquarists had been joined by a few guards. But where was Dennis? He was in charge of security today. Only a handful of VIPs would be allowed down here to watch the entire process, as divers maneuvered the huge ray into a broad hoop net suspended from the aircraft.
Nobody besides the VIPs would see anything but the helicopter arrive and leave with Spirit in the net. All the guests would be invited to watch the spectacle, but only from designated areas above ground. They just wouldn’t be granted access down here, where outer doors would be locked and guards would be posted so that if something went wrong—or Spirit was hurt in the netting process—nobody would be able to film it on an iPhone.
She watched as the manta reappeared, swimming in slow circles around the enclosure. If only he knew that very soon he would have his freedom. Ashley just hoped everything went smoothly.