Every hidden thing, p.29
Every Hidden Thing, page 29
Parker reread the text. “That’s the way it looks—and he’s on his way.” It was a good thing, too. A battalion of clouds had formed just offshore. A fogbank waiting for the order to storm the beaches and invade Rockport. Other than cutting their light even more, the sea mist wouldn’t bother them underwater. But would the heavy fog make it harder for Steadman to spot their bubbles—or know if they were in trouble?
Harley stared out over the quarry. “Lots of ground to cover if we’re going to give it an honest search. Deep, too. We won’t have much bottom time.”
He was right. The quarry was nearly two hundred yards long and choked by woods on all sides. Humpback Rock jutted out like a rock peninsula.
“We don’t need to search the whole quarry,” Parker said. “Just where we saw the Shadow-man go down.”
Parker and Harley readied their gear. Parker looked at the knife from Grandpa, reading the inscription:
“He reveals deep and hidden things;
he knows what lies in darkness.”
Harley read over Parker’s shoulder. “Let’s hope your God reveals something to us that everyone else missed, right?”
Parker totally agreed. Show us those hidden things, God . . . bring some justice here, please. He sheathed the knife. Slid it into his BCD vest pocket and smoothed the Velcro seal back in place.
Steadman showed up ten minutes later. By the time he swung out of his pickup, Parker and Harley both had their wet suits on, regulators secured to the tank valves, and the BCD vests attached. They’d set their fins, masks, lights, and weight belts at the lip of the quarry.
“You two look like you’re all set.” Steadman pulled an oversize duffle from the bed of his truck.
“Thanks for doing this, Boss.” And Parker really meant it.
“Don’t thank me yet.” He hefted the duffle to the edge of the quarry and whipped open the zipper. His tank, wet suit—all his gear was stowed neatly inside. “First I’d like to try talking you out of it.”
“Save your breath,” Harley said. “I’m going down.”
Steadman smiled. “That’s what I was afraid of.” He stepped to the edge of the quarry. “A dive here is way different from any place you’ve gone down before. Neither of you has quarry experience, right?”
Parker looked into the still water. He was definitely wishing Dad was here.
“I’ll take that as a no.” Steadman folded his hands across his chest. “So how about I go down instead, look for anything unusual, and report back to you two?” He glanced up at the sky. “Looks like our ceiling is dropping, too. I’ll be quick, thorough, and we’ll all get out of here before we can’t see ten feet in front of us.”
“I’m doing this,” Harley said. No one was going to talk him out of this. He gave his mask a squirt of the no-fog solution and smeared it around the entire inside surface of the glass.
“Okay,” Steadman said. “Plan B. How about I take you down? We’ll let Swabbie be our topside guy. I’ve logged a thousand more dives than the both of you combined. I’ll lead—and I’ll get you down and back in one piece. When we’re done, I’ll even treat you two to dinner at Top Dog. How’s that?” He looked to Parker.
Honestly, Parker would have loved to sit this one out. But wouldn’t he be ditching Harley? And Parker didn’t want any regrets. If Steadman and Harley did the looking for Parker, would he wonder someday if they missed something he might have seen? Steadman had already scouted the quarry out earlier in the week anyway. Could Parker really expect him to notice something he didn’t see the first time?
And there was more, wasn’t there? Hadn’t he prayed—asking God to help him make a difference somehow? Didn’t he feel he was supposed to do this dive? If he backed away from this, might he miss what God had planned for him?”
“Mr. Steadman, part of me would love that. Honest. But I’d feel you were doing my job.”
“Taking a late afternoon dive is no big deal to me, Parker. I’ll just be working up a bigger appetite for dinner.”
The water looked black now. Parker really wished he could take Steadman up on his offer. But if Harley went in—and Parker stayed back? That still didn’t feel right. “Look, you’re helping Ella and her Grams plenty. You’re going the extra mile with them. I guess I just want to feel like I’ve helped in some way, too. I know we’ll probably come up with nothing, but I need to do this.”
“Sounds like someone wants to step up and be a man. Roger that.” Steadman shrugged. “I can respect that. But let me go over a few things with both of you before you go down, okay?”
He warned about the cold—how they’d hit a thermocline layer where the water would turn icier than it already was. He put the fear of God into them about the dark, too. Especially now that the sun was no longer overhead. The quarry floor was covered in a fine silt—which was another hazard.
“Stay off the bottom if you can,” Steadman said. “You stir up that silt, and you’d better not stop moving—not for three seconds. You do and that silt cloud will swallow you whole, blocking out what little light you have.”
Steadman let that image percolate in their brains for a moment. “Look, boys, I’ve seen good men get caught in a silt cloud and lose it. A light won’t help—it will actually make it worse. If you get caught in a silt cloud, what are you going to do?”
“Don’t panic,” Parker said. “And start moving.”
Steadman nodded. “Forward—or up until you get clear of it. The stuff spreads fast, and as you move you’re creating a current. The cloud will follow you. You’ll need to go farther than you think to clear it, but you will get past it.”
He looked down into the quarry like he really wished he was going in. “I’m going to ask one more time. How about you stay topside, Swabbie, and I’ll take Harley down? I’ll make sure we stay on course—and off the bottom.”
But wasn’t the whole idea of diving the quarry to get to the bottom . . . to look close to see if there was any clue Shadow-man left behind? “I really have to do this,” Parker said.
Steadman raised both hands in mock surrender. “Okay, okay.” He lowered his hands and his face got that serious look again. “Now, if you see any old quarry equipment down there, steer clear. I don’t want one of you getting tangled up in rusty steel cables. They’re down there, and it’s a real devil to see them. Even harder to get free if it snags your gear.”
Parker hadn’t thought about that. And didn’t want to think about it now. He explained that their focus would be the bottom of the quarry at the base of Humpback Rock. He had no desire to go past that point.
Steadman looked toward the granite peninsula. “Humpback Rock. When you get in the water, swim far enough out to get a clear visual on that peninsula. Set your compass for the rock before you go down. Doesn’t look far, but it’s easy to lose your way in the dark. Once you’re at depth, follow that compass. At the halfway point, you’ll see a car. A 1966 Plymouth Valiant, to be exact.”
“There’s a car down there?”
“Sitting on all four rims like someone parked it. And it’s no wonder the guy pushed it into the quarry. I would too if I had a total dweeb-mobile like that.”
Harley was staring into the water like maybe he thought he could see it if he looked hard enough. “Still got the plates on it?”
“Don’t stop for souvenirs, hotshot. The silt, remember? It will gobble you up faster than you could pull out a screwdriver to get the plate off. The driver’s door is jammed in a full-open position. But don’t even think about going inside the car. It’s tighter than it looks—and turning around to get back out of the car with all that gear? You’re asking for trouble—especially when the silt cloud rolls over you. Stick to your mission. By the time you get there, you won’t have much bottom time.”
Parker was feeling even less confident about the whole thing than he had felt just a few minutes earlier.
“The car itself works like a compass. The open driver’s door points you to the south wall of the quarry. You won’t be able to see the wall, but it’s close. There are some nasty rock formations on the south wall. I’d steer clear of it at all costs.”
“Avoid the south wall. Check,” Parker said. “Humpback Rock is where we want to search.”
Steadman nodded. “Good.” He looked at the sky, then back at the quarry. He tapped the lip of the quarry. “You follow the Valiant’s nose and it will point you in the right direction. You’ll run smack-dab into another rock wall. That’s the base of Humpback Rock. You’ll have a few minutes to search the bottom, but don’t lose sight of that granite tower. You make your ascent, right up that rock wall, and you’ll surface right there. Put some air in your BCD and swim right back here on the surface. Got it?”
Yeah, they got it. And right now Parker just wanted to get going. It was getting darker by the minute. What if his dad got back early and decided the dive looked too risky after all?
Steadman spun the dial on his watch. “You have twenty minutes. From the instant your head disappears below the surface to the moment I see your smiling faces bobbing at Humpback. Deal?”
Parker and Harley both set their watches.
“Ten seconds late, and I’ll be gearing up and following your bubbles down. And you will not like seeing me down there.” As if to make his point, he pressed his mask against his cheeks and made a mock angry face. “Now move out.”
Parker and Harley sat on the edge of the quarry, their feet dangling in the cool water. Fins. Tank with BCD vest. Weight belt. Mask. Gloves. All went on quick—like the clock was already ticking.
“I’ll take lead on the descent, and to the car,” Harley said. “You can lead us home.”
Parker nodded.
“Stay together,” Steadman said. “If you lose sight of the other for more than thirty seconds, you abort the mission and surface. You got that? You get to the surface and tap out. I’ll go down to pick up the stray. You do not want to be alone at the bottom of this quarry, and you don’t want to wander anywhere near the south wall. Are we clear?”
Parker and Harley both gave Steadman a thumbs-up.
“Here we go.” Harley settled the mouthpiece in place, boosted himself off the granite lip, and splashed into the quarry.
Parker did the same. Both bobbed at the surface for a moment. Parker set his compass. Rinsed his mask and reseated it on his face. Unclipped the light from his weight belt and secured the lanyard around his wrist. He flashed Harley an “OK” sign and turned on his flashlight.
“Stick to the plan,” Steadman said. “Don’t make me come in after you.”
Parker raised the release valve on his BCD as Harley did the same. Together, they slipped below the surface on their feet-first descent to the bottom. Parker squeezed his nose and gently forced air into his ears and sinuses to equalize the building pressure. Diving the quarry already felt different from any ocean dive Parker had experienced. The biggest thing was the overwhelming silence. The ocean was full of sounds. A motor from a hundred yards away sounded like it was overhead. Here in the quarry, the only thing Parker heard was his own breathing. A Darth Vader sound as he sucked air through the regulator, and the bubbles tumbled past his hood.
Parker had never been on a night dive, but he imagined it would be something like this. The bottom wasn’t visible. Only a blackness that appeared to have no end.
Even at twenty feet below the surface, water was still trickling inside his wet suit. Looking for a dry spot of skin to torture with its icy fingers.
The temperature took a definite plunge at the thermocline layer. Not a gradual thing, but more like a literal line. Parker slowed. Slid his hand above the thermocline, then below it again. It was like pulling his hand from a bucket of somewhat chilly water and thrusting it into one filled with ice water.
Parker slowed as the bottom loomed into sight. A lunar landscape kind of place. No seaweed. Eerie lack of life. Everything about it reminded him that they didn’t belong here. For a moment, they both hovered above the bottom. Even as they did, great plumes of black silt billowed up from the quarry floor, reaching hungrily for them, gobbling up their fins.
Harley checked his compass and pointed. Parker verified the direction with his own compass. They struck out side by side.
Parker’s beam found the Valiant first. Sure enough, the driver’s door stood wide open, like someone had just been inside. Harley swept off a bit of the back window and shined his flashlight inside. From where Parker floated, the light cast eerie shadows from inside the car that looked like hulking figures were waiting inside, ready to pounce on anyone foolish enough to venture in. Harley hovered over the driver’s door for a moment. Oh, man! Parker just remembered how Harley’s dad died. This had to be a tough reminder.
Harley turned back to make sure Parker was still there. He pointed ahead—then pointed at Parker. A quick compass check confirmed the nose of the Valiant definitely pointed toward Humpback Rock.
They kept off the bottom by three feet. Close enough to see anything that might have been dropped, but not so close to stir up the deadly silt. Parker took the lead, but not by much more than a couple of inches. They swam shoulder to shoulder—and stayed so close their fins often sideswiped each other. Parker didn’t mind. He couldn’t imagine doing this alone. Would Harley have really gone in by himself?
The bottom was way darker than Parker would have guessed. Huge chunks of granite stood here and there—like some quarryman had them all cut to size right before the quarry flooded.
Silt covered everything, just like Steadman said. A bicycle was covered with the gray-black stuff. It looked like pictures he’d seen of the debris around the Titanic.
Suddenly Harley gripped Parker’s forearm and pointed. His beam was locked on a pipe-shaped object—close to two feet long—just lying on the bottom.
Parker kicked harder and glided down to see it. It wasn’t a pipe. It was a massive light stick—the kind Shadow-man had been carrying. There wasn’t a speck of silt on it. Was this the one that went down with Shadow-man the night before? Parker tucked it in his vest.
They hadn’t gone six feet before Parker saw a second one. A fine layer of silt covered it—but not nearly what he’d seen on the car and other things down there. Parker knelt on the bottom. Was this the light stick that had lured Devin Catsakis to his death? The thought totally creeped him out. He picked it up and held it out to Harley. He nodded, like he knew exactly what Parker was thinking.
Parker added this one to his vest as well. How many light sticks were down here? Suddenly a cloud of silt caught up to them. Surrounded them. Hugged them close. Everything went black in the most suffocating way. How could their fins have kicked up this much muck?
Parker reached for Harley. Found his arm. He didn’t let go but yanked him forward, kicking with all his might. It seemed like it took ten strokes to clear the black cloud, and the moment he did, he kept pushing for another ten before slowing up.
The light sticks were still tucked in his vest. He was sort of treading water—suspended at sixty-five feet, with Harley doing the same. Parker concentrated on steadying his breathing. Checked the time. They were good. Still had a solid ten minutes before they needed to be at the surface.
Harley pointed at his compass and raised both hands, palms up. Parker checked his own compass. Okay, the retreat from the quarry dust got them off course a little. Actually a lot.
He could just get himself pointed in the right direction and move—but how far out into the quarry had he gone to get away from the silt cloud? What if he missed the Humpback Rock tower wall and headed farther out into the flooded old pit where there might be rusty steel cables and equipment?
Parker held his flashlight out and did a slow 360-degree turn. Black. Black. Black. Black. Granite. Black. He backtracked a few degrees. Definitely a rock wall. He checked his compass. Clearly this wasn’t the deep base of Humpback Rock. It would be the south wall of the quarry—where the passenger door of the Valiant pointed. Exactly where Steadman had warned them not to go.
Keeping his beam locked on the granite wall, Parker motioned to Harley, using the best sign language he could manage. Should they go to that wall, and just go to the surface—or keep looking for the wall they’d originally planned to ascend? They could still check the bottom all the way there. But the truth was, now that he’d seen the bottom, his hopes of finding anything significant had dimmed as much as the light from overhead. If a wallet had dropped, the silt would have swallowed it up.
Harley pointed at the wall in the beam. Which was a relief. The idea of following the compass into blackness was totally creeping him out. Maybe it was finding the light sticks. Maybe it was the cold. The tomb-like darkness. Or the unnatural metallic sound of his regulator as he drew in the compressed air, and the bubbles as he exhaled. He’d seen enough.
Together they kicked for the granite wall. Harley swept the bottom with his light as he went. Parker kept his light trained on their target. At the very base, where the granite wall jutted up from the bottom, another light stick.
Harley angled down to scoop it up.
Three light sticks. Parker didn’t know how they would prove anything that would help Ella. In fact he was pretty sure they wouldn’t. But still it was something to bring to the surface, if nothing else, to prove Shadow-man had been there. To prove Devin Catsakis hadn’t imagined the light . . . that he really had seen Shadow-man—just like Parker, Harley, Ella, and Jelly had. At least they wouldn’t end the dive empty-handed.
Parker checked his watch. They still had time on the clock, but he’d seen enough. What he really wanted now was to get out of here. He pointed up the wall toward the surface. Harley nodded and gave a thumbs-up. They ascended side by side at an even pace, careful to keep breathing—and not to get ahead of their bubbles. Too fast and the compressed nitrogen from the scuba tank mix would actually bubble in their bloodstream—which wouldn’t bring a happy ending to their quarry dive.
Parker didn’t look down. His imagination was already conjuring up Shadow-man rising from the blackness below them. Dragging them down.
