TWENTY-TWO
As soon as they were geared up, Thomas and Eva stepped off the back of the Dolorosa into the deep cobalt waters surrounding Atlantis. At the urging of Ranger Oliver Sterling, Eva held a Muzzy Vice compound fishing bow, and Thomas held a Magnum spear gun.
Thomas exchanged the okay sign with Eva at fifteen feet of depth. He cleared his ears once more—he hadn’t been diving in a while and his ears weren’t used to the pressure—then together they headed toward the opening of the massive enclosure. A small school of silvery deep-water fish swam in front of Thomas’s mask, startling him, and then a school of jellyfish floated by. One stung Thomas’s cheek.
Something about the burning pain took him back to the day when he and Oliver had worked to defuse the bomb that Julian had placed h
