Up From The Deep by Vaughn Jackson (highly recommended books txt) 📕

“Whoa, calm down, you’re freaking me out. No, they’re not here anymore, they stopped by super early and woke me up, and left after I told them where you live.”

“You what?!”

A startled Raymond swerved into the oncoming traffic lane before correcting himself and giving Devonte a look that mixed frustration and confusion.

“Don’t yell at me, you know I’m—”

“Is dad there?” Devonte cut her off. “Put him on the phone.”

He could feel her hurt in the silence. “No. He’s not here.”

“Where is he?”

“Out,” she said. “I’m hanging up now. I have a cruise to catch. Buh-bye.”

“Alison, no, don’t hang—”

His phone beeped to let him know that the call had been disconnected

“Up.” He gripped his phone tight enough for his hand to shake.

“Please do not chuck your phone in frustration. It might ricochet of the dashboard and give me a concussion,” Raymond said. “Which would probably kill us both, given the circumstances.”

Devonte glared at him but stopped when he saw the sympathetic look on the older man’s face. He ran a hand through his hair and exhaled a thin stream of air through pursed lips. “She’s a bit of a—”

“Bitch?” Raymond offered.

Devonte chuckled. “Ditz is probably more accurate. I think she means well.”

“The men that came to your house?”

“She sent them to my house. Bought the whole FBI schtick. Probably trying to impress one of them with her immediate and respectful compliance.”

“But you said there was a person in your chat room?”

“I had assumed they traced me by IP or something,” Devonte said, “but I guess not...they knew enough about me to find my family home.”

“Then with your friend they would have had to do the same, right?”

“I was thinking that. It would be helpful information if I knew anything about D-Base other than a username and a general set of interests.” Devonte flung his head back against the headrest.

“You’ve known this person for how long, and you never discussed your personal lives?”

“We...got wrapped up in other things, okay. It just never came up...except, hold on...I think they live in Chicago? Yeah, yeah, cause when Obama was elected president, they were hyped about having a local president.”

“Isn’t Obama from Hawaii?”

“I tried to explain that, but they insisted that since he currently resided in Chicago it counted.”

“Well Chicago is a bit far away for us to do any detecting. Still, the people at the base are sure to have some contacts there, so try not to worry.”

“No, no,” Devonte said, growing visibly excited. “I know the general area they live! With that I can run over the people who visit the sites I know we both frequented, and back trace their IP address.”

“Which would tell you where they live,” Raymond said. “Ah, the horrors of modern technology and the youth who understand it.”

“You think they’ll have decent Wi-Fi at the base?” Devonte asked.

“I believe the question you should be asking is ‘Will they let me carry my laptop through the front gate?’” Raymond replied as he turned off onto an exit without slowing down at all. “The answer is probably ‘no’.”

“But D-Base could be in real trouble!”

“We’ll have to see if we can get you access to an internal terminal then.”

“There’s no way they’d let some random ass dude touch their shit. I mean, come on.”

“But they might let the partner of an esteemed Interpol agent ‘touch their shit’, as you say.” Raymond winked, but the cheeky effect was lost since his eyes remained glued to the road.

“You’re going to lie...to the American government? For me?”

“No. For your kidnapped friend. Things need to get done.”

The adrenaline from the morning must have finally worn off, because Devonte felt the nagging of a question at the back of his mind. “Why are you helping me?”

“I’m a detective. In essence, my job is to help people.”

“No, but why are you going this far? I mean, the cafe...the police...now the military! That has to extend beyond the call of duty, right?”

Raymond paused to think a moment, then pulled off to the shoulder of the highway. “Because, I worry I may be at fault for you and your friend’s present condition.”

Interlude I

The grey-blue ocean lapped around the cruise liner off the coast of Hawaii. Gentle waves lapped at the reflective white paint of the ship’s hull as it rested out in the infinite aquatic expanse. Vacationers leapt from the lower deck, splashing noisily as they joined their peers amongst the waves.

“Marleen, come on in!”

The middle-aged woman looked down at the man who’d invited her to come with him. Eric. This was his idea of a date. The ocean. She’d felt a real connection with him over the dating app and when they met for coffee the month before, so she didn’t want to spoil the mood by admitting her fear of water. Thalassophobia her therapist called it. She wondered if he thought naming it would help her overcome the fear. In this moment she didn’t think it mattered much. Visions of great writhing tentacles dragging her down into the infinite dark filled her head. Her heart raced and she began sweating more than normal, even under the bright noon sun.

“Don’t worry,” Eric reassured her. “I’ll be right here when you hit the water. Just start swimming up as soon as you go under.”

But what if I don’t, she thought. What if I hit the water and pass out? What if there’s a rock we can’t see? What if a wave—

Her thoughts were cut short by a deep rumbling from beneath the ship. Without warning, the ocean grew violent and the boat teetered from side to side. Marleen fought to keep her balance, gripping to the railing of the ship with knuckles as pale as the white sand beaches they explored that morning.

Another lurch of the boat sent her spilling down into the water. She screamed the entire way. Eric was good to his word. No sooner had she hit the water, his arms were around her and pulling her to