Chapter 6: Deep Swim

"Well, look who's in outer space."

Joe turned away from the railing of the deck and smiled as Josh approached her.

"Just thinking."

"Nervous?" he asked leaning against the rail beside her. It was mid-morning and they had finally arrived at the sight. They weren't launching the subs yet. Instead, today was about moving the merfolk from the scuba room to the ocean. It was a laborious task because not all of the merfolk were on CBI's and therefore couldn't just walk up on deck.

They had to be loaded into long, coffin like boxes, filled with water that were then walked up to deck. Then they opened the hatch on the side and tossed the contents into the water. Getting the merfolk back into the tank would be pretty much the same operation but in reverse. Those who wanted to hitch-hike back on the ship, at least.

"A little." Joe admitted thinking about their mission. "I've worked criminal for a while. But its has always been murders and things like that. This screams of espionage and top secret something or other. Its the first time Jack's sent me on something like this."

"Oh, yeah?" Josh looked thoughtful.

"Yeah." Joe sighed. "And the thing is, I'm really kind of anxious about the subs. I'm a thinker. I think, that's pretty much the only thing I'm good at. Jack's forbidden me to do anything on criminal without a partner. Because I'm not really good at things. I can plan anything down to the tiniest detail, but when it comes to implementing it, I suck."

"Don't worry." Josh nudged her playfully. "You're going to have Kai there doing most of the steering on both the manned and unmanned subs."

"Really?" Joe asked, feeling a bit relieved.

"I insist on it." Josh said seriously making Joe laugh.

They both turned as a really big door to the lower levels opened up and a four men carrying, what looked like, a giant water cooler came out. Only the lid wasn't on top, it was on the end. Joe knew that there was a merperson in there, waiting to be reunited with the ocean.

"Those are expensive subs, Joe." Josh continued as they watched the parody of a funeral procession get close to the port side of the ship where a section of railing had been lowered for ease of access. "I don't want you breaking them."

The men reached the edge, one unlatched the side but held it closed. They pulled back, the threw the box forward. It didn't leave their hands, but the side opened and a merman came shooting out. He did a rather graceful dive into the water and the watchers cheered a bit.

"Hey, guys!" Ilia came running over to them from where the watchers stood. "I missed this last time, it's so much fun. Kind of like a show."

"Yeah, merman ballet." Josh laughed as four more men came up with another box.

"How you feeling, Joe?" Ilia asked, grabbing her arm and looping it between hers. "And why are you standing back here? You can see so much better a bit closer."

"I can see fine." Joe said and they paused as they released the next merperson. Joe thought she caught a glimpse of Flavian before he hit the water after doing a flip in midair.

"Woo!" Ilia cried with the others. "This is so much fun!"

Joe laughed at her excitement.

"Hey, sweetie, I've been meaning to ask you." Ilia said, changing the subject suddenly, "Why do you want to be called 'Joe'?"

"Because that's my name." Joe said. "Joanne, actually."

"Well, Joanne is pretty." Ilia said. "Why can't I call you Joanne?"

"Please dont." Joe said, wincing a bit. "That's all my stepfather ever called me."

"How about Anne?" Ilia said. "Anne is pretty."

"I don't like Anne." Joe said. "It makes me think of Raggedy Anne and I've already got red hair, I definitely don't want that as a nickname. Besides, I'm more of a Joe if I say so myself."

"No, sweetie." Ilia said. "G.I. was a Joe. You're not a Joe. What was it that Kai called you? Kida? Kyna?"

"Kyma." Joe said.

"Yeah, Kyma." Ilia said. "I like that better. 'Kyma'. Sounds kind of sexy. Much more you than Joe."

"Sounds Greek." Josh said. "What's it mean?"

"Wave." Joe said as the next four came up with a box, Kai a step behind them.

He caught sight of her by the rail and changed course to join her.

"Hey, big boy." Ilia smiled in greeting as he approached. "You going swimming, too?"

"I thought I would see if Joe needed me first." he said staring at Joe again. Maybe it was his black eyes where the pupil and the iris blended perfectly with each other, but he had the most intense stare. It didn't bother her, not really, but it made her itch not unpleasantly.

"Uh, no." Joe said, turning her head a bit and hoping she wasn't blushing as much as she thought she was. "We can start subs tomorrow."

"Can't you do it on your own?" Ilia asked.

"No." Josh said firmly. "She can't." Ilia laughed and Joe sighed sadly.

"Then, I can stay." Kai said. "We need to get to work, Kyma."

"No." Joe shook her head. "You haven't really swam in a while. I know that the pool is hardly worth swimming in. Go, swim with them. We can start working later. It might even be suspicious if we just start working full steam ahead when we just got here. Go."

He didn't thank her verbally. He reached up and caressed her cheek with one hand, those infinitely dark eyes burning into her, before he walked away.

They watched him get to the edge, pull off his clothes and jumping overboard to multiple cheers, especially from the females aboard.

"Wow, he just undressed in front of God and everybody." Josh laughed. "Not a drop of shyness in that one."

"He's naked all the time with his fins one." Ilia reasoned.

"How long does it take to get his fins on?" Joe asked.

Josh answered, "It varies. The gills are always the first things on though. The fins form slower. I've got to go." he checked his watch. "I'm on duty again in ten minutes. Later, girls."

Ilia and Joe waved him off as he went back below deck as another box came up.

"This is going to take most of the day, isn't it?" Joe asked.

Ilia shrugged. "Don't really know. Fun to watch though."

Joe nodded as they chunked another merman into the ocean. Judging from the cheer, he must have done a trick before he landed.

"So...Kyma." she returned to their previous subject. "Sounds a bit too...intimate for me to use. I guess I'll just have to stick with sweetie."

"It's just a nickname." Joe said but she knew she was wrong.

"Sweetie, there are nicknames and there are pet names." Ilia said. "And then, the much less known third category, are the love names."

"It's not a love name." Joe said immediately.

"It means 'wave' in Greek, right?" Ilia asked.

"Yeah." Joe nodded.

"Did you know," Ilia said, smiling a bit, "that the merfolk consider waves to be heartbeat of the ocean. The rhythmic pounding, the constant ebb and flow, it's romantic to them. Beautiful. I don't think he would have called you wave unless he thought the same things about you."

Joe had no come back for that, so she watched in silence as a mermaid was thrown into the water below.

XXXXXXXXXX

Kai was watching his brothers and sisters rejoice in their joining with the open sea. It had only been a few days but being stuck in a box, even a big one like the scuba pool, was no fun at all.

The bottom of the boat was enormous, its great propellers still. While the merfolk were being released, the ship was completely immobile. Once all the merfolk had a chance to get away from any danger, the ship would relocate itself to the proper position for releasing the subs.

Subs were stowed on the backs of the ships.

The Haltija was pulling the manned sub. The Siren and Griffin, each a little over a hundred yards away in either direction, had the unmanned subs behind them.

They were releasing their merfolk as well. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Everyone but Kai and Adara.

She was released and immediately swam towards her brother. Flavian would act as a decoy, deterring people searching for them as the siblings went to check out the lights.

The look she gave him was clear. He had told her he might no make it because he might need to work with Kyma. She was wondering why he was there.

He shrugged indifferently, saying that she wasn't going to work today.

So they turned fin and started swimming down. Kai had the GPS coordinates of the lights and directions from the last man he had sent down.

He wanted to see the lights for himself. He had his poeple stationed down there since they were found, but he had never seen them himself.

Adara, being able to swim deeper than most merfolk, was accompanying him to see if she could get close enough to see what they were.

It didn't take long at all for them to the plunged into the darkness of deep waters. Their fins were very powerful and they could swim extremely fast. Plus, it didn't take all that long for the open water to get dark.

Halfway down, they were met by a man of Kai's. They knew the rough position, but it would be easier to find with a guide. He motioned them to follow and the three merfolk swam even deeper into the darkness.

It took a great deal longer than Kai would have preferred for his eyes to adjust. He was made for the deep, dark waters but it had been a while since he had actually visited them. Being on CBI's meant he spent a great deal of time landed.

Which, honestly, was bothering him less and less lately.

And he could trace the contentment on being landed to the red head that waited for him back on the Haltija. He just couldn't seem to get enough of that gorgeous red hair. So soft and beautiful.

He shook his head and pushed her as far from his thoughts as he could manage, which wasn't all that far.

They swam for a little over half an hour before they reached the bottom. They kept swimming along the bottom until they reached a sort of underwater cliff that dropped into a section of sea that, Kai knew, was deeper than he could handle.

At the bottom of the cliff was where they were.

The lights had not moved since the photo had been taken.

There were 24 lights in total, each creating a circle. Eight in a large circle in the middle surrounded by four smaller circles of four lights each.

He waited at the top of the cliff with the man while Adara, without needing to be told, swam down deeper.

They waited while she disappeared. A few minutes later, she came back and shook her head.

She could swim deeper than most but she still couldn't reach the lights themselves.

Kai took one last look at them, still unmoving and, while not really bright, were still obviously there.

He nodded to Adara saying he was done. He patted his man on the shoulder in thanks before he and his sister started swimming back towards the surface.