The Oracle's Message by Alex Archer Page A

Annja had been diving the day before.
    “I wonder if we’ll see more tiger sharks,” she said aloud.
    Hans looked at her. “If we do, we’ll be sure to point them in your direction since you seem so adept at killing them.”
    Annja frowned. “I didn’t want to kill it, but it left me no alternative.”
    “We’re not judging you, Annja,” Spier said. “I think we’re all quite a bit in awe of you actually. It’s not every day that you meet a woman who is able to kill a fourteen-foot tiger shark.”
    “I suppose not,” Annja said. Good thing they don’t know what I used to kill the damned thing, she thought.
    They made good time, and within twenty minutes they’d arrived at more or less the same location as the day before. Gottlieb got them all squared away with gear, and Hans helped Annja into her rig. She tested the regulator, found she had good oxygen flow and then prepared her mask.
    Spier spoke quietly in German to his team, who had huddled a bit closer to one another, effectively meaning Annja couldn’t hear them.
    “Excuse me?”
    Spier glanced at her. “Forgive me, Annja. I don’t mean to exclude you.”
    “Secrets, Joachim?”
    “Hardly,” Spier said. “We always have a small prayer before we go diving. It’s nothing secretive at all, just more of a personal tradition that we enjoy doing. We like to think it keeps us safe.”
    “Has it so far?”
    Spier nodded. “Yes.”
    “Well, then, that’s a good thing,” Annja said. She glanced at Hans. “Maybe I could have used something like that yesterday, huh?”
    Hans grinned. “I don’t think you needed any prayers, Annja. You seemed quite capable on your own without divine intervention.”
    “I needed you guys, though.”
    Hans shrugged. “We were just passing through. Anyone else in the same situation would have done the same thing.”
    “You’re being modest.”
    Spier cleared his throat. “I hate to break up this little gathering, but we’re wasting time. I don’t want to lose the day. The weather report says we could get some rain this afternoon, which means our window for proper exploration is a small one.”
    “Sorry,” Annja said. “You’re right. We should get going.”
    Spier nodded. “If you get into trouble, look for Hans. He’ll be close by your side today.”
    Well, that’s not a bad thing at all, Annja thought. She glanced at Hans, who gave her the thumbs-up and a smile around his mouthpiece before falling backward over the side of the sloop.
    Annja heard the splashes as, one by one, the team dropped over the side of the boat and vanished into the sea below.
    She took one final look around.
    Here we go again, she thought.
    She dropped back into the ocean.

8
     
    Annja felt the bright blue waters of the sea envelop her once again as she turned over and got her bearing. She saw Spier and the rest of his team ahead of her, but off to her right side floated Hans, watching her protectively.
    She gave him the thumbs-up sign and he nodded, pointed and they descended together.
    A world of bubbles rose from the team as they dove deeper toward the coral reef. Annja found that she had a small feeling of uneasiness in her stomach, but quickly decided it was due to her fear that there might be another tiger shark lingering in the area.
    She needn’t have worried. She could already see that the activity around the reef was far greater than it had been yesterday. She spotted a few blacktip sharks meandering around the reef, snatching up smaller fish when the opportunities presented themselves.
    Hans eyed her as she looked at the sharks, but unlike yesterday, they were only six-footers. Hardly the massive size of the tiger shark. And while they’d need to be mindful, she knew that the blacktips posed little threat.
    Still, she glanced down and reassured herself that she’d replaced the diving knife she’d lost yesterday. The new knife sat snug in its sheath alongside her right calf.
    All of the other divers were similarly