Tania swam over, but with the images shut down, and his breakfast gone, Matt immediately felt better. He nodded and had replaced his mouthpiece. Tania pointed to the surface.

They came up together, broke the surface, pushed their masks up and trod water. Within another minute all the divers had returned, and together they swam slowly back towards the boat.

“Anything?” Adira called.

“Nada. Just a giant crack in the rocks that is home to plenty of sea sponges and a few nosy lobsters. The most we can get down there is a nice dinner,” Andy said, and then grinned. “That’s if you like fish with a touch of Kearns sauce.”

“I’m okay,” Matt said. “Must have been the breakfast, or something. Just got a bit sick. I’m okay.” He changed the subject not wanting to dwell on the images, but knew that reading the copy of the Al Azif must have affected him more than he’d like to think. “The stone slab set into the wall,” he said. “May be nothing, but we weren’t expecting anything obvious were we?”

“Describe it,” Adira said quickly.

Tania recounted the size and shape. “It was definitely Lighthouse-era stonework, and the only sign of human habitation below the island’s crustal surface.”

Adira looked to Matt and Andy, and the geologist bobbed his head. “Maybe. I mean it sure looked like a tumbled part of the edifice to me. But could just be where the earthquake tore open the surface skin of the island and some debris fell in.”

Matt nodded. “Yeah, not sure it was anything significant. But might be worth bringing back a crowbar.”

Adira looked at the sky and then her watch. “We take a break and warm up on deck. Then we have time for one more dive before we head back. We’ll take a quadrant each, and expand our perimeter search.”

In another few hours they were on their way back, the afternoon growing cold with a slight breeze kicking up over the water. Matt sat on one edge of the boat, Tania and Abrams in the seat next to him. “Going to be the first full moon tonight. If there’s anything more to find, then this has gotta be it.”

When they reached the shore, Adira froze momentarily, and then spoke in hushed tones to Baruk. He continued unpacking the boat, but his eyes slid left then right along the coastal road.

Matt eased up next to her. “Problem?”

She also continued with her tasks, but spoke softly in Hebrew, knowing only Matt, of the Americans, would understand. “Our security is gone.”

Matt looked for the Mercedes that had been parked under the tree. She was right; it was nowhere to be seen. He responded in her language. “Would they have been called away?”

“If there were overriding orders, I would know. I need to call this in,” she said. She looked from Abrams to Hartogg, who now seemed tuned in to her unease.

“Our time is running out.”