Free White Ginger by Susanne Bellamy

muscled chest against her side, the six-pack of his taut stomach muscles flexed as he steered, masterful yet economical in his movements. She pressed back into him. It was either that, or she’d turn and plaster herself against his body. A bigger, choppier wave hit the boat. She staggered against Arne. He dropped his arm to her waist and pulled her between him and the wheel.
    Lowering the binoculars, she looked back at him. “I thought you said it would be calm over the reef?”
    “More chop than there should be. The sooner we get down, the better. See those clouds?”
    She followed his gaze. High masses of vibrant white clouds were building in the west.
    “We could get a storm later.”
    “Did I really have to hear that?” She smiled to take the fear out of her words. Storms were okay–on land. What would a storm at sea be like? It looked as though she was going to find out later.
    “I have to check the monitors. But next time–we’ll aim for a more relaxed dive.” A prickle of unease flittered up her spine. She hoped he didn’t notice as they swayed with the rhythm of the boat, his eyes fixed on the sea ahead.
    “Remember–try for relaxed breathing. You don’t want to be blinded by your bubbles.”
    Although she had taken a diving course when she was with Victor, Arne insisted on going through the steps to refresh her memory. She gripped her hands tightly together, almost tying knots in her arms at the thought of what lay ahead. Diversion–that’s what she needed.
    “What are Sanderson’s plans for the tourist development?”
    “He’s trying to pressure Mayor Mike and council to pass his rezoning application. That could make it harder to fight him in court about the sea rights. If he has exclusive rights to the beachfront, he figures the court will look more favorably on his application to develop a ‘playground’ in the reef area around his development too. But Mike’s been around. He’s not going to be threatened by Sanderson.”
    “So what can Sanderson do with the reef if he gets approval?”
    “He wants to build an underwater restaurant and fake diving wreck among other things. He claims that the reef is strong and able to support such activities.” Arne’s frown, the sudden tension in his body, told Amelie more than words could how he felt about the developer’s plans.
    “What he refuses to understand is that these reef areas are too fragile to sustain that sort of development. Pollution from the increased human activity could kill the corals, and the increased levels of nutrients from the extra sewage will have a major negative impact on the reef such that it may never recover. Then there are the effects of global warming such as coral bleaching, which I will admit,” he shrugged wryly, “is not solely Sanderson’s fault. However, his hotel’s activities would add to the thermal pollution with a similar overall effect.”
    Arne’s passion for protecting the reefs was absolutely clear to Amelie. She’d had little idea that humans could impact so heavily on a natural area and suspected that there was much more to it than Arne had summed up for her.
    “I suspect he’s falsifying data from the control areas, but I haven’t got incontrovertible proof yet.”
    “What sort of proof are you looking for?” The video image surfaced. Could Sanderson have someone on his payroll unscrupulous enough to tamper with government equipment? Was that what the shape meant?
    “Proof of sabotage. The area is off-limits to everyone, except me, and I’ve only had permission to go there on official business. Until now, I’ve had two days every two weeks when I could enter the area to read meters and reset our machines. These last two trips are out of schedule, which is why Rex had to sign off on them. I believe, and Terry agrees, that we should be seeing marked changes as a result of the tests, but there’s been almost no alteration in the data. That’s why we think someone’s tampered with our