[Black Coral — South Beach — 5:30 PM]
Everyone had returned to the boat.
Everyone except Maya.
Alex saw her stay behind with the maps in the sand as the team started climbing into the boats. He didn't say anything. He let the others leave and stayed.
No one asked.
Grim on his shoulder looked at him for a moment.
**"I'm going to the boat."**
"Are you sure?"
**"There are times when being discreet is part of the job."**
He climbed down from Alex's shoulder and walked toward the boat with the specific dignity of someone who had made an adult decision and didn't need anyone to comment on it.
---
Maya was still kneeling over the map when Alex arrived.
Her pen moving over the paper, her loose hair falling forward in the beach wind. Akari asleep in the sand beside her as if the whole world was that square meter of beach and everything else was background noise.
Alex sat down without saying anything.
Maya glanced at him.
"Weren't you going to the boat?"
"I was."
"So?"
