Читать книгу Beyond the Barrier Reef - Christopher Cummings - Страница 11

Chapter 4

THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA

Andrew felt a spasm of pure panic as he saw the diver splash into the water above him. Frantically he looked around to try to choose the best direction to escape. Where the boats were anchored was only about twenty metres deep with a clear sandy bottom. A downward glance showed Andrew there was nowhere to hide there. However, it did reveal a second air tank, the one placed at the eighteen-metre level. Andrew ignored it and began swimming to his left. He knew that the dive boat had been anchored about a hundred metres from the reef. The bottom sloped gently up to about five metres depth in that direction.

In the other direction it dropped away quickly into deep water—forty fathoms or more. This showed as a dark blue wall on what felt like three sides to Andrew. Even as Andrew glanced at it, the phrase ‘Between the Devil and the deep blue sea’ flitted across his mind.

As he swam Andrew glanced back at the diver, expecting to see more of the gang jumping in to pursue. But there was only that one diver and that person was not swimming after Andrew but seemed to be pushing themselves across the bottom of the dive boat and then the bottom of the game fishing boat. And the diver did not look right.

Andrew rolled on his back to get a better look, still clutching the air tank to his chest as he finned painfully away. Then he shook his head in puzzlement and slowed. The other diver had swum right under the game fishing boat and then risen to the surface near its bow.

Is he looking for me? Andrew wondered. And then he saw the blonde hair. That is Carmen! he realized.

Then it struck him what was odd about the diver’s appearance. The person had no face mask, air tank or fins.

It is Carmen. She must have dived in—or been shot, Andrew thought.

Dread clutched at his chest and he stared hard to see if there was blood coming from wounds. By then he was nearly fifty metres from her and fifteen metres down. He could not see any obvious signs of injury.

She seems to be swimming alright, he decided.

Then he noted that she had surfaced right up under the bow of the game fishing boat. That gave him another clue. She has dived overboard and is trying to hide, he thought.

Admiration for his sister welled up along with a fierce desire to save her. He at once reversed course and began swimming back towards her, angling upwards as he did. That hurt! Stabs of pain from his wound pulsed through him with every movement of his right leg but he gritted his teeth and pushed himself to do it.

The advantage of being a Navy Cadet and familiar with boat construction, he thought. She is hiding in under the flare and chine of the bow.

Both Andrew and his sister had been in the Australian Navy Cadets for years—Carmen for over four and Andrew for more than three. Carmen was a Cadet Chief Petty Officer and Andrew held the rank of Cadet Leading Seaman.

It took an effort of deliberate courage to swim back as every second Andrew came closer to the killers. At any moment he expected to see divers armed with spearguns come plunging down to hunt them. But there was no way he was going to leave his sister without doing his utmost to save her. So he swam as fast as he could, disregarding the lancing pain. Carmen stayed where she was treading water and with her head just above the surface so she could breathe.

That gave Andrew a problem. As he got closer he began worrying about how to attract her attention so that she did not cry out in fright and inadvertently attract the killer’s attention. Then while he was still about 20 metres away, he saw her put her face in the water and look around. From the way she twitched with fright Andrew was sure she had seen him.

To allay her fears, he slowed and waved one arm, holding the air bottle with the other. Then he gave a thumbs-up and beckoned her. By then he was in under the game fishing boat and reasonably confident that no-one on either boat could see him.

But they might see my bubbles, he thought.

So he stayed over to the port side of the game fishing boat so that the bubbles rose up its port side.

That puts the game fishing boat between us and the dive boat, he reasoned.

He was hoping that the killer’s attention was still fixed on the dive launch. Carmen had gone over the starboard side of that and swum under both boats to escape.

For a few more seconds Carmen hesitated so Andrew finned slowly up towards her, still waving one hand. He could see she was looking but thought she probably did not recognize him. To make things quick he stopped waving and held out the alternate regulator on the air tank and squeezed it to expel some air.

Then he was up with her. She shrank away from him until he gave her another thumbs-up and held out the regulator towards her. Suddenly she nodded and pushed herself down. Andrew took out his regulator and grinned at her and to his enormous relief he saw her smile in return. Without a face mask she was obviously having trouble seeing properly but now he was sure she had recognized him.

She took the regulator, cleared it and began breathing through it. Andrew did not wait. No time for explanations, he thought. So he reached out to grab her arm with his free hand and she clung to him, the air tank held firmly between them.

We must get away from here fast, Andrew told himself.

Already they had begun to sink as he had stopped finning and he decided they needed to go right down deep to hide themselves as well as they could.

Otherwise the killers will spot us against the clear sand of the bottom, he reasoned.

To make sure that Carmen understood clearly what he intended he moved his right hand between their faces and pointed downwards. She nodded, then used her own right hand to grip her nose.

She is equalizing the pressure, Andrew thought, having just done the same thing automatically.

As they sank Andrew rolled over so that he could keep watching the boats. He also kept glancing at the depth gauge on the dive computer: 15, 16, 17, 18. Every metre down made the boats harder to see. Andrew’s fins touched bottom at twenty-two metres. By then the boats were two dark blobs about fifty metres away.

Still much too close. We need to go deeper and further out, he thought.

That was not the direction he really wanted to go. That was north and then east back to the reef. Worse still he knew that the current was flowing west into the deeper water so it would be harder to swim back later.

But the killers will expect us to try to get ashore if we can, so we must take that risk, he reasoned.

So he allowed the current to push them west. That meant they kept sinking down the sandy slope into that terrifying blue depth. Andrew made no attempt to swim, only moving enough to keep himself upright and facing the boats.

Sixty metres away, seventy metres, he estimated. By then the boats were becoming indistinct. And twenty-seven metres down. We can’t go much deeper, he thought anxiously.

Both were qualified to dive to thirty metres and had been a few metres deeper but his real concern was down time and the dissolved nitrogen he knew would now be accumulating under pressure in their bloodstreams.

We may not have enough air to decompress safely, he thought.

The air gauge showed 225psi so Andrew felt there was some margin for manoeuvre. But then his eyes detected movement at the stern of the launch and a stab of fear made him go tense. He quickly took out his regulator and put his mouth next to Carmen’s ear.

“Don’t move! Don’t breathe!” he said, as clearly as he could.

Andrew focused on the tiny moving shape. It is definitely a diver and he is leaning down from the dive platform to look, Andrew thought. He will expect to see my body on the bottom but he mustn’t see any bubbles, he added. So he just froze and held his breath. Carmen did the same. The whole time they slowly drifted away on the current.

The shape of the boats and diver became so indistinct that Andrew could not tell if the man was still there or not. But they had to breathe as the pressure was building up to agonizing levels in nose and eardrums. The pain was like a steel band squashing his skull. So Andrew nodded and began breathing and quickly equalized. Carmen did the same.

Holy mackerel, forty-five metres! Andrew thought as he studied the depth gauge. Time we headed north and up.

So he took the risk of being observed and began slowly finning. That hurt as his wound had tightened up and with every painful movement he felt apprehensive about what further damage he might be causing. But there was no help for it as he had the fins and the face mask, not Carmen. And much as he loved her he was not going to give up that face mask. It was one of his deepest fears and his most frequent nightmares. That dated back to when his supposed girlfriend had ripped his mask off and locked him in the strongroom of the wrecked Merinda along with his grandfather’s bones.

I’m going to give up diving, Andrew promised himself. In future I will have the courage to admit I am a coward when it comes to being underwater.

The distinct sound of a small motor starting up made him look anxiously back up towards the boats. These were now at least a hundred metres away and were quite difficult to see.

That’s the outboard on the rubber boat, Andrew thought. He experienced the sour taste of bile as terror welled up and he felt nauseous. Here they come!

But they didn’t. Andrew was just able to make out the shape of the small rubber boat and he saw it move away from the launch and then slowly circle the game fishing boat. Then it went back around the other side of the dive boat before heading off east, towards the reef.

They are looking for Carmen alright but think I have drowned, Andrew decided.

So he kept on swimming. Now he used his compass and the visual clues of the sloping seabed and that horrible deep blue gloom to maintain direction. He stayed down close to the seabed but angled slowly up the slope so that the depth became shallower all the time. Within two minutes he had come up to thirty-five metres and swum at least another hundred metres.

By then the boats were no longer visible but Andrew could faintly make out the buzz of the outboard motor. It did go over to the reef and now it is coming back out to the dive boat, Andrew decided.

As he swam Andrew had to grit his teeth against the now throbbing pain in his side. But he knew there was no help for it.

I have to do this or we both die, he told himself.

So, clenching his teeth hard on the mouthpiece, he pushed himself to keep going. The whole time he kept looking at Carmen to check that she was coping. To his relief she kept looking back at him and nodding.

After another two minutes Andrew was sure he had swum another hundred metres northwards and the depth gauge now read thirty metres. He showed that to Carmen and then slowed and allowed them both to settle on the bottom. His plan was to allow five minutes for decompression and also allow himself a chance to recover his energy and breath as he was starting to gasp and feeling very weak. For a few seconds he studied their drift and decided that there was now almost no current.

Must be getting close to the top of the tide, he deduced.

While they rested Andrew gingerly felt his wounds with his right hand. He bent over to try to look but that hurt too much and all he could detect was a small rent in the wetsuit.

I can’t see any blood seeping out, he told himself in an attempt at reassurance. But the thought of the blood and the predators it might be attracting kept him looking around for any sign of sharks. Or even barracuda, he added. They did not normally attack divers but would if conditions were right.

As they rested there Andrew heard the sound of the rubber boat’s outboard getting definitely louder. He tensed and his eyes scanned the surface. It is coming this way, he thought.

His breathing rose with the mounting fear and he had to make a deliberate effort to stop himself hyperventilating. He saw Carmen’s eyes go wider and she also looked towards the sound.

Then Andrew saw the silhouette of the rubber boat. It was between them and the reef and going northwards.

What are they doing? he thought. He was sure that at that distance any diver looking over the side would have trouble seeing him and his sister. Maybe they are checking along the reef to see if we are there? he wondered.

The boat went on northwards and Andrew and Carmen were left undetected. But that raised another problem. Andrew was close to the point where he had planned to turn east and swim to the reef. Now he began to worry that if he did the boat might come back and catch them in the shallower water before they reached it.

We can’t wait here much longer, he thought, noting that the air pressure had dropped to 205psi.

By an effort of willpower Andrew stayed resting for another three minutes, making it seven since they had stopped. Then, just as he was thinking they must take a chance, he heard the rubber boat coming back. This time they did not see it and he decided that it was over next to the edge of the reef. Two minutes went by before the sound faded to the south.

Sounds like it has gone back to the dive boat. Anyway, we must take the risk and go, Andrew thought.

The air pressure was now 195psi. After nudging Carmen to get her attention and then pointing they both gripped the air tank and Andrew began swimming.

The moment he did waves of pain swept through him that made him groan and pant. For a second of two he feared he was going to black out. Then it passed and he gritted his teeth and kept moving.

I have just stiffened up while we sat there, he told himself.

This time Andrew swam northeast, the compass and the slope both giving him guidance to help him to keep direction. The water grew quickly shallower and there did not seem to be much current. Twice Andrew spooked bottom fish into rapid flurries of movement and each time he flinched and gasped. Then he saw a large dark shadow off to the north and he went tense with fear. But it was not a shark. As it got closer he saw it was only a manta ray.

Breathing a sigh of relief Andrew continued on. All the while his attention kept returning to the depth gauge. When it reached twenty metres he considered stopping but decided to take the risk and continued up the slope until he found an outcrop of rocks and seaweed at seventeen metres.

There they did another five-minute decompression stop. The whole time Andrew was extremely anxious as he knew they were in great danger if the rubber boat came back. But balanced against that was the fear that if they swam too quickly and one or both developed the bends then they were finished.

Air down to 190psi. We must keep moving, he decided after four minutes.

So he signalled to Carmen and they resumed swimming. Knowing that they were crossing a possible danger zone and with vivid and terrifying images flitting through his thoughts of Tristan and Mr Craig being murdered Andrew swam as fast as he could. To his intense relief the dark shadow of the coral reef appeared ahead after only two minutes of swimming.

Now we have a chance! he thought.

Andrew swam right to the edge of the coral and then turned left and swam along the bottom until he found a small crevice that they could hide in if the rubber boat returned. A check of the dive computer showed they were at seven metres, so he signalled to Carmen and they settled to rest on the bottom.

Still 185psi. We are safe for a bit, Andrew thought. If need be they could just swim up to the surface which looked close overhead.

While he waited for another five minutes Andrew tried to consciously relax. He was very relieved that they were alive and that they had reached some sort of shelter and a hiding place. He was also very glad to be away from that awful dark blue where all the horrors of his imagination lurked. Where they were sheltering was a riot of staghorn coral and small clams and the hundreds of colourful fish were the sort that tourists drooled over, but Andrew barely noticed them. He was focused on dangers, not on the beauties of the tropical reef environment.

At the end of the five minutes, with the air on 180psi, Andrew pointed upwards and Carmen nodded. But he did not swim up. Instead he took out his regulator and used the second valve on his BCD to inflate it enough to give them positive buoyancy. The pair then floated slowly upwards, Andrew taking care to keep them away from the coral.

As they neared the surface Andrew tensed, knowing that breaking surface would be a moment of great danger. For that reason he made sure there was a large coral outcrop between them and where he believed the boats to be. A few seconds later he and Carmen broke surface. As the water poured off his head Andrew looked anxiously out at the sea. To his intense relief there was no sign of the boats.

But he could not see properly with the mask on and it quickly began to fog up so he reached up and pulled it down around his neck. That habit saved me, he thought.

Then he blinked and screwed his eyes up against the glare reflecting from the waves. Gripping a piece of brain coral—he was very aware some corals were poisonous or could inflict cuts which quickly became ulcers—he leaned out and peeked to the south.

There! he thought.

Closer than he had thought, perhaps only three hundred metres away were the two boats. The rubber boat was again tethered astern of the dive boat. That was good news as it meant the killers had at least temporarily given up.

Or they think we are both dead, he decided.

Carmen joined Andrew. “They are doing something on the game fishing boat,” she whispered. She clung to him and to the air tank and Andrew realized she was trembling violently.

“Sorry to give you such a scare,” Andrew replied.

Carmen shook her head. “You didn’t really. I knew it had to be you. All the others were on the dive boat except that one called Igor who went back to the game fishing boat.”

“I didn’t see that,” Andrew replied.

Carmen nodded. “He came out and said something to that horrible Mr Ivanoff. I think he said the word radio but I’m not sure. They spoke some foreign language.”

“So why did you dive overboard?” Andrew asked.

Carmen looked down and bit her lip, then let out a couple of sobs. “Be… because they just shot Dan when he tried to save me.”

Andrew was appalled. “Shot him? Dead?”

Carmen nodded. Tears sprang into her eyes and she trembled again. “That horrible Barry, the one who just flung you overboard, that made me so angry I kicked him in the face when he started climbing up the ladder.”

“Good for you!” Andrew replied, squeezing her shoulders.

Carmen gave a sickly smile. “Thanks, but it was stupid really because it just made him mad and he scrambled up and punched me and began making disgusting threats about what he was going to do to me. Then Dan stepped in. Ivanoff started shooting and I just told myself now or never and I went over the rail backwards.”

“But… but how did you think you could possibly get away?” Andrew asked, thinking of the divers and their spearguns and boats.

At that Carmen stared out to the west for a few seconds before answering. “I didn’t think I would, but after I saw them throw you overboard and after hearing them say… say what disgusting things they would do to Ella and me if we didn’t co-operate, I didn’t care. I was determined not to give them any help and certainly no pleasure or satisfaction.”

“You were ready to commit suicide!” Andrew gasped.

He knew his sister was very strong willed but that she was able to act on the death-before-dishonour thing was a revelation to him of just how tough she was.

Carmen shook her head. “Not really, but I was determined to die trying,” she answered.

Then she shivered and Andrew hugged her. For a couple of minutes neither spoke. All Carmen could do was nod and sniff. Andrew turned and held her tight. While trying to soothe her Andrew’s mind raced with the enormity of the situation. It all still seemed completely unbelievable and unreal but then the horrific images swirled across his mind and he knew it wasn’t.

After a few seconds he said, “But you didn’t even have your BCD on. Even if you escaped how could you survive?” he said, gesturing out to the rippling sea to the west. “The current would have taken you that way if you couldn’t reach the reef.”

Carmen nodded again. “I know. We are a hundred kilometres from the mainland and there are no islands in between. I heard one of the men say that. He said, ‘Why worry Boss? She won’t last long out here.’ But that murderous mongrel Ivanoff ordered them to look for me and to shoot me if they saw me.”

Just thinking about Carmen drifting for hours in the vast blue expanse while she slowly died from exposure brought back the terrifying memories of his own harrowing experiences of being left for dead far out to sea.

“Oh, you poor bugger!” he cried, hugging her tight again.

For a minute or so brother and sister clung to each, both trembling with shock and emotion. Then Carmen, who was still facing the boats, said, “They are on the move.”

Andrew looked and saw that the game fishing boat had moved clear of the dive boat and was now turning towards them.

Bloody hell! I hope they haven’t seen us, he thought, fear beginning to pulse anew through his veins.