While she adjusted her mask and mouthpiece, he donned his own equipment. “I assume you usually dive with a buddy?”
“Always. I wouldn’t want to be trapped down there without help. You use a buddy, don’t you?”
“Yep.” He’d met a few hotshots who wouldn’t stay with their buddy, and it was way too dangerous. He gestured for her to get in, and once she fell back into the water, he did the same.
The sea enveloped him in its warm embrace, and he took a moment to get his bearings before kicking down with her to the reef. The water was clear today, but it wouldn’t be after the storm. They were directly above the reef formed from the Jacksonville stadium, and the rubble from the structure had made the most natural-looking area of the HLHA. They spent their first tank examining the sea life. He found an octopus and played with it for a few minutes before she got up the courage to let him hand it to her. Its velvety texture made her smile.
Her eyes were wide behind her mask, and bubbles escaped in a flurry when the octopus squirted ink. She let it go, and it zoomed off to its hiding space again.
He pointed to the Edwin Nettleton, a WWII Liberty ship that formed part of the reef. She swam beside him, and he admired her kicks and strokes. She was a natural in the water. Maybe he could relax. He kept expecting her to have a problem, but she was a pro like she’d said.
They reached the ship and swam around it for several minutes until she pointed to another area of the reef. The sunken sailboat was clearly outlined with coral, and it was one of his favorite places to dive. While she explored the colorful reef, he poked his head into the sailboat and looked around to get his bearings for when he needed to exit. Coral encrusted the interior of the boat as well, and he spotted the remains of the galley and head that beckoned for a closer inspection. He swam into the boat.
Who had owned this old craft and allowed her to be scuttled for the reef? He’d likely never know. He touched the side of the window and saw a shape jet toward him. A man dressed in a black wet suit and wearing a black mask slapped a small device against the hull of the boat, then kicked away as a sleek sea lion barreled toward him.
Simon.
The sea lion chased after the diver just as something lifted Joe in the air and slammed him against the side. Disoriented, he shook his head.
A small bomb had gone off.
His vision cleared, and he saw that the hull had collapsed and crumbled where the window used to be.
He struggled to stay conscious from the blow to his head. Hailey. He had to get back to his daughter. The darkness disoriented him, and he remembered his flashlight. He fumbled for it, then flicked it on. The beam cast shadows and made the interior of the boat look green and eerie, but his panic began to subside. He had to think logically through this. Torie would have seen him go in here, and she’d be looking for a way to help him.
He swam to the hull and banged on it with his light. The metal didn’t make much sound against the coral so he searched for a spot that was mostly fiberglass. There. He pounded on it with the base of this flashlight and heard a satisfying thunk. After a moment, he heard an answering thump from outside the sailboat. Torie knew he was in here.
But how could she get him out? He checked his regulator. Only fifteen minutes of oxygen left. She wouldn’t have time to get to the rental boat, call for help, then break into the sailboat’s hull. She’d likely have more air left than him because she was lighter, but would she think about that? Her reg might read thirty or forty minutes.
He prayed she thought this through and figured out how to break through the hull. Maybe there was something in here he could use to bust a hole in the side himself. He shone the light around the space. Nothing but coral. No rocks, no leftover toilet tank or anything he might use as a battering ram.
It was going to be up to Torie to figure it out.
* * *
Joe was trapped in there.
Torie pounded on the hull again to let him know she realized the danger. She forced her breathing to calm, and the bubbles escaping her regulator slowed to a steady pace. Panic wouldn’t save him, only clear thinking and a plan. She checked her air. Forty-five minutes, but that didn’t mean anything, not really. Joe was six four with big muscles. He’d use up air faster than she would. She prayed he had half an hour, but there wasn’t a guarantee of that either. She should plan to have him out within fifteen minutes.
She swam through a large school of fish and checked the integrity of the sunken sailboat all around the hull. The heavy incrustations of coral would make it hard to batter through, even if she had something to use. And she didn’t.
She glanced overhead, but they’d swum away from their boat far enough that its shadow couldn’t be seen. No time to go back there for a tool.
Her chest compressed, and she fought her breathing again. How did she get him out? If only she had a crowbar or something to pry away the coral and fiberglass. She banged the butt of her flashlight on the hull and heard another answering knock from inside.
He was still alive—for now.
But he wouldn’t be for long. She tried not to imagine the sensation of being unable to breathe. That couldn’t happen. Not to wonderful Joe with his kind green eyes and easy manner. He was Hailey’s whole world.
With new determination, she swam down along the ocean floor where various artifacts poked up through the coral. Joe had said the artificial reef was comprised of old subway cars and tugboats. All kinds of things. There had to be something she could use.
She reached a coral outcropping that rose higher. From its vague shape, she thought it might have been an old subway car. It might be the best chance of finding a piece of sturdy metal she could use. She swam along the perimeter. Frequent windows let her look inside where more debris lay scattered. Swimming inside was out of the question. Her claustrophobia would get the better of her. She’d never taken a course on wreck diving because it was something she’d never be tempted to do.
She used her flashlight to prod the various rocks and coral along the bottom. She reached the end of the subway car without finding any kind of tool, then checked her air. Five minutes had passed.
Time might be running out for Joe.
She swam down the other side of the car, and a long metal piece caught her eye. But it was inside. Maybe she could reach it without going all the way in. Holding the flashlight, she extended her arm through the window and tried to scrape the metal toward her. It refused to budge.
She closed her eyes and tried to push past the panic bubbling in her chest. She had to go in there and grab it. There was no other way to save Joe. And as she stared at the all-important metal bar, she realized she’d been fooling herself about him. Joe wasn’t someone she would be able to fly away from and forget. He wasn’t a vacation romance never to be thought of again.
He was special. And as much as she might say she was happy with her life the way it was, she recognized the hole there. She’d told Lisbeth she didn’t care about marriage and children, but faced with the threat of losing Joe, she knew she’d been wrong.
She cared too much.
A flurry of bubbles escaped in a flood as she forced herself through the window and into the murky depths of the subway car’s interior. The gloom added to her panic, but she worked on measured breathing and kicked toward the metal piece.
It was stuck to coral, and she had to use her flashlight to help pry it up. With a final twist of the end, she freed it.