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