And there was the air tank. His hands grabbed at it and he began groping around it for the regulators. There are two of the bloody things! Where is one? his desperate mind cried. And now the urge to breathe was so strong he was starting to convulse while he resisted it. He knew that if he took even one gulp of water he was finished. If he did he would cough and choke and never be able to use the compressed air.
Then his fingers closed on a regulator and he whipped it up to his face, fumbled for a moment to turn it the right way, then shoved it into his mouth. Now the training told and he held one side valve and purged water through the other to clear the mouthpiece. For a heartbeat he wondered if it would work or not but he knew he had no choice. Either he tried it or he died.
I will never make it to the surface now, he thought. So he nerved himself and sucked.
Air! Andrew almost sighed with relief. Blessed air! He took another breath and then steadied himself, clinging to the rope as he did. For several more seconds he just hung there, gulping air and trying to get a grip on his thoughts and emotions. I’m still alive! he marvelled.
Andrew consciously tried to calm his breathing. Think man, think! You are still alive but how are you going to get away from here? he asked himself. That made him look up and he saw the dark shapes of the two boats lying side by side only ten metres above him. Then he noticed something else and his heart seemed to stop.
My bubbles are going straight up. If those mongrels see them they will be straight down to get me, he thought.
It occurred to Andrew that the crooks had not been aware of the shot line which had the spare air tanks. Such an arrangement was standard practice in both the marine research and diving industries but was probably not something groups of criminals might do.
I have to get away from here, he thought.
Then he realized he still had all the key elements he needed for safe diving: his BCD, his mask and his fins. Even my weight belt will help, he told himself, knowing it was hard to stay down without one.
Now all that unpleasant training that had caused him such anxiety suddenly made sense and paid off. Within half a minute he had pulled his face mask into position and then cleared it by blowing air through his nose while holding the top of the mask firm against his forehead.
Being able to see properly made a huge difference and Andrew again looked up, watching anxiously as the bubbles from his breathing rose in a steady stream towards the stern of the launch.
I have to get away from here, he thought. But could he somehow get the air tank off the shot line?
Once again training told. A few seconds of study and all his knowledge of knots from years of being a Navy Cadet told him it was easy. The air tank was secured by a simple loop of the slip type used in straining hitches and then passed through the shot line and around the gauges. Gripping the air tank with one hand he finned up the shot line until he was well above the knot, which then hung loose. Then he held the line tight between his feet, one foot under the other to tighten the rope between instep and the top of the other foot. That took all the strain off the knot and he was able to use both hands to ease the loop loose and then slip the air tank out. By a smooth tug he allowed the knot to slip out.
That will make them wonder if there was any air tank or not, Andrew thought with another anxious glance up.
But even as he looked up he saw a dark clad figure splash into the water beside the launch and his heart leapt into his mouth.
Oh bloody hell! Here they come! he thought.
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