Shallow Breath

54

Maya




‘It’s time.’

Kate is shaking Maya out of her slumber. She comes to with a surge of adrenaline and gets up with purpose, pulling on her swimsuit and a rashie, then struggling into her wetsuit. Her mask and snorkel wait by her bed. That’s all she needs – the rest of the equipment will be in the boat. She rolls up the legs of the wetsuit, and puts one of the hotel dressing gowns over the top, rumpling her hair so she appears less suspicious.

Carl has returned from dropping Desi off, and has gone ahead to the boat. By the time Maya has finished, Kate is identically dressed, and waiting with one hand on the door handle. Maya glances briefly around the room. She’s not leaving much behind, just a few clothes, and yet it is surprisingly hard to walk out of here. Once over the threshold, she relinquishes this final place of safety. The dim corridor leads only to danger.

‘Ready?’ Kate whispers.

Maya nods and steps outside.



They tiptoe along the linoleum. A green and red stripe runs centrally down the maze of passageways, and she finds herself fixated on it as they hurry along. With each step, her anxiety increases. A babble of voices comes from a nearby corridor, and they slide into the shadows for a moment until it fades. They rush through a long, empty stretch of arcade games, all unplugged, an assortment of teddy bears staring sightlessly at them, waiting to belong to someone.

Finally, they reach the lift that will take them to the uppermost floors of the hotel, at the top of the cliff. Although they are a long way from the central lobby, it is well lit here, increasing their edginess. The ping that announces the lift’s arrival makes Maya jump, and she resists the urge to dry-retch as they hurtle upwards. They come out near some conference rooms on the top floor. Kate runs to a nearby door with Maya following, and finally they have reached fresh air.

The moon is a sliver in the sky, and mostly hidden behind clouds. Maya can only see the broad outlines of what’s around her. A walkway slopes downwards towards the bright lights of a party still going on in one of the upper function rooms, music and laughter intermingling. The view to their right reveals scattered lights glowing along the harbour towards town. The open ocean is on their left, but it is lost to the darkness.

They hurry away along a concrete path that leads towards the woods, past an array of feature gardens and statues. On another occasion, it would be calming and peaceful to stroll here. Right now, as the formless shadows of the trees loom closer and closer, Maya’s galloping heartbeat invades her head, making her giddy.

Kate grabs hold of Maya’s hand as they turn towards the ocean and make their way down. Maya struggles to keep her balance and move quickly, stepping on stones and branches, and occasionally slipping on patches of mud. As they get nearer to the bottom of the cliff, she hears the sea crashing against the rocks. Her eyes have adjusted more to the gloom, and she can make out the prow of a boat through gaps in the trees.

A dark figure steps out in front of them. Maya manages to stifle her shriek as Carl says, ‘It’s okay, it’s me.’

‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ Kate hisses. ‘Do you want to make us scream? Great start that would be.’

‘Sorry, but I’ll have to help you down the next section – there are a few steep drops, and the rocks are sharp. I’ll take Maya first and come back for you.’

Carl grabs Maya’s hand and guides her carefully around tangles of branches. For a moment she is with Luke again, hurrying through the dark. Back then she had been even more frightened than she is now, which doesn’t seem right, considering.

She wonders when she will next see Luke, and shakes off a surge of sadness. Although Luke says so little, she’s sure he would approve of what she’s doing.

Carl jumps down a steep drop and turns back to help her. ‘Wait there,’ he says, once she’s joined him, and he scrambles up again to get Kate.

She crouches in the shadows of the trees and her thoughts turn to Desi, waiting somewhere beyond those distant cliffs. She has never felt as close to her mother as right now. Only a few hours ago, they had found a seat in a quiet corner, by a window that overlooked the harbour.

Desi had put her arm around Maya as they took in the view. ‘You know that even when I can’t be with you, I’m always with you.’

‘I know.’ Maya hesitates. ‘Tell me how you got through when you were in prison?’



‘Maya, don’t think like that.’ Desi pauses. ‘But if you must know, I pictured myself where I wanted to be, rather than where I was.’

‘And where was that?’

‘On the verandah of the shack. Swimming in the ocean. With Pete. With you.’

Maya closes her eyes as she remembers her mother’s voice, and imagines dolphins swimming through holes in the netting, streaking away across the open water. When she opens her eyes, Kate and Carl are beside her.

‘This is it,’ Kate says to them both. ‘Once we’re in the boat, we can’t talk. Kit up quickly, and follow my lead.’ She hugs them both in turn. ‘Good luck. Let’s save as many as we can. Remember, every rope we cut makes a difference. Everything we’re about to do makes a difference.’ She squeezes Maya’s arm. ‘Stay strong, little sister. And thank you. Don’t forget, once you’ve finished, even if you can’t see us, swim north-east as fast as you can.’

Maya hasn’t met Isamu before, but had pictured a wizened old fisherman. To her surprise, the man waiting for them is no more than thirty. He acts as though they are invisible as they board, his eyes on the water the whole time, while they quickly kit up.

As soon as they are ready, he sets off. The night is still so dark that Maya cannot discern where sea becomes sky. Isamu uses the engine while crossing Kii-Katsuura’s harbour mouth and heading inland, but as they get closer to their destination he turns it off and throws Carl one of the paddles.

The dark rocks of the promontory leer over them as they silently skirt around the edge of the peninsula, as near as they can to land. Maya can make out lights in the distance, but nothing reaches them. For now, they are absorbed in the invisible cloak of night, but there are only ninety minutes before dawn.

Finally, Isamu stops rowing.

It is time to go.

Kate is instantly over, slipping silently into the water. Maya follows, the freezing water rushing to claim every part of her. It steals her breath as she descends, and makes her teeth chatter, but she ignores it. Once she starts to swim, she’ll be okay. She sees two brief strobes of pen lights in the water, and is relieved that the others are close. Now and again they flash the torches against their hands as they travel, to keep one another nearby. Maya checks her gauge and sees they are moving south-west, as they are meant to.

Their preparations have been thorough. Maya is ready for most things – the cold, the awkwardness of knives strapped to her legs and a bolt-cutter pressed inside her inflatable jacket. However, no one had talked about the noise. Despite the loud echo of her breathing, even before she locates the pens she hears the incessant clicks and squeals and whistles of the dolphins, a few calls that rise sharply before plummeting down from the high notes. They seem to intensify as she gets closer. They must know we’re here, she thinks, and after everything they’ve been through they’ll be terrified.

Robbed of clear sight, she’s unaware they have found the outer ropes of the pen until she swims straight into them. The jolt almost knocks the regulator out of her mouth, but she quickly recovers. Kate is right next to her and flicks the torch on briefly, so that Maya gets the briefest impression of her determined eyes before she gets to work. The plan is for them to cut the net while moving in opposite directions, until they have gone all the way around the four pens. Meanwhile, Carl will swim to the farther side and attempt the two pens there.

The rope netting is not as thick as the ones they have been practising with, but the squares are narrow. It is too difficult to wield the bolt-cutters with proper force underwater, and eventually Maya gives up and uses the biggest of her knives, sawing with all her strength. After a few goes, she takes off her neoprene gloves, pushing them into her jacket. Her fingers work more easily once they are free, even though it is sometimes difficult to keep good hold of the slimy rope. As the first ropes break, excitement makes her hyperventilate, and she forces herself to go a little slower. She continues to work, now aware of large, slick bodies brushing close by, their calls and clicking loud in her ears. She winces as the knife slips and digs into her finger, but there is no time to think about it. She is only just beneath the surface. Mapping the holding pens in her mind, she is able to flick the torch on briefly when she thinks she has reached the wooden walkway of the large central pen. She is right. At that point, she stops cutting.

So far, her vision has been stolen by the night, but now the very first rays of dawn are beginning to penetrate the water. She makes her way back along the outside of the netting, trying to check the holes she has made. It’s too shadowy to see much, but she can make out vague shapes. To her dismay, she realises the dolphins are still inside. In desperation, she is debating whether to swim into the pens to help when a shadow glides through one of the gaps.

She stares in jubilation, willing her eyes to focus more clearly, to confirm what she is seeing.

Another sleek body streaks past her, and is gone.

She swims the circumference of the pens, praying she is right. She can still hear a few squeaks and calls, but they could be from those in the central pen. She can’t find any in the outer ones.

And then she hears the sound of a boat engine, coming closer. Her nerves resurge at once, paralysing her. There was no mention that Isamu would get this close. It must be another boat. She imagines it beginning to round up the dolphins, before they’ve had a chance to go anywhere. She turns in circles, but the light is too dim, and there is no sign of either Kate or Carl.

She is alone.

The realisation is terrifying. Her breathing quickens, and she becomes dizzy. Her fingers are so cold she can barely feel them. She struggles to regain control of herself, checking her compass and turning to face north-east. Once ready, she kicks as hard as she can.

Far sooner than she expected she can make out the rocky bottom getting shallower. She unbuckles her fins and takes them off, struggling to her feet, trying to grab hold of the slippery stone. As soon as her footing is sure, she unclips the tank and pulls it off, setting it down. She looks around her. She is completely alone, standing out on the perimeter of the rocks, and the light is increasing by the second. She glimpses a distant thicket of trees and begins to run towards them, dodging small pools full of water, trying to keep her footing, desperate to find cover, to feel safer. As she runs, she wonders where the hell Kate and Carl have gone.

Only when she is lost in a swathe of shadowy trees does she turn and look towards the pens. Beyond them, she can make out two figures on the opposite shore, their arms waving triumphantly in the air. They are staring out to sea. She follows their gazes to the little vessel speeding towards the horizon. But not until she sees a pair of dorsal fins surface briefly behind the boat does she let out a sob.

Relief takes out her legs, and she collapses on the rocks. The distant sound of a siren makes her look across to the shoreline again. The two people she’d seen standing there have gone.



The boat is now little more than a dot in the distance, and her tired eyes cannot pick out fins against the restless peaks of water. She is trying to decide what to do next when, without warning, a hand clamps over her nose and mouth.