Everyone wanted to dive that day. Sean, however, didn’t want to leave the encampment alone, nor did he want to leave Ted and Jaden alone to keep guard. In the end, it was agreed both boats would go out that day with Jamie O’Hara remaining topside on his Claddagh and David and Katie remaining topside on the Conch Fritter.
They followed one another going down, but the World War II vessel was a huge hulk, and they split to follow it around in different directions. Vanessa led, bringing her partners around to the gash in the giant hull that had probably caused its sinking. They began to explore the area, Sean turning the camera on the wreck and then the different divers.
Vanessa realized that they were in an equipment room, and she began to study the dials and levers on one side of the wall. She followed them to the sandy bottom, where in some places they were on the ocean floor and in others she heard the metallic clink of the vessel’s flooring. She kept searching the flooring, aware that her fellow divers were near.
She found an uneven patch in the sand and started carefully moving the sand around it. She grew excited as she realized that she had come across something. There was a piece of something that glittered. She moved more sand and realized that one object was laid atop another. She picked up the first and was surprised to see that it was a knife. It wasn’t old; the hilt was wearing and the blade was dull and crusted, but it was a modern diving knife. She slipped it into her belt and looked at the object beneath it. It was long and wedged tightly between the rip in the hull’s floor and the sand.
She looked for the others and saw that Zoe was at a hatch, struggling with the door. She swam toward her just as the door gave.
Vanessa ducked the massive sheet of steel that seemed to have some kind of spring; Barry, shooting ahead of her, did not.
She heard the thud as he crashed, headfirst, into the steel.
He shot back, his regulator falling from his mouth. She realized that he was unconscious and hurried toward him, catching his drifting weight and gripping her backup regulator to force it immediately into his mouth. Zoe shot for her, trying to help, but she was panicking and in the way. Sean let the camera fall, suspended, to his side, shooting toward them. He signaled that they needed to surface, which, of course, they knew.
Decompression time had to be taken, but between them, they kept the air going into Barry’s lungs and bubbles coming out into the water. When they surfaced, Zoe began to shout, drawing David’s attention. He was quickly at the dive platform with Katie, and between them they got Barry’s body on deck, stripped of dive gear and wrapped in a towel.
Sean stood over him and looked the ten feet over to the Claddagh. The other divers were up, and Liam shouted over to Sean. “What happened?”
“Barry took a beating from a spring-loaded hatch,” Sean cried.
“It was my fault. I should have known,” Zoe moaned. She was flustered, fluttering over Barry, trying to touch him, whispering that she was sorry.
“He’s got to get to medical care,” Sean said. “He might have had some oxygen deprivation, though Vanessa got to him quickly.”
“I’ll tie up and take Barry on board the Claddagh. She’s got a bit of speed on your Sunray, Sean. I’ll radio ahead and they’ll be ready for him in Bimini,” Jamie called to him.
“All right,” Sean conceded.
“I can’t believe I did this,” Zoe said.
“Zoe, you didn’t do it—the door sprang right when Barry was heading for it,” Vanessa said. She glanced at Sean and realized that he thought that Zoe’s ministrations might prove to be too much for the poor man. “Barry will be fine. Jamie’s boat is fast. We’ve got him breathing, and he has a weak but steady pulse going.”
“Grab the bumpers,” Jamie called to his crew aboard the Claddagh.
Vanessa and Jay ran to do the same for the Conch Fritter. A few minutes later, Barry was aboard the Claddagh, and it was agreed that David and Katie would go with him while the rest of the crew came aboard the Conch Fritter to head back to the island.
Vanessa watched the Claddagh sail away, and she waved to Katie and David.
She felt a chill.
They would be all right. They had to be all right. They were close to Bimini, it was still daylight and there were three of them aboard with Barry.
She still felt an ominous sense of dread that something horrible would happen before she saw them again. The sea wind suddenly seemed chill, and when she turned away, she felt the strange sting of tears in her eyes.
16
“Barry could die,” Zoe said, watching as the Claddagh disappeared into the horizon.
“He’s not going to die,” Vanessa assured her, giving her shoulders a hug. “It’s going to be fine.”
Zoe looked at her and tried to smile. “And I didn’t find a thing,” Zoe said.
Vanessa tried to brighten. “I did.”
They all looked at her.
“Well, of course you did,” Jay said. “What?”
She looked around at the faces. Sean was just waiting, Liam at his side. Bill, Jake, Jay and Zoe were wide-eyed.