Black Gold (2 page)

Alex flopped back in the raft, dropped his regulator out of his mouth and took his mask off. He left them where they fell dangling around his neck. 'I'm not going to take this lot off, guys. In case we all end up in the water again.'

'We shouldn't,' said Amber, 'unless someone does something silly.' Nevertheless, she and the others kept their kit on too. The raft didn't feel nearly as solid as a boat.

Paulo was looking around the raft. It looked like a large children's paddling pool. 'Does this thing have a radio?'

Amber shook her head. 'No. That went down with the boat.' She unzipped a compartment in the side of the raft and took out two short paddles. 'This is how we're going to get home.' She handed one to Hex, took the other and they began to paddle towards the shore, digging into the water like kayakers.

'Should we see if anyone on the tanker needs help?' said Alex, watching the stricken vessel.

'They've got lifeboats,' said Hex. 'See, they're coming out now'

As he spoke, a crane swung out from the tanker deck to lower a white boat. They could see small figures peering over the edge as the lifeboat was lowered. No sooner had it hit the water than the ship gave another lurch and the entire stern with its living quarters disappeared beneath the surface, leaving only the communication masts visible. The whirling radar antennae sparked and became still.

Now all they could hear was the gentle splash of oars as Hex and Amber paddled in a slow, steady rhythm. Red pressure marks from the masks framed their eyes, making them look tired. Puddles of water collected on the yellow canvas floor.

'I'll take next turn at paddling,' said Paulo.

'Me too,' said Li. Her voice was subdued.

Alex looked towards the small white-painted jetty in the distance, and the long wooden building behind it that was the dive school. 'What on earth are we going to tell Danny about his boat?'

Nobody answered.

They paddled, steadily but surely. It was barely five minutes since they had surfaced and found their boat gone, but they had taken disaster in their stride.

Alpha Force had learned about survival the hard way when they had been five strangers marooned together on a desert island. By the time rescue arrived they had pulled together into a tight-knit team. The experience had been a turning point in their lives – especially for Amber. She had been getting over the deaths of her parents and had discovered that they had been living secret lives fighting human rights abuses. What the five friends went through on that island had shown them that they also could make a difference to those in trouble. Now, they had dual lives. During term time they were in far-flung corners of the globe, at school or college, keeping fit in their spare time and improving their individual skills. In the holidays they came together to put it all into practice with some extreme sports and training. Quite often these training sessions had a habit of leading them into more serious challenges.

They heard the dinghy before they saw it, the sound of its engine carrying over the water like the drone of a bee. A small blob was racing out from the shore, a silver dinghy carrying two figures in orange lifejackets.

Alex squinted into the distance, his hands shielding his eyes from the bright sun. 'Hey, the coastguard's out and about.'

'They're coming for us,' said Li.

The dinghy drew up close, its engine cut to idle and a man leaned over to talk to them. He had thinning blond hair and a deep tan from a lifetime spent on boats. His lifejacket was printed with the Word
COASTGUARD.

'Anyone hurt?'

'No, we're fine,' Alex confirmed.

As he spoke, Paulo greeted the athletic, ebony-skinned figure with the coastguard. 'Hi, Danny,' he said with his warmest smile. Danny was the owner of the dive school, a younger man than the coastguard. 'I'm really sorry, but I'm afraid something's happened to the
Fathom Sprite.'

The others waited in tense silence. The accident had hardly been their fault but they hadn't worked out yet how they would break the news. Paulo, with his usual easy charm, had come straight out with it.

'I guessed,' said Danny. 'When we saw you in this.' His face, normally creased with permanent laugh lines, was grave.

There was a moment of silence as both boats bobbed up and down together on the waves, like horses on a fairground carousel. In the distance, the white lifeboat from the tanker had reached the shore.

The coastguard put his hand on Danny's shoulder. 'You can sue the oil company, Danny,' he said. 'That tanker was going too fast on an unauthorized course. I've got evidence.'

'Evidence?' said Alex.

The coastguard nodded. 'I had a call from a passenger cruiser which was nearly hit by an out-of-control tanker – that tanker. You're lucky you weren't in the boat at the time.' He looked at the raft. 'Do you guys need a ride? We can give you a tow.'

Paulo picked up a paddle. 'Actually,' he said, 'I was quite enjoying this.'

Amber smiled up at the two men. 'I think we're just fine.'

The coastguard gave them a small salute and nodded to Danny. He opened the throttle and they sped away.

Amber tiptoed into the lounge bar and perched on the arm of the sofa next to Hex. She was late because she had had to inject her insulin. As a diabetic, she had to be careful about eating regularly and never forgetting her medication, but she didn't let it cramp her style and was a full and active member of Alpha Force.

The cosy, wood-panelled room was packed. The twenty guests who were staying at the dive centre were there, plus various members of staff. All eyes were on the TV up in the corner. Normally it was only on when there were sporting events and concerts; but today the local news was covering the story of the stricken tanker. On the screen was an aerial picture of the vessel, taken from a helicopter. Badged in one corner with the channel logo, the image changed as the camera circled from the rust-red prow poking out of the water to the tips of the communication masts – all that remained of the stern. Around it, like an ominous shadow, the clear blue water was turning black. Amber swallowed. The oil was already leaking from the ship.

The programme cut back to the studio, where an anchorwoman looked at the camera with a steely eye.
'Those were pictures today of the ArBonCo tanker disaster. I have here in the studio Dr Mara Thomas, Curaçao representative of the environmental group ABC Guardians and a GP at the local medical centre. Mara, how bad is this?'

The camera panned back to show a strong-jawed Caribbean woman in her forties.
'It's a catastrophe,'
the doctor said.
'It's a very delicate ecosystem out there. The whole community has worked for years to keep the area clean. The reef provides a livelihood for us all
–
food, tourism, it all depends on it. This oil will kill so much marine and bird life. Imagine what a nuclear war would do to the city
–
it's like that.'
As she spoke her dark curly hair quivered like wire; although it was held in an antique clip it threatened to escape at any moment.

'Yo, Mara,' called a voice – Danny, his elbows resting on the rough wooden bar top that looked as though it had come from an old galleon. Behind him, gathering dust with the bottles of local rum on the top shelf, were several trophies. 'You tell them what it's doing to us,' he continued.

On the television, a new image had appeared. A man in a grey suit was waiting patiently and the anchorwoman introduced him: 'I
have here Piers Hijkoop, legal representative of ArBonCo Oil. Piers, these are strong words. How do you respond to these concerns?'

The man replied calmly.
'We understand the concerns of the locals and very much regret what has happened. Our experts are already at the scene of the accident. They should be able to contain the spill so that the threat to marine life is minimized.''

Danny spoke again. 'Looks like it's too late for that.' There was a murmur of agreement from everyone in the room. Alpha Force recognized the man sitting near him: it was the coastguard they had met earlier.

On the screen the anchorwoman asked Piers Hijkoop:
'Any clues as to what caused the crash?'

'It's too early to say. We will be examining the black box. As I said, it's a regrettable incident and we're doing all we can.'

'Piers Hijkoop, Dr Mara Thomas, thank you very much.'
The anchorwoman turned away from her guests and addressed the camera.
'We'll be bringing you more on the story as and when we get updates. And now on to other news—'

Danny fired the remote at the screen. It blinked off. For a moment the only noise in the room was the soft lilt of reggae music on the radio.

A woman joined Danny behind the bar and helped herself to some juice from the fridge. Alpha Force recognized her too — Danny's American partner, Lynn, who had been a photographer before they decided to set up Fathoms Dive Centre together. She had helped them settle in when they first arrived.

Amber heard her grumble to Danny: 'Well, Mara didn't get much of a say.'

The coastguard was leaning over the bar now as well, joining in the conversation. 'They won't keep Mara quiet for long.'

Amber was struck by how they spoke – as though they knew Mara personally. Everyone in this community seemed to know each other; they were like one big family. A family on the brink of potential tragedy.

People were heading for the bar and looking for drinks, so Danny and Lynn had to put on their professional faces. Slowly the room was filled with the murmur of conversations.

Alex stood up to give the people at the bar more room. 'Guys, I think we're in the way here. Anyone fancy a breath of fresh air?'

The others nodded. They got up and headed for the row of double doors that led out onto the veranda.

Below was the dive school's private bay, jetty and beach. The sun was setting, like a bonfire behind the mountains on the west side of the island. Most of the white beach was already in darkness and red-orange light glinted off the waves as they surged and ebbed up and down the beach.

Something caught Li's eye and she went down the wooden steps to the beach. Noticing her body language, the others followed silently and saw what she had seen. Close to, the surface of the water had an iridescent petrol sheen, like oil on the surface of a puddle in a car park. It swirled purple and blue in the light from the setting sun.

Li kneeled down. The sea came all the way up to her feet, then began its retreat, water sinking down between the shards of coral on the beach as it left, winking into bubbles and then into nothing – but not quite nothing. There was now a dark film over the white coral. And a smell.

Hex sniffed. 'Rotten eggs.'

Li stood up. Another wave came and went, leaving another layer of oil.

Paulo caught the expression on her face. 'It's started,' he said.

The next morning the white beach was black and slimy. Small white mounds of sand appeared like starbursts in a night sky as tiny crabs dug their way out, pushing clean sand to the surface. Dead crabs and molluscs lay strewn around, all coated with glistening black, while others struggled in the slime. It reeked of sulphur.

The five members of Alpha Force stood on the veranda and looked out at the mess. It was even worse than they'd expected.

'What a difference,' said Hex. 'It's obscene.'

'It spreads so fast,' said Paulo.

And still the sea brought more. The clear blue sparkling water was tainted with a rainbow sheen, the white sandpiles from escaping creatures darkening with every wave.

'We had an oil spill once on the beach in Northumberland,' said Alex. 'A tanker ran aground in a storm. There were dead birds everywhere. I thought we'd see dead birds here.'

Li answered his question in a low voice. 'We'll see the birds soon. Give it time. At the moment they'll be trying to clean oil off their feathers, shivering like fury. But the oil will destroy the waterproofing in their feathers so they'll get colder and colder. Then they'll try to eat more but their digestive systems will be irritated by the oil. They'll start burning up their own body tissues to keep warm. And they'll keep trying to clean themselves, and all that oil they're swallowing will poison them. By the time we see them they'll be desperate.'

Amber's eyes were starting to water from the fumes. She rubbed them. 'This stuff is vicious.'

Even the sounds of the landscape were different. There was the usual steady drone of boats, but also the beat of a helicopter. One came close enough for them to see its tail with the red insignia of ArBonCo Oil. Then it disappeared around the headland towards the tanker.

'I wonder if they really can do anything?' said Alex.

'Why haven't they called us yet?' said Amber. 'Hex, you definitely got through and put us on the list of volunteers?'

'I spoke to them last night,' said Hex. 'In person, not a machine.' He patted his mobile phone on his belt. 'As soon as the call comes, we'll know. They said they were waiting for supplies.'

Li let out a long sigh. 'Surely there must be
something
we can do now.'

Hex shook his head. 'They said no one's to enter the water until the equipment's here. Otherwise we run the risk of spreading the oil further. Plus the tanker's unstable and might explode if any air has got in with the oil.'

Paulo winced. 'Nasty.'

Amber frowned. 'Surely it's seawater in there, if anything?'

'No,' said Hex. 'Not all the tanker's underwater. The containers that aren't might have been holed. It's probably just a precaution.'

'So we just wait?' said Amber.

'Yeah,' said Hex. 'We just wait.'

Alex moved towards the veranda doors. 'I've done enough waiting. Does anyone feel up to some studying? There's lots of diving stuff we could revise.'

Amber thought that whoever had tried to make the dive centre library look like part of an old ship had not realized that most of the walls would be covered in books. Not old leather-bound gold-lettered books either; the diving textbooks were full of modern typefaces and clashing colours. Danny kept the place well stocked with the latest publications.

As the five teenagers sat at the big table, surrounded by books, their sense of time dragging disappeared. Training always put them in a positive frame of mind. It was storing up tools that could be useful for some mission in the future, something that would let them do their job better – or even save their lives or the lives of others. They took training very seriously. For a while they almost forgot about the ruined landscape outside.

Hex kept consulting his palmtop, a state-of-the-art computer that was his pride and joy. He carried it everywhere with him in a belt-mounted pouch. His one complaint about doing so much diving was that he had to leave it behind. But he had managed to put it to good use the previous day, taking notes from an in-depth lecture that Danny had given them on 'the bends', or decompression sickness. If they dived deeper than thirty metres, the weight of the water forced nitrogen from the air they were breathing to dissolve in their blood and joints. They had to be very careful how long they stayed down – and how fast they surfaced – or the dissolved nitrogen would fizz up in their bloodstreams like the gases in a can of drink. The bubbles might burst blood vessels, rupture lungs or even damage nerves. The deeper they dived, the higher the risk. There was a lot of theory to learn before they could dive safely at these depths, and a lot of maths to practise.

Paulo had found a stack of videotapes. 'We ought to look at one of these.' He read off the titles.
'Nitrogen Narcosis: The Facts; Diving Physiology—'

'We've done those,' chorused Amber and Li.

'How about
Psychological Preparation for Diving?'

'Done that too,' said Alex.

Hex interrupted as something caught his eye in the book he had in front of him. 'Did you know,' he said, 'that decompression sickness was first observed by Robert Boyle in the seventeenth century? He put a viper in a vessel and increased the pressure—' He put his hand up like a policeman stopping traffic. 'Don't ask me how because it doesn't say. After decreasing the pressure he noticed that a bubble formed in the eye of the snake, and it was writhing in pain.'

Li thought that Hex had a certain air of satisfaction when he closed the book. 'That's disgusting,' she said. 'I hope the viper bit him.'

Alex blew his cheeks out. 'I thought all Boyle ever did was write boring old Boyle's Law.'

'Hey, guys,' said Amber. 'This is so weird. We could all be at my school in study period.' She glanced at Hex. 'Except for you. They wouldn't let you in my school.'

'I wouldn't want to come to your school,' rejoined Hex. 'It's just for rich American girls.'

'I think
I'd
like it there,' said Paulo.

'Oh, listen to him,' said Li. 'Mister heartbreaker. If you set foot in a girls' school they'd have you for breakfast.'

Paulo gave her a smouldering look. 'They can have me anytime.' Li picked up her notes and rapped them down on his tanned hand.

'What's your place like, Alex?' Amber asked.

'Oh – so-so,' said Alex. 'Just your usual kind of college. Near the moors. That's what I like about it.'

Paulo read out another title.
'Gas Mixes.
No, we've done that too.
Cliff Diving Championships 2004.'
That one took the wind out of his sails.

'Cliff Diving Championships 2004?'
Alex repeated.

Paulo looked at the video. It wasn't commercially produced; the label was handwritten in biro. He handed it over to Alex, who was next to the combined TV/video unit, and Alex slotted it into the machine and switched it on. They leaned forward to watch.

The tape started abruptly, panning around a crowd, showing mostly the backs of their heads. The colours were harsh and bright and the sound was hissy but there was the unmistakable air of anticipation, like an audience waiting for a concert. Only they weren't looking at a stage. They were looking at a jagged outline of cliff, about thirty metres up. The camera panned around and showed a rocky headland surrounded by dark blue water. Perched on a lower rock, about halfway up the main cliff, were three figures with score cards. The judges.

A figure appeared on the summit of the cliff, his dark limbs rippling with muscle, looking all the more striking in red trunks. A rustle of expectation went around the crowd and the video zoomed in.

'It's Danny,' said Alex.

Danny's face was lost in concentration, hardly registering the spectators below. Not a muscle in his body moved and gradually his stillness hushed the crowd. He took a step forwards and sprang into the air, twisting like a cat, then tumbling into one back somersault, then another. The camera followed him down, the cliff behind him a blur. Even after doing all that he still had time to straighten up and hit the water feet first.

The camera focused on the water where he had gone in, the crowd now utterly silent. Then Danny burst to the surface, arms held high in triumph and the audience went wild.

Amber was the first to find her voice. 'Wow,' was all she could manage.

Paulo said, 'He must have hit that water at about a hundred k per hour. How could anyone do that and survive?'

The judges on their rock held up a row of numbers. Danny had scored three perfect tens.

'Well, that explains what all the trophies in the bar are,' said Alex.

On the screen, Danny had disappeared behind a group of fans, who were all trying to hug him as he got out of the pool.

'And this guy's our technical diving teacher?' said Amber. 'We are not worthy.'

On the screen, the fans' adulation of Danny continued. 'I feel like hugging him too,' said Li.

Paulo gave her a sidelong glance. 'I wonder how I can learn to dive like that.'

'I don't think I'd fancy the little trunks,' said Alex.

Another contestant was ready on the cliff top. Again the crowd whistled and cheered a greeting, then fell silent. The diver leaped into the air, his arms stretched out wide, then he tucked all his limbs in and performed a double somersault.

They could see what was going to happen. He hadn't timed it right. The five friends gasped as he hit the water at an angle. The dark pool swallowed him and bounced him up; they caught a glimpse of a limp figure sprawling on the surface and heard a shriek from the crowd, then Danny's face was close to the camera, pulling his finger across his throat.
Cut,
he mouthed. The picture went to snowy silence.

Alex clicked the video off and ejected the tape.

'Ouch,' said Hex.

'That would be like hitting concrete,' said Paulo.

Hex's phone suddenly vibrated on his waistband. He whipped it out. 'Hi, Danny.' He listened and nodded, then said, 'OK,' and cut the connection.

'Are we off?' said Alex.

Hex stood up and started to tidy the books. 'We need to get full-length wetsuits and dive boots,' he said. 'Danny's teaching at Stormy Point and wants us to meet him there.'

Stormy Point was a collection of jagged rocks at the corner of the bay. Now the five friends saw it in a new light, as a series of natural diving platforms. Danny, in cut-off shorts and Nike T-shirt, was sitting at the bottom on a plateau overlooking a pool of deep water, his long, lean frame folded up in a cross-legged position. A small, muscular guy was climbing up to one of the outcrops. The pool was purpose-built, cemented off from the sea, its water pale blue like a swimming pool. It was clean and clear, as the sea had been before the oil put sinister rainbows on its surface.

Danny waved to the five friends as they approached across the veranda. They were wearing their wetsuits, unzipped to the waist because of the heat.

'The clean-up guys are on their way by helicopter,' said Danny. 'Of course, they would have to be late. We didn't start the lesson because we thought they were going to show up earlier. This is Carl, by the way.'

The figure climbing up to one of the outcrops turned and waved, then resumed his climb. He was blond and tanned; Alpha Force recognized him as one of the guests in the bar the previous night.

Danny called up to him. 'No, not off that one. The same one as before.'

Carl called back. 'But I've done that one.'

'Do it again,' called Danny. 'It's six metres, plenty high enough.'

'But I can do twenty metres.'

'Get six metres right before you go any higher,' Danny replied.

Carl came down to the six-metre platform. Having seen the master at work, Alpha Force watched with keen interest. In the distance, the familiar beat of a helicopter sounded. They all looked up and saw the red shape and its steady flashing lights, one at the front and one on the tail. But it was still a long way away.

Carl went to the edge, looked down, took a deep breath, leaped out and made his body stiff and straight like a soldier standing to attention. Moments later he splashed into the pool feet first, then surfaced, spitting out water.

'Rubbish,' said Danny. 'You did it again. Keep your legs together.'

Carl heaved himself out and stomped back up.

Paulo was looking towards the helicopter. It bore a red insignia. 'That's ArBonCo,' he said. 'Should only be a couple of minutes.'

Carl whizzed down into the water again.

'Awful,' called Danny as he came up. Carl glared at him.

Li felt for Carl. 'Sometimes it's hard to master a new move,' she said. She had to raise her voice a little; the helicopter was definitely drawing closer.

Danny nodded. 'This is much harder than it looks. Carl's actually quite good. He's been taking lessons for a while. But he lets the wave pull his legs apart. If he did that at twenty metres he'd be torn in half.'

'We saw your video,' shouted Amber. 'Very impressive.'

Danny leaned over and shouted his reply over the noise of the helicopter. 'Then you saw what happened after my dive. That guy didn't walk for five months.'

Carl dived again. This time Danny gave him a thumbs-up as he surfaced. 'Nearly.' As the helicopter descended down onto the road behind the dive centre, he pointed up to the six-metre platform again.

Danny could see that the five members of Alpha Force were fascinated by the cliff diving. He beckoned to them. They put their heads close to him so they could hear what he had to say over the noise. 'Don't – you – try – this,' he shouted slowly and emphatically. 'Here' – he pointed to the pool – 'it's easy. I built it. If you jump into a rock pool out in the bay it might not be deep enough or there could be rocks you can't see.' He gestured at the sea with its shimmering oily surface. 'Especially now.' They all nodded but Danny continued to look at them earnestly. 'I've seen divers
killed,'
he emphasized. The helicopter lifted off again and headed for the hills.

Carl dived again and surfaced. This time Danny was clearly pleased. Two thumbs-ups.

A man in red ArBonCo Oil overalls was walking briskly down the beach towards them. By the time he reached them the heli had gone far enough away so they could talk in normal voices again. He went up to Danny. 'Sorry I'm late. Mr Martino?'