Escape (24 page)

There wa
s no sign of Paulie, but he wouldn’t still be diving. His air would never have lasted this long.

Rudy grabbed her attention and gave her the thumbs up, the signal to ascend. They had obviously come to the same conclusion. If Paulie was in the cavern, he would be above water, not under.

Slowly, they rose to the surface, stopping every couple of feet to avoid decompression.

They burst through the surface of the water into the murky gloom of the cave and a weak shout grabbed their attention.

“Hey! Over here!”

In the strange acoustics of the cave, it was difficult to pin-point exactly where the voice came from. They spun around, Rudy using the torchlight to scan the interior of the cave. Jagged rocks jutted from the water. A foot above the water level, a narrow ledge ran around one side of the cave.

It was to this Paulie clung. His body looked large and fleshy in the torchlight, his bright red swim shorts catching the light, his scuba equipment piled beside him.

Thank God.

Relief swept over Lucy and they swam over to the stranded man. His face was white and he shivered violently. Exhaustion hung on his features, but he otherwise seemed uninjured. Rudy climbed up onto the ledge beside him, and then helped haul Lucy, equipment and all, out of the water.

“Am I glad to see you two,” said Paulie between his chattering teeth.

“We’re glad to see you too,” said Rudy. “I want to kick your ass for being such an idiot, but there’ll be time for that later. Right now we need to get us all back to the boat safely.”

“Are you hurt anywhere?” asked Lucy.

“No, just really cold and I can’t stop shaking.”

“That’s your body trying to deal with the cold and probably a bit of shock as well. As soon as we warm you up, you’ll be fine.”

“First we need to get back to the boat,” said Rudy. “What’s your air like?”

Paulie shook his head. “I ran out trying to get back to the boat,” he said, miserably. “When I saw the boat had come loose, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get back in it by myself. I used the small amount of air I had left getting back into the cave. If I hadn’t, I would have been bashed up against those rocks by now.”

“Then I’m going to have to use someone’s spare regulator,” said Rudy. “We can’t swim on the surface or the waves will toss us into the cliff.”

“I can share,” said Paulie, glancing at Lucy, his teeth still knocking together. “I’m the most experienced diver out of the two of us.”

“You don’t know that,” Lucy shot back, immediately defensive.

“No, but I am, aren’t I?”

“Yeah, okay,” she admitted. “But it’s still not a good idea. If you’re suffering from hypothermia and you go without oxygen for any length of time, you could easily lose consciousness. I might not be an experienced diver, but even I know that is not a good idea.”

“She’s right,” said Rudy. “You’ll need to take my equipment. I’ll use Lucy’s alternate regulator.” He turned to Lucy. “Is that going to be al
l
right with you? It means we’ll need to swim close together, side by side. I’m dependent on your air, so you’ll have to keep your head about you, even when we get out in the open and the current gets stronger. We have to hang onto each other.”

Lucy couldn’t think of anywhere she’d rather be, but her heart pounded. Rudy’s life was in her hands now. If they were twenty feet down and she messed up, he’d be out of air and have no choice but to surface. He could end up with an air embolism and it could kill him.

“I know. I won’t do anything stupid, I promise.”

“And Paulie.
If you fee
l yourself starting to pass out
or you’re not feeling well at all, then try to get our attention. If the worst happens, just remember to lose your weight belt. I’d rather have you unconscious on the surface than dead on the bottom.
Right?”

Paulie nodded.
             

“Hopefully it won’t come to that,” Rudy continued. “We should just be able to dive out the way we came in and reach the boat. We’ll need to take a slightly different course because the current is going to pull us away from the boat initially, but once it comes to an end, we should be able to swim straight across to where the boat is waiting for us. Got it?”

They both nodded, obediently.

Rudy set about taking off his tanks and vest and swapping them for Paulie’s empty ones. He helped Paulie into the new tanks.

“Ready?”

“Ready,” they both echoed.

Rudy climbed back into the water first. With shaking limbs, Paulie followed. He gasped as the cold of the water hit his skin, his arms bunched tight into his chest, as if he could physically keep any remaining body heat inside.

Lucy slid into the water after them. Her body stiffened as she made contact with the sea; the water felt so much colder going back in. She tread
ed
water, waiting for Rudy’s next move.

Rudy swam the couple of strokes he needed to reach her. He pulled on his facemask and then took hold of Lucy’s spare regulator, plugging it into his mouth. They were connected now; him reliant on her for his air supply. However he felt before about not trusting her, he was now literally putting his life in her hands.

He did the okay signal to both of them and they in turn, returned it. Rudy’s hand shaped into a different sign, a downward thumb: the signal to submerge.

Lucy emptied her lungs in one steady blow, reducing her buoyancy. Beside her, the men d
id the same, and they quickly sa
nk below the water and into the dark, murky underwater world below.

At least Paulie had been prepared for a cave dive. He’d brought a torch with him, one which strapped to his head. Even with the two lights, visibility was only a matter of a couple of feet. Lucy was terrified she would swim headfirst into the cliff face, or a
roc
k,
or
they were heading in the wrong direction and swimming deeper into the cavern rather than out. She clung close to Rudy, hanging onto his arm as they swam. Then she felt the swell increase and the water up ahead grew lighter.

Thank God, they were almost out.

Rays of sunlight pierced the gloom, warming the water. The now familiar tug on Lucy’s limbs told her they were back in the current. She glanced at Rudy and he pointed in the direction the current pulled them.

Just go with it.
             

She looked around for Paulie and saw him behind Rudy. The big guy was still going strong, despite what he had been through.

Within minutes, the current ended and they were able to swim, heading back to the boat. Rudy’s dive watch gave them enough coordinates for him to know exactly where to go and he swam straight for the boat, and then underneath, to where the dive line waited for their assent.

Going through the now familiar routine of checking they were all right, he gave them the thumbs up sign and slowly they began their ascent. Within a few feet of the surface, the strength of the waves made themselves known, the swell tugging on their limbs, forcing them in different directions.

Panic clutched at Lucy and her fingers gripped tightly around Rudy’s hand. She didn’t want to reach the surface, knowing it would be violent and chaotic, with the waves still so high.

But she had little choice and t
hey broke through the surface.

Still breathing through their regulators, so it didn’t matter when a wave crashed over their heads, both Lucy and Rudy hung onto the dive line. Paulie swam toward the boat.

The boat’s ladder was only a few feet away, and he took the regulator from his mouth before reaching for the rungs.

Suddenly, a large wave lifted Paulie and slammed him against the side of the boat. He clung to the ladder for a moment and then, as if in slow motion, a second wave crashed up the side. When the foaming water fell away, Paulie was gone.

Oh
,
Shit.

Immediately
,
Rudy pulled the spare regulator from his mouth.

“Hold onto the line!” he yelled at her, and dived into the waves.

With her own regulator still in place, she couldn’t even shout his name. Fear hung like a black sheet over her, and her eyes filled with tears, though she knew she couldn’t cry because she would steam up her mask.

Then she remembered who she was—a doctor, an emergency doctor—and pressed the panic down. Blowing all the air out of her lungs, she pulled herself back down the line.

Terrified, L
ucy looked around, trying to find
either of them. With the visibility still so poor, at first she couldn’t see a thing. But then she got a flash of red only six feet or so away and knew it was Paulie.

Propelling herself with her fins, knowing Rudy would kill her for diving alone, she swam the few feet to see Paulie, slowing sinking, his regulator floating out to the side like a spare limb.

With another powerful kick, she reached her hand out and managed to grab his arm. Though Paulie was a big guy, she had the buoyancy of the water on her side and was able to pull him up with her.

Though only about ten feet down, her ears shrieked with pain. Still swimming, she managed to equalize, but knew she was ascending too quickly. There were dangers in
rising
too fast, an air embolism, the bends, but she knew if she didn’t, Paulie would be dead.

Her head burst through the surface and she dragged Paulie up with her, making sure his head was above water. She didn’t know if he was breathing. Waves crashed around her, threatening to put her back under. She saw Rudy, bobbing on the surface, frantically looking around.

Lucy pulled the regulator out of her mouth and yelled to him, “Hey! Rudy! Help me!”

Relief washed
over his face and he swam over,
fighting the waves.

Hearing the noise, the two men on the boat leaned over the side.

“Holy shit,” said Steve, clambering down onto the ladder to help drag Paulie up. More waves battled to push them off, but they fought against them and pulled Paulie up on deck. Lucy followed close behind and immediately took charge, pushing the men out of the way.

Stripping off Paulie’s vest, she placed both hands on his sternum and started short, sharp compressions:

One, two, three, four, five...

She tilted his head back, clearing his airways. She pinched his nose and sealed his mouth with her own. Then she blew a strong steady breath into his lungs. She turned her head, her ear at his mouth, listening for any signs of life. The men stood around her, silent and terrified.

Nothing.

She started compressions again;
One, two, three, four,
five
...
and blew into his mouth once more.

Paulie coughed, just a small cough at first, and then a great spluttering choke, water pouring from between his lips.

Oh, thank God,” one of the men said.

Lucy sagged with relief and quickly tilted Paulie onto his side, careful none of the water went back into his lungs.

“He’ll be okay,” she said, her voice weak and quavering.

Rudy was on his knees beside her, his hand on her back.

“You saved his life, Lucy. Thank you.”

She managed a smile, though her whole body trembled.
“Just doing my job.”

“What about you? Are you okay? How deep did you dive?”

“Not far, ten feet maximum. I’m okay. I promise.”

“Okay, but I’ll have to keep a close eye on you for the next twenty-four hours.”

She smiled again and leaned against his solid form. “That would be nice.”