As he stood, Alison turned away from Borger’s laptop and peered up at Lightfoot.
“Hold on to Sally. She’ll take you!”
“Okay.” Lightfoot nodded and returned the regulator back between his lips. Without hesitation, he took three exaggerated steps with his fins and plunged into the blue water.
After performing a short self-check, Lightfoot swam forward to where Sally was waiting. He wrapped his right hand around her large dorsal fin and held on tight as she kicked her powerful tail and dove. Together, they descended through the shimmering blue water into the darkness below.
Lightfoot kept his left hand on his nose and continually cleared his ears as Sally raced straight down. The stern of the sunken Bowditch quickly came into view, propped eerily on its side in the watery tomb. Sally continued along the underside of the hull and leveled them out near the mid-section. The light from above had now stopped reflecting any color but deep blue, creating strange shadows along the side of the ship as they passed.
When they neared the bow of the ship, Lightfoot saw the enormous hole extending far beneath and out of sight. No wonder it sank so fast.
As they neared the hole, Lightfoot saw what they were looking for. A second dolphin emerged, dwarfed by the giant hole and pushing a human shape into the open. Lightfoot nearly lost his grip as Sally accelerated. With his right hand, he equalized his ears one last time and reached behind him. He found the second line and followed it to the end where he gripped the second regulator. He then brought it around in front of him and tested the button on top, producing a small explosion of bubbles. It was ready.
When Sally neared, Lightfoot let go of her fin and kicked forward with the momentum. He reached out and grabbed the thick Gumby suit to pull the figure closer to him. There was no movement at all.
Lightfoot immediately fingered the seal across the figure’s face and glanced at the second regulator in this right hand. The switch would have to be very fast.
Everyone on the stern of the Pathfinder waited impatiently, barely breathing. Alison stood on the edge, gripping the rail with both hands and staring intently down into the water. She couldn’t see anything. “Please,” she pleaded under her breath. “Pleeease!”
After a torturous silence, Lee broke the tension from his spot behind them. “I think they’re coming up!”
Alison ran to the screen and stared at Sally’s last message. We come back. She could barely stand it. She stepped back to the rail and tried to anticipate the steps. Lightfoot had to come up very slowly due to decompression. And if things were going well, he’d probably stop again about twenty feet down for the nitrogen to gas off. She glanced at her watch. They’d been down several minutes already, which meant the delay could either be good news, or very, very bad.
But if it were good, how on earth could anyone survive for that long underwater? A sudden, devastating thought occurred to her. What if the sound the dolphins heard was just some metal banging together? What if what Dirk was trying to bring up was simply someone’s remains?
Kelly stepped in next to her and wrapped an arm around Ali’s shoulders just as her knees began to weaken. “Easy, Ali,” she whispered.
But Alison never heard her. The fear of what Dirk might really be bringing back to them had just taken her breath away.
When Lightfoot appeared, he came without warning. Most of his ascent had been directly beneath the Pathfinder, so when he reached the surface, the crew jumped. They eagerly pulled him aboard, along with the orange figure floating next to him.
They lifted the figure up and onto the metal deck of the stern just as the ship’s doctor barged through.
“Move!” The doctor yelled and knelt down over the unconscious man.
Behind him, Alison pushed forward, trying to catch a glimpse of the man’s face. It was obscured by both the crew crowding before her as well as the Gumby suit’s oversized cap and face cover.
Doctor Khanna made several compressions against the person’s chest and then leaned back. “Get him onto his side!”
The crewmembers complied and rolled the figure onto his left side, allowing a small stream of seawater to drain from his mouth and lungs. When it had stopped, they quickly rolled him back onto his back, where Khanna performed CPR. After a full minute, he heard something and leaned back onto his knees, expectantly.
Finally, with a violent convulsion, John Clay coughed.
61
Clay’s eyes fluttered open painfully under the bright sun, and he quickly rolled his head away. Several silhouettes loomed over him, seemingly all speaking at once. Inside, his mind was racing, trying to piece together the last clear memories he had.
He had been below deck… with Krogstad. They were searching for someone, a crewmember, when the ship moved. It moved quickly. They could hear the flood of water coming. The suits were nearby. Thank god.
His mind skipped forward. He was under the water then surfaced again. Sounds of the surging water were all around him, and he was breathing through the suit. But he had to slow down. He was going to hyperventilate.
Clay suddenly convulsed and clasped the arm of one of the silhouettes above his head. The suit was out of air! He couldn’t breathe!
But he was breathing now. Clay drew in deeply. And that blinding glare was the sun. He was alive.
Clay was now fully aware and rolled his head back to center. He bent his arm over his eyes to block the bright light. Finally, the silhouettes became faces. He recognized one of them as Khanna. Clay’s memory scanned its data bank. Khanna was a doctor. But what was he doing here? He served on Emerson’s ship. The Pathfinder. He blinked repeatedly and looked at the other faces.
There was only one other face that he recognized. And it was the only one he cared about at that moment: Alison.
She was peering over the shoulder of one of the crewmen with a desperate look on her face. When she saw Clay notice her, she tried to smile but lost it. Instead, she broke down and pushed through the others, falling onto her knees next to him.
Clay reached out and pulled her down onto his chest. He could hear her crying and wrapped his arms tightly around her. After a long moment, he pushed Alison up by the shoulders to look at her. Her eyes were filled.
A reassuring smile formed on Clay’s handsome face. “Well, that was close.”
Alison shook her head and covered her face with her hands. “For God’s sake, stop doing that!”
Dr. Khanna breathed a little easier and leaned back further to give them some room.
Clay watched Khanna stand up. “Where’s Krogstad?”
The doctor frowned. “They’ve gone back down for him.”
Breathing deep, Clay covered one eye with the heel of his hand. He was still down there. Then the memory flashed back. Krogstad had stopped moving long before Clay’s air ran out. He shook his head in sorrow.
“Where’s Borger?” He searched the faces of the people still kneeling around him. None of them knew of whom Clay was referring. Finally, Alison wiped her tears away and rose up, scanning the area. She spotted him at the back of the crowd and waved him in closer.
Borger came around in front of Clay then twisted his head to match Clay’s orientation. “Howdy, Clay.”
“Will, what happened?”