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Other debris sifted in the sand, but most of it was gobbled into the bottom, probably under layers of four or five feet of silt.
Given the tugging behind her, Stein had ripped free one of her fins. He went to work on her tank. Austen had sawed on the netting stuck to Tia’s octopus, the extra breathing supply that dangled off her BCD.
Austen tapped her hand with two fingers.
Right.Oxygen check. The needle had already dipped into the warning zone, and she showed Austen where it cut into the red.
Don’t panic.
But they couldn’t possibly get her free before her air ran out. And they’d come down with her, so certainly they had to be down to dangerous levels also.
Austen ripped Tia’s octo free, but the netting had wrapped Tia up in the water too. Austen tried to get her finger in between the net and the wet suit, but it wouldn’t budge. Tia’s O2 gauge had detached from her BCD, and Austen grabbed it, took a look, then reached for her secondary and gave it to Tia.
She spat out her regulator, blew out the water in Austen’s secondary reg, and took a fresh breath. But a glance at Austen’s O2 gauge said they didn’t have a lot of reserve.
And they’d gone so far down, they would need a five-minute decompression stop fifteen feet from the surface.
She couldn’t even see the boat above, nor the mooring-ball line that connected the surface to the dive site.
Stein was now cutting at the connection to the coral. If she could break free, maybe she could kick like a mermaid to the top.
Suddenly he stopped, and a beeping sounded in the depths. He grabbed Austen and ran his hand across his throat, pointed at her.
Oh.Austen was on her last minutes of air.
He unhooked his secondary hose and shoved it at Tia.
She grabbed it, released Austen’s regulator, cleared the secondary, and breathed.
He ripped off a small emergency tank on the side of his rig and shoved it at Austen. She shook her head, and he gestured up, desperation in his eyes.
Austen inserted the canister’s reg into her mouth and let out her BCD air, rising.
Then the man took Tia’s face in his hands, his blue eyes on hers. Nodded.
So, they were apparently in this to the end. Her eyes started to fill as he turned back to the netting.
No.She couldn’t let him die here on the bottom with her. She hadn’t gotten a look at his O2, but it couldn’t be far behind hers.
He sawed at the netting, and it started to release.
She tried to pry the web from her leg.C’mon—please, God?—
And it had been so long since she’d called out, but once upon a time, she’d believed. Called out and God had answered?—
Beeping.
She looked up, but Stein kept cutting the line.
She ran her hand across her throat, but he ignored her. All she had to do was take out the regulator. He’d have enough at least for a straight emergency ascent?—
Tapping. It echoed against the darkness, and now Stein looked up, around. Reached back and tapped his knife on his tank.
More tapping, and out of the blue, a diver appeared, kicking hard. He swam up to them, glanced at her, then Stein, and then grabbed his secondary octo. He shoved it into her mouth.
She cleared, breathed fresh air.
Then he took out his own reg and handed it to Stein. Stein took a breath, nodded, and handed it back to?—