But their mercenary attackers kept coming, now rapidly closing the gap between the two boats as Jayden and Carter’s craft limped along, flooded with water. Carter began to look around for items with which to mount a last resort defense. “Flares, where’s the flares?” He scrounged around through the console cubbies, and then looked inside the small anchor hold, but found none.
“Figures, these guys don’t follow any laws, including those pertaining to maritime safety,” Carter muttered. Then, out of desperation as the enemy tender neared, he removed the small anchor from the hold. About the size of a large grappling hook, it was connected to a short length of chain which was in turn tied to a long length of manila rope.
He told Jayden to cut the motor. “It’s pointless to keep going, might as well try and mount a defense. Actually, try waving a white flag first. Let them take us alive if they’re willing.”
Regretfully, Jayden stripped off his white T-shirt, with a logo from Sloppy Joe’s, a well-known watering hole in Key West, Florida, and began to swing it around above his head. “All right, I’m waving the white flag of surrender.”
But the act seemed to make no difference, for another gunshot rang out and then the other pontoon began to hiss out the air that was keeping them afloat. Carter was in the process of looping the anchor rope around his arm while gripping the anchor in his other hand, when he realized it was hopeless. The enemy Zodiac pulled up alongside them, manned by four men, three of which pointed pistols straight at them. The boat pilot held a megaphone to his lips and addressed them:
“Nice day for a boat ride, eh?” He laughed along with the rest of his motley crew as a large wave steamrolled over the now deflated dinghy of Carter and Jayden while Treasure, Inc.’s air-filled craft was lifted harmlessly up and over the passing water. Then the sky split open with a crack of lightning, a booming explosion of thunder, and a torrential downpour began to fall.
The motor of Carter and Jayden’s boat sank beneath the waves, no longer supported by the airless tube. The two men now floated in water as if in a bathtub. They were able to support their weight on the submerged mass of rubber, but they were no longer dry. The boat pilot waved an arm at his crew.
“Cease fire, men. There is no need to waste any more bullets on these two. Shooting them would be too kind. Let them finish their boat trip out here in these friendly seas!” He looked up at the darkening sky as the rain drenched his face while another peal of thunder boomed around them.
“No, do not let them go or their ship could pick them up!” one of the crew protested.
“Our own ship is doing battle with them at this very moment! On our way back, we will distract them as well. Let these two scum drown, and it will look like an accident. All the better for us. Let’s go!”
He shot Carter a cold stare before putting the boat into gear and turning away from them, throwing a wake that flooded the stricken vessel even more, drenching Carter’s face with icy ocean water.
“Awesome,” Jayden said, legs floating out in front of him while his elbows rested on the bunched up mass of rubber that used to be their pontoon, as if he were relaxing in a hot tub. No longer wearing a shirt only added to the picture. “This is just great. Real pickle we’re in, Carter. Any ideas?”
The treasure seeker slowly shook his head while he searched his mind in vain for a plan. But the cold water made it difficult to concentrate. “It’ll be dark before too long…” he began, when he was interrupted by a faint sound to the east. He turned that way, coaxing his ears to magnify the noise, but it was lost to the wind and sea spray before returning a few seconds later, a tiny bit louder this time. And more identifiable.
“Helo!” he yelled.
“Hopefully that’s not Daedalus,” Jayden said.
“I have a feeling he’s checked into St. John’s premiere luxury hotel by now,” Carter said. “It’s got to be Buzz. It’s got to be…” He turned to silent prayer as they drifted in the freezing water while the sound of the rotors drew nearer. The running lights of the aircraft were the only distinguishable feature in the dim light, but when the spotlight brightened a circle of dark sea beneath the ‘copter, Jayden let out a whoop.
“It’s Buzz. He’s looking for us!”
“He sees us,” Carter confirmed, as the aircraft slowed and began to descend toward the ocean surface.
“And our friends over there see him, too,” Jayden pointed out. Near the edge of their visibility into the wind-whipped, salty gloom, the small boat made a wide turn back toward them.
“So much for leaving us to the elements,” Carter said.
“Well, to be fair, an Augusta Bell AB-212 helo is not exactly ‘the elements’, is it?”
“Do we have a light, anything to warn the pilot with?”
Jayden scrounged around the console for a bit before coming up empty-handed while shaking his head. “’fraid not. Maybe now’s the time for your anchor trick. Buzz might not know these guys are willing to shoot first and cover things up later.”
Carter nodded. “I’ll do what I can. You maintain eye contact with Buzz and guide him in.”
As the chopper neared the rotor wash stirred up the water to the point that their swamped raft was nearly impossible to stay with. “He’s waving us over!” Jayden said, and then a second later, the pilot’s voice was heard through a loud-hailer: “I can’t get any closer without blowing you away in the raft. Get out and swim to me, I’ll lower a ladder. Give me a hand signal if you understand.”
Jayden immediately held up his hand in the universal “okay” signal, thumb and forefinger held in a circle. “Ready, Carter?”
The Treasure, Inc. Zodiac was a stone’s throw away now and not slowing down as it approached them. It was obvious they meant to pass Carter and Jayden and assault the helicopter.
Carter responded with, “Jump in three, two, one… Go!” He stood in the deflated raft as best he could, and from his wobbly stance he wound the anchor at the end of the chain around in a loop like a cowboy getting ready to lasso a bull. He watched as the enemy craft cruised past their port side. When he heard the splash signaling that Jayden had launched himself into the open sea, Carter began the mental process of timing his anchor swings while watching the assailant’s boat speed past.
One of the crew fired the first shot at the helicopter as it hovered, waiting for Carter and Jayden to swim beneath it. Carter let go of the chain with the anchor near the apex of its loop and aimed far ahead of the speeding raft. Carter knew he should start swimming as soon as he let the anchor fly, but it would only take a couple more seconds to see the results of his offensive move and the curiosity was overwhelming. He was rewarded with the sight of the boat’s driver suddenly being ripped off of the craft into the water behind it. The Zodiac then spun wildly to the left in an out-of-control turn.
Having seen enough to know that his stunt had proven as effective as he could have hoped for, Carter dove off of his crippled raft, knifing underwater in a dive so as to remain unseen on the surface for as long as possible. He found the relative quiet beneath the waves to be peaceful, a serenity that was shattered the moment he surfaced for air. His ears were greeted with the din of a helicopter motor and a boat engine, against a backdrop of thunder, howling wind, and a heavy rain splattering on the waves. He could see the chopper hovering about thirty feet away, but the seas were too chaotic to permit him a decent view of the water itself, so he couldn’t see Jayden or even the rival boat.