The scuba tank. Use it. That’s all he could think of — to get out of harm’s way by going down into the tank itself. But there was only one tank and three of them. In a micro-flash of synaptic brain activity, Hunt considered leaving Jayden and Maddy here while he grabbed the tank and dove straight down. He could seek help down there, waving at people through the glass….But he dismissed the thought almost as soon as it had come to him. If he did that, then Maddy and Jayden — especially Maddy, since she was the expert on archaeology — would be used as bargaining chips by Treasure, Inc. They would be at his mercy. No, he had to take them with him somehow, there was no other alternative.
All of these thoughts transpired as Hunt’s hands reached the scuba tank. As if in slow motion, he felt his mouth opening to yell to Maddy and Jayden — stealth no longer mattered — to grab onto him and hold on…and then his fingers were closing around the valve, turning it as he pulled it into the water with him, turning it on in order to make sure the air would flow.
He felt Maddy’s hand slip off of his leg as he splashed into the water. He hoped Jayden would be able to grab a hold of her. He knew Maddy was a certified scuba diver at the recreational level, otherwise he never would have considered this plan. Hunt’s hands traced the rubber hoses back to the valve as he sank upside-down into the water, tracing the separate regulators. He found the primary and handed it off to Jayden, who had a hand waiting to receive it. Good, that meant he’s on board with the plan, Hunt thought. Now for the hard part…
He grabbed the second regulator mouthpiece — the one called the “octopus” that was designed as an emergency redundant backup with a longer hose — and pulled Maddy to his right side, so that Jayden was on his left and Maddy on his right. He felt her hand clawing his, scrambling for the mouthpiece. When he felt her take it from him, he slipped the mask strap off his wrist and put it over his head. He quickly exhaled forcefully though his nose to clear out the water inside the mask…and then he could see!
Unfortunately the first thing he noticed was a tracer stream of bubbles a few feet in front of them, slanting down into the water as a bullet was fired from somewhere above. Hunt pressed the button on the buoyancy compensator vest to make sure all the air was vented. Fortunately it was one of the style with integrated weights, so he began to sink, which was exactly what he needed.
Jayden got with the program, kicking down and paddling with the hand not holding on to Hunt. Hunt looked over at Maddy and saw her eyes wide open and full of panic as much as water; knowing she couldn’t see anything more than blurry shapes made him nervous she would panic and not be able to function, but so far she was kicking down also, knowing they needed to go down under the water to be safe from the shooters’ bullets.
After a few more kicks Hunt felt the strong urge to breathe, so he reached over to his left and tapped Jayden on the shoulder. Immediately his dive buddy passed him the regulator. It was awkward swimming tethered together by the regulator hose, but at least it kept them close together. Hunt greedily sucked four breaths of air from the mouthpiece before handing it back to Jayden. They would have to swap breaths like this the entire time they were underwater, while Maddy, being the more inexperienced diver, had her own regulator. Hunt hoped their was sufficient air left in the tank. There was a pressure gauge dangling down on its own hose somewhere, but he didn’t have a free hand to be able to look for it and drag it up to his face to be able to read it. What difference did it make, anyway, Hunt thought. If they ran out of air they would have no choice but to swim up to the surface and take their chances with the madman Daedalus and his henchmen. Not much of a choice really, he thought.
After a few more kicks Hunt began to see fish swimming about — a school of silver, sardine-like species, as well as large groupers, some the size of VW Bugs, lazily finning about. He craned his neck so that he could see up, to make sure the Treasure, Inc. Men weren’t entering the tank, or leaning right over the side for a better shot. But he saw no one up there. Turning his focus back to the bottom, he assessed the tank they now found themselves in. To their left, a pinnacle of a large, manufactured rock formation lay perhaps ten feet below. He tried to picture the tank from when he and Jayden had stood on the floor outside of it earlier with the rest of the tourists. He recalled a faux stone archway, some cheesy Aztec-type statues, and the giant manta ray, but not much else.
He looked the other way, to his right and down, and saw a stream of bubbles emanating from behind a synthetic shipwreck. That meant a scuba diver. But who? He fought back a surge of adrenaline as he imagined one of Daedalus’ men from the flooded pyramid about to attack them here. They wouldn’t stand a chance, the three of them sharing one scuba rig. But on the other hand, unlike in the pyramid, here they were in full view of the public, with hundreds of tourists right outside the glass. Even so, that hadn’t stopped them from shooting up the grotto.
But as hunt tapped Jayden on the shoulder and pointed, the diver came into view, swimming out thorough a hole in the side of the model wreck. He held his arms out while facing the people on the other side of the glass. Hunt knew he was speaking to them through a microphone in his special facemask, giving a narrated underwater tour of the tank, talking about the sea life and answering questions from the visitors.
Hunt knew that this person was their ticket to safety. He wasn’t sure Jayden or Maddy would be able to tell they were looking at a diver without their masks on, so he herded them toward the man — he was pretty sure it was a man from the physique in the wetsuit.
Hunt watched the underwater tour guide delivering his spiel to the crowd of onlookers on the other side of the glass as the cumbersome trio made their slow, ungainly approach. Hunt hoped the man would turn around, because if he did he would see them; he didn’t want to have to sneak up and tap him on the shoulder — that could really spook a person, Hunt knew, even though he would probably think he was a big fish at first. Hunt almost found himself chuckling at the thought, despite the seriousness of the situation.
A few frantic taps on his shoulder told Hunt that Jayden saw the diver. Hunt gave him the “okay” sign, thumb and forefinger in a circle, right in front of his mask, hoping he would recognize it. A few more kicks brought them to within a few feet of the aquarium diver, who Hunt could see was actively engaged with his audience outside the tank. Then the underwater presenter turned sideways while pointing at some feature of the exhibit, and did a double-take as he saw what had to be the strangest sight he’d ever seen while working in the exhibit: Three people breathing off of one scuba tank, only one of them wearing a mask.
Hunt watch the man’s eyes widen like saucers. He saw he had a white writing slate dangling from his wrist. Hunt pointed to it, hoping that a concrete task would keep the individual from panicking. He got the message and passed Hunt the slate with its attached pencil.
The name of a fish was already written on the slate, but Hunt only needed to write five simple words, and he scribbled them out in a corner of the slate while a confused Jayden and Maddy looked on:
ACTIVE SHOOTERS ABOVE CALL 911
Chapter 16
Hunt watched the aquarium diver speak rapidly inside of his full face mask. From the reaction on the faces of the crowd outside the glass, Hunt could see that his message was being conveyed. Then the diver turned to Hunt, gripped him by the shoulder, and pointed up. Hunt reflexively looked that way, hoping it wasn’t Daedalus’ divers coming after them, but the employee was only pointing out the exit.