‘I won’t make any wife at all…’ The echo drifted around them. ‘I’m drowning…’
‘No!’
Sam’s voice was rising to a howl of outrage as if something deep inside him had suddenly snapped. The big man shoved against Quinn’s restraining hand and then, before Quinn could stop him, the lawyer launched himself out into the water.
No graceful dive here. Sam made a splash like a very large rock, going down.
‘Sam…’
It was Lizzy’s voice again. She’d seen. There was terror in her voice for the first time. She hadn’t been afraid for herself…but for her love…
‘Shark!’
The word boomed out from behind them and Fern swung round. The lights of the Wave Dancer had been playing over the water in all directions, trying to find Lizzy. Now…Now one beam played on a black fin, moving fast.
‘Sam…’ Fern heard herself screaming, her voice adding to the scream of the girl in the water. ‘Lizzy…’
Alf was back at the tiller, his motor spluttering into frantic life and shattering the silence. They couldn’t see Lizzy but they could see Sam. He was twenty yards from the dinghy, swimming with clumsy, heavyhanded strokes.
‘Don’t swim,’ Fern screamed. It was Sam’s thrashing ing that would attract the shark-though it would have been lured first by the fishing boats. The boats often cleaned their kill after their catch and the sharks knew that the boats meant an easy feed.
‘No…Sam…!’ The voice was Lizzy’s again, faint against the roar of Alf’s engine. It was a scream of frantic fear and, thirty yards from Sam, Fern saw Lizzy start to swim desperately toward her love.
‘Take over, Fern. Get in as close as you can…’ Alf hauled Fern in to the tiller. ‘Move, girl.’
Now that Alf could see both people in the water there was no danger of hitting them with the propeller-and if there was a choice of propeller or shark, Fern would choose a propeller any time. At least a propeller travelled in a straight line. A swimmer had a chance to duck. It didn’t swerve in any direction, with its mouth open and teeth razor sharp…
Fern moved without question as Alf clambered to the bow, grabbing something from a niche above the scuppers on the way. This was his domain. As Fern expected a nurse in Casualty to jump to orders, here Fern was subordinate.
There was a motor on the dinghy. Quinn had it started already and the dinghy was starting to move. He’d reach Lizzy and Sam before Alf’s boat could and with the dinghy’s increased
A scream smashed out over the water, and it was a scream of agony.
Sam…
‘Not’ Lizzy’s voice was a rising well of despair. ‘Sam…’
Where the girl found the strength after so long in the water Fern couldn’t tell, but Lizzy swam to Sam like a woman possessed. Lizzy reached him before either fishing boat or dinghy, grabbing the big man and pulling him over to lie in her arms.
The shark had already struck.
Sam lay motionless, hanging heavy with shock against Lizzy’s slight body.
From somewhere below an ugly stain drifted to the surface, red in the spotlight’s beams.
And the dark fin was moving in again.
Alf’s shout from the bow made Fern blink. ‘Hard back on the throttle. Now, girl!’
Fern shoved back hard, and the noise died as the motor stalled…
Then another took its place.
It seemed like the world exploded.
The long thin object Alf had grabbed from above the scuppers was a gun. And Alf had just used it…
The shotgun looked like some crazy, theatrical blunderbuss. It looked useless…a joke…
Fern stared from the gun down to the water. The boat was drifting broadside to the swell, letting Fern see those in the water.
The gun had done what Alf intended.
The shark was blasted beyond belief. The water was deep crimson with gore and Quinn’s dinghy had almost reached the pair in the water.
Alf’s action had bought them only seconds of safety.
They wouldn’t be safe now, even in the dinghy.
With so much blood, every shark worthy of the name would be here in minutes. They’d rip apart what was left of their companion and in a feeding frenzy nothing would survive. A rubber dinghy was little protection against such a frenzy…
Apart from the dinghy, Alf’s boat was the lowest and the nearest. Fern already had the motor started again and in gear, and Alf was leaning over the side with the grappling hook.
‘Port, girl…A bit more…’
She couldn’t see now. From the back of the boat where Fern held the tiller she was steering blind. Only Alf on the bow had any idea.
‘Slow…Slow…Cut the motor!’
Once again she cut the motor.
‘Come up here, girl…Fern, get here…’
Alf had the dinghy secure against the side of his boat with the grappling iron and in the dinghy Quinn had Lizzy under her arms, trying to haul her out of the water.
It was some feat as Lizzy was holding on to Sam for dear life.
The whole dinghy was threatening to capsize. The side of the dinghy where Quinn held Lizzy was dipping almost underwater.
‘Hold this, Fern.’ Alf shoved the grappling iron into Fern’s hands.
For a man in his eighties, Alf was moving lightning fast. A man a quarter of his age couldn’t have moved with this speed. As Fern took the grappling hook he disappeared and was back in seconds with rope to secure the rubber craft to the side of the fishing boat.
From nearby the rest of the fleet watched helplessly. There was no time to launch another boat…and their fishing boats were too high…
Then Alf was back. Almost before he’d secured the dinghy, Quinn had assessed what was happening. With the dinghy safe from sinking he could act
‘OK, Lizzy,’ Quinn ordered harshly and his words were tight with strain from hauling the two sodden figures. His voice was still strong enough, though, to cut into Lizzy’s exhaustion. ‘You have to help me. Pull Sam forward and then hang on to the dinghy rope. Now!’
The girl in the water cast a hopeless look back up at Quinn but something in Quinn’s authoritative tone must have got through. She was so exhausted now that the only thing possible was to follow orders.
Fern held her breath. Without Lizzy’s assistance Quinn could do nothing and the dinghy wasn’t big enough to take anyone else’s weight. Neither she nor Alf could help. But if Lizzy held on herself…If she forgot she was intent on suicide…
She had forgotten. With a jagging effort Lizzy hauled Sam further forward and Quinn grabbed him by the collar. Then Lizzy’s hands caught the handhold on the dinghy’s side.
‘Can you pull Lizzy up?’ Quinn demanded of the two in the boat.
‘Sure thing, Doc,’ Alf said as though he were agreeing to pass the salt. ‘Hang on to me, Fern, girl.’
The old man quickly leaned over to the side of the dinghy. Fern grabbed him by the belt as Alf caught Lizzy by the hand and pulled.
He’d never have done it alone.
As soon as she was sure that Alf had his balance, Fern let him go and reached down to grab Lizzy’s other hand. The girl came on board in a sodden, slithery rush.
Fern and Alf hardly had time to see her crumple to the deck. They were back, leaning over to grab Sam from Quinn’s clasp and haul him aboard.
Sam came with more than sea water. A gush of blood followed him on board. Alf was still helping Quinn over the side as Fern started frantically trying to staunch the flow.
It wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
He wasn’t dead.
There was a massive wound on Sam’s side. The shark’s teeth had sliced into his right loin, tearing away skin, muscle and…
And what else, Fern hated to think. Heaven knew what damage had been done under the bleeding but for now the bleeding was the only thing that Fern could worry about. With a wound this size he’d be dead in minutes.
So all Fern had to do was stop the bleeding.