“Be careful, Ethan.”
“I will, babe. I have to go.”
“Okay, I’ll handle Sally. I love you. Bye.”
“Love you too. Bye-bye.”
After attaching the deactivated phone back to his belt, Ethan passed by the now deserted dining hall before going through a small corridor and walking into the cavernous hangar located near the aft part of the ship. The Sedna sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by work benches and cabinets filled with spare parts and tools.
Chloe was crouching beside one of the modular pods, fixing a leaky fuel canister. She didn’t seem to notice as Ethan got closer and finally stood just a meter away from her. After briefly glancing in his direction, she resumed her focus on the repair work.
Ethan scratched the back of his neck. He hated having to be the one to tell her, but it was clearly his duty as her business partner. “Most of the crew are turning in for the night. Have you eaten dinner yet?”
“Maybe later,” Chloe said as she continued to work on the pod. “I’ve got lots of things to do.”
Drawing in a deep breath, he placed his left hand on the table beside her, hoping she’d give him her full attention. “There’s been an update.”
Dropping the tools onto the deck, she stood up and turned to face him, her eyes wide, fearing the worst.
“Deke might have found the Aurora’s last position, so we’ll probably be there tomorrow sometime.”
Chloe found it hard to breathe. “Did… did she—”
Ethan gave a shallow nod. “Based on the satellite images it’s possible she might have gone down.”
Chloe looked away, tears beginning to swell in her eyes. “Oh my god.”
He wanted to place a comforting hand on her shoulder, but he wasn’t sure how’d she react to it, so Ethan kept his arms at his sides. “Look, the Aurora is a state of the art diving support vessel. It’s a given she’s got a hyperbaric lifeboat for the diving team to escape in, so I’m sure Gordy is safely inside.”
“But—but why is his company not telling anyone?”
Ethan shrugged. “That I don’t know. Maybe their corporate heads haven’t got wind of it yet.”
“They know! I’m sure of it!” Chloe snapped. “I heard one of them escaping on t-the lifeboat, and he was told to stay off the air.”
“Okay, okay. Calm down. Maybe they’re trying to cover it up, but with this kind of disaster it would be next to impossible. A work boat like that must have at least a hundred crewmembers.”
“So why didn’t the others call for help then?”
“I don’t know that either,” Ethan said. “But it does nobody any good to speculate on the worst thing that could happen.”
Chloe sighed as she bowed her head. “Oh god. I told him not to go. Why didn’t I stop him?”
“Easy there,” Ethan said, doing his best to try and soothe her. “Gordon’s got a lot of guts, just like you. He’s an experienced sat diver, just like us. I’m pretty sure his whole team has the knowledge to get into the pressurized lifeboat and out of the sinking ship. ”
“Yeah, but how come they didn’t contact anybody? Those lifeboats have radios too, don’t they?”
“They should,” Ethan said. “Look, there’s no point in trying to speculate right now. Get some rest and something to eat, Chloe.”
She turned back and placed her hands on top of the table. “I-I have to get the Sedna ready, j-just in case we need her to help Gordy.”
Ethan clenched his jaw. When she’s like this, there’s almost no way I can calm her down. He quickly decided that reason would be his preferred angle. “Chloe, the best way you can help Gordy is by getting some rest. If you keep at this, you’ll be too tired to pilot the Sedna by the time we get there. Gordy’s got at least three days of air inside his lifeboat, and we’ve got a hyperbaric chamber on this ship so he can decompress here too.”
Chloe leaned back on the table, rubbing her tired, teary eyes. “Y-you’re right. As always.”
“Give your body a chance to rest, okay?”
“Okay.”
Ethan got closer and led her out of the hangar. Chloe quickly went limp, and he had to practically carry her back to the cabin. She continued to stay lucid however, even as he placed her into the bunk. Using the intercom system near the adjoining table, he called the galley for a meal to be sent over.
“Thanks, Ethan,” Chloe said softly as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “For everything you’ve done.”
Sitting at the edge of the bunk, he leaned over and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “Be sure to take a shower when you wake up, okay? You smell like an old car mechanic these days.”
Chloe gave a short laugh. The mild ribbing was enough to loosen the tenseness in her mind somewhat.
After getting up, he stood by the open doorway. “You know what, I think I will deduct all the expenses incurred on this trip from your salary.”
He looked at her, awaiting a response, only to realize that she had already fallen asleep.
32
SNAPPING HER EYES OPEN, Izzy Kozlowski realized that her grip on the straps of the partially submerged life raft had loosened, and the lower part of her legs had slid into the water. She quickly pulled her feet back into the collapsed canopy and let out an exhausted sigh.
A full moon with clear skies made the gentle, rolling swells around her seem almost idyllic. One of the characteristics of the Arabian Sea was that it was much calmer than the other bodies of water she had been to. But a once peaceful part of the world had now become a living nightmare, and Izzy had extreme doubts that she would survive for much longer.
Time seemed to stretch out into a single, unending moment of suffering. She could hardly recall much, other than remembering the close encounter with some monstrous creature that had somehow ignored her after it had destroyed the lifeboat. Did it spare me because its belly was full? she thought.
When the next morning came she spotted a damaged life raft floating amongst the debris. A section of the emergency watercraft was still inflated, and Izzy managed to climb onto its collapsed canopy, giving her some protection against the onslaught that was sure to come next.
By midmorning, her worst fears were realized when she saw a number of large, gray dorsal fins slicing through the surface of the water around her. The sharks had come at last, and they were hungry. Attracted to the dead bodies still floating nearby, these remorseless ocean predators started a feeding frenzy, and the surface churned as more and more of them converged in the area.
Izzy could only clench her fists and grit her teeth as one of the sharks poked its head around, just underneath the floating tarpaulin, using its highly developed sense of smell to spot a potential meal before it swam away. Their horrible feasting lasted until nightfall and then all seemed quiet once again.
The saltwater splashing against the inflated side of the life raft stung her eyes, but she kept them open for fear of falling asleep and slipping back into the water. The shining disk of the moon above gave her a bit of comfort, remembering the good times she’d had with her husband during one of their romantic getaways. Izzy had repeatedly reminded him not to contact her while she was on the work boat, to just wait until she called first. Now she regretted ever telling him that.
Izzy shook her head. Her phone now lay somewhere at the bottom of the sea. What am I thinking about? There’s no way he can call me now.