Hiro shook her head. “We’ll wait for the police.”
Thunder rumbled overhead. The clouds were darker now — and directly above them. They tumbled over one another like some kind of atmospheric tag-team wrestling match. And it appeared to be a fight to the death. The Getaway swung in a slow arc with the stern facing away from the beach.
“Wind shift,” Lunk said.
The wind circled out of the southeast. “This is good. Maybe things are shifting in our favor all around,” Cooper said. “Now Kryptoski won’t see me gearing up on the swim platform.”
Cooper climbed over the transom rail. The bow of the boat shielded Krypto Night from view. “Hand over that gear, would you?”
“We’re not letting you do it, Coop.” Hiro’s jaw was set. Gordy stood by her.
Apparently they’d been talking while he was in the cabin.
Cooper gripped the rail. “You’ve been right all along, Hiro. Kryptoski ran over that girl. Are you going to let him get away with murder?”
“You’re in no condition to be doing this, Cooper MacKinnon,” Hiro said, “and you know it.”
“No,” Cooper said. “I don’t know it. I don’t even totally understand what’s wrong with me. But I can do this. I won’t be alone.” He believed it.
Hiro tilted her head and studied him. She knew exactly what he was talking about. But probably her practical side — or maybe it was her fear — told her he couldn’t do it.
He turned to Lunk. “Hand me the gear.”
Lunk grabbed the tank and hefted it to the top of the rail. Cooper reached for it, but Lunk held it firm. “One condition.” He looked Cooper in the eyes. “I’m going with you.”
“What?”
“This tank has two mouthpieces. You and I go together — just like you did with your dad.”
Cooper’s own words came back to him. He couldn’t beat this alone. But Lunk? He shook his head. “I don’t know, I mean . . .” What would he do if Lunk panicked? They would be clawing at each other, trying to get to the surface.
“No offense, Lunk,” Gordy said, “but you’re not exactly the water type.”
Lunk raised both hands. “Agreed. Water scares me half to death. Seems to me it scares Coop half to death too.” He shrugged. “Two halves make a whole, right?”
Hiro put her hands over her ears. “What kind of logic is that? This is insane.”
Lunk looked at Coop. “We can do it. Together. We won’t be alone — right?”
Cooper nodded, hoping he looked more confident than he felt. “Let’s do it.”
Lunk grinned and heaved the tank over the rail.
Hiro climbed over the rail and stood on the swim platform. “You expect Gordy and me to just sit here and watch?”
“No,” Cooper said. “If we’re going to pull this off, it will take all four of us. Stop fighting us and start helping.” He screwed the regulator to the tank valve, cranked on the air, and tested the purge valve on each mouthpiece. The whoosh of air was a dose of reality. He really was going to do this. His knees started shaking.
Hiro reached over to steady the tank. “What can I do to help?”
“Take a couple weights off the weight belt. And get the duct tape.”
Hiro scampered over the rail and disappeared. Lunk grabbed the fins and masks and joined Cooper on the swim platform. “What’s next?”
“Light sticks. All we can get our hands on. In the toolbox. A dock line. And two ski ropes.”
“I’m on it,” Gordy said.
By the time Cooper had his fins on and the tank strapped to his back, Gordy and Hiro were there with the supplies.
“Now what?” Gordy said.
Cooper took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay. We’ve got a compass here, but I’ve never done any kind of underwater navigation. If I rely on it, I may miss the boat and end up on the beach somewhere.” He glanced out toward deeper water. “It will be even more dangerous if we miss The Getaway on our way back.”
Gordy’s eyes opened wide.
“Once we go under, we can’t exactly pop to the surface to get our bearings.”
“We might get spotted,” Lunk said.
“Definitely,” Cooper said. “So, Gordy, you’re going to go out in the inflatable. Drag a dock line with a weight tied to the end of it. But first, duct tape some light sticks to the weight.”
Gordy nodded.
“Paddle toward Krypto Night like you’re on your way to the beach.”
“Only I’ll stay and chat with Kryptoski for a while.”
“Right. We’ll follow your glowing rope right to the boat.”
“And while I’m talking to him,” Gordy said, “you’ll cut the camera free.”
“The knife,” Cooper said.
Gordy disappeared and was back seconds later with the dive knife. Cooper strapped it to his leg.
“Okay,” Gordy said, “how will I know when to head back?”
“I’ll tug on the rope,” Cooper said. “And just in case we get separated, we’ll tie the ski ropes together and to the back of The Getaway.”
“You’ll have one end,” Gordy said, “and the rope will lead you right back to the boat.”
Cooper nodded. Their plans were shaky. Having some kind of backup plan was critical.
“We should tape some glow sticks to the handles,” Hiro said.
Cooper nodded. “Do it.” He grabbed extras and tucked them into the waistline of his suit.
Hiro started to work on the ski ropes. Gordy attached a weight to the dock line and taped on the glow sticks.
“How long will that tank last?” Hiro said.
Cooper checked the pressure gauge. “The tank is nearly full. My dad can get forty-five minutes on a full one at a shallow depth.” But that was relaxed breathing. And with one person drawing on it.
“So you’re talking twenty minutes for two people. Max,” Hiro said.
Cooper nodded. He studied the distance between the two boats. It would be just enough oxygen to do the job and get back. It had to be. If he went alone, he’d have plenty of air, but could he even do it? Cooper needed Lunk. They’d just have to work fast.
Cooper went over some last-minute instructions with Lunk. “Okay, the mouthpiece goes in like this.” Cooper went through the motions. “Clamp down on these bite tabs with your teeth so you don’t lose it.”
“What am I supposed to do?” Hiro said.
Cooper slid off the swim platform and into the water. “You stay on the boat. Move around. Pretend like you’re talking to someone in the cabin. If he looks at our boat, we can’t have him getting suspicious. And you’ve got the most important job of all.”
She tilted her head to the side.
“Pray.”
Her eyes were already teary. She swiped at them and nodded. “Already started.”
Cooper set the compass, but he hoped he wouldn’t need to use it. He wasn’t so sure he could.
“Lunk,” Hiro said. “I’ll be praying for you too.”
Lunk nodded. He slid his dive mask in place over the palest face Cooper had ever seen.
“And Lunk.” Hiro smiled and pointed. “I think you’ll need to leave that behind.”
Lunk looked down at his lifejacket. “Right.” His hands shook, but he managed to get the first strap unbuckled.
Hiro stepped over and helped with the next two.
Lunk shrugged out of the life vest and handed it to Hiro.
She gave it a pat. “I’ll have this ready for you when you get back.”
Gordy dropped the inflatable onto the water and jumped in. He played out the dock line with several glow sticks taped to a lead weight at the end.
Lunk slid into the water, his eyes wide. He slid the mouthpiece into his mouth. His jaw muscles tensed. He was breathing hard and fast. He held on to the swim platform and kicked hard, obviously feeling the weight of the belt around his waist.
“You sound like Darth Vader with that thing,” Gordy said.
Lun
k didn’t react. But Gordy was right. The metallic sound of his breathing did sound like Vader. He’d need a lot more than the Force to pull this off.
“Breathing underwater will go against your instincts,” Cooper said. “Your brain wants you to hold your breath — but keep breathing.”
Lunk nodded.
“We’ve both got a lot of weight on these belts,” Cooper said, “and this tank doesn’t have a bc vest with it.”
Lunk gave him a blank look.
“Buoyancy compensating vest. There’s no way to add a little air to neutralize our weight. We’ll go straight down.” He hesitated. If Lunk was going to back out, now was the time. “Once we’re on the bottom, we’ll look for Gordy’s line and follow it. Nice and easy.”
Lunk nodded.
There wasn’t time to teach him how to equalize the pressure in his ears. They weren’t going very deep. Hopefully it wouldn’t be an issue. He had no time to think about disaster scenarios.
“And, Lunk.” Cooper hesitated. But he had to say it. Had to get it out. “If I . . . panic down there and start thrashing around . . .”
Lunk’s eyes grew wider.
“You hold me down. Don’t let me surface. Give me a chance to calm down. Got it?”
Lunk swallowed. Nodded.
Hiro handed Cooper the ski ropes with the light sticks and a weight taped to the handles. She was wiping back tears again. “Two tow ropes tied together — just like you said.”
Cooper nodded. “That’s one hundred and fifty feet.”
“Is it enough?”
“Should be.” He hoped so.
“Do not let go of this rope, Cooper MacKinnon,” Hiro said, her eyes pleading. “I tied my end to the swim platform. I need to know you’re holding the other end.”
Cooper nodded. “Don’t worry. This is our ticket back.”
“Okay.” Cooper looked at Lunk. “Ready?” He popped his mouthpiece in place and grabbed Lunk’s wrist.
“Coop,” Hiro said. “Look!” She pointed toward the middle of the lake.
The Gage Marine boat was just a dot — but it was coming fast. “We have to do this. Now!”
Lunk reached over and squeezed Cooper’s arm. “Yuuuurrnnotalooone.”
Whatever Lunk had tried to say, Coop missed it.
Lunk let go of the swim platform and pulled the mouthpiece out. “You’re not alone!” He slapped the mouthpiece back in place.
Cooper nodded. Neither are you, my friend. He stopped kicking and let the weight pull him below the surface.
You are not alone. You are not alone. The words replayed again and again on a seemingly endless loop inside Cooper’s head. His breathing was jerky. Uneven. It was totally unnatural to be breathing underwater. But the panic didn’t come. He kept his eyes on Lunk. And Lunk was doing the same back to him.
The visibility was better than he’d hoped, but that wasn’t saying much. Still no panic. Thank you, God. Their fins touched the sandy muck bottom at the same time. Like astronauts touching down on the moon, disturbing places that had never been touched by humans. Coop still held Lunk’s wrist. He gave Lunk an okay sign.
Lunk nodded and signaled with a thumbs-up. So far, so good.
The seaweed rose above their waists and swirled around their legs like creatures from an alien world, ready to coil themselves around the boys if they didn’t keep moving.
The rope attached to the inflatable dangled no more than six feet away from them. Cooper pointed at it, then pushed off the lake bottom to get closer to it. He gave the rope a tug. C’mon, Gordy. Let’s do this.
Almost immediately, the line started moving. Cooper gave the compass a quick check, and they were on their way.
Immediately, he knew he’d strapped on too much weight. The two of them had to use their hands to pull themselves along the bottom — and the weeds gathered so thick around their shoulders and arms that they had to constantly tear themselves free. But they were making progress.
Cooper thought about dumping some weight so they could swim above the weeds. But would there be time? And what if he took off too much and floated to the surface? He kept an eye on the light sticks ahead and pressed on. Reach and pull. Reach and pull.
The bubbles mushroomed out of Lunk’s mouthpiece in an almost constant stream. He was sucking hard on the air — not the even, steady breathing that would make a tank last. Cooper tried to calm his own breathing, but the metallic hiss from the regulator and the bubbles flying past his own mask proved he wasn’t doing much better than when he’d first gone under.
Cooper gripped the ski rope handle and imagined Hiro at the other end of the rope. It wasn’t just a couple of ski ropes tied together anymore. It was their lifeline. How far had they gone? They had to be halfway to Kryptoski’s boat by now.
Get to Krypto Night. Cut the camera free. Get back to The Getaway. A mess-up on any one of those parts would be disastrous.
Lunk tapped Cooper’s arm and pointed up to the surface — then to his ear.
Pressure? Cooper tried to read his face. No pain — just fear.
Lunk pointed to his ear again.
Listen. Cooper held his breath. It was the unmistakable sound of an engine. But here underwater, it was impossible to tell which direction it was coming from. Was it the service boat from Gage Marine? He took a breath and listened again. By the growing intensity of the sound, one thing was certain. The boat was getting closer — fast.
Hiro stood on the bow and tried to track their bubbles. They’d been easy to follow at first. Now she couldn’t see them at all. What if they lost sight of Gordy’s rope? She tugged at her braid. She should never have let Coop do this. But he wasn’t listening to her about a lot of things. God, please protect them. Was God listening? She was absolutely convinced he was.
Gordy had nearly reached Krypto Night now. Tommy Kryptoski stood in the center of the boat, gripping the tower bar like he was thinking about doing some chin-ups. He probably would have if he thought she was watching.
The sky looked worse. Absolutely green. For a moment Hiro imagined Kryptoski’s chin-up tower was actually a lightning rod. She looked at the clouds. “Now would be a perfect time, God,” She shook off the ridiculous thoughts of judgment and refocused. If they did this right, Kryptoski would be facing a judge and jury.
Gordy must have said something to Kryptoski, because the monster moved to the other side of the boat and tossed him a dock line. Gordy grabbed it and held on.
“Okay, Coop. I hope you’re there.” She searched for more bubbles — any telltale sign. “You’ve got to be there.”
By the way Gordy moved his hands, he obviously had some kind of conversation going with Kryptoski. Good. Keep him distracted, Gordy. What if Coop or Lunk thumped the bottom of his boat while they were trying to get the camera free? Or what if he noticed their air bubbles breaking the surface?
She didn’t feel good about this. Not at all. And the feeling was getting worse. What if they were in some kind of trouble? That was a ridiculous thought. They were in trouble the moment they disappeared below the surface of the lake. And there was absolutely nothing she could do to help them. They were on their own. She desperately wanted to see the guys surface. To know they were okay.
The sound of an engine approaching drew her attention. The Gage Marine boat slowed as it plowed by. Kryptoski waved it over, and the driver pulled up alongside him. Now the idea of the guys surfacing terrified her.
“Keep your heads low, guys. Forget the camera. Just get out of there.”
Cooper dug his fingers into the muck and hugged the bottom. The boat sounded like it was right on top of him. But it wasn’t — he was positive of that. The boat directly overhead was Krypto Night. But the sounds of the engine of the Gage Marine boat kept him paralyzed.
Part of him wanted to stay here. Wait it out. And what, run out of air? It was too dim to see the pressure gauge — and he wasn’t sure he wanted to. But Hiro was depending on him. Gordy was sticking his neck out. And Lunk had pr
obably taken the greatest risk of all.
You are not alone. Lunk was here. His friends were on the surface.
You are not alone. But it wasn’t just his friends, was it? Fear was here. His unseen enemy. It lurked in the darkness, below the surface. It had a grip on him, a stranglehold. Every fear he’d ever buried — some deep, and others in shallow graves — this is where they waited for him. Here. Now. He felt the presence of evil, like the zombies Gordy had talked about. But they were real. Nearby. And closing in fast.
I am not alone.
Cooper forced himself to his knees. He reached for a light stick in the waistband of his swim shorts and bent it until he broke the glass vial inside. He gave it a quick shake, and the stick came to life with an eerie green glow. Weeds danced in a hypnotic rhythm in front of his mask. He stared at the tank gauge. Tapped it once. God help us. They’d already used well over half the tank.
Unless they moved faster — and sucked less air — they weren’t going to make it back to The Getaway underwater. They’d run out of air before they got close.
He was still holding on to the ski rope that tethered him to The Getaway. At least they could pull themselves back to the boat when this was over.
C’mon, Cooper. You gotta do this. If they tow Krypto Night away, it’s over. You lose. It wasn’t some game at the Walworth County Fair. There was no prize for second place here. If Cooper missed this opportunity . . . they all lost. Hiro. Gordy. And Lunk too.
Cooper handed Lunk the glowing light stick, then cracked another one for himself. He carefully laid the weighted handle of the ski rope on the lake bottom. With the glow stick taped to it, he could find it after they got the camera. He’d need both hands free for what came next. He slid the dive knife out of its sheath and stood. He raised the light stick high and saw the camera.
Lunk nodded. He saw it too.
Cooper pushed off the bottom, kicked hard, and grabbed the propeller shaft. The lanyard was wrapped around it tight. The camera itself was wedged between two blades of the prop. No wonder Kryptoski felt like his boat wasn’t running right. The camera would have thrown everything off.
The sound of the engine from the Gage Marine boat was deafening. What if the guy asked Kryptoski to start Krypto Night’s motor while Cooper was cutting the camera free? Immediate amputation at the wrists. Cooper poked his knife between the prop blades. Just get this done fast and get out.
Below the Surface Page 26