Stealing Asia

by David Clarkson

  A flurry of bubbles escaped from Asia’s regulator as she giggled at my antics, but then the sound of her breathing abruptly stopped. Her mood changed in an instant and I realised something was wrong. She was clearly afraid.

  I felt a strong push from behind that knocked the regulator out of my mouth. Escaping bubbles clouded my vision and I flailed my arms wildly, completely forgetting the training I had been given just a short while earlier. A second blow sent me crashing into the sharp coral, which I felt tear through the fabric of my wetsuit. As my lungs drained of air, instinct told me to reach out for the regulator. My hand found it and I placed it into my mouth, but could taste nothing through it but the bitterness of saltwater. The cable connecting it to the tank had been severed midway.

  The primary regulator that Esteban had used was still fastened to the BCD and I quickly unclipped it and put it in my mouth. As the bubbles cleared on my inward breaths I could see Manu swimming towards me with a knife in his hand. I realised that he must have cut the cable. Why he wanted to drown me was a mystery, but I had to get away.

  I kicked my fins off the coral to give me a propelled start away from him. Asia was not far from me and I waved my hands frantically to get her to turn around. If Manu was trying to kill me, he might have the same planned for her. She ignored my pleading and instead swam directly into me before violently twisting me to one side as we met. At that moment, I realised Manu was not the aggressor after all.

  The side of the animal brushed against my arm and the roughness of its skin completely belied its smooth appearance. My wetsuit had started to fray in places, but I did not think the skin was broken. Asia continued to pull on my other arm, urging me to swim away, but after seeing what we were up against, I had no desire to let the beast out of my sight.

  I watched the shark swim away for about ten metres before it turned around in order to make another pass. By this time Asia had taken to trying to push me through the water to get away. This left her exposed and as the shark came in for the kill, I grabbed hold of her and reversed our positions. Just like I had done when facing down the mugger, I made sure that I was the one in the firing line.

  This time the impact caught me squarely in the back. Rather than feel the teeth of the animal tearing into my flesh; the only sensation I had was of the BCD tightening around my chest. I then began to flail wildly. It was now apparent that the shark had bitten down on my air tank. It tossed me from side to side as if trying to shake me loose of the cylinder, refusing to let go. Manu attempted to fend it off with the knife, but it used me like a wrecking ball. The shark swung my helpless weight into my instructor and in doing so, knocked the knife from his hands.

  I attempted to free myself of the vest, but the pressure of the animal’s jaws was too great, leaving me with no room for manoeuvre. I tried to twist my arm around to see if I could attack its gills, but the angle was too great. It had me helplessly trapped in its vice-like bite. There was no way that I could envisage escaping from this. I closed my eyes and hoped only that it would be over as quickly and as painlessly as possible.

  The wild flailing carried on for an eternity and then it stopped as abruptly as it had begun. Was this how death felt? The regulator was no longer in my mouth and my lips had turned cold. I opened my eyes to see Asia staring directly at me. She was as beautiful as ever. She was also still in her SCUBA gear. I looked down and saw the knife in her hands; she had cut me free of the vest.

  After placing her secondary regulator into my mouth, I breathed deeply. It calmed me and I no longer felt that I was in any danger. Manu swam alongside Asia and I, and he tapped me on the shoulder. The Frenchman then directed his hand down toward the seabed. The shark still had my air tank in its mouth as it tossed and rolled wildly like a feline tearing into a catnip mouse. It no longer seemed threatening; just a confused animal unable to meld instinct with manmade technology. All it had wanted was my air tank. Why, was a mystery, but not one that intrigued enough to make me want to stick around any longer than was necessary. With great relief on everybody’s part, Manu led us back to the surface.

  The others were still on the boat and they helped each of us back onboard. Obviously, Esteban had been trying to fix the broken dive vest. With the American pair; I wondered if they had seen the shark and not dared enter the water. They did at least help Asia and Manu remove their heavy equipment. The shark, of course, had already relieved me of mine.

  Even after I removed the regulator from my mouth, I was still breathing heavily. Only with the danger now passed did I appreciate the full extent of it. Asia, however, had not taken the incident quite so badly. She was giddy with excitement and eager to tell the others of what had happened. It was like listening to her describing a scene from a movie.

  ‘The shark attacked you?’ asked Izzie, her eyes wide with terror.

  ‘Too right it attacked us,’ replied Asia. ‘It seemed to target Ben the most.’

  Poor Izzie looked at me like I was a ghost, but I just shrugged away her concern. It could hardly have been personal that the shark went for me. I was just the weakest swimmer and had probably given off similar signals to an injured fish. Even the fiercest of predators will choose the softest target. It is nature’s way.

  ‘What happened to your tank?’ asked Esteban.

  There was a slight hint of suspicion underneath his concern.

  ‘I had to ditch it,’ I replied. ‘The shark wouldn’t let go and Asia actually had to cut me out of my BCD.’

  The Argentine narrowed his eyes.

  ‘So did it want you or the tank?’

  ‘Well, it didn’t let go once I’d been freed, so I guess it preferred the tank.’

  He nodded, thoughtfully. Clay had been listening in and he walked over, determined to be a part of the conversation.

  ‘Sharks will chew on anything they can fit into their mouths,’ he said. ‘It sounds like Ben had a lucky escape and he has Asia to thank for it.’

  Attention quickly shifted away from me and Asia was all too happy to lap it up. I suspected this had been Clay’s intention. I let her enjoy her moment of glory while I changed out of my wetsuit. Manu checked my back for any wounds, but apart from a couple of superficial bruises he found nothing that I needed to worry about.

  ‘Has anything like this ever happened to you before?’ I asked him.

  ‘Never,’ he replied. ‘I’ve come across sharks a hundred times and bigger than that one too. Some have showed signs of aggression, but that’s the first one I’ve actually seen attack. It makes no sense; something must have triggered it into acting like that.

  ‘It was probably just me. I seem to attract trouble lately. In this past week I’ve had a gun pulled on me, been scammed by ticket touts, almost drowned falling from a pier and now attacked by a man eating shark. Fate definitely has it in for me.’

  Manu chuckled as if he was privy to information beyond my grasp.

  ‘It sounds more like fate is taking care of you. If your story is true; you, my friend, have a guardian angel.’

  ‘Are you kidding me? Didn’t you hear what I just said? I got robbed and could have died three times.’

  ‘That is precisely my point. It is typical of an Englishman to be so negative. To cheat death once is most fortunate. To cheat death twice is a blessing, but three times? Somebody has to be watching over you.’

  ‘I guess so,’ I replied. ‘I never actually thought about it that way.’

  Manu had a point. Maybe I was lucky after all. We went back up to the top deck and I helped him pack the equipment away. Whilst the Frenchman started the engine to take us all back to shore, I joined Asia at the back of the boat. Now the adrenaline had died down she was not quite so vocal about the attack and I sensed that underneath the surface she was beginning to take in the full magnitude of what had happened. Between the mugging, the quad bike and the shark attack, her luck during the past week had been no different to mine.

  ‘Thank you,’ I said, placing my arm around her shoulders
.

  ‘For what?’ she replied.

  ‘For saving my life.’

  ‘I suppose this makes us even now.’

  ‘Hardly; I’d gladly take a hundred muggers over one tiger shark any day.’

  ‘They were both sharks. The only difference was that one had a gun and the other had teeth.’

  She was right. I held her tightly and we said no more for the rest of the journey. Everybody was tired when we got back to shore and no one felt in the mood for socialising. The only exception was Esteban, who persuaded Manu to stay and have a beer with him. I guess he knew that I wanted to spend time with Asia as he did not invite me to join them. The other couples stayed in their beach huts and Asia and I did the same. When we got inside, we lay down on the bed and just held each other. For once, sex was not at the forefront of my mind.

  Chapter 8

  I woke up sometime during the night. A storm was blowing in from the sea, which was creating strong winds outside. There was also a repetitive clatter as something banged against the front of the beach hut. I carefully pushed aside the mosquito netting that surrounded the bed and got up to take a look. The force of the wind almost blew the door into my face as I undid the lock. The disturbance caused Asia to stir slightly in her sleep, but she did not wake. Leaving her to her slumber, I stepped outside and pulled the door closed behind me, careful to secure it so that it did not blow open again.

  We had a hammock strung out on the porch and even in the dark I could see that it had come loose, which was the cause of the noise as it flapped against the wood panelling of the hut. I quickly fastened it down and was about to return to bed when I noticed a light about a hundred yards away. The resort had no power during the night as the generators were usually turned off shortly after the bar closed. The source of the illumination was not from any of the cabins or the reception. It was from a boat.

  Not wanting to give my presence away, I crouched down behind the support struts of the cabin and watched as a figure cloaked in black threw something over the side of the vessel into the dark waters below. The mystery figure then dived into the water themselves only to emerge thirty seconds later on the shore. A light was shone on the swimmer from the boat, probably just to make sure that they made it to the beach safely as it turned off once it found its target. Before it did so, I managed to catch sight of the stranger take hold of a rope and begin to pull. I guessed that whatever had been thrown overboard must have been attached, but could not confirm it as I was too far away in the darkness. I then glanced back to the boat and saw it accelerate away with the sound of the wind masking the noise from its engines. When I looked back to the shore the interloper was nowhere to be seen.

  Rather than go back inside straight away, I waited. The beach was cloaked in complete darkness and the stranger was somewhere on the sand in front of me. Until I knew what I was dealing with, I could not afford to be seen. After a while I could feel the wind gaining strength and once the rain started I had no choice other than to return to my cabin. I made my move quickly and could only hope that my being outside had gone unnoticed.

  After locking the door behind me, I waited and listened before getting back into bed. I heard nothing and I was too spooked to dare attempt another peek outside. Whatever was going on was not meant to be seen, otherwise there would not have been the need to use the cover of darkness. Dozens of questions were fighting for my attention. Who had swum ashore? What was in the bag? Did they see me? My gut told me that knowing the answers would likely only leave me feeling worse.

  Trouble seemed to be finding me all too easily during this past week. First there was the mugging then Sungai Kolok and now this. At least when the shark attacked I could put it down to simple misfortune. The other incidents I was not so sure about. Despite logic telling me otherwise, I could not help but feel that they were all somehow connected. There was only one common denominator that I could think of. I glanced down at Asia as she slept peacefully beside me. I did not know how and I did not know why, but I was certain that something terrible was going to happen and she would be right at the centre of it all.

  Chapter 9

  Asia was the first to rise. I remained in the bed with my eyes closed, though I was not sleeping. The truth was that I had not slept at all since seeing the stranger emerge from the boat. To avoid worrying her, I thought it best not to let on about my sleepless night until I had more information. She placed her hand on my shoulder and gently shook me.

  ‘Is it that time already?’ I asked, pretending I had just woken up.

  She crawled over me and climbed out of the bed in order to go to the bathroom. When she returned, I was sat on the edge of the mattress. She grabbed my hand and hoisted me up onto my feet before pushing me into the bathroom.

  ‘Hurry up and get ready, will you,’ she said. ‘I don’t want to miss breakfast.’

  The restaurant was full when we got there. As well as the tourists staying in the other cabins there were also some day trippers from a boat moored a little off shore. Due to the limited table space, we ended up sharing with the other couples. I always enjoyed the company of Dee and Izzie, but the American pair had really been getting on my nerves the previous few days. I glanced around for Esteban, but he was nowhere to be seen. Cordial greetings were exchanged and then we ordered our food.

  Breakfast was the one meal where I could enjoy some of the more familiar home comforts. As well as the Thai staples of rice and noodles, we had the opportunity to partake in traditional western fare. I opted for fried egg on toast, whilst the others all settled on pancakes. Barrett was the only one not to order as he claimed to be suffering from some sort of imbalance in his ears due to diving the previous day. He attempted to ease the pressure by chewing gum.

  The English girls had fresh fruit with their pancakes, but Asia and Clay both ordered theirs plain and drenched them in maple syrup as soon as the plates were put in front of them. It never ceased to amaze me how people could eat what was essentially a dessert for breakfast.

  ‘What are everybody’s plans for today?’ I asked, as I cut into my egg, spilling the yolk over the bread.

  ‘Anything that doesn’t involve going in the water,’ Dee quickly replied.

  Now that we had all been given time to put the shark incident into perspective the way in which we viewed the ocean had changed. The water no longer seemed so warm and inviting, but cold and dangerous. Even Asia had foregone her morning swim. Although nobody admitted it, they were relieved that Dee had ruled out the option from the start.

  ‘Me and Barrett have an idea for a little excursion if you guys are up for it,’ suggested Clay.

  Rather than reply myself, I decided to just leave this one to Asia. They were, after all, her friends, not mine.

  ‘What do you have in mind?’ she asked.

  ‘It’s starting to get a little crowded around here,’ replied Clay. He looked over each shoulder in turn to indicate the other tourists, but I got the impression that he was really referring to Esteban. ‘I propose that we check out one of the beaches further along the coast. Some have no permanent settlements, so we will be able to camp out directly on the beach.’

  I kept my eyes focused on Asia, hoping to gauge her reaction. Despite having strong reservations about the American pair, I was open to the idea. After what I had witnessed the previous night, I was planning on raising the subject of leaving the resort anyway.

  ‘That sounds like a good idea,’ she said. ‘What do you think, Ben - are you up for a bit of camping?’

  I shrugged. So long as I offered no objections Asia would take it for granted that I would go along with whatever she wanted to do. It was agreed that we would depart later that afternoon. After lunch I went to Esteban’s cabin to tell him about our plans.

  ‘Do you think that this is wise?’ he asked. ‘Those Americans are nothing but trouble and you would be a fool to trust them.’

  ‘It was their idea,’ I replied. ‘I think they realise that they have been acting
like arseholes these past few days and are trying to make amends.’

  I could tell that he was far from convinced.

  ‘I also think it would be good to experience a change of scenery,’ I added.

  ‘The scenery will be no different at the next beach,’ he said. ‘Or do you have a more specific reason for wanting to leave here?’

  I thought about what I had seen the previous night; a stranger swimming ashore under the cover of darkness with a mysterious bag in tow. I feared something bad was going to happen if we stayed and that Asia was in danger. He picked up on my apprehension immediately. It was almost impossible to keep anything from him. He had an acute talent for reading people. To Esteban, the slightest facial movement or change in posture was like an elaborate mime.

  ‘Something is worrying you,’ he said. ‘Do you care to share what that something is?’

  I told him about the swimmer. Whether he thought I had a justifiable concern or was just being paranoid, I could not tell. Unlike me, his features gave nothing away. After a moment’s contemplation he offered up a theory of his own.

  ‘It sounds to me that what you saw was nothing but one of the locals indulging in some spear fishing. It is forbidden virtually everywhere, hence using the cover of darkness. I bet that bag contained nothing but a few illegally caught barracuda.’

  ‘Spear fishing?’ I queried.

  ‘Sure,’ he replied. ‘It’s really common in these parts. Not something I would recommend myself, mind you. Especially after seeing how aggressive that shark was yesterday. They follow the fishermen and can sometimes attempt to steal their catches. Imagine feeling a tug on the line and turning to find a large shark has stolen your dinner.’

  It seemed plausible. The resort staff had often come across as slightly odd and it would not surprise me to discover they were doing some things that they shouldn’t. It did not change my mind about the camping trip though. I was tempted to invite Esteban to join us, but I knew that Barrett and Clay would only object and cause even more disharmony in the camp. Besides, we would only be gone for one night and would not be checking out of the resort just yet, so I expected that I would see my friend again.