An unspoken understanding instantly spread throughout the nine remaining people in the pool.
The nine people in the pool moved as one, breaking out into frantic swimming strokes as the killer whales rose to the surface beneath them and commenced their feeding frenzy.
Up on what was left of B-deck, Book Riley swore again.
When Kirsty had seen the pool, seen the enormous black-and-white shapes in it, her lower jaw had started to quiver. Then, when she saw the first killer leap up out of the water and crunch through Legs's dead body, she started to hyperventilate.
'
Riley began to hurry. He quickly lowered his upper body out over the edge of the down-turned catwalk, so that he was now practically hanging upside-down, reaching for Kirsty with his free right hand.
Their hands were now only two inches apart.
He almost had her.
And then all of a sudden he heard a soft
Riley's head snapped round.
'
The spot fire had ignited the flakes on the railing. The response was instantaneous. A small orange flame began to race along the length of the railing, devouring the dried paint flakes in its path, leaving a tiny trail of fire in its wake.
Riley's eyes went wide.
The trail of fire was rocketing along the length of the railing.
Kirsty was still looking down at the killer whales in the pool. She swung her head up to look at Riley, and in an instant their eyes met and Riley saw the absolute terror in her eyes.
Riley stretched down as far as he could, his whole upper body dangling upside down off the downturned catwalk, in a desperate effort to grab her hand.
The orange flame raced along the black hand railing, its fire trail lighting up the railing behind it.
Riley's hand was an inch away from Kirsty's.
He stretched again and felt the tips of his fingers brush against the top of her hand.
Another inch. Just another inch...
And then suddenly the bright orange line of fire cut across Riley's field of vision and he yelled in frustration.
The fire trail sped across the railing in front of him, right underneath Kirsty's hand.
Riley watched in helpless horror as the little girl squealed with pain and then did the only thing her body knew to do when it came into contact with fire.
She let go.
Kirsty dropped fast.
But as she did so, Buck Riley released his grip on the catwalk above him and lunged forward after her. He dropped three feet straight down?one arm pointed down, the other pointed up. His lower hand snatched the wool- lined hood of Kirsty's pink parka while his upper hand caught the flaming railing behind him.
Both of their bodies jerked to a sudden halt, and Riley did a jarring 180-degree spin that nearly pulled his arm out of its socket. He was now right side up, hanging from the same burning railing that had, only seconds earlier, caused Kirsty to fall.
And oddly, despite the searing heat seeping through his leather-gloved hand, he managed a relieved smile.
'I gotcha, baby,' he breathed, almost laughing. 'I gotcha.'
Kirsty just hung there below him with her arms held out awkwardly on either side of her body, held up only by Riley's grip on the wool-lined hood of her parka.
There came a sudden popping sound and abruptly Kirsty lurched downward. She only dropped an inch, and for an instant Riley couldn't understand what had happened.
Then he saw it.
His eyes zeroed in on the join between Kirsty's pink parka and its pink wool-lined hood.
Riley's eyes went wide.
It was one of those removable hoods that could be connected to the collar of the parka whenever the wearer so desired. It was only attached to Kirsty's parka by six clasplike buttons.
The popping sound that he had heard had been the sound of one of those buttons
Riley began to feel sick.
'Oh, that's not fair. That's not fucking fair,' he said.
Another button unclasped.
Kirsty dropped another inch.
Riley was at a loss. He didn't know what to do. There was nothing he
Two more buttons unclasped and Kirsty screamed in horror as she dropped sharply and then jolted to a sudden stop.
The pink hood began to stretch. Only two buttons held it to the parka's collar now.
Riley thought about swinging Kirsty in toward the C-deck catwalk below them, about four yards away. But he quickly dispelled the thought. The wool-lined hood was now only tenuously connected to the parka. Any movement would almost certainly unclasp the remaining two buttons.
'
'Hold on!' another voice yelled from somewhere nearby. 'I'm coming!'
Riley turned his head and saw Schofield on the far side of the C-deck catwalk, inside a small alcove of some sort. Next to him was Fox. Schofield seemed to be directing her to go down the nearest rung-ladder and head for the pool deck while he took care of Riley and Kirsty.
One of the last two buttons snapped open, and Riley turned his attention back to Kirsty. Grimacing, he held tight and looked down at her. The little girl was scared out of her mind. Her eves were red. filled with tears. She stared into his eves
One button left.
The hood was stretched taut, straining under Kirsty's weight.
It wasn't going to hold....
A second before it happened, Buck Riley felt the weight of the little girl pull on the hood and he said softly, 'I'm sorry.'
With a sudden
