heavy-lidded stare still fixed on the protruding arrow.
'Move!' Eric hollered at Tracy, and both threw themselves backward over the side of the canoe. Eric held on to the gunwale, purposely tipping the canoe over with him.
Under the black saltwater he couldn't see anything but the rim of light above that outlined the overturned canoe. He reached his arms out, flailing to find Tracy. His fingers grazed her head and he fought to get a grip on her short hair, yanking her up next to him. He knew she was a fine swimmer, but he also knew the terror even good swimmers feel when thrown into a dark ocean at night. He'd seen experienced soldiers become unhinged as they thought about all the primitive life teeming around them searching for food.
They bobbed up directly under the overturned canoe. Two rods of light slanted through the dark where the searchlight lit the bullet holes.
'Just tread here for a while,' he said. 'There's plenty of air and they'll probably think we swam away.'
Tracy sputtered water, nodded weakly.
'No bullets!' the woman's clipped oriental voice screeched from the ship. 'Save bullets.'
'What the hell's going on?' the captain's voice challenged; apparently he was returning from below deck.
Their voices became quiet for a minute.
'How long should we stay?' Tracy whispered.
'We'll let the current carry us away. They must have a pretty big ship, not all that easy to maneuver in the dark, even with their searchlights. Besides it would take them a while to haul all the sails up.'
'They could use the motor.'
'Providing they have any fuel and are willing to waste it on us.' He shook his head as he secured his crossbow to the thwarts. 'Nope, my guess is they'll just write us off and sit it out for the rest of the night.'
Three arrows slammed through the side of the canoe. One of them plowed a couple inches of skin from Eric's neck. He felt the sting of saltwater splashing his bleeding wound.
'Down!' he barked, pushing Tracy's head underwater as he dove under after her. They came up on the outside of the canoe, their heads still hidden from the ship. Another volley of arrows whistled through the air, some piercing the canoe, others splashing in the water around them like crazy fish.
'We swim?' Tracy asked, her teeth chattering from the cold water.
'Yeah. We swim.'
'Which way?'
He pointed.
'Eric, that's toward their ship!'
'Right. They've got their light searching all over the water. They're bound to find us when we come up for air. Unless were where they aren't looking.'
'Like in their laps?'
Half a dozen arrows slammed into the canoe, another half a dozen sliced through the water.
'Damn,' Tracy said, 'I just felt one graze my sneaker.'
'How long can you hold your breath?' Eric asked.
'As long as I have to, I guess.'
'Good. We won't be able to see each other underwater, so grab hold of the waistband of my pants once we're underwater.'
'My boyfriend in high school already tried that line.'
Eric smiled, wishing for a moment he could see her more clearly. Just in case they didn't make it. He pulled her toward him, found her shivering lips with his own. Kissed. Salty tongues flicked against each other. It was over in a second, but it gave both strength. 'Take some deep breaths, force the air down. Your lungs only operate at a third their capacity during normal breathing.' She sucked the air deep into her lungs. 'Okay, let's go,' he said, diving under the water. He waited until Tracy had groped along his back and snagged his waistband before diving deeper, out of lethal range of any stray arrows.
The numbing cold of the water seemed to wring his muscles with each stroke. Occasionally his hand brushed something floating, and he wondered if it was seaweed or a shark or that boy's body he'd dragged up. But he pushed on, scooping water aside as he swam blindly toward the ship, hoping he was still going in the right direction. Hoping that this plan was better than the last one.
After a while he felt that insistent twitching in his chest, the burning spasms of the last of his oxygen being consumed. The muscles in his throat began to flutter, demanding air. Tracy was yanking on his waistband, urging him to go up to the surface. He couldn't be sure of exactly where they were right now, but he was sure that they weren't close enough yet. He kept swimming.
Tracy's tugging became more desperate, panicky. But he swam on, fighting the screaming in his own body. They had to keep going. Finally Tracy let go, pushing off his back and shooting up toward the surface. Eric reached up, grabbed her churning ankle, and yanked her back down, wrapping his arm tightly around her chest. She fought weakly as he pulled her through the water. Just a few more yards, he thought, kicking furiously.
He heard the sudden rush of bubbles escape from her mouth, felt her chest convulse as it gulped water. She was drowning.
He had no choice now. He broke for surface.
5.
Vomit and saltwater bubbled from Tracy's mouth.
Eric flipped her over in the water so she wouldn't choke, letting the fluids drain from her mouth. Rivulets of black water and mucus gushed from her nostrils. Her eyes rolled up into her head, her eyelids fluttering.
'C'mon, damn it. Breathe.' He gripped her tight with one arm, pressing his fist between her shoulder blades. A stream of soupy liquid pumped from her mouth. The growl of her retching echoed loudly across the dark water.
She sucked air, coughed. Breathed.
'Over there,' someone shouted. The searchlight swiveled noisily on rusty hinges and Eric saw the saucer of light skimming over the surface of the water toward them.
'There. There!' the oriental woman's voice directed.
Eric looked up, saw the huge ship rocking only a dozen yards away. A few more seconds and he'd have made it to safety. But Tracy wouldn't have.
He squinted into the glaring searchlight, boosting Tracy afloat with one arm, treading water with the other. He stared at the ship and calculated his options for escape. He found none. The light cast a bright pool of warmth around them that reminded Eric how cold the water was. Tracy's body hung limply in his arms now, but she was still shivering. She half-opened her eyes, looked around sleepily. 'Sorry.'
'There, there,' he said. It was something he used to say to his kids, but he didn't know what else to say. It seemed to calm Tracy. She closed her eyes, squeezed out a tear.
'We've decided to surrender,' Eric hollered up to the ship.
An arrow whistled out of the dark, splashed water in front of them, kicking a spray in Eric's face before disappearing underwater. He felt a sudden sharp pressure in his chest where the arrow lodged. A warm tingling spidered out from the wound, crept along his flesh. Tracy floated free from his arms. The water began to rise around him.
'No, Angel!' he heard the captain's voice yell. 'Not until we have the fucking map.'
Angel. Eric remembered who she was now, the familiar harsh voice from a distant nightmare. Angel. It had been many years. He thought she was dead.
'Eric!' Tracy screamed, grabbing weakly at him.
Too late. The water folded over his head with downy gentleness. Liquid arms carried him through the crowded ocean. Everything was quiet tonight in the thick darkness of Hunting-ton Beach. He was sinking.
