Chapter 3

"The fuel line has snapped. There's no way I'm going to be able to fix that without the right tools," Dutchy sighed. He looked at Kate and saw her worried face. "I guess you didn't let anyone know where we went," he wondered while he knew the answer. They had left the Hammersley as quickly as possible when they had the opportunity to go diving. He had changed into his swimming shorts in less than a minute and then had waited outside Kate's cabin. From there they had left the ship without seeing anyone else.

With her hand Kate was shielding her eyes against the sun and looked around for other ships. She couldn't see any at the horizon which meant they had to wait until someone showed up and would be civil enough to stop and check them out. "Great," she exhaled. With an Irritated sigh she took the radio in hand and pressed some buttons. "Mayday, mayday. Can anyone here us?" she said hoping against all hopes.

Dutchy looked at the ocean. He hoped a ship would show up soon since they hadn't brought anything, not even some water, which he regretted now most of all. The sun would reach its highest point in about two hours and it was already hot on deck. "What do you want to do?" he asked Kate.

Kate frowned at Dutchy's last question. "What do I want to do? I want to go home and report what we've found. I want to—" she answered but Dutchy held up his hand in defence.

"I meant right now. Do you want to wait until someone comes by and picks us up or wait for another two hours before anyone at the Hammersley misses us and start looking. Oh add another couple of hours to that last idea since they don't know where to start looking." He wasn't looking forward to sit and wait. Although, spending some time with his XO, cooped up in the small confines of their little boat wasn't an option he wouldn't really mind either. No, I shouldn't think like this, it will only get me into trouble he thought while quickly looking down to see if his body wasn't betraying his thoughts.

"If you'd ask me the best option is to swim to that island," he pointed into the direction where they came from. "I can't swim that far!" Kate said shocked when she saw the distance they had to swim to reach land. "Well, we don't have many more options," Dutchy said. He remembered the last time they had this same discussion. They were on a pontoon near the coast and she had told him she couldn't swim that far. He had then suggested he would swim and she would stay on the pontoon but this time he had a gut feeling it wouldn't be right to leave her behind. Maybe another crazy copper would show up and start waving around his gun.

"We have no food, no water and no means to get in touch with anyone. We've just got you and me here. I'd say we swim to the island. We've got flippers this time and I'll help you to get there, I promise," Dutchy said.

Kate looked towards the island again and sighed. It really seemed too far away. Even with flippers on, it would be a long swim and if they would reach the island there was no guarantee there would be anyone to help them so maybe it was the best option to stay on this boat and just wait.

"Look at the island, it has trees and there are rocks so most likely there's water to be found and I'll bet there's food too. I really think we should go there. Trust yourself Kate. You can do it, you can swim that far," he encouraged her. Kate looked Dutchy up and down, briefly stopping at his muscled arms and belly. Could she rely on him getting her to the island? She knew she trusted him with her life, but was it enough? "OK," she finally said. He put his hands on her shoulders and squeezed them reassuringly. "We're going to be ok X" he said softly. The touch of his hands gave her the shivers, resulting in an odd look from Dutchy. "You cannot be cold X," he said with a grin.

Before he could say more about it, she changed the subject. "Maybe it is time you call me Kate," she said. "We spend so much time together outside work, that it sounds silly to have you calling me X all the time." "But only when we're not working" she added quickly. He nodded his approval. "Ok, so call me Dylan."

The situation felt odd for both of them, knowing this was a turning point in the way they behaved towards each other. Both felt relieved, but also awkward. Quickly Kate changed back into XO mode again. "Before we go we've got to drop the anchor and do we have anything to write on to let people know where we're going?" she started the logistical questions.

Dutchy only shrugged. "I didn't bring anything besides my wallet and mobile and I didn't see a pen or a piece of paper in your bag either. We can't bring the mobiles though, they don't like to swim," he joked.

Kate thought for a second. She didn't like the idea of going to the island with no communication device even though there wasn't anything to bring in the first place. "I'm going to take my mobile," she said. "It may sound strange but what if it survives the swim and we can get it to work there. If you don't mind we could leave your mobile here and put a text message on it. When someone finds the boat and touches your mobile it shows up and tells them to go looking for us on the island," Kate suggested.

Dutchy ran out of other options and agreed to the proposal. Swiftly he typed a message and then put the mobile on the controls, hoping someone would find it soon. After that he geared up again, putting Kate's mobile in the little sack with the camera. "Are you ready?" he asked her while he sat down on the edge of the boat. Kate nodded, but Dutchy knew she wasn't too sure about their adventure.

An hour after they had left the boat Kate started to feel her muscles ache. The boat had changed into a little dot on the water but the island still looked as far away as it had done when they were still on board. You can do it she thought to herself. You mustn't give up! She looked at Dutchy who swam not far away from her. "How are you doing?" she asked.

Dutchy only nodded and indicated he was fine. By looking at the distance they had already crossed and the distance still ahead of them he indicated it would take them another two hours before they would reach land and that was if they would keep the same pace. They had to save all their energy for swimming. When he saw Kate try and speak again he came closer to her and said: "Don't talk, just swim."

Kate did what Dutchy said and swam for over an hour when she thought she had to rest for a bit. While she slowed down Dutchy kept on going and in no time there was a distance between them. "Dylan wait!" she yelled as loud as she could but he didn't hear her. The only thing to do was to swim faster and catch up with him.

Dutchy stopped and looked at the island, which came closer now, before he turned around again. He was shocked to see Kate so far behind him. He hadn't even noticed her not being around. Dutchy waited for her to get to him and when she did she put her arms around his neck and hang on to him.

"Why didn't you wait?" she asked, panting.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I guess I'm tired too and went on my automatic pilot. I'll slow down now and keep close to you but we need to keep on moving," he said.

He wished he could offer her a little break but the energy was much better spent in moving. "I think it's another half hour, forty-five minutes," he estimated. He felt Kate sigh before she let go of him. She nodded and started swimming. "If I ever reach land I'm going to kill you," she whispered. If they weren't where they were now he would have laughed but Dutchy knew better and started swimming as well.

Dutchy kept close to Kate but realized they were slowing down quickly. In the end she was barely getting closer to the island and when he saw her head go down he knew all her energy had drained from her body. He swam towards her and wrapped one arm around her before starting to swim again. Like this they went slowly but steadily.

When Dutchy finally felt land underneath his feet, he dragged Kate onto the beach. He laid her there while he removed his flippers. They had made it but Kate was totally out and he himself hadn't much energy left either. He stood tall on the beach while looking at the ocean. He started to regret his idea of coming to the island since it looked like a deserted one. What had they done? How was anyone going to find them there? He sat down next to Kate who hadn't moved yet and sighed. "Help."