The Elusive Treasure
Chapter Nine
The Dive
Roderick was heading back to the dock at a dead run, his face as white as a sheet - pale, even for Roderick. Lou and Breezy had already parked their vehicles in the upslope lot, but they were still at the docks with their boats. The gang was preparing to sail. Nervously he ran to Breezy and Lou, and bluntly reported, "Lars has finally flipped! He is...well, not himself, and he and his homeboys are dressed up like eighteenth century pirates, and they mean to steal the treasure from us and ...uh, threaten us with bodily harm if we resist."
"Those twerps!" Reggie hissed, as Breezy frowned.
Twister developed a frightened expression on his face. He went to talk to Roderick. "I had a very bad dream last night where Lars and his goombahs were pirates, and they ...killed me," Twist explained.
"Whoa! I can't believe it, dude!" The pale kid stopped to catch his breath as the others gathered 'round. "Interestingly enough," continued Rod, "Lars told his goombahs of a dream he had last night where he and the Lasers killed you for not revealing the location of the treasure."
Twister got pale. "That's- exactly what happened last night, Rod!"
"You don't say!" exclaimed Rod, incredulous.
"So it's like Lars and I had the same dream, but each from his own cam- uh, point of view? This is creeping me out!" Otto laid a hand on Twister's shoulder to steady him, physically as well as emotionally.
"There are forces at work here beyond our understanding," cautioned Rod. "Everybody, be prepared to protect yourself or the others at any time!"
Lou handed Scott his car keys. "Go get the OC spray, and our cell phones." Scott nodded and dashed off, and was back in a flash with the required items.
"Izzy and those guys are preparing to leave!" Otto pointed out towards the area where the Sea Crest crew were casting off.
"So should we," said Sam as he ticked off the final part of a checklist. Then the two boats with their total of eight people cast off and motored towards the coordinates Sam specified on the map.
It was a very long few minutes to the dive site, 'til the GPS units confirmed the boats' arrival. They anchored there and both Lou and Breezy raised over their boats a red flag with a white diagonal stripe - a warning that diving operations were being conducted in the area, and that other boat traffic should keep clear of their position; it carried the same moral imperative as a circle of orange cones over an open ditch in the roadway where men might be working.
"We need to get somebody in the water - now!"- urged Reggie - "even just snorkeling, probably to satisfy some obscure legal requirement or something - to checkmate those guys in the sub."
Otto was only too happy to oblige. Already stripped to his trunks, he put on a mask and a pair of flippers, and rolled off the side. He bobbed up to take several quick, deep breaths, then headed for the bottom.
The water as the tide just started to come in was crystal clear; this undeveloped part of the harbor was full of sea grass and fishes, and there were several interesting rock formations. Otto finned for the bottom of one such formation that presided over a deep, sandy bottom. He turned, and beheld the imposing, shadowy maw of a cavern. For an instant, he knelt on the bottom, hanging onto a few strands of sea grass as he gazed within, then, gripped with curiosity, swam inside. A few meters inside from the lip of the cavern, just before an area of total darkness, lay something most curious and unexpected on the stony bottom: an iron horseshoe. Otto grabbed it, turned around...
...and had to go back up for air. He broke the surface bellowing "Yeaaah"
"What's it like, Otto?" asked Breezy.
"You have clear water here, and an open door. Scotty was right about this area being above water in the past," Otto reported, brandishing the horseshoe. "I found this horseshoe a little ways into the cavern!" Lou, Scott, and Breezy were on the swim step, checking the breathing functions of their gear, and then the trio entered the water as Otto watched from the surface. The hail of bubbles that floated up as the divers passed underneath him bathed him in a funny fizz as he felt a bump from his side. Otto turned, and looked into the begoggled eyes of Roderick, who smiled back at him. He as well wanted to watch the stuff that was going on down below.
Scotty signaled Lou to switch on his wrist light, which he did, and Scotty did likewise. Breezy handed Lou her underwater metal detector, already powered up. Clutching the guide line, Lou led as he and Scotty began to explore the cave.
Onboard Breezy's boat, the fivesome were now - quietly and excitedly - putting on wetsuits, because even if checking out this one location turned out to be a dud, according to Sammy, there were two more (but less likely) possibilities close by within a stone's throw of where they were sitting, and there would be plenty of opportunity for the kids to all get in the water. And even if the whole exercise there turned out to be a dud, a "plan B" possibility had been discussed by Breezy of visiting a nearby artificial reef that had been made out of sections of ten foot wide cement drainpipes.
Lou had just stepped foot into the cave and swam round a corner in the flashlight-lit darkness when Scott heard a strange rumbling noise. He looked up to see a bunch of heavy rocks falling; before he even had a chance to react, he and Lou were separated by a wall of boulders.
Lou felt a sudden tug down on the safety line. He looked behind him, but was then forced down by something; he felt a sharp pain in his left leg, and then on his head before everything went black.
Breezy perceived a rumbling from where she stood holding the reel just outside the lip of the cavern, She turned her head towards the noise, only to be almost bumped into by a wide-eyed and nervous Scotty amid the cloud of dust expelled in the incident.
"Something's wrong - you - get help - urgent!" the boy signed, excitably. "I - stay - dig."
Breezy felt her pulse and blood pressure rise. 'Is Lou still alive?' she found herself wondering. "OK," she signed towards Scotty. "You - stay - dig; I - get help - urgent - OK?"
"OK," replied Scotty by hand signal, as he swam back into the cloud of dust, towards the trouble. Breezy headed for the surface.
Twister was watching the surface intently as Breezy broke the surface at the stern of the boat.
"Guys," she gasped, "we have a serious problem and I need everybody's help." Everybody quieted down and stepped towards the back of the boat. "There's been a cave-in, and Lou is trapped behind some rocks," she reported. To prevent the kids from going into panic mode, she added quickly: "We're sure that Lou is still alive, because we can hear him breathing. Scotty is safe and right now he's trying to dig towards him. This happened moments after they went into the cavern, so Lou should have plenty of air, but we're gunna need more help to dig him out..."
The kids all went to put on their scuba gear, but Breezy raised her voice a bit. "Not you, Reggie. We need somebody to call the lifeguards and tell them what's happened when they get here. Turn my VHF radio to Channel 16 and put out a mayday call...Guys! Remember to check your air and bring gloves and flashlights-" Breezy shouted, just before hearing four large splashes from up forward. Putting her mouthpiece back in her mouth, she submerged and followed Otto, Twister, Sammy, and Roderick down towards the cavern.
Awakened by the sound of his own bubbles, Lou took a moment to get his bearings. There was a throbbing pain in his left leg and everything was dark. He was continuing to breathe. He tried to reactivate the light on his wrist, only to find that it was useless, probably shattered. 'Oh, great,' he thought to himself. He felt with his hands for the calf of his left leg - where he kept his diver's knife, which could be used to bang against the side of his tank like a bell - and found that it was inaccessible, firmly wedged under some rocks. The luminescent dial of the air gauge told him he still had a good amount of air.
'The others certainly know by now that I'm trapped, but I have to tell them I'm not dead.'
Unable to reach his knife, Lou felt around himself and found a loose rock. He banged it against the side of his tank, and the strike made a dull ringing noise. He hit again. And again. And again. And after a few minutes of repeated hitting, he saw light coming through as a pair of hands reached in, removing a stone. Then, a few minutes later, there were more hands...
Reggie stood for a few seconds - "...five Mississippi" - then took a breath and grabbed the microphone. "Mayday mayday mayday," she began, reading from a placard screwed into the upholstery. "This is Skipjack, charlie alpha, zero eight one six, kilo charlie, at" - she groped for a modern map and looked carefully at her surroundings - "city map... L-10 in the channel of Ocean Shores Marina, by red buoy number 6. There's a scuba diver trapped in an underwater rockslide in a cavern here. We think he's alive, and there's six more divers down there right now trying to get him out...Over!" She released the button.
In a short moment, there came a response."Six kilo charlie, this is Ocean Shores Dispatch. Question: confirm your location as... city map, lima one zero, by red buoy number six, in the channel? Over,"answered the clear, Commonwealth-accented voice of a young man who sounded vaguely familiar. But right now, Reg couldn't quite say who, and didn't much care.
"Yeah, uh, Dispatch, this is... six kilo charlie," Reg answered, looking again at the placard. "that's... affirmative... affirmative. Over."
"Skipjack six kilo charlie, this is Dispatch. Help is on the way, luv. Monitor this frequency, and remain topside at your location to inform responders. Dispatch clear,"the voice concluded. Shortly after she put the microphone on its hook, Reggie could hear sirens approaching from one, then two, distant directions.
Back underwater, Breezy and the boys devoted their energies to the obvious and hopefully not grim task at hand of rescuing Lou. Scotty clearly felt much better about the situation now that he had help alongside him. They were making gradual progress against this pile of rocks. Otto took a moment to check the pressure remaining in his air tank, which was 2600 psi. The others did the same, and it was discovered that Scotty, who'd been enduring very hard work for somewhat longer, had less than 500 psi in his tank.
"You - go - bye-bye - up; OK?" Otto urged Scotty, gesturing towards the cavern exit.
"OK - bye-bye" signed Scotty, as he reluctantly left, knowing however that he needed to do so, given his reduced air supply. The others continued removing boulders and laying them aside, momentarily distracted by a very bright flashlight being shined into the cave.
It was carried by one of three large adult men in diving gear: one in a red and white striped tank top and camo trunks needed no introduction, and everyone else there also immediately recognized Raymundo Rocket and Tito Makani Jr. The men motioned everyone else to form a line from there to the mouth of the cavern; as they continued taking down the wall, each person on the line passed the rocks one to another, putting them outside. Within a few moments, a slate was passed back with a message:
NEED TO CHECK LOU. GOT A GOOD SIZE HOLE NOW, BUT OTTO TOO BIG.
The slate stopped at Roderick, who dropped what he was doing and immediately swam forward. Tice and Ray helped Rod through a hole they'd made between the ceiling and the top of the pile. Rod turned on his light and descended into the enclosed space. Lou lay on his back, breathing but "not quite 100 there." Rod checked Lou's air gauge: 2000 psi, he'd breathed off about a third of his air.
He tapped Lou on the shoulder. The teen opened up his eyes; a smile formed around his mouthpiece. Lou moved his hand slowly, gently scratching the young Dutchman's head; Rod responded with the signals "Question - OK?" to which Lou answered "OK."
Lou noticed the white plastic slate tucked in Rod's equipment straps, and took it. He erased it and wrote:
LEFT LEG STUCK BROKE. I LOVE MY RENTS GF TO PIECES. THE TRUCK CAN GO TO SCOTT, U UR FRIENDS CAN HAVE THE STUFF IN MY ROOM.
and handed it back to Rod. Rod shook his head and wrote back:
DON'T BE SILLY. YOU WILL LIVE. WE WILL BRING YOU A SHACK BURGER THE HOSPITAL. DO YOU WANT ME TO STAY WITH YOU?
To which Lou replied:
I'LL BE FINE. YOU GET BACK TO WORK AND GET ME OUT OF HERE, K?
Rod wrote a notation on the slate, and wiggled his fingers at Lou, who weakly replied likewise. The hole had been made somewhat bigger now, and he swam out through it. As he emerged, he handed Tice the slate, pointing to something he'd written:
LOU CONSHUS BUT VARIABLE, LEFT LEG STUCK, PROBLY BROKEN. HIS AIR 2000.
Tice winked approval of Rod's "good job" and passed the slate down the line with another notation: CHECK AIR, GO TO SURFACE IF LESS THAN 500.
Otto, Twister, and Breezy had 300 psi apiece, so they left the scene as more professional rescue divers arrived to take up the slack. The others had enough air for the time being. When they broke the surface at Breezy's boat, the area had all the qualities of a major disaster scene. A fireboat and two lifeguard vessels had arrived, police kept watch from the shore keeping onlookers at bay, and a media helicopter circled overhead. Scotty and Reggie helped her brother, Twister, and Breezy into the boat and out of their diving gear.
"How is Lou?" asked Scotty, worried and obviously exhausted.
"They got a hole into where he is," Otto reported. "I was too big for Ray and Tice to stuff me through, but Rod wasn't. Lou's leg is stuck and probably broken, but his air's holding up okay."
"Rod and the Squid are still down there helping the others, but I think they'll be coming up in just a little bit," Twister added.
"Somehow I wish I hadn't pushed this treasure quest so hard," Otto ruminated. "If I hadn't gotten this idea, none of this would have happened..."
"Don't be so hard on yourself, Ottoman," consoled Scotty. "Last night, Lou told me he'd thought about rushing off in the dead of night to dive for the treasure all by himself. We talked about it for over an hour, and I was able to talk him down out of it. I tell ya, keepin' up with that guy can be a labor of Hercules - sometimes he's even more like you than you!" he commented with half a giggle.
"That wouldn't have been such a good idea," Twister observed.
"Anyway," Scotty sighed, "you guys are wonderful. That we did what we could for him probably improved his chances sevenfold." Scott threw his arms around the others then present, sobbing with exhaustion.
"It's okay, Scotty," added Breezy. "It was a total accident."
"Yeah. We've had any number of close calls," Reg added, "being missed by a falling tree in the forest, fighting your way out of a snowdrift, having a board disappear under a passing truck... some think it's just reminders from the big boy upstairs to respect your life and be good to each other."
"I know. Everything you do poses some risk," Otto said. "Even - and, I think especially - staying inside and being a total couch potato. Life is about what you can do with it."