Chapter 5
Jason woke up at around seven and the boat was already in full swing. After I had gotten the call from Morales, I haven't gone back to sleep. The news and excitement was too shocking for sleep to consume me.
"How long have you been awake?" he asked.
"More then an hour. I tried to set the coffee maker, but I could never figure out those things." I walked over to the storage area with all the diving equipment.
"I'll set the coffee," he said absently. "How come the boat is going in a northern direction?"
"Instinct," I said and turned away to indicate that the subject was dropped at the floor and was not intendant to pick back up. Honestly, I didn't want him to know that maybe there was a chance that I was Sam McCall. I didn't want to rise his hopes. What if I were wrong? What if I was that Susanna Monroe person? "I'm getting ready to dive, so go make that coffee. I can't imagine diving on a caffeine lack. I could fall asleep and die and then you will have to dive in to find me and there will be a whole lot of unnecessary work." I glanced up and him and he was walking away, with a wide smile on his face.
It went calmly and quietly while we drank the coffee. And once I was done and ready to go, I found myself once again over the railing and jumping into the cold waters.
The water felt colder then the previous day, maybe that was because we were further north. Whatever the case, I got an exhilarating rush when I dived in and felt the cold wetness surround me. I felt free. I felt like nothing can hold me down. Technically, the only time a person can fly is when they are in the water. They can float above water like a bird can float above a cloud. Laws of gravity don't seem to pull one down when they are in water. And so, I felt like a fish when I was in the wildness of the sea.
I plunged down through the layers of cool until I hit the frozen point. The bottom. On the bottom, I could see boats in two vary opposite directions. So there was no point in staying around, I decided to go up. And, kicking myself off the muddy ground, I maneuvered through the harsh waves and came out on top.
"Hey," I yelled when I didn't see Jason waiting for me. While doing some kicking of my legs and swinging of my arms to keep me afloat and somewhat slightly warmer, I screamed, "Get the hell over here and pull me up."
Jason appeared at the railing with a mug to his lips. He disappeared and reappeared only a second later, this time without the mug. "Back so soon?" he asked when he started rolling up the ropes.
I was being lifted, at the blow of the wind hit against me chilling me to the bone. "There wasn't much to see, except for two boats." I stopped talking when a sudden gush of wind entered my mouth chocking me like water in the lungs.
Once he had lifted me over the railing and I was standing securely on the dock, I grabbed a mug of coffee and took a hot and healthy sip. "There were two boats down there. One was about 40 miles north west and the other was about 45 miles north east."
"We'll go to the northwest one first, if you're up to it. You might want to relax though, it's getting colder. I think a storm might be coming."
"I can't wait to get back into the water."
"Isn't it cold?"
I took a final sip of my coffee and stared down at the empty mug, I wanted more. It felt good to have a warm drink go down my throat. "It's cold, but the coffee made me warm. So now I'm ready for cold again."
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Once again, I was in the frozen waters and damn, they felt good. I walked around the remains of the destroyed sunken boat that was on the northwestern side. I couldn't see the name of the boat so that meant I had to look around.
I walked around, in and out of everything in sight. And then I came up on her. A dead woman was laying in the middle of a floor that looked like it belonged to an on board bedroom. I felt a cold chill go down my back when a thought struck me. What if that was Sam McCall?
I had to find reliable information. The woman's face was too swollen for her identity to be revealed, so I had to find the name of the boat.
Up.
Down.
High.
Low.
I searched everywhere. Every direction I could try. The front. The sides. The back. Still no name.
Maybe it was written in paint and it washed off?
Maybe it was written on a wooden attachment and it fell off?
I liked the second option better, so I decided to search for any wood pieces around the boat. I swam around some, and it tired the hell out of me. But I found it. I found a wooden name plate that read "The Unsinkable Monroe". Talk about irony. The Unsinkable Monroe had sunk like an old axe.
---
"Are you okey? You don't look so good." Jason looked at me when I took off my mask and dropped it onto the deck floor.
"I'm fine. I just saw a dead body that looked like it's been in the water for a long time, but I'm fine."
"A dead body?" His expression turned serious and unreadable. I suspected the wheels in his head had been turning and that he was all of the sudden fearful.
"Don't worry, It's not Sam. The boat was named 'The Sunken Monroe'."
It looked like he was about to say something, but he suddenly rethought it and said something else. "You might want some whisky. Alcohol helps kill bacteria which could cause a cold."
"I'll drink to that. But I still want to check out the other boat I saw?"
"No way in hell," Jason said when he walked to the kitchen area. "It's getting cold, and I don't want to getting sick."
"I won't get sick. Besides, I need to check that boat out and get it over with. It's the fall, the days will only get colder."
"You got a paint, but I'm going down there with you." He poured me a shot glass and handed it to me.
I took it and swayed the drink around before shooting it down my throat. It burned and warmed me and boy it felt good. "You can't go down with me. Who will pull me up then?"
"I'll pull myself up, and then I'll pull you up." He poured a drink for himself as well. "You're not going down there alone. You look tired."
"It's just side effects from seeing that dead body. She was so swollen and bloated and blown up that it looked like she might just pop and explode like a bomb."
He looked at me strangely, as if trying to read beyond that or to just settle for it. When I saw him drink his drink, I knew he dropped the subject.
Truth was, while the seeing a distorted body like that had shaken me, and I won't deny it, I was also tried from the realization that I might be McCall. I was stuck in a word where I didn't know who I was, and now there was a chance that I might be someone who was loved, and I was eager to find out if it were true or just an illusion. I couldn't wait to find out if that was Sam's boat that I had seen, or if it was someone else's.
The vision of the dead body still lingered in my head, so I walked to my bedroom and grabbed my cell phone. After I dialed Morales and he picked up, I started talking, " I think I found Susanna Monroe but there needs to be a DNA and autopsy done." I gave him the exact location of where the boat was found.
"Be careful, Cirra, there's a storm coming tonight in the area where you're at, and from the forecast it looks big."
"Yeah, I can sense it. There's another boat there so I'm gonna go diving and see what I could find out from it."
"I wish you wouldn't go diving, it's too dangerous."
"Don't worry about me, I'm a survivor," I said while glanced out a small round window at the graying sky. "You don't just wake up without a memory and turn into a weakling. I all people who survive death tend to be fearless, that's me. I'm strong and fearless."
I could feel Morales smile on the other end. "That's what I like about you, Cirra, you're always fearlessly strong. I did some research on the two women. Apparently, Samantha McCall was connected to the mob. She knew guns and knew how to fight, just like you, Cirra." Morales hung up and the last statement he made was making my brain jump.
I dropped my phone onto my bed and walked out onto the dock. So yeah, it was cold and it was getting ready to rain. That didn't scary me off any. Sure, I was supposed to be scared that the boat would sink and Jason will never find Sam and I will never find myself, but I just didn't fear.
"The boat's ready," Jason said and in took a deep breath. "It should land up directly over the sunk boat. But if you don't want to go we don't have to. I think a storm is coming."
"It is, but even if we decided to go to shore we wouldn't make it in time, so why not go down and check out the sight?"
"You're sure?"
"Yes." Before he could cause my any disturbances, I tied the ropes around myself and plunged into the water, I heard him plunge next to me.
Now I wondered what awaited us.
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I will change the rating of this story the next time I update to 'M' do to a small scene. Sorry for the inconvenience.