They’d been at Ashmore Reef, far from civilisation and emergency services. Penelope had comforted Emelia the best she could while they waited for medical evacuation. By the time it arrived, it was too late.
It wasn’t until Emelia’s body had been taken away that Penelope examined the equipment. Emelia’s tank had been empty.
She’d gone back through the day, trying to remember the level it had been during the morning checks, and that’s when she remembered they hadn’t done the checks. Emelia had spotted the rare sea snake in the water and had gone in before they could do them.
Penelope should have done them.
Had she checked Sam’s tank level?
Panic gripped Penelope, and she grabbed Sam’s tank gauge, the numbers blurry as she tried to read it. No, this couldn’t happen again. She wouldn’t let it.
Sam waved his hand in front of her face and she blinked, glancing at him. He gave her the ‘OK’ signal, and she shook her head. She couldn’t do this. All she wanted to do was run through the checks over and over and over again to ensure she hadn’t missed anything. She gestured up and together they headed to the surface.
Penelope dumped her regulator and gasped for air as her head popped out of the water. “I’m sorry,” she said to Sam. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
Sam inflated her BCD for her and then squeezed her hand. “Slow breaths, Penny. It’s all right. We’re both safe.” He gestured the OK signal to Brandon on the boat. Keeping his head while she lost hers.
“I thought I could do it,” she said. “But I keep seeing her face.”
“Whose face?”
“Emelia’s.” She had to tell him. He deserved to know. “She ran out of air. Panicked.”
His eyes showed his compassion as he held out his tank gauge. “We’ve both got full tanks, Penny.”
“I know.” But she couldn’t do this. Not today. “Take Brandon down.”
“Even though you haven’t seen his licence?”
She flinched. “Do you swear to me he’s qualified?” She didn’t blink as she stared at him.
“I swear.”
“Fine. Get me back on the boat. I’ll do his checks.” They’d come all this way and someone needed to ensure the poachers weren’t doing more harm to the animals and the reef. She’d be failing in her duty if someone didn’t go down.
Sam circled his hand in the air, some sort of signal which had Brandon reaching for his wetsuit. By the time Penelope was on the boat, and had removed her equipment, he was suited up ready to go. She passed him the camera and then ran through the checks twice. “Promise me you’re licensed to dive?”
His lips twitched at her choice of words, but then he was solemn as he nodded. “I promise. We’ll be fine down there. Sam and I buddy all the time.”
She checked his equipment one last time before she forced herself to step back. “You’re good to go.”
Sam was still in the water, and Brandon joined him with a splash. She watched as they sank beneath the surface, her hands gripping the edge of the boat. They would be fine, both of them.
They were trained to be calm in an emergency.
She, on the other hand, was a complete mess.
She sat on one chair and placed her head in her hands. Why couldn’t she go down again? She’d checked everything numerous times, she knew they wouldn’t run out of air, and they weren’t diving to the depths she and Emelia had been diving.
Ceiveon had tried to get her to go diving again, but Penelope had always had an excuse not to go. She hadn’t fooled Ceiveon, who had insisted she pack her dive gear when she moved and had said she expected to be taken to all the good dive spots when she visited.
Well, Penelope had tried.
She scanned the water for the men, but couldn’t see them. Her chest squeezed and she breathed through the panic again.
She was a hypocrite. All her talk about doing things by the book and she’d let Brandon go down without checking his licence. What if they’d both lied? What if they had an accident?
Penelope grabbed her phone and, seeing she had reception, she dialled Amy’s number. She should have considered this earlier. When Amy answered, Penelope took a deep breath. “Hey, it’s Penelope.”
