Chapter Fourteen

“There is, one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea, whose gently awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath.”

Herman Melville

On our trip out on the Salacia, Gabriel had briefly explained the complex current patterns of the Mediterranean to me. And if George frequently sailed out on his smuggling trips there was no doubt he would be familiar too. He would know the perfect place to dispose of a body, where it was unlikely to wash up back on the island but on some foreign shore. 

I didn’t think George would shoot me. Bullets could be traced. If my body was found with a bullet hole in it, an international murder investigation would be launched. George would want the minimal amount of suspicion. Was his plan to throw me overboard to drown? Perhaps accompanied by a blow to the head which could be reasoned away by an accidental fall. I was certain he would not risk letting me go. I had overheard too much and suspected a lot more. My kidnapping alone would see him facing a lengthy prison sentence and George didn’t strike me as a person who would accept the relinquishment of his freedom. 

I had to get off the boat. If I was to drown, rather it be in an attempt to escape than at the hands of a pathological killer. 

My wrists were still tightly secured behind my back. I knew it would be hopeless to climb through the loop of my arms returning my hands to my front and then raising them high to bring swiftly down to snap the plastic tie. George would hear if not see me. But if I had any chance of reaching the shore I would need my arms free to swim. Praying the roar of the engine stifled the squeaks of my body moving against the plastic dinghy, I shuffled up into a sitting position. I couldn’t see George’s face, only a vague black shape against more blackness. I didn’t dare waste any more time or metres. In a miraculous burst of energy, I rolled up and over the side of the boat. 

An angry cry preceded the deafening crack of a gunshot. I heard the zip of the bullet as it speared centimetres past my head. I plunged down, the sea immediately enveloping me in her protective expanse. An endless void of blackness surrounded me. My mouth threatening to burst open in desperation for air, I lifted my feet and lowered my arms, the sea tugging me to and fro. Ignoring the pain in my shoulders and knees, I thread my feet through my arms. My hands at last were in front of me. The sea surged me up and I surfaced, gasping for the sweet air. 

The hum of the dinghy’s motor was some way off and through stinging eyes, I could see the thin beam of George’s torch waving frantically left and right. I inhaled deeply and dived down. I clasped my hands together, pushed them up over my head and, mustering every gram of strength I could, and pleading with the universe, shoved them down across my thigh. The tension in the tie eased and then there it was floating past me. My chest shuddered in relief and elation. I grabbed at the tie and tucked it inside my bra; there was enough plastic in the sea without my donation. I kicked my way back to the surface and drank in a gasp of air. 

Arching my chin free of the water, I turned and searched for the lights of the island. My elation checked. The lights were tiny white and yellow pinheads on a vast black canvas, very far away. I didn’t know how far I’d ever swum before but I knew this was a distance too great. But I outstretched an arm, muscles pulsing with pain and began to front crawl towards the lights. I cast a look around but could not see or hear the dinghy. Hopefully George thought I had drowned.

It wasn’t long before I began to tire. Swimming with the bullying waves constantly trying to submerge me drained what energy I had left. Still my weary legs kicked. Rain was pelting the water around me, like a hail of bullets, often accompanied by grumbles of thunder. I tried to ignore it and the thought of the immense depth of water below me, waiting to swallow me. I loved the sea but it also terrified me. It was impossible to tell how far I’d swum, the lights were still tiny dots, as unreachable as the stars.

I was not going to die, I told myself repeatedly, I wasn’t going to let it end like this, before I’d really had a chance to live the life I wanted. My story deserved a better ending, didn’t it? But trying to plead your case with nature was like wishing your cold and distant parents would change, a pointless and vain endeavour.

The last dregs of energy ebbed out of me, consumed by the sea. Fatigue weighed heavily on my body, my legs barely able to kick. Salty water stung my eyes and nostrils, splash after splash washing over my face. Overwhelmed by loneliness and anguish, a whimper escaped me.

Something touched my stomach, underneath me. Raw panic shot through me. I began to kick harder, my arms flapping now like limp tentacles. Something nudged me from the side this time. Despite my exhaustion, my imagination threw a whole myriad of images into my mind. Great white sharks with chomping razor sharp mouths, a groping giant squid, an enormous clueless whale who could drown me with one drop of its fluke. And then I heard it, the high pitched whistle.

A dolphin was gliding beside me. I felt more than saw it curl out ahead of me and then return. It dived beneath me, brushing against my ribs as it surfaced. I half laughed and cried. But my tiring muscles weren’t so easily revived. My feet beat indiscernibly and I had no more strength to raise my arms out of the water. I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep my head free of the water for long. Once I was under, it would be difficult to resurface, I hadn’t the strength. After minutes, I’d lose consciousness. 

In one last desperate hope of survival, I flipped over onto my back and relaxed. I stretched out my arms and legs so my body resembled a star shape, and hoped I would float. Water still splashed over my face yet it was easier to gulp down breaths of air. Above me the clouds were separating, the storm simmering down to a distant hum, and I glimpsed a patch of stars. 

An odd sense of calm settled over me as I was rocked and buffeted by the waves. I could almost close my eyes and yield to the sleep that was patiently lingering. Suddenly, my body lifted slightly and launched forwards. Then I felt a gentle pressure underneath me, as if something was pushing me through the waves. The dolphin! It had to be. Could it really be helping me to shore? Perhaps it was one of Gabriel’s dolphins, accustomed to humans. Whether it was or not didn’t matter, it was helping me, probably saving my life. I sobbed and shut my eyes against the spraying surf. Weightlessness flooded through me and I sighed. Maybe I was going to make it after all.