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"I prefer scotch."
"I'll distill a bottle especially for you."
Pitt turned away and raised his hands to snatch a little girl off a line and pass her into the waiting arms of Misty Graham, one of the Deep Encounter's three marine biologists. The mother and father followed and were quickly guided below. Moments later, Pitt was lifting swimmers onto the work deck who were too exhausted to climb from the rescue boats on their own.
"Circle around to the cruise ship's port side," he ordered the boat's helmsman, "and pick up the people who were carried away by the current and waves."
The helmsman looked up at Pitt, exhaustion straining his face, and managed a faint grin. "I've yet to receive one tip."
"I'll see they put it on the tab later," Pitt said, grinning back. "Now get going before-"
The piercing cry of a child seemed to come from beneath his feet. He ran to the rail and looked down. A young girl, no more than eight years old, was hanging on to a rope that dangled over the side. Somehow she had fallen overboard after coming on board and been overlooked in the confusion. Pitt lay on his stomach and reached down, gripping her by the wrists as she crested on a wave. Then he pulled her free of the water and onto the deck.
"Did you have a nice swim?" he asked,
trying to diminish her shock.
"It's too rough," she said, rubbing her eyes, which were swollen from smoke.
"Do you know if your parents came with you?"
She nodded. "They climbed out of the boat with my two brothers and sister. I fell in the water and nobody saw me."
"Don't blame them," he said softly, carrying her over to Misty. "I'll bet they're worried sick about you."
Misty smiled and took the little girl by the hand. "Come along and we'll find your mommy and daddy."
In that instant, a glimmer of light brown hair caught Pitt's eye, spread on the blue-green water like lace filaments on a satin sheet. The face could not be seen, but a hand made a slight gesture, as if trying to paddle through the water, or was it simply movement caused by the waves? Pitt ran twenty feet down the deck for a closer look, hoping against hope that the woman-the hair had to be that of a woman-had not drowned. The head rose slightly above the water, far enough for him to see two large beautiful blue eyes that appeared languid and dazed.
"Pick her up!" Pitt yelled to the rescue boat's helmsman, motioning to the woman. But the rescue boat was already halfway around the stern of the Emerald Dolphin, and the helmsman failed to hear him. "Swim toward me!" he shouted to the woman. He could see that she was staring in his direction without seeing him.
Without another second's hesitation, Pitt climbed on top of the railing, balanced for a moment and then dove into the water. He did not immediately rise to the surface but stroked mightily underwater, like an Olympic swimmer after leaping from a platform. As his hands and head broke clear, he barely spotted the head sinking below the surface. Twenty feet and he was there, pulling her head from under the water by her hair. Despite her drowned-rat appearance, he could see that she was a very attractive young woman. Only then did he notice that she was gripping the handle of some sort of small suitcase that had filled with water and was dragging her down.
"You fool!" he snapped. "Let loose of it!"
"I can't!" she abruptly hissed, with a determination that surprised him. "And I won't!"
Elated that she wasn't on death's doorstep, he didn't argue the matter but grabbed her by the halter and began towing her to the Deep Encounter. When he reached the side of the hull, willing hands reached down, clutched her by the wrists and pulled her on board. Released from his burden, Pitt climbed up a rope ladder. One of the female scientists threw a blanket around the woman and was about to guide her down a companionway when Pitt stopped her.
He looked into those blue eyes and asked, "What's so important in that briefcase that you almost died trying to save it?"
She gave him an exhausted look. "My father's lifework."
Pitt looked at the case with new respect. "Do you know if your father was saved?"
She slowly shook her head and looked forlornly into the ash-coated water with its many floating bodies. "He's down there," she whispered.
Then she abruptly turned and disappeared down the companionway.
Finally, the boats had retrieved as many of the living as could be found. They transferred those who were badly in need of medical attention onto the survey ship, and then pulled away a short distance, carrying as many survivors as they could hold without endangering them and helping to relieve the tightly packed conditions aboard.
Pitt contacted the boat crews through his portable radio. "We're heading around to the bow to look for more survivors. Follow in our wake."
No anthill could have been more congested than the Deep Encounter when the final living survivor was taken on board. Bodies were crammed in the engine room, the scientific storerooms, the laboratories and the crew and scientists' quarters. They were sitting or stretched out in the lounge, the galley, staterooms and mess room. Every passageway was full. Five families were crowded in Captain Burch's cabin. The pilothouse, chart room and radio room were filled with people. The 3,400-square-foot main work deck was like an unseen street, a sea of souls packed on top of it.
The Deep Encounter was sitting so low that water sloshed over the gunnels onto the work deck whenever the hull was struck by waves higher than four feet. Meanwhile, the crew of the Emerald Dolphin did themselves proud. Only when the cruise ship's stern was free of the last passenger did they begin to drop down the lines themselves and board the crowded survey ship. Many had suffered burns, having waited until the last moment to see the passengers off before fleeing the consuming flames and abandoning the ship.
No sooner had they stepped on deck than those of them who were able to began assisting the overworked scientists to make the passengers' congested situation more comfortable. Death also came aboard the Deep Encounter. Several of the badly burned and those injured from the fall into the water succumbed and died amid the low murmur of prayers and weeping, as the bodies of loved ones were carried out and put over the side. Space for the living was too valuable.
