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“The largest in theworld?”Doris gulped and started to move away from the edge.
“In the entire world,” Dr. Tremblay confirmed as he cupped his hands on his head. “I’ve been coming here for years hoping to spot her, and I’ve never been so lucky. I can’t wait to get in the water with her. It’s a dream come true.”
“Me too,” I said, and it was.
“Throwing chum!” A crewmember shouted as he stood on a high platform with a bucket of chopped-up fish.
“Get ready, ladies!” Lance waved at us to get together.
Doris whimpered, but she stepped back toward the edge with us. I tightened my grip around her shoulder as we all smiled wide and froze, waiting for the action.
Pieces of fish flew through the air, landing behind us. There was a flurry of sound, water breaking and crashing. I tried to keep smiling to get the shot, but I had to turn around and see. I couldn’t miss this feeding spectacle.
I spun around, my mouth dropping open as a shark lunged out of the water, its lips pulling back, revealing powerful, sharp teeth. When it reached its apex, I saw the dot on the dorsal. They hadn’t been lying when they said Dotty fed with a flourish.
“Oh, my God!” Sylvie gasped as she spun with me.
“Holy shit,” Alice breathed.
“Oh, my heavens,” Doris whispered, finishing with a long sigh.
Dotty crashed back into the water with a huge splash, but a moment later, there was a smaller splash beside the platform. I spun my head to look for the shark that had gotten so close, and my heart stuttered to a stop when I didn’t see a shark in the water at all.
I saw Doris.
My unconscious friend had fainted and now floated facedown like a wet rag beside the boat.
I glanced at the sharks snapping up the bait floating around her.
Holy. Shit. I killed Doris.
Again.
“Holy cripes! Doris!” I screamed as I jumped forward, kneeling to grab her. The waves from the feeding sharks pushed her body just out of my reach.
“Man overboard!” someone yelled, and Sylvie’s blood-curdling scream ripped across the ocean.
“Get the hook!” Another voice shouted.
As I stared at my friend drifting farther from us and closer to the snapping jaws of the Great Whites, it took less than a split second for me to decide what to do.
“Hold on, Doris! I’m coming!” I launched off the ship's side and plunged into the cold water. I popped up, sputtering for air as I reached for her, catching her limp arm and yanking her toward me.
“Hold on, Doris! I got you!”
“Marge, remain calm!” Dr. Tremblay called from the ship. “Don’t thrash, and don’t panic! That will attract them. Just keep calm, and we’re going to pass you the hook. Grab on, and we’ll pull you both back to the ship!”
As I held Doris against me, the reality of my decision started to sink in. While I knew swimming with sharks wasn’t uncommon, and I’d seen enough footage of divers with sharks to know it was usually safe, those divers weren’t in the middle of a chummed-up feeding frenzy.
I looked to the fins breaking the water all around me.
What the hell did I just do?
It wasn’t the first time I’d dove into peril to help a friend, and I’d gone headfirst into danger several times back in ‘Nam to help my friends or my patients, but as a shark swam at us and bumped me with its nose, suddenly I wished for bullets instead of bites.
“Hold on, Marge!” Sylvie screamed.
“I was kidding when I said I wanted a shark to bite off your legs!” Alice shouted. “I’m sorry! I was kidding! Don’t die, Marge!”
