Pol Robinson - Open Water

by Pol Robinson

  “Hell of a finish, eh? Who’d have thought that...”

  “Wow. Look at that!”

  Sheila tuned them all out, concentrating all of her attention on the large screen. It sure as hell looked to her as if they’d done it. God they deserved it, they’d worked so damned hard for it. She’d never seen a team row that fast for that long. She wondered if they’d set some sort of course record today, she was pretty sure she’d never seen a double scull race that fast in her life.

  Out on the water, with nothing propelling it forward, their little blue shell drifted to a relative standstill in the water, along with the other two top finishers. Cass turned and reached backward for Sarah, the two women laughing and crying together.

  “Oh my God, what a race!”

  “That was awesome!”

  “How’d we finish? Could you tell?”

  Sarah shrugged. “Dunno. I think...I’m not sure, really.” Turning slightly, she shouted to the women collapsed in the emerald shell next to them. “Alanna! Great race! Too bad about the gold!”

  Untangling herself from her partner, Alanna Doyle laughed and shouted back, “In yer dreams Yank!” She tipped her head to Cass. “Well done to you.”

  Cass grinned back at the woman Sarah had introduced as an ex-girlfriend. “Thanks.” She bent to loosen the laces on her shoes and was distracted by a roar from the crowd. Suddenly Sarah was pounding her back and shouting, “We did it! We did it!” Pulled backward into Sarah’s enthusiastic embrace, Cass turned to the JumboTron to see the photo finish of the race.

  Sarah was right.

  They had done it.

  By a ball.

  Cass squinted to make the suddenly shimmering screen come into clearer focus. She could hear the tinny voice of the announcer carrying over the water, making the results official.

  “...the results, in order of finish, are: United States, gold; Republic of Ireland, silver; and the Netherlands, bronze.”

  The announcer’s voice was drowned out by the shouts from the stands and the other boats on the water. Cass turned back to the loading area below the stands, scanning for her teammates. Sarah pulled her around a bit more and pointed. “There they are, over there.” Her arm extended behind her, Sarah pointed to the crowd of laughing, shouting women excitedly waving them in.

  Cass laughed, spotting Amy jumping up and down wildly as she hugged everyone in her vicinity. Next to Amy stood Coach Sheila and Laura, both women grinning and laughing at Amy’s antics. As Cass watched, Laura turned toward the water and lifted a hand. Cass waved and turned back in her seat, fishing for her oar handles, ready to head in to collect some well-deserved hugs.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Sheila dropped her hand back to the railing, grinning as her team celebrated the unexpected and hard-won victory. Around her people were shouting and laughing, letting the adrenaline of the exciting finish run its course. A shout went up and the announcer confirmed her private musings.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, we also have a new Olympic and course record of...”

  Whatever else he had to say was lost in a sea of jubilant shouts as the U.S. squad increased their cheers. If possible, Amy began leaping higher than she had during the race, running through their team and those nearby, demanding high-fives. Sheila crossed her arms and grinned, delighted with her team’s performance and thrilled with the victory. Laura nudged her shoulder and tilted her head out toward the water.

  “Whaddya say, Coach?”

  Sheila just shook her head, her smile getting wider. “What do I think? I think this is one hell of a regatta, don’t you?”

  Laura laughed and nodded, as she slapped the coach on the back. “You know what? I think you’re right!” She looked across the water again and spotted the two women in the blue scull looking her way. Raising a hand to wave again, she gasped and grabbed Sheila’s arm. “Shit, crab, CRAB!” Laura’s frantic voice cut through the jubilation of the team.

  Both Sheila and Laura watched as the Dutch boat, beginning to make its way to the loading area, caught a freak wake from a chase boat as they’d begun to row. The jar of the sternman’s blade being jerked down unexpectedly by the wake wave caused the tiny, light scull to jerk nearly ninety-degrees sideways, drilling directly into the side of the U.S. hull.

  Someone screamed as the blue shell was sliced neatly in two and Sheila heard a sharp cry of pain before the back end of the scull quickly disappeared below the surface, taking Sarah with it.

  The team watched, standing stiffly silent as Cass struggled to free herself from her shoes. Above the roar of the crowd they could hear the piercing voice of the Irish sculler shouting for Sarah.

  “Yank! God damn ya, YANK!!” Cass looked over to see Alanna tearing at her shoes, trying to free herself. The Irish rower caught her eye and pointed into the water.

  “She’s down there! I think the shell got her leg.” Alanna yanked again at her shoes. “God damn these bloody things!”

  Cass spun and stepped onto the bow of the still-moving Dutch boat as her side of the shell filled with water. The Dutch rower nearest her grabbed her hand, shouting something incomprehensible. Cass yanked her hand free and dove down, following a rapidly fading trail of bubbles. The cool salt water stung as she squinted her eyes open. Above her, she could hear the muffled clanking and rumbling of the motorized launches as they moved to assist in the crash.

  Blindly Cass reached ahead, pushing deeper into the blue-black waters. Sarah! Air, we need... Oh God, where the hell are...wait. WAIT! Something solid brushed her hand and she turned toward the feeling. Both hands hit something solid...the shell! Cass felt her way along quickly, feeling the broken shell sway as Sarah struggled to free herself.

  Desperate hands grabbed at her as Sarah realized someone was down with her. Cass slid her hands down Sarah’s leg, grimacing as her fingers found torn flesh. Gritting her teeth at the impulse to scream, the need to open her mouth and gasp for air, she found Sarah’s foot, still tied into the mounted shoe and pinned by something solid. What the hell...pull, no, from the other side, now...PULL. Putting aside any thought of how this might further injure Sarah, Cass pressed her feet down as hard as she could against the swaying bulk of the shell and pulled forward with her remaining strength.

  A muffled pop and a choked cry from Sarah told her they were free. Cass reached forward and grabbed the first soft thing she could find as she felt Sarah go limp beneath her. As tightly as she could, Cass gripped Sarah’s racing tunic and kicked for the surface, her vision beginning to go gray around the edges.

  Funny, I thought it was supposed to get lighter as we got to the surface.

  Back on the dock the U.S. team was frantic, but clearly no one more so than Laura. “Cass!” she shouted as Cass disappeared into the water. She was halfway over the rail, her focus on the women beneath surface of the roiling water, when Sheila grabbed her arm.

  “Laura. Laura!” Sheila yanked the tall rower back to her side of the rail. “They’ll have them out of the water by the time you get out there!”

  Her face pale with fear, Laura stood gripping the silver railing. “Where the hell are the rescue boats? What the fuck kind of operation is this?” She sucked in a loud breath and they all watched as finally, finally the rescue boats roared up.

  “Those idiots will kill them with those propellers!” Pam Collins, Sarah’s regular rowing partner and girlfriend, fell against Laura as they watched the rescue divers slip into the water. Instinctively, Laura put her arm around Pam’s shoulders. She held her tightly, mindful of the slighter rower’s cast and sling. Around her, the other members of the squad were holding each other and their breath as they waited.

  “Shush Pammie. Cass will find her.” Sheila stood behind the women, a hand on both of their backs.

  “Cass will find her.”

  Laura repeated her assurance, for herself or for Pam, Sheila was not sure. She kept her eyes on the water. It’s been too long, why haven’t they...

  “There they are!
” The shout came from the announcer’s booth.

  The water turned to foam around her as hands and feet appeared in the water, everyone pulling in every direction. Cass felt Sarah slip from her fingers and she panicked.

  “Shh, lovey, it’s all right. She’s here. Th’ medics have got her.”

  Alanna, the soaking wet Irish rower, pushed her way next to Cass as the emergency team pulled her aboard. “Cass, d’ya hear me? She’s out. She’s out.” Finally, Alanna’s words penetrated and Cass stopped fighting. The medic next to Alanna nodded her thanks before shoving her aside and placing an oxygen mask on Cass’s face.

  “Right, then. Yer welcome,” Alanna muttered as she watched the medic care for Cass. In the next boat, she could see three or four medical personnel scrambling around the still form of her ex-lover. She was sick at the watery lines of blood she could see dripping off the gunnel over which they’d dragged Sarah’s limp body.

  “Hang on there and put this on. For shock.” She took the thin silvery blanket offered by the other medic and allowed herself to be seated on the small cushions ringing the edge of the deck. The deck tipped sharply as the captain powered his boat toward the emergency docks at the end of the raceway, following the craft carrying Sarah and the other rescuers. Alanna looked back at her own shell, waving once to her still-shocked teammate to let her know she was fine. Then she tipped her head back and began praying that Sarah would be too.

  Sheila watched as hands pulled and lifted first Sarah and then Cass out of the water. Pam’s gasp as she saw the blood running off Sarah distracted Sheila and she did not see where Cass ended up. She did, however, know she was not going to wait here. Neither, it seemed, was Laura. Grabbing Pam’s good hand, Laura began shoving her way back through the crowd.

  “Laura, wait!” Sheila’s voice stopped her.

  Laura snarled as she spun around. “No! Do not get in my way!”

  Sheila recognized Laura’s angry tone for what it was, and let it go. She simply waved her credentials and moved ahead of the two women. “You’ll need this and me. Now let’s move.”

  She was aware that the rest of the team followed them around the end of the raceway to the emergency docking point, but her attention was divided. Laura’s face when she had stopped her...Sheila had never seen Laura so...so...so what? So fierce and protective. Hmm, that’s new. Letting that thought go as she worried for her friends, she promised herself she’d visit it again later.

  Seven long minutes, three arguments and four threats later, Sheila found herself tucked into a small corner of an outer exam room, waiting with Laura, Pam and Amy for news from inside. She’d kept the rest of the team out, fearing that if there were too many of them in here the medical staff would evict them all. From behind the double doors, they could hear sharp voices calling orders, occasionally sounds of running feet and the sharp sound of metal implements hitting the ground. Once in a while, over the top of the other sounds, one clear voice demanded to be heard. Sheila glanced at Laura and raised an eyebrow, smiling at Laura’s nod of confirmation.

  “She sounds pretty pissed, doesn’t she?”

  “Yup. I’d say that’s a good thing.” Laura moved to Sheila’s side. “Whaddya think? Can you get in there?”

  “Not now. Shit.” Sheila ran her fingers through her hair. She was distracted, her attention split between the sounds of the emergency workers in the next room and her own memories of an accident nearly a decade before. Another regatta, another crabbed boat and injured rower. That time the rower had been her friend, Tory and the accident had nearly taken her life, not to mention her leg.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  “I’m fine, I’m telling you.” Cass pushed away the hands pressing in on her in an effort to breathe. “Would somebody please tell me how Sarah is?” She repeated her frustrated demand, just as she had for the last half hour. They had about another ten seconds before she opened up a can of Cass-style whoop-ass on the folks here. They damned well understand me, they’re just pretending not to speak English! Sucking in a deep breath for one last attempt to find out just what the hell had happened to her teammate, she was startled into coughing by a warm hand on her arm. For once it was not someone poking her or sticking her with a needle.

  “Shh, Cass, it’s me.” Gentle hands eased her up, rubbing her back until the coughing subsided.

  Cass slid the oxygen mask off her face and smiled as Amy’s face came into focus. “Hey.” She glanced around at the faces of the medical staff as they muttered and made notations. “Are you here to spring me? Where’s Sarah? How is she? They won’t—”

  Amy smiled and continued rubbing Cass’s back. “Whoa there, Nugget. One question at a time. Sarah’s in the other room and they’re checking her out. I snuck in here and they either don’t mind me, or I’m too small to be seen.” The diminutive cox grinned at Cass, then started as a loud cry came from the other room. “Oh God, Cass are you okay?”

  “I think so, yeah. I just got a little fuzzy and waterlogged there at the end.” She turned to Amy. “Where’s La—everybody else?”

  Amy saw right through her. “Everybody, including Laura, is outside, driving the staff nuts. In fact, I should pop out to let them know you’re okay. I thought Laura was going to swim from the docks to get to you.”

  Amy cocked her head to the side, considering. She was still surprised by the pain she’d seen on Laura’s face when Cass had disappeared into the water. Another cry from the next room brought her attention back to Cass. “Look, I’m gonna duck out and then back in, if I can. Stay put, be good and they’ll kick you out soon, okay?”

  Exhausted, worried about the sounds coming from next door, Cass nodded. She grimaced as Amy slid the oxygen mask back in place. She was glad to see Amy, she just wished Amy were Laura.

  Cass felt herself drift and she let her eyes slide shut. Just for a moment...

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Laura sat huddled in the small plastic chair the orderly had provided, and Sheila was careful not to disturb her as she entered. She quietly moved another chair close to Laura’s and turned it so that she could see not only Cass’s face but down the hall toward the operating room as well. She had finally gotten someone to give some answers and found that they had taken Sarah into surgery to clean up and repair the damage to her leg. The Dutch shell had broken her fibula and wrought havoc on the muscles of her lower leg. They were waiting to find out the extent of the damage. Sheila had left Amy sitting with Pam and the rest of the team while she’d gone in to give Cass the latest news. She’d found Cass fast asleep, one hand curled into a fist against her pale cheek, and Laura crouched in the only other chair in the room.

  It was obvious that Laura cared for Cass. And just as obvious that she was torn about it. And Sheila couldn’t afford to have that. Not now.

  “Laura,” she said softly, careful not to wake Cass. When Laura didn’t react, Sheila tried again, louder this time. “Laura, look at me.”

  Laura looked up, her green eyes haunted.

  “I need you here with me right now, Laura.”

  When Laura spoke, her voice was raspy and uneven. “I’m here, Coach. I swear.”

  “Then act like it.” Sheila’s voice was sharper than she’d intended, but her words had the effect for which she’d been looking. Laura sat up straighter and turned to face her, an expression of surprise on her face.

  “Sorry, Coach. I was...thinking.”

  “I could see that. Want to share?” Sheila wanted to be sure, very sure, that Laura’s head was in the game.

  “I, ah...I pushed her away, you know.” She nudged her chin toward Cass.

  “When?”

  “A few days before the race. Told her we should back off. Take it easy.” Laura’s voice was low and laced with disgust. “And I realized today that...I was an idiot.”

  “Yes,” Sheila agreed. “You were.”

  “And I...what?”

  Sheila shrugged. “Don’t expect me to deny it. You were an idiot to
push someone like Cass out of your life. Unless you don’t have feelings for her.”

  “No, I do. That’s just it. I was, I mean, we were...then Shelly. And Shelly makes everything...”

  “Ugly.” Sheila glanced over to make sure their conversation wasn’t disturbing Cass. “Sorry, Laura, I know you dated, but the woman’s poison.”

  Laura sighed. She looked from Cass to the still empty hallway that led to the operating room. “I know. I know,” she repeated. “I...I’ve wondered for a while just what kind of control she had over Brenda, you know? She, Shelly, she likes control. Needs it. Bren...she was looser. More open. Shelly hated that. They used to fight all the time. That’s one of the reasons Bren asked if I would help, you know. It wasn’t really for her, but for Shelly. She wanted to know how they could stop. How she could get Shelly to let her...let her live.” The last words came out in a broken whisper and then Laura fell silent.

  Sheila sat, silently keeping vigil over both women while she processed what she’d heard. She didn’t really know what to say and felt out of her depth. Hospital staff moved efficiently along the corridor, but she could see no signs of movement from the doors that led to the operating room. She glanced at her watch; it had been well over an hour since they’d taken Sarah away and she wanted an update.

  “She’s pretty amazing, isn’t she?”

  Laura’s question startled Sheila, and for a moment she thought Laura was talking about Shelly again. She looked over to find Laura’s gaze on Cass’s face, her hand resting on the blanket inches from Cass’s.

  “Yes, she is.”

  “God, that was amazing today, what they did.”

  “It was.”

  “I...I still want to run from this.” Laura’s voice was so quiet that Sheila had to bend to hear it.

  “You’d hurt her if you did.”