CHAPTER 3
Owen
“Stay calm. I’m coming,” I yell as I grab a spear gun from the rack.
I take three steps to my right and dive off the side of the boat entering the water as smoothly as possible. I don’t want to splash or appear erratic, it would be like pouring gasoline on the fire.
I swim straight toward Mila and wrap my left arm around her waist.
“Quick kicking. Relax. I’ve got you,” I say.
I can feel her heartbeat pounding as I swim in a controlled manner towards the surfboard. I keep an eye on the fin and watch as it’s soon joined by another.
I swim us over to the board and I can tell Mila’s hyperventilating so bad that anything could happen at this point. She grabs for the side of the board and frantically pulls herself on top. She’s moving in such an uncontrolled and sporadic way that the board almost tips. I stead it and soon she’s on top. She tucks her hands under her body and she trembles in fear.
I take a deep breath and drop under the water’s surface. I spot the sharks immediately, but more importantly they spot me. I point the spear gun right at them as I swim over to the surfboard leash, grabbing it just a foot from where it meets the board. I slowly start swimming backwards toward the boat, moving my head slowly to make sure nothing creeps up behind on me.
The two shards watch closely, but they’re not circling…then I find out why. I spot a third shark underneath the boat and stare right at him. He has to know that I know he’s here and that I’m not afraid.
I take a closer look at the shark.
It’s not a white shark. It’s not a bull shark. It’s not a tiger shark.
That eliminates the three sharks most likely to attack a human, but that doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods yet.
I backpedaling underwater towards the boat, slowly alternating my head front and back.
When I learned drownproofing I never thought I would implement it like this. But even with drownproofing I need air at some point, and that point is now.
I swim up to the water’s surface and tip back my head only allowing the top of my face to come out of the water as I take a quick breath of air. My head rotates forward and I continue to stare down the sharks.
Just as we arrive at the boat I feel the board move frantically and Mila falls off. Shit! She saw the finish line and got too excited. She’s kicking and splashing, only drawing the gigantic fish closer.
I move closer to Mila, using my shoulders as a ladder as I feel her grab the side and pull herself up. I keep the spear gun pointed into the water as I rotate my body and carefully slide back into the boat.
Mila is an absolute mess.
“Away from the edge,” I say. She doesn’t hear a single word of it.
I grab her by the hand and lead her away from the side just as one of the sharks breech the water’s surface and its powerful jaw unhinges allowing it to open even wider before crashing down on the board splitting it in half.
“Oh my god!” she says as she grabs me tightly.
I feel my pulse pick up speed, but most of it’s not due to the flight or fight response. I’m used to that. Protecting diplomats in war zones, trekking through muddy jungle swamps, and protecting the U.S. president have trained me for moments like these.
But nothing prepared me for the feel of her body pressed onto mine. The feeling of knowing that I’m her hero and was able to save her in a moment just like this. That primal instinct of survival is quickly replaced by the desire to reproduce.
All the cells in my body were almost lost forever, never to be passed down to the next generation. Now that they’ve survived they need to take the opportunity to do just that, because they’ve seen how near the end is. It sounds crazy, but it’s biology and it can’t be stopped.
I turn my head toward her and suddenly we both dive face first right into each other as we kiss violently and passionately.