rapidly encroaching. After approaching him, she quickly signaled for the basket as he informed her through bouts of violent shivering that there was “one more.”
“Person?” she asked. “One more person? On board?”
“Yes, yes,” he cried.
“Where?” she shouted.
He shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t know. But Danny was with us, too. In the cabin and I... I couldn’t find... Please...” She couldn’t make out the rest of what he was saying as his sobs mingled with the roar of the ocean.
“Calm down and tell me.”
“By the boat. Look near the boat.”
“Got it.”
“You’ll go look?”
The basket lowered and she worked quickly to get him inside.
“Yes, but sir, you have to calm down and stay inside the basket, so we can get you on board. You’ll be fine. You’re almost there.”
“But—” He reached for her again and Aubrey batted his hands away.
“Keep your hands inside the basket at all times. If someone else is in the water, we’ll find him. I promise.”
He nodded, crying pitifully now. She signaled to the helo to bring him up.
She didn’t add that she was worried about the state that person might be in at this point. With high winds and water temperatures hovering around fifty degrees, hypothermia was almost a given at thirty minutes. It had been at least twenty since the captain had reported they were abandoning ship. Exhaustion, panic and waning consciousness tended to facilitate drowning beyond this time frame.
As the basket ascended, she retrieved her emergency radio and informed Johnston of the situation. After the basket was safely inside the helo, she kicked hard with her fins, propelling herself toward the half-submerged vessel. She circled the bow and slowed, not seeing anything that looked remotely human. A large wave crashed over the vessel and that’s when she saw a flash of something... What was that? She watched, waited for it to show again.
There it was. It wasn’t orange. But it was white—a common color for life preservers. She swam closer. As she neared the spot she realized it was, indeed, a person. Not a man, though, as she’d been expecting. A girl. Maybe a teenager? What was she doing out here? And without a life jacket?
She heard a weak shout as she neared the girl who had her arms gripped tightly around the small, circular life preserver. Aubrey realized why no one had immediately spotted her from above. She was completely entangled in a mass of netting, so much so that from the air she was sure they couldn’t make out the form of a person. She would likely appear to be a blob of debris.
What a mess, Aubrey thought, removing the knife from her equipment bag. She swam closer, taking care not to become entangled herself. A bolt of concern went through her as she noted the bluish color of the girl’s lips. But she was shivering and holding on, which meant the final stages of hypothermia weren’t setting in yet. She must have managed to stay out of the water until the boat began to submerge. She speculated that as the girl abandoned ship and the vessel tipped, the loose pile of netting had slipped overboard along with her, essentially trapping her right there with the wreckage.
Aubrey called loudly when she reached the girl, “I’m a Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer and I’m here to help you.”
The girl’s response was incomprehensible.
“What’s your name?”
It was difficult to hear her over the ocean’s angry roar. She repeated what she thought she’d heard. “Danielle?” Something occurred to her and she asked, “Danny?”
“Yes.” The answer came out along with a choked sob and Aubrey sent up a silent thank-you. She’d worry about what the girl was doing out here without a life jacket later. Much later. After they’d survived this ordeal. Both the wind and rain had let up somewhat, but the fog was regrouping and settling in again like gobs of grayish-tinted cotton candy.
“I’m Aubrey. It’s kind of cold for a swim today, huh? What do you say we get out of here?”
All of this was said as she evaluated the situation. There was too much net for her to lift it off. With her swim knife, she began cutting away the netting. She tamped down her despair as she realized the extent of her entanglement. If she didn’t get her out soon, the sinking boat would pull her under.
“I... I...can’t swim.”
“Don’t worry, Danny. You won’t need to. I’m here now and luckily I swim pretty well. Are you injured?”
“My leg,” she said. “I hurt my leg when I slipped off the boat, but I can’t feel it now...”
“We’ll get it fixed up as soon as we get in the helicopter.”
She glanced at the helicopter, her airborne sentry serving to keep her calm. Just a couple more minutes, she thought as she continued clearing the net, thankful that sharpening her knife was a part of her personal equipment check ritual.
She kept talking to the girl as she worked. “Hold on, Danny. I’m almost finished. We’ll be out of here soon.”
As if in argument, a giant wave rolled over the boat, swamping everything in its path. It brought with it a piece of debris, smacking Aubrey hard in the shoulder and grazing her head. The force knocked her backward as the wave pulled her under. Even submerged and disoriented, she knew not to inhale. Lungs burning, she waited patiently for the force to let up as she knew it would. Grateful for the often-tortuous but invaluable training instilled in her during “A” school, she finally broke the surface, inhaling a breath. Looking around, she realized she’d ended up a few yards away from Danny.
Swimming back, she was afraid she’d find her survivor entangled even worse. Instead she was relieved to see that the wave had done them a favor, taking the remaining vestiges of the nylon netting with it. Danny was free. She reached out and pulled the girl into her arms, kicking hard with her fins, propelling them away from the wreckage. It would be easy to become tangled in something else in the floating and rapidly spreading mass of boat debris.
That’s when she realized the helo had deployed another swimmer. She saw the form slicing cleanly through the water and imagined the situation must have looked far worse from the air. Her fellow swimmer stopped when he approached them.
“Aubrey?” a deep voice called out to her. “Are you okay?”
Her heart nearly stopped. Even with a mask and swim hood, she knew exactly who was now treading water before her. Removal of his mask and snorkel confirmed it. Finding herself face to face with Lieutenant Commander Eli Pelletier, former friend and one-time love of her life, a current of shock went through her. Not that she had time to think past the reaction, though, because she had a life to save.
Far enough away from the wreckage to avoid potentially flying debris from the rotor wash, she signaled for the basket. The helicopter moved over them.
“We’re good,” she shouted back.
Seconds later and the basket was lowering toward them. She watched as he repositioned
