Marina had just enough presence of mind to call the coastguard before dashing out of the station and down the steps to the beach. She prayed Trevor and Doreen would arrive soon and pick up on what was happening, but there was no time to lose.
She’d tried to reach Nate again by mobile while she ran across the sand towards the rocks that separated her cove from the one where he was stranded. Her lungs were bursting and her legs burning by the time she reached them. There was still no answer from him and she was forced to put her phone in her pocket in order to make her way between the slippery pools.
She’d done everything wrong, broken every rule by leaving the station but she didn’t care. Nate might have minutes – seconds – and no matter how she felt about him, she couldn’t leave him alone, even though she had no idea of what she’d do when she got there.
She managed to climb up high enough to reach a vantage point over into the next cove. There was no use going any further because even if she scrambled down the other side, she’d have to swim across the cove to get to him, or he’d have to swim to her.
At first there was no sign of him and she feared he’d already gone into the sea, but then she saw a movement on a rocky ledge above the water. Nate was wedged in a small crevice against the rocks. He waved at her and she signalled back at him with her arms. Every few seconds, the waves crashed against the base of the cliffs, throwing up spray that all but obscured him. He had maybe ten minutes before he would be swept into the sea by a big enough breaker.
She reached for her radio to call the coastguard again and her stomach knotted in dread.
She’d left it behind in the station.
Her scream of frustration was swallowed by a large wave thudding into the rocks below her own feet. Cold droplets spattered her face. She was safe in her position – for now – but she couldn’t stay there forever for risk of being cut off herself. She wedged herself between two rocks, and took out her mobile, fumbling because her fingers were wet and cold, and the adrenaline was coursing through her.
Nate had inched up to an even narrower ledge but waves were breaking over him. He pressed further into the cleft in the rocks. She tried to call the coastguard but then saw something that made her grip the rocks tighter. ‘Oh God. No.’
It was Lachlan.
He was at the top of the cliff, around thirty feet above Nate. He waved his arms at her and moments later, lowered himself over the edge. She could see he was in running gear, just a vest and shorts with no protection from the rock face.
Marina shouted, even though he couldn’t possibly hear her. ‘No. No, don’t do it.’
Even if he could hear, she suspected he wouldn’t take a bit of notice – like the day he’d gone swimming in the cove right in front of her.
‘You idiot. You stupid bloody idiot … I can’t lose you too.’
Lachlan climbed down to a small outcrop, around ten feet above Nate.
Marina saw Nate look upwards. He must have panicked because he tried to reach for Lachlan, grabbing for his ankle, missing, his arm flailing …
Thrown off balance, he lost his footing and slipped off the ledge backwards. He rolled onto a rock platform a few feet below, which the retreating surf had momentarily uncovered.
‘Nate!’
Marina’s scream was drowned by the thunder of the surf.
Nate raised his head, seemed about to get up before the next wave, almost gently, broke over him and rolled him into the water.
He bobbed in the surf, one arm thrown up, before he disappeared under.
Marina summoned all her training. Nate was drowning – this time right in front of her eyes – and she could only do one thing. She called the coastguard on her mobile for an update, trying to stay calm.
They said a helicopter was on its way but it would be ten minutes.
Ten minutes. It was an age.
Nate didn’t have an age.
The coastguard operator knew her and ordered her not to move, to hold on and to try to make Lachlan stay out of the water, but it was too late. He was on the platform where Nate had been, pulling off his trainers and moments later, slipped into the sea.
Marina spotted Nate again, above the water, his arm aloft, tossed around like driftwood in the swell. At least he was still alive, which meant there was hope – but for how much longer?
Lachlan battled his way to Nate, fighting the heaving seas to reach him, at one moment further away, the next lifted almost within touching distance. A minute passed by, then two, and Lachlan was next to Nate. They seemed to fight for a few seconds as Nate grabbed his rescuer. Lachlan managed to turn him over onto his back, holding his head above the water.
How long could they hang on? How long before one or both of them succumbed to the cold water or exhaustion or were dashed against the rocks?
‘Hold on!’ she screamed until her throat was raw, with no hope they could hear her. ‘They’re coming.’ She waved at the sky even though there was no sign or sound of the helicopter yet.
A huge wave broke below the outcrop she clung to, its spray wetting her fleece and hair. A glance behind showed surf boiling over the path she’d taken to reach her vantage point. She was already cut off but she didn’t care. She clung on, willing Lachlan to hold onto Nate, willing them both to stay alive, but knowing that no one could win a battle with the sea for long.
Her clothes were soaked, her hands numb and her throat raw when she heard the whump whump of the coastguard helicopter in the distance.
She waved her hand. ‘They’re coming!’ she shouted.
She wrapped her arms around a rock when the helicopter approached and hovered over her head. The downdraught felt as if she was standing in the teeth of a gale and made the water in the cove ripple outwards like a maelstrom. In seconds, a winchman descended from the helicopter towards the water, waving his arm to manoeuvre closer to the two men.
He took Nate up with him first, leaving Lachlan alone, tossed by the surf. Marina watched as Nate was hauled inside the helicopter and she wept with relief. Nate was inside, perhaps not safe, but he had a chance.
Now for Lachlan. She searched for him in the water as the winchman descended again. But as she watched, a huge wave – bigger than any before – rolled into the cove, picked up Lachlan and crashed against the cliffs.
When the boiling foam retreated, there was nothing.