The Swarm (17 page)

‘There's one!' shouted Stringer.

A man was floating motionless in the water, face down, no suit - a protester from the motorboat.

Anawak and Stringer grabbed him by the arms and lifted him.

He wasn't especially heavy.

Not nearly heavy enough.

His head lolled back and his eyes stared blankly. His body ended at the waist, torn flesh, arteries and intestines dangled from the torso, blood dripping over the waves.

Stringer gasped and let go, then Anawak lost his grip and the corpse splashed back into the water.

All around the boat, sword-like fins swirled through the waves. There were at least ten of them, maybe more. A blow sent the boat spinning. Anawak leaped to the wheel, opened the throttle and sped off. Three vast backs rose out of the water before him. He swerved and the whales dived. Two more appeared on the other side, heading straight for the boat. Anawak swerved again. He heard screaming and crying and panic took hold of him, but somehow he steered the Zodiac past the black-and-white bodies blocking their escape.

There was a crunching sound. He swung round in time to see the
Lady Wexham
shudder and heel in a cloud of spray. In that split second of inattentiveness, the Zodiac's fate was sealed. A giant tail was already hurtling towards the boat.

The Zodiac flew into the air and flipped over.

Anawak soared up, past a cloud of spray, then plummeted down into the ocean. It was bitingly cold. He kicked with all his might, and fought his way up to the surface. Gasping, he was pushed back down. Seized by panic he thrashed about, paddling madly until, spluttering, he surfaced again.
There was no sign of the boat or any of its passengers. The coastline bobbed into view. He was lifted by a wave and at last he saw some of the others. - half a dozen at most. Then gleaming black blades cut through the surf and dived down. A head jerked under and didn't resurface.

An elderly woman saw the man vanish. ‘The boat! Where is it?' she shrieked.

Where was the boat? It was too far for them to swim ashore. The woman's screams became more desperate.

Anawak swam over to her. She saw him coming and stretched out her arms. ‘Please! You've got to help me.'

‘I'm going to,' called Anawak. ‘Just try to stay calm.'

‘I can't keep my head up. I'm sinking.'

‘You won't sink.' He took deep long strokes to reach her. ‘The suit won't let you.'

The woman didn't seem to hear him: ‘You've got to help me. Oh, God, don't let me drown! I don't want to drown.'

‘Don't worry, I'll—'

Suddenly her eyes widened and she vanished under water. Something brushed against Anawak's leg.

Fear coursed through him. He pushed his upper body clear of the water and looked around. The Zodiac was drifting upside-down. All that separated him and the others from it was a few metres - and three black torpedoes.

As the whales powered towards them, something in Anawak protested. Not once had an orca attacked a human in the wild: they treated humans with curiosity, amity or indifference. And whales didn't attack boats - they just
didn't
. Suddenly he was hit by a rush of water and a flash of red came between him and the whales. Hands reached down to grab him. Then Greywolf steered towards the rest of the swimmers. He pulled Alicia Delaware out of the water and set her down on a bench while Anawak hauled up a wheezing man. He scanned the surface for others. Where was Stringer?

He caught a glimpse of her head between two waves. A second woman was with her. The orcas had surrounded the upturned Zodiac and were closing in from both sides. Their shiny black heads cut through the waves, jaws parted to reveal rows of ivory teeth. In a few seconds they would be upon the women. But Greywolf was at the wheel, steering purposefully towards them.

Anawak held out a hand to Stringer.

‘Take her first,' she shouted.

Greywolf helped him drag the other woman to safety. Then Stringer tried to climb on board. She slid back into the water and the whales dived down behind her.

Suddenly she was alone. ‘Leon?' She stretched out her arms, eyes wide with fear. Anawak caught her right hand.

The blue-green water parted as something shot up at incredible speed. Its jaws were open, exposing white teeth. Then they snapped shut and Stringer screamed. Her fist hammered on the snout that held her prisoner. ‘Get off.' she yelled.

Anawak's fingers dug into her jacket. Their eyes met. ‘Susan! Give me your other hand!' He held on to her, determined not to let go, but the orca's jaws were clamped round her. Her mouth opened in a dull cry that become a piercing scream. With a sickening jolt, she was wrenched from Anawak's grip. Her head disappeared underwater, then her arms and her twitching fingers. For a second her orange suit shone in the water, a scattered kaleidoscope of colour that paled, faded and vanished.

Anawak stared at the water. Something glittered in the depths. A column of bubbles. As they reached the surface they popped and foamed.

Then the water turned red.

‘No,' he whispered.

Greywolf pulled him away from the railings. ‘There's no one here,' he said. ‘Let's go.'

As the motorboat roared off, Anawak tripped and steadied himself. The woman whom Stringer had saved was lying on a bench, whimpering softly. Delaware was soothing her, voice shaking. The man stared fixedly ahead.

From across the water Anawak heard another commotion. He whirled round and saw that the
Lady Wexham
was surrounded by blades and humps. She was barely moving and listed dangerously to one side.

‘We have to turn back!' he shouted. ‘They're not going to make it.'

Greywolf was powering towards the coast. ‘Forget it.'

Anawak reached over and snatched up the walkie-talkie. He tried to call the
Lady Wexham
. The radio crackled and hissed. ‘We've got to help them, Jack! Turn back, damn it!'

‘With this boat it's hopeless. We'll be lucky if we make it ourselves.' The worst thing was, he was right.

 

‘Victoria?' Shoemaker yelled into the phone. ‘What the hell are they doing in Victoria?…Why? Doesn't Victoria have its own Coast Guard? There are people drowning in Clayoquot Sound! We've got one skipper dead and a boat going down and you're telling me to be patient?'

He strode up and down in the office, waiting for a reply. He stopped in his tracks. ‘As soon as they can? Sorry, but I'm not interested in your damn excuses. Send someone else…What? Now, just you listen to me…'

The voice at the other end of the line was so loud that, metres away, Anawak heard it. The station was in turmoil. Davie and Shoemaker had been talking non-stop into radios and phones. Shoemaker dropped the receiver and shook his head.

‘What's going on?' asked Anawak. Greywolf's decrepit old boat had fought its way back to Tofino fifteen minutes earlier, and since then the office had been swamped with people. The news of the attack had spread like wildfire through the town. All the skippers who worked for the station had come in and the frequencies were jammed. At first nearby sport fishermen had called in, ridiculing the inexperienced idiots ‘too dumb to dodge a bunch of whales', and bragging about how they would save them. Then the calls had dried up. Anyone who tried to help had become the target of a fresh attack. All hell had broken loose - and no one knew for sure what was going on.

‘The Coast Guard's run out of people to send us,' said Shoemaker angrily. ‘They've all been dispatched to Victoria or Ucluelet. Apparently the
Lady
isn't the only boat in trouble.'

‘More attacks?'

‘And deaths, by the sound of it.'

‘News from Ucluelet,' Davie called. He reached behind the counter and twiddled the dials on his shortwave radio. ‘A signal from a trawler. She picked up a distress call from a Zodiac and went to help, but she was attacked. She's turning round.'

‘What kind of attack?'

‘Signal's gone. I've lost her.'

‘And the
Lady Wexham
?'

‘No news. Tofino Air has sent two planes - I got hold of them just now.'

‘And?' asked Shoemaker impatiently. ‘Can they see the
Lady?

‘Tom, they only just took off.'

‘Why aren't we with them?'

‘Don't be a jerk. You know perfectly well why—'

‘They're our boats, for Christ's sake! We should be in those darned planes.' Shoemaker was pacing wildly. ‘What's happened to the
Lady?
'

‘We'll have to wait and see.'

‘Wait? We can't wait! I'm going out there.'

‘Tom—'

‘We've got another Zodiac, haven't we? We'll take the
Devilfish
and see for ourselves.'

‘Are you nuts?' said a skipper. ‘Haven't you been listening to a word Leon's said? We need to leave this to the Coast Guard.'

‘There
is
no Coast Guard!' yelled Shoemaker.

‘Maybe the
Lady Wexham
will make it back without us. Leon said—'

‘Maybe isn't good enough. I'm going out there!'

‘That's enough now!' Davie held up a hand to silence them. He shot Shoemaker a warning glare. ‘Enough lives have been lost, Tom. I don't want anyone taking needless risks. ‘We'll wait for the pilots to report back, then we'll decide what to do.'

‘Doing nothing never solved anything!'

Davie didn't answer. He was tuning his radio, trying to make contact with the seaplanes. In the meantime Anawak did his best to persuade the crowd to leave the office. His knees trembled and he felt dizzy. He was probably in shock, he thought. He would have given anything to lie down and close his eyes - but if he did, he knew he would see Stringer in the jaws of an orca.

The woman she had saved was lying semi-conscious on a bench near the door. If it hadn't been for her, Stringer would still be alive. The man they'd rescued was sitting next to her, crying softly: he'd lost his daughter, who'd been with him on the boat. Alicia Delaware was looking after him. For someone who'd only narrowly escaped death, she seemed remarkably composed. A helicopter was supposed to be on its way to take them to hospital, but right now they couldn't count on anyone or anything.

‘Hey, Leon!' said Shoemaker. ‘Will you come with me? You'll be able to tell me what to look out for.'

‘Tom, you're not going,' snapped Davie.

‘None of you idiots should go out there,' said a deep voice. ‘Not ever again. I'll go.'

Anawak swivelled round. Greywolf had walked into the station. He pushed his way through the milling crowd, brushing the hair out of his eyes. The room fell silent and everyone stared at the long-haired giant dressed in suede.

‘What are you talking about?' said Anawak. ‘Go where?'

‘I'm going back to
your
boat, to rescue
your
people. I'm not afraid of the whales. They won't hurt me.'

‘That's very noble of you, Jack, it really is. But from now on maybe you should keep out of it.'

‘Leon,' Greywolf snarled, ‘if I'd kept out of it earlier, you'd be dead by now. You should keep out. In fact, you should've kept out in the first place.'

‘Out of what?' said Shoemaker, with a dangerous edge.

‘Nature, Shoemaker. You're the ones to blame for the whole damn disaster - you and your boats and your cameras. You're responsible for the deaths of my people and your own people and the people whose money you pocketed. It was always going to happen. It was only a matter of time.'

‘Asshole!' Shoemaker screamed at him.

Delaware got to her feet. ‘He's not an asshole,' she said firmly. ‘He saved us. And he's right. If it hadn't been for him, we'd be dead.'

Anawak was well aware that they were indebted to Greywolf - he more than anyone else - but he couldn't forget all the trouble that the man had caused them in the past. He said nothing. For a few seconds there was an uncomfortable silence.

‘Jack,' said Anawak, ‘if you go out there, someone's going to have to fish
you
out of the water. The only place you should take your boat is a museum. It won't survive another trip.'

‘You're going to let them die out there, then?'

‘I don't want anyone to die - not even you.'

‘Oh, so it's me you're worried about, is it? But I wasn't planning on using my boat. It took a few knocks out there. I'll take yours.'

‘The
Devilfish
?'

‘Sure.'

‘I can't just hand it over to anyone,' he said, ‘least of all you.'

‘Then you'll have to come with me.'

‘Jack, I—'

‘You can tell that loser Shoemaker he can come too. We'll be in need of some bait, now the orcas are eating their enemies.'

‘You've lost it, Jack.'

Greywolf bent down to him. ‘Leon,' he hissed. ‘My friends died out there too. Do you think I don't care?'

‘Well, if you hadn't brought them along…'

‘Arguing won't get us anywhere. We're talking about your people, and I'm not the one who needs to go out there. You owe me a bit of gratitude, Leon.'

Anawak swore. He glanced at the others. Shoemaker was on the telephone. Davie was speaking into his walkie-talkie and beckoned to him. ‘What do you think of Tom's idea?' he said, in a low voice. ‘Would we be able to help or would it be suicide?'

Anawak chewed his lip. ‘What did the pilots say?'

‘The
Lady
has capsized. She's on her side, taking in water.'

‘Oh, God.'

‘The Victoria Coast Guard says it can scramble a helicopter in a rescue operation, but I doubt they'll make it in time. They're busy enough already, and the calls keep coming in.'