me up. If that was true, then someone was looking for me. I slowly lifted my head above the water again. I was getting tired from treading water in the waves. The three men huddled up on the beach, planning their next move. All I could hear was the crashing waves.
After a few minutes, the guy with the dark hair and my cabdriver stripped off their shoes and began walking toward the water. They were coming in after me. The leader stayed on the beach. He kept moving the beam from his flashlight over the surface of the water. As his underlings waded into the water, I could see the leader pull a handgun out from the back of his shorts. Now it was just a waiting game.
Once the cabdriver and the dark-haired agent entered the ocean, I knew that I had the advantage over them. I knew where they were. To them, I was still a phantom. As long as I didnât lose sight of them in the darkness, all I had to do was move through the water quietly and stay out of their view. As long as I could stay quiet and keep from being seen, I was safe. It was a strategic mistake on their part. They should have just stayed on the beach. They should have sat on the beach until morning and hoped that I didnât swim off into the night. Iâd be a sitting duck in the light.
The dark-haired agent swam off to the right, swimming freestyle with his head out of the water. He stopped every few strokes to look around. I could see the knife he was carrying in his right hand. The cabbie started swimming straight for me. I had gotten lucky. The cabbie didnât appear to be nearly as strong a swimmer as the guy with the dark hair. The cabbie was fresh, though, and I had already been treading water for some time. As the cabbie made his way farther off the beach he became more difficult to see. His dark skin worked as a camouflage against the black water. I did my best to follow his movement through the waves, to catch glimpses when I could of the whites of his eyes. If I lost sight of him, it would be difficult to regain a visual unless he made some sort of commotion. I couldnât see if he was holding a weapon, but I knew that he must be. He wouldnât have come in the water without one.
Avoiding the swimmers would have been easy if the leader hadnât kept moving the beams from his flashlight over the water. He was using all three flashlights. He held two of the flashlights in his left hand, and the other flashlight in his right. So I had to stay quiet, avoid the beams of light, and also keep my eye on the cabdriver all at once. Every so often, as a beam of light approached me, I would slip quietly under the water and into the darkness. I tried staying submerged for as short an interval as possible because I didnât want to lose sight of the cabbieâs eyes. The cabbie would take three strokes and then he would stop and look around him. I didnât want to move too quickly for fear that he might hear me. I just floated, shifting my movement ever so slightly so that I would stay clear of his line of sight.
The cabbie quickly closed to within about twenty feet of me. As he swam, I moved farther off to one side of him. I soon realized that I was actually moving back in toward the beach. A beam of light began to move toward me, so I quietly ducked back underwater. When I pulled my head out of the darkness, only seconds later, I was only about ten feet from the cabbie, floating directly behind him. I wanted to create more distance and began to slowly and quietly swim backward away from his bulking figure. Moving closer into shore was a mistake. I was moving back into the breaking waves. In all my effort to watch the cabbie and the moving lights, I neglected the most powerful thing of all, the ocean. Suddenly, a wave came from out of the blackness. It knocked me over and sucked me down into the depths of the darkness. I completely lost my bearings once I was under the water. The wave flipped me over at least once. For a few seconds at
After a few minutes, the guy with the dark hair and my cabdriver stripped off their shoes and began walking toward the water. They were coming in after me. The leader stayed on the beach. He kept moving the beam from his flashlight over the surface of the water. As his underlings waded into the water, I could see the leader pull a handgun out from the back of his shorts. Now it was just a waiting game.
Once the cabdriver and the dark-haired agent entered the ocean, I knew that I had the advantage over them. I knew where they were. To them, I was still a phantom. As long as I didnât lose sight of them in the darkness, all I had to do was move through the water quietly and stay out of their view. As long as I could stay quiet and keep from being seen, I was safe. It was a strategic mistake on their part. They should have just stayed on the beach. They should have sat on the beach until morning and hoped that I didnât swim off into the night. Iâd be a sitting duck in the light.
The dark-haired agent swam off to the right, swimming freestyle with his head out of the water. He stopped every few strokes to look around. I could see the knife he was carrying in his right hand. The cabbie started swimming straight for me. I had gotten lucky. The cabbie didnât appear to be nearly as strong a swimmer as the guy with the dark hair. The cabbie was fresh, though, and I had already been treading water for some time. As the cabbie made his way farther off the beach he became more difficult to see. His dark skin worked as a camouflage against the black water. I did my best to follow his movement through the waves, to catch glimpses when I could of the whites of his eyes. If I lost sight of him, it would be difficult to regain a visual unless he made some sort of commotion. I couldnât see if he was holding a weapon, but I knew that he must be. He wouldnât have come in the water without one.
Avoiding the swimmers would have been easy if the leader hadnât kept moving the beams from his flashlight over the water. He was using all three flashlights. He held two of the flashlights in his left hand, and the other flashlight in his right. So I had to stay quiet, avoid the beams of light, and also keep my eye on the cabdriver all at once. Every so often, as a beam of light approached me, I would slip quietly under the water and into the darkness. I tried staying submerged for as short an interval as possible because I didnât want to lose sight of the cabbieâs eyes. The cabbie would take three strokes and then he would stop and look around him. I didnât want to move too quickly for fear that he might hear me. I just floated, shifting my movement ever so slightly so that I would stay clear of his line of sight.
The cabbie quickly closed to within about twenty feet of me. As he swam, I moved farther off to one side of him. I soon realized that I was actually moving back in toward the beach. A beam of light began to move toward me, so I quietly ducked back underwater. When I pulled my head out of the darkness, only seconds later, I was only about ten feet from the cabbie, floating directly behind him. I wanted to create more distance and began to slowly and quietly swim backward away from his bulking figure. Moving closer into shore was a mistake. I was moving back into the breaking waves. In all my effort to watch the cabbie and the moving lights, I neglected the most powerful thing of all, the ocean. Suddenly, a wave came from out of the blackness. It knocked me over and sucked me down into the depths of the darkness. I completely lost my bearings once I was under the water. The wave flipped me over at least once. For a few seconds at
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