Anchor // JJ Maybank

9.

Cassidy hit the water with a large splash, landing awkwardly in the water. She took one more look up at JJ above her before sending him a salute and submerging herself in the water. Once her whole body was underwater, the water became less cold, causing her shaking to cease. Something about the silence of being underwater all alone was very serene and calmed her down right away. She slowly descended towards the wreck, trying to breathe as little as possible and exert the least amount of energy. The wreck came into her line of view pretty quickly and she propelled herself towards the wreck, grabbing onto the railing on the side of the boat. Now that she was up close to the boat, the splendor of the boat amazed her, never being on any fancy boat like a Grady-White. 

She twisted herself around the boat until she came to the cargo hold that JJ told her about. She grabbed the device from her bikini top and slid it into the side of the cargo hold and twisted as hard as she could. After a while of pulling and twisting, it finally popped open and Cassidy peered into the compartment. Inside was a single duffel bag that she immediately grabbed and slung around her shoulder, not wanting to waste any more time. 

She quickly swam to the anchor chain and pulled herself up the chain until she reached the shirt that Kiara had tied to it. Her air was becoming more and more shallow, and it took longer to feel like she was getting a full breath of air. Zen. Zen. Cassidy repeated JJ's word to herself in her head. She looked up at the surface and was confused to see another boat parked beside the HMS Pogue. She saw the outline of a man lean over the edge of the boat and held her breath to stop the bubbles from giving away her location to the man. Cassidy peered down at the monitor that was attached to her scuba gear and saw that her air was about to completely run out but she still had to wait for another minute and fifteen seconds underwater if she wanted to live. Shit. She thought to herself. What a stupid way to die. She reflected, staring at the duffel bag that was roped around her shoulder. Her breath had officially run out by this point and her lungs were starting to burn and the urge to take a breath overwhelmed her body. She looked up at the surface and realized that the man who was previously standing on the edge had disappeared along with the other boat. Her lungs contracted as her body begged for oxygen and her vision began to become distorted. She peered down at the monitor again and this time it read just fifteen seconds left. She could do this. She had to do this. JJ needed her. she thought to herself and willed her body to hang in there. Finally, she saw the timer go green, to indicate that she was ready to come back up and she quickly swam back up to the surface, using all of her strength. She broke the surface and gulped in huge breaths, the oxygen flowing back into her body feeling like the best thing that had ever happened to her. 

"Cassidy. Oh Jesus Christ," Cassidy could hear faintly from the boat before she felt water splash against her face and strong arms wrap around her. She looked up groggily to see JJ, pulling her through the water to the railing. He clung onto him as her vision started clearing and energy returned to her body. 

"How'd it go down there? Did you find anything?" Pope called out to the girl. Cassidy pulled the duffel bag out of the water to show to Pope and he cheered for the girl.

"Yeah, there we go. Atta Girl!" Kiara cheered for the girl, grabbing her a towel and offering it to the soaking wet girl once she was up on the boat.

"Are you okay?" JJ questioned the girl once she had taken a seat and was warming up with the towel wrapped around her.

"Yeah, I ran out of air," she said breathlessly, still trying to recover and get as much air into her lungs as possible.

"You scared the shit out of me," JJ murmured genuinely before wrapping his arms around the shivering girl. 

"Yeah, the cops were up here. But we took care of them," Kiara informed the girl, looking at her with concern. "Hey, guys. Bogey, two o'clock," Kiara called out with fear laced in her voice.  Cassidy swiveled her head quickly to check out what Kiara was anxious about. She saw a nice boat heading for them quickly with two men standing, looking straight at them.