you on my conscience too.â
âThanks for the warning, Sheriff. But Iâm just a private citizen going for a nighttime swim.â
âYou donât know whatâs out there, Commander.â
âNo, but I know they are deadly, and knowing that, Iâll be ready for whoever shows up. Iâd like to bring back one of those live divers they must have. There had to be more than one to get the drop on Irwin that way. He had to havebeen surprised and attacked from the side or the back while facing another fighter.â
âAre you better in the water than Irwin was?â
âSheriff, Iâve killed at least a dozen divers in the water in my career. So far Iâve been better than the man facing me.â
âA dozen?â
âSheriff, weâre SEALs. We work in places and on big and little jobs you never hear about. So donât let me be a worry to you. If I find out anything, Iâll tell you, or the FBI or the CIA or the President. If I donât, nothing is lost. If I donât come back, Iâve met the man whoâs better than I am at underwater fighting.â
Â
Two hours later, Murdock found the spot he wanted on Goleta Point to park his Ford Explorer. It was another two hours until dark. He had a burger and a milk shake and took a quick combat nap in the cab of his SUV. At dusk he put on his full wet suit, boots, and cap and then shrugged into his Draegr. It was the new type that mixed nitrogen and oxygen according to the depth you were diving. At a hundred feet it was a 32% mixture. If you went deeper it changed. It meant you didnât have to set the depth mixture you wanted as you did on the older Draegrs.
Heâd had special Velcro flaps put on the wet suit on each thigh. One held an ultra-short speargun. It was powered by CO-2 cartridges and fired a steel shaft that looked like a ten-inch dart. It had three shots. Accuracy was good up to twenty feet. Beyond that it was plain luck. On his left thigh he positioned an old reliable Colt Detective Special .38-caliber with a two-inch barrel and six rounds. He checked the loads and put rounds in all six holes. Firing a pistol underwater wasnât the smartest move. It was a last-ditch defense. He checked his KA-BAR to be sure it was in place. He put in earplugs and carried his flippers to the edge of the water. The point was deserted. He slipped into the channel just as complete darkness fell.
As he waded out, he spotted the lights of the two drill rigs in the immediate area. The one they called 27 was to the left, and farther out to the right would be the mystery tower, 4. The lights on both towers glowed in the darkness of thechannel and the faint islands beyond. He figured it at two miles at the most.
For the first mile, Murdock swam on the surface. It was faster and there was no way his splash would be noticed. He had just passed the first platform when he went underwater to his normal fifteen feet and powered forward toward the second tower. He had no idea what he would find there, but he would start out deep and check around. He would constantly keep watching his back, and if any divers showed up, heâd be ready for them.
He came up once more to check his course, changed it slightly to the right. He was two hundred yards from the tower. It looked benign enough. Lights everywhere. He could see men working, hear the clang and roar of motors and steel hitting steel. Nowhere could he see any security lights bathing the channel waters around the tower legs. To detect any movement in the water around the tower would take a series of sonars, and he doubted if this outfit had them. But how else would they know there was a swimmer in the water near the tower? He gave his silent mind a point. All right, they had sonar, and highly sophisticated so it could tell the difference between a shark and a man swimming.
When he could see the lights through the fifteen feet of water, he surfaced once more and
âThanks for the warning, Sheriff. But Iâm just a private citizen going for a nighttime swim.â
âYou donât know whatâs out there, Commander.â
âNo, but I know they are deadly, and knowing that, Iâll be ready for whoever shows up. Iâd like to bring back one of those live divers they must have. There had to be more than one to get the drop on Irwin that way. He had to havebeen surprised and attacked from the side or the back while facing another fighter.â
âAre you better in the water than Irwin was?â
âSheriff, Iâve killed at least a dozen divers in the water in my career. So far Iâve been better than the man facing me.â
âA dozen?â
âSheriff, weâre SEALs. We work in places and on big and little jobs you never hear about. So donât let me be a worry to you. If I find out anything, Iâll tell you, or the FBI or the CIA or the President. If I donât, nothing is lost. If I donât come back, Iâve met the man whoâs better than I am at underwater fighting.â
Â
Two hours later, Murdock found the spot he wanted on Goleta Point to park his Ford Explorer. It was another two hours until dark. He had a burger and a milk shake and took a quick combat nap in the cab of his SUV. At dusk he put on his full wet suit, boots, and cap and then shrugged into his Draegr. It was the new type that mixed nitrogen and oxygen according to the depth you were diving. At a hundred feet it was a 32% mixture. If you went deeper it changed. It meant you didnât have to set the depth mixture you wanted as you did on the older Draegrs.
Heâd had special Velcro flaps put on the wet suit on each thigh. One held an ultra-short speargun. It was powered by CO-2 cartridges and fired a steel shaft that looked like a ten-inch dart. It had three shots. Accuracy was good up to twenty feet. Beyond that it was plain luck. On his left thigh he positioned an old reliable Colt Detective Special .38-caliber with a two-inch barrel and six rounds. He checked the loads and put rounds in all six holes. Firing a pistol underwater wasnât the smartest move. It was a last-ditch defense. He checked his KA-BAR to be sure it was in place. He put in earplugs and carried his flippers to the edge of the water. The point was deserted. He slipped into the channel just as complete darkness fell.
As he waded out, he spotted the lights of the two drill rigs in the immediate area. The one they called 27 was to the left, and farther out to the right would be the mystery tower, 4. The lights on both towers glowed in the darkness of thechannel and the faint islands beyond. He figured it at two miles at the most.
For the first mile, Murdock swam on the surface. It was faster and there was no way his splash would be noticed. He had just passed the first platform when he went underwater to his normal fifteen feet and powered forward toward the second tower. He had no idea what he would find there, but he would start out deep and check around. He would constantly keep watching his back, and if any divers showed up, heâd be ready for them.
He came up once more to check his course, changed it slightly to the right. He was two hundred yards from the tower. It looked benign enough. Lights everywhere. He could see men working, hear the clang and roar of motors and steel hitting steel. Nowhere could he see any security lights bathing the channel waters around the tower legs. To detect any movement in the water around the tower would take a series of sonars, and he doubted if this outfit had them. But how else would they know there was a swimmer in the water near the tower? He gave his silent mind a point. All right, they had sonar, and highly sophisticated so it could tell the difference between a shark and a man swimming.
When he could see the lights through the fifteen feet of water, he surfaced once more and
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