Chapter 12
LAYLA
Confidence surged through me as we strapped in.
My dad had told me so many stories about this exercise that I’d honestly been looking forward to it.
I’d also read up about it as much as I could.
I’d studied the design and I’d watched every show or video clip in which a simulation similar to this one took place.
In short, I was ready for this. I knew exactly what to do and exactly when to do it, and I couldn’t wait to get started.
In the seat behind me, however, Hanna seemed to be hyperventilating. I twisted around as best I could and offered her a smile through the gap between our seats. “Deep breaths, Meeks. We’ve got this. We can do this.”
“No, I can’t,” she squeaked, her eyes wide as an instructor checked her safety belt. “He didn’t tell us how to get out. We’re going to drown in this fucking thing.”
“No, we’re not,” I said calmly. “We’re just going to get shaken around a bit and then, once we’re in the water, you’re going to unlatch your safety belt and follow me out the window, okay?”
“It’s not that easy.” She glared at me. Fear, so potent that it made me feel it deep inside my chest, swam around in those eyes. “This isn’t right, Layla. It’s not. They’re going to kill us.”
“The instructors are right here,” I said soothingly. “They’re all in position. You’ve seen them pulling out everyone who didn’t manage to get free by themselves. You’re going to be fine. Santiago is timing everything. If it takes too long for someone to come up, he’ll get you out.”
“He won’t,” she spat. “He’s not going get his hair wet for us.”
“He will,” I said, injecting the confidence I felt all the way to my soul into my voice. “His hair is short enough to dry real fast. I doubt he’s worried about it. Okay? Just take a deep breath. They’re about to start lifting us up.”
As a kid, I used to love those simulator rides at theme parks and arcades. When I watched the instructor who had helped us get strapped in walk over to the control pad, I even grinned—only after I’d turned away from Hanna, though.
Matt caught the corner of my eye, flashed me a grin of his own, and gave me a tight nod. Since it was as close to camaraderie as I’d gotten from him, I smiled and took it as a good sign.
Then we were off, and almost immediately, the helicopter canted sharply to the side. I’d been prepared for it, though, having noticed it do it every time so far. As we rocked and shook our way to the pool, exhilaration shot through me. This is awesome!
Matt was white-knuckling the armrests, but I noticed that he was smiling as well. We paused briefly as the arm held us right over the center of the pool. Then I heard a slight click as we were released. My stomach bottomed out as we dropped through the air, landing in the water with a loud crash.
A lot faster than I thought it would feel, we were completely submerged and I started counting in my head. I’d taken a huge breath just before we’d gone under, so I wasn’t too concerned about running out of air at this point.
Just in case, I watched the large, red digital numbers counting down from ten. Then I unbuckled at the same time that Matt started moving. He got free really fast and even turned to wave at me before he started kicking at the window on his side of the fake chopper.
It was chaos in here. There were bubbles everywhere and weird creaking noises, but I was still okay. As I saw another foot kick past me, I realized the other cadet had gotten free as well. My safety belt was a tiny bit jammed, but I managed to get out quickly.
When I reached the door, however, I turned back in an attempt to see Hanna. Horror chilled my blood when I realized she wasn’t moving. Her eyes were wide open and there was a stream of bubbles coming out of her, so she hadn’t died, but she was definitely frozen.
Even though I was underwater, I shrieked, hurriedly looking around for the instructor who was supposed to be on this side of the pool, but there was no one there. I wasn’t quite sure why, but the point was that there was no one here to help my friend.
Santiago had given us a direct order to let them know if someone was in trouble but to remain focused on our own tasks.
However, I was running out of breath and I knew Hanna would be too.
By the time I managed to get out, up, and to alert them, and then adding the extra time it would take someone else to get to her, it was possible that she’d have passed out.
Making a decision on the fly to disregard his order, I swam back and shook her shoulders, so relieved when she blinked at me that I nearly forgot I was underwater and running out of air. Motioning to her safety belt, I took her hand off the buckle and then realized why she’d seized up.
The mechanism was completely jammed. Whether it was by design or from age, I didn’t know, but it didn’t really matter. My friend was stuck and there was still no instructor in sight to help us.
Desperately struggling with it, I tugged, pulled at the release, and tried to wind it back, but nothing worked. Eventually, I settled on yanking on her hips and letting her know that she was going to have to wriggle out.
We managed to get her free. As I followed her to the door, she swam out but I suddenly stopped moving. I kicked again, but I was stuck on something. My lungs were burning as panic weaved through me, knitting my organs together with the sheer, overwhelming intensity of it.
Instead of waving around and expending unnecessary energy, I tried to calm myself down and to twist around to see what I’d gotten stuck on. I was too anxious, though. Too close to running out of air and blacking out to think clearly.
The harder I tugged at my foot without it coming free, the more panicked I got. Although I tried, I couldn’t bend over fully to see what I was stuck on, and as black spots started dancing along the edges of vision, I knew I was screwed.
The next thing I knew, however, Santiago was there. Those blue eyes rounded when they met mine. Then he swam over me and quickly unlatched my foot. I was so numb and panicked that I’d completely forgotten what to do, though.
Hooking his arm under my shoulders, he kicked me to the surface with him and then kept me on my back as he towed me to the side, all the while whispering to me. “You’re okay, Layla. I’ve got you. You’re okay.”
I was still getting my wits about me as arms reached to pull me out and a massive blanket was wrapped around me. Watching as though it was happening to someone else, I felt strangely detached as I saw Santiago pulling himself out of the water.
He was drenched, obviously, water pouring off him as he rose to his full height. Right now, he looked like a fallen angel to me. If angels could get pissed off. I didn’t know if they could, but he definitely was.
As soon as he was clear of the water, he shoved the towel someone tried to pass him away and started dressing down the instructor who was supposed to have been on our side of the helicopter instead.
Right there in front of everyone, he tore the guy a new one, looking like he’d have punched the guy if he could’ve.
I’d never seen this side of him before, but he was practically vibrating with rage as he grabbed the front of the guy’s wetsuit.
“Where the hell were you? They could’ve drowned down there, Robertson.
One of the seatbelts got jammed up and Perkins’s ankle got stuck.
No doubt because she had to go back when she couldn’t find you. Where the fuck were you?”
The other instructor shrugged. “I saw Evans, Perkins, and the other one get free, so I figured they were all about to be clear. I came up to find out how many groups we’ve got left. You know I have a date later that—”
“A date? A fucking date?” Santiago roared in the man’s face. “I’m having you written up for this, Robertson. It’s unacceptable. Get the fuck out of here.”
Another instructor stepped up once Robertson flipped Santiago the bird and stormed out. “I’ll take his post for the rest of the exercise.”
Santiago nodded. “Thanks. Stay down there, yeah?”
The man snorted. “You got it, Cortez. I’m in no rush.”
One of the other cadets, though I couldn’t remember how to turn around just yet so I couldn’t check who it was, suddenly protested. “We’re carrying on with the simulation after that? They just almost died.”
“Almost being the operative word in that sentence,” he snapped. “Shit happens, if you can’t deal with it, then quit.”
Within the next thirty minutes, three people did, in fact, quit. I watched it happen, but as I slowly warmed up—the water had been freezing, but I’d only realized it later—and came back to myself, the only person I cared about, however, was Hanna.
I got up as soon as I could, hugging the sodden blanket around me until I realized it was just making me colder. As I spotted my friend huddled in a blanket of her own near the bleachers, I dropped the wet material and raced over to give her a big hug.
“Are you okay?” I breathed.
When I pulled away and looked into her eyes, I saw that she’d obviously been crying.
She sniffled as she nodded, fresh tears appearing on her lids.
“I am, but only because of you. I’m sorry I swam away without staying to check on you.
I was so close to running out of air and you were right behind me.
It was only when I came up and you weren’t there that I even realized I’d lost you. God, Cortez was in the water so fast.”
“Hey,” I said softly, swiping her tears away with my thumbs as they fell. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m okay. He got to me in time. That’s all that matters. I didn’t expect you to come back for me.”
Her blue eyes latched on mine, and when they dropped away again as her shoulders shook, I knew what she was going to say before she confirmed it for me. “I’m quitting. I quit. I can’t do this anymore. Will you come with me to tell him after this?”
Pain seared through me, but I nodded. “Of course, I will.”
As I hugged her again, I felt tears of my own leaking down my cheeks.
I was going to miss Hanna so much, but I wouldn’t try to keep her here any longer.
We’d both been in real danger today, and while I was already shaking it off, it didn’t look like she’d be able to.
I wasn’t going to beg her to stay when there was a possibility that she could get hurt someplace she didn’t even really want to be.
About an hour later, we were dry and dressed, and she squeezed my arm as we walked into Santiago’s office. He blinked when he looked away from his computer and saw us. Then he leaned back in his seat and moved his gaze to Hanna’s like he already knew what was coming.
“I quit,” she said softly.
He gave her a surprisingly understanding smile. “I know. Would you like to do your paperwork now? If you want, we could do it tomorrow?”
She sighed. “No, I’d like to do it now, please.”
“Alrighty then. Have a seat.” He glanced at me. “You’re dismissed, cadet. Meet me here once you’re done with dinner. You and I need to talk.”
I blew out a heavy breath, but I nodded. I knew what he wanted to talk to me about. Even though I’d done it to help my friend, I’d disobeyed a direct order by doing so. I wasn’t sure that it was going to matter that I’d tried to find the instructor who was supposed to be there to help us.
If Santiago didn’t believe that I’d tried to find the guy or if he didn’t care, then Hanna and I would be packing together later, and I’d be following her home even if it was the very last thing I wanted to do.