Free Black Gold by Chris Ryan

lungs, causing heart attacks and strokes.
    Hex wrote on his slate and turned it so Paulo could see: Medic centre. Decomp chamber. ASAP.
    Paulo nodded. He took a breath but got nothing. His tank was empty. He let go of the anchor cable and went up.
    The two boys exploded onto the surface, gasping.
    Amber lifted her head from her book and looked at them. 'About time too.' But then she saw something she didn't like. When Hex and Paulo took their masks off, they put them on top of their heads instead of round their necks. Some people did that by mistake, but it was a move you were supposed to save for when you were in trouble and there was no way that Paulo or Hex would be that undisciplined.
    Hex was the nearer. She pulled him into the boat first, then they both hauled Paulo in.
    'We need decompression, fast,' Paulo gasped. 'How quickly can you get us to the medical centre?'
    Amber yanked the anchor up into the boat, started the engine and wheeled it around in one smooth movement. She opened the throttle on full and pointed it towards land.
    'What went wrong?' she said. 'I thought we calculated it thoroughly.'
    'Hex got trapped,' said Paulo. He slipped off his BCD and the tanks clanged into the bottom of the boat. 'We spent longer at the bottom than we meant to.'
    Hex pulled off the last of his dive kit. His fins were ragged where Paulo's knife had cut him free.
    Amber looked at the headland. She could see a red shape on the cliff overlooking the tanker. A fire engine. Her intention had been to go straight to the road that came down that cliff, but now it was blocked by emergency vehicles, she'd have to go elsewhere. To the next bay? No, she remembered, she couldn't – that bay was inaccessible by vehicle. She could do what she had planned – go to the next bay along and call Danny – but that would be no good either because it would be too far to drive from there to the medical centre. She would have to make for the beach where the tanker was.
    Ahead was the yellow sorbent boom and its pink buoy. Amber grasped the tiller and swung the boat around the edge of the pink buoy.
    Hex slumped down on the bench, his head in his hands, confusion in his eyes.
    Paulo shook him. 'What's happened, amigo?'
    The radio crackled and Amber grabbed it. 'Fathom Sprinter receiving. Over.'
    'Fathom Sprinter, this is the coastguard. You are in danger. There has been an explosion in the tanker and you are in a dangerous area. Please use a different beach to dock, repeat, use a different beach to dock.' The voice changed. 'Lynn, is that you? Over.'
    'No, it's Amber. Is that Greg? Over.'
    'Amber, you can't go to that beach. The tanker's unstable and there's oil all over the water. It could ignite. Over.'
    Hex was trying to explain how he felt to Paulo. 'I tried to stand up and just felt dizzy.' His voice was dazed. He looked at his hands, watching the fingers open and close. Across his left hand was an angry red weal. He banged that hand against the boat as the boat hit a wave but he didn't seem to feel it. 'My hands are going numb,' he said slowly.
    Listening, Amber went cold. Paulo was looking sleepy too. Numbness; drowsiness – both were symptoms of the bends.
    'Amber?' said Greg on the radio again. 'Are you still there? Over.'
    'Here, Greg,' she replied. Her voice was brisk. 'I've got two divers here with the bends. I don't have time for a detour; they're showing symptoms and they need decompression immediately. Over and out.'
    Hex looked as though he was calm and floppy, but inside he was panicking. He felt trapped in a tingling, fuzzy body that didn't obey him any more. He couldn't even scratch where his skin felt itchy. He was perfectly aware of what was going on, but felt totally helpless.
    Amber was alongside the tanker now. She could see the slope of its deck as it poked out of the water. Her heart pounded in her throat as she pushed the throttle further, but the engine was giving her its top speed. The Fathom Sprinter was making a deep