D. Thomas - Backlash

Lewis aimed the speargun and fired. He saw the line rapidly uncoil as the spear shot forward, the first six inches boring into the log. Lewis gave the line a tug and, after deciding it felt solid, he wiggled to get himself free, letting the current wash him over the raised wall and down through the rapids. The line on the speargun’s reel was unwinding rapidly as Lewis sped down the river, rocketing up and down with the waves. Just before the reel was completely emptied, Lewis saw the boat pull up directly to his right and Gonzalez’s hand reached out, grabbing his tank valve. With surprising strength, Gonzalez yanked Lewis from the water and into the back of the boat. Lewis spit the regulator out and gave her a huge smile. “Thanks! That was one wild ride,” he said, between heaving breaths of air. “I’m glad the professor wasn’t here to witness the action.”

Gonzalez returned the smile. “Well done. It looked like you almost knocked yourself silly down there.”

“I was fairly silly to start with,” Lewis replied after giving his head a quick shake. “We’d better get that log out before it gets too dark to work.” The sun had disappeared behind the canyon wall a while before and was now barely shining on the top of the east side.

Captain Bob worked the boat back up as Lewis reeled in the extra line. When they were back in position, Lewis fastened the speargun’s line to the climbing rope with some duct tape, which was one of favorite tools. He worked to make the joining as smooth as possible, wanting the rope to slide through the eye of the spear without catching. As Gonzalez helped ease the climbing rope out of the boat, Lewis worked on reeling in the standard thin line. It took a little jiggling to work the rope through, but in less than a minute they had the climbing rope fastened to the spear. Lewis couldn’t help himself so he turned to Gonzalez and sang, “The rope is tied to the spear, that’s embedded in the log, that’s stuck in the hole, that’s blocking the entrance to the cave…”

“You are possibly the worst singer I have ever heard,” came Captain Bob’s voice as he kept the boat as steady as he could, “but well done, my friend!”

Lewis thanked the captain, saying, “I had a great driver running the boat. Thanks for not running me over or sucking the line up into the impeller.”

“We’re not out of the woods on that one yet. Let’s get this done, and then you can thank me.”

Lewis nodded and turned back to Gonzalez. “Try to keep this line as tight as possible while I use it to descend to the rocks, so I can set the cam.”

Gonzalez nodded as Lewis put the regulator in his mouth and slid off the back of the boat. This ride was much smoother, thanks to the steadying effect of the rope. The current spun him around so his feet were downriver, whipping him around like a flag during a hurricane, but he was able to get to the rock outcropping fairly quickly and without banging himself up. Lewis kept one hand on the rope while scanning the rocks above, looking for the perfect spot for the cam. Once he found what he was looking for, he quickly slipped the cam into a narrow crevice near the top of the wall, then released the spring to lock it in place. He ran the rope through the carabineer’s gate, verifying that everything was in place before climbing against the current, hand-over-hand, back up the rope.

“You almost looked like you knew what you were doing that time,” Gonzalez said as she helped Lewis into the boat.

“I just may earn my Underwater Ninja Merit Badge after all.” Lewis winked.

Stonewood, who had remained quiet so far, was now eager to get things moving. “Tie that to the boat and let’s get that thing out of our way!”

Lewis tied a quick hitch around one of the back cleats and Captain Bob slowly increased the throttles. The boat eased forward with Lewis, Gonzalez, and Stonewood watching the log from the back railing. “It’s coming out. Keep going,” Lewis shouted, guiding the captain. Everything worked perfectly until the log itself got up to the cam and things jammed up. Lewis shouted to the captain, “Hold there!”

“Now what, Einstein?” Stonewood said, condescendingly.

“Well, I’m not quite sure actually,” replied Lewis. “I still don’t know how long the log is, so my first thought is to try gunning it to see if we can pull it free.”

Stonewood and Gonzalez shrugged as Lewis gave them a half smile and moved forward to explain the situation to Captain Bob. He returned after a minute and said, “I’m going back in to unclip that carabineer.”

Gonzalez grabbed Lewis’s shoulder. “Give me the gear, you don’t get to have all the fun.”

Lewis was about to argue but realized having the more experienced diver in the water was probably a better idea anyway. He removed the gear and helped Gonzalez suit up.

Gonzalez rolled off the side of the boat and slid smoothly down the line. Lewis stood admiring her grace, watching her swim away like a fish. Captain Bob increased the throttles, preventing the log from dropping all the way back in when the line came free. Unfortunately, the pressure on the line made it impossible for Gonzalez to get the rope out of the carabineer’s gate. Lewis noted the struggle and grabbed some duct tape, making a loose loop around the rope. He then used another stretch of tape to attach his Leatherman with the knife already extended. As he released it, the current pushed the knife right to Gonzalez. She pulled it free and cut the webbing from between the cam and the carabineer. The rope almost popped out of her hand when the boat lurched forward, but somehow she managed to hang on.

Lewis let out a cheer as the boat began pulling the log free. Then it stopped. “The angle must be too much now; the log is wedged again,” Lewis said, pounding the rail in frustration.

Captain Bob pushed the throttles all the way forward, but no luck. The log was jammed. He eased the throttles back a bit, keeping just enough pressure to keep the rope tight.

Lewis spotted Gonzalez fighting her way back up the rope. Her mask was gone and the regulator was no longer in her mouth. As her head bobbed above the surface, Lewis helped her into the boat.

She glared at him. “What’s up with the pressure wash back there?”

Lewis couldn’t help but laugh. “I hadn’t even thought about that. You must have been right behind the jet when we gunned it.”

“Yeah. It almost washed my eyeballs right out of my skull.” She was already back to her relaxed self.

Lewis was even more impressed. Ms. Jennifer Gonzalez was one cool customer, a very desirable trait in a cave diver. He laughed again and shot back, “I’ll give you my Underwater Ninja badge. If I didn’t, you’d probably just karate chop it out of my hands anyway.”

Stonewood was getting agitated. “What the hell are we supposed to do now?”

“I’ve been thinking about that,” Lewis replied, as if it had been hours rather than a mere 30 seconds since they got to this point.

“We could wait until morning when the current is down,” Captain Bob interrupted from the front.

Lewis shook his head. “No, I think we need all the water we can get. It isn’t the current that’s the problem; it’s the angle of the log in the hole.” Lewis smiled confidently, noticing a pair of inflatable kayaks tucked into a large cubby up front.

Lewis pulled both kayaks, also referred to as IKs, out of the cubby and turned to Gonzalez. “I can fasten these to the log with the climbing rope, inflate them; and they should lift the log the rest of the way out.”

Gonzalez opened her palms in defeat. “The tank’s out of air.”

“If we work together, we can get it done on a single breath.”

“Even if we could, we still wouldn’t be able to inflate the kayaks without the tank,” Gonzalez replied, as dejected as ever.