Overboard
Rome sprinted around the edge of the boat, the fury inside blinding him to everything else except for catching up to Tim and making sure he paid for what he’d just done. He grabbed ahold of Tim’s arm, shoving off one of the men who was escorting him away from the scene, away from where Mark’s bleeding body still lay.
“Come back, Tim Bolt! Come back and see what you’ve done! Mark Hutio’s body still hovers just above us, and yet you walk away!”
Tim turned and looked at Rome, a vacant look in his eyes at first, and then Rome saw the same anger that had brought out the gun earlier raging in those orbs, but the weapon was gone now. Rome wouldn’t need a gun to end him.
“One of us is going to join Mark, right now!” Rome spat as he launched himself at Tim, grabbing hold of his neck.
“Get off of me, you wretched little boy!” Tim shouted, doing his best to push Rome away. “It’s your fault! If he wasn’t your friend, he would’ve never come after me to begin with.”
“You brought a gun on a boat! You shot him! Now, I will send you to him so you can apologize!”
“If either of us is going with him, it’s you!” Tim spat back.
Rome felt Bart tugging on his shoulder as Tim took a swing but missed. “Rome! Stop, let him go!” Bart was screaming, but Rome was no longer able to listen or think coherently. “Think of your wife!” Bart said.
That brought a spark of Rome’s mind back to the present. He tried to pull away from Tim, to think about the situation, but Tim had him by the shoulders now, balling up a fist to swing at Rome again. As Rome moved backward, toward the side of the ship, Tim swung, causing both of them to lose their balance.
Rome was falling. He heard the waves reaching up to meet him before he felt the water. Tim had ahold of him, and they both hit the surface hard. Rome sucked in air just as his head went under water.
Salt stung his eyes and darkness surrounded him as they sank deeper into the middle of the ocean. The wake from the boat jostled them further beneath the surface. Rome could see a pinprick of sunlight above them. He needed to swim for it; his lungs were beginning to burn. Tim had him by the arm, though. Rome was doing his best to propel himself up for air, but until he shook Tim off of him, he could make no progress. Finally, Tim’s fingers slipped free, but then he grabbed hold of Rome’s leg, pulling him further down.
Why Tim wasn’t swimming, Rome couldn’t say. Even though they were below the surface, he could hear cries coming from the boat, which he believed had stopped just ahead of where they were. A choppy roar reverberated around them, the sound of a boat engine coming from behind them. Perhaps it was the Coast Guard. Despite Tim’s grip, Rome struggled up toward the light. His head broke the surface, and he sucked in air, just before Tim pulled him back under.
Rome knew he must free himself if either of them was going to make it out of the ocean alive. He wanted to help Tim. Bart’s last statement had brought him back to reality. This was his wife’s cousin, someone she loved dearly. While Tim had acted impulsively, perhaps in a moment of insanity, his death would not bring Mark back. Rome wanted to help him despite what he’d done to Mark.
But at the moment, the only thing he could do for either of them was free himself. Rome kicked hard, slamming his free foot into Tim’s hand, which caused him to let go. Propelling himself to the surface again, Rome sucked in air and then looked around. Where was Tim?
He didn’t see the other man anywhere. A lifesaver was floating near him. If he could find Tim and drag him to the floatation device, the people on the boat could pull them both in. But Tim didn’t seem to have surfaced yet. “Where is he? Where is he?” Rome shouted, flailing in the water, looking everywhere for the missing actor.
“Where’s Tim?” people on the boat were shouting.
“Rome killed him!” someone else shouted.
“Because Tim shot Mark!” came another voice.
“Rome! I’m coming to help!” Bart shouted.
“No! Don’t!” Rome pleaded with him. His arms were aching and his lungs were burning, but he needed to find Tim. “Where is he? He has to be here somewhere!” How could a body not float? Even if Tim was unconscious, wouldn’t he come to the surface?
Then, he saw him, several yards in the distance. The wake from the approaching boat was sending Tim away from where Rome was treading water. Tim was floating on his stomach, his face in the water. But Rome was certain, if he could reach him, he could resuscitate him. He hadn’t been underwater that long.
With broad, powerful strokes, Rome took off after Tim, praying he was able to reach him and pull him back to the boat before it was too late. The Coast Guard boat was coming fast, though, and the nearer it came, the further away Tim floated. Rome couldn’t get to him, and the boat he’d fallen from, Wynnie’s boat, meant a swim in the other direction.
After having been under water so long, Rome’s cells were deprived of oxygen. Every muscle in his body was screaming at him to stop, but he couldn’t do that. He pictured Ella’s face, how she’d feel if Tim were gone, and kept swimming.
The Coast Guard boat pulled up alongside him, the wake tossing him around like a rag doll. They were shouting orders at him, and the next thing he knew, someone had jumped out of the boat. Arms encircled him, a lifesaver came around his head. “Tim!” he shouted. “We have to get to Tim!”
“We’re doing everything we can to help your friend,” a voice said.
Rome sucked in air, unable to respond. He felt like his lungs were on fire. They were taking him to the Coast Guard boat, and there was nothing he could do about it. Defeated, he closed his eyes and gave into the darkness that had been threatening to surround him ever since he’d seen Mark’s crumpled body lying on the boat deck.
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