Sarah no longer called for help from Tony or Kevin, or anyone else.

It had to be her. She was the closest one to Jake, the only one in position.

She drew near, bringing the speargun to bear at the creature's head. As she steadied her aim, a harpoon tore through the water from behind her, soared past her arm and tracked high, missing the torso of the fish by inches.

Sarah jerked her neck around to see Tony's frustrated scowl beneath his dive mask. By the time she zeroed in on the target again, another sharpened harpoon bored through the predator's mid-section from the other side, erupting into a plume of blood. A short distance away, Kevin floated within range, lowering his weapon.

Sarah had been wrong about being the only one in position.

The fish writhed like it was in the thralls of a seizure, shaking and lifting Jake from the sandy bottom.

She readjusted her sights and squeezed the trigger.

The spear shot through the water and covered the gap between Jake and her in seconds. An arrow-like shaft drilled the creature straight through the eye, its interlocking teeth springing open and clamping down one last time. The fish quaked and twisted and then relinquished its hold on the crumbled air canister.

Jake drifted to the ocean floor as more blood spilled into the clear blue above him. Weakly, his arms and legs flailed, head bobbled.

"Spare air, quick," Sarah ordered Tony. "And get him back to the Atlantis."

"On it," he replied without trepidation, removing the extra bottle attached to his utility belt.

Tony pulled away his friend's mask and inserted the mouthpiece.

Jake's eyes burst to life.

To Sarah's relief, Tony offered his usual okay hand signal and began the trek back to the moon pool. With her dive partners on their way to safety, she un-spooled a coil of nylon cord from her belt and tied off the creature's tail to a rocky formation near the coral reef. She could try to tow the monstrosity to the ship, but knew it would be a futile effort. They'd have to return for it and hope it was still there. They could examine the specimen later.

After covering half the distance back to the ship, Sarah checked her air gauge. Crap. She'd used too much energy to help save Jake, and while maneuvering the fish into position to secure it after the kill. She had maybe five minutes of air left. Concern crept into her mind when something mysterious emerged in the depths. The oblong shape grew larger and materialized into a discernible form. For a second, she thought it might be another monster fish, but to her surprise, it zipped by with Tony on its back.

He whizzed around on the diver propulsion vehicle and came up beside her. "Where's our catch?"

"Tied off to a rock back there."

"How much air do you have left?"

Sarah snagged the gauge dangling behind her back and then peered up at Tony. "Not enough."

"Hop on. We can make it."

"What about ascending too fast? The nitrogen buildup in our bloodstream."

"Don't worry, we haven't been down long enough at this depth to require a decompression stop. Sure, it wouldn't hurt to do one, but we should be able to make it. We'll just have to wait a bit before we dive again."

Without further argument, Sarah climbed aboard and crowded him on the one-seat vehicle.

The DPV, shaped like a jet ski, labored under the extra weight, but built up the steam for a slow march to the ship. A thought came to her of a great white snatching their prize fish before they got back to it. Of course, another one of those monster fish would be a more likely scenario. With the blood in the water, they'd have to hurry.

The Atlantis cast a shadow on the seabed ahead of them, but the DPV continued to creep at a slow pace.

Sarah was feeling better about reaching the safe zone when her regulator sputtered on the last remnants of air in her tank. She must've exerted a bit more energy in saving Jake than anyone else. She took a breath, then another. Several seconds later, she hit the reserves one more time. Halfway into the breath, it bled dry.

Trained in emergency situations, Sarah shouldn't have allowed herself to panic. She fiddled for the spare air canister on her waist. Jittery fingers glided over it, failing to find purchase. In the time it took to react rationally, she let precious seconds slip by. Breathlessness gripped its claws around her lungs.

In desperation, she beat her fist on Tony's arm, her other hand still grasping for the extra canister.

He whipped his head around. "You all right?"

Sarah couldn't respond. She needed air to do that.

Now aware of her predicament, he leaned forward as if doing so would increase their speed. The square outline of the moon pool loomed ahead. Almost there, ten feet to go.

Using one hand, she finally latched onto the spare air, and with the other, ripped her dive mask off in one motion—and crammed the mouthpiece between her lips, heaving a desperate chest-rattling breath.

With a whoosh, the water fell away and bright floodlights beamed down all around as the DPV burst into the interior of the Atlantis.

In the ship's open cavity, Sarah flung the canister aside and gasped for air. She couldn't help but continue panting as seconds passed, draining every oxygen molecule the air offered. Finally, summoning her energy reserves, she unbuckled her vest, and passed the air tank to Tony. She climbed out of the pool, rolling onto her back, lying there for a moment on the cold metal floor, staring up at the rivets in the ceiling, thankful to breathe again.

Five minutes later, Jake leaned over and pulled Sarah to her feet.

"Thank you," he said, hands on her shoulders, looking her straight in the eye. "I didn't realize how good a shot you were."

"Consider us even."

"I've been flirting with death a lot lately." He stared at her for a long moment, solemnly, and then pressed his lips against her forehead. His whiskers grazed her brow. A salty, musky scent permeated from his sun-drenched skin, reminding Sarah of a time when they were much closer... like the vacation in Key West.

"You should be glad to be alive," she said.

"I am. I just... I don't know..."

"What?"

"I don't know what happens after death."

"The million dollar question."

A weak grin brightened his face. "I'll get over it. I always do."

"Now that you two are through with your moment," Tony said, "see what you can make of this." He retrieved an object from his waterproof bag and tossed it to Sarah.

"We didn't have a moment," she replied, cheeks warming.

"Looked like a moment to me."

"Whatever." Her focus shifted to the object in her hands. She immediately recognized the company's name and logo. "Ocean Blue. I've heard of them," she said in a hushed voice, glancing up at Jake, lost in thought. Her eyes darted to Tony, rebounded quickly. "We need to contact Cat. There's a possibility we could arrange a meeting with the chairman of the organization."

"And the fish?" Jake asked.

"Once we tow it to the ship, we'll snap some pictures of it and have it hauled up to the bio lab for analysis."

"I can run the tests," Rachel said from behind her. Sarah had been so caught up in the task of breathing and being alive, and staring at Jake that she hadn't noticed Rachel or Kevin in the room.

The latter said, "But what about the corporation? Where's it located?"

Sarah gazed at him intently. "Australia," she said. "Sydney, Australia."