Austin was restless. He hadn’t slept much last night. Too distracted. He’d like to have pretended that his mind had been full of instruction manuals and diagrams. Instead, he’d spent most of the night wondering what on earth he was doing with Corrine Carter.
She was here today, standing at the side with Blair, sipping coffee while the rest of them geared up. She and Blair had been offered the chance to join the diving class but Corrine had declined. It was the most casual he’d seen her dressed while officially at work. She had on a pair of navy Capri pants, flat sandals and a white shirt covered in pale yellow birds. Her blonde hair was tied back and, even though it was early, she had her sunglasses on her head and a WSSA skip hat in her hand.
She was pointing things out around the lake to Blair and showing him on his map what they corresponded to. Austin zipped up his wetsuit and adjusted his mask. Learning the basics of scuba diving wasn’t enough. They were going to spend prolonged amounts of time in the neutral buoyancy lab, and while they weren’t required to dive to particularly deep levels to work in the lab, they did have to be comfortable underwater for a considerable period of time.
Corrine settled on a bench overlooking the lake. She was here in her capacity of doctor overseeing the astronauts during this particular exercise. If she felt awkward about it she didn’t show it at all.
Some of the other candidates had shot a few looks between him and Corrine. But Michael was the only one who’d actually asked what was going on. Austin had blown him off. ‘Nothing.’ He’d shrugged off the question. ‘She was upset the other day. That’s all.’
He didn’t care that Michael had rolled his eyes and obviously not believed a word of it. He was still trying to get his head around things himself.
Austin Mitchell had never doubted his actions before. And he hated that this time he might be questioning them a little. Was it really such a good idea to have been so brazen about the developing relationship between him and Corrine? At the time he hadn’t been thinking clearly. He’d been so worried about Lisa and about how upset Corrine was that he’d prioritised. If there were going to be consequences he’d have to live with them.
Corrine didn’t seem worried at all. She was relaxed and laughing around Blair and the candidates as if nothing had happened. Maybe in her head nothing had happened. This was just a casual fling as a result of some chemistry between them both. Chemistry that would ultimately fizzle out. At least that was what he was telling himself.
Each time he took even the slightest glance at her it just reignited every sense in his body. The chemistry on his part hadn’t diminished at all. He hated not being sure about things. Relationships had never been a huge focus in his life. They’d come. They’d gone. They had only ever been interludes in his plans to get to space.
He watched as Corrine flung back her head and laughed at something Blair had said, spilling her coffee from her cup. A tiny spike of jealousy flared inside him.
That was a new experience. He’d never really been invested in anyone enough to worry about jealousy. He smiled wryly as he pulled his oxygen tank onto his back. That was probably a pretty lame thought. It made him sound selfish and self-obsessed. He’d always felt focused but maybe others saw it differently.
But what was Corrine to him anyway? He hadn’t phoned her since their last encounter. Not because he hadn’t wanted to. Just because he didn’t want to give her the wrong idea. He hadn’t come to WSSA to form a relationship. He’d come to fulfil his life’s ambition.
At least that was what he kept telling himself. Corrine was starting to invade most of his thoughts, most of the time. Being around her constantly was definitely distracting.
He liked her nature. He liked the fact she was completely and utterly invested in the astronaut training programme and had worked hard to get there. It made him respect her more; she wanted to work at WSSA too—just not in space.
He liked the business persona she had at work, along with the power suits, and the much more comfortable and sexy way she was at home. It made him smile.
But what he liked best was the way she was quick to answer him back. Corrine Carter gave as good as she got. She wasn’t impressed by his Top Gun skills. She wasn’t impressed by his career record.
But he knew he’d impressed her when he’d got down on the floor next to her and attempted to help resuscitate Frank—even though he clearly hadn’t been that comfortable. Austin wasn’t afraid of a challenge. It didn’t matter what the task was—he would always do his absolute best.
But his biggest issue with Corrine was the chemistry. The spark that flared between them. It was off the charts. And that was the thing that had surprised him most. He definitely hadn’t expected it.
A little voice in the back of his head—namely his grandmother—kept conjuring up an old story. It concerned how his grandparents had first met; his grandfather had pointed to his grandmother across a street and told his friend he would marry her, and his grandmother had gone home to her mother and said they should start on her wedding dress.
He’d always thought these were made-up fairy stories. That kind of thing didn’t happen in real life. Not to anyone he knew. Thunderbolts didn’t really exist. It wasn’t rational. It was always overrated.
In the last few years every woman he’d dated had introduced him to their friends as ‘Austin Mitchell, Top Gun pilot,’ usually with a look of supreme smugness on their face. It seemed that being plain Austin Mitchell wasn’t enough. That never sat entirely well with him and he usually managed to extricate himself from the relationship within a few weeks.
For the next five to six years he planned to concentrate solely on getting into space. There was no point in forming any long-term attachment when he could be away for three or six months at a time. Lots of guys in the army, navy and air force did. Life in the forces was like that. But that just wasn’t Austin’s style.
A wife and family had its place in his future plans in a few years’ time. But not right now.
The instructor signalled them to enter the lake with some last-minute instructions. Austin took one last look at the map to see what underwater relic he was to explore. Perfect. He’d been given an old wrecked aircraft. He was actually quite interested in seeing what it looked like at the bottom of the lake. The others were spread between an old fire engine, an old boat and part of an old fairground ride to explore. Today should be fine. They weren’t going to be bombarded with technical specifications as they were when studying the space station. They weren’t going to be drilled on calculations and theories. He just had to do his tasks underwater and let them monitor his health.
He swam beneath the water’s surface. It was clear near the surface and murkier as he reached the bottom. The SCUBA gear was fine. The breathing equipment was fine. In a few weeks he’d be in the neutral buoyancy lab dressed in a full spacesuit. It wouldn’t be as easy to move then. Apparently the water helped mimic space but nothing could truly replicate the experience—he’d only know that when he finally got there.
The body of the aircraft emerged from the murky depths. It was an old World War II aircraft bomber. His heart gave a little leap. He felt like a schoolkid. He had a picture on his wall of his grandfather standing next to one of these. His aircraft had been nicknamed Ruby Bell and had a picture of a voluptuous redhead in a beautiful red dress painted on the side. He swam around to the side of the plane, trying to make out what was painted on its side. It was difficult to see. The corrosion from being underwater was evident. Most of the plane was so rusty it was a wonder it hadn’t just fallen to pieces. He flickered the little torch attached to his wetsuit. It was hard to pick anything out at the bottom of the lake.
There. Something blue. A frill of a dress. He smiled. This aircraft must have been similar to his grandfather’s, with a long-forgotten girl painted on the side. He raised up his hand and touched the side of the plane. It was odd
doing his little ritual underwater. He closed his eyes for a few seconds. How many guys had flown in this? How many missions? And had it finally been shot down?
It would be interesting to find out. The monitor attached to his shoulder beeped and flashed red. His time was up. He’d met the allotted amount of time underwater and he’d reached the point he was supposed to.
He started to swim upwards to the surface. Something flashed before him. What was that? He slowed his ascent.
There was turmoil in the water above him. That definitely shouldn’t be happening. The diving part of the lake was cordoned off from motorboats, jet skis and kayaks. Safety was a priority here.
He waited a few seconds then pushed upwards. The surface was in turmoil. He shook his head to clear his ears. A voice screamed at him from the side of the lake. ‘Austin! Austin!’
His eyes skimmed the lakeside. He was at least fifty metres from the water’s edge. Corrine was shouting at him. ‘Austin, a boy’s caught in the water. Can you help?’
On the water around twenty metres away was an abandoned jet bike. It wasn’t supposed to be in this part of the water.
He looked around for the rider but no one was in sight. ‘I can’t see him!’ he shouted back to Corrine.
‘He was thrown off. I think he landed somewhere over there.’ She was pointing at an expanse of water. Austin pushed his mask back over his eyes and put his mouthpiece back in place before diving back under the water.
He hadn’t paid much attention to the map of the items sunk under the water. He’d only really looked for the plane he was supposed to reach. It took a few seconds for the structure in front of him to emerge through the dark.
It was the roller coaster. Part of the track was still in place with the roller coaster sitting at the bottom of one of the loops. Austin pulled out his light again and tried to sweep it over the area.
There. He could see something flailing in the water. He swam quickly. A teenage boy was trapped and panicking. Austin felt like panicking too when he saw the state of the boy’s arm. It was obviously broken with blood trailing through the water. The boy must have catapulted from the jet bike and hit his arm off the metal frame.
Austin removed his mouthpiece and held it out towards the boy. He was still panicking, still flailing. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt him by grabbing onto him, but it was important he try and get some oxygen into him. He had no idea how long this guy had been underwater.
The boy was tugging at his shorts. That was what was caught—the drawstring around his waist seemed to have entangled in the metal frame.