Agent 21: Reloaded: Book 2 Read Online Free Page A

gave him a thumbs-up and together they kicked off.
    Suddenly the calmness of that underwater grave disappeared. There was a frenzy of movement. Something had appeared from the murky darkness. Fast, terrifying – several of them, their bodies three metres long, snake-like and muscular. In the split second it took the creatures to approach, Zak was able to identify them. The small eyes, the long dorsal fin, the patterned skin – these were giant moray eels. Oneof them opened its mouth as it approached. The light from Zak’s torch reflected off its sharp teeth; he felt himself shrink away from that horrific sight, and maybe it was this that saved him.
    Raf wasn’t so lucky.
    Zak couldn’t tell if the moray eel bit his dive buddy because it was scared or if it thought he was food. It didn’t matter either way. It was a vicious attack. The eel bit hard, holding the flesh in its jaws for at least ten seconds and writhing viciously as it did so. Raf’s reaction was instantaneous. The mouthpiece of his breathing apparatus shot from his face. Bubbles spurted upwards, and a second stream of bubbles rose from Raf’s mouth. There was no sound, but Zak could tell he was shouting in pain.
    The eel was still there, still biting. Zak raised his arm and tried to strike at it with his torch, but the water slowed his movements and the blow barely had any effect. When the eel finally swam away, it was on its own terms.
    There was blood pumping from the wound, making a dark cloud in the water around Raf’s arm. But worse, Raf wasn’t moving. His eyes were closed and he was making no attempt to put the breathing apparatus back into his mouth. He was floating helplessly and had dropped his torch, which was now sinking to the bottom of the cabin.
    He must have ingested a lungful of water, and he was clearly unconscious. Not breathing. And sixty metres below sea level.
    Zak stared through his dive mask in horror. His Guardian Angel was in real trouble. If Zak didn’t do something right now, Raf had only minutes to live.

3
    GALILEO
    ZAK MOVED QUICKLY . He needed to get Raf to the surface. Fast.
    He pulled his knife from the scabbard round his right leg and swam up to his mate. Raf’s air tank was useless now, so Zak cut it away to reduce his body mass. The tank drifted silently down to the floor of the engine room, along with Raf’s torch. It landed on the remains of one of HMS Vanguard ’s long-dead crew. By now Zak had already moved behind Raf. He put his arms round his waist and pulled him towards the stairwell, still holding the torch in his right hand.
    They moved so slowly. Raf was heavy, the water felt like treacle and Zak had to swim backwards up the stairwell. He was only halfway up when he felt his air canister bang against the corner of a metal step. It sent a shock right through him and he dropped his torch.
    Zak’s only source of light drifted downwards.
    Panic. There wasn’t time to get it back. Not if Rafwas going to have a chance. He would just have to brave the darkness.
    And he had never known darkness like it. By the time he was at the top of the stairwell and pulling Raf into the corridor, he might as well have been blind. He tried not to think about how much water was above him, or about the vicious, sharp-jawed eels that could be anywhere. He just kicked as hard as he could. His muscles burned as he struggled with the dead weight of Raf’s heavy body. When the water grew slightly warmer he knew he was passing back through a cloud of plankton. But he’d lost all sense of distance and time. How far had he come? How long had Raf been out? A minute? Two? More? He just didn’t know …
    Zak couldn’t tell when he emerged from HMS Vanguard . He just knew that one moment there were slimy walls around him, the next there were none. Were they in open sea? Was there anything above them? Which way was up? All these questions tumbled through his mind as he breathed heavily, gulping air in through his breathing system.