She was tiring fast, but she still hadsomestrength left, and a lot of adrenaline on her side.
Which meant it was now or never to attempt her survival move.
Lace toed off her boots, then ducked underwater and swiftly shed her fishing bib down her legs and off, then made quick work of removing the jeans she’d worn underneath.
That was the easy part.
Lace surfaced with her jeans in hand, and treading water with great difficulty now, she managed to tie the bottoms of the pantlegs together in a knot.
Holding them tightly, she lay back, floating for a moment to regain her strength.
Lace had previously only done this trick in a pool during one of her “safety at sea” courses. Carrying out the procedure in choppy water was proving to be a bit more challenging.
Understatement.
Taking another deep breath, Lace positioned herself vertically in the water again.
Kicking her feet with all she could muster, Lace held onto the waistband of her pants and whipped them over her head, scooping up and trapping air in the legs. She did that several times over until the material looked adequately inflated.
Yes! Success!
Having the maneuver actually work in an emergency situation gave Lace the impetus to place her self-made flotation device around her neck, holding the waistband opening closed in front of her with both hands to keep the precious air from escaping.
She was well aware that she would need to repeat the process every half hour or so until the boat turned around and picked them up, but she could do that.
Where things went from there—once they were back onboard—was another question. Would the captain still try to kill her even though she’d saved his life?
“What did you just do?” The captain, clearly out of his element, looked shocked at the jeans around her neck.
Lace recalled the word that Vince had taught her and Inez, and it tickled her to say it, now.
“Legerdemain,” she called across the six or so feet that now separated them.
“What?” he coughed, clearly having inhaled some water during his initial struggles.
“Legerdemain,” Lace repeated. “It means sleight of hand.” She actually grinned. “I did some magic with my jeans, and voila, my very own PFD.”
“That’s crazy,” he spit, but without the ire he’d previously exhibited. “How long will it last?”
“Long enough. All we have to do is wait for the boat to turn around and pick us up.”
The captain remained quiet, looking everywhere but at her.
Lace could tell something wasn’t right.
“The boat,” she posited. “It’s coming back for us, right?” She knew that Zach, at least, would try to make that happen for her. And wouldn’t the rest of the crew want to rescue their own captain?
“I locked the helm,” he told her gruffly.
“You did what?” Lace asked, not certain anybody could be that stupid.
“I engaged the electronic helm-lock so I had an excuse not to go back for you if anyone tried to make me. I planned on telling them there was a system glitch,” he admitted gloomily. “Nobody has the override code but me.”
Lace only had to kick that around in her brain for half a second.
“So you’re saying that theycan’tturn around.”
She’d watched the boat power away, wondering why they hadn’t headed back.