But someone did see her, or was sent by her father’s rescuers to help her. A body came toward her through the surf and took her by the arm. Her father’s gear was taken from her and pushed along with a wave, so that it washed onto the beach and was collected by someone she couldn’t see. She was lifted by another wave and propelled forward. When she fell on her knees in the rolling sand, she was helped up by strong hands.

She stumbled to dry sand and dropped, retching, onto the beach. Someone helped her remove her BC, and then she looked for her father. He lay nearby, surrounded by several black-clad bodies. For a moment she thought he was being set upon by enormous crows, and she started toward them, determined to shoo them away. Then she remembered, and she ran to them with questions on her lips.

“Is he all right?” she asked, peering down at her father’s still-closed eyes.

“How deep were you?” a man asked her.

She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“Check her computer!” someone called out, and she heard a number come back: “A hundred and twenty-six. Their ascent was twenty-two seconds.” There was silence for a moment, followed by, “His computer is locked out.”

“Christ,” the first man said. He looked at Caddie, seemed about to say something, then looked down at her father. When he looked back at Caddie his eyes were softer. “He’ll be all right,” he said. “What’s his name?”

“Ben,” she said. “Ben Ransome.”

“Ben Ransome?” someone said. “From Hopkins?”

Caddie nodded. “He’s my father,” she said.

“Call the chamber in Pacific Grove,” she heard someone say. “Tell them Ben Ransome’s taken a hit.”

“The medics will want to take him to the hospital first,” someone replied. “That’s the—”

“I know what the goddamn procedure is!” the first voice barked. “Just call the chamber. Ask for Adam Jay. Tell him it’s Ben Ransome and let him worry about the medics. Now go!”

While the men were arguing, someone had brought out a medic kit. Caddie watched as a plastic mask was affixed to a small green oxygen tank. She heard a sharp hiss as the tank was opened, and then the mask was placed over her father’s nose and mouth. She saw his chest rise and fall. Then he coughed once, and his eyes opened.

“Ben,” the man who seemed to be in charge said. “It’s Leo Preziosi. Can you hear me?”

Caddie watched as her father blinked, as if he’d been woken up from a nap. He tried to sit up, and his hand went to the mask on his face. Leo—she had a name to go with the face now—gently pushed his hand aside. “Lie still,” he ordered. “You took a hit, Ben. We’ve got you on oxygen and the medics are on their way.”