He watched as the big green blip moved quick, staying deep and shooting past them. The hair on his scalp prickled. He looked in at the coastline, now showing as pinpoints of light on a dark landmass. On instinct he eased the wheel around, heading them in closer.

“Jimmy, Daniel,” he yelled. “Time to come in, boys… now.”

He turned to where their small dingy was being dragged on the end of the fifty feet of rope, and instead of just seeing the glow from their screen, he could also make out what he thought looked like a dark mountain rising up. Immediately the rope went insanely tight, and the Sulacco stopped dead in the water.

Harris was thrown forward into the wheel, and below deck Maggie screamed, worryingly, it was the howl of someone in pain – burned, he bet. He guessed whatever she was cooking she was now wearing.

“Fucking snagged.” Harris climbed to his feet. The boat was dead in the water, with only the sound of stretching rope fibers. He dragged open a hatch and pulled out one of the large spotlights and spun to shine it behind them. There was no dingy anymore, the tether rope was still there, but so tight it looked solid, and the worst thing was, it vanished into the dark sea.

“Fuck!” he raced to the stern, holding the light high. “Jimmy, Daniel!” He moved the light one way then the other. There were no bobbing heads or spluttering curses, or cries for help. There was nothing but the wire-tight rope, angled back into the black water.

The Sulacco groaned like a living thing, and then began to move backwards, but only for a second or two. The rope’s tension suddenly eased, and Harris stood, eyes wide and mouth open, and heard Maggie sobbing then. Before he could even think what to do next, the rope snapped tight against the stern gunwale. This time, the angle was down, hard.

“No, please, no.” The boat started to tip as the rope was being pulled by something that far outweighed the buoyancy of the yacht.

Maggie came up, unsteadily with a towel wrapped around her arm. “Did you run into something?”

He turned to her, his mouth working, but no words coming. The boat tilted some more, and equipment started to slide towards the rear of the deck.

“William, where’s Jimmy and Daniel?” She grabbed at him, with eyes wider than he had ever seen.

Harris held onto a railing with one arm, and pulled Maggie close to him. The rope started to make its way around the boat, popping off brass fixtures as the thick cord came towards them. The toughened mix of natural and synthetic fibers made short work of anything in its way.