Later, with the gleaming black suits hanging like giant bat-skins along the wall, Bond called the team together. ‘Men, we’re going to have one hell of an underwater battle. There’ll be casualties. Anyone care to change his mind?’ The faces grinned back at him. ‘All right then. Now, we’ll be swimming at around ten feet for a quarter, perhaps half a mile. It’ll be pretty light. The moon’ll be up and the bottom’s white sand with some seagrass. We’ll take it easy and go in triangle formation with me, No. 1, leading followed by Mr Leiter here as No. 2, and Petty Officer Fallon as No. 3. Then we broaden out behind like a wedge of geese. All you have to do is follow the number in front of you and no one’ll get lost. Watch out for isolated niggerheads. As far as I can gather from the chart there’s no true reef, only broken clumps. It’ll be getting on for early feeding time for the fish, so watch out for anything big. But leave it alone unless it gets too inquisitive. Then three of you take it on with the spears. But don’t forget that it’s most unlikely any fish will attack us. Close together we’ll look like one hell of a big black fish to anyone else and I guess we’ll be given a wide berth. Watch out for the sea eggs on the coral and mind the tips of your spears. Hold them right up near the blade. Above all, keep quiet. We must try and get surprise on our side. The enemy’s got CO2 guns, range about twenty feet. But they’re slow things to reload. If one’s aimed at you, try and give a small target. Keep flat in the water. Don’t put your feet down and give him a full-length target. As soon as he’s fired, go for him like hell with your spear right out. One jab of those things in almost any part of the head or body and your man’s had it. Wounded men will have to look after themselves. We can’t spare stretcher bearers. If you’re wounded, back out of the fight and get away to a coral clump and rest on it. Or make for the shore and shallow water. If you’ve got a spear in you don’t try and pull it out. Just hold it in the wound until someone gets to you. Petty Officer Fallon will have one of the ship’s signal flares. He’ll release that to the surface as soon as our attack begins and your Captain will at once surface and put out an escape dinghy with an armed party and the ship’s surgeon. Now then, any questions?’
‘What do we do as soon as we get out of the sub, sir?’
‘Try and not make any fuss on the surface. Get down quickly to ten feet and take your place in the formation. We’re likely to get help from a light breeze, but we’re bound to create turbulence on the surface. Keep it down as much as you can.’
‘What about signals underwater, sir? Suppose a mask goes wrong or something.’
‘Thumbs down for any kind of emergency. Arms held straight out for a big fish. Thumbs up means “I understand” or “Coming to help you”. That’s all you’ll need.’ Bond smiled. ‘If the feet go up, that’s the signal that you’ve had it.’
The men laughed various kinds of laugh.
There came the sudden voice of the P.A. System. ‘Swimming party to the escape hatch. I repeat, swimming party to the escape hatch. Don equipment. Don equipment. Commander Bond to the Attack Centre, please.’
The whine of the engines died to a moan and then was silent. There was a slight bump as the
23 | NAKED WARFARE
