Wetsuit Abduction – Part 3

Matt pushed on through the water. Arm over arm, breathing through the snorkel every other stroke. The water was cool, not as cold as he expected. Thankfully the summer had been a warm one, plenty of sun and not much wind to stir the deep water.

His wetsuit was keeping him warm, the soft neoprene felt great against his skin. Each time he lifted his arm out of the water, moonlight bounced back off the wet sleeves.

He looked up, not much further to go until he reached the first buoy. He’d left the boat just after low tide, so now water was flowing back into the bay, pushing him on in his quest. He felt fresh, the incoming tide had made the swim easier.

Finally he reached the first buoy, a red number 4. With a big pull, he heaved himself out of the water and onto the small platform of the buoy. For once he was glad not find a seal sleeping on it.

In the week, Matt was a deck hand on tourist charter boats operating out of the local mariner. They’d take boat loads of tourists out to see the local wildlife, including the seals that liked to sit on the channel buoys.

Resting for a few minutes, he knew he had to push on. A big splash and he was back in. Now the hard part was behind him, the open sea. It was buoy hopping to safety. He reached number 3 quite quickly, he floated up next to it and found a large seal firmly parked on the deck. Not fancying an argument, he took a deep breath and carried on. Passing number two without stopping, number one soon beamed out of the darkness.

He stopped, time to think about the next part of his plan. Where would he make land? He needed to be close to a pay phone. The payphone though, needed to have good cover around it. Once he contacted Lewis, he’d have a wait before he picked him up. It take him at least half an hour to drive around the bay.

It wasn’t a good idea to be seen padlocked into a wetsuit at midnight. What if his escape was discovered? The boss could have people scanning the shoreline for him, looking to recapture him.

He decided the best place to go ashore would be a small slipway near the mariner. There was a car park and a couple of pay phones, he just prayed they hadn’t been vandalised. Once he’d phoned Lewis, he could hide out in the shallows, nobody would see him in the darkness.

Plunging back into the water one last time, he headed toward the lights of the car park. A short five minute swim. Luckily the harbour was quiet, a few lights shone out from moored boats, but the water was still.

He reached the launch way with ease, stopping at the bottom. He removed his mask and flippers, before stashing them on the shingle beach that surrounded it.

Crouching down, he scanned the area. The road was empty and the pavements were quiet. He could see the phone booth, about 100 yards away. Checking one last time, he rose up and sprinted up the beach and across the road. As he did so, water gushed from his wetsuit, leaving a trail on the dry concrete path.

He dived into the booth, grabbing the handset and sliding down onto the floor. He reached up and through his wet neoprene glove, dialled the switchboard.

“Operator, how can I help you?”

“I need to make a reverse charge call please”

“One moment… okay, what’s the number?”

Matt reeled off the land line for Lewis house, hoping that he was home

“Who shall I say is calling?”

“Can you say it’s Matt and it’s urgent”

“Connecting you now Sir, hold the line”

Matt listened as the phone rang and rang, all the time checking around him for anybody approaching.

“Hello?” A voice finally answered

“Good morning Sir, Urgent call for you from somebody called Matt. Will you accept the charges?”

“ERM yeah, put him through”

“Hello? Hi are you there? Lewis!”

“Calm down Matt, I’m here. What’s up dude?”

“Lewis. This is going to sound crazy. I need you to pick me up from the parking lot next to the mariner, with the public slipway. The guys are stuck on a yacht and need your help. I escaped and swam to shore but I think they are after me.”

“OK Are you hurt? Are you alone or is anyone with you?”

“I’m OK, but Josh and Ryan are being held prisoner on the boat”

“Right, I’m on my way with the van. Hide. When I get there I’ll flash SOS with my headlights.”

The call ended. At last Matt could feel abit of relief. He’d contacted Lewis and he was coming to pick him up.

He opened the door of the phone box and checked up and down the street. Still empty. He made a dash for the beach. Running down the shingle he threw himself down at the waters edge. He hadn’t seen anyone about but that didn’t mean he was safe. He lay there, listening and watching. Nothing. It was good to get water flowing round his wetsuit again. His heart had been racing the whole time and now he was starting to feel hot.

He wanted to check the watch, find out the time, check the co ordinates, but he was afraid. What if the face reflected some light and gave him away?

Suddenly he remembered his watery trail. He should have put in some false trails, but he’d been focussed on getting back to his hiding place.

He lay at the edge of the water, holding his breath every time some lights went along the road. It felt like forever when finally one pulled into the car park. The vehicle turned into a parking bay and it’s light shone out over the harbour.

Flash Flash Flash… Flaaaash Flaaaash Flaaaash… Flash Flash Flash. He could breath again. Rising up, he raced across the shingle, stooping to grab his mask and fins on the way to the van.

Looking back over his shoulder, he couldn’t see anyone, but he couldn’t take the chance. As he approached the passenger side door flew open, he jumped straight into the seat and pulled the door closed, before clicking the lock down.

Even before the door was closed, the engine revved up and the van pulled away, turning sharply to exit the car park Matt looked over and saw Lewis at the wheel, focussing hard on his driving. Lewis knew the situation was serious and wasn’t taking any chances. As they left the car park, he turned in a different direction to which he had approached from. Accelerating hard, they flew along the main road before Lewis braked hard and hauled the van round into a side street. He carried on his frantic driving, nipping in and out of the small roads at speed until they emerged onto an unlit road, it carried traffic from the town to the village along the coast where the Lewis and Matt lived.

Now the pace relaxed and Lewis looked over to Matt

“OK. Nobody is following us. Tell me everything,”

By now Matt’s soaking wetsuit was making a nice puddle on the cushions and on the floor of Lewis’s van

“We were all asleep last night when these people broke in. They were organised. They came into our bedrooms and attacked us. We were over powered, stripped naked and made to put on wetsuits, which they padlocked closed. We were hooded, but I could tell they took us in a van, then a RIB, out to a luxury yacht moored about two miles outside the bay.

Then we were put in cells and told we’d been kidnapped to order, as wetsuit slaves for European millionaires.

A guy called Pierre helped me escape, Ryan and Josh were too banged up to make the swim so they stayed behind.”

“OK Chill out. Relax now and we’ll get on the case when we get back to mine.”

Lewis switched on the radio to ease the tension. Matt laid back in the seat, he felt safe now and he knew there was hope for his friends. He decided to close his eyes, just for a few minutes.

He woke up. Was all this a bad dream? No. He was still in the wetsuit. But now he was on a couch, with a blanket?

Looking around Matt realised he was in the living room of Lewis’s house. Last thing he remembered was sitting in the van talking to Lewis.

He stretched out as best as he could, contained by the wetsuit. Lewis wasn’t in the room, but he could hear noises coming from upstairs. He rolled off the couch and onto his feet before heading upstairs, following the noise.

Reaching the landing, he could see an open door. Not just any door. The big security door that was always locked. He paused at the entrance, he’d never been in there before, so he knocked. Lewis was sat at a computer and casually turned round on the chair to face Matt.

“Come in mate, take a seat” he pointed to a table and chairs in the middle of the room.

As Matt walked across the room, he studied the walls. They were covered with paper charts. Tide charts, maps, pictures of wild animals, rabbits, fish. One chart had pictures of hunting knives.

“You fell asleep in the van last night. I carried you in and put you on the sofa.

Do you want out of that wetsuit? It can’t be comfortable? I’ve got some friends coming over. When they get here, I’ll nip over to your place and get you some clothes.”

Matt sat down at the table, while Lewis took a small pen knife from his pocket. He folded out a small saw blade and stepped round the back of Matt. He felt him pulling at the zipper and after a few minutes, he felt air rushing in as Lewis pulled the zipper down. Taking a step back, he let Matt do the rest.

He stood up and pulled the suit down to his waist. Lewis looked at him for a second and said “Ah. I’ll get you a t shirt for now?”

Disappearing from the room, he quickly returned with an old T shirt. It was quite baggy on Matt, but after two days in a wetsuit, he wanted baggy!

“Is that Josh’s watch? The one his Dad gave him? I had to set it up for him.”

“Yeah!” Matt spluttered into life, until now he’d been abit dazed

“Josh has programmed it with the co ordinates of the boat where they are being held. The guy who owners it is planning to kidnap some more people tonight, so they won’t be moving for awhile.”

Matt unbuckled the strap and passed it to Lewis, who immediately sat down at his computer and punched in the numbers.

The picture on the screen changed to a picture of blue, until Lewis zoomed it out, now he could see the location of the vessel as well as surrounding land.

“OK We’ll come back to that. Now talk me everything step by step.”

“OK Well they broke the window and got in. They attacked all three rooms at once. There were two or three in my room. Josh says he had three and Ryan isn’t sure.

Josh managed to fight one off but then they jumped on him. He’s got bruised ribs but otherwise OK

Ryan didn’t get a chance, they hit his ankle with a bat or something. He couldn’t walk on it at first but it seemed better last night.

They used smoke grenades to disorientate us.

They had pictures of us to check they got the right guys. They forced me against the wall and stripped me naked. I was forced into a wetsuit, which they padlocked on. The shame with Ryan and Josh.

They cuffed my wrists and ankles and they had a chain between them. Then they gagged me and put a leather hood on my head to stop me seeing them. Oh yeah, they wore gas masks when they first came in, but I think that was because they used so much smoke, it was choking.

We were led out of the house and into a van with a cage. They took us somewhere and put us into a rib, which went out to the yacht.

We were fed and watered. They took off all our restraints except the padlock on the wetsuits. At night we were locked in cells, in the depths of the ship.

There is a lad called Pierre. He’s like the PA to the bloke in charge. He was kidnapped years ago. We talked him over and he helped me escape, he also cleaned up Josh’s wound.”

“Wound?” Lewis interrupted.

“Oh yeah, well while he was fighting, Josh got a cut above his eye. Pierre cleaned it up for him”

“I’ll be having words with that guy when we get him back. OK How many hostiles’ on board?”

“ERM There is the boss. The Helm and the Cook. Then there are two heavies that double as deck hands. They might have more onshore.”

“And Pierre?”

“Trust me, he’s on our side”

“What about layout of the boat?”

Matt went over it with Lewis. How many decks, cabins, route to the cells.

Matt’s escape had been discovered. Pierre checked in with the remaining two prisoners at 8am. He chatted with Josh briefly, telling that Matt got away successfully and didn’t have any problems swimming.

Josh sighed, he knew the flames were about to ignite.

“OK Thanks Pierre. Do what you have to do man”

“He’s missing boss. Presumably went overboard in the night. He’s dead for sure, there is nowhere to swim to and it was night.”

The boss’s morning coffee went flying and he charged out of the room. Huffing through the corridors, he stormed into the cells and noticed the empty one where Matt should be.

“Search the ship”

“We have boss. He’s gone.”

The boss was furious

“Cuff these two and get them up on deck at once.

Pierre, I want to see you in your wetsuit as well. I didn’t buy it for you so it could hang in your closet while you swan around in board shorts and T shirts! Zipped up to the neck at all times, do I need to get the padlock out to help you remember?”

He stormed out, leaving Pierre and the two gorillas to carry out his instructions.

Pierre opened the cells one at a time. First Ryan was forced to stand and his hands were cuffed behind his back, before Josh was given the same treatment. Together the lads were immediately marched up to the top deck.

Pierre disappeared, presumably to his cabin to change. Inside he was thinking of Matt. Had he made? Was help on the way? His friends were going to need it.

Upon the deck the boss stared at Josh, burning a hole into him with his eyes

“You. You are the leader. You organised this. Yes, and you’ll be wanting the punishment for it too?”

Josh pulled himself up to stand correctly, as if addressing an military officer.

“Sir. I gave you my bond that we would not try to escape. I have broken that bond and accept full responsibility”

“Yes. Yes you do. Clever boy.”

The boss pointed to Ryan

“Secure him on the foredeck and rig the fire hoses”

Josh looked at Ryan, they were baffled. The grunt guarding Josh pushed him in the back, a signal to start walking. He was taken with Ryan to the foredeck where Ryan was then chained spread eagle to the railings. Two fire hoses were run out and aimed at him.

“Water on” commanded the boss

Ryan tried to turn but the chains held him firm. Gallons of high pressure cold water was blasting directly at him. His wetsuit offered little protection.

Josh turned to the boss “Enough already. Your hurting him.” but the torture continued.

Pierre appeared in the background, now wearing his wetsuit. On his face was a look of deep concern, but he couldn’t say anything, he had to pretend to be loyal to the boss until help arrived.

Ryan was freezing, he tried to stay strong, not to show the boss that the punishment was working, but his body let him down. His legs gave out and he dropped to his knees, shaking. Another fifteen minutes passed and finally the boss gave the order “Cease water.”

As Ryan was unchained, he fell to the deck completely, barely concious his teeth were chattering and his body was shaking, he was so cold.

“OK Pierre, take them below”

Pierre turned to the two deck hands and nodded, Josh was led away while Pierre helped the other deckhand to carry Ryan back to the cells.

As they entered the room, Pierre turned to the deck hands

“OK I’ll handle it from here thank you.” and he gestured for them to leave. Ryan was dumped on the floor while Josh stood helpless, his hands cuffed behind him.

Pierre immediately withdrew his lanyard of keys from beneath his wetsuit and beckoned for Josh to turn away, so he could uncuff him.

Together they picked Ryan up. By now he’d passed out completely. Taking an arm each, they carried him into Josh’s cell before laying him on the bed. Without a thought, Josh laid down next to his friend and cuddled up tightly. He knew Ryan had to get warm and quickly.

Pierre went into Matt’s cell and picked up the blankets from the bed, before returning and throwing them over the intertwined bodies of Ryan and Josh. He looked on as the wetsuit clad figures comforted each other. His mind drifted, thinking of Matt. He hoped he’d made it.

In the meantime he knew there was only one way to help. He couldn’t remove Ryan’s wetsuit, the boss would go mad, so he squeezed onto the bed, Ryan laying between him and Josh. He hoped his body heat as well as Josh’s would do some good.

As Lewis worked over the questions with Matt, an alarm sounded and the computer screen changed to a television picture. It was a CCTV camera and it had been triggered by a vehicle pulling onto Lewis’s driveway. He glanced over at the screen before turning back to the picture he had been drawing of the ship.

He looked at Matt who had a concerned look on his face.

“Oh, that’s just some friends coming to help. Let’s go and meet them.”

Matt walked down the stairs behind Lewis, the arms of his wetsuit touching the floor.

The car came to a stop out Lewis’s front door and two young lads stepped out, both in their late teens at the most.

The passenger walked over to Lewis.

About 5’11”, his well defined body shone through slim fit black t shirt he was wearing. His stone washed jeans hung loosely on his hips. Around his neck was a lace connected to a metal plate, like a necklace Matt couldn’t work out exactly what the plate was, it looked like a Talisman. His dark hair was slightly blond at the tips and amazingly styled.

As he walked to Lewis, he looked Matt over with his dark brown eyes.

“Good to see you Lewis.” He shook hands before stepping back a pace.

“And you must be Matthew?” he offered his hand to Matt “James. Please to meet you”

Matt shook his hand “Hi, yeah I’m Matt.”

The driver walked over, greeting Matt first “Hi I’m Bradin”

As he moved on to Lewis, Matt stole a better look at him. Well tanned, flip flops hung loosely from his feet. Desert pattern camouflage shorts reached down to his knees. A loose fitting black shirt covered his upper body, buttoned up about half way. His shaggy dark blond hair covered his ears and touched down to his eyes at the front. For a moment Matt was mesmerised by his eyes. Misty blue, it was like looking into two planets from space, they swirled away and it was hard to see his tiny black pupils.

“Gentleman. I have called you here today to assist with a developing situation that I am about to brief you on. This is Matt, he is a casualty in this situation. There are two more being held on a vessel moored just outside the bay. Come in.”

Lewis turned and walked back into the house, first visiting the refrigerator to collect a drink for his guests, before leading them up to the room with the computer and charts.

Taking a seat at the table, Lewis recapped the situation to the newcomers. He talked them through the schematic he had drawn of the vessel, based on Matt’s description.

“OK That is the situation so far. Do you both understand that?” both lads nodded.

“Good. Now this is the plan.

“At last light, we will RIB out to approx 1km from the target. Matt and I will enter the water and begin our swim to the stern landing pontoon, signalling when in position.

You will approach the bow, making yourselves known, flash bangs and smoke, before feigning rope assault on the foredeck.

While this is happening, Matt and I will board from the landing platform. Any upper deck sentries will now be engaged at the bow. We will move directly to the cells located in the lower decks and secure the two hostages.

Once we are on board and have secured the hostages, Chris and Tom will make their approach to the stern landing platform. They will move through the ship and detain any hostiles. There is one hostile who is a sympathiser. He’ll need to be treated as hostile until it’s possible to extract him without revealing his deception to other hostiles.

Once Tom and Chris are on board and engaged, James and Bradin, you will break off the bow assault and bring the RIB to the stern pontoon. You will board and assist with detaining hostiles, then create a clear passage for us to bring the hostages through the vessel and onto the pontoon

Matt and I will extract the hostages to the RIB, we will crew the RIB from this point and make our departure. Matt will identify the hostile who is assisting us and he will depart with us.

When we are clear, you will disabled the vessel and extract yourselves using Chris and Tom’s vessel.”

As he talked over the plan, Lewis reinforced it with gestures to charts, pictures of Ryan and Josh and pointed to various bits on the diagram he had drawn of the ship.

“Chris will be team medic and Tom will be the observer. Any questions?”

Bradin and James seemed satisfied. Matt had already worked out they were some kind of military guys, so they probably did crazy stuff like this all the time. However he had questions.

“Can I ask a question?”

“Of course, Matt, fire away”

“What about the snatch team? The group of men going to kidnap the other three guys tonight.”

“We have an observation team, Chris and Tom, moving into place about a mile from the vessel. They’ll be watching the boat all day and reporting. Later today, one of them is going to scuba over to the RIB and fit a tracker.

When it leaves tonight, Blue team will be tracking it’s movements. At the moment the exchange takes place on the beach, Blue team will move in. They will secure the hostages and detain anyone involved in their kidnapping, before turning them over to the authorities. ”

“OK” Matt wanted to ask “Who are blue team” but he felt he wouldn’t get an answer to that one

“What about the people left behind on the boat?”

“Once we’re clear, their location will be given to the authorities”.

Lewis could see that he’d satisfied all Matt’s questions so he moved on.

“Bradin. I need you with me. We’re going over to the lads house. Matt needs a change of clothes and we need to sweep the scene for any intel.

I’ll drive us down there in my van. I’ll stop short, you jump out and have a route through the undergrowth, see if you can turn out any poachers.

James. Stay here and guard Matt. Cook up some lunch, then some snacks for later.”

The group rose from the table.

Lewis moved to the old oak desk on which sat the computer. Taking a set of keys from his pocket, he unlocked the draws and reached into the middle one. Pulling out another set of keys he left the draw open and crossed the room to a locked wardrobe. Unlocking the double lock, he pulled the door open to reveal a host of equipment. He took the keys out of the door and reached down to a metal container, slightly concealed on the floor of the wardrobe. He fiddled briefly with the keyring, searching for the one he wanted, before inserting it into the lock and opening the box.

Inside was even more equipment. He reached in and pulled out just the things he needed. A large hunting knife, an extendible baton, like the sort used by the police and something that looked like a mobile phone, except it was really large, a brick like the first mobiles.

Placing the items onto the table, he reached into the wardrobe and pulled out a shoulder holster. Removing his zipper fronted jumper, he strapped the holster on and inserted the knife into the pocket. He stepped back from the table and began violently waving his arms in all directions and angles, checking the harness was fitted securely and didn’t restrict his movement. Satisfied, he put his jumper back on and made sure the holster was well concealed.

Now he picked up the baton, with a flick of the wrist, he extended to it’s full length, before pushing it against his body to close up. After repeating the process a few times, he was happy that the equipment functioned correctly, so attached it to the belt of his combat trousers.

Finally he picked up the phone. Noticing a baffled look on Matt’s face, he simply said “Sat phone”

Opening the protective cover of the keypad, he dialled in a short number. Matt could see that as well as the usual numbers, hash and star, there were several other symbols, some of which Lewis had pushed. He looked on as Lewis extended the aerial before placing the phone to his ear.

“Stingray, this is Neptune. Neptune calling Stingray, are you on channel? Over.”

Lewis paused as he waited for a response, before Matt heard a voice on the other end of the communication channel.

“Stingray receiving.”

“Stingray stand by for long message”

“This is Stingray, state your message”

“Stingray, Situation Update 11:00 hours Zulu.”

Lewis started by reeling off the co ordinates he had obtained from Josh’s watch, before moving onto the details of the what was happening

“1 Hostage successful in escape and evasion, recovered to HQ.

2 hostages remaining on board target vessel. 1 additional hostage posing as a hostile. At this time we believe he has not been compromised.

Hostiles total six including insider.

Estimate engagement at 22:00hrs Zulu Entry point will be pontoon at the stern, with decoy assault the bow.”

There was a short break in the conversation before the voice replied

“That’s all understood. Will check in at 13:00 hrs. Zulu when we have eyes on. Out.”

Lewis pushed the aerial down on the phone before connecting it to a charger sat on the desk.

“Matt. What clothes do you need me to get? Do you need anything else?

Matt thought for a moment

“On the chair, in my room, is my jeans and hoody, my trainers will be near there as well Can you grab me some boardies as well?

My wetsuit, my booties and my gloves will be in a rubber basket on the workbench in the garage, it will have my name on the front. Oh and my fins and snorkel will be somewhere near there as well”

When Matt needed some extra cash, he’d go snorkelling for crabs which he could then sell onto the traders at the fish market. Now he would need these skills to rescue his friends.

Lewis and Bradin departed in the van for the short journey to Matt’s house, while Matt helped James in the kitchen.

He made small talk with James as they went about knocking up food for the group, cod in bread crumbs along with chips and peas. While that cooked, James made sandwiches with what he could find in Lewis fridge. Food for later.

Soon Lewis was back, a bag for clothes for Matt as well as the basket with his wetsuit in it. While the rest of the group chatted, he headed off for a shower and to finally put on some normal clothes.

Matt entered the bathroom and locked the door behind him. He reached in and set the shower running, spending a few minutes adjusting the temperature setting until it was to his liking.

Now he peeled off the t shirt loaned to him by Lewis. He stood there examining himself, the wetsuit dangling from his waist. Lewis had taken his booties off earlier while he slept, so he slid the wetsuit straight down and over his ankles. The suit had served him well on his swim from the boat to the shore, instinctively he rinsed it under the shower and hung it up the dry.

Now he faced the problem, his penis was still contained by the chastity belt. He pondered for a moment and realised, when they rescued Pierre, he could have the honour of removing it.

He showered quickly, washing all the dried salt and wax out of his hair.

Towelling himself dry, he pulled the board shorts up his legs to his waist, checking all round to make sure the straps of his chastity belt weren’t showing. Happy that his personal prison was concealed, he slid his jeans on and pulled his hoody over his head, before making his way to the dinning room.

Dinner passed quickly, the conversation was minimal and light, no mention of what was about to happen.

Eventually Bradin asked “How’s civilian life, Lewis?”

“We miss you in the Squadron mate” added James

Lewis paused for a moment, he looked as his empty plate and got the idea for a diversion

“Well I’m finished, I’ll make a start on preparing the kit for tonight. When you finish James, can you check in with the OP please.

Bradin, check the vehicles, check the RIB, it’s in the garage.”

Matt looked at Lewis “And me?”

“Rest up, watch TV, read magazines, whatever..” but Matt’s face said differently

“OK, help Bradin”

The rest of the afternoon flew by. Kit was assembled, checked and rechecked. Matt and Bradin fuelled the RIB and ran the engine up to make sure it was on top form for the nights mission, while Lewis used the radio to go through the last minute details with the two guys watching the boat, who confirmed that the tracker had been fitted to the RIB used in the abductions and that it was working perfectly.

As darkness began to fall, Lewis gave the instruction that everybody had been waiting for “Rig up”

In the spare bedroom, Matt stripped off his jeans and hoody until he was standing in his board shorts. He stood looking into the mirror, holding his wetsuit. He’d come so close to being a prisoner in a wetsuit that voluntarily putting one on so soon after felt strange. Then he remembered his friends, still prisoner on that boat.

He slid his first leg into the neoprene. The tightness was a familiar feeling. He carried on, second leg in and pulled it up his waist. Again he paused, looking in the mirror when there was a knock at the door

“Matt, it’s Lewis. I forgot, did you want a rashy from your place?”

“Erm, yeah”

“It’s OK, I’ve got a spare, open the door”

Matt opened the door to see Lewis stood there. He was a wearing an unlabelled wetsuit, black all over. He’d already got his boots and gloves on. Hugging his neck was a neoprene hood, rolled down for now. In his hand was a rash guard and a wetsuit hood.

“I think you should wear a hood as well. It will keep your head warm and it will stop anybody recognising you on the boat.”

At this moment Lewis caught sight of the uncertainty on Matt’s face.

“Stick the rashy on and I’ll help you get kitted up.”

Matt slipped the Lycra shirt over his head and down onto his slender body. Lewis stepped closer and Matt pushed his arms into the suit. Now Lewis adjusted the back and took hold of the zipper.

“Are you ready?”

Matt took a deep breath and nodded for Lewis to zip him into the suit.

Lewis pulled the cord up to Matt’s neck and sealed the neoprene flat covering it.

Matt sat down on the bed, pulling his booties on as Lewis helped him to slide the legs of his wetsuit over the tops of the boots.

Finally he pulled on his gloves and adjusted the sleeves of the wetsuit over the top, sealing them like the booties.

He rose and checked himself over in the mirror. Just 24 hours ago he’d been dressed the same, but a prisoner. Now he was dressed to rescue prisoners.

Lewis picked up his hoody and jeans from the floor,

“Here, put these on over the top, It will disguise the wetsuit until we get in the boat. Put your hood up so it’s harder to see your face.”

Matt followed Lewis directions, putting his clothes back on, he lifted the hood of his jumper up onto his head and pulled it forward. His dark tanned face was the only piece of flesh showing.

They departed for the Marina together, Bradin and James driving the car, while Matt and Lewis followed in the van, towing the RIB behind them,

Luck was on their side tonight, thick cloud blotted out the moonlight and stars making it pitch black outside.

As the van drew into the car park, Lewis turned off the headlights and reversed the trailer down the slipway to the waters edge. Bradin and James, arriving first, were already in the water and ready to unload the RIB. No sooner had the wheels touched the water, than the boat was afloat and the team were loading their equipment.

As they prepared to leave, Matt stripped down to his wetsuit, throwing his jeans and hoody into the back of the van, he jumped into the RIB.

Part 4 here soon…