From the Deep (13 page)

CHAPTER 29

Eighty-six miles away, Milton was watching the fish finder as his boat drifted through the crystal clear waters off the Californian coast. The initial excitement had turned to boredom, and the one quick drink had become five, which was leaving him fuzzy headed as he sweated in the sun. Melina walked over and sat on one of the sun loungers. He couldn’t help but admire how good she looked in her bikini, and had to force himself to concentrate on the screen.

“See anything?” she asked as she stifled a yawn.

“No, not yet.  We’re in the right place though.”

“Oh yeah?” She said with a smile. “How do you figure that out?”

“Gut feeling. Instinct. I don’t know. I just feel it.”

She stood and walked towards him, standing at his shoulder and watching the fuzzy radar display.

“So,” she said, “how does this thing work?”

Trying as best he could to ignore the intoxicating perfume and coconut sun cream smell coming from her, Milton cleared his throat and explained.

“Well, the fish finder is essentially sonar. It fires a pulse from below the boat, which hits the ocean floor and comes back. Anything it passes on the way is recorded here on screen.”

“And you can tell what all of these little dots are?” She asked, pointing to the masses of captured shapes on the screen.

“Not really, and in fairness, I don’t need to. I don’t need to know if it’s a fish, dolphin or shark, what we’re looking for is big enough to stand out like a sore thumb when we hit it.”

“What then?”

He paused. It was a good question, and one he had been putting off discussing with her until the last possible moment. He took a deep breath, inhaling more of her sweet scent.

“I know I said I wouldn’t, but I still want to use the shark cage.”

“Milton-”

“Imagine if I could get in the water and film this thing from below the surface. It would make us famous.”

“You can’t do that.” She said simply, taking a step away from him as if he carried some kind of contagious disease. “It’s madness.”

“Madness? You said to think outside the box, you said to make myself get noticed.”

“Not by killing yourself.”

“It’s safe, the thing won’t even know I’m there. I thought you would be happy that I was doing something positive.”

In his mind, he had seen her overwhelmed by his bravery and commitment, which made the reality of her rejection harder to bear.

“Making a difference is fine, as is showing the network that you can do a good job. You would be crazy to get in the water with this thing out there. You saw what it did to that boat race. They said on the radio it is suspected of destroying a Russian submarine. It’s too dangerous.”

“I bet they said the same thing to Attenborough all those years ago and it didn’t stop him. Besides, that sub was no doubt making all kinds of vibrations this thing probably saw as a threat. I’ll be sitting in the water in my completely passive, vibration free cage, filming the thing as it goes by. I won’t be in danger.”

“You don’t know that. Nobody knows what this thing is. How can you know you will be safe?”

“The cage is perfectly safe. The guy in the shop said it was—”

“The guy in the shop isn’t the one going into the water.” She interrupted.

They were silent for a moment, and Melina walked to the rail, staring at the water as it licked against the fibreglass hull of the boat.

“Look,” she said quietly, “I know you are trying to better yourself, and I’m all for that. Just not like this. I… care about you despite everything that happened between us.”

Milton’s mind filled with hundreds of things he had rehearsed saying to Melina in response to such a statement. No sooner had he begun to consider the right one, when his attention was caught by the sonar screen.

“What is it, what’s wrong?”

“It’s here.”

“How do you know?”

If Milton heard her, he didn’t answer. Instead, he stared at the screen. Where it should have shown hundreds of shades of colour representing the multitude of life forms in the ocean, the screen was blank. Something had frightened everything away, and Milton had a good idea what it was. His stomach pulled into a tightly knotted ball as he stood and hurried across the deck.

“Help me with the cage. I’m going into the water.”

CHAPTER 30

Unable to delay any further, Clara had directed Russo towards the Californian waters where she was sure the creature would be actively hunting.  She walked through the winding interior of the boat, shadowed by the armed guard that had been assigned to her. She stopped at the door to Dexter’s cabin and knocked on the door, waiting and eyeing her escort cautiously. Dexter opened the door and let her in.  She entered and sat on the bed as he cleared his array of charts and paperwork which was strewn across the desk. He reached out to turn off the radio, when Clara grabbed his arm and shook her head. She motioned to the door, and Dexter nodded, turning the volume higher to mask their conversation.

“Please tell me you found us a way off this boat.” She said, keeping her voice as low as she could.

“Sorry,” Dexter replied, shaking his head. “They have this place locked tight. Whatever you did to piss them off certainly worked.”

“What about if we stole one of the lifeboats?”

“Not possible. The deck is patrolled every twenty minutes, and the operations room has a permanent guard detail. You can’t get near the boats without being spotted.”

“Come on,” She said with a desperate smile. “Give me something to hope for.”

“Well, there could be something. I found a Zodiac in the engine room. Ten footer. We could get to it easily enough, it’s getting it inflated and off the boat that will be our main problem.”

“I wouldn’t think it would have the range to get us to land anyway.”

“Not from here, no.” He agreed, then pausing to flick his eyes towards the door, leaned closer. “When we get to the location off the California coast where you think this thing is feeding, we could easily get to the beach and disappear into the crowd.”

“Why do I get the feeling a spanner is about to be thrown into the works here?”

“Well, not a spanner as such, but a potential stumbling block. I can get to the boat, and I can get it on deck. The second I do though, I’m going to be spotted.”

“Unless there’s a distraction.” She said quietly.

“Do you have an idea?”

“Maybe. How long would you need?”

“As long as you could give me. Ten minutes at least. What did you have in mind?”

“I’m not sure. We have a few hours to work it out, let me think on it. Just be ready to go.”

“I have been ready to get off this boat since we arrived. Don’t you worry, I’ll be ready.”

“Good. Until then, keep things relaxed and natural. I don’t want these assholes getting a sniff of what we’re about to do.”

Milton’s shark cage was bobbing in the water at the stern of the boat. Melina chewed her nails as she looked at the fish finder, hoping against hope to see the screen filled with signs that the marine life had returned, but it was still barren, and she cast a cautious eye out over the water, shielding her face against the sun. It was calm and looked perfectly tranquil, beautiful if not for the fact she was aware of what was out there.  Milton walked on deck, zipping his blue wetsuit. If he was afraid, he showed no signs of it.

“Any sign of the creature?” he asked as he checked that his air tanks were operating correctly.

“Nothing. The fish finder still isn’t picking anything up. Maybe it’s gone.”

“No, it’s definitely out there. I can feel it.”

“Milton, please, don’t do this.”

“Relax,” he said, flashing a grin that was more confident than he actually felt. “I’ll be perfectly safe. Pass me the underwater camera, would you?”

“Its heavy,” she said as she handed it to him.

“It’ll be fine once I get it in the water. Come on, help me into the cage.”

He sat on the stern and lowered his legs over the side, then set the camera across his knees. He turned to her, and although he was managing almost to hide it, she could see he was as afraid as she was.

“This is it,” he said, not quite able to manage a smile. “This is the moment that will change my life for the better.”

“Milton, please, don’t go.” Melina said softly, placing a hand on his shoulder.

He didn’t think he had ever seen her looking as beautiful as at that exact moment, framed by the golden hue of the sun. In the movies, he knew this would be the moment where he would profess his undying love for her, and they would break into a passionate kiss as the music swelled to a crescendo. This was real life, and although he would like nothing better than for that to happen, the reality was that he was sick with nerves and wanted to get in the cage before he changed his mind. He broke eye contact as he picked up the all in one helmet, which would enable him to speak with Melina during the dive.

“Okay, I’m ready. Once I’m inside, lower the cage to around thirty feet. The camera will feed the footage back in real time to the computer beside the fish finder. Just check and see if its recording would you?”

She did as he asked, the monitor fading into life and displaying a crystal clear image of the twin humps of Milton’s knees and the ocean beyond.

“Picture quality is good.” She said, flicking her eyes to the empty screen of the fish finder.

“You might want to grab those headphones too, so you can hear me once I get the helmet on.”

She grabbed the wireless headset and put it on, half in a daze that they were actually going ahead with such an insane plan.

“Can you help me with this?” he said as he lowered the Perspex fronted helmet into place. Melina helped him to fasten the airtight seals, and now as she stepped back, he was looking at her through the fish bowl like a mask. From within, he would have an unobstructed view of the ocean.

“Okay,” he said, his radio muted voice coming now from her ear piece. “Can you hear me through the headphones okay?”

“Yeah, signal is clear.”

“Okay,” he said. She could hear how ragged his breathing had become, and his eyes flicked towards the massive expanse of open water around him.

“It’s time. I’m going in. let me know if anything crops up on the fish finder. You will know about this thing before I do, so stay in touch.”

Melina and Milton locked eyes, and it seemed there were no words that were valid for them to say. Melina broke eye contact, looking at the deck of the boat as Milton shuffled forwards, gripped the camera, and lowered himself into the water. He ducked under to test that his air supply was feeding through correctly, and resurfaced, adjusting his grip on the camera.

“Okay, everything is good here. Lower me down. Keep an eye on the fish finder. I need to know which direction to point the camera.”

He pulled the lid of the cage closed and submerged.

Even though she fought it every step of the way, Melina activated the winch, lowering the cage into the water. Some nine hundred and fifty feet away, the tiny vibrations made by the cable as it lowered the cage into the water, reached the immense predator almost instantly. Intrigued by this new stimulus, the creature flicked its massive tail and set forth to investigate.

CHAPTER 31

Milton’s world consisted of shades of blue. The water was colder than he expected, yet it was secondary to the heady mixture of terror and exhilaration that surged through him as he peered into the darkness. He had scuba dived off the Californian coast before, and knew the waters here were abundant with life as diverse as it was colourful.  As he hovered in thirty feet of water below the boat, there wasn’t a single fish to be seen.  He peered through the bars, feeling more like a space explorer on a desolate planet rather than underwater.

“Everything okay?”

Melina’s voice startled him, and he almost dropped the camera.

“Jesus, Mel, you almost gave me a heart attack.”

“Sorry, too loud?”

“
Everything
sounds too loud down here.”

“What do you see?”

Milton looked around again.

“Nothing,” he said quietly. “Absolutely nothing. Anything on the fish finder?”

“No, just you. Maybe we should—”

She froze mid-sentence. The blank screen of the fish finder was starting to fill with colour. As Melina watched, she knew it was impossible, because whatever was being detected was wider than could fit into the display.

“Milton,” she said quietly, her throat dry as she watched the screen continue to fill with colour, “it’s coming.”

The words had barely registered with Milton when he saw it for himself. The dark shade of the ocean grew lighter and it came out of the depths. It wasn’t until then he truly appreciated the sheer scale of the creature. Its body was similar to a giant squid, in that it was long and tapered into an immense fluke. As it lazily approached the cage, Milton could see pectoral fins like that of a shark, the creature was also equipped with eight muscular tentacles, each one covered in suckers the size of a sewer drain cover. With nothing to compare it to, Milton could only gawp at both the beauty and scale as it slowly swam past the cage. As it passed, he could see the creature’s mouth was partially open, revealing the tips of its backward facing serrated teeth. It was a hellish thing, an amalgamation of the entire ocean’s most feared predators.

“Are you seeing this,” he whispered as the creature passed, and the concussion wave from the flick of its tail was enough to rock the cage as it moved through the water.

“You bet I am, Jesus, Milton, you know what you have here? This is going to make you famous.”

He didn’t answer. Fame no longer seemed important. He realised now the cage in which he had so much faith in to protect him was woefully inadequate. In fact, as he looked at the creature’s mouth, he was pretty sure it could swallow both him and the cage without bothering to chew. There was no reference, nothing he could compare it to that could help him process the enormity of the creature as it swam in slow, wary circles below the cage. Seeming to lose interest in Milton and the cage, the creature went on its way, disappearing into the murky depths.

“Okay, Mel, haul me up. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

Melina activated the winch, and began to pull the cage back to the surface.

Milton was excited to get back to dry land, and thought the network might even break off from its regular programming to present his footage in some kind of special newsflash. He—

There was only a split second to register the blur of movement coming from his right hand side. The creature slammed into the cage at full speed, sending the steel framed structure swinging wildly on its supports, as the creature passed the underside of the boat. The concussion wave hit Milton with the same force as if he had been hit by a speeding vehicle, and his body slammed into the unforgiving steel, knocking the wind out of him as he drifted towards the cage floor.

On the surface, Melina screamed as the boat was dragged along by the huge wake left by the creature, then turned in a lazy half circle and came to a halt. She shut down the winch and staggered to the monitor on rubber legs that felt ready to give out on her at any time, certain Milton must be dead. She watched the shaky film footage from the camera, which now lay on the floor of the cage. She could see Milton floating in the water, and in the background, the creature as it emerged from the depths like some hellish beast. She watched as it slowly approached the cage, pushing against it with its snout before turning away. It came again, its curiosity still piqued.

Instead of nudging the cage with its snout, this time the creature opened its mouth and bit down on the steel. The pressure of the creature’s bite deformed the cage with ease, crumpling the framework as it tried to decide if it was edible.

Melina screamed as she watched the creature take its prize and change direction, dragging the boat along the surface of the water by the winch line. Seawater exploded and drenched Melina as the yacht was pulled sideways through the ocean. She was frantically trying to operate the winch controls, knowing that if the creature decided to go deep, it would drag both her and the boat with it. She managed to pull the release lever to the winch cable, and although the boat stopped its sideward motion, the reel was feeding out at pace as the creature took Milton further into the deep. She ran to the wheelhouse and snatched up the radio.

“Coast Guard, please, someone help me. It’s attacking us.” She screamed as she cycled through the channels on the radio, not even sure how to operate it or if anyone could hear her.  She glanced over her shoulder at the winch, which was still feeding out.

“This is the Coast Guard. Confirm location.”

“I don’t know where I am, just fucking help me! It’s attacking us!”

“Calm down miss,” came the static charged voice from the other side of the radio. “Please tell us where you are and we will get someone to you. Are you presently in danger?”

She gave up and ran back out on deck. She was powerless to do anything but watch as the winch reel got closer to the end.

***

Milton opened his eyes, blinking away the blood that poured down his forehead. Pain shot through his body and it took him a few seconds to understand what was happening. Water was squirting in a fine mist through a hairline crack in his facemask, but he was otherwise okay. The creature’s jaws had crushed the framework of the cage, and by some miracle, he had avoided being crushed by the creature. He was trapped in the bottom corner of the structure, inches away from the creature’s mouth and those teeth that were as long as his forearm. There was no escape. He felt the direction change as the creature went deeper, and he knew what he had to do.

Melina stared at the winch reel, which had now almost completely emptied. She knew when it reached its end, the boat would be dragged along the water until it capsized or was pulled apart. She wasn’t a strong swimmer, and it hit her that she was probably going to die.

“Melina.”

She could barely hear him, his voice distant and weak in her ear.

“Milton…” It was all she could manage before she started to cry.

“You have to cut me loose.”

“I can’t do that, I won’t do that.”

“You have to. Release the cable. Cut me loose before you get pulled under.”

“You know what happens if I do that. You’ll die.”

“It’s too late to do anything about that now.” He mumbled, his voice starting to break as he went out of range. “Get the footage to the network, make sure they see it, and make sure they know…”

“Milton, I—”

“Please. Cut me loose. Cut me loose and get the hell out of here.”

She stood and poised her thumb over the controls. She would have given anything then, anything at all not to be in control of Milton’s fate, but she knew no matter how much she tried to deny it, he was already lost. She couldn’t hear him anymore in her headset, the line now filled with a static hiss.

“I love you, Milton.” She whispered, and then pushed the button.

The winch cable was set free and was dragged into the water. Her world that had been a cauldron of noise and violence was now silent. Trembling and exhausted, she fell to her knees and started to sob. At some point, they became screams.