From the Deep (17 page)

CHAPTER 37

The creature propelled itself forward. Greg watched in awe as its greenish grey body passed him, and so large was the creature, it filled his field of vision for what felt like an age. He saw a sliver of sharp teeth in the partially open jaw, as the vast animal snagged the side of beef away with a single, effortless bite. He knew he should check on his client, but was so mesmerised by the giant yards away from him, he couldn’t bring himself to tear his eyes away from it. The creature nudged the cage as it passed, and for a split second, Greg lost his grip, snatching twice at the bars before managing to restore his hold. It was then he saw the great white ascend from below. It was big, at least an eighteen footer. Even it looked tiny in comparison to the immense creature. The white had been drawn in by the bloody carcass, and unlike its brethren, had not fled from the creature. It was only when Greg saw the other sharks appearing out of the darkness that he thought he understood what was happening. Hunters in their own right, the sharks were ready to respond to the new threat by challenging its supremacy.

It was at that precise second that fear replaced the thrill, and Greg turned towards his client, who was still staring wide eyed at the creature. It seemed he hadn’t noticed the sharks, which Greg thought could be a good thing. He shook Paul by the shoulder, snapping him to attention. His intention had been to give the instruction to ascend, yet when he looked towards the surface, the path was blocked by great whites, which were circling and waiting to attack. As experienced as he was, he would never risk swimming to the surface, especially as the whites looked ready to attack at any given moment. Instead, he pointed to the cage, swimming to the roof and pulling open the hatch.  Paul had noticed the sharks now too, and his eyes flicked wildly between the giant creature and its potential attackers. Greg banged on the cage to get Paul’s attention, watching as one of the whites cautiously darted closer to the creature, then retreated. He banged his fist on the cage roof again, and although Paul briefly looked at him, he didn’t move. He released his grip on the door and moved towards the edge of the cage roof, grabbing Paul by the shoulder and finally getting his attention. Perhaps it was the fear or desperation in his eyes, or the gravity of the situation finally hitting home which forced him into action. He inched his way up the side of the cage between frightened glances at the gathering sharks. Greg dragged him the rest of the way, yanked open the hatch and shoved Paul inside. He followed and pulled the door closed, and not a moment too soon. One of the larger whites, a twenty-two foot male, charged towards the creature and snapped at one of its tentacles. The reaction was devastating. The creature lunged for the shark, shearing away a huge flap of its underbelly in a single bite. As the great white convulsed and sank into the depths, its brethren as one began to attack.

The
Victorious
came to a halt, bobbing and rolling with the tides as Russo made it back into the command station.

“Why have we stopped?” He barked.

“I told him to. There’s a boat out there on the water.” Clara snapped back, glaring at Russo before turning her attention back to the radar.

“Who gives you the right to-”

“Shut up and look at this.”

Russo strode over to Clara, looking out of the window at the boat bobbing on the water, then at the radar. He could see the creature represented by a green smudge on the screen and surrounded by numerous other signals.

“What am I looking at here?” Russo asked.

“It might not look like it, but that’s one hell of a battle going on.”

“What kind of battle?” Russo snapped.

“Sharks. They’re moving too fast to be whales.”

“Surely they wouldn’t be so stupid as to attack this fish of ours.”

Clara flicked a gaze at Russo that would sour milk, and then turned back to the screen.

“Fortunately, nature doesn’t give a shit about your orders or plans. All it cares about is redressing the balance this thing has shifted when it appeared.”

“You told me sharks are rogue. You said they don’t hunt in packs.”

“That’s true. Unlike whales, they aren’t social creatures. Faced with such a unique threat, it’s conceivable they are working together to take this thing down. You have to imagine that sharks are natural predators. Although they won’t always attack something bigger than they are, they also don’t have any concept of what we would call fear. If anything, they’re inherently curious. My best guess is that the owners of that boat are in a shark cage right now, and the bait has drawn in not just our fish, but also sharks from all around. It was only a matter of time before the two species clashed.”

“This is perfect, we couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity.” Russo said as he beckoned one of the soldiers by the door towards him.

“Go and tell Mito I want the device in the water and ready to launch right now. Have him call me when it’s ready.”

“What device? What’s going on?”

“None of your concern, Dr Thompson. Just the next vital step in our mission.”

“What device?” she repeated.

Russo looked wired, pacing around the deck with a wild look in his eye.

“How far to the target?” he asked the radar operator, ignoring Clara’s pleas.

“Seven hundred feet, sir,” the man replied.

“Good. Hold station and keep the distance constant, I don’t want to mess this up.”

“You brought me here to help, so I suggest you tell me what you have planned.”

“I don’t have time for that. Andrews looks like he’s positively bursting to fill you in, so I’ll let him do it. I have work to do.”

He strode away, leaving Andrews and Clara in the control room.

“What’s he planning?”

“He has this missile… it’s like a concussion grenade designed for underwater. He wants to knock it out.”

“He can’t,” Clara said, her eyes wide as she stared at Andrews. “You have to stop him. Doesn’t he know there are people in the water?”

“Of course he knows, but you know as well as I do, he has his own agenda.”

“Then maybe it’s time you grew some balls and stopped him before he kills someone.”

The words hurt Andrews more than he expected, and he realised Clara was right.

“Hail the boat on the radio,” he said as he jogged towards the door. “Tell them to get those people out of the water now, under instruction from the United States government.”

“We already tried, they aren’t responding.”

“Then try again. Keep trying until you get through.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to stop Russo from putting that thing in the water.”

CHAPTER 38

The ocean was a churning mass of activity littered with bloody clumps of shark as the creature decimated wave after wave of its attackers. Most of the bigger pieces sank into the depths, but some of the smaller morsels bobbed and floated, and were pushed around by the currents as the gargantuan creature repelled attack after attack. To Paul, the great white had always represented to him the pinnacle of single minded ruthlessness, an unmatched perfect predatory machine, and yet although they had attacked en masse, the immense beast was more than a capable match.

Paul saw a twelve-foot white get bitten completely in half by the giant monster, only to have the other sharks nip and tear at its body as it spiralled into the depths. Now, of the hundred plus sharks that had instigated the attack, less than a dozen remained, which were systematically attacking the creature in turn before retreating out of range. Two tried to attack the creature’s body, but even their hyperextended jaws couldn’t maintain a grip. Instead, they were now focussed on the array of tentacles and flippers in the hope of disabling the creature. In retaliation, the giant snapped at one of the whites – an eighteen-foot male, shearing away a huge section of its underbelly. The shark twitched and swam erratically away from the creature, leaving a cloud of blood and entrails behind. The creature gave chase as the remaining whites, realizing the attack had failed, fled into the ocean. The crippled shark tried to swim over the cage and became tangled in the winch mechanism. It thrashed and rolled on top of the steel structure, desperately trying to free itself. Already mortally wounded, the creature was too weak to escape. Greg and Paul cowered as hot entrails spewed out of the wounded underbelly and filled the cage. Through the blood, they saw the creature as it approached its incapacitated prey.

“Get that thing in the water,” Russo barked as he strode out on deck. Mito did as he was told, operating the winch to lower the weapon towards the water. Russo picked up the remote control as Andrews rushed through the outer door.

“What the hell are you doing here? You are supposed to be mon-”

“You have to stop.” Andrews blurted.

“Why on earth would I do that?”

“Because there are people out there, civilians.” Andrews shot back, pointing at the shimmering white boat across the water.

“I see that. Fortunately, this is going under the water. Those people might feel a little bump, but they won’t be affected.”

“Don’t try it, Russo. You know well enough whoever that boat belongs to is in the water. The concussion blast could kill them.”

“Do you see that, Andrews?” Russo said, pointing to the frothing ocean ahead, which was littered with fleshy chunks.

“That is our creature feeding on those sharks. This is our best opportunity to stun and tag it.”

“What about the people?”

“Grow up, Andrews! We both know anyone in the water amongst all that carnage is likely already dead. I refuse to jeopardise a multimillion dollar mission because a couple of tourists picked the wrong spot to go fishing.”

“Package is in the water, sir,” Mito said, giving Andrews a cold glare.

“Good. Prepare for launch.”

“Didn’t you hear me? We need to get those people out of there before you do anything. You have to see reason.”

“And how exactly do you propose we do that? Are
you
willing to swim down and help them out?”

Andrews answered with silence, and looked at the deck.

“Just what I thought. If you don’t think two potential casualties is a fair price to complete this mission, I misjudged you.”

“Tell that to their families, Russo. What if it was you?”

Russo shook his head and snorted. “Please, don’t bother to try to appeal to my human nature.”

Andrews took a quick step forward, snatched the remote controller from Russo, and held it out over the side of the boat. In the same instant, Russo pulled out his gun and aimed it at Andrews’s face.

“Back off, I’ll drop it, I swear.”

Russo smiled, his hand unwavering. “Well, this is an interesting development. It seems you may have a backbone after all, Andrews.”

“Look, I’m not trying to stop you, I just can’t let you do this until those people are out of the water.”

“Even if they’re already dead?”

“Yeah.”

“I see,” Russo said, offering a small smile.

“The way I see it,” Andrews said, “is that you don’t really have a choice here. I know this mission is important to you. Get those people out of the water, and I’ll give you back the control.”

“You’re sweating.” Russo replied, his gaze unwavering.

“It’s hot. What do you say?”

“We could do it your way and risk losing time and possibly our only chance to tag this creature. Or you can give me the controls and pretend this entire situation never happened.”

Andrews shook his head. “I can’t do that.”

“The other alternative is I can shoot you in the head right now.”

“Then you’d lose the controls.”

Russo grinned, and Andrews felt a stab of fear tingle down his spine.

“True,” he said as he adjusted his grip on the gun. “I could ask Mito to get the backup unit and it would be business as usual.”

“You can’t bluff me. I know this business too well. You seem to forget that. You already told me the other unit isn’t modified for underwater use.”

“It isn’t, but that’s irrelevant. I’m talking about a reserve control unit, not the weapon itself.”

“You wouldn’t have a gun on me if you had a second controller. I know you better than you think.”

“I have a gun on you as a matter of principal, and I would shoot you without hesitation just for the fact that you tried to do something so stupid.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Go right ahead. Drop the control overboard. See what happens.”

“Are you really willing to kill another government agent over a fish?”

“Are you really prepared to give your life for people who you have never met, who are probably dead already? The longer you delay the more chance our fish has of escaping. Now please, hand over the control. I won’t ask again.”

Andrews looked at his hand, and realised that a few pounds of pressure either released by him or applied by Russo, would probably result in him losing his life. For as much as he had grown to hate Russo, he did have a point. There was no reason for him to protect these people who he didn’t know. He had his own life, a good job with good benefits, and even if this particular mission was going all kinds of wrong, the sooner it was over, the sooner he could get back to the real world. He held the control out to Russo, who lowered the gun.

“See? I knew you’d see things my way. People always do.”

He turned to Mito. “Is it ready to launch?”

“Yes sir.”

“Well, let’s see if our toy works.”