Mega 3: When Giants Collide (Mega Series) (27 page)

“Yeah, sure, this way,” Darren said as he turned back to the entrance corridor.

***

“That’s a lot of blood,” Max said from the railing, his sniper rifle trained on the darkening  water below, “and you know what happens when there is blood in the water.”

Darby looked up at him from the rope ladder hanging over the side of the ship. “I’ll be fine.”

“Oh, I know that,” Max laughed, “just making an observation.”

Darby sighed and a small smile played across her lips. “Max? I’ll be fine. Do you hear me? I am going to be just fine.”

“Yeah, of course,” Max said, “you always are.”

Darby put her mustache in place, winked at him then let go of the ladder and dropped the rest of the way into the water. Max watched her go under then bob back to the surface a second later. He gave her a thumbs up and she returned it just before she dove under and was lost from sight.

“She’ll be fine,” Ingrid said. “I’ve known her longer than you and I can say that no one knows how to survive better than Darby. Well, except for maybe Ballantine.”

“That guy is a human cockroach,” Max said, “and by that, I mean he is fucking hard to kill. I’m not saying he’s a pest that needs to be stomped on with a heavy boot. Although, sometimes, I wouldn’t mind if I could grind his ass under me heel now and again.”

“Max?” Ingrid asked.

“Yeah?” he replied.

“Darby will be fine,” she smiled.

He started to reply then only smiled back and nodded.

***

Thorne pulled himself up onto the lagoon’s small beach and then collapsed onto his back and closed his eyes for a second. He quickly opened his eyes as a shadow fell across his face. He barely rolled out of the way, as a boot came down right where his head had been.

“You’re gonna be my way off this piece of shit island,” Gil snarled as he chased the rolling Thorne across the sand, one boot stomp at a time. “Now hold the fuck still!”

Thorne stopped rolling and flipped his legs around, taking Gil out at the knees. The big merc fell to the ground and Thorne started to lunge at him, but the rifle barrel that was shoved in his face stopped him cold.

“I should squeeze a round into your brain,” Gil said. “Then take that silly suit you have and swim over to that ship of yours. I’ll be up on deck before they know I’m not you and then the fun will really start.”

“Then why don’t you?” Thorne asked.

“Because I still need something,” Gil said. “I need Ballantine, and knowing that prick, I’m betting your Team will trade the crazy fuck for you in a heartbeat. Ballantine doesn’t exactly instill loyalty.”

“You’d be surprised,” Thorne said as he glanced over at the B3. “You’re basing your assumption on your time with the man. Our time with him has been vastly different.”

“Vastly?” Gil laughed. “I fucking doubt that. Anyone that spends any amount of time with the man knows-”

Half of Gil’s head vaporized into a mist of blood and brains. Thorne didn’t even flinch as he wiped some of the goop from his cheek and stood up. Gil’s corpse slumped over and Thorne bent down to pick up the M4 when Max’s voice exploded in his ear.

“You see that, Ingrid? I fucking nailed that bitch in mid-sentence. That’s how you take out a bad guy. You don’t wait until their monologue is done. You use the monologue as a natural distraction.”

“Max? The coms are back up,” Thorne said.

“Uncle Vinny? Well, son of a bitch, they are,” Max replied. “How’d you like that shot?”

“It was one of my personal favorites,” Thorne said, “but forget the fucking shot for now. How about you figure out a way to get me off this fucking beach.”

Thorne looked out at the water and the churning chaos of the battle that still waged.

“I’m sure as fuck not swimming my way over there,” Thorne said.

“True,” Max said. “I’ll get a Zodiac and come get ya.”

“The fuck you will,” Darby interrupted over the com. “You can barely walk. No way you can climb into a Zodiac and pilot it over there.”

“But you can, Darby!” Ingrid said. “The power is back on! I can remotely activate the pineapples again! You get up here and take the Zodiac to go get the commander!”

“On my way,” Darby said.

Thorne watched as the waters suddenly went still.

“Better hurry,” he said.

***

“That does it!” Carlos said. “It’s fixed!”

“Thanks to Moshi,” Cougher said. “So don’t even try to take her glory.”

“Yes, well, if she had calibrated her device properly then it wouldn’t have shut down the engines,” Carlos said.

“Shut up,” Cougher said, “and get out of my engine room.”

“I can’t,” Carlos said as he looked at all the metal sheeting that had been removed from the power equipment. “We need to reshield everything.”

“Are you insane?” Cougher said. “After what just happened?”

“Cougher?” Lake slurred over the com. “Good work.”

“Thanks,” Cougher said. “What’s going on up there?”

There was no answer.

“Lake?” Cougher asked.

Still no answer. Then a long, loud snore filled the com.

“Fuck,” Cougher said as he looked at Moshi and Carlos. “Can you two handle it down here? I better get on the bridge and relieve Lake, or there’s no one driving this boat.”

“Yeah, get out,” Carlos snapped then backed up as Cougher jammed a finger in his face.

“Do not break my engines again,” Cougher said. “If you do, then you get fed to the monster shark. Got me?”

“Yes, yes, whatever,” Carlos said. Cougher ran off and Carlos turned to Moshi. “Like I could break any of this primitive equipment.”

Moshi raised her eyebrows.

“Oh, shut up and get to work,” he snapped at her.

***

Ingrid helped get the last Zodiac lowered into the water, watched Darby speed off across the light waves, and then turned her attention back to her tablet.

“Darby? Do you read me?” Ingrid asked.

“Loud and clear,” Darby replied.

“We may not have much time,” Ingrid said. “I don’t see the shark anywhere. As soon as you get Thorne, then race back here so I can activate the- Holy shit!”

The ship shuddered.

“Ingrid?” Darby asked over the com. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know,” Ingrid replied. “Something hit the ship.”

“Shark,” Max said as he looked over the side of the ship and into the water below. “Big, fucking shark.” He straightened up and grimaced at Ingrid. “I’d say we need a bigger boat, but I don’t think a bigger boat would make a fucking difference. We’re totally fucked if that thing breaches the hull.”

“Darby?” Ingrid said.

“I heard,” Darby replied. “Moving as fast as I can.”

“I’m swimming to you,” Thorne said over the com.

“No, stay put!” Max shouted as he focused his scope on his uncle. “You get back in that water and you’re shark food!”

“No time to argue,” Thorne said. “Ingrid needs to activate the pineapples. She can’t do that while I’m in this lagoon. I’m swimming out to Darby.”

The ship shuddered once more.

“What the fuck is happening?” Cougher asked as he came up on deck.

“Shark,” Max and Ingrid replied together.

“Great,” Cougher said. “I better take the wheel and get us the fuck out of here.”

“We wait for my uncle and Darby,” Max said.

“Like fuck we do,” Cougher said as he took the steps up to the bridge two at a time. “We move this fucking ship, is what we do.”

Max was about to respond when the ship was rocked so hard that he tumbled from his stool and cracked his head on the deck.

“Ow,” he said.

“You okay?” Ingrid asked.

“Yeah,” Max said. “I just hope everyone else is. I hate it when we split up.”

“Me too,” Ingrid replied then went back to checking her tablet. “Max?”

“I know, I know,” he said as he sat up, ignoring the pain in his leg and his head. “You do what you have to do to save the ship.”

Ingrid smiled weakly and nodded. “Okay. I’m going up with Cougher so I can watch the sonar. I’m sorry, Max.”

“Don’t be,” he said. “They’ll make it.”

***

Gunnar stared as Ronald knelt and carefully rolled Lucy over.

“Uh,” was all Gunnar could say as he stared at the fur-covered creature.

“Yes, he is the gigantopithecus you saw in the atrium, Doctor,” Ballantine smiled. “How very perceptive of you.”

“Uh,” Gunnar replied, “he isn’t wearing pants.”

“Leave it to you to look right at his wang,” Mike said.

“And you didn’t?” Gunnar asked.

“‘Sey? ‘Sey, can you hear me?” Darren asked as he cradled Kinsey’s head on his lap. “Jesus. Look at the bruising on her temple. If I get a hold of the asshole that did this, he’s going to live a very, very long time.”

“I think you have that wrong,” Shane said as he stood over everyone and watched for any stray crewmembers that they may have missed during their first assault. “Pretty sure you’re supposed to shorten the guy’s life.”

“Not with the amount of torture I have planned,” Darren replied.

“Oh, right. Good call,” Shane responded.

“‘Ren?” Kinsey asked as she tried to open her eyes. “‘Ren?”

Darren leaned in and kissed her then pulled back and smiled as he stroked the hair from her face.

“Hey there,” he said, “how you feeling?”

Kinsey’s eyes opened then she closed them quickly and turned her head to puke all over the sand.

“Concussion,” Gunnar said. “Keep her still.”

“Don’t move, ‘Sey,” Darren said.

“Not going to,” she whispered.

“You guys hear that?” Shane asked as he put a finger to his ear. “Are the coms back on?”

“It sounds like it,” Ballantine said then glanced back at the small mountain that lay between them and the other side of the island. “The terrain is blocking the signal.”

“There we go,” Ronald said as he rolled Lucy back again. “I have adjusted the compression suit’s setting so that it is holding her blood pressure in check and also slowing the bleeding in her abdomen. She is not out of the woods, but she should live long enough for us to get her back to the ship.”

“Then let’s load up,” Shane said as he tried hard to listen to the garbled voices that cut through the static on the com. “It’s not sounding good.”

***

Darby brought the Zodiac around as she reached Thorne. She let the motor idle and reached over the side of the raft to help the commander in.

“We have to wait at the gate,” Thorne said, “or there’s no point in setting those pineapples off.”

“Understood,” Darby nodded.

“Uncle Vinny?” Max asked over the com. “You think you two could hurry it up?”

“We’ll do our best,” Thorne replied as Darby took the throttle again and gunned the motor.

She swung the Zodiac around and aimed it towards the gate. As soon as they were outside the lagoon, she slowed the raft and steered it off to the side.

“Hey!” Max yelled. “Where the fuck are you going? Why aren’t you coming this way?”

“Someone has to close the gate,” Thorne replied. “We can’t come right back to the ship. Is Ingrid there?”

“Yes, Commander,” Ingrid replied, “I’m on the bridge.”

“Good,” Thorne said. “Fire off those pineapples and send the thing into lagoon. I’m getting back in the water and I’ll make sure that the gate shuts it in.”

“There’s a problem with that,” Ingrid said. “The shark isn’t headed this way! I don’t know where it’s headed. I can’t find it on the sonar!”

“What?” Max, Darby and Thorne exclaimed just before the Zodiac was launched into the air as the giant shark attacked from below.

***

Mike piloted the burdened Zodiac around the island. With everyone inside, plus the weight of the backups, it was a miracle the raft hadn’t sunk as soon as they pushed off from the beach.

“Oh, shit,” Shane gasped as they all watched the massive shark fall back into the water with the other Zodiac gripped in its jaws. “That’s not fucking good!”

“Marty?” Darren called out on the com. “Do you read me, Lake?”

“Yeah, Lake’s passed out,” Cougher replied. “I’ve got the helm right now.”

“What the fuck did we just see?” Darren asked.

“Thorne and Darby were in the raft,” Ingrid interrupted. “They were waiting to shut the gate after I activate the pineapples, but the shark got to them first instead of coming back at the ship.”

“Back at the ship?” Ballantine asked. “Is there much damage?”