Mega 3: When Giants Collide (Mega Series) (5 page)

“We’re going to drown it?” Hek asked.

“We’re going to try,” the captain said. “Ain’t nothing else we can do.”

***

“So there were the twins,” Tank Top said as he wiped the blood from his knuckles, “the crazy bitch and the drunk chick. Then the golf pro and the old man showed up, is that right?”

“They aren’t twins,” Linny said through swollen lips. Her face was a patchy, puffy mess of bruises and cuts from Tank Top’s fist. “Just brothers.”

Tank Top popped her again right between the eyes. Linny gasped, but didn’t cry out, as her crying out days was done.

“You see what I’m doing?” Tank Top grinned. “I learned this technique from an ex-general in the Chinese military. Now, those guys know how to interrogate someone. The trick is to randomize your hits, keep the subject off balance and always guessing when and where the pain is going to come from next.”

“Fuck you,” Linny spat.

“That would have been an option at one time or another,” Tank Top said, “unfortunately, I don’t have the equipment for it anymore. Still got my balls, which helps keep my aggression up, but I have to piss through a prosthetic and fuck with my mouth. You have no idea how good I am at giving head, lady.”

“You sick fuck,” Linny grunted as she tried to shift her weight. Another pop from Tank Top then another and another made her give up on trying to get more comfortable.

“How many back on the ship?” Tank Top asked. “Your boyfriend ever mention any numbers?”

“Just the number one,” Linny said as she raised her middle finger.

Tank Top grabbed it and snapped it off her hand, then jammed the digit into her right eye.

“He’s missing his right eye, yes?” Tank Top smiled as he watched Linny claw at the finger and try to pull it free from her orbital socket. “Now you two match.”

Tank Top stood up and walked over to the Land Cruiser. He looked into the cargo area at the man that sat there bleeding from his foot.

“You good, Slaps?” Tank Top asked the man.

“I’ll live,” Slaps replied, a hairy beast of a man with a full, bushy beard and tufts of dark black hair peeking out from everywhere. “Can I kill the cunt when you’re done?”

“Sure,” Tank Top said, “be my guest.”

“What? Now?” Slaps asked.

“Yeah, I think so,” Tank Top said.

“We get to have some fun with her first?” one of the other men asked.

Tank Top turned and studied the man for a second then smiled wide.

“You bet, Took,” Tank Top replied. “If that’s your thing.”

Took was a skinny man held together with wiry muscles and bone. His face nearly split from his head when he smiled back at Tank Top and hopped out of the Land Cruiser. He walked with a strutting swagger as he moved towards the broken form of Linny lying against the tire of her Jeep.

“Let me help you out,” Tank Top said to Slaps as he went around and opened the back hatch. “Just lean on me. Got your pistol?”

“Right here,” Slaps said.

Tank Top helped Slaps out then assisted him while he hobbled over to Linny. The woman lay there cursing up at Took as the man took off his belt and unzipped his pants. He pulled out his cock and waved it in front of Linny’s face.

“You’re gonna be nice,” Took said. “I haven’t had a hot piece like you in a while.”

“You like to rape ‘em, Took?” Tank Top asked.

“Yeah, man,” Took laughed, “ain’t no fun when they give it up.”

“No fun for whom?” Tank Top asked.

Took looked over at his boss and frowned, his cock still out and in his hand.

“Whom? What is this? English class?” Took asked.

He screamed as Tank Top reached out and grabbed him by his hard cock then twisted with all of his strength.

“More like anatomy class,” Tank Top said, “and physics.”

Tank Top dug his nails into Took’s flesh and yanked back as hard as possible. Took’s cock shredded into nothing but loose strips of bloody meat.

“Slaps,” Tank Top said.

Slaps pulled his 9mm from his hip and put two slugs right between Took’s eyes, then turned the pistol on Linny and did the same to her.

“Sorry about that,” Slaps said as he looked down at Took’s dead body. “Didn’t know he was a rapist. I wouldn’t have recommended him for the job.”

“All cool, Slaps,” Tank Top said. “That shit isn’t always on the resume.” He looked down at Slaps’ foot and frowned. “Let’s get you back to the ship and patched up before the rest of the ships arrive.”

“You think we’re going to need that kind of backup?” Slaps asked as he hobbled back to the Land Cruiser and Tank Top helped him up into the cargo area.

“Not really,” Tank Top said, “but hard to enjoy profits when you’re dead. I’d rather catch these fucks with help than end up at the bottom of the ocean like the rest of the dumb shits that let their egos and greed get in the way.”

“That’s why you’re the boss,” Slaps smiled then grimaced. “Fuck. Getting shot in the foot hurts.”

“First time?” Tank Top asked.

“Getting shot?”

“No, stupid, in the foot,” Tank Top grimaced. “I know you’ve been shot before.”

“Yeah, first time in the foot,” Slaps nodded.

“All those fucking little bones,” Tank Top said then grabbed the hatch. “Look out. Coming down.”

He slammed the back hatch closed then moved around the Land Cruiser and jumped into the driver’s seat. The man in the passenger’s seat looked a little green. He was young and bulked up like a body builder. Tank Top started up the SUV then glanced at the young man.

“You aren’t a rapist, are you, Lug?” Tank Top asked him.

“No, sir,” Lug replied, his voice a little shaky.

“You sure?” Tank Top asked.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Lug said, “but I do pay for it. I don’t mind the whores. Just want to be honest about that.”

“I appreciate that,” Tank Top smiled as he put the Land Cruiser into drive. “Honesty is always the best policy.”

***

“Here’s my theory, and you can take it for what you will,” Thorne continued. “I think word spread that a certain Kinsey Thorne is part of Team Grendel. That word has gotten to the other cartels and they have joined forces to take us out because the junkie Kinsey Thorne spent a good deal of time taking them out while she was strung out on everything known to man.”

Kinsey still didn’t respond.

“Fine,” Thorne said. “I tried to get you to tell me in your own words.”

He reached under his chair and picked up a stack of files then plopped them onto Kinsey’s lap.

“Have a read,” Thorne said. “It’s everything Ballantine has on you. It’s probably more than what the cartels have on you, but I don’t know that for certain. Considering how intertwined they are with the Mexican government, there’s no reason to think they don’t have duplicates of these files as well.”

Kinsey looked down at the files then looked back out at the ocean.

“Open them,” Thorne said.

Kinsey didn’t move.

“Kinsey Thorne, you will open those files and look at what’s inside,” Thorne ordered.

“Or what?” Kinsey snapped.

“Or you’re off the Team,” Thorne said.

Kinsey turned and stared at her father then looked down at the files. She opened the first one and studied the photographs inside. There were some written files, but Kinsey ignored those and only focused on the photos. Once she was done with the first file, she moved onto the next, and the next, and the next. She tossed each finished one onto the deck by her chair until she was through and her lap was empty once again.

“There’re a lot of blood and bodies in those files,” Thorne said. “My count is close to three dozen dead.”

“They were all criminals,” Kinsey said coldly.

“They were, true,” Thorne said, “but does that give you the right to execute them?”

“Who says I did that?” Kinsey shrugged. “I don’t remember doing that.”

“I think you do,” Thorne said. “I think the reason you spiraled so low, but never died of an overdose is because you gave yourself a cause. You got to kill bad guys and feed your habit. You murdered those men then stole their drugs. That’s not really what is getting to me, though.”

“Oh? What is getting to you, Daddy?” Kinsey sneered. “Please tell me.”

“It’s the level of violence,” Thorne said. “There is a rage in those photos that scares me, Kins. You are a trained killer, but the person that did that was a wild animal. There was no training, just butchery.”

“They deserved it,” Kinsey said.
“
The
y
were the animals.”

“Maybe,” Thorne nodded, “but those animals had friends and now their friends are coming to put you down. Ballantine has confirmed that some of the ships pursuing us are being financed by several cartels. You are a demon in their circles and they mean to exorcise you.”

“Why?” Kinsey asked. “Why spend the money for one person? Why go to all of this trouble for just me?”

“It’s not just you,” Thorne said. “They are coming for us because of what we’ve done. They are coming for Ballantine because of God knows what he’s done, and they are coming for you because of what you’ve done. These people have many reasons to kill us, and it just happens that one of those reasons is my own daughter, because she got a taste for warped justice.”

“I got a taste for high quality heroin and cocaine,” Kinsey laughed. “The justice was just a perk.”

“See,” Thorne smiled. “That is the honesty I need from you.”

“Honesty?” Ballantine asked as he climbed the stairs up to the observation deck. “Be careful, that’s a dangerous game to play. Trust me, I’ve never been honest a day in my life.”

***

“I don’t think this is a good idea, Captain!” Peter yelled as he helped Hek throw the last net off the stern of the fishing boat. “That thing is big enough to take us under!”

“Nonsense!” the captain yelled back as he finished baiting a thick fishing hook and tossed the line out into the water. “This baby is 15 meters long! No shark can pull this under!”

Hek watched as the net sank below the boat’s wake. He shook his head and pulled a long knife from his boot. Peter looked at the blade then pulled his own.

“We cut loose the second this goes to hell,” Hek said. “I don’t know what the captain is thinking.”

“He wants to catch it,” Peter replied. “The crazy bastard wants to catch the fucking thing.”

Hek’s eyes grew wide and he looked back at the captain. The man stood on the deck and grinned from ear to ear as he studied the water all around them.

“This ain’t good,” Hek said just as the boat lurched. “What was that?”

Before Peter could answer, the whole boat came to a full stop as the aft end was ripped from the rest of the boat.

“Fuck!” Hek yelled as he scrambled across the deck towards the wheelhouse. “Fuck!”

He looked over his shoulder and saw the captain gripping onto the side rail while he watched Peter slide down the deck and into the open water.

“Grab him!” Hek yelled at the captain. “Stop being a coward and grab him!”

Peter screamed then was lost in the churning water behind the boat. The captain just stood there, nothing but pure terror on his face.

A well of anger built in Hek’s stomach and he was about to shout at the captain again when in the blink of an eye, the man was no longer there. Neither was that part of the boat.

Hek felt warm piss run down his leg as the world around him was turned up on end and he was suddenly face to jaws with a shark that was bigger than any prehistoric nightmare the Discovery Channel could come up with.

***

Ballantine looked at the stack of files on the deck then frowned at Thorne.

“I don’t remember giving those to you,” Ballantine said.

“Good, because if you did, then we’d have to have your head checked,” Thorne grinned. “I took them.”

Ballantine studied the Thornes for a good few seconds then laughed.

“Vincent and Kinsey Thorne,” he smiled, “a formidable duo.”

“What brings you up here, Ballantine?” Thorne asked. “Any new intel?”

“Yes, unfortunately,” Ballantine said. “Darby and I have been going over reports of ships missing or damaged. Once we filtered out obvious weather related incidents, we found a bit of a pattern.”

“Let me guess,” Thorne said. “There’s a path of destruction heading our way.”

“There is,” Ballantine said. “The pattern suggests that we have perhaps a day or possibly two before it catches up.”

“What about our other pursuers?” Thorne asked. “Have you found them on the satellite images?”

“Yes, about that,” Ballantine said as he pulled up a chair next to Thorne. “That was what I was coming up here to speak to you about.”