“Hold your breath, Ditcher!” Max yelled at Darren.
“I can hold my breath longer than you!” Darren shouted then took a huge breath, his cheeks poking out like a chipmunk’s full of seeds.
“Keep doing that, buddy,” Shane shouted over the roar of the ocean.
They all took one last breath and braced themselves as the cargo hold filled completely up. Once the hold was full, the pressure equalized and the hatch opened wide. Kinsey swam out fast. She didn’t waste a second thinking about what she had to do, she just did it.
Once out she spun around, looking for the sub and the shark. She found both. The sub was downed and in bad shape while the shark was busy eating it, but Kinsey instantly saw what it was “eating” as white clouds puffed out from its gills. Not good.
And to her great surprise, she also found her father looking up at her from the cockpit hatch of the downed sub. He gave her a thumbs up and waved the oxygen tank at her then took a deep breath from it and waved it again.
Kinsey swam towards him, but as she got to the sub she risked a glance over at the shark. It had stopped its coke gorge and was slowly backing away from the crushed cargo hold. A black eye found her and the shark whipped about, its tail sending it shooting right to her.
Thorne grabbed her and yanked her right on top of him, stuffing the cockpit with Thornes. She had just pulled her legs in when the shark’s jaws snapped closed an inch from the cockpit hatch. Kinsey didn’t waste her opportunity and aimed a pistol up through the hatch. She fired into the shark’s belly as it swam by. The tail had just cleared the hatch when the distant whumping sounds of small explosions found their ears.
Kinsey pushed up through the cockpit and then reached back for her father. He handed her the oxygen tank instead and pointed at it. She nodded, took a grateful hit of oxygen and handed it back. Then she pulled the other channel pistol from her belt and spun around, hunting the murky waters for the monster.
Its blood mixed with the drugs leaking from the cargo hold and the gloom turned a shade of pink, adding a very surreal element to the entire scene. Kinsey didn’t see the monster and she gestured for Thorne to come out. He quickly swam from the cockpit and held out his hand; Kinsey gave him one of the pistols. The two Thornes swam their way to the cargo hold of the waiting sub, their eyes watching for the shark everywhere, but there was still no sign of it.
When they crawled into the cargo hold, Thorne handed the oxygen tank to Shane. He took a deep breath then handed it to Max as Moshi forced the hatch closed and started to pump the water out. Max took his breath then jammed the mask against Darren’s face. The man shook his head, pointed to his puffed out cheeks and than gave a thumbs up.
Thorne looked at Kinsey and she just shrugged. Once there was enough room for their heads, Max yanked Darren up to the air so he could breathe. But he didn’t, just kept holding the same breath, a tight lipped smirk on his face.
Kinsey punched him in the nose. He breathed.
“Hey!” he shouted. “I was winning! I WAS WINNING!”
He started to take a swing at Kinsey, but she just head butted him between the eyes again and he rocked back, stunned.
“No!” she yelled, wagging her finger in his face as if he was bad dog that had gotten into the trash. “No, ‘Ren! No more fighting!”
Darren glared at her and began to struggle some then the skin around his eyes started to twitch, followed by the corners of his mouth. In a split second he was in a full seizure and it took Kinsey, Max and Shane to hold him down as the last of the water pumped out of the hold.
“What the hell is happening?” Thorne asked.
“Too much coke,” Kinsey said.
“You said it wasn’t coke,” Max said then saw the look Kinsey gave him. “Right. Not the time to quibble.”
“He’s seizing and if we don’t get him some help he could fry his brain,” Kinsey said. Then Darren stopped shaking and his whole body went limp. Kinsey immediately checked his pulse. “Or he could die!”
She started to do chest compressions, but the specialized wetsuit fought her.
“Get this shit off him!” Kinsey yelled as she tilted his head back, pinched his nose, and blew.
Max and Shane struggled to get the wetsuit off, but they were only able to get it down his chest and arms before Kinsey shoved him out of the way. She pounded on his chest four times then straddled him and began chest compressions once more.
“What can we do?” Shane asked.
“Fucking pray!” Kinsey said as she leaned in and gave Darren mouth to mouth once more.
“Uh...hello?” Moshi’s little voice asked. “The shark is back. I am taking us to the surface, but it will probably catch us.”
“Fuck,” Thorne said. “I am so fucking done with monster sharks.”
***
As the meat cleaver fell towards Mike’s arm, Diego screamed, his head upturned, his neck muscles bulging. The cleaver came down just above Mike’s shoulder, nicking him some, but leaving his arm intact. Mike shoved Diego away and the man stumbled back.
“Fuck you, asshole,” Beau said, yanking his meat cleaver out of Diego’s leg as the man fell to the ground. “And fuck your leg.”
Diego’s left leg was hanging by a thread at the knee. Beau severed that thread. Diego screamed again and took a swipe at Beau with the meat cleaver he still held. Beau ducked under the swipe then came up, both hands on his cleaver, and slammed the massive knife into Diego’s other knee. There was a pop and the leg came free from the knee down.
Diego’s screams intensified and he swung back with his own cleaver, catching Beau in the side. The Chief Steward fell away and dropped his cleaver; his hands went to his side and he tried to hold back the gush of blood, but it just streamed from between his fingers.
“You fucking asshole,” Beau said as he collapsed all the way to the floor. “You fucking, fucking asshole...”
His head rested against the cold metal floor and his eyes glazed over as the life left him.
Diego kept screaming and swiping with the knife even though there was no one to fight. He looked up and saw Mike staring at him from the table.
“I WILL FUCKING EAT YOUR SOUL!” Diego screamed. “I WILL SWALLOW IT WHOLE, YOU FUCKING PUNTA!”
“Yeah, you do that,” Mike grinned. “Why don’t you stand up and come get me.”
He looked down at the still form of Beau and sighed then looked over at Gunnar, as the man lay against the pallet, still unconscious.
“Fuck,” Mike said as he lifted himself up by his arms and started to swing forwards and backwards. “Guess it’s up to me.”
He aimed his body away from Diego and launched off the table, landing hard on the floor just past Beau’s corpse. Diego lashed out with the meat cleaver, but Mike tucked and rolled out of range. Diego spat and foamed at the mouth, hurling Spanish expletives like a monkey flung feces, but Mike ignored the man as he worked his way over to his wheelchair. He climbed up and then spun it around to face Diego.
“I don’t know what’s in that shit,” Mike said. “But it’s bad news, hombre. I think you need to get clean.”
Mike wheeled over to an AK-47 and picked it up. He checked the magazine, slapped it back in, pulled back the action, then took aim at Diego.
“Uh, hello there, Mr. Pearlman,” Ballantine’s voice said from the PA system. “Please don’t do that.”
“Did you see what this fucker did?” Mike shouted, recognizing Ballantine’s voice as he looked about for the video camera.
“I saw it all,” Ballantine replied. “And he will die for what he did. But for now we need him alive. Can you do that?”
“Keep him alive? No, I’m not a doctor,” Mike responded. “And the way he’s bleeding he won’t last long. So how about giving me the satisfaction of killing him?”
“While I’d normally agree, this time I have to ask you to refrain,” Ballantine said. “Is Gunnar wearing his com?”
“I don’t know,” Mike said. “I’m across the room and can’t tell.”
“Well, we’re about to find out,” Ballantine chuckled.
There was a pause and then Mike could hear a faint whining. Gunnar’s eyes shot open and he jumped up from the pallet, clawing at his ear.
“WHAT THE FUCK?” he shouted. The whining stopped. “Jesus, what was that?”
“I apologize, Dr. Peterson,” Ballantine said from the PA. “I needed you awake. How is your arm and your side?”
Gunnar looked about the room, his eyes finding Mike then Diego and finally Beau.
“Gunnar?” Ballantine asked again. “How are you?”
“What the fuck happened to Beau?” Gunnar asked Mike.
“Gunnar!” Ballantine shouted. “We’ll grieve later! Right now I need to know your medical status!”
Gunnar froze for a moment, shook his head, then looked at his arm “It’s a through and through,” he replied. “No broken bones, but it’s useless right now.”
“The bleeding? Can you stop the bleeding?”
“Yeah, I can do that,” Gunnar replied. “I’ll get right on that.”
“Are you bleeding bad?” Ballantine asked.
“No, not bad,” Gunnar said. “I can tie it off and that’ll hold until I can stitch it up.”
“And Mr. Pearlman? How are you?” Ballantine asked.
Mike looked at his wound and grinned. “It’s a graze. Already stopped bleeding.”
“Good,” Ballantine said. “Help Gunnar tie off his wound fast then save Mr. Fernandez’s life.”
Gunnar had started to walk towards Mike, but he stopped and looked around for the PA speaker. “Are you fucking nuts? I’m not saving that fuck!”
“I actually need you to, Gunnar,” Ballantine said. “Please. You seem to forget that we are surrounded by half the Mexican Navy. If we want to survive this then I need leverage. And Mr. Fernandez is all the leverage we have. That and the cocaine.”
“It’s not cocaine,” Gunnar said. “It’s something designed to mimic cocaine. Even down to a chemical test. But there isn’t a molecule of cocaine in that shit.”
“Hmmmm,” Ballantine said. “I sometimes underestimate your scientific abilities. I apologize for that. Now, please save Mr. Fernandez’s life. El Serpiente is key to us not getting blown out of the water.”
“Fine,” Gunnar said. “But I get to kill him when the time comes.”
“There will be a long list for that privilege, I’m afraid,” Ballantine said.
“Put my name at the top,” Gunnar replied as he clutched his wounded arm and walked to the supply cabinets.
***
Kinsey nearly cried when Darren gasped for breath. Max immediately put the oxygen mask over Darren’s mouth and nose. He cranked the valve and Darren sucked deeply.
“You’ll be fine,” Kinsey said, leaning close and whispering in his ear. “You’re going to be fine.”
He mumbled something, but it was hard to understand either due to the mask or Darren’s drug induced incoherence. Kinsey kissed him on the cheek then sat up and took a deep breath of her own.
“You have wounded the shark considerably, Kinsey,” Moshi’s voice said. “It is not gaining on us.”
“Good,” Kinsey replied as she wiped the sweat from her forehead. “Hopefully the fucker will just die.”
There was a jolt and everyone tensed, waiting for the sounds of the sub being attacked. Instead, they felt a change in the pressure and the hatch opened to the ocean air above.
“Moshi?” Kinsey asked.
“Here it comes,” Moshi said. “Please finish it.”
Kinsey didn’t have to be told twice. She held out her hands and Thorne slapped a channel pistol in one while Shane slapped a second in the other. She nodded to the men, stood up and pulled herself outside.
The sun was starting to set and it hit Kinsey that she had woken up in her own bed just that morning. Or at least she had woken up in Gunnar’s guest bed. Back in a condo that was destroyed. She realized it was probably a good time to go apartment hunting.
But she had something else she needed to hunt for first.
“Hey!” she yelled down into the hatch. “Toss me up Darren’s wetsuit!”
Shane yanked it off Darren’s legs then tossed it onto the top of the sub. Kinsey put both pistols into her belt, bent down, grabbed the wetsuit and threw it as far out into the water as she could. Without hesitating, she grabbed the pistols once more and was ready when the shark came exploding out of the water, its mouth chomping down on the wetsuit.
The shark was leaking blood and seawater from the gaping wounds in its belly, yet the thing was still terrifying. But not terrifying enough for Kinsey to hesitate from emptying both pistols. Despite the gun’s design limitations, Kinsey hit the mark with every round. Its right pectoral fin was shredded as the rounds slammed into it. Then one by one, the rounds exploded and the shark was ripped in half.
Blood and gore burst towards Kinsey and she didn’t have to time to duck and cover. She was dripping with shark when Shane climbed out of the cargo hold.
“Nice look, Sis,” Shane said, wiping the yuck from Kinsey’s face. “It suits you.”
“Go fuck a whale, cuz,” Kinsey said. She looked at the pistols. “Remind me to let Carlos know that in the right hands the pistols work out of water. He needs to duplicate that with the rifles.”