“Fuck you, old man,” Kinsey said, punching her father in the shoulder.
“Ow,” Thorne said. “Why the hell did she get highlights?”
“Only two reasons,” Kinsey said. “To impress other women or to get the attention of a guy.”
“Great,” Thorne said. “More fucking drama.”
“Oh, I’m pretty sure Darby doesn’t do drama,” Kinsey said. “So don’t worry about anything like that.”
Thorne looked about. “No gear? You didn’t stop and pick up clothing or anything?”
“Darby said that wasn’t in the plan,” Kinsey said. “We’ll pick up what we need at our next port, wherever the fuck that is.”
“Well, get down and get some chow in the mess if you’re hungry,” Thorne said then sighed.
“Yeah, it sucks,” Kinsey said. “Food isn’t the same without Beau yelling at the cooks.”
“He was a good Chief Steward,” Thorne said. “Maybe Darren can take his place.”
“Ha ha,” Kinsey said. “Darren still crying about Lake not letting him be captain?”
“Every fucking minute,” Thorne said. He put his arm around Kinsey and led her to the hatchway and below deck. “And that’s something we need to talk about. Ballantine and I had a chat and there will be a couple changes around here.”
“Changes?” Kinsey asked.
“You’ll see,” Thorne said. “Let’s get you to your quarters so you can clean up and be ready for the meeting.”
***
“I’m sure you all are wondering-” Ballantine started, but was quickly booed quiet. “What? You haven’t wanted to say that?”
“Get on with it,” Max said. “Shitty day doesn’t need to get shittier.”
“Well, it’s going to,” Ballantine said as he sat down at the head of the coffee table and looked at everyone.
Thorne, Kinsey, Gunnar, Darren, the Reynolds, Lucy, and Darby sat at the table while Lake leaned against the wall. Ballantine didn’t bother to tell him to take a seat, something everyone was very aware of.
“I’m going to rip the bandage off first,” Ballantine said. “It has been decided that the Beowulf III will have a new captain. Everyone please congratulate, Captain Lake.”
There was stunned silence as all eyes fell on Darren.
“Are you shitting me?” Darren asked, his eyes turning to Ballantine. Then to Lake. “Marty? Is this shit real?”
“It’s real, Darren,” Lake said. “But it wasn’t my idea, just so you know.”
“It’s true,” Thorne said. “It was my idea.”
“You fucking asshole,” Darren said as he stood up quickly. Then promptly sat down from the head rush and dizziness.
“That is one reason why,” Thorne said. “The other reason is it won’t work having the captain out on missions with the Team when he should be on the bridge. You can’t do both.”
“Did anyone think to ask me what job I wanted?” Darren asked. “I’ve been Captain for a long time now.”
“And it’s time you let someone else take that burden,” Ballantine said, nodding at Lake. “Thank you, Captain Lake. You can get back to the bridge now. I’ll make sur
e
Miste
r
Chambers understands all the reasons why the decision was made.”
“You better,” Lake said then looked at Darren. “I didn’t ask for it. Know that.”
Then he left and heads turned from Ballantine to Darren and back.
“We need you as an operator, not a captain,” Ballantine said. “Things have gotten a lot more complicated for Team Grendel and the Beowulf III. Focus is the key to our survival.”
“From the Colende cartel, right?” Shane asked.
“From all the cartels,” Ballantine said. “And other various organizations.”
“What other organizations?” Max asked.
“The company isn’t the only player on the scene,” Ballantine said. “We have gotten the attention of various entities that would prefer we go away.”
“So we all have targets on our backs?” Kinsey asked. “Is that it?”
“The company will do what it can to keep those targets off, but yes,” Ballantine nodded. “I personally have zero faith in the company to protect us any longer.”
“Because we’ve been so safe since we started working for you,” Darren laughed. “At least this time we weren’t betrayed.”
“Not 100% true,” Dr. Morganton said as she walked into the meeting room. “Sorry I was late. Had to make a couple final adjustments on Mike’s new prosthetics.”
She stepped aside and Mike walked in. He was a little halting, but otherwise his gait was smooth.
“Holy C3PO,” Max said as his brother whistled.
“Don’t be dicks,” Gunnar said as he smiled at Mike. “Nice look.”
“Thanks,” Mike said as he stood there looking down at the lower parts of his legs.
The prosthetics were far from Popeye’s simple, yet high-tech, peg leg. From the knees down Mike’s legs were solid metal, shaped like real legs. He took a step forward and there was the slight sound of gyros, but if he’d been wearing pants instead of shorts no one would have noticed he was a double amputee.
“He’ll need to work with them for a good few months before I green light him for active duty,” Dr. Morganton said. “But for all intents and purposes, Michael Pearlman is a whole man again.”
“Except when I go to bed at night,” Mike said. “Then they come off.”
“We aren’t at full integration technology yet,” Dr. Morganton said. “But, with some help, we’ll get there.”
“Hopefully,” Mike said. “Carlos had designed the first prototype for Popeye, but he didn’t like it and wanted something simpler. Lucky for me Carlos is OCD and made a matching set.”
“It is impressive technology,” Dr. Morganton said. “Ballantine has been lucky to keep Carlos to himself.”
Everyone at the table stared at her and she took full notice.
“I, uh, will let you carry on with your meeting,” Dr. Morganton said. “I have a lot of work to do down in the Toyshop. I hope to maybe talk to each of you at dinner later.”
“Of course you will,” Ballantine said, giving each person at the table, except for Darby, a stern look.
“Right. Dinner,” Shane said.
“Which Beau won’t be in charge of,” Max added.
“Yes, well...” Dr. Morganton trailed off. She nodded and left quickly.
“That was rude,” Ballantine said.
“No shit,” Max replied. “Isn’t this all her fault?”
“No, I meant you all were rude,” Ballantine said. “That woman has been in deep cover for over a year. We let McCarthy go so her family and the world hopefully, will think she’s dead. Let that sink in before you blame her for anything that has happened. Without her quick thinking Espanoza wouldn’t have been stopped.”
“Just explain it to them,” Thorne said.
Ballantine nodded and stood up. He started to pace around the briefing room.
“Lisa was in charge of our advanced bio-alternative mechanics division at the company,” Ballantine said. “That included everything from prosthetics, as you saw, to full size vehicles like the whale sub. There is no one in the field with her skills or genius. Which made her a prime target for outside influence.” Ballantine smiled. “But, Lisa is not one to be influenced easily, so when she was approached by Espanoza to work with McCarthy and offered an obscene amount of money, she came to me.”
“How much is obscene?” max asked. “Just for reference.”
“More than you can imagine,” Ballantine said and pointed a finger at Max as he started to respond. “Don’t say what I think you’re going to say.”
“You already played the Star Wars card with the ‘Holy C3PO’ comment,” Shane said.
“I was going for a theme,” Max replied.
“Boys, shut the fuck up,” Thorne ordered. They did. “Keep going, Ballantine.”
“It was my idea for her to take Espanoza’s offer since I had an idea of what the project might lead to,” Ballantine said. “McCarthy had been in the Colende cartel’s pocket for years and was known for running drugs up and down the coast.”
“Which I still find hard to stomach,” Thorne said. “The man was a SEAL.”
“We all have our price, Commander,” Ballantine said. “McCarthy’s was surprisingly low.”
Thorne grumbled, but didn’t add anything.
“Once Lisa knew what she was being hired to do, she was able to dig a little deeper,” Ballantine said. “The Colende cartel had developed a formula that to the naked test looked exactly like cocaine.”
“No shit,” Gunnar said.
“As Gunnar figured out,” Ballantine said. “But as Darren found out the hard way, it didn’t act like cocaine.”
“It acted more like meth on steroids,” Kinsey said.
“You are closer than you think,” Ballantine said. “It was designed to increase the addictive components of cocaine by nearly 100 times, but be undetectable. The cartel’s plan has been to cut the cocaine they send to market with the substance so they can make even more money while also creating a new class of addict.”
“Rich junkies,” Kinsey laughed. “Of course. Good idea.”
“Right again,” Ballantine said, pointing at Kinsey. “The quality of cocaine it was to be added to wasn’t going to the street, but staying in the boardrooms and bedrooms of the Southern California elite. If Espanoza had executed his plan fully, most of Hollywood, and Silicone Valley up north would have been in his clutches by the end of the year. They would have done anything for him just to get more of their drug.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Darren exclaimed. “Am I addicted now? I don’t feel addicted!”
“No, you didn’t take the finished product,” Ballantine said. “You took the additive. It certainly messed with you, as you know, but it only boosts the addictive components of cocaine once combined.”
“Except for the sharks, “Gunnar said. “Their unique genetics created instant addiction. It’s a compound that goes straight to the adrenal cortex while also hitting the limbic system. It drove them mad in seconds.”
“So what does this have to do with the sharks attacking the subs? They did that before they got the drugs in their bodies,” Kinsey said. “There were plenty of adolescent blue whales up and down the coast they could have gone after. If they hadn’t hit the subs then none of this would have happened.”
“Unfortunately, that was my fault,” Ballantine said. “The development of the whale subs first began within the company as decoys to lure in the sharks we have been hired to hunt and kill.”
“Hired by a client that created the fucking things,” Thorne said.
“Quite true,” Ballantine nodded. “The subs emit a signal that can be heard for hundreds of miles. With the client’s help, Dr. Morganton was able to make a signal that only attracted sharks that fit a certain genetic profile.”
“It only called the clones?” Max asked. “Are you shitting me?”
“I shit you not,” Ballantine said. He finally stopped pacing and sat back down. “Listen, all of you, there are things about the company, and the world at large, that would drive you insane if you knew about them. I’ll do my best to shield you from what you don’t need to know, while also letting you in on information, whether I’m allowed to or not, that I believe you do need to know.”
“How nice of you,” Thorne said.
“Trust me, Commander, there are things you don’t want in your head,” Ballantine said.
Darby snorted and they all looked at her, but she just stared back until one by one they turned away. Except for Max.
“Hey, did you do something to your hair?” he asked. Darby barely smiled, but didn’t reply.
“Ah, I thought I noticed a change,” Ballantine said. “The new look becomes you, Darby.”
Darby’s smile faltered then left completely.
“Where was I?” Ballantine asked.
“Protecting our delicate sensibilities,” Thorne said.
“Yes, thank you,” Ballantine smirked. “The reality is, folks, that Team Grendel is on the radar and will stay there for who knows how long. The Beowulf III is now your home until I can rest assured that you can live normal lives, well, normal for you, without ending up dead in your sleep, in a parking lot, watching a movie, out to dinner, walking in the park, or wherever whoever may strike. It is not ideal, but then nothing rarely is.”
“So what now?” Darren asked. “We just float at sea until the coast is clear?”
“No, hardly, Darren,” Ballantine said. “We keep on with our jobs of finding the rest of the genetically manipulated creatures out there, while also performing that research and hunt you have spent most of your adult life obsessed with.”
“No fucking way,” Max said.
“We’re still going to go after Moby Dick?” Shane asked.
“Don’t call it that,” Darren muttered.
“The whale species, as you know from our time in Somalia, is real,” Ballantine said. “And is more important than I can say right now. Darren will get to do what he’s wanted to do and search for another, while Team Grendel does what it’s supposed to do and kill monsters. And not just sharks. Let me stress that. There are way more things out there than what swims in the sea. Mega monsters come in all shapes and sizes. And live everywhere.”
“Yeah, I just shit myself a little,” Max said.