Return to The Deep (From The Deep Book 2) (21 page)

"If you don't help them, they'll die," Clara said, and Russo turned to her. All eyes were on him, and he grinned.

"Not until I get my shot."

"They're innocent people!" She screamed.

"Innocent? Those people interfered in a government operation. They don't deserve my help."

"That's not for you to decide, they need to be tried in a court."

Russo's grin faltered for a second, then he shrugged.

"Either way, nobody steps foot on this boat until I get my shot."

"Then do it, take the damn shot and help them!" she said again, watching as the creature prepared to attack.

"I can't risk missing. If they hadn't interfered, none of this would have happened. They only have themselves to blame."

"Give me the harpoon," Clara said.

"What do you mean?”

"You say you will help them if you make this shot, and then give it to me. I'll make sure it hits the target. You get those people out of the water."

"You better not be lying to me."

"Hurry up and hand me the damn harpoon," she said, glaring at Russo.

He did as she asked, and was about to instruct her on how to operate it when she deftly swung it onto her shoulder, adjusted her aim, and readied to fire.

"You've done this before," Russo said, genuinely impressed.

"Don't talk to me. Just get those people out of the water before I change my mind."

Russo turned to Mito and nodded, and the officer ran to the lifeboat station. Clara aimed at the water, allowing her breathing to calm, making sure her feet were spread evenly as she watched the beast circle.

"No games," Russo hissed over her shoulder, the smell of his minty breath close to her face. "If you miss or try to screw me, I won't be responsible for what happens."

She could feel the eyes of everyone on deck boring into her and tried her best to ignore it. The sun was hot on her neck and a trickle of sweat ran down the inside of her nose. She adjusted her aim slightly, paused, and spoke to Russo.

"I'm, ready. You'd better stick to your word."

"That all depends on you,"

She ignored him, readying herself as the creature charged, looking to finish off the stricken boat, which was rapidly losing its fight to stay afloat.

She relaxed her shoulders and exhaled as the grey streak raced along below the surface. Sunlight glittered off the water, making it difficult to be sure where she was aiming. She squeezed the trigger, hoping against hope to land a fleshy spot on the creature; somewhere the barbed harpoon could find purchase. She had expected a deafening roar of gunfire when she squeezed the trigger, but instead, the weapon fired with a hollow pneumatic Whumph, as the harpoon speared into the water, burying itself in the soft flesh above the creature's eye. The harpoon sheared through tangled clusters of nerves, igniting pain receptors, which sent the charging beast into agonising spasms. Rearing away from the crippled Lisa Marie, the creature dived deep, trying to cool the searing pain of the dart in its flesh. Clara lowered the spent harpoon, then turned to watch Mito as he loaded its survivors into the lifeboat and winched it to the deck. Clara dropped the harpoon, trying to ignore Russo's oozing smile.

Snapping back to the present, she focussed her attention on the wake. Without moving, she spoke to Andrews, the calm tone of her voice masking the terror that surged through her. "Swimmer in the water," she said as she peered through the sight. "Get ready to pull him out."

She didn’t look - her attention was fully on the wake now, but she felt Andrews move, and could sense him beside her, leaning over the rear of the boat and waiting.

"For God's sake, don’t miss," Andrews said.

Clara didn’t answer. She simply watched and waited for the creature to be close enough to hit.

VI

The Pegasus thruster was almost out of fuel. The monotonous whine had started to falter, the tone slowly but surely decreasing in pitch, and with it, speed. He had already acknowledged that he was likely about to die, yet, was too stubborn to accept it. With nothing to lose, he moved closer to the surface, skimming just a couple of feet beneath the waves. The Pegasus spluttered again, further killing his speed. Just twenty feet behind him, the creature followed, determined in its rage not to abandon its prey. Greg could see the hull of the two boats ahead of him. They were tantalisingly close, and he was filled with a renewed energy. He angled towards the nearest hull, hoping the creature would abandon its pursuit if it sensed the twin hulls in the water. The stern of the nearest boat was to his left now, and he could see the warped shape of an arm reaching out for him on the surface. He cursed his disability. In order to grab the waiting hand, he would have to drop the control for the Pegasus thruster. An ordinary man would have simply been able to switch the control to the opposite hand. However, for him of course, that wasn’t an option. Greg knew he would have to be reliant on another miracle, another against all odds, a one in a million gamble. It would need perfect timing, and there would be only one chance to get it right. He would have to release his grip on the control, grab the hand, and then hope its owner would act quickly enough to pull him to safety. He didn’t like to think about the hundreds of things that could go wrong. A missed grab, a slight timing error, a loss of grip would be all it would take almost to guarantee his death. He turned on his side, arm outstretched above the surface. His head broke the water and he could see the government agent as he leaned over the edge, face set in a determined frown.

Come on, Greg, make this count.

He dropped the control at the last possible second, the power to the twin propellers of the Pegasus instantly dying. His arm made solid contact, and he felt fingers digging into his forearm as he locked his grip on Andrews's arm, and yet, it only lasted a split second. His momentum dragged him past the stern. As quickly as it had arrived, the grip of his saviour was gone.

Panic.

All at once, he was incredibly aware of everything around him. He rolled onto his back, seeing the giant tsunami like wave as it came at him, just seconds away from smashing into him.  He couldn’t see the creature itself, the sun was too bright on the surface. He closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable, hoping it would be quick.

Below the surface, the creature opened its jaws, knowing its prey was incapacitated. It was about to devour it when the dart hit home, Clara having hit the same place as the first time around, landing the dart just above the creatures milky eye. At precisely the same time, Andrews grabbed Greg at the second time of asking, grabbing a twin handful of the shoulders of his wetsuit and yanking him into the boat, where both tumbled to the deck.

The creature whirled away from the point of impact. The wake rolling past both boats and making Clara lose her footing. She dropped the harpoon, pin wheeling her arms as the boat rocked beneath her. She rocked forward, her head dipping towards the ocean. She was going in. She couldn’t avoid it. Just as she lost her fight with gravity, she felt strong arms around her waist as she was pulled onto the safety of the deck by Andrews, where she joined him on the deck beside Greg, the three of them breathing heavily.

"Thanks," she panted as she got up.

The three of them could hear shouting from the other boat, and looked up just in time to see the wake. Infuriated by the attack, the creature slammed into the hull of the boat, launching the stern out of the ocean. Like ragdolls, Clara, Greg, and Andrews, were tossed into the ocean.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

"Please, you have to do something," Tom said to Pavel. They surrounded him now, yet the Russian seemed unfazed. Instead, he and his brother watched proceedings unfold with indifference.

"You have to help," Joanne added.

"We don’t get paid to help. Just to make sure boat comes back in one piece," Pavel replied, his tone as uninterested and flat as always.

"But they need us. We can’t just watch them die."

Pavel shrugged. "Not our problem."

"You assholes," Joanne hissed.

Alexi mumbled something in Russian to his brother, who replied in his own language. Both laughed and looked at Joanne with matching predatory smiles.

"I can drive a boat," Marie said. "I mean, my father has a speedboat, but I could get us close enough to help."

"Alright," Tom said, glaring at the Russevs, "let’s do it.

"No," Pavel said, taking a half step towards Marie. "This is Mr Mallone's boat. Nobody drive."

"But they need our help," Joanne screamed.

"Not our problem."

"We're not afraid of you," Joanne said, her eyes proving her a liar. "You can’t stop us."

Pavel simply smiled, daring her to test him.

"Forget them," Tom said. "Go ahead, Marie."

"Are you crazy?" Jim said, stepping between Marie and the wheelhouse door. "We can’t do anything to help. Do you want to attract that thing over to us and kill us too?"

"Get out of the way, Jim," Joanne said, holding his gaze.

"No."

"I'll tell them, I swear I will."

"Tell us what?" Tom said, looking from Joanne to Jim.

"I’ll save you the trouble," Jim said with an arrogant smile. "Your girlfriend has it into her head that I had something to do with Clayton dying."

"You did it. You told me!" Joanne screamed.

"Did I?" Jim said with a smile. "Do you have any proof of that?"

"I know you did it. You near enough told me."

"You crazy bitch, you really have issues," Jim said.

"Hey, I already told you, you don’t talk to her like that," Tom said, and then was interrupted by Fernando before he could say anymore.

"What's your problem, man?" Fernando said.

"Nothing, I’m just trying to get the rest of you to see sense."

Something snapped in Joanne then. The built up frustration mingled with fear made her react. She lunged at Jim with the fork she had taken earlier in one hand. "I’ll kill you, you liar!" She raged.

Marie shied away as Tom and Fernando restrained her, trying to wrestle the knife free. Jim just grinned at her. A secret grin, a grin that told her she was right, even if nobody would believe her.

Tom and Fernando managed to calm her, Tom dragging her away from Jim to the rear of the boat.

"That guy needs to control that bitch of his," Jim said with a grin just seconds before Fernando punched him, a huge looping right hand that caught him flush on the jaw. Jim staggered backwards into the wheelhouse as Fernando stalked forward, looking to finish the job.

"Stop!" Pavel snapped.

Everyone froze and looked at him, trying to decipher what was going on behind those cold dead eyes.

"Look," he said, nodding towards the other boat.

II

Clara, Andrews and Greg were huddled in the water, waiting for their inevitable death. The creature approached them, and yet, didn’t attack. Instead, it moved past them and approached the hull of their boat, which was sitting low in the water. The creature nudged the hull, pushing it away from its stranded crew.

"What the hell is it doing?" Andrews whispered as they treaded water.

"It's toying with us," Clara replied, feeling so sick with fear it almost presented itself as a giggle. "I've seen this kind of behaviour by killer whales when they're hunting sea lions."

"This isn’t normal. The adult never behaved this way."

"This is a juvenile. It's playing with its food," she replied, locking eyes with Andrews.

"It’s okay, the dart should take effect soon."

"We’re gonna die, aren’t we?" Greg said, his face gaunt and haunted.

"Not necessarily," Clara replied. "There's a chance it might-"

The creature exploded out of the water, its massive jaws crushing down on Clara’s body as it rose out of the water. Andrews heard screaming, everything seeming to happen in slow motion. The creature reached the height of its momentum, and for a split second, paused in mid-air. Andrews locked eyes with Clara, her upper body and one mangled, twisted leg still hanging from the creature's mouth. Her face was turned towards him, blood pouring from her nostrils and mouth.

Good God, she's aware.

Andrews thought as the creature sank back beneath the waves, taking its prize with it. Only then did Andrews realise the screams were coming from him. It acted as a trigger point. Both Greg and Andrews started to swim, legs kicking furiously, heads down as they made for their respective boats. Andrews swam through the bloody surface waters, taking huge gulps of air as he waited for his turn, and for the demon in the water to take its next prize. Sensing the motion on the surface, the creature swallowed the mangled remains of Clara and gave chase. As the signal from its prey split into two, the creature changed direction, swimming after Greg.

Andrews reached the hull of the boat, hauling himself up and out of the water, and onto the deck, turning to watch the wake cut through the water.

Once again, Greg was sure he was about to die. His luck was out. The creature had chosen him as its next victim, and the thought of suffering the same fate as the woman filled him with a horror even greater than when he was forced to cut off his hand. He could see his boat, the white hull too far away. He knew he would never reach it in time. He could hear the kids he had brought out to sea with the intention of helping him, screaming at him to swim faster, to hurry, yet inside, he knew it was over. He was beaten. He stopped and turned to face his fate, wanting to meet it head on, and not be taken by surprise like the woman had been. He watched the wake as it streaked towards him, and could see the creature below the surface, an immense torpedo as it streaked through the water towards him. Greg closed his eyes, praying it wouldn’t hurt.

The explosion was deafening.

Greg gasped, throwing an arm up to protect his face as the water erupted in an explosion of blood and bone. Confused, he watched as the creature drifted past him, the entire upper portion of it skull missing and spewing gallon upon gallon of blood into the ocean. Greg turned to face the Lady of the Water, peering up at the faces who watched from the sun-baked deck. Pavel Russev lowered the smoking rocket launcher and dropped it to the deck as Tom threw a life ring towards the exhausted Australian, however, he didn’t reach for it. He had to know, he had to be sure. Taking a deep breath, he ducked his head beneath the waves and watched as the creature sank head first towards the bottom, leaving a bloody cloud of bone and flesh behind it. He had expected the death of the creature to fill him with some kind of joy or relief, however, he found if anything, he felt worse. His selfishness had cost more lives, and he knew they would only add to the burden he had already been forced to live with. As he was pulled out of the water by the Russev's, he began to weep.