Shadow Of The Abyss

by Edward J. McFadden III

  She stared at him, her eyebrows knitted, lips pursed. She didn’t turn the light off.

  “Please. Hurts my eyes.”

  She sighed and thumbed off the flashlight. “How long have you been sitting here? You smell three days dead.”

  He grunted.

  “Fine.” She sat down and grabbed a beer from the cooler.

  “Help yourself.”

  She opened the Pabst and took a pull. “There’s no doubt now.”

  “There ain’t nothing but doubt,” he said.

  “For shits-sake. You know what I mean.”

  “I do?”

  “Whatever we saw is hunting in our waters. First the shark, the whale, then the boat, then the kid.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Yeah, what? This kid was attacked, and it wasn’t a shark and you know it,” she said.

  Splinter said nothing.

  “You got nothing to say? We saw the damn thing.”

  “We saw a shadow. A dark shape beneath the water. After a long day under the sun.”

  “People are dying Splinter, and maybe you can fool yourself, but I can’t,” she said.

  “What do you know of it?”

  “I know we have to tell the coasties.”

  “We’ve been through this,” he said. He finished his beer, crunched the can, and tossed it across the galley.

  “Things have changed,” she said.

  “No they haven’t. It’s not my problem.”

  “Not your problem?”

  As if a switch had been flipped, the real Splinter peeked through the fog. “I think I saw it. When I went out to see the wreck in the inlet. Thing swam right beneath me.”

  “So it’s in Indian River? Not good. The water gets deep in spots.”

  “It’s a fish, Lenah, who the hell knows where it is. And who the hell cares.” He fired the spear gun, and the stainless-steel dart streaked through the air with a hiss and lodged in the bulkhead over Lenah’s shoulder. It wasn’t close, but even in his current state he knew it was beyond an asshole move.

  She jumped and flicked on the light. “Screw you, Splinter. I’m gone.”

  “What else is new.”

  “And whose fault is that?”

  “Nobody asked you to come.”

  “No, you didn’t, but I thought I owed you an explanation. I know going to the authorities might cause problems for you.”

  “Problems? Problems? When they find out where and who I am, I’ll have to leave Florida.”

  “Splinter,” she knelt before him and took his hand. He pulled it from her grasp and looked away. “I know you did some shitty things in the war, but nobody blames you. It was war, whatever you did you had to do.”

  “How do you know? Huh? You’re just talking out your ass like everyone else.”

  “You’re not the only one in pain. Not the only one hurting. Parents have lost a son, and I’m not going to let that happen again.”

  “Oh, and how do you plan to stop this thing? Let’s say I agree, and there’s some apex out there lurking in the bay. What of it? The Coast Guard can’t stop boatloads of illegals coming from every damn place, and you think they’ll be able to find this thing? They’ll make it worse.”

  “Worse? For them or for you?”

  “Get out. Leave me alone.” He drained his beer, but when he went to fish out another, he almost fell off his chair. Nereus cried and put his head on Splinter’s knee, but Poseidon got up, flicked her tail side-to-side and pranced off.

  “I’ll go, but I’m telling everything I know tomorrow, whether you like it or not and they’re going to want to talk to you,” Lenah said.

  “Let them try,” Splinter said. He let the empty spear gun fall to the floor.

  Lenah glanced at the gun case and got up. “See you around, Splinter.” She hauled herself up through the hatch and he heard her retreat across the deck and step onto her boat. Engines rumbled to life, and Splinter heard Galatia crying in her room.

  Lenah’s boat pulled away, and Splinter cried, thick tears rolling down his face and dripping onto his chest. Lenah was the only woman he’d ever loved. She deserved better than him. Everyone deserved better than him. The rumble of the Parker’s outboards faded, and the night deepened. Splinter leaned back in his chair, opened another beer, and waited for the dawn.

  8

  Seagulls wheeled overhead, their constant squawking making Splinter’s head throb. The sun was brutal, and heat rolled across the park in waves, pushing over the picnic area. Splinter sat at a stone table with a chess board painted on its top, a tall bottle of water at his elbow. He didn’t drink every day, but when he did he went all in, and his body didn’t appreciate it. Despite being over forty, he was still in excellent shape, and his diet of fish and water served him well, and foreign contaminants threw off the delicate balance.

  He was waiting for Will. They met every Thursday for a game of chess, and Splinter was eager to see his friend. Hopefully he’d have news. He heard a car door slam and looked toward the lot. Will was getting out of his white Ford Taurus, an old rusting piece of metal the retired cop refused to get rid of. When asked, his friend would say, “Who the hell do I have to impress?”

  He watched Will lock up his car and make his way to him, the leather satchel containing the chess pieces under his arm. He held two cups of coffee in a cardboard holder, and he placed it on the table when he arrived.

  “Have some joe. From what I hear, you need it,” Will said. He sat down, took a sip of coffee, and started setting up the board.

  Splinter said nothing as he sipped his coffee and gazed out at the ocean.

  “Saw Lenah this morning. She told me about last night,” Will said.

  He didn’t remember much about the prior evening, other than he’d been an ass and treated the one woman he cared for like shit. Why she even bothered with him he didn’t know.

  “Gonna say anything?” Will said. “You’ve got to shake out of this funk, buddy. You’re destroying yourself. You’re black.”

  “I know, but…” There were still some things he couldn’t talk about with anyone, not even Will.

  “No buts. Your move, smoke before fire,” Will said.

  Splinter slid a pawn forward two squares and Will matched the move. They played in silence for several minutes, and in that time Will took a rook, a bishop, three pawns, and a knight. Splinter took two pawns. He hadn’t beaten Will in weeks.

  As they played Will said, “So I’ve got a bit of news. Lenah said she mentioned the boy’s hand.”

  Splinter nodded but said nothing. The coffee tasted good, but his head still pounded.

  “There was a sighting Sunday. Right in Snake River. Two kids out on a sailboat. They got a picture.” Will slid the photo across the table and Splinter picked it up.

  It was a color shot of the sea, green-blue water with tiny white ripples on the surface. Beneath, a dark shape contrasted against the emerald water. To Splinter it looked like the shadow of a cloud. He slid the photo back to Will and said, “That could be anything.”

  “Yup, but the kid’s description sounded close to what we saw,” Will said.

  Splinter moved his queen and said, “Check.” He sipped his coffee.

  “And? You got anything?”

  Splinter sighed, and Will moved his king out of check. “I think I saw it again. The day the boat went down in the inlet.”

  “Lenah said. About that. You should see the hull. I went down to the boatyard and checked it out.”

  “And?”

  “And it looks like just what you thought. Something bit the damn thing, but nobody downtown wants to admit that. It can’t be proven, of course, but get this.” He paused and took Splinter’s second rook. “I talked to one of the coasties, a young kid who hasn’t learned to shut his pie-hole yet. He told me when they hauled the boat a tooth was found stuck in the fiberglass.”

  “A tooth? How big?”

  “Kid said about eight inches, and it could have been bigger,�
� Will said.

  “The boat was reinforced fiberglass, and you’re telling me something bit a hole in it? I mean, I never really believed that to be possible, but a tooth? Damn, that doesn’t leave much to the imagination.”

  “No and…” Will trailed off because Splinter got up without warning and bolted through the park onto the beach.

  A young boy had lost his kite and was chasing his spool of string as it hopped and jerked across the sand. Splinter turned on the burners. He passed the kid and dove onto the sand and grabbed the kite line just as it was lifting off the ground. Splinter got on his knees and reeled in the giant red dragon modeled after Drogon on Game of Thrones. The kite’s large wings bellowed in the wind and it started to fall. Splinter vaulted to his feet and ran. The dragon soared, and when the kid caught up Splinter handed the boy the spool of twine.

  “Thanks, mister,” the kid said.

  Splinter tussled the boy’s hair and smiled.

  When he got back to Will the retired cop said, “You never fail to surprise me.”

  “What?” said Splinter, feigning innocence. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, he cared for people. He couldn’t help it. The more downtrodden and innocent, the more he cared. But when the fog took him…

  “You…” Will switched gears. “You can show such kindness.”

  “Navy shrink used to say that’s what…” Splinter faltered, and he looked away.

  Will had known Splinter long enough to let it be. Will sipped his coffee and took one of Splinter’s pawns. A long row of Splinter’s black pieces ran along the right side of the board, and only four white pieces sat at Splinter’s elbow.

  “There’s more. Talked to my old partner, Gus. He says a scuba diver fishing for lobster in the channel saw something huge. He described a huge crocodile-type beast with rows of razor-sharp teeth and pale skin. Said the thing passed beneath him and was at least thirty feet long,” Will said.

  Splinter snickered. “What’d they say? They call the special ambulance?”

  “No, but they didn’t believe the guy. Told him how the water can distort and magnify things. How there’s no such thing as a thirty-foot crocodile. They told him it was a shadow. His imagination. Anything but consider he may have seen something because then they’d have to deal with it, and I think that scares them more than anything.”

  “What do you think? You think Lenah is right? We have to come forward?”

  “Well, it doesn’t really matter. Our boy—”

  Splinter cut him off. “They might listen to you. You’re one of them. But you’re retired and they’ll probably just patronize you. And me? I’m a crazy homeless person to them. No credibility whatsoever, so what’s the point?”

  “Harbor Patrol and the Coast Guard have their hands full, Splinter. Bodies are still washing up on shore and there is still a lot of debris in the water. They don’t have time for mythical beasts, real or imagined. Plus, the town is half deserted and the fishermen don’t care. If things were normal, the inner bay would be clogged with police and coasties.”

  “My point exactly,” Splinter said.

  “And that’s not the least of it,” Will said.

  Splinter lifted his chin. “What?” He made his move. The board was looking very white, and Splinter only had a few pieces left.

  Will pulled out his cellphone and tapped the screen. “This isn’t going to be easy to watch, but I think you have to.”

  Will cued-up a news report on the local affiliate website, WPTV. A picture of Brownie Keato surrounded by reporters and cameras filled the small screen and Will rotated the phone to make the picture bigger.

  Splinter took the phone with a trembling hand. Cellphones scared him. He used to love technology, but now anything beyond a radio set his nerves on edge. The wind picked up, and sand cut into his face.

  The field reporter stood with the Miami skyline in the background, her long black hair falling over one shoulder. “Terror in the deep? Or terror in our bay? Mr. Keato claims to have seen a giant sea monster off the coast and he says that’s what killed Adam Darnald.”

  The camera pulled out and Brownie stood next to the reporter, his stupid smirk bigger than normal. He wore a t-shirt that read Palmitari Trucking, and when the camera went to him, he smiled. The reporter stuck her microphone in his face and said, “Please tell Miami what you told me just moments ago.”

  “Sure thing, Linda,” said Brownie. “Me and my bro Sal went on a fishing charter, on the Evenstar. We were pulling them in left and right because we’re good fishermen. We’re from up north where the big boys do it. Anyway, I’m reeling in this monster sailfish, when a shark bigger than any fish I’ve ever seen comes by the boat. I wanted to try and catch it, Linda, but the others were wimps.”

  “Others?”

  “Yeah, a retired cop named William Dodge, a guy named Splinter Woods, Captain Brisbee, and my buddy. They all saw what I saw.”

  “What did you see?”

  “You’re not gonna believe it, Linda.”

  Splinter harrumphed as Brownie bent in close to the reporter and she leaned away, the left side of her head disappearing from the frame. “Try me,” said the reporter.

  Brownie laughed, and said, “We need to save that for later.”

  The reporter said nothing and waited patiently with the mike poised in front of Brownie’s face.

  “The shark circled us, like it was playing with us, waiting to attack. I wanted to throw some chum in the water and take a few shots with the spear guns, but Captain Brisbee said no. A real buzzkill Captain Brisbee is. So we waited and did nothing. The shark made a run at the boat, and his nose struck the hull hard. Shook me where I stood.”

  “You must have been scared.”

  “Naw. It’s a fish, right? One with fifty razor-sharp teeth six inches long, but still a fish and we were on the boat.”

  Will said, “Here’s where it gets interesting.”

  Brownie said, “The shark dove. We couldn’t see it. Then the water starts bubbling like the sea was boiling. The shark’s head bursts from the water, and I ran for a gaff and I was gonna poke the mother. The captain and this Woods guy wanted to take off, but Sal and I wanted to catch this thing. Then something strange happened. There was no shark. Its body was gone.”

  “What are you saying? Something killed the shark?”

  “Severed its head right off,” Brownie said.

  The reporter waited, and when Brownie didn’t continue, she said, “And then?”

  “Oh, right, the most important part. Then we saw this huge monster glide beneath the boat. Thing had to be fifty feet long if it was ten.”

  “What did this leviathan look like?”

  “We only saw its shadow, but like I said, it was big.”

  The camera focused on the reporter, and she said, “Mr. Keato came forward as a concerned citizen when Adam Darnald’s hand turned up in the bay.” The scene shifted to B-roll of the Indian River. “Is there a creature bigger than a great white shark prowling our waters?” she continued. “If so, what can be done about it? And by who? WPTV has discovered that Splinter Woods is none other than The Butcher of Kabul, Ex-Navy SEAL Matthew Woods.”

  Splinter tapped the phone and let it fall on the table. His head was spinning. How did they find out so fast? That shit Sal. Splinter shook his head. He shouldn’t have antagonized the delicate Italian snowflake. The sun stared down like an accusing eye, and heat rose in him. He rubbed his temples and moved his queen.

  “The little shit probably got paid by WPTV,” Will said. His friend looked at the ground. “You might not want to watch anymore.” He reached over and moved his remaining rook.

  Splinter stared at the board and said nothing.

  Will said, “Checkmate.”

  9

  Splinter didn’t want to watch the helmet-cam footage. He’d seen the eight-second clip that had defined his life many times. He knew what it showed. He tapped the phone anyway, because the tender embrace of the pain was all he kn
ew.

  The video jerked into motion and showed shadows dancing on a hallway wall. A soldier stalked a dark passage, and there was yelling and screaming in Arabic. A blast of static made Splinter jump, and he was back there. Like it was yesterday.

  He got low, fanning his M4 carbine side-to-side, the fog in control, the fever blinding. He’d lost six men, and all he saw was blood.

  The camera’s POV showed a door being kicked in, the nose of a gun panning across the screen. Then… then…

  Splinter reacted. He didn’t think. He didn’t reason. He didn’t consider anyone’s feelings or where they came from or what they stood for. He fired, and shot a woman standing beneath an archway. A man stepped into the room and yelled, followed by a thirteen-year-old boy. Splinter fired again. And again.

  The woman was holding a baby and Splinter’s shot went through both woman and child. The video staggered and swayed, and so did Splinter.

  The video cut out and the small cellphone screen filled with the reporter’s face. “Captain Brisbee and Mr. Woods are wanted for questioning, and the Coast Guard has asked anyone with any information pertaining to—”

  Splinter tapped the phone and handed it to Will. “I have to disappear. Meet you in two days at the spot at sunset?”

  Will nodded. “Sorry about this, Splinter.”

  This man had dug him out of the shit pile. He owed Will an explanation. Problem was Splinter didn’t have one that he could live with. “I’ll tell you about—”

  Will cut him off. “That’s all I needed. When you’re ready.”

  Splinter nodded. “There’s more. A lot more. You sure?”

  “When you are, I will be,” Will said.

  “Find out what you can. Wait a few hours, but then you can give them where I live. An act of good faith.”

  Will’s forehead wrinkled, and his eyes narrowed. It was his WTF face.

  “I know. Sneaky, but I need you, Will. I need to find out what the hell this thing is and stop it. If they pull me in…”

  “Yeah,” Will said.

  “Two days?”

  Will nodded.