Somewhere in the Shallow Sea

by Dennis Macaraeg

  There was a sudden lull from the shooting as Dr. Klein and his men reloaded their weapons. Finding an opportunity to flee, Commander Berto jumped at Danny and Helen, pulled them up by their shoulders, and shouted, “Get moving and run to the beach!”

  Two of Commander Berto’s men stayed behind and sprayed bullets in order to stop Dr. Klein and his men from advancing.

  Danny tried to hurry, but the added weight of dragging the Cube through the softening soil beneath his feet made it difficult. Pushed by Kulog ng Timog, Blake and Helen tried as fast as they could to keep up. All Danny could think of was getting to the beach where the speedboats were waiting to hand off the Cube to Commander Berto. It was the only way to set themselves free and to get Dr. Klein off his back.

  Just as Danny snuck a peak behind him to see where Dr. Klein and his men were, he heard a series of rat-tat-tat sounds. Danny, Helen and Blake hit the ground fast. Dr. Klein and his mercenaries were coming after them with a relentless barrage of bullets. Commander Berto and his men answered back by unleashing hell with their AK-47 assault rifles and grenade launchers to keep them back.

  A projectile exploded as soon as it hit the sand several yards from Danny and Helen. A flash of bright yellow phosphorous light blinded Danny. The nearby plants split open from the impact. The explosion sounded different. It was like a father’s booming voice telling his kids to stop fighting. Danny searched the immediate area where the grenade was launched. When his eyes finally adjusted from the explosion and back to the golden hue of the afternoon light, he saw two military trucks stopped in the middle of the street. Half of the soldiers were jumping out of the truck bed while the other half fired indiscriminately at anything that moved.

  From his vantage point, Danny could see the speedboats waiting at the beach, facing out toward the ocean with engines idling. Danny thought of telling Helen and Blake to run to the soldiers for their safety but quickly realized that Commander Berto wouldn’t hesitate to put a bullet in their backs. Fearing for their lives, he held his tongue.

  * * *

  The situation was quickly becoming a lopsided fight. Commander Berto and his men shot back at the government troops to keep their distance, but were no match against the well-equipped and well-trained Scout Rangers. Out of sheer desperation, Commander Berto grabbed Helen and pointed his Colt 45 pistol to her head.

  “No! Please don’t do that! Take the goddamn compound and let her go!” Danny screamed through the gunfire around him.

  “Throw me the compound!” Commander Berto shouted back.

  Danny picked up the rollaway. Just as he was about to hurl it at Commander Berto, a stinging sensation pulsed through his left leg and he felt his pants get moist. Helen’s eyes widened. He prodded around the area where the pain was coming from to find bright red blood oozing out his left calf. Almost immediately, another bullet wheezed by his head and hit Commander Berto directly in his left shoulder.

  “Fucking shit!” Commander Berto shouted in pain, loosening his vise-like grip on Helen’s arm. Helen quickly pushed him away and dove behind a fallen tree. Danny spotted a wooden stick lying on the ground, picked it up, and in a single fluid motion slammed it into Commander Berto’s injured shoulder. The Commander grimaced in pain, dropping the Colt 45. He followed up with another blow to Commander Berto’s right wrist and then thrusted the stick into his stomach. Although Danny feared Commander Berto’s wrath, he was more terrified by the Scout Rangers’ indiscriminate machine gun fire. As Commander Berto fell to the ground, Danny dashed over to Helen, lying flat on the ground to avoid getting hit in the crossfire.

  “Where’s Blake?” Helen asked.

  “I can’t see him.”

  “How’s your leg?” Helen asked.

  “The bullet just grazed my calf. It hurts like hell but I’m okay.”

  * * *

  From the protection of several fallen coconut trees, Danny scanned the surroundings and saw Dr. Klein and Commander Berto standing over the Cube.

  “What the fuck are you trying to do? I hired you to do a job and now you think you’re taking over?” Dr. Klein said. His face seethed with anger.

  “I don’t need the petty half-million dollars you’re paying me. I can sell the compound directly to the fishing company and make five times more. Why don’t you move aside, old man, before I blow your brains out,” Commander Berto laughed.

  “You fucking low life scum. Just because a heron is standing on the back of the carabao doesn’t make it mightier. You’re just a common criminal for hire and now you think you’re above the people who pay you?”

  Dr. Klein kicked Commander Berto in the stomach and grabbed the rollaway. As he stepped forward, Commander Berto grabbed him by the waist and threw him to the ground. Klein spun around and landed a hard blow on Commander Berto’s injured left shoulder. Stunned by the pain, Commander Berto released him.

  Carrying the rollaway over his head, Dr. Klein began running as fast as he could away from Commander Berto, headed toward the safety of the advancing soldiers.

  Commander Berto got up quickly and ran after him. Inches behind Dr. Klein, he jumped him. Both of them fell down. He yanked the rollaway from Klein. Not wanting to give up easily, Klein threw several hard punches into his face and chest and thrust his head into Commander Berto’s stomach. They exchanged punches while rolling around the ground. With brute force, Commander Berto maneuvered on top of Dr. Klein and delivered several hard blows to his forehead and jaw, knocking him out.

  Commander Berto was about to retrieve the rollaway and run towards the waiting boats when gunfire suddenly erupted from the soldiers’ direction. Aware that the firepower the Scout Rangers were unleashing could eventually finish him, he ducked to avoid getting shot at. Clumps of sand exploded around him.

  The shooting stopped a few minutes later. Someone on the megaphone from the military’s direction announced, “Raise your hands above your head and slowly get up or we will start shooting again until you are all dead. This is your last chance.”

  Commander Berto turned toward Dr. Klein who was slowly getting up. He reached down for the handgun strapped to his ankle, carefully walked behind Klein, and pushed the gun’s muzzle against the back of his head.

  “Don’t make a move, or you’re dead!”

  “You’re surrounded. Why don’t you just give up?” Dr. Klein said.

  “Shut up, old man. If I die, you die, too. Now get up and tell the Ranger boys to stop shooting or you will meet your maker by sunset.”

  Dr. Klein slowly rose, waving his arms at the troops.

  “Cease fire!”

  The soldiers approached from all directions with their M-16s aimed at Commander Berto and his men.

  “Back off or this Yankee is dead!” Commander Berto shouted.

  The Scout Ranger platoon leader ordered his men to stand down. The soldiers immediately pointed their weapons up in the air. Commander Berto wrapped his arm around Dr. Klein’s neck and towed him back to the beach. The soldiers were powerless to do anything. All they could do was watch as Commander Berto and his band of thugs left with yet another hostage.

  Commander Berto pushed Dr. Klein onto the speedboat and jumped in. The sounds of the revving motors thundered—disturbing the blood-orange afternoon sky. They pointed their speedboats into the vast cloak of the open sea. Then, just like a dream, the group who kidnapped Blake disappeared into the setting sun—taking the same man who hired them to do the dirty deeds.

  * * *

  The entire field became quiet. Danny and Helen slowly rose from behind the fallen tree trunk, searching for Blake’s whereabouts. To their astonishment, five Scout Rangers with their M-16s were standing in front of them.

  “Sergeant…we were taken by Commander Berto,” Danny said.

  The soldiers lowered their weapons.

  “Aren’t you going after Commander Berto?” Helen asked.

  “We’ll get him,” the platoon leader replied. “Their boats aren’t too far. We already radioed for assis
tance and the Navy patrol boats are already in pursuit as we speak.”

  “Thank you for rescuing us,” Helen added.

  “We’re sorry to tell you, but we believe that Kulog ng Timog has taken Blake Mason with them,” the platoon leader said.

  “I’m over here!”

  Blake stood waving his arms from across the field.

  Danny and Helen ran to Blake ecstatic that he was unharmed and wrapped their arms around him. The three of them hugged each other very tight while tears of joy rolled down their cheeks. The outcome of the afternoon couldn’t have been more perfect. They were all together and free at last.

  “We’re all alive,” Blake said jubilantly.

  The soldiers slung their rifles on their shoulders and returned in single file to the transport truck without a hint of urgency on their footsteps.

  Danny looked up at the fading afternoon sky as the coconut tree leaves rustled in the wind. Like a revelation, it came to him. Blake wasn’t the first person kidnapped in Mindanao and probably wouldn’t be the last. Something had to be done to stop a crisis like this from happening again, but he didn’t know where to start.

  From a distance, Danny saw the Cube neglected in the sand. For the past two weeks, it was at the center of Blake’s misery. Now, no one wanted to claim it.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Danny said as he put his arms around his best friend and the woman he loved.

  EPILOGUE

  The sun shone brightly against his face. The waves were crashing on the shore at La Jolla Cove. Danny stood next to Blake and looked at the sea of guests sitting in the white folding chairs embellished with flowers. Five months after Danny and Helen returned from the Philippines, Helen accepted a teaching position in San Diego. And they finally decided to tie the knot.

  “Jeff just told me earlier that we’ve received a large donation from a certain rich somebody. He wouldn’t say who is funding our research, and this time it will be a complete secret with a dedicated research vessel,” Danny said.

  “Where are we going next?” Blake asked, turning to Danny at the white arbor.

  “I heard the best place to conduct our research is off the coast of eastern Africa.”

  “You gotta be kidding me.”

  “Relax. Now that I already know what to do, Alaska is the farthest place we will go. We can even go fly fishing while we’re up there.”

  “Good,” Blake remarked with relief in his voice. “I’d like to be home for dinner after each day of hard work.”

  “Do you think she’s coming? She’s not going to be a runaway bride, is she?”

  “Chillax…Helen planned this for months and paid for the wedding herself. I don’t think she’s going to do that,” Blake remarked with a smile.

  “That’s something I will never understand. How come the woman pays for the wedding?”

  “That’s why I’m not marrying a Filipina. I don’t want to pay for the wedding,” Blake said in a friendly banter.

  “No matter what you decide, you’ll eventually surrender your paycheck to your future wife…wherever she’s from. That’s the tradition worldwide.”

  Danny looked down at his wristwatch. The wedding was supposed to start at five p.m., but fifteen minutes had already gone by.

  “She’s not your wife yet, but she’s already on Filipino time,” Blake said with a grin.

  * * *

  The wedding procession began. Melchor and his wife walked slowly down the aisle with their arms locked together. Danny was glad that he had accepted his invitation to be his godfather. Traditionally, that meant that from now on Melchor would help Danny with all his affairs in life. He smiled at Danny before sitting in the front row. The entourage followed.

  Helen got out of the limousine. Danny squinted his eyes to see how she looked. She was wearing a white, sleeveless wedding gown with a transparent veil trailing behind her. The quartet played the wedding march. Six months ago, Danny would have never thought that such a wonderful day would ever come. But there she was at the end of the aisle, ready to meet him at the altar. The guests stood up. Slowly, Helen sauntered towards where Danny was waiting, sprinkling her warm smile at the guests snapping photos.

  Helen hooked her arm around Danny and the two of them faced the priest.

  The candle sponsors lit the candles. The veil sponsors pinned the thin white veil onto their formal wear. The cord sponsors placed a figure-eight cord over their shoulders.

  Danny brought his lips to Helen’s ear.

  “Looks like we’re stuck together for life,” he whispered.

  “I think that’s the plan,” Helen said, laughing under her breath at his comment.

  After the priest pronounced them “husband and wife”, they faced each other. Danny stared into Helen’s blue-grey eyes for a brief moment. Ever so slowly, he kissed her on the lips, elated to have finally kissed her for the first time as his wife.

  * * *

  They strolled to the guests gathered around a white, bell-shaped box hanging on a wrought iron arch by the cliff. Simultaneously, they pulled the white ribbons hanging on the bottom. The bell split open and hundreds of butterflies flew out into the cool San Diego sky.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  I attended San Diego State University and earned a degree in teaching. I thought I’d be spending my working career in a classroom but life had different plans for me.

  When I turned 40—not a spring chicken at that time—I remember asking myself what else is out there in my life. The answer came in the stories I’ve been reading.

  I was listening to a thriller on an audiobook or maybe it was a love story while driving to the beach. I liked both of them—the hero gets the girl, the money and lives to tell the tale—and right then, I had a serendipitous moment. Naively, I told myself, I could write a novel.

  Storytelling is easy. All that’s needed is a beginning, a middle and an end, and about 53,000 words. Not true. There is nothing more difficult than inventing a story. With nothing but bits and pieces of inspiration here and there, I began writing stories in my spare time. I joined writing groups and enrolled in a creative writing class at a local college.

  Not really knowing what to write, I thought of my trip to the Philippines in 1993. I went backpacking throughout the country just a few years after graduating from college, visiting the country’s three main islands of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The seed for writing this novel was born.

  Since I love reading thrillers, love stories, history and travel books, I decided to combine all categories and turn them into a novel. Words became sentences, then paragraphs. Finally, the compiled chapters turned into a book!

  I hope you enjoy reading my novel just as I enjoyed writing it.

  WEBSITE:

  Dennismacaraeg.com

  SOCIAL MEDIA:

  Facebook.com/dennismacaraegauthor

  Twitter.com/DennisMac2015

  Instagram.com/Denniswriter

  Medium.com/@DennisMac2015

  THANK YOU

  It is my pleasure that you enjoyed reading my novel Somewhere in the Shallow Sea.

  One of the best rewards an author could ever have is when readers tell their friends about the book they’d just read. I’d appreciate it if you tell others you know who are book lovers about your experience reading my novel.

  I’d be so grateful if you post a review where you bought this book or if you have an account on Goodreads, Amazon or if you have a personal blog.