by Greig Beck
“Um, yeah sure… I guess I can do that.”
Regina kept the throttle pushed forward, hard, but there was nothing extra to give. Her mouth half twitched into a smile. She’d just do the equivalent of counting sheep, she told herself. After all, five minutes is only three hundred seconds, so: two hundred and ninety – breathe, two-eighty-five – breathe, two-eighty…
Regina’s eyes stung as drops of perspiration ran from her forehead into her eyes. She reached up a forearm to rub it across her face, when the tiny yellow helicopter suddenly jerked to a stop in the air. Regina was strapped in, but was still thrown painfully forward. The whiplash effect, catapulted her at the bubble-window and then back into her seat like she was on elastic. She would have been paste on the cockpit glass if not for her seatbelt.
In a matter of seconds she had gone from being in the air, to being smashed into the water. She was groggy, but if she thought it was over, she was immediately reminded her nightmare had only just begun. Regina felt the chopper begin to be dragged backwards, and then under.
The sudden rush of water jolted her back to full consciousness. The monster had come up and taken the fucking whale, she knew, as she went deeper.
Everything went dark, but she was an experienced pilot, and a Coast Guard expert. She’d trained for water ditching, and worked to stay calm, work through the motions – unbuckle the belt, grab any survival kit, and find the exit. And then, importantly, get to the damned surface.
She was under now, and the pressure at her ears told her she was heading into deep water. She couldn’t help it; panic started to set in. No matter how much she had trained, no one had ever prepared her for being in the water with a Megalodon that was longer than a school bus.
She fumbled with the clasp at her chest, as the pressure on her eardrums started to cause her pain. She came free of her belt, and propelled herself from the cockpit. The worrying thing was, the helicopter had now stopped being dragged down into the depths.
Regina crawled back to the surface. She knew the helicopter not being dragged anymore meant one of two things – either the shark had ripped the whale free. Or, the other scenario she tried to push from her mind – the monster was coming back up.
* * *
“Regina, come in.” Jack paced. “Regina, come back, girl.” He shook his head, feeling a coiling in his gut. He looked up at Cate, and shook his head again. He felt sick.
Cate was hugging herself, and looked over the side. The ocean’s surface was now only about six feet from the rear deck as the Slava settled deeper in the water. She stepped back.
“We need to get to the bridge, somewhere higher.” She grabbed at Jack’s arm. “Remember Olander’s boat – the Megalodon – it came up.”
“I know.” Jack stopped, looking into her eyes. “But Vincent will be surfacing again soon. I need to be here.”
The ship lurched again, settling to one side. The lights sputtered, and the deep throbbing stopped. Thankfully, the lights remained on. “Sounds like we just lost the pumps, but I think engine room is okay for now,” he said, wearily.
Jack turned away, not wanting her to see his face. He now knew that even if Vincent managed to free the propeller, it might be too late if the engines became submerged. At the front of the ship, Alexi and Mironov stood together. The harpooner saw them watching him and gave a casual salute. He still waited by his harpoon cannon, as cool as if this was all in a day’s work for him.
The stern sunk a little lower in the water, and the bow rose. They’d slide below the surface rear first.
“Cate, get to the bridge room; find out where the Coast Guard chopper is. Tell them… Just tell them to get here.” He looked back over his shoulder. “As soon as Vincent comes up, we’ll join you.”
“You got it.” Cate headed for the metal steps.
Jack looked down at the signal tracker. The Megalodon was a few miles out, probably occupied with the whale carcass… or Regina, he thought darkly.
“Come on, Vince,” he whispered, once again looking down into the oil-dark water.
CHAPTER 43
Cate entered the bridge room. Sonya stood near the wall, staring out at Mironov who was talking to Alexi at the bow. She straightened when she saw Cate.
“What is it?”
Cate shook her head. “It was Regina in the chopper. We lost her.”
“She crashed our chopper?” Jupiter’s mouth twisted.
Cate glared, unable to form words for a moment. “No.” She spoke through gritted teeth. “We lost Regina, our friend, who was doing the job Milo should have been doing.”
“We needed that chopper.” Jupiter grabbed his head and turned away.
Cate’s eyes blazed. “You fuc—”
Olander held a finger up in front of her. “Please, I’m sure we all haven’t surrendered our manners just yet, have we, my dear?”
“My dear?” Cate held her breath as she looked at the man, and then to his crewmembers. Some were scared shitless, but many still looked defensive, disdainful, as if they were occupying an executive’s office during some sort of protest. She let the breath out and turned away, feeling for the first time in her life she could actually murder someone. Above her the lights flickered.
She looked up at them, feeling her stomach sink. “See that?” Cate looked from the light back to Olander. “That’s the engine room flooding. Soon well lose our lights. We’ve already lost our ability to pump water. Once the power goes, then even if we manage to defoul the propeller, we won’t be able to restart the engines.”
She placed a hand against one of the windows, keeping her eyes on the group. “Now take a look out there.” She waited. “See where the waterline is? It’s nearly at deck level. Not long after that, we’ll either be in it, or on it, in a few tiny dinghies.” She pointed her arm out to where Regina had gone down. “Regina, our friend, and the helicopter have gone into the ocean. That was the decoy leading the Megalodon shark away from us. So now, it’ll have no reason to keep heading away.”
“But if it ate the whale, then maybe it won’t be interested,” Milo said, his voice small.
Cate walked to the opposite window, and saw Jack holding a flashlight down into water that was far too close to him. She sighed. “It’s not about food anymore.” She turned back to the group. “This is no big doe-eyed whale. This is a Megalodon shark, like the Great White but about sixty-five feet long and a hundred times more aggressive. It’s territorial, meaning it will attack and kill anything in its domain.” She found and held Olander’s eyes. “And right now, thanks to you, that’s us.”
* * *
Vincent went down for what he hoped was the last time. He had to go deep this time – twenty-five feet, as the Slava props were now at the lowest point on the sinking ship. His single waterproof flashlight didn’t give him much illumination, but he was grateful for it for keeping the stygian dark back just a dozen feet.
The elasticized rope, was woven through with steel fibers – this allowed it to stretch, but gave it a tensile strength well beyond normal rope. It also stopped it being sliced by the propeller blades, and doubly so by a puny human’s attempts to hack at it.
He swam back to his work area and picked up the coil of rope he was working on. It had been wrapped tight around the shaft. If he could just cut through this section then the others should be unwound fairly easily.
Vincent could hold his breath for many minutes, but each time he went down, he became a little more fatigued, and a little less able to hold on. At least the work kept him focused, and allowed him to avoid the nagging temptation to look around. He had before, but there was nothing to see but walls of sheer blackness. He just prayed the kid in the chopper could entice the monster well away and keep it away from him.
He hacked and sawed, using the bolt cutters for a few seconds, and then going back to the blade. He hoped this would be the last time.
The back of his neck tingled, and the urge to turn around came over him again.
* * *
Jack felt like he needed to pace, but the angle of the deck made it impossible now. He had to hang onto the railing with one hand, and in the other he held his tracker. The blip was increasing speed and heading straight for them. He found it easier to think of it as nothing more than a small green pulse on a screen, rather than a monstrous super predator that would inevitably drag them down into the pitch black water, and then…
He turned away and looked up to the bridge room. The weak orange glow from the dying bulbs showed several dark silhouettes, the few figures standing motionless. There was only one he recognized – Cate waved down to him, and he smiled and gave her an all-okay sign in return.
Stay cool, we’ll be fine, he tried to project to her. The Coast Guard must have been only about thirty to forty minutes out, maybe just over the horizon now. He tried to cheer himself with the thought, but his logic whispered that their helicopter still wouldn’t make it before the boat was underwater. And even then, it would still take them a good ten minutes to hoist everyone up into the cabin. The Megalodon would be here long before that.
Jack screwed his eyes shut, not wanting to imagine what it would be like to be in the water, waiting his turn, while the massive Megalodon was down in the darkness. He opened his eyes; what would he do? He had no idea, and felt ill all over again.
Jack turned back to the bow; Valery Mironov was using a lighter on a cigarette that Alexi had clamped between his lips. The young man leant towards the billionaire but continued to forensically scan the water. The harpoon cannon had its own backup battery and would retain a charge for a short time after the engine died. But it too, would soon lose power.
He exhaled long and slow, and turned back to the stern. The dark water was just about at the deck line now. He saw it lapping gently just over the side, waiting to crawl forward like a living thing… to create a ramp for its master.
That’s where it will come. And that was the only place the harpoon cannon couldn’t be turned to. After all, what whaling captain is going to want some lunatic letting loose an explosive harpoon into his deck or the bridge room.
Valery Mironov leaned against the railing and Alexi waved again, and Jack felt like laughing out loud. How did those two do it? How do you stay so goddamn cool? Must be a Russian thing. Jack snorted and looked briefly back to his tracker – shit – he felt a jolt go right through his body. His head jerked up, and he looked first to the dark water, and then to Alexi.
“It’s here.”
Mironov spun to the water, and the young man nodded, flicked his cigarette away, and placed two hands on the cannon. His eyes were rock steady as they cut the darkness.
* * *
Cate grabbed at Sonya’s arm as the ship lurched. The lights above them blinked a few times, and then finally died. A few flashlights came on, but immediately the room seemed smaller.
Cate heard some of Olander’s crew whimper, and Sonya leaned close to her.
“We need to make a choice. We either stay here and go down with the ship, or we take to the rafts.”
Cate looked out the window, trying to find Jack, but without the deck lights the ship was in utter darkness. “We drown or get eaten alive,” she whispered, feeling a creeping nausea rise within her.
“No, we choose between certain death, or a chance at life.” Sonya’s hand on her arm tightened. “Yes, some of us will die. But if we split up, then maybe, just maybe, some of us will live until the Coast Guard gets here.”
Cate’s galloping heart made it hard for her to think. “I don’t know what to do anymore.” She looked up at the woman’s face. “Help me decide.”
Sonya put an arm around her shoulders. “Easy; we will decide to live, together.” She turned to Drago. “Ready the life rafts.”
“No, no, no.” Olander barged closer, waving a hand in their faces. “We are not getting into life rafts. That thing destroyed the Gaia Warrior as if it was a toy boat, and you saw what it did to my high-tech dinghies. I’ve seen your life rafts; they’re no better than toy pool floats.”
Cate held a hand up flat to stop the man from coming any closer. “The last thing I want to do is be out on that black water in a tiny raft. But the cold hard fact is, this boat is sinking. You can try your luck in a raft with us, or you stay inside this room and get dragged to the bottom, or maybe you’ll float free when it goes under – that’ll mean you’ll be in the water instead of on it.” She smiled flatly. “You can make up your own mind, but we’re getting into one of the rafts. You have to decide what you and your crew are doing for yourselves.”
“Then we need another decoy, or, ah, something.” Olander backed up, his eyes round. For the first time the man seemed genuinly frightened.
“Yeah, now you get it.” Cate said.
A flare popped and rose into the sky. Drago stood out on deck; his arm raised and still holding the flare gun. The red ball of fire rose hundreds of feet in the air, before flaring even brighter, and then slowly dropped back down. It would be seen for many miles over the horizon.
Sonya grabbed her arm again. “Ready?”
Cate shook her head. “No.”
The Russian woman grinned. “Me neither; so let’s go.”
CHAPTER 44
Vincent had a few strands left to cut, and allowed a speck of hope to enter his mind. He might just be able to finish the job before he needed to surface. He pinched his nose and blew, popping and repressurizing his eardrums once again as the stern sunk even deeper. He didn’t know how much lower it would be before the water rose above the stern gunwale, or the engine room became inaccessible. But the hull was silent now, meaning the pumps had ceased – it was a bad sign. He began to furiously saw again, and then rested for a few seconds to ease the burning fatigue in his arms and shoulders.
In that few seconds of nothingness, he felt it, the pressure wave, the push of water from something moving past him in the darkness. He’d been a navy frogman in an earlier life, and he knew what it felt like when one huge body moved past another.
He didn’t want to turn, but found it impossible to resist. Fear was making the hair prickle on his scalp under the wetsuit head covering. He turned his flashlight into the darkness behind him. There was nothing. He brought it around in a slow arc, finishing with it pointing through the propeller shaft to the other side of the boat – the huge creature came at him so fast he had no time to react. It struck the ship, its huge mouth open and jaws extended forward intent on swallowing him whole.
Instead it struck the ship, missing him, but bending the steel propeller shaft, and smashing it into his chest, jolting the flashlight from his hands.
The propeller may have been cut enough to begin turning, but even if it wasn’t, his time, breath, and luck had been used up. Never in Vincent’s life had he propelled himself so fast to the surface.
* * *
“It’s here.” Vincent threw Jack his facemask as he scrambled up the rear deck that was now edging into the water.
Jack went to meet his friend, while above him, Cate yelled for them to get the hell away. Drago and Sonya stood with legs braced and guns held in two handed grips, and pointed at the dark water.
The Slava juddered, and then it came – the huge Megalodon shark surged up from the water. The massive maw was already open, and to Jack, it seemed a train tunnel-sized cave lined with horrible teeth. Gravity alone slowed its monstrous bulk, but combined with the force of its slide the ship angled even lower.
Jack fell, slid, catching hold of the metal steps. Vincent managed to catch Jack’s foot, and also held on. Drago and Sonya were not so lucky. Sonya just caught a railing with her fingertips and hung on. Drago had managed to fire a few rounds, but the heavier Russian slid the fastest, and with nothing to hang onto, he had nowhere else to go.
The ten-foot wide head, swung back and forth like a dog, crushing the big Russian’s body against the gunwale, and then turning just enough to lift the still conscious man into its mouth. Drago screamed once as the serrated teeth came
together, his gun hand must have clamped down on his revolver as bullets fired nonstop into the air, sounding like celebratory fireworks.
Sonya lost her grip and also began to slide. Jack was too far away and could only watch as the tall woman skidded down the deck. She never made a sound as she headed towards the monstrous head. Instead, she just tried to keep her gun hand steady so she could aim and fire at its eyes. The jaws opened once again, and Jack didn’t want to watch, but couldn’t turn away now.
Mironov leapt then, sliding fast and catching Sonya by the collar. His momentum took them both to the railing, just below Jack. The Russian billionaire grabbed on and swung Sonya onto the metal beside him. He wrapped an arm around her.
The Megalodon slid back into the water with Drago its only prize, and once gone, the ship bobbed and settled a few feet. The small group immediately scrambled up the deck
“Gotta get to the rafts,” Jack screamed. He heard the sound of the dinghies inflating – two of them – each accommodating ten people. There was more than enough room, but no one worried about that being their problem.
Debris littered the water around the stricken ship that continued to edge into the sea. The occasional huff of air came from below, and huge bubbles now began to roil on the surface near the railings.
“We’re out of time – she’s going under.” Vincent helped Sonya and Mironov to their feet.
Olander was first to Jack when he made it back to the huddled group. He snatched at his jacket. “This is madness! You said yourself this thing will swamp us. We’re just committing suicide.”
“I don’t know what to tell you.” Jack disengaged his hand. “But there’s a lot of debris in the water now – this thing is like most Carcharodon sharks in that it tracks by vibration, sound and sight; if we’re quiet, and real lucky, it might not find us.”
