by Michael Cole
The weight caused the chopper to pitch heavily to port. The gunner found nothing but ocean in his line of sight. The pilots struggled with the controls, but it was useless. The chopper crashed into the Atlantic in a horrendous display of metal and water being flung about in every direction. Rotor blades splintered into large fragments as the blades chopped the water. The engines flooded and died, and the Huey settled, buoyant, leaning to port.
The gunner was entirely submerged. He opened his eyes, ignoring the sting of the saltwater as he tried to undo his safety belt. A trained mercenary, he kept calm and relaxed, careful to retain the little air he had. He found the clip and pressed the button to release himself.
He looked up from the harness right into the dark eyes of the hybrid. It stared back at him, teeth bared from its jaws. The training suddenly had no meaning. His tranquil composure turned into fright, and for the first time in his professional life, military or contract, he screamed in pure terror.
Rows of teeth pierced his torso, front and back. His head and shoulders were inside the creature’s mouth entirely. Like two-inch daggers, they mangled flesh and bone. The beast yanked him from his gunner’s seat, then turned away and raced along the surface with its prize.
Salkil could see the mercenary’s legs kicking from the corner of the creature’s mouth. After a few bloody chomps and shakes, the kicking stopped. The hybrid raced into the distance, leaving behind a red squiggly trail of blood.
“It’s heading out to sea,” he said. “Pyramid! Position the Melara! Don’t let the bastard get away.”
An alarm sounded on deck as the weapon system went online. Rick, Forster, Lisa, and Nelson looked out the forward window on the bridge, and watched as the 76mm cannon lowered its barrel, then rotated its base. Chatter echoed through the radio frequencies as the mercenaries communicated the creature’s position.
“Rotate starboard, seven-point-zero-five degrees,” the leading mercenary said, watching the dorsal fin through a pair of binoculars.
“Seven-point-zero-five degrees,” the merc in the weapon control room confirmed. “In position.”
“Fire away!”
A burst of grey smoke surrounded the muzzle as the Melara fired off several shots. Traveling at the speed of sound, the shells reached their target.
The hybrid never knew what hit it. In less than a second, it disappeared inside a series of huge explosions. Bits of shell and guts sprayed into the air like bloody fireworks, crashing down in tiny fragments into the thrashing ocean.
The bridge became filled with the cheers from the hired guns, ecstatic about their job well done. Rick blew a sigh of relief, as did Forster. At least these creatures would not get away and spawn new hybrids. All that was left was to salvage a specimen from each one, in hopes of discovering which one was the original.
Forster looked to the port window in the bridge. She wasn’t feeling victorious yet. The captured hybrid would have to be destroyed. It wasn’t over yet.
Hendricks and the gunner pulled Colonel Salkil into the chopper. He quickly ripped off the harness, his body feeling the relief from the tight nylon letting free. He looked at the former Lieutenant.
“Let’s get this mess cleaned up,” he said. “Get some Zodiacs out there. Time to finish the job.”
CHAPTER
41
Mercenaries hurried about the ship’s deck as they busily moved containers of gear to the surface. From afar, they appeared like a small colony of ants swarming about their fortress. Three Zodiac boats emerged from the lower hangar. The crew inflated the tubes, giving the boats a full length of twenty-five feet.
Forster stepped outside, watching the mercenaries go to work. Crates of supplies were wheeled out on dollies. She watched the men open the crates and remove large nylon straps. Within every inch on these straps was a rectangular black pouch, and each one was full. The men loaded these straps into the nearest zodiac.
“What is this?” she asked a passing mercenary. He only answered with a snide glance and continued walking away. She turned around, hoping to see Rick or Lisa, but they were still inside the bridge. Nelson limped from the hangar, still relying on his crutch to get place to place. A group of mercenaries gathered around the Zodiacs and began lowering them into the water. Forster looked into the nearest metal crate and pulled a strap. The mercs would likely snatch it back once they saw her with it, but she didn’t care. She opened one of the many rectangular patches. Inside was a solid object, like a simple block. A metal piece had been pressed into it, the exposed tip only extending a few millimeters. The tip was blinking red. Nelson looked at what she had, then leaned back.
“Holy crap, that’s a C-4 explosive,” he said. His gaze turned to the portside as they lowered the boats into the water.
The drone of the Raven One Huey grew louder. Mercenaries cleared the way, and the chopper touched down. Salkil was still dripping wet as he stepped off. He had removed his helmet and secured a portable radio.
“Alright, hurry it up! Pilots are waiting. And we don’t have all day. Make sure the chopper is fully fueled and ready to go,” he said to the men as he walked by. He slowed his stride after seeing Forster and Nelson examining the explosive. “Didn’t your mothers teach you not to play with other peoples’ things?” He snatched the strap out of Forster’s hands and replaced it in the crate.
“C-4?” Forster said. “Your guys are loading it onto the boats. What are you up to?” Salkil looked to the downed aircraft by the rocks in the distance.
“Unfortunately, we had not planned on losing a chopper in our mission. Unfortunately, there had been no reports of stolen military aircraft to fit the cover story,” he said.
“You’re gonna blow it up?” Forster said.
“You’re using an awful lot of explosives for one chopper,” Nelson said.
“Yeah?” Salkil said. Your point? Nelson understood the tone. There was no intention of having any recognizable trace of the Huey remaining. Salkil continued walking. He could hear Forster’s footsteps as she followed him.
“What’s the cover story, exactly?” she said. Salkil kept walking, entering the shade from the overhead hangar. She grabbed him at the shoulder and spun him to face her. “What do you mean, stolen?” He stared at her, almost puzzled.
“Have you not been paying attention to the news?” he asked.
“I’ve been busy chasing down your fish,” she said.
Salkil looked past her at Nelson. “You think she’d show more gratitude. First, I save her life…well all of your lives actually. Then I kill the other hybrids. Yet, she accuses me of creating the problem.” He spoke to the Chief as if they were buddies in a bar—like he should agree with his sentiment. Nelson didn’t respond. Like Forster, he wanted answers. Salkil didn’t care. He turned and entered the hangar.
Nelson dug his phone out of his pocket. He tried to access the internet. The signal was weak and the smart phone took an eternity to access the news app. Forster stood at his side, waiting for any results. They watched the loading circle swirl endlessly, until the screen went to white, and finally, the first headline flashed as the page slowly loaded.
Militant group steals decommissioned Emirates Navy Corvette.
The rest of the page came into view. Terrorist group who claimed responsibility for oil rig bombing has reportedly seized control over the recently decommissioned Navy Corvette, the Pyramid. Nelson looked at the time and date of the article, then at the time on his phone.
“This news just came out,” he said. He put the phone away. “Jesus, they didn’t get this thing from the black market. They actually stormed an Arab Nations Navy port and stole it.”
Rick looked around at the bridge. The mercenaries had left in a rush, leaving him and Lisa alone for a few minutes. He looked out the main window and watched two of the Zodiac crafts cruising toward the downed chopper. Each Zodiac carried at least four men.
“That’s an awful lot just to rescue two pilots,” he said aloud. Footsteps approached fro
m the corridor. He and Lisa turned around as Salkil entered the room. The Colonel stopped and looked at them for a brief moment, then stepped further in.
“Well, your advice worked,” he said. Rick nervously tapped his fingers against the sonar board.
“So, what now?” he asked.
“We’re going to finish the job,” Salkil said.
“He means with us,” Lisa said. Salkil tilted his head up, mouth slightly agape. Oh, I see.
“Honestly, I hadn’t thought about it,” he said. “You guys weren’t part of the plan. I did you a big favor by rescuing you off your ship. I was hoping that, in return, the four of you would live your normal lives, and never speak a word of this.” Rick was somewhat relieved to hear that proposition. He still hated that the dirty lie would still endure.
“Don’t know how you’re gonna get away with this anyway,” he said. “There’s no way you’ll get this thing out of local waters before the Navy reaches you.”
“I’m not planning on it,” Salkil said. Rick and Lisa heard the squeaky sound of rolling wheels coming from down the corridor. They grew louder until several mercenaries entered the room with stretchers. The dead soldiers from the morgue were piled on them like bean bags. Rick and Lisa felt sick as the mercs moved the bodies and positioned them throughout the bridge. They looked at Salkil with disgust.
“What the hell…” He put the pieces together in his mind. “Oh my God…you never expected to get away in this ship. You’re expecting the Navy to blast this ship to oblivion. And when it’s done, these guys here will take the fall for you.”
“Congratulations, Detective,” Salkil said. “Like I said, I tried to kill these things, and everybody got in the way. This was the only way to ensure that these things never see the light of day again.”
“No, this was the only way your name would remain cleared,” Rick said. “If you cared as much as I did about the truth, you’d face the heat. You wouldn’t care what it did to your name.”
“Oh, like you did?” Salkil said. “Making all that money didn’t seem to bother you.”
“It bothered me a bunch,” Rick said. Lisa nodded in agreement, staring the Colonel down with blazing eyes. “I only took the deal because you threatened my daughter! Remember that?”
Salkil began to regret his spur-of-the-moment decision to rescue them. He wasn’t sure if he could trust them with his secret. There wasn’t much time for a choice.
He clicked his radio transmitter, “Let’s get ready to get underway. Zodiac units, after you set your charges, go to the rendezvous. We’ll collect you there.” The order also served as a stall for Salkil as he brainstormed the current predicament.
A new blip on the sonar screen drew his attention. In three large strides, he crossed the room to the unit. Rick and Lisa looked at each other, then stepped near him. They saw the blip. Something was approaching from the south.
“Whatever that is, it’s big,” Lisa said. She restrained a grin. “Navy ship, maybe?”
Salkil looked through the window. Besides the mercenary crew gathered near the chopper, there was nothing but ocean. He grabbed his radio.
“Hendricks? We’re getting a new reading from the south,” he said.
Hendricks stood up at the bow of his Zodiac and scanned the horizon. There was nothing but a thin line separating the sky from the ocean.
“Nothing so far, Colonel,” he said. “Let us move around the rock a bit for a wider view.”
Hendricks’ Zodiac was the third and last to approach the chopper. The other two zodiacs, each carrying four mercenaries, had just arrived. The pilots inside had made their way to the bay doors, ready to be picked up. The mercenaries handed them the C-4 to plant inside it. The merc driving his boat steered to port, giving them a view around the atoll.
“No visual,” he said through the radio. “Don’t tell me we’ve got another shark out here.”
“No, this reading indicates something larger.”
Hendricks felt a sudden apprehension at the description. “Oh shit. Navy submarine, most likely.”
Salkil shook his head. The object slowly approached, never coming to a complete stop. It moved around the atoll in a crescent-shape trajectory. Maybe. Its approach was slow, much like a submarine’s would be in this instance. Yet, it didn’t add up.
“It’s too small for a submarine,” he said… “but too big to be a whale.” He looked at Rick and Lisa. “How deep is it around here?”
“To my knowledge, between three and four hundred feet around the atoll,” Lisa said. Salkil shook his head again.
“A submarine wouldn’t run so shallow for a mission like this,” he said. His eyes returned to the screen. “Jesus…” he picked up his radio. “Hendricks, it’s shallowing. Its now to the west and closing…” the blip suddenly increased speed. Every person in the bridge hurried to the window.
On deck, Forster and Nelson saw the few remaining mercenaries climbing to the upper deck. Curious, they followed. Climbing inches behind the last mercenary, she heard the radio chatter. Something about a large object closing in.
They stood with the few mercs by the radar tower. The bow was now facing the rock. They saw the chopper, and the two Zodiac boats bobbing near it, with a third several meters to the east.
To the west, a mountain of water rose.
Hendricks ordered his Zodiac to be slowed, and he lifted his binoculars to his eyes.
At the chopper, every hired gun ceased what they were doing, and looked to the enormous approaching swell, unable to see the mass behind it. Breaking through the top of the mountain was a triangular object. Red in color, it had a height of ten feet. The mighty swell split in two and peeled from the center like theater curtains. Behind it was a cone shaped head, containing two black eyes, each the size of a twin bed, and an open set of jaws large enough to fit a city bus.
Hendricks lowered the glasses. He didn’t need them, as the beast was so massive. He felt his blood stirring. This was like the other hybrids, but it was colossal. More massive.
A Behemoth!
The mercenaries erupted in sheer panic as the enormous hybrid shot toward them. A swing of its tail caused tidal waves, as did its enormous girth as it cut across the surface. One of the Zodiacs sped out of the way, leaving the pilots behind in the chopper. The other Zodiac was about to do the same until the beast came down on them.
Thirteen-inch jagged teeth pierced the hull of the chopper with ease. The monster’s nose smashed into the nearby Zodiac, sending it clear out the water. The boat flipped several times, throwing its occupants from its deck. Two of them hit the water, skipping like stones before settling. The other two landed on the rocks, smashing their brains all over the granite.
Water filled the chopper, the rushing current forcing its way down the gullets of the two pilots. The crushing jaws clasped further. The steel sides, floor, and ceiling screamed as it crumpled in the organic vice, crushing the two pilots into mush.
“What in the name of CHRIST!” Salkil yelled. Rick and Lisa were in equal shock. The beast was a hundred-and-fifty-feet long at least! Salkil looked at the crew behind him, each on the brink of panic, a rarity for them.
“Man the guns!” he yelled. He grabbed his radio and ran out the door. “Get the chopper started! I’m on my way to the deck!” He ran at a full sprint through the corridors.
The mercenaries scattered to their positions. One took the helm while the others hurried to the armament chamber.
Rick and Lisa looked back to the window. The enormous beast raised its head again, throwing the scrap metal that was the Huey from its mouth. His heart pounded and sweat began to soak his recently dried clothes.
“I think we found the original,” he said.
The escaping Zodiac lifted and fell with the huge waves pushed by the hybrid as it smashed its head into the water. It moved along the surface, taunting them with its enormous dorsal fin. Both boats focused their fifty caliber machine guns on the girth.
Bullets smashed
against the solid shell, as Hendricks predicted. It didn’t matter. The creature moved in a semicircle. He watched the dorsal turn toward the other Zodiac. The .50 cal. blazed, pounding the snout with dozens of rounds in just a few seconds. The beast rammed the boat, tossing everyone aboard into the water. The tubes burst, and the steel hull crumpled. The shark whipped its head back and forth, chomping the tiny human tidbits. One bite took two of the mercs at once. One was impaled at the center torso by one of the teeth, which severed him in half as the jaws closed down. The other one was fully intact and clawing against the soft leathery flesh of the tongue as he washed down the creature’s gullet.
The other two mercenaries splashed about in the water, struggling in a fruitless attempt to get away. They were on opposite sides of the shark. Hendricks directed his Zodiac to draw closer to the beast. Bouncing in the waves, it raced towards it, eventually turning to travel parallel. They were thirty feet away from it. The machine gun blasted away. With his one arm, Hendricks pulled a grenade from his vest. He bit the pin away with his mouth and spit it out. He counted to three in his mind and threw the explosive. It exploded just as it hit the rigid shell. The smoke quickly cleared, revealing zero penetration. The smallest spines were even still intact.
The shark turned swiftly, intrigued by the small challenger. Its tail creased the water in a huge swipe, smashing the fleeing mercenary as it turned. Its nose was pointed at the last mercenary. The water lifted him, hauling him overtop its head. Through the terror, he found an optimism as the creature passed inches beneath him. Perhaps it would not eat him, and he could swim to safety.
The thought ended, as did his life, when he found himself run through by a huge spine on its back.
“Move!” Hendricks yelled. The Zodiac zipped out of the way just as the creature opened its jaws. It missed, but quickly turned to pursue. Hendricks snatched another grenade and pulled the pin. He looked up, just as the snout rose again. He threw the grenade, which exploded atop its head. The beast didn’t even feel it.
