I was aware of movement behind Tomlinson. It was Will Chaser, I realized, who was circling into position behind the convict. King noticed him, too, and appeared startled, saying, “Hey, you—kid! Stop right where you are.”
His voice flat, Will answered, “I don’t think so,” and he continued walking until King was unable to see him without taking his eyes off Tomlinson—a risk he couldn’t take.
King snapped, “Get back here where I can see you or I’ll put a bullet through your sugar daddy’s head.”
Tomlinson said, “Hey, now,” sounding offended, as Will surprised us all by stepping close enough to the fire to flash a knife in the yellow light and saying, “Mister, if you pull that trigger, I’ll cut your goddamn throat.”
Will’s voice was spooky calm. It was a chilling voice to hear, which caused King to glance at the boy again in reassessment, his eyes widening with concern, then a growing panic. He tried to scoot away to reposition himself so he could see Tomlinson and Will both, but the pile of blazing driftwood was behind him and he couldn’t get the angle right because Will continued to circle.
“I’m not going to warn you again,” King told him, focusing only on Tomlinson now.
From the shadows, Will replied, “Then go ahead and do it, mister. I’ve never been too fond of hippies, anyway,” and he began walking toward King.
Now King had a trapped expression on his face. It was the look of an animal that’s been cornered. And as he steadied the gun, getting ready to fire, I took one long step and then dived for the man because I knew there was no more talking. For an instant, King hesitated, trying to decide whether to shoot me or the guy with the rifle, then he leaned toward Tomlinson and fired.
WHAP! WHAP!
My hands found King’s throat as my body slammed into his, deafened by two simultaneous gunshots. King was writhing beneath me. But he wasn’t fighting back, I realized, and I became aware there was blood on me—blood on my hands and on my chest. As I pinned the man’s gun hand to the ground, I understood the source of the blood: A chunk of King’s left hand was missing. I saw a bleeding black hole, like a spike had been driven through it.
I slapped the pistol away, not sure it was empty, not sure of anything, in all the noise and confusion, until I turned and saw Tomlinson. My friend’s face was pale, but he appeared unhurt, standing there with the rifle at waist level, and he said to me, sounding dazed, “Are you okay, Doc? Did I kill him?”
Will Chaser was hovering over me, a dive knife gripped in his right hand, ready to pile on if I needed help, but I pushed him away to give myself room, saying, “It’s okay. Get back,” and then I stood, my ears numb to King’s cursing. He was rolling on the ground, clutching his disfigured hand and yelling, “You shot me! You shot the King, you worthless ass-wipe!”
Tomlinson took a step toward the man, as if wanting to help, and asked me again, “Where did I hit him? Is he going to die?”
Speaking over the noise, I said, “No. He’ll be okay. You hit him in the hand. Did you mean to?,” and then I knelt and picked up the pistol. I popped the clip—the chamber was empty—so I tossed the gun to Will as I skirted the fire and put my hand on Tomlinson’s shoulder. His eyes were fixated on King, and I gave him a little shake. “You did good,” I told him. “Relax. You won’t have to shoot him again. I promise. Give me the rifle.”
Tomlinson appeared to be in shock. His fingers were frozen on the weapon, and, as I began to unwrap the Winchester from his hands, he asked me. “Are you sure? Because I would do it. I’d pull the trigger again if I had to.”
I looked around, seeing Arlis Futch now limping toward us and Will Chaser, too. Staring at Will, I said to Tomlinson, “There’s no need for that. You’re right. Killing’s just wrong, man. Let’s get out of here.”
My eyes moved to Arlis, who was glaring at King. “Doc?” he said. “That’s the Yankee spawn who kicked me like a dog. Why don’t you boys walk on back to the truck and find your telephones? I’ll stand watch on this snake.” The old man’s eyes found mine as he added, “Any rounds left in that Winchester?”
From old habit, I had checked the breech immediately. “There’s one round left, Arlis,” I replied. “but you’re not going to use it. What happened to your leg?”
“That by God lizard bit me.”
“One of the small ones attacked you?”
“They tried, but it was that big bastard! It took a chunk out but not too bad. I’d be okay to stand watch over this scum. Seriously, Doc. Let me hold that rifle. He kicked me, Doc.”
It was sickening to hear that the monitor had bitten Arlis after we had dodged so many other near tragedies. I knew that we had to get the man to a hospital, fast.
I said, “I understand how you feel—the guy slapped me around, too. But we’re going to let the police deal with this”—I glanced at Will again—“because that’s the way things work.”
I was tempted to eject the last remaining cartridge onto the ground, but the Komodo monitor was still in the area, and so were its offspring, possibly watching us right now from the shadows. Night stalkers and meat eaters should never be underestimated. I learned that truth while hiding on the bottom of the lake . . . And I learned something else, too. I learned how monitors responded to infrared light.
It gave me an idea.
To Will I said, “Would you mind getting that for me?,” as I pointed to my dive mask, which lay on the far side of the fire.
Tomlinson was helping Arlis hobble toward the truck as Will handed me the heavy mask, with its pointed rail and monocular tube. I bounced the weight of the thing in my hand for a thoughtful moment before I handed Will the Winchester, telling him, “You go with Tomlinson and Arlis, okay? Find our cell phones. Captain Futch needs to be airlifted or he’s going to lose that leg. Maybe worse.”
I didn’t want the kid around to see what I was going to do next. He was smart enough to recognize false compassion for what it was—a lethal bait.
Will Chaser was staring at me, his expression suspicious. “And leave you alone with this asshole? Just the two of you, huh?” With his chin, he gestured toward King, who was sitting up now, trying to flex his wounded hand. The bleeding wasn’t too bad, I noted.
I told Will, “Oh, I get it—you want proof I’m not going to kill him.” The boy knew things intuitively, he had claimed, which implied that he knew about me.
“I didn’t say that,” Will replied.
“But that’s what you’re thinking—but why would I risk something so stupid?” I was inspecting the face mask, which appeared to be undamaged. I switched on the infrared light and confirmed that it still threw its invisible beam straight and true.
“Maybe Tomlinson was right,” I added. “Maybe we are a lot alike. How about this? Why don’t we both help Arlis back to the truck? If he loses that leg, we don’t want the rest of him to go with it.”
“And leave this guy all alone?” Will said, still unconvinced. With his expression asking Why are you going so easy on this jerk?
I replied, “He’s not going anywhere. He knows how dangerous it is out here in the sticks.” I turned. “Don’t you, King?”
The man was on one knee, trying to use his jacket as a bandage, but he stopped long enough to glare at me and say, “Go to hell.”
I was thinking, You’ll get there before me, as I double-checked to make sure the infrared light was on and then lobbed the mask close to King’s feet. His surprised expression caused me to smile, as I added, “No hard feelings, partner. When that fire burns down and you get scared? You can always use my night vision to see—Jock-o.”
And so would the monitors.
EPILOGUE
ON A BALMY, MOON-BRIGHT NIGHT IN FEBRUARY, ONE week after Arlis Futch was airlifted to the hospital and four days after police finally located King, I was on the deck outside my lab trying to bracket a camera to my new telescope when I heard the familiar two-stroke rattle of Tomlinson’s dinghy. I covered the Celestron with a towel, let the screen door slam
behind me and went inside to fetch a fresh quart of beer.
Tomlinson prefers beer from the bottle. I like mine over ice—an old habit from years of traveling the tropics. We would compromise: most of the quart for him, a mug for me. It was Tuesday night, long after sunset, so there wasn’t much doubt he would be thirsty.
Tomlinson had been away. On Friday night—an hour after police confirmed that they had found King—he had left aboard No Más on the flood, motoring to the mouth of Dinkin’s Bay before setting his mainsail, which suggested to me that the man was upset and in a hurry. In a hurry to where, there was no telling.
Who knows where Tomlinson goes? Key West is a favorite, but a four-day trip wouldn’t have allowed him much time on Duval Street. And the same was true of Pensacola, another of his favorite haunts. So I had guessed Sarasota—he likes the public anchorage there, possibly because so many pretty girls jog in the park—and he likes Venice Beach, too, for the same reason, and also because there’s a nightly drum circle nearby.
It made for interesting speculation among the fishing guides and liveaboards, but no one truly knew. We hadn’t heard a word from the man since Friday night, which was not unusual. When Tomlinson leaves, he leaves. There are no phone calls, no postcards saying Wish you were here.
“You’re not really sailing unless you let go of all the lines,” the man is fond of saying.
For me, it had been a productive few days. I had done my version of a Tomlinson escape, which is to say I hadn’t left the island, and I had rarely left my lab. I read books I had been meaning to read, I worked out twice a day on my new VersaClimber, then swam to the NO WAKE buoy off West Wind Hotel. I listened to my shortwave radio at night, or I enjoyed the marvels of my new Celestron. And I awoke each morning alone.
Because the quarter moon was waxing, I was stuck with neap tides, which aren’t good for collecting by hand, so I had spent two evenings and part of a day dragging for specimens in my old twenty-four-foot flat-bottomed trawl boat.
Stenciled neatly on the stern of the craft is the name of my little company, SANIBEL BIOLOGICAL SUPPLY. It is built of cypress planking and duct tape. The trawler is equipped with nets and outriggers, which must be hand-cranked when lowered or raised, but it’s a ceremony of which I never tire. No matter how many times I drop the trawls, I still feel a pleasant treasure hunter’s anticipation when I pop the strings and dump the nets because a small, secret universe comes spilling out onto the deck. There, alive at my feet, are tunicates, sea horses, cowfish, catfish, pinfish, filefish, eels, shrimp, sea trout and stingrays—a flopping, throbbing mound of life among the sea grasses and hydroids. As I do the culling, rushing to preserve or release each creature, I am reminded that the universe beneath us is wild and alive—relentlessly alive—despite the outrages, the small kindnesses, the small wars and the brief, brief lives that stumble on blindly above.
In other words, I did what I wanted to do, when I wanted to do it. In further words, I got a hell of a lot more done because Tomlinson wasn’t around to interrupt my lab procedures or lure me away from the instruments of my craft and a solitude of my own choosing.
That doesn’t mean I resented his arrival, though, on this soft winter night. It was hours before moonset. Coupling the camera—a Canon 5d—onto the telescope had gone smoothly enough, and I was getting thirsty myself.
The solar system could wait. Tomlinson and I had a lot to talk about.
I was using one foot to push the screen door open, beer in hand, when I felt his dinghy nudge the pilings of my home and then I heard him call, “Hello, the house! Can I come aboard?”
I replied, “Since when did you start asking?”
“I’m changing my ways, Doc, I mean it,” he hollered. “This is a whole fresh start for me,” and then I heard his bare feet slapping the steps.
I placed the bottle on the little teak table next to the railing, then returned to the galley for a block of Gorgonzola cheese and Colombian hot sauce.
“Again?” I said over my shoulder.
Two quarts of beer and a jar of salsa later, Tomlinson was saying to me, “I don’t know why I did it, Doc. It wasn’t her fault, it was mine. I got Barbara a little drunk, I followed her home on my bike. She was pissed off for some reason or another . . . Hell, who knows. Will was on the beach, we knew he wouldn’t be back, and one thing led to another. Man, oh man, I don’t know what gets into me sometimes.” He shook his head, his voice shy with remorse, and he looked at his toes as if they held the answer to some inexorable secret.
I said, “What gets into you isn’t the problem, Tomlinson. There are only about five or six nonnegotiable rules in life and seducing a pal’s girlfriend breaks at least three of them.”
“Valid point,” he nodded.
“We’re not debating, we’re discussing the women I date. Plural, because this wasn’t the first time it happened—no, don’t deny it. Just because I never mentioned it doesn’t mean I’m unaware. And what kind of example does that set for Will? He’s a sharp kid. He doesn’t miss much.”
Tomlinson lifted his head, concerned. “Do you think he knows?”
The wind gusted, and I got a whiff of patchouli and cannabis as I replied, “If they let him come back to Florida, ask him.”
I was speaking of Oklahoma Social Services. Using her political clout, Barbara Hayes had petitioned some board to allow Will to return to Sanibel on a work-study program, with her serving as temporary guardian. His grades were so poor and he’d already missed so much school that it seemed a reasonable proposal. The work would include helping us map the wreckage of Batista’s gold plane and possibly—possibly—salvaging the manifest—all under the guise of marine science of course. But that now, too, involved politics. Cuba’s people had already lost too much of their wealth to thievery, and Arlis’s instincts had been right from the start about intervention from attorneys.
That didn’t mean we wouldn’t be able to dive the lake we were now referring to as Lost River. We would. And if the few coins I had seen were an indicator, Will Chaser’s share would be more than enough to pay for college. The rest of us would bank sizable sums as well, even if we had to work it on some kind of shared-percentage deal. But much of the timing depended on Barbara Hayes’s jockeying and also on the progress Arlis Futch was making at the hospital. He had lost his leg to what tests determined was the bacterium Pasteurella multocida, but the reptile’s blood-thinning venom may have in fact prevented Arlis from suffering a fatal stroke during what he himself described as “the by God scariest moment of my life.”
For me, information on Barbara’s progress wasn’t easy to come by. Our relationship had turned frosty, which was not unexpected. Because it’s rare, in my experience with Tomlinson, to be in a position of moral superiority, I didn’t want to let him off the hook now by confessing that I had been as unfaithful to Barbara as she had been to me. Technically, Tomlinson hadn’t done anything wrong because Barbara had every right to do whatever she wanted, considering my own infidelities. I’m a hypocrite, I admit it. But now was not the time to admit it to Tomlinson.
“I feel like hell,” he said. “What I did was in my mind the whole time that Will-Joseph and I were trapped down in those vents. My last dying thoughts, I’m saying, which is a very heavy tribute to you. Doc”—he paused to load a wedge of cheese with hot sauce—“Doc, I will never make a cuckold of you again.”
I said, “What?,” even though I knew what the word meant. “You’ve been hanging out with Brits, I can tell. Where’d you disappear to?”
“I anchored off the shrimp docks at Fort Myers Beach. It’s still Old Florida down there, man. Fisherman’s Wharf, Hansen’s Shrimp Packing—a good place for a rum bar, that’s what I think. There was a group of British officers on some kind of exchange program at the Coast Guard Station. There were these three young ensigns who’d never been to the States before, so I sort of felt like it was my duty to show them around.”
“All female,” I said flatly. “Very patriotic of y
ou.”
“Your sensory powers just keep getting better and better.” Tomlinson smiled, nodding his approval. “But I would’ve invited them to stay aboard No Más even if they weren’t. I like Brits, that accent just knocks me out. And they were fun—once they loosened their buttons a little and let their hair down.”
I was shaking my head, but the man was oblivious. Or maybe he wasn’t, because he quickly changed the subject to the fate of the Komodo monitor and its offspring.
“What’s the news from your biologist pals in Tallahassee?” he asked.
There had been very little news until biologists, sent by the Florida Wildlife Commission and the Florida Invasive Animal Task Team, had finally confirmed the existence of Komodo monitors living in and around the lake.
They had managed to catch one of the small lizards, but their efforts didn’t get serious until police stumbled upon the giant female while combing the area for King. That had happened Friday afternoon, so Tomlinson already knew the details—most of the details, anyway, because he had been there. But he hadn’t heard the latest.
Tomlinson and I had returned to the lake with an archaeologist from the University of Florida—Dr. Bill Walker—to do a preliminary survey of the cave that he and Will had found. By one p.m., the three of us had cut our way to the mound, unaware of what police were dealing with only a quarter mile away.
I had assigned myself the uneasy task of standing watch as Dr. Bill lowered a camera into the cave and then used a special low-light lens and a remote shutter control to snap more than a hundred blind photos.
“I’ll let you know if we have anything,” he had told us, “when I get back to the house and download them on the computer.”
A quick photo survey was the best we could do, under the circumstances. I wasn’t going down into that damn cave—or into the lake—until the area was secured, and Tomlinson agreed. We had already done enough research to know that, while Komodos usually reproduce sexually, they can also reproduce asexually through a process called parthenogenesis. Unfertilized eggs hatch as an all-male brood, which is evolution’s way of guaranteeing that a lone female Komodo can repopulate a remote island in Indonesia . . . or the remote pasturelands of Florida.
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