by Russ Elliott
“As of now, naval authorities won’t deny or confirm the existence of such a creature, stating the situation is under investigation. Now, we’re going to take you live to Pier 16 for an update.”
As the media frenzy continued to unfold before his eyes, John couldn’t shake an uneasy sensation. He wondered what would happen tomorrow morning if the Navy went out and didn’t find the carcass. He could hear the admiral now: “The currents must have moved it,” or “The scavenger sharks must have already consumed the remains.” He looked at the walkie-talkie sitting on the end table. Come on, Nathan. If we could just pick up one more signal . . .
It was going to be a long night.
~~~
It was well after one a.m., and Admiral Henderson was still on the phone in his Simon’s Town naval office. A small television in a bookcase showed the ravaged Pier 16. With his phone at his ear, he kept one eye on the news and said, “I don’t care about the bloody headlines. For the last time, it doesn’t matter. The beast is dead, and we’ll prove it in the morning when we go down to retrieve the carcass.”
He listened for a moment, his blood pressure rising. “Absolutely not!” he barked, “There will be no press conference. Just tell them we still have the matter under investigation. I’m not about to address those vultures until I have a photo of the carcass and can put this mess to an end!”
Hanging up the phone, he sat on the corner of his desk. It wasn’t ten seconds until he heard the annoying ringing again. Ignoring the phone, he stared through a picture window and out into the dark naval yard. His eyes drifted across the glistening rotor blades of the helicopters and to the waters beyond. He looked back at the news. It showed a reporter interviewing yet another eyewitnesses from the Pier 16 attack.
“Well, it looks like you vultures aren’t going to let this wait,” he muttered.
~~~
The A109 Agusta LUH naval helicopter soared through the night sky as Tom Hayman sat nervously on a bench in the cargo bay. He was in full dive gear and sandwiched between three naval divers. Ahead in the cockpit he could see Admiral Henderson barking orders to the pilot. A glimpse through the windshield showed that visibility should be good due to the full moon. As the rotor thumped overhead, Tom couldn’t shake his earlier conversation with John.
John’s voice still rang in his ears. ‘I’m telling you it’s still alive. I just received a call from the ship where they’re tracking the transmitter inside the pliosaur. According to the transmitter, it moved two hundred yards. And that was ten minutes after you called me telling me it was dead!’
But Tom knew better . . . he’d been there. He saw the first shot detonate just beneath the creature’s underbelly and then the second one just above its jagged back. This beast was dead. But he also knew the admiral was right: they’d better prove it tonight before the scavenger sharks strip the carcass down to fragments that could be swept away by the current, never to be found.
This was one answer that could not wait until morning.
Tom glanced at the faces beside him. To his right was Andre Wells, a stone-faced, seasoned naval diver. Tom hadn’t heard him yet say a word. Suited up in an orange naval wetsuit, he just stared intently at the closed cargo bay door. The young black men to Tom’s left were a different story. Johan and Thabo Madaki, nicknamed the ‘Bloodhound Brothers,’ were a pair of chatty, wild-eyed boys from Simon’s Town. With their hair braided in long cornrows that hung to their shoulders, the boys were nearly identical. The most obvious difference was that Johan’s hair was brown, and Thabo’s was dyed bright red.
They might not look it, thought Tom, but these boys know their business.
Although they were only in the naval reserves, Johan was a local dive master and knew the area like the back of his hand. Both in their mid-twenties, the brothers earned their reputation a year ago when a naval patrol boat went missing in these waters. Naval frogmen scoured the area for weeks with no luck. Then the Bloodhound Brothers pitched in and found the sunken vessel by nightfall the same day.
Quite a contrast to Andre, thought Tom. Maybe it was nerves, or sheer adrenaline, but the brothers were talking a mile a minute.
Thabo zipped up his wetsuit. He glanced down through a window behind them. “Johan, looks like we’re going to one of your favorite spots,” he yelled above the rotor blades.
“Oh yeah!” said the older brother. “It’s a real hot spot for kreef.”
Listening in, Tom looked at Johan. “Kreef?”
Johan was sliding on his dive fins. “Kreef. That’s what the locals call the Cape rock lobster. The seabed is saturated with them, my friend.”
Thabo pulled his long, red cornrows from the neckline of his wetsuit. “But tonight we’re looking for something a little bigger and a lot easier to find, hey, bro?”
“A lot bigger, yes,” cautioned Johan. “But not necessarily easier to find. There are a lot of deep ravines between the caves. If the carcass fell into one of those, it won’t be easy to spot, especially at night.” Johan reached down and picked up a large circular light by its side handles. “But don’t worry, I’ve got one of the brightest dive lights on the market. Four hundred watts of halogen. This baby’ll light up the seabed like a convenience store in a high crime area.” He winked. “Next time I’m out here looking for kreef they won’t have a prayer, eh?”
Thabo looked at his brother. “Got that right, bro!”
Tom turned his attention to the cockpit as Admiral Henderson rose from his seat and waved at his divers. “All right,” the admiral shouted. “Make sure you’re geared up. We’re five minutes from the site.”
~~~
From a balcony of the Seaside Hotel, Kota and Kolegwa stared out over the water beneath the night sky. Moonlight glistened on the distant waves as Kota’s mind raced, pondering the outcome from the explosions he’d heard earlier. If John had already warned the authorities about Kuta-keb-la, Kota knew there was little time.
Kolegwa looked around his strange environment, questioning everything. He peered down at an elderly white man and a little boy sitting by the pool. The child erupted in giggles every time the old man bounced him on one knee.
“What is it that makes all outsiders evil; is it their pale skin?”
Kota remained deep in thought.
“My mother used to say that the elders are wrong; all outsiders cannot be evil.” Kolegwa then studied a young black couple on the sidewalk below. “And here some evil ones have skin like us. I do not understand what makes them evil.”
“You are not here to understand,” grumbled Kota. “You’re here to do as I say.”
Their attention turned to a single craft flying over the night sea. The two powerful figures watched as the naval helicopter rose and glided silently before the full moon.
Kolegwa looked up and said, “They look for Kuta Keb-la!’
“No!” replied Kota. “They look for death. And tonight they shall find it!”
~~~
Standing behind the pilot’s seat, Tom peered forward through the helicopter’s windshield. Sixty yards ahead, he spotted the glowing yellow marker left by the Navy to mark where the pliosaur went down. The helicopter descended. Tom watched the marker get closer, growing brighter beneath the fog. Twelve years with the Sharks Board had never prepared him for anything like this.
He headed back to the cargo bay to see how the other divers were making out. He looked at Andre. His cold somber expression that he first took for concentration was clearly masking fear. Beside him, the Madaki brothers were still talking without a care in the world. Did they have any idea the impact of this moment? wondered Tom. Thabo high-fived his brother. “Ha, and Mom said the only way I’d ever be famous was on South Africa’s Most Wanted.”
As Thabo pulled his hand back, Johan noticed a sparkle on his left ear. “Where’d you score that?”
Thabo proudly pulled his long, red cornrows back to display a diamond earring. “Cynthia got it for me. It’s a full carat. Not a bad score consideri
ng I’ve only known her for one month, hey?”
“Nice.” Johan winked. “Almost looks like a real diamond.”
Thabo raked his hair back in place and slid on his mask. “You’re just jealous because my ladies take care of me.”
Johan nodded toward Thabo’s dive light. “If it is real, I’d hock it and get a new light head. Can’t believe you’re still using that antique.”
“Works like new.” Thabo picked up his dive light. “Jerry Dunnigan just put a new bulb and battery pack in it.”
“Jerry Dunnigan!” Johan laughed. “I wouldn’t trust that clutch plate to put batteries in a flashlight. You know that boy’s not right in the head!”
“Maybe, but his prices are right.”
Johan shook his head and put on a communication headset.
Seeing that everyone was geared up, Tom slid open the cargo bay door. The rotors thumped louder before the glaring moon. When the Madaki brothers came to their feet, Tom approached them. “Listen up!” he said. “I don’t care what the admiral said in the briefing earlier. This is the exact spot where the creature went down. If you don’t locate the carcass in twenty minutes, I want you to come back up. Understand?”
Admiral Henderson got up from the cockpit. Giving Tom the eye, he spoke to the other divers. “Split up into two groups to cover as much ground as possible. The currents could have moved the carcass. And when you locate it, I want close-up photos, particularly of its wounds. He looked Tom in the eye and then Johan. “The two of you with communication headsets, make sure you use them. I want you to keep me informed of everything you see. All right, men, you know what to do!”
Tom grabbed a halogen dive light and joined the others at the doorway. Johan clicked on his dive light. The powerful beam shot down through the fog and lit up the blue-green sea. “Now that’s a dive light.” He glanced at the light Thabo held. “Cheapskate. You really gonna jump in the water with that?”
Thabo just ignored his brother.
Staring below, Tom watched the rotor wash sweep away the fog and reveal the black water. His stomach turned. It was difficult to release his hand from the doorframe. He knew the night dive would be unsettling, but felt completely unprepared for the level of fear welling up.
Okay, John. I sure hope you’re not right about this one. That thing better be dead!
Reluctantly, he looked at the other divers and gave them the thumbs-up. Then one-by-one, they dropped through the night and splashed into the black sea.
~~~
At two a.m., Kate backed through the door of her Simon’s Town airport office carrying a small cardboard box. She saw John lying on the couch, television still yammering.
“I’m back with a surprise!” she announced. “Just visited one of my husband’s old military mates. Wouldn’t care to ask where he gets the stuff, but he scored us a crate of depth charges. I’ve already loaded them onto the chopper.”
She set the box on the kitchen table. “I also got us a set of night vision binoculars. Now we can see what’s under all that fog.” She smirked. “He wasn’t sure if phantoms of the sea show up on them or not, though.”
Not hearing a response, Kate clicked off the light. She prowled over to the couch like a panther in the night, eased down over John, and heard him snoring. So much for another shot at romance, she thought. She gave an empathetic whisper, “Guess it’s been a rough day, huh?”
Sitting down on an arm of the couch, she looked at John’s body glowing in the light of the television. It was a pitiful sight; the numerous cuts and bruises on his bare back and shoulders, and the way he cradled the walkie-talkie against his chest, he looked like a frightened child clinging to a doll.
Thank God, he’s getting some sleep.
Careful not to wake him, she slid the walkie-talkie from beneath his arm and laid it on an end table. She clicked off the television and curled up alongside him, slowly easing her head down onto his chest. When he snored again, she couldn’t help but smile. She closed her eyes, fully content.
~~~
Beneath the surface, Tom quickly turned on his dive light. The short distance the beam traveled in the pitch did little to calm his nerves. Now that he was in the water, the possibility of the pliosaur’s survival didn’t seem as farfetched as it had at the office. With a camera dangling from his neck, Andre hovered close by.
A glance back showed two specks of light moving farther away as the Madaki brothers headed in the opposite direction. Tom gave Andre a thumbs-up and turned his light toward the seafloor.
~~~
The two dark figures hovered at a depth of around thirty feet. Johan was adjusting the beam on his dive light, while Thabo gazed up at the full moon, watching it shimmer eerily beyond the waves. Sixty yards east, he saw a faint circle of light where the naval chopper waited above the sea.
A bright light swept across his face. Looking down, he saw Johan motioning him to get a move on. Descending beside his brother, Thabo shone his dive light into the abyss. He was quick to notice that the beam from his light traveled about half the distance of his brother’s. The beam flickered. It weakened then disappeared. Thabo gave the light a few good whacks, but to no avail.
He turned to his older brother. Johan was mockingly giving him the “L” shape with his fingers on his forehead: loser. Then Johan shook his head and motioned Thabo to follow him.
Piece of crap! thought Thabo as he hooked the dead dive light to his belt. I’ll never hear the end of this. The duo descended into the inky blackness, the beam from Johan’s powerful dive light leading the way.
Thabo looked up when his brother shined the light on a school of passing angelfish. Suddenly, a barracuda shot out of nowhere and scattered the fish. Thabo paused for a moment, waiting for his heart rate to return to normal. All the while, he could tell his brother was laughing behind his regulator.
Johan again shook his head at Thabo. Then motioning Thabo to follow him, Johan dove toward the seafloor. It was time to get down to business.
~~~
Descending deeper into the abyss, Tom glided behind the kicking fins of Andre. The beams of their dive lights crisscrossed over the seabed. On their way down, Tom did not take lightly the fact that both of them naturally searched around them in all directions instead of directly on the seabed where a carcass would most likely be found . . . as if they expected the creature, alive and well, to tap them on the shoulders.
Tom glanced at his dive watch. Fifteen minutes had passed, and every instinct told him it was time to start heading for the surface. As he turned to get the other diver’s attention, he saw something white contrasting against the murky bottom. He cautiously swam closer, but discovered it was only part of an old boat hull. He flashed his light in all directions from the boat.
Again, Tom went to check his watch. And when the light’s beam shot straight down, he gasped into his regulator. He couldn’t believe his eyes. At the bottom of a deep ravine, the light illuminated a massive, jagged back. Tom slowly moved the light. It was the creature, undeniably. Absolutely enormous. He motioned to Andre, and the duo descended.
As they got closer, Tom could see that the colossal beast was wedged between the walls of the ravine. Only the top of its back was clearly visible. As far as he could tell, the carcass was fully intact—thankfully—and there were no scavenger sharks milling about. In fact, he found it strange that not a single shark was in sight. Descending, he could make out scarring above the left flank from one of the depth charges. Looking at Andre, Tom then pointed to an area where deep chunks of flesh were missing. While Andre stopped to photograph the wounds, Tom glided farther along the knotted back. Cautiously, he dropped down in front of the enormous head. His light reached the mouth, and a chill shot up his spine. Tom swung his gaze in all directions, the light following. Motioning Andre, he frantically pressed a button on his communication headset to call the admiral.
~~~
Reaching a depth of about sixty feet, the rocky seabed finally appeared in the beam of
Johan’s dive light. Thabo slowly looked around. There was nothing but blackness in every direction. Peering up, he saw that the faint light from the helicopter had long since faded away.
Whooosh!
Something flashed by Thabo, tossing and disorienting him in its wake. Turning back around, he found only a huge swath of bubbles and Johan’s dive light dropping to the seafloor. The beam twirled crazily through the darkness as it fell.
Thabo hovered in the inky blackness, absolutely terrified. He’d never felt so alone.
Far below, the dive light stopped spinning, its beam painting a white stripe across the seabed.
Thabo couldn’t move or breathe. Where’s Johan? If he were beside me, I wouldn’t know it in this blackness. His mind raced. What if it was a shark?
He had to get to the dive light.
A pump of his fins, and Thabo dove toward the light, all the while looking in every direction for Johan. Although he could see nothing, he sensed he wasn’t alone.
Thabo touched down on the rocky seabed. He snatched up the dive light, playing it toward the surface, searching madly for his brother. The glaring light sliced through the blackness, and still there was no sign of Johan.
A crimson cloud drifted in front of the beam. Thabo turned the light, trying to find its source. He lost track of it. Then he picked it up again, the red cloud growing thicker as he followed it to the seafloor.
Thabo’s heart stopped. Just a few feet in front of him, an enormous set of interlocked teeth presented themselves in his light. Above the teeth, pebbled skin faded back to a pair of red eyes which glowed threateningly from the pitch.
The monster was waiting for him.
~~~
Inside the naval helicopter, the pilot again questioned the admiral. “Sir, what’s going on down there? Are they okay?”
The admiral stared at the sea in panic and rage. “It was a humpback whale,” he muttered in a dull voice. “We used six depth charges to destroy a harmless, fifty-foot plankton feeder. The pliosaur . . . is still alive.”
