Big Ass Shark

by Briar Lee Mitchell

  Misty pointed to the elaborate mesh and pontoon device folded up on the fantail of the boat.

  “And they’re going to try and catch her with that thing?”

  “That’s the plan.”

  “Good luck! I hope they know what they’re doing.”

  “Yeah, but hey! You’ll be here for the big moment.”

  Peter held up his cell phone and waggled it at her.

  “Janet and I were just talking about that, actually,” he said, smiling broadly. “We were thinking of maybe handing the mic to you and letting you do the commentary so I can direct from behind the scenes.”

  “So you want to be a director?”

  “Sure! It’s LA. Everyone wants to direct.”

  “Okay,” she laughed. “Thanks for clearing that up for me.”

  Riggs approached them.

  “We’re getting close.”

  Just as he said that, the engines cut back substantially and the ship began to slow quickly in the heavy swells.

  “Close to what?” Peter asked.

  “Them,” Riggs said as he pointed off the starboard bow to a pod of California Grey Whales swimming together. Thin plumes of spray shot up from several of them. The pod looked like it contained nearly thirty whales.

  “Whales!” Misty exclaimed. “They’re beautiful.”

  Delbert appeared from below deck. The engines had cut completely and the ship slowed to a crawl as they got closer to the whales. Haruki came out of the wheelhouse and made his way to one of the crates that was lashed down on the deck.

  “Is this really necessary?” Delbert asked, sounding shaky and disgusted.

  “Don’t sweat it, Del,” Riggs said to him. “They’re just fish.”

  “Mammals.”

  “They’re all just fish to me.”

  Haruki removed an enormous gun from one of the crates that Delbert had seen coming off of the plane when they first arrived. He had confronted Riggs when he saw what they contained and was told he would be excluded from the expedition if he created any problems for them.

  He retreated to the far side of the boat and pretended to be studying something out in the water.

  Haruki mounted the gun on a tripod and without any fanfare, loaded a round, took aim at the whales, and fired. The small rocket, leaving a trail of smoke, headed out over the water and quickly found its target. It hit a small female dead center in the middle of her back. The whale erupted from the water, flipping up and over, blood spraying everywhere.

  The other whales gathered frantically around the wounded girl. Her death cries could be heard over the waves.

  “Oh my God!” Misty screamed, as she leapt to her feet.

  “What the hell is he doing?” Peter shouted at Riggs.

  Jethro and Hobart came running.

  “What the hell was that?” Hobart yelled.

  “Sounded like an explosion,” Jethro hollered.

  Misty pointed over the water at the wounded whale floundering in the water.

  “The shark is nearby. This will draw it in,” Haruki told them, matter-of-factly.

  Haruki headed back to the wheelhouse and left the gun still mounted on the tripod. A trickle of smoke rolled out of the barrel and dissipated rapidly in the stiff sea breeze. Riggs turned towards Delbert and snapped at him. “Better get back in there and track that son of a bitch. If he says it’s nearby, then it’s nearby.”

  Delbert, pale and shaky, headed back below deck.

  Misty turned on Riggs and screamed at him. “You’re a monster!”

  He grabbed her by the arm and yanked her closer to him.

  “Perhaps, but not as big a monster as the one we’re trying to catch. A big fish needs big bait.”

  He pushed her back with indifference and Peter caught her. He held her, clearly as outraged as she was. Together, they turned and watched the horror unfolding before them in the ocean.

  Riggs headed towards the pontoon trap.

  “Jesus, Peter,” Jethro said with great remorse, “we didn’t sign on for this kind of crap. This is just way wrong.”

  The wounded whale screamed again as it was attacked by sharks. The other whales swam helplessly nearby.

  “I don’t know what to do,” Peter said.

  “Get us out of here,” Misty told him. “You’ve got to let the authorities know what they’re doing.”

  “Yeah, you’re right,” he agreed.

  Hobart pointed at the pod of whales. “That’s your story now, man. Forget about the shark.”

  “You’re right!” Peter agreed, regaining some of his energy. “We’ll need Sky 1 out here to get aerial shots and someone to pick us up. Get your camera, Jethro! Hurry!”

  Riggs strode quickly over to Peter and grabbed his cell phone, then tossed it overboard. He pointed to the huge Enomoto logo on the superstructure of the boat.

  “Remember, gentlemen,” he hissed at Peter, “it’s our word against yours over what just happened here.”

  Chapter 23

  The day was running out, and a few miles to the south, Barry and McGill motored on, completely alone at sea. Together, they poured over a map in the wheelhouse.

  “Well, we’re there,” McGill announced.

  He pointed to a spot on the map.

  “We’re right in that lane then? The migration path for the whales?”

  “Yup. Keep your eyes peeled.”

  “McGill. I have a question for you.”

  “Ask.”

  “When we catch up with her, what are you going to do?”

  “You mean, besides go swimming with her?”

  “Not funny. Not by a long shot.”

  McGill laughed then walked over to the elaborate sensing equipment. There appeared to be a lot of activity on the sensors.

  “Well my boy,” McGill explained, “I guess more than anything I just want to see her. If I’m lucky, though, I’ll get one of these into her.”

  He opened a Pelican box and showed Barry a small dart with a high-tech device attached to one end.

  “Tracking device?”

  “Yes, with depth gauge and speed indicators, as well. If she’ll let me. Otherwise, I take some great photos and have a helluva Christmas card this year.”

  Some motion from one of the monitors caught his eye. McGill studied the readout and frowned.

  “Anything wrong?” Barry asked him.

  “Take us a bit further north, would ya? There seems to be some activity going on up there. Best check it out.”

  Barry fired up the engines and the cruiser gracefully picked up speed, slicing through the deep water swells. McGill continued to monitor the equipment, the frown on his face deepening as they hurried north.

  Chapter 24

  The whale that had been wounded by the missile fired by Haruki had died. Several pelagic sharks circled the carcass, ripping into it. Ghostie circled underneath and hit the body from below, ripping a huge chunk out.

  Haruki, rim lit by the dying sun, sat up on the bow of the ship. He turned his head and watched the carcass bob on the swells, and jerk from time to time as it was hit by a shark. He could not see Ghostie yet, but he knew she was there.

  The carcass shuddered again more strongly this time. It disappeared from sight under the waves then popped back up, sending slow, rolling swells tinged red with blood in all directions. Haruki smiled. His sixth sense for tracking sharks had been right on target, and now he was going to be able to find their biggest prize yet.

  Time to wait, and watch and be ready.

  Chapter 25

  Barry and McGill approached the area where the Riker vessel floated near the pod of whales. In the early twilight, the huge neon Enomoto logo was lit up on the conning tower of the boat, making it visible for miles. It looked like a floating nightclub.

  “What is that?” Barry asked.

  “Damn!” McGill spat the words out. “Delbert’s got to be there. Along with whatever goons Enomoto chose to send out here.”

  McGill grabbed some
binoculars and exited the wheelhouse. He headed up towards the bow.

  “Kill the engines, would you?”

  Barry shut the engines off and let the boat coast closer to the pod. For good measure, he killed the running lights as well, then, headed up towards the bow to see what McGill had discovered.

  “Dead whale,” McGill said as he squinted through the binoculars.

  “Another one?”

  “Yes, but my guess is this one didn’t die of natural causes. Look at that.”

  McGill pointed out the gun on the deck of the Riker vessel.

  “Jesus. You think they shot one of them?”

  “Probably. To attract the Megalodon. Yes. I think a lot of people will go to extraordinary measures to find such a beastie.”

  McGill scanned the deck some more and saw Delbert speaking with Riggs near the huge mesh and pontoon trap.

  “Yeah, there’s Delbert,” McGill said, “Some other goon, and uh-oh . . . ”

  “What?”

  McGill handed the binoculars to Barry.

  “Take a look for yourself.”

  Barry scanned the ship, and saw Misty standing on the starboard side of the ship, near Peter and the camera crew.

  “Damn! What is she doing there?”

  “I don’t know, but she looked pretty upset. My guess is she’s not a willing participant in all of this.”

  Haruki jumped to his feet and pointed to the water. He was shouting something, but was too far away from either McGill or Barry to make out what he was hollering about. Everyone on the deck of the Riker ship looked in his direction. Haruki turned, then, ran below deck, followed by Riggs and Delbert.

  “The game’s afoot,” McGill whispered.

  Chapter 26

  Delbert quickly activated the underwater cameras and pointed them towards the dead whale. From their distance, and with the light all but gone, details were extremely hard to make out. He switched to a thermal imaging camera, and the torpedo-like forms of the sharks darting into the whale as they made their feeding attacks was extremely eerie. The camera displayed what it captured in colors meant to represent the temperature of the animals and surrounding environment. The main part of the shark’s bodies was tinged a deep, blood red, that blended into a green hue for their heads, which were significantly cooler as they opened their mouths to feed and let the cold water wash over their jaws. The surrounding ocean was a deep, dark blue color—so dark it was almost black, and the contrast between the water and rapidly moving sharks made them look like they were about to pop through the camera.

  Riggs asked Haruki, “Are you sure?”

  “It is here,” Haruki answered him quietly.

  Misty and Peter appeared in the doorway and watched the proceedings.

  “That is fascinating,” Peter commented, as he stared at the surreal image of the glowing red sharks. “I thought they were cold blooded.”

  “Mmmmm, the lamnid sharks, like the great white,” Delbert said to him. “They need the heat to get the bursts of speed for an attack run. Their body is able to regulate its temperature to be ten degrees warmer than whatever water they are in.”

  Misty saw the Megalodon first and gasped, indicating one of the monitors. Everyone looked to see what she was pointing at. Ghostie’s enormous form, colored red, dwarfed the other sharks as she rose from the depths and approached the whale. Her attack was swift, and she ripped into the whale with tremendous force. The colder water streaming through her opened mouth appeared dark blue, outlining her teeth with remarkable accuracy. Her head was a greenish color in this lens. Her eyes, however, blazed red, like the core of her body. She looked like a zeppelin from hell.

  Delbert reacted quickly and switched on incredibly powerful underwater lights, making sure they were directed towards the gigantic Megalodon. He switched off the thermal imaging camera and used the normal lens. The lights were strong enough to show some fantastic detail in the whale and the sharks ripping into it.

  Ghostie, with a large chunk of whale blubber and blood streaming from her mouth, turned to swim towards the Riker vessel. Smaller sharks, made to appear tiny next to her massive girth, darted in and ripped at the blubber. She ignored them. As she got closer to the Riker vessel, she opened her fearsome maw and, in one gulp, swallowed the blubber, along with a couple of smaller sharks.

  Riggs activated a recording device.

  “A Megalodon,” Delbert said in hushed tones. “Oh my God. It is real.”

  He dropped into a chair and stared raptly at the monitor.

  “Would you look at that,” Riggs said with admiration. “Nice work, Haruki.”

  Haruki gave him a ghost of a smile and turned to watch the monitor as well.

  “Where is that?” Peter asked.

  “The shark?” Haruki answered his question with a question.

  “Yeah.”

  Haruki pointed to the starboard side of the ship. “She’s right out there, about fifty meters away.”

  “That—THAT —is near us?” Peter blurted out.

  Peter turned and raced back up on deck to his startled crew.

  He reached Jethro and grabbed his arm.

  “Hey man!” Jethro snapped at him. “You’re shaking up the shot.”

  “Forget about the whale. She’s here, right now, right beside us. Look!”

  Peter grabbed up a microphone, and, by habit, ran his fingers through his hair. He prepared himself for the report he intended to record.

  “Hurry up!” Peter snapped at them.

  Misty, Riggs, and Haruki came back up on deck, leaving Delbert below to record the shark and monitor her whereabouts. Haruki noticed the cabin cruiser on the other side of the pod of whales. He tapped Riggs on the shoulder then pointed in the direction of the boat. Riggs saw it too, while Haruki quickly covered up the gun.

  “Bit late for that, don’t you think?” Misty asked him contemptuously.

  McGill and Barry saw the commotion on the deck of the Riker vessel.

  “Something’s going on over there,” Barry commented.

  “Something indeed,” McGill agreed.

  Peter had positioned himself by the railing of the ship. Jethro trained the camera on him. At just that moment, Ghostie broke the surface of the water, swam around the whale, and headed towards the Riker vessel.

  “Fuck me!” Jethro and Hobart shouted at the same time.

  Peter spun around, saw the bus-sized creature, and ducked out of the shot.

  “Forget about me!” he hollered at them. “Just shoot it!”

  Jethro, working fast and steady, tracked along the railing of the boat, following the movement of the shark. Ghostie passed by their ship, then, headed towards the boat with McGill and Barry.

  McGill was still watching everyone on deck of the Riker vessel through the binoculars. He failed to see Ghostie because his aim was so high using the glasses, but Barry certainly saw her.

  “McGill, put the glasses down,” he said as calmly as he could muster.

  McGill obliged then asked, “Why?”

  Barry pointed to Ghostie.

  “There.”

  McGill froze when he saw the gargantuan headed towards them. His fingers lost their grip and he dropped the glasses which Barry was able to catch at the last moment before they shattered on the deck.

  Everyone on board the Riker vessel watched Ghostie heading away from them and were now aware of the other ship in the area. Misty saw Barry on board and immediately felt guilty, feeling like she had sold him out.

  McGill watched the shark slide past them, dwarfing their boat. She gracefully curved around and came past them again. McGill snapped out of the shock that had frozen him to the spot and sprinted into action. He ran into the wheelhouse and grabbed the rifle and dart that, if placed properly on the shark, would allow him to track her.

  He was going to do all he could to place it properly. This might be his one and only chance.

  He ran towards the fantail of the boat and darted down a ladder, to a float at
tached to the stern of the ship. He was only about a foot off the water when he started to splash the surface, doing his best to attract Ghostie’s attention.

  She obliged and headed straight for the back of the boat.

  Riggs and Haruki watched this bizarre behavior with amusement. Delbert joined them at the railing.

  “McGill,” Delbert said with a mix of contempt and awe.

  “You know that idiot?” Riggs asked.

  “Yes, he’s a colleague of mine.”

  “About to become a dead colleague,” Haruki laughed.

  Barry sprinted towards the back of the boat, horrified that McGill was in harm’s way.

  “McGill!” he shouted. “McGill! Get out of there. What the hell are you doing?”

  Barry started to come down the ladder and reached out, trying to grab McGill. He could see the water being displaced as it was pushed ahead of the shark.

  “Don’t!” McGill yelled up at him as he slapped his hand away. “I told you, I know what I’m doing.”

  Ghostie closed the gap between her and the boat. McGill wrapped one arm tightly through the ladder and took aim with the gun.

  “Get back and hold on to something! I mean it, Barry. Just trust me. Don’t put both of us at risk. Get back!”

  McGill fired and the dart flew true, striking Ghostie just in front of her dorsal fin. The dart looked freakishly small next to her massive fin. She barely shuddered when it pierced her skin. As soon as the dart hit, small lights turned on, indicating it was live and the sensors were activated.

  Ghostie continued forward, but turned slightly sideways before she slammed into their boat. Her massive head was right next to McGill’s feet. He saw the lights on the sensor dart and smiled, knowing his shot was a success. Before he scrambled back up the ladder, as their boat was being pushed forward by the shark, he crouched down and let his fingers trail over her ivory skin.

  Finally, McGill turned and rushed back up the ladder.

  “Well, that was pretty damned impressive,” Barry told him.

  “I told you I knew what I was doing.”