Big Ass Shark

by Briar Lee Mitchell

  “Misty!” Barry screamed as he leaned forward further and used his hands as oars to pull the Zodiac closer to her. He couldn’t see Ghostie below them anymore, but was sure she was still in the area.

  The spotlight from the Riker vessel was still trained on Misty. She had stopped slapping uselessly against the waves and started to pull through the water towards Barry. Off to the right, the surface of the water began to roil.

  “Hurry!” he yelled.

  Misty swam now towards him with everything she had. Just as Barry grabbed her wrists to pull her up, Ghostie’s dorsal fin surfaced. She was headed directly towards them.

  Barry pushed Misty down into the bottom of the Zodiac and then ran to the motor to start it up. The shark was closing the distance fast. The spotlight that had been on Misty was now trained on the huge dorsal fin that kept rising higher and higher above the waves as the shark picked up speed.

  A loud emergency horn sounded and McGill drove their boat right in front of the oncoming shark, getting between her and the Zodiac. Ghostie sounded in time, but swung around, preparing to attack the cruiser. McGill turned the boat as quickly as possible and headed towards the Riker vessel.

  Barry was able to get the motor running on the Zodiac and watched to see what McGill was going to do. More importantly, though, he tried to keep an eye on what Ghostie might do. McGill shot around the Riker vessel, disappearing from sight. A few moments later, he appeared, tearing around the fantail of the Riker vessel. He cut the engine and coasted towards Barry and Misty. The Zodiac moved quickly, and zipped towards the back of the boat. McGill was already at the back, and helped pull the still-shaking Misty on board.

  Barry could see Ghostie heading towards them, and after jumping on board the boat, right after Misty, he pushed the Zodiac away and let the engine carry it in the opposite direction. Ghostie headed after it.

  The three of them watched Ghostie close the gap, and then she rose up and snatched the boat from the surface of the water. The floodlight—still trained on her—showed every gory detail as she snapped the boat from the waves and swallowed it whole. Then she sounded below the surface.

  The floodlight swept the area for the next few minutes, then shut off. It seemed Ghostie was not going to put on any more shows for the time being.

  Barry picked Misty up and carried her into the wheelhouse, then set her down into one of the cabin chairs. She was shaking, and as pale as the shark that very nearly ended her life just moments earlier. McGill found a bottle of brandy and brought that to her. Barry held the glass for her as she managed to take a few sips. She started to calm down.

  “What did you think you were doing out there?” Barry asked her.

  “They’re going to kill her.”

  “What?” McGill exclaimed.

  “I overheard them talking,” Misty explained. “They shot that whale. Killed it to lure Ghostie. I know they’re capable of it. They might even kill us. The shark is just too big for the aquarium, but they still want it, so they’re going to kill her. Oh, and McGill. You were right. Ghostie is a girl.”

  McGill smiled ruefully at her.

  “How are we going to be able to stop them?” Peter asked.

  “They have a plan to get help.” Misty said.

  “Who does?” McGill asked.

  “That reporter,” Misty continued. “His crew, those two men running the camera. They figured out a way to send a broadcast back to their station. They’ve got a small transmitter up on that big tower on the boat. The one with the neon logo on it.”

  She pointed towards the conning tower on the Riker vessel.

  “It’s a live feed,” she added. “Peter could broadcast exactly where we are.”

  “That would be disastrous,” McGill said.

  “Peter is going to get their coordinates and then broadcast it back to their station so we can get some help out here.”

  “Every fool and his brother will know where we are, then,” McGill observed.

  “Isn’t that a good thing?” Misty asked, sounding a big confused. McGill didn’t seem happy with her news.

  “No!” McGill and Barry said together.

  “If others find her, her fate is sealed. We need to stop that broadcast somehow,” McGill told her.

  “I need to get over there,” Barry said. “McGill, get on our radio. Let the Coast Guard know what’s happening out here.”

  “No,” he said, then, took a drink of the brandy for himself.

  Exasperated, Barry said to him, “McGill, this is no time to argue over this. We have some serious trouble here.”

  Ghostie glided under their boat again. Her spooky image filled the monitors with her snow-white, deadly presence. She was close enough that the water being displaced by her huge body caused their boat to bounce up and down as it rode over the peaks and troughs.

  “I can’t do it, Barry,” McGill said to him. “I notify the Coast Guard and every idiot with a scanner is going to know our coordinates. Where she is. I can’t have that.”

  McGill pointed to the image of Ghostie on the monitors.

  “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we need to let her get away,” he said earnestly. “No one even knew they were still alive. Whatever their secrets are, we need to protect them, or it will be a slaughter. Worse than the buffalo.”

  “I’m going over there, then,” Barry announced. “Stop the broadcast at least, then, see if I can stop them from killing her.”

  “You sound like a Boy Scout,” Misty said as she smiled at him.

  “And how do you plan on getting over there?” McGill said, pointing out the obvious, since the Zodiac had recently been sacrificed.

  A loud splash sounded from the back of the Riker vessel. Riggs had dropped the pontoon trap into the water. A loud hissing sound issued from the pontoons as Riggs activated canisters filled with pressurized gas. The trap slowly expanded.

  The instruments on board Barry and McGill’s boat started churning out data. Ghostie flew by beneath them again and seemed very agitated.

  “She’s reacting to all that metal hitting the water,” McGill said.

  “Is she now?” Barry commented quietly.

  “She might not stick around,” McGill added.

  An explosion came from the deck of the Riker vessel. Misty, Barry, and McGill watched a rocket sail through the air, then land squarely in the back of the whale carcass. Haruki had harpooned the carcass and started towing it back towards their ship.

  “What’s he doing?” Misty asked.

  “Looks like he’s getting his bait ready,” Barry said.

  McGill checked his instruments.

  Barry asked him, “Is she leaving?”

  McGill shook his head sadly.

  Chapter 29

  Haruki tied off the rope leading to the harpoon in the whale. He loaded another shell into the gun, then, walked over to Riggs.

  Jethro and Hobart purposely stayed out in the open, visible to both Haruki and Riggs to try and keep their suspicions down, while Peter skulked in the shadows, slowly making his way to the wheelhouse. Along the way, he literally bumped into Delbert who was coming up from below deck.

  They stood stock-still, staring at each other.

  McGill started the engines of their boat and turned it towards the Riker vessel. With all of the noise Riggs and Haruki were making, no one heard them coming. Their running lights also were turned off.

  When McGill got the boat going in the right direction he killed the engine and let it drift. Up on the foredeck, Barry pulled on a pair of heavy work gloves and crouched down near the railing, watching the distance close between them and the Riker vessel. Ghostie’s back broke the surface from time to time. Barry felt like she was just letting him know she was still there.

  Their boat got closer to the thick cable running down through the bow ports on the Riker vessel. Their sea anchor held them pretty securely in the area. As they got closer, he reached out to grab the cable, keeping an eye out for Ghostie. Just as h
e rose, getting ready to jump, Misty grabbed him from behind.

  “Don’t do that!” he hissed at her.

  “I’m going with you.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  “They won’t let you near that camera.”

  “Oh, and I suppose they’ll let you near it.”

  Misty reached past him, grabbing the chain.

  “Dammit! Take these!”

  He handed her the gloves, which she quickly put on. Misty heaved herself over the railing and started to scoot up the chain. Barry stepped over the railing and pulled himself up right behind her. He overtook her so that they could climb up together, the way the firemen help people climbing down their long ladders. McGill stepped out of the wheelhouse and pushed their ship away from the Riker vessel. Slowly and quietly, McGill drifted away.

  Misty and Barry were committed now.

  No going back.

  Partway up the chain of the much taller vessel, they looked down and could see Ghostie directly below them. Her head was poking up out of the water, and gravity forced her jaws to part slightly. From this angle, the curvature of her mouth made it look like she was grinning at him. The sight was ghastly.

  “Oh my God!” Barry whispered into her ear. “Don’t look down. Jesus God, and we’re trying to save this thing?”

  “Shut up, Barry! Just shut up and climb!”

  Misty moved faster up the chain without looking down at what watched them from below. Barry was sure Ghostie would just give that extra little push and jump up to grab them, but she seemed content to just watch them. Every hair on the back of his neck stood on end knowing she was directly below, staring up at them with a garage-sized chainsaw for a mouth. It was profoundly disturbing.

  From up above them, they could hear footsteps pounding along the deck. Someone was running towards them.

  Barry grabbed Misty around the waist to stop her ascent, and the two of them hung on to the freezing metal chain. Icy water dripped down the chain, freezing their hands. Barry could hear Misty’s teeth start to chatter.

  The footsteps were getting closer. The two of the scurried a little bit further up the chain and hid under the bow sprint.

  The footsteps stopped.

  “Damn, you one nasty bitch.” Haruki said.

  He leaned over the railing, looking down at Ghostie’s wicked grin. Barry could just make out the tips of his toes poking below the railing. A slurping watery sound came from below them and Barry stole a quick glance below, watching the big shark slide out of sight.

  Haruki laughed and muttered something about how it was going to be better when she was dead.

  Misty and Barry struggled to get up and past the lip of the bow sprint. The angle was too steep for Barry to push her up past it, so he climbed up and over her. Once up on deck, he reached down and easily pulled her up and over. He half expected to see Ghostie’s wicked grin below, but the waters remained still.

  Once both of them were safely on the deck, they stayed down low and got their bearings. It was easier to listen to the people on deck talking to each other to get an idea of where they were. Looking out over the water, Barry could see that McGill on their smaller boat had drifted over a hundred feet away. His figure was silhouetted in the wheelhouse. Even in the dark, drifting on the open sea, he was deeply engaged with the data he continued to collect from Ghostie.

  After a few moments, they figured out that Riggs and Haruki were back by the fantail. They could hear Jethro and Hobart closer to them, about twenty-five feet away, near the starboard side. They were probably watching the harpooned whale carcass being lined up with the back of their boat.

  They could not locate Peter or Delbert.

  Moving quietly, they squeezed between two large crates lashed down on the deck and moved closer to the camera crew. Just a few feet away from them now, but still hidden from Haruki and Riggs, Barry got their attention.

  Surprised and shocked, the two looked around to make sure Riggs and Hobart were still at the back of the boat, and seeing that they were, made their way over to the crates that shielded Misty and Barry.

  “What the hell are you doing back here?” Hobart asked Misty.

  “Ssssshhhh,” she said, then, asked him, “Did you do the broadcast yet? Did Peter get the coordinates?”

  Jethro and Hobart shook their heads.

  “That’s okay, because we’ve got them,” Barry said.

  “Yeah!” Hobart exclaimed quietly.

  “Things are looking up,” Jethro added.

  “I’ll do the broadcast,” Misty said.

  Misty crawled out from between the crates and grabbed up Peter’s microphone, which Hobart handed to her. She looked over the side and could see Ghostie circling below.

  Jethro shouldered his camera while Hobart checked the monitor and recording.

  “This is a one-shot deal, Misty,” Hobart told her. “That tiny little dish’ll melt before long from the microwaves we’re going to pump through it.”

  “So, don’t fuck up,” Jethro added.

  Barry moved around behind Jethro. Misty did her best to smooth her hair back. The moon was full and large over her shoulder, illuminating Ghostie clearly against the black sea. Misty kept her eye on Hobart as he worked with the monitor and broadcasting equipment.

  “And we’re rolling,” Hobart cued her.

  “Speed,” Jethro said.

  She took a deep breath and faced the camera.

  “Good Evening. This is Misty Witlow reporting to you live from the Riker Institute Research Vessel.”

  Chapter 30

  The video feed came into the KQRX Newsroom and ten people jumped when they saw it. Several ran out the door and a few seconds later, Janet Riley ran in.

  “Where are they broadcasting from?” she asked breathlessly.

  “We don’t know yet,” one of the techs said.

  As if on cue, Misty continued, “We’re coming to you live from just off the coast of Hawaii.

  “Hawaii!?” Janet and the others in the Newsroom exclaimed.

  On board the ship, Jethro and Hobart realized they were being heard and got ready to terminate the feed. Barry grabbed up a screwdriver and held it to Hobart’s neck.

  “Don’t stop!” Barry hissed at Jethro.

  Small sparks issued from the tiny transmitter on top of the conning tower. The feed going into the Newsroom started to breakup. Misty could see the tiny shower of sparks and picked up her pace.

  “The search for that enormous shark has led us here, where it seems this freak of nature is just that—a shark that grew way too big and will probably never be seen again. Scientists on board this ship have seen and studied the shark with the most sophisticated equipment available, and are in agreement that she is an extremely large great white shark that accidentally wandered into the shallower coastal waters near Los Angeles, however, she seems to have found her way back home in the deep ocean currents of the Pacific.”

  More sparks fell just as Peter rushed towards Jethro and Hobart, out of breath.

  “I tried to get there,” he started, “but that Delbert guy—”

  Peter stopped short when he saw Misty doing the broadcast.

  “This is Misty Witlow reporting for KQRX news. Good evening.”

  The little transmitter finally gave up the ghost and dropped to the ground like a tiny, flaming meteor. It landed in front of Hobart and Peter. Hobart stepped on it and ground the flame out.

  Back in the Newsroom , Janet and the others stared in amazement at the now dead monitor.

  “Hawaii?” Janet said contemptuously, “Uh-huh. When Peter gets back here, I don’t care when, someone better come get me. Hawaii my ass!”

  She spun on her heel and stormed out of the room.

  Misty lowered the microphone and handed it with an apologetic look to Hobart.

  “Someone want to tell me what the hell is going on?” Peter asked.

  “We’d like to know that too,” Hobart added.

  “Come on,” Barry
said to all of them. “We’re getting out here, before they find out that Misty and I are on board.”

  He nodded his head towards Riggs and Haruki, still engrossed in prepping their equipment at the back of the boat.

  “How?” Peter asked.

  He moved towards the bow, and the others followed him. Leaning over the railing, he pointed to the heavy anchor chain and the boat with McGill on it floating nearby.

  “Not on my mother’s life!” Peter exclaimed. “Are you insane?”

  A loud banging noise issued from the back of the boat. Ghostie disappeared from the surface, presumably heading towards the back of the ship to see what was making the noise.

  “Come on, we should check out what they’re doing,” Misty said.

  They kept to the shadows and crept towards the back of the ship. They watched as Haruki managed to drag the whale carcass into place just near the mesh cage.

  “We should get rid of that bait,” Barry whispered. “I think that’s all that’s keeping her around right now.”

  Riggs lowered himself down onto the surface of the whale and proceeded to cut a hole into the flesh. Haruki lowered one of the bombs to him and Riggs worked at anchoring it into the hole.

  “Well, that might be one way,” Jethro said.

  “What do you mean?” Hobart asked.

  “Those are bombs he’s putting in there,” Jethro said.

  “Pressure sensitive,” Hobart added. “Set to go off at fifty feet.”

  “They’re going to feed the bomb to the shark, grab her up in that mesh cage, then lower her down to the right depth, and then boom. Instant sushi.”

  From the direction of the wheelhouse, they could see Delbert moving across the deck towards Riggs and Haurki. Misty and the others hunkered down, staying out of sight.”

  “Where have you been?” Haruki asked him.