Shark Lover

by Marie, Gracie

  Chris had always been a great friend to call upon. Ever since Cathy had joined Shark Savors, she knew that Chris would be someone she could trust. She never had a difficult time making friends, she just had a hard time finding ones that she could count on. So far, Chris had never let her down. She could safely call him one of her best friends. Without Chris, she didn’t know what she would do. He really was the only one who could help her.

  “Just let me boot up the computer here. Once we get this going it should be pretty easy to track the sharks. Do you have any idea what type of shark it would be? That would help us to narrow down our search. I have the great white sharks labeled as yellow, the tiger sharks are orange and the bull sharks are purple.” He said explaining the data on the screen once the computer was on.

  “Well, the attack happened on Stinson Beach. I believe it was three days ago. The attack happened around three in the afternoon. I would assume it would have been a great white shark, but I am not certain. Is there any way that you can change the map back to three days ago and we could see which shark was near that area?” Cathy asked as she ran a hand through her hair. She never figured she would have to go through something like this and she wanted to be smart about it. Going through the records seemed like the best idea.

  “Yes, I believe I can do that. Give me a minute while I try to process that feature. I don’t think I have ever used that back-tracking feature before. There’s never been a need for it up until now, but there’s always a first time for everything. I’m just glad the option is available.”

  “Me too, you have no idea how much of a help this is to me. I’ll give you a minute to look at the program if you need to.” She said as she looked at his intent glaze focused on the computer screen.

  “Don’t worry. You’re not bugging me. I can multi-task,” He said smiling briefly at her while peering away from his computer screen for a few seconds. “How have you been? I know it has probably been pretty rough for you.”

  “I’ve been okay, it’s been really hectic these last few days. I feel like they have thrown everything at me at once. Ever since Officer Sanchez called a night ago, my life has been non-stop. Of course I have been really upset about the entire thing. I just wish it wouldn’t have happened this way. I blame myself for getting him back into surfing like I did. I shouldn’t have told him to get back into it. He would still be here right now.” She wiped her eyes quickly, not wanting Chris to see the tears coming down her face.

  “I completely understand. That has got to be so hard to get through. I know in the Military, every time a guy would die, it would just crush our entire unit. Losing friends never got any easier, no matter how long that I served. I look back and I don’t even know how I made it through those tough times. It had to have been the strength of God. If you ever want to talk about it or if you need something feel free to get ahold of me,” He said as his blue eyes showed his true kindness. “So I have the screen up now,” He said changing the subject. He could tell from her expression that she wasn’t in the mood to talk about Marc anymore. “This was Stinson Beach three days ago. We can look at the specific time slots and see what is occurring at each time. This is noon on the beach.”

  “Wow, this is interesting. Thank God for technology being so advanced. I don’t see any sharks near the shore at this time. There are a few yellow dots pretty far out there though,” She said pointing to the yellow dots that were further out in the ocean. “Do you think one of these came into shore a few hours later?”

  “Let’s check. This is the screenshot at one. I don’t see any sharks at this time either. I’m just trying to get a feel of what the water was like at that time.”

  “I understand. It’s good that we track every hour leading up to the attack as well as a few hours after the attack. Did you check the early morning yet?” She paused. “Well maybe we should check three in the afternoon first. I’m pretty curious to see what happened at that time.”

  “Good thinking. We’ll go back to the morning hours in a bit. Okay so this is at two. We can see the great whites are coming in closer to the shore here. There’s one great white who is leading the path. This is probably the shark that attacked Marc.”

  “Keep going. Let’s check to make sure. We don’t want to make assumptions yet,” She said as her eyes were glued to the screen. He moved the screen to three and her mouth opened in shock. “That’s the shark that attacked Marc. That’s it. See the shark is right in the spot where he was surfing.”

  “Good eye. Now let’s go around the hour and see exactly what happens. This is about three-thirty in the afternoon. The shark is roaming and then it stays in place for a while. This is probably when the attack occurred. Would you like me to find out the exact identity of the shark and where it is now?” He asked seeing if she was okay to continue.

  “Yes of course. I need to know who this shark is and I would really like to capture it. If we catch it soon, we might be able to find evidence inside of it that would prove that it attacked Marc. I would like for his mother to at least have a piece of him she could bury. It’s so upsetting for her. Her husband died from a shark attack in the same area.”

  “I didn’t know that. That poor woman. I couldn’t imagine being her right now. That must be awful. I understand wanting to capture the shark. I do believe that we could catch it, especially since you believe that it killed Marc and we have substantial evidence that this attack happened. I’ll help you catch the shark, I’m afraid I won’t be able to harm it though. It goes against my organization’s policies, but I understand completely if you would like to have it euthanized.”

  “I’m not completely sure what I want to do yet, I know for sure I would like to catch it and search for more evidence inside it. If we find more evidence, that would be great for the case. I really just want justice for Marc. If this shark took his life, I’m not sure if we should let it live. I know that if we do decide to euthanize it, I would like it to be unpainful to the animal. I still love animals and don’t want them to suffer,” She stared at the computer screen in thought. “Chris, I just don’t know what to do. If we keep the shark alive, I feel like we are keeping a killer alive. But then on the other hand, I don’t want to kill an animal. It’s still a living creature, who probably only killed Marc on accident thinking he was a seal.”

  “You don’t have to decide today. You have time, don’t think too much about it right now. I think you have a lot on your plate already as it is. I still didn’t get a chance to tell you who the shark was. You might be a little shocked by this, but it was Mandy.” He said looking directly at her with wide eyes.

  “No way. It can’t be. I just dreamed that Mandy killed Marc right in front of my eyes. I wonder how it could have happened. Mandy seemed harmless, she was comfortable around him. I just never pictured her as being a killer. It just doesn’t seem real to me yet. None of this does really.”

  “It’s going to be okay, Cathy. Don’t worry. We’ll go catch her. I have her on my screen. I think she’s still around the Stinson Beach area. She’s probably hunting seals. It’s that time of year. Do you still want to see the morning hours or do you think we should go ahead and get the hunt rolling?” He asked with authority. Cathy could see his military leader side coming straight out of him again. She liked his authoritive side. He was really the only person she knew that could keep her in line. Even though they had only been friends for a few months, she felt like she really knew Chris. She could tell from his heart that he was a good person.

  “Let’s look quickly and then we can start the hunt. I just basically want to see the entire day and what happened throughout the day. If she is still in that area, I would like to go with you to find her. Mandy killed Marc and I must find her. Do you mind if I take Carly with me? She’s been helping me out since I first found out that Marc was missing. She’s been great. I promise that she won’t get in the way at all. You’ll like her. She has experience in the field, she’s going into criminal justice you know.” Cathy said
as the proud sister that she was.

  “Sure, call her up. The more help we can get, the better. I do have some classes that I am teaching today, but I can always call in another team member to take them over. It’s not a big deal really. This is more important. Marc was a friend of mine and I am going to help you out with this. I won’t tell anyone about your decision either. If you want the shark dead, I understand and we won’t tell anyone in the organization if you want to keep this anonymous.” He took his eyes off of her and stared back into the screen. “This is the entire outlook of the day in fast motion.”

  “Chris, you don’t have to do that. I know how important your classes are to you. I can take the boat out with some of the other members of Shark Savors. I don’t want you to have to miss your classes,” She said as she looked at the screen. “Wow I can’t believe how many times they come so close to the shore.”

  “Nonsense. I’m coming with you. No arguments either. I want to,” He said closing the argument. “They do come into shore quite often. It’s feeding time. The seals are all out hunting, so the sharks are too. Look at this snapshot from the morning. This dot here is Mandy,” He said pointing to the screen. “She’s once again in the same spot where she attacked Marc. There must be seals in this area. It’s a hunting ground. I’m surprised Marc would go out there in these types of conditions. You would think since he was in marine biology, he would know not to surf that far out.”

  “I’m not sure why he would pursue surfing again. The last time I spoke to him, I did tell him to give it another try. I feel so horrible, Chris. I shouldn’t have pushed surfing. It was my idea not his. I believe that he went to Stinson Beach because that was the last beach where his father surfed before he died. Marc didn’t even tell me he was going to surf,” She said as sadness overcame her. “If he would have told me I would have stopped him. I wouldn’t have wanted this to happen to him,” She said inaudibly. “I don’t think I can look at this screen anymore, it’s just too depressing. Are you ready to go on the hunt for Mandy?”

  Chris put his hand on her shoulder in order to comfort her. “Cathy, just remember it’s not your fault. You can’t control someone else’s actions. He decided to do this, not you. I just don’t want you to continually blame yourself for something that you didn’t do.” He removed his hand from her shoulder and put it back on the mouse. “If you want you can get in my jeep and I will be out there in a minute. I just want to check the screen one last time to get Mandy’s direct location. I also have a portable tracker that I will bring, I just want to be one step ahead of the game.”

  “Thanks Chris. I really appreciate everything. Go ahead and do that. Do you mind if I take some of your tomatoes for the road?” She asked glancing over at Chris’s Aeroponics system in the corner of the room. “I didn’t get a chance to grab a breakfast, I kind of just ran out of the house after I called you.”

  “Go right ahead. Grab some for me too. They make a great morning breakfast. It’ll just be a minute here. I’m writing down locations. I’m pretty sure it won’t be too hard to find her.” He said not taking his eyes off the computer screen. Chris looked determined and poised. He was making Cathy feel more confident about catching this shark.

  “I’ll grab extra tomatoes. I’m going to text Carly and have her meet us over there. It might take her awhile to get here, I don’t know if she’s up yet. We can always start the search without her and then come back and get her later. I’ll be in the jeep. See you in a few minutes.”

  Chris nodded and Cathy took more tomatoes from the corner of the room. They all looked so ripe and fresh. She loved fresh tomatoes on a cool fall day. It would be a slice of happiness that she could at least savor for a few minutes. She threw three tomatoes into her book bag and then headed out of the lab. It didn’t take long for her to discover Chris’s jeep. Even though it was dark out, she always recognized his camo-colored jeep with the Shark Savor’s logo on the side. She hopped in the passenger’s side just as Chris was coming out of the building. He smiled and waved to her as he headed in her direction. He got into the driver’s seat and started the jeep up. They were ready to take on the shark that killed Marc.

  * * *

  “You can just untie that rope over there. I think after that we are set to go. Are you ready for this?” Chris asked as he started steering the large boat out to shore. He put the mobile shark tracker in his pocket. He figured he would turn it on when they were closer to Stinson Beach.

  “As ready as I will ever be,” Cathy replied looking down at her watch. “I called Carly, but she said she can’t take off another day from school. She’ll help out later after her classes are over. I completely understand. I know how hard it is to miss classes. Speaking of missing classes, I missed my class last night. I’m also missing my class today. Professor Tyson isn’t going to be too happy with me.”

  “I’ll look forward to meeting Carly later then. Yeah, it is really hard missing classes. I’m sure they would understand though, given the circumstances. Dealing with losing a loved one is never an easy thing. Just call the school later and explain what’s going on. I’m sure it won’t be a problem.” He concentrated on taking the boat out towards the ocean. The waves fiercely rocked the boat as they slowly approached the horizon.

  “I don’t know, I told Professor Tyson that Marc was missing. I ran into him yesterday at the school, but he didn’t seem to care. He kind of just blew me off and continued on with his work. He was pretty rude, but that’s just his personality I guess. I never saw him as being friendly or personable,” She said as she tied her messy hair into a ponytail to prevent it from being blown in the wind. “Is it supposed to storm today? The wind has really been picking up.”

  “That’s a bummer about your professor. I hope he comes to an understanding for you. I mean he should. A loved one died, he should at show some respect,” He said as he gazed out towards the ocean. “The waves look rough. I don’t know how long we should really stay out here, but I know this is important. If it gets really bad, we can always head back. It’s not a problem. I don’t mind like I said, I’m here for you.”

  “You’re the best Chris,” She said smiling at him. She moved to the bow of the boat to check out the weather along with the waves. “It’s not looking too bad so far. I’ll check the weather on my phone. Hopefully it won’t storm until later in the day. Thanks so much for doing this Chris. I can’t thank you enough for taking the day off to help me.”

  “Check the weather and let me know. We should be there soon. I’m trying to get there as quickly as I can,” He said as he pulled out the mobile shark tracker out of his pocket and turned it on. “We’ll see where she is. Hopefully this storm will blow over or at least wait a few hours. And don’t mention it. This is important and we need to do this.”

  She pulled out her phone and checked the weather. “It looks like it’s going to rain in about an hour. Do you think that’s enough time?” She questioned looking at him with curious eyes.

  “We should be alright. I have some raincoats just in case it does start pouring. Hopefully this is a quick capture and we can bring her back to the lab.”

  Cathy stared down at the boat and then looked back up at Chris. He was wearing a thick sweatshirt and sweatpants. He must have known how cold it would be out on the water. Cathy shivered in her jeans and t-shirt. She wished she would have grabbed her jacket from the lab. She had gotten so caught up in finding Mandy, she hadn’t thought to remember her coat. Chris peered at her from underneath his ball cap. When he wore a hat, he looked like a true athlete. She couldn’t help thinking he looked just like a professional baseball player. He must have sensed her feelings when he looked at her with an inquisitive expression.

  “Do you want my jacket? You look cold.” He took off his jacket and handed it out to her.

  “Are you sure? I don’t want you to be cold either.” She came over to him and took it from his hands.

  “Of course. I’ll be fine. We’ll be moving around in a minute h
ere anyways. We’re almost there.”

  She looked all around her and started noticing all of the rocky cliffs of Stinson Beach. The air and the water seemed colder here. Maybe it was just her mood or the fact that she was in the place where Marc had died. She didn’t like being here, but she knew she had to stick through it for Marc. If she could capture Mandy, it would be well worth it. The sky clouded up above them as she shivered. Even with Chris’s jacket on, she felt a rush of cold flowing through her body. She wanted to get it over with and fast.

  “We’re getting pretty close to her,” He said as his mobile shark tracker started beeping loudly. “Could you get the fish ready? We’ll capture her with a big slice of tuna on a hook and line.”

  “Sure thing. I got it.” She went to the back of the boat and got the tuna fish out. She put it on a large hook and tied it to the line. “How does this look?”

  “Perfect. Okay, she appears to be right beneath us. Let’s drop it in the water on the side of the boat to the left. Once we get her on the line, I’ll pull her up. Now it’s important that you don’t stand too close to me while I’m doing that, I don’t want you to get hurt,” He said as he stabled the boat by putting the anchor out. He grabbed the tuna fish and threw it overboard. The boat started rocking back and forth fiercely in the wind as Chris tried to stabilize it. “Here watch the line while I try to get the boat to steady. The wind is really picking up. I guess the rain is coming in.”

  “I got it. I hope the rain holds off at least for a while.” She held the line when all of the sudden it started tugging her off of the boat. “Chris! I think Mandy grabbed the tuna. Hurry!” She struggled to hold the line as it started slipping through her hands. Chris ran over and quickly took the line from her hands and started pulling it in with all of his might. In one full thrust he pulled the creature from the sea into the boat. Both of them stared down at it shocked.