Somewhere in the Shallow Sea: A Novel of Suspense

by Dennis Macaraeg

  “I don’t know. One moment we were madly in love, then we woke up one day and we weren’t talking anymore,” Danny replied.

  “Did I do something to hurt your feelings?” she asked.

  “No. I’m the one to blame. If I hadn’t been so obsessed about trying to discover this damn Cube, we would have been living together a long time ago. Look what it has done to us.”

  “I guess I was partly to blame, too. I should have been a bit more flexible and returned to San Diego to be with you. I could have taught at the first school district that would hire me, even if it wasn’t the salary I desired. At least I could have been with you,” Helen replied.

  Danny looked away from her. He noticed the girl and her mother were eating a late-night snack of sticky rice cakes, deep fried peanuts and hard-boiled eggs.

  “I’m really sorry for destroying what we had.”

  “We’re both to blame,” Helen replied.

  “When this is all over…” Danny said, reaching for her hand.

  Helen did not take her hand away. It was the gesture she had been wanting from him for a long time. He gently stroked her hand. A tiny smile formed at the corner of her mouth. Danny felt the heavy weight of guilt lift off his chest. He was about to say something when he felt the vibration of the ship’s engines decrease.

  “Are we slowing down?” Helen asked.

  Danny stood up and looked out across the open sea to check what was going on. Out in the distance, a beam of floodlights blinded him from a fast-approaching boat coming toward them. He turned to Helen who was also fixated on the bright lights.

  “A small craft is approaching us.”

  “What’s going on?” Helen asked.

  “Dr. Klein has probably tracked us here and bribed some of the local officials.”

  Danny feared that the event was a repeat of what happened to Blake a few days earlier. Since the ship’s crew was unarmed, a boat full of goons could easily get on board and take them away. If his fears were true, no one could help them.

  The bright fluorescent lights on the deck came on.

  As the boat slowly moved closer to the ship, Danny noticed the red, white and blue stripe on the bow.

  “Isn’t that the Coast Guard?” Helen asked.

  The soldiers from the boat threw a grappling hook to the ship and pulled it in until the two sides of the crafts were touching each other. One by one, four soldiers hopped onboard balancing rifles on their shoulders.

  The passengers who were already sleeping on the open cots were awakened by the sudden commotion. Danny peered toward the middle of the deck and noticed two Marines in full camouflage with ammunition belts and M-16s, walking with the ship’s crew and asking passengers for their tickets. The other two Marines were poking and prodding with their rifles as they looked through the sacks of sugar, flour, and large cans of biscuits crowding the aisles.

  An old man in the middle aisle was told to open the box by his cot. Danny feared that the Marines might ask him to open his luggage. If that happened, he wouldn’t be able to explain the sealed packs of clay. The Marines might take it away thinking it was some sort of plastic explosive.

  “It looks like they’re coming toward us. Put your scarf over your head and let me do the talking just in case.”

  Two expressionless Marines approached them. The ship’s employee asked for their tickets. Danny fished his ticket from his front pocket and Helen retrieved her ticket from her knapsack.

  While the employee checked their tickets, Danny noticed one of the Marines looking down at Helen’s brown hair.

  Speaking in broken English, the Marine asked, “You with American woman?”

  “Yes. She’s my wife,” Danny replied. “We’re going scuba diving.”

  The Marine stared down at him with resentment for having to protect Western tourists like them. He and his fellow Marines risked their lives patrolling the seas all day and night to make the islands safe for everyone, while people like them came to spend more money in one day than he makes in a month.

  “It isn’t safe for tourists here. Go back to Manila right away when you’re done with your business,” the Marine said, walking away.

  Done with their inspection, the Marines returned to the patrol boat. The tether was disengaged and the boat pulled away into the open sea.

  * * *

  Back at the Jolo airport, Dr. Klein sat inside the four-door blue car with his men, patiently waiting for Danny to arrive.

  “Which airplane did they arrive in?” Dr. Klein asked, turning to one of his men, a bald-headed, stocky-framed thug who had been staking out the planes all day.

  “The twin engine parked by the terminal.”

  “We need to get to Danny before he gets on that plane or I’ll never get a chance to get my hands on the damn Cube,” Dr. Klein said to him. “Get out there and position yourselves around the airport and get ready to nab him when they arrive.”

  A Jeepney drove past Dr. Klein’s car. He watched the driver get out, walk toward the back and assist a man he didn’t recognize who was walking with a slight limp and clutching the side of his torso as he headed straight to the airplane. Dr. Klein reached for his phone and texted his men to stay alert and watch out for Danny.

  “Fucking shit! Where the fuck is he hiding?” Dr. Klein muttered to himself.

  Frustrated, he called one of his men, eyeing Rodriguez as he boarded the airplane.

  “Is he carrying a large item?”

  “No, just a small bag,” the bald-headed goon answered. “Do you want us to stop him?”

  “No. Don’t make a move. There are soldiers all over the place. We might get detained for questioning if we’re seen with guns. I don’t think he has what I want. Take a picture of the airplane’s tail number, then get back here,” Dr. Klein said.

  Back in the car, his bald-headed assistant asked Dr. Klein what to do next.

  “I think Danny and the woman he’s with are either hiding somewhere or have already left the island,” Dr. Klein replied with frustration. “Let’s go to the pier and check on the scheduled ships.”

  * * *

  There were no ships at the pier when Dr. Klein and his men arrived. The pier was eerily quiet, lit by sparse incandescent light bulbs mounted on poles along the wharf. He saw two dockworkers sitting on the pier’s wood planks smoking cigarettes.

  “Excuse me,” Dr. Klein said.

  “If you’re looking for a ride out of here then you’re out of luck. Two boats just left a half hour ago. You’ve just missed them,” one of the dockworkers answered.

  “Where are they heading?” Dr. Klein asked.

  “One was headed towards Zamboanga City and the other to Tawi-Tawi.”

  “We got separated with our friends. Do you recognize these people?” Dr. Klein showed Danny and Helen’s pictures on his phone to the dockworkers. As part of his early surveillance, Klein had paid a man to spy on them at the Manila airport, snapping their pictures.

  “I remember them. They came running up the gangplank in a hurry.”

  “Do you remember which boat they boarded?” Dr. Klein asked.

  The dockworkers looked at each other and scratched their heads.

  “We don’t really know. The ships were next to each other.”

  “When will the boat arrive in Zamboanga City?”

  “Tomorrow around six in the morning.”

  “What about the one heading to Tawi-Tawi?”

  “About the same time.”

  A smug smile oozed across Dr. Klein’s face.

  * * *

  “Wife, huh?” Helen teased, grinning.

  “I had to think real fast. I didn’t like the way that soldier was looking at you. I’d kick his ass if not for the M-16 hanging on his shoulder,” Danny replied.

  “You’re jealous.”

  “A little,” Danny replied as he lay down on the cot.

  “Do you remember that night when a drunk guy grabbed me at a party thinking I was his girlfriend?”
/>   “Oh yeah. I almost got into a fight.”

  “You pushed him away so fast. I was in awe of what you were going to do for me.”

  “Luckily, there wasn’t a pair of sticks nearby or I would have wacked him on the head.”

  “You’d really do that for me?”

  “Perhaps…”

  “I remember you took my hand and led me out of the house.”

  “How could I forget that night? I didn’t know where to take you so I just kept driving until we ended up on the beach and made out all night,” Danny said.

  As the propellers pushed the boat to Tawi-Tawi, it churned out white froth, streaming behind the ship like a bridal veil. The steady hum from the ship’s engine shook the deck. Danny wondered if the time was right to ask Helen to take him back and promise to make everything right again for both them. He was only a cot away from her but he couldn’t muster the courage to tell her that he still loved her. He kept what he wanted to say to himself, turned to his side and closed his eyes.

  FIVE

  Danny awoke to the sounds of shuffling feet, muffled voices, and distant guitar chords. The morning sun hovered low on the horizon, filling the gaps between the large boxes and sacks of rice with orange light. He rubbed the thick film from his eyes and turned toward Helen’s cot to find it empty. Worried that something might have happened, he sat up and scanned the immediate area. The passengers on the ship were all awake and walking around the shifting deck to wake up their stiff muscles. As he looked behind some kids playing hide and seek near the luggage, he was glad to see Helen walking slowly back. She held a box top as a tray with their breakfast, trying to avoid the kids trying to run into her.

  “I got us some something to eat,” Helen said, setting the tray on her cot.

  Danny glanced down and saw several hot pandesal (bread rolls) along with hard-boiled eggs and two cups of coffee. He picked up the cup and took several sips. The instant coffee’s bitterness and the evaporated milk’s sweetness tickled the tip of his tongue.

  “You slept like a baby last night,” Helen said.

  “I was so tired. What time is it anyway?” Danny asked, taking a bite of bread.

  “It’s just past six.”

  “Wouldn’t waffles doused in maple syrup, bacon, and two eggs sunny-side up be great? This food reminds me of camping when I was a boy.”

  “I think you have to wait until we get back to the States for that. You’ll just have to settle with the local treats,” she said, taking a bite of her bread.

  “I guess I just have to wait and hopefully, Blake will be joining us for our next breakfast.”

  “Dr. Klein won’t stop until he intercepts us and gets the Cube,” she said as she wiped the corners of her mouth with the back of her hand.

  “That’s why we need to get to Commander Berto before he gets to us.”

  “Do you think some rich guy is helping him? His private army must have cost a lot.”

  “I was thinking the same thing. A year ago, Blake and I sent a description of the Cube’s formula to several companies hoping for sponsors to continue funding our project. We described its basic makeup but not everything about it,” Danny said.

  “Why would he go through all the trouble to get the Cube away from you?”

  “Maybe he figured out a new use and wants to push me and Blake out.”

  “He could have easily built his own compound. He knows the formula,” Helen said.

  “It’s more complicated than that. Blake and I worked on it for years and only recently unlocked how to make it work properly.”

  “But you’ve sent out the basic formula. Can’t anyone recreate it?”

  “Remember when we spent that weekend in San Francisco? When we sat in the park and ate buttered sourdough bread?”

  “Of course.”

  “To make bread, all you need are flour, water, salt and yeast. And yet, no one can make that same authentic sourdough taste from the bakery at the Fisherman’s Wharf. It’s the same concept. The Rx-18 compound’s basic formula has been around for years. Every budding scientist has been taking a crack at it, but no one has been successful.”

  “OK…but nothing quite makes sense. He can’t just peddle the compound you discovered. You’ll just go after him with a lawsuit,” she said, trying to sound hopeful.

  “Blake and I haven’t had time to patent the latest batch because we were tweaking it as we went. I think Dr. Klein knows that we’ve deviated far from our original patent and that’s why he wants to get his hands on the Cube. He knows what we’re up to and maybe he discovered something that Blake and I aren’t aware of.”

  “Why do you think he’s also intent on getting the Cube?”

  “That’s what’s so puzzling about this whole thing. He knows the formula Blake and I were using. He discovered some of its initial building blocks and suggested a few changes.”

  Helen shifted her gaze toward the ocean, trying to make sense of all the confusion around her.

  “Before your unfortunate parting with Dr. Klein, were you already at the stage where the Cube could attract fish?” Helen asked.

  Danny moved his face closer to Helen as if he was worried that someone might hear his revelation.

  “Of course. That’s the easy part. The problem with the Cube is that it’s great at attracting fish but it’s not selective. You liked feeding the fish in my aquarium whenever you visited my apartment right?”

  “Yes. What’s your point?” She said, her eyebrows colliding in the middle of her face.

  “The fish came rushing to the falling flakes and then twenty seconds later, after all of them were full, the fish slowly began losing interest and started to swim away. It’s the same concept. What Blake and I are trying to do is to lure specific fish—like certain species of tuna that might go extinct due to overfishing in the coming decades—and make them follow a ship while feeding all the way to the protected waters. If we can keep them there where commercial fishing is not allowed, we could save the species.”

  Helen paused for a moment, trying to process Danny’s explanation. She thought about the lonely nights she spent in her apartment while Danny was in the lab perfecting the Cube. A strange feeling came over her. Instead of harboring resentment for how he neglected her, she felt a twinge of admiration in his revelation. He was helping to save the world—one species at a time.

  “Now I understand why you were in such a race against the clock. It looks like you’re running out of time. The fish population is being depleted every day,” Helen said.

  “We’ve been hard at work on it for four years and still haven’t achieved truly promising results. We track the fish with sonars but after ten miles or so the fish we want lose interest and scatter. The Cube is still highly unstable and has too many flaws with its design. Plus, if you add the fickle nature of ocean temperatures and the unpredictable fish migration patterns, it’s hard to make it work.”

  “Maybe Dr. Klein found out about a different use for your latest variation?” Helen asked.

  “That’s the horrible side of this invention. If it falls into the greedy hands of a commercial fishing company, it might just mean the end of all fish species. But I’m not worried about that for now—unless Dr. Klein had learned something new.”

  “How did you meet him?” Helen asked, eagerness in her voice.

  Danny looked Helen in the eye, then said, “I might as well tell you how I also met your cousin.”

  Danny began to narrate.

  “I saw Dr. Klein when he walked into my chemistry class as our instructor in my first semester of graduate school. He was an imposing man who commanded your full attention when he talked. He made sure that the assigned experiments were done properly according to the instructions at the workstations. Though he was strict, he was funny and encouraged all his students who came to his lab to perform their best. His thin physique along with his black, plastic prescription glasses gave the impression the he was knowledgeable in science.

  Dr.
Klein approached me about a side project he was working on but had no time to complete. The project centered on researching the tide pools along the coast. Helping him with the project would count as extra credit and since I needed to boost my grade, I agreed. He introduced me to Blake and we clicked right away. I liked your cousin and I could tell he was fond of me, too.

  One day after class, Dr. Klein invited me and Blake to a local Irish pub near the university. While having a glass of cold beer, he told us about the grave situation of the world’s fish population, about its depletion due to overfishing, and how the world’s governments had no policy or program in place to replenish the marine life lost each day. He was the one who first explained to us how marine life could not reproduce fast enough to keep pace with commercial fishing. It was back in that pub, with its noisy patrons and beer-stained floor, that Blake and I realized what we needed to do.

  Immediately after finishing graduate school, Blake and I became obsessed with saving the ocean’s fish population. We came across an article describing the protected areas in the ocean where commercial fishing is forbidden and we had an idea. What if we could move some of the ocean’s marine life to those protected waters? And what if we could keep the endangered marine life there so no one could touch them? But in order to do that, we knew we needed a way to attract the fish to the protected areas.

  So Blake and I began experimenting with different food sources from other fish and plants. Our goal from day one was to create a type of food agent that would attract fish to migrate toward the protected areas that are banned from fishing, where the fish would have a chance to spawn, thrive and multiply. We were going to replenish the fish population so the next generation could also enjoy the bounties of the sea.

  It took time and dedication but we finally came up with a viable compound that produced a reliable result. Blake and I patented the Rx-18 compound and nicknamed it ‘the Cube’ because of its shape when molded. When Dr. Klein found out about our work, he immediately demanded 50 percent of the patent rights due to the scientific advice he had given us through the years. He took us to court and after a year of motions and a trial it was deemed his suggestions were purely academic and could have been found in any number of already published journals. The court ultimately decided he wasn’t entitled to any part of our patent. We thought that was the end but then he began a quest to destroy our reputations by claiming we were a pair of quack scientists.”