by Greig Beck
Sam heard his rate of breathing climb as though he was running a marathon. Just listening to it made her nervous.
Blip, blip, blip.
“Clo-ooosing.” Andy’s voice was getting higher. “Coming from the north-east along the top of the trench wall, 1200 feet out.”
She stopped pacing. “No, fuck it, Wade, you get back in here right now, that’s a direct order, goddamn it.”
The sound of metal-on-metal scraping stopped, and she imagined him turning to look out into the dark abyss in the direction Andy had indicated. “Can’t see a thing.”
“But in a few seconds it’ll see you.” Sam balled her fists. “Move, now, now.”
“Ah, okay.” He suddenly sounded unsure of himself. “I, ah, think I’m going to get to cover; maybe just shelter underneath Alvin for a few minutes.”
“Just do it. Now!” Sam only just managed to stop herself screaming the words.
She saw Wade come into her line of vision, but due to the cumbersome suit, he walked ponderously slowly toward the edge of Alvin. He got down on his knees, and then came the scraping sound of steel on steel as he used his claws to latch on, move, unlatch, and then relatch on further along the small submersible. It was too loud.
“Five hundred feet, 450, 400 …” Andy’s voice rose with each number counted off. It was coming way too quick.
She waited for the next number. And waited. Finally she turned to see the young man looking puzzled.
“Gone,” he said.
“What?” Her mouth dropped open.
“Did you say, gone?” Wade’s voice floated up from the speaker, with a hint of optimism in its cadence.
“You just keep moving,” Sam shot back.
“Shit; it’s back … right here!” Andy yelled.
The creature flew over the top of them, coming up out of the trench and past the Archimedes, so close it caused Alvin to swing in its cable harness.
“Oh, my, god.” Sam instinctively crouched as the enormously powerful-looking body swept overhead. It seemed to go on forever, even though it must have been moving at around forty knots.
“Move, Wade, just mo-oooove,” Andy yelled.
Sam spun at him. “Keep your voice down.”
They could hear Wade’s labored breathing as he tried to lumber as fast as his mechanically assisted limbs could muster.
“Gotta be fifty feet long,” Andy whispered.
“Closer to sixty,” Sam said, and carefully moved closer to the glass. “Where is it?”
Andy looked down at his sonar. “It’s out there, 400 feet, due west, and coming around.”
Sam leaned toward the comm. She drew in a breath and tried to calm her voice. “Wade, listen to me; it came in for a look and now it’s coming back. Please tell me you’re under cover.”
Sam felt her nerves stretching as Andy counted down the numbers as the beast approached. She spun to him. “Cover everything that’s glowing, we go totally dark.”
Andy ripped off his top, and threw it over the console, but then stuck his head under it to watch the sonar.
Sam crouched down behind her control panel, and peeked over. She whispered, “Wade, where are you?”
“Underneath Alvin.” His voice was just as hushed. “Clinging on like a limpet.” His breathing was dry and hoarse. “I’m just going to be quiet for a few seconds now, okay?”
“Okay.” She stayed down, continuing to just let her eyes peek over the panel top.
“It’s here,” Andy breathed.
The whitish belly passed over them, slower, but still so close the pressure wave made their tiny submersible clang against the vertical deck of the Archimedes.
The creature shot back, and then turned almost right in front of them. She knew what it was doing; sensing for them – it probably knew they were there, but couldn’t quite see, smell or isolate them. But maybe it could hear them. Or maybe Wade’s breathing, or the tiny whine of the ADS suit’s hydraulics, or Alvin’s electronics. She stared in awe at the massive gaping mouth and snout bigger than their craft; the minuscule electrical impulses they were giving out might have been detected by that monstrous snout packed with all sorts of nerves built for picking up hidden signals of distress, movement, or even fear.
The Alvin swung again as if in a heavy breeze. Then the impact came, not into them, but against the body of the stricken Archimedes. The entire ship slid a few dozen feet toward the trench.
The next impact pushed them a dozen more, and the Archimedes’ bow now clearly hung over the inky void.
Andy’s voice sounded like he had been sucking on helium. “It’s going to push us over the edge into the trench. We’ll be crushed.”
“I think it knows I’m here,” Wade whispered.
“Just stay down,” Sam said.
A third strike, and there came the sound of iron girders straining, and then the horrifying sensation of lifting as the bow of the ship sunk down, and the stern lifted, taking Alvin up with it.
“We’re going over!” Andy shrieked.
They hung on the edge for several seconds, and then, in almost slow motion, they tipped over. The cloud of silt only followed them for a few moments before it was left behind. The Archimedes acted like a giant torpedo as it rushed down the trench cliff wall.
“Jesus Christ – 2800, 3100, 3600 …” Andy turned his face, ghoulish green from the console. “We’ve only been tested to 4000 feet.”
The juddering impact threw them both to the floor, as the Archimedes struck a jutting ledge on the trench cliff wall and speared into it. The huge craft tilted forward, like some sort of colossal circus performer standing on its nose. It hung upright, and Sam eased to her feet and wiped her bleeding mouth. She then stood with knees bent and her hands and arms out. She waited.
Sam turned slowly to look out into a sea of blackness with no bottom. If they stayed where they were and fell back to rest against the trench wall, they’d probably die slowly. But if they tilted forward and fell into the depths, beyond the craft’s crush tolerance level, it’d be all over in a few more seconds.
For some reason, with the monster outside, Sam didn’t know which scenario was worse.
The Archimedes leaned gently back and settled against the wall. The Alvin, still caught up in its cable, dangled outwards, like a Christmas ornament on a 400-foot steel tree.
“Get down!” Andy yelled as the massive shark soared past them again. It obviously hadn’t given up, and glided by with seemingly impossible grace for something so large.
“It’s … still … looking for me.” Wade’s voice was strained.
“Hang on, Wade, please,” Sam pleaded.
The shark came back, and accelerated in closer. One of its pectoral fins actually brushed the Archimedes this time. The huge craft rocked.
“One more push and we’re all dead.” Wade sounded agonized. “It’s not going to give up. It knows I’m here somewhere.”
The big man sniffed, and Sam hoped it was perspiration, and not tears, as she couldn’t bear that.
“Just stay down,” she whispered.
The terrifying shadow glided in close, and the monster’s huge snout actually nudged at the Alvin.
“It’s going to find me.” Wade sniffed again. “Any second now.”
There was scraping from beneath the Alvin, and suddenly a brilliant glow as Wade turned on all the ADS suit’s lights.
“Follow me, you sonofabitch.” He leaped free of the Alvin, floating down into the abyss like a skydiver in a shining red and silver armored suit.
“Nooooo!” Sam put her hands to her head and Andy pressed his hands to the glass.
They watched as Wade became smaller and smaller, the ball of light surrounding him shrinking as he fell into the abyss. She wondered how long they’d be able to track him, until it faded completely.
She got her answer as the bright lights from his suit didn’t fade, but were suddenly snuffed out.
“It got him.” Andy sat down slowly.
�
��Maybe he just reached implosion depth,” she said, not believing it herself.
Andy turned to her, his eyes wide. “He sacrificed himself. He knew that damned monster wouldn’t give up, and might have tipped us all into the trench.”
She also sat down, knowing it was true. “He gave us some more time, and life.” She sighed.
“But what can we do with it?” Andy turned to her.
As if in answer, the massive torpedo shape glided past them, and then angled its body to slowly dive straight down. Sam watched the huge creature for as long as she could as it continued on down until the darkness swallowed it.
She felt light-headed. They’d called up a monster from the deep, and it wouldn’t give up until it took them all back down to whatever hell it lived in, down in the trench somewhere.
She wondered how deep it would dive as it patrolled its kingdom. Would it be sated with Wade, or would it continue to stalk this area, which had proved so fruitful.
She tried to remember everything she had studied about the great sharks and their territorial behavior. None of it was helpful to her right now.
“What do we do?” Andy asked. “We have no ADS suit now, and we’re still hung up.”
She sighed. “We wait, and we pray.” It was all she had.
CHAPTER 21
Mironov Enterprises Tower, Penthouse Office
Valery Mironov turned, and gave them a wide smile that crinkled the cheeks above his thin but healthy jawline. His silver hair accentuated the dark cut of an immaculate blue suit that he paired with a t-shirt underneath. He came toward them, hand outstretched.
“Cate, Jack, good to see you both again.”
From out of the shadows walked an exceptionally tall woman with perfect cheekbones and eyes that were a luminous blue.
“Well, well, Catherine Granger, alive and well.”
“Sonya Borashev,” Cate responded. Though Cate turned plenty of heads, Sonya still made her feel like the ugly duckling. On paper she was supposed to be Mironov’s assistant but in reality she was a trained bodyguard and expert in krav maga. Cate knew she also was beyond fiercely loyal to the Russian billionaire, and had given her heart and soul to him years ago. And perhaps, also, Mironov had given the same to her.
The two women embraced, and Sonya looked her up and down. “You look fantastic.”
“And you look a wreck.” Cate grinned. “Nah, you look good as always.”
Jack cleared his throat. Sonya released Cate and turned to him.
“And good to also see you again, Jack. Brutally handsome as ever.” Sonya smiled and raised one perfect eyebrow.
Cate watched as Jack blushed like a schoolboy. Oh good grief, she thought. Men are so easy.
Valery led them to the couch, and they all sat. They were brought tea, coffee and a bottle of cognac, with four brandy balloons. Cate stared at the bottle, which was ornately decorated in heavy crystal. It looked old, and expensive, but, for her, it was a little early in the day for liquor.
They each had coffee, and Valery sipped, placed his small cup back in its saucer and clapped his hands together once, before smiling at both of them.
“So?”
“So.” Cate tilted her head. “You said when we arrived that you’d been expecting us. Why was that, Valery?”
“I think we both know why – the attack on the Special Forces soldiers, the boat disappearances, the seal colonies vanishing, the whale carcasses washing up, some bitten in half.” He sighed and leaned his head back. “The whales – our gentle cows of the sea – have suddenly encountered another wolf, no? And none of them can sleep soundly anymore.”
He dropped his gaze to her. “So, they leave … leaving a hungry Carcharodon Megalodon shark behind.”
They sat in silence for several seconds, with Mironov giving each of them a piercing stare. “And now, our friend Vincent is gone.” His eyes glinted. “Seems he never escaped after all, hmm?”
Cate felt her anger rise. “I should have damn well been there.”
“To do what?” Mironov’s brows knitted. “He wasn’t ready, the navy wasn’t ready, and you certainly aren’t ready. You would be dead too, and then perhaps it would just be Jack sitting here.”
Jack grabbed and squeezed her hand. “He’s right, we need to—”
“I would have kept him out of the water. He wasn’t qualified to make the call; but Jack and I were.” She bristled. “We need to kill it,” she said through her teeth.
“That’s the spirit,” Sonya said with perhaps a little mirth in the twist of her lips.
Mironov sat back, stretching both arms out wide and along the top of the couch. “Do you remember when I said to you that sometimes evolution, or maybe God, tries things out? Sometimes they don’t work out, or God realizes He has made a terrible mistake.” His eyes slid to her. “And then these things get canceled out. Some for very good reason.”
“No god I know made this thing.”
“Perhaps then it was an older god, one from much deeper.” Mironov smirked.
Jack sat forward. “Well, seems this monster is back, and it damn well needs to be canceled out for good this time.”
“Why is it back?” Sonya asked. “You killed it, Jack. And why has it taken two years to explode back into our lives all over again?”
“Maybe we just wounded it.” Mironov sipped his coffee. “Jack, you said yourself, you thought the beast we encountered was a pregnant female, so …”
Jack shook his head. “Yes, but even if one was born two years ago, it wouldn’t have grown large enough to attack and sink a ship like the Archimedes.” Jack frowned. “The one we saw was dead or dying, I know it. This is not possible.” He sat back softly.
Cate watched him stare at the tabletop and could tell his mind had turned inwards. He was probably back beneath the waters off California, watching the huge shark trail blood, mortally wounded, and sinking to the abyss.
“Then, maybe we need to think of another possibility. Maybe we have finally found where these great creatures have been hiding out for the last one and a half million years.” Mironov’s smile widened.
“But then why would they surface, after …” Cate sat back, mouth open. “Oh god, the seismic blasting on the edge of the trench.”
“The frequency and duration of the blasts would have disturbed their feeding patterns,” Jack said. “The whales are gone from the area, and the sound would have provoked a territorial response. If these things were down there, they’d rise to the challenge.”
“Good, good.” Mironov pursed his lips, his gaze a million miles away. After a moment, he looked over their heads to the wall where the huge tank of exotic fish had once been.
“Do you know why I removed my fish tank, Cate?”
She turned, looking at the blank wall. “I wondered why. It used to be magnificent, and the specimens so rare. Do you miss it?”
“Oh, yes, I do, very much.” He smiled. “But there is something else I want on that wall.” He lifted his chin. “Something much rarer.”
Cate slowly turned back to the Russian.
Mironov met her eyes. “I want the jaws of a fully grown Megalodon shark on that wall. I want proof that they exist; I don’t want to be robbed by the abyss this time. I want payback for the loss of my people’s lives, and for the hundreds of millions I spent. Then, and only then, can I rest.”
Jack’s mouth dropped open. “You want to take a trophy? Are you shitting me?”
“You want it dead, so do I. The only difference is, I want the jaws, and science can have the carcass.” He shrugged. “Good deal all round. Think of the lives of the people, and the sea life, it will save. Not to mention the seafaring economy for small boats.”
Jack flopped back against the leather. “The animal rights groups will hate you.”
He grinned. “I’m Russian, they already hate me.”
Cate’s forehead creased. “How? I know you, Valery, and I know that you must have been planning something long before we walked in h
ere.”
He began to nod, and then exhaled satisfyingly. “And now it is time for some of this, I think.” He reached for the cognac.
“Let me.” Sonya reached for the Baccarat crystal bottle.
“Remy Martin, nice,” Jack said.
Sonya carefully prized the lid open, and smelled the crystal stopper, closing her eyes as she savored the aroma.
She let her breath out with a smile. “Remy Martin Louis XIII Black Pearl. It is a blend of their finest spirits aged between fifty and 100 years old. Only 100 bottles were ever made.”
Jack’s eyes never left the bottle and for once he was speechless.
She poured the deep amber-colored liquid into the four balloon glasses. She lifted two, and handed one to Mironov. He swirled it, and inhaled its aroma, nodding as if approving of the fragrance.
Jack reached for the two remaining glasses and handed one to Cate. He made his eyebrows jiggle, and put his nose in the glass.
“I really shouldn’t.” But Cate knew she would. She drew in the heady smells. She quite liked a brandy, but feared this quality of liquor might be wasted on her inexperienced palate.
She inhaled again and as the balloon glass warmed from the heat of her hand, more of the brandy’s secrets were revealed – she began to detect whispers of flowers, fruit and spices, like ginger and cinnamon, and there was even a hint of tobacco. It was magnificent.
She sipped, and swallowed, and felt like she had been sent to heaven. It was so smooth on the palate, but still sent a rush of fire when it hit the belly.
“Oh god, that’s good.” She licked her lips, savoring it. She put the glass down, but Valery toasted her.
“No, don’t bother holding back. I say we finish it. Besides, we’re celebrating old friends reuniting, and we also have something important to discuss.”
Jack nodded. And tilted the rest into his mouth, letting out a satisfied, “Ahhhhh.”
Mironov grinned. “That’s better.”
“I’m guessing it’s expensive, huh?” Cate raised her eyebrows.
“About $55,000 a bottle,” Sonya replied.