The Trench

by Steve Alten

  “There she is,” Maren pointed, excited by the sheer size of the creature gliding beneath the boat.

  Harry saw the cream-colored object sail by. He fired.

  The harpoon exploded from the gun with a loud bang, trailing steel cable through a cloud of silver smoke.

  The Meg was in sixty feet of water when the point of the harpoon struck the base of her dorsal fin. Slowed by the sea, the lance lacked the power required to pierce deep enough into the shark’s thick skin.

  Registering the attack, the Megalodon twisted along the bottom, shaking the harpoon from its hide before the anesthetic could be delivered.

  Cornered and wounded, the animal went berserk.

  Uninvited Guest

  Captain James H. Locke, known to friends and crew merely as “Flagg,” stood on the poop deck of the Lady Washington, nodding to the guests of the bride and groom as the ship’s pursers led them to their seats. He felt a cool spring breeze at his back, watching as the wind filled the square-rigged main- and foresails that stretched out high above his head.

  The Douglas fir brig Lady Washington was a full-size reproduction of an eighteenth-century Tall Ship, the first American-flagged vessel ever to sail around Cape Horn. She had an overall length of 112 feet and a twenty-four-foot beam, and her two masts, each containing three sails, towered eighty-seven feet above the main deck. Normally at this time of day, Washington State’s “Tall Ship Ambassador” could be found at port, offering dockside tours to the public. On this particular afternoon, however, the Lady Washington had been privately chartered to host a wedding ceremony, a fact not realized by the harbor master.

  Three bells signaled half-past one. The guests quieted.

  Flagg waited, listening to the calming sounds of the sea and the comforting flapping of canvas. He glanced at the groom, a well-built man in his midthirties dressed in a slate-gray tux.

  “Are you ready?”

  The groom nodded, flashing a nervous smile.

  Flagg nodded to one of the crew. Wedding music began. The crowd stood, turning in unison to gaze at the bride and her parents, who were escorting her up the steps from the quarterdeck.

  “A perfect afternoon for a wedding,” the captain declared, at the same time wondering why the bay appeared so empty.

  * * *

  Whipping its crescent tail in frenetic sweeps, the Megalodon zigzagged along the murky bottom in a continuously widening pattern as its senses probed the bay for an alternative escape route. Trapped in a maze, the crazed animal raced inland like a mad bull, only to be forced back by the shallows. Banking sharply, the fish then headed for the inlet, veering off at the last moment as it approached the gill nets, scattering the five remaining male great whites trapped within its presence.

  * * *

  Jonas, Mac, and the crew of the damaged fishing trawler watched in fear and amazement as the eight-foot wake created by the submerged leviathan continued rolling across the surface of the shallow bay.

  “She’s trapped and she knows it,” Mac said.

  Jonas eyed the Lady Washington, now closing to within five hundred yards of the trawler. Through binoculars he could see the vessel’s one hundred seventy tons displacing water as she rolled in full splendor along the glass-smooth surface.

  “Angel will go after the sailing ship,” Jonas whispered.

  “Why?” Mac asked. “The William Beebe’s about the same size and she hasn’t gone after that.”

  “The William Beebe’s steel and has churning propellers. The Lady Washington moves up and down through the sea like a big whale. Angel’s panicking. Her sensory system is so overloaded right now that her instincts will be to attack anything that crosses her path.”

  * * *

  Approaching the Westport Marina pier, the Megalodon banked sharply, forced to retreat once more from the shallows. Moving into the deeper waters bordering the inlet, the predator raced along the cur-tainlike gill net, snaring a sixteen-foot twenty-two-hundred-pound great white in its jaws. With a violent chomp, Angel’s teeth severed her distant cousin into three mangled pieces, the male’s tail and head spinning toward the seafloor. Without slowing, the exhausted hunter banked again, homing in on a new source of vibrations from a larger adversary moving along the surface.

  * * *

  “. . . then, with the power vested in me by the State of Washington, the United States Coast Guard, and as Captain of the Lady Washington, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.”

  Caught in the background, Flagg held a frozen smile as a photographer clicked off a half-dozen pictures of the newlyweds kissing. He watched the couple make their way down the aisle to the reception area on the main deck, then turned to his left, a movement in the bay catching his eye.

  “What in the hell?” The rogue wave seemed to be rolling straight for them.

  Flagg stood at the guardrail, catching sight of a pale object streaking below the surface seconds before the Lady Washington was hammered broadside with a resounding thud. Before he could react, the wake washed over the main deck amid the sounds of splintering wood, the great ship rolling sideways.

  Screams filled the air as startled passengers fell hard onto the wooden deck. The buffet tables tumbled over, a butane burner actually starting a small fire before an alert guest smothered it.

  The ship’s boatswain and one of her pursers ran to Flagg.

  “Captain, what hit us?”

  “I don’t know. Keep the passengers calm. I’m going below deck to check the damage.”

  Flagg climbed down through the hatch in the quarterdeck, descending to the middle deck.

  Water sprayed in through tiny gaps along splintered planks just above the floorboards. Grabbing a flashlight, he headed below to the lower deck.

  “Oh, Christ—”

  The lower deck was already submerged in seven feet of water. Flagg climbed down, then ducked underwater, focusing his light along the far side. It didn’t take him long to find the damage. What had once been the wall of the galley was now an eight-foot gaping hole rapidly venting the ship to the sea.

  Flagg emerged from the water and gasped for air, shaken by the sight of the damage. What could have caused such an impact? He realized that he had to seal the upper hatches right away, knowing the ship could be on the bottom within minutes. He started up the ladder.

  Without warning, the Lady Washington was pummeled sideways as if struck by a runaway locomotive, the jolt tossing Flagg backward into the water. Opening his eyes, he was shocked to see a second hole in the splintered wall. He swam over to the gap and peered through.

  The captain’s heart pounded in his ears as his eyes focused on the luminescent-ivory snout. The creature shook its head, then glided away through the murky water.

  Flagg dragged himself back up the ladder just ahead of the rising sea, slamming the hatch closed behind him. For several seconds he simply stood there, doubled over and dripping wet, his mind trying to fathom the size of the monster that was attacking his vessel.

  He looked up as the boatswain and purser descended from the main deck.

  “Captain, what’s hitting us?”

  “You don’t want to know. Listen to me, both of you. This boat’s going down very fast. I want you to seal every hatch, then get back up on deck and start loading everyone into the life rafts.”

  The purser, a volunteer who worked for room and board, seemed bewildered. “Sir, we’re abandoning ship?”

  “No, son, the ship’s abandoning us. She’ll be on the bottom in less than five minutes—now move!”

  * * *

  The crew of the trawler watched helplessly as the sail-like dorsal fin rose above the wake, circling the crippled sailing ship.

  Jonas crouched in the cockpit of the downed chopper, yelling over the radio. “Damn it, Maren, I said I want to speak with Celeste.”

  “Forget it, Taylor, we’re not retracting the nets. The Megalodon’s exhausted, and the William Beebe’s on the way to harpoon her. We’ll pi
ck up any passengers in the water, but we’re not—”

  Dief entered the pilothouse and tore the radio away from Maren.

  “Jonas, it’s Dief. What the hell’s going on?”

  “The chopper lost its tail assembly. Dief, that sail ship’s going down fast. There must be fifty passengers on board. You’ve got to retract those gill nets. The Meg’s going berserk.”

  “I’m on it.”

  Jonas rejoined Mac on deck. Two hundred yards away, the Lady Washington had managed to turn leeward, its prow straining to reach the disabled fishing trawler, its eleven-foot draft now less than two feet above water.

  “They’ll never make it,” Mac said. “Shit, here she comes again!”

  Jonas cringed as the wake barreled into the Lady Washington, the ship shuddering as it absorbed yet another tremendous blow. He could hear the screams of the passengers.

  * * *

  A tremendous crack—and the towering mainmast toppled forward like a fallen redwood. Terrified passengers looked up and saw they were about to be crushed. To their relief, the collapsing mainsails struck the foremast, causing the fractured mainmast to twist sideways and slam into the bay with a tremendous splash.

  Seventy-eight-year-old Emily Wheeler struggled to her knees, the bride’s grandmother attempting to free herself from the fallen topsail that held her pinned to the deck.

  “Help me, please—”

  “Mom? Mom, where are you?” Hugh Wheeler, the father of the bride, pulled aside the canvas, lifting his frail mother off the Lady Washington’s deck, which was now listing at a thirty-degree angle to starboard.

  Wheeler saw Flagg running toward the two life rafts and practically tackled him. “Captain, I demand to know what the hell is happening!”

  “What’s happening? What’s happening is that there’s a very large shark out there who doesn’t seem to like our boat.”

  “A shark? I can’t believe a shark could—”

  Flagg saw water rising out from several hatches. “Mr. Wheeler, there’s no time to debate the issue. I need help getting your guests in the life rafts.”

  Wheeler took his mother by the arm, practically carrying her across the flooded deck. His wife and daughter waved at him from one of the two inflatable life rafts, already crammed with hysterical passengers.

  Flagg blew his whistle as loud as he could. “Now listen here. The Lady Washington is about to sink. I want everyone seated in a life raft within the next thirty seconds. It’s vital all of you remain as calm and quiet as possible. There’s a very large shark out there, and the last thing I want is to let it know where we are.”

  * * *

  The William Beebe raced across the bay, five hundred yards and closing fast on the dying sail ship. Harry Moon and Dr. Maren quickly reloaded another tranquilizer into the barrel of the harpoon gun while Dief and Celeste supervised the emergency launch of the Abyss Glider.

  As Dief opened the rear hatch of the tiny Kevlar submersible, he turned to Celeste and Captain Morgan. “I’ll lure the Meg away and give you a chance to rescue those people, then lead her back around so you’ll get a good shot.”

  He crawled into the LEXAN pod of the AG-1, sealing himself in.

  * * *

  Through binoculars Jonas focused on the white dorsal fin as it rose up behind the Lady Washington. Water now covered the ship’s main deck; the passengers and crew hovering in two life rafts lashed to the foremast.

  Mac grabbed Jonas’s arm, pointing to the research vessel now gliding alongside the sinking Tall Ship. “Jonas, check out the William Beebe’s stern. Are they launching the Abyss Glider?”

  Jonas redirected his glasses in time to see the one-man submersible plunge into the sea.

  * * *

  Filled to capacity, the two life rafts remained lashed to the foremast, floating just above the submerged deck of the Lady Washington. Flagg and his passengers stared behind them, horrified by the sight of the wake rolling in behind them. A pearl-white fin emerged from the moving mound of water—and kept rising. The snout appeared.

  Screams—as the monster struck the submerged poop deck with a heart-stopping crunch. The impact shattered the keel and fractured the foremast, which toppled backward like chainsawed timber.

  Flagg watched the sickle-shaped caudal fin slash back and forth among the floating debris less than twenty feet away. The creature was searching the perimeter of the sinking ship, which now began to spin, caught within a slow-moving whirlpool.

  One hundred feet of sea separated them from their would-be rescuers.

  “The Lady Washington will drag us below,” he yelled. “Lose the lines and paddle toward the rescue ship.”

  * * *

  Abandoning the harpoon gun, Harry Moon helped his crew position a cargo net over the port side of the ship as the two overcrowded life rafts paddled toward them.

  “Damn,” he muttered. The dorsal fin had turned, homing in on the vibrations.

  * * *

  Lying prone, secured within the pilot’s harness, Dief grabbed the twin joysticks and ignited the sub’s main thrusters. Diving at a sharp angle, he descended quickly to the shallow bottom, approaching the hull of the sinking wooden Tall Ship.

  “Jesus . . .”

  An immense hole stared back at him, so large he could have maneuvered the sub straight through and out its fractured keel.

  “Okay, shark, where . . . oh, fuck—”

  Seeing the glow, Dief wrenched the joystick hard to his left as a head, the size of a small house, glided out from behind the wreckage. Momentarily panicked, Dief accelerated too quickly, nearly burying the nose of the swift sub in the muddy seabed.

  Ignoring the sub, the shark ascended.

  Flying along the bottom, Dief frantically searched the murky water for the monster. Looking up, he saw a frightening silhouette glide like a jumbo jetliner along the sunlit surface, closing in slowly on a yellow life raft.

  * * *

  Her decks now completely submerged, the Lady Washington swirled in a great counterclockwise circle, pulling her downed mainsails with her. Flagg and his passengers hung on as the two life rafts converged with the surface debris, revolving in the vortex of the sinking mother ship.

  With a sudden jolt, the ship’s splintered keel twisted into the shallow muddy bottom. The towering foremast remained upright, marking the sunken ship’s position, high above the waves.

  Emily Wheeler sat shivering at the rear of the life raft, her new dress soaked in seawater. Hugh removed the jacket of his tux and wrapped it around his mother’s shoulders.

  “You okay, Mom?”

  She nodded, her lips blue.

  “Just hang on. We’ll be on that rescue boat in—”

  Without warning, the Megalodon’s snout rose beneath the back of the raft, pushing it upward and out of the water.

  Twenty-eight passengers shrieked, clinging to each other in desperation as they were flipped upside down and tossed into the sea.

  Emily plunged sideways into the water, the sudden cold shocking her system. Buoyed by the life jacket, she surfaced quickly, struggling to catch her breath.

  Hugh surfaced next to his wife, hearing her scream, “Carrie can’t swim!” Ducking underwater, he saw his daughter flailing below without a life jacket, her long wedding gown spreading out like a parachute, its weight dragging her toward the bottom.

  * * *

  Dief looked up to see the Meg bite down on the rubber raft, bursting it in a shower of bubbles as it shook its mammoth head from side to side like a dog, tearing the craft to shreds.

  Before the predator, spread out along the surface, was a feast of kicking legs and paddling arms. Dief gasped in horror as he saw the bride sinking feetfirst, her wedding gown and train now entangled around her legs in a death grip.

  * * *

  Hugh surface dived and kicked hard, straining to reach his daughter as she continued to sink in twenty feet of water. Missing her arm, he managed to grab a handful of her long hair, momentarily stopp
ing her descent. Gaining a grip on her wrist, he towed her to the surface, struggling to move in clothing that weighed him down like an anchor.

  As his head broke the water, Hugh was relieved to hear his daughter choking as she gasped for air. Tossing his arm over her chest, he began towing her toward the rescue vessel. He saw the dorsal fin emerge.

  “Oh, God—Mom! Mom!”

  Hugh cried out in agony as the hellish creature rose directly behind his mother.

  * * *

  Directing the nose of the sub at a gap of sunlight, Dief launched his craft between the Megalodon’s snout and the figure of an old woman. With a loud yell, he accelerated the Abyss Glider vertically at the creature’s lower jaw.

  A strange current gripped Emily, spinning her around into darkness. A quick yelp—and her life was extinguished, her frail form pulverized into mangles of flesh against the roof of the shark’s mouth.

  A second later, the nose cone of the Abyss Glider smashed hard into the Megalodon’s quivering throat. Gaining the monster’s attention, Dief hit full reverse thrust, spinning away and descending quickly as the formidable creature swallowed its meal and turned to pursue.

  * * *

  The passengers of the Lady Washington scrambled over each other as they ascended the heavy cargo net, climbing desperately into the arms of the William Beebe’s crew.

  Hugh Wheeler was the last to reach the ship. Watching his daughter climb to safety, he remained in the water, sobbing at the loss of his mother.

  * * *

  Dief zigzagged along the bottom, glancing quickly over his shoulder to make sure he was being followed.

  The Megalodon rammed the tail wing, driving the AG-1 sideways into the mud. Dief rolled the sub, then raced for the surface.

  * * *

  Jonas and Mac watched the Abyss Glider leap from the sea like a sailfish. Seconds later, the creature’s head burst the surface, its open jaws snapping shut on empty air as the sub plunged midwing first into the bay.

  Jonas ran to the cockpit and grabbed the radio.

  “Celeste, Captain, somebody come in!”

  “Jonas, it’s Celeste—”

  “Celeste, you have to order that gill net removed before Dief gets killed—”