Fathomless

by Greig Beck

  Vincent stared, waiting. Jack held his gaze. “Whalers always have diving gear; it’s standard kit.”

  Vincent’s mouth slowly dropped open, and then he began to laugh. “That, sir, is a gold-plated suicide mission for anyone that goes over the side.”

  “Maybe a fifty per cent chance of survival, but that’s better than what we have right now,” Jack said. “I’m going to risk it.”

  Vincent shook his head. “More like a ten per cent chance… for you.” He started to grin. “Look, I can ask Sonya or Drago to shoot you right now if you’re in a hurry to get yourself killed.”

  “Vince, when the boat’s deck drops low enough, it’ll surge right up onto us, just like it did to Olander’s boat. The alternatives are to go below deck in a sinking ship, and hope an air pocket will sustain us. Or we take to the life rafts.” Jack’s mouth turned down. “We might as well swim for it.” He smiled, trying to look more confident than he felt. “And by the way, I don’t intend to die today.”

  “But you will die, Jack. Then we all will.” Vincent was slightly smaller than Jack, but he seemed to be made of something more durable than flesh and blood. He gripped Jack’s forearm in a vice-like grip. “You’re a good diver, Jack, but do you know how to work equipment under the water?”

  Jack hadn’t thought about it, and stood thinking for a moment. He shook his head.

  “I didn’t think so. You’d waste your life. All you would achieve would be to give that big bastard below us a heads up, and make it impossible for us to try it again… after you’ve been torn to shreds or eaten whole. How would Cate feel about that?” Vincent walked to the edge of the boat, and looked over the side. Jack joined him, and together they saw at the far periphery of their lights, the huge fin cutting the water.

  Vincent snorted. “Yeah, sure, the propeller shaft needs to be defouled.” He looked at his friend. “But not by you.”

  “I can’t let you do that,” Jack said. “Besides it was my idea.”

  “Fight you for it?” Vincent grinned.

  Regina quick walked in between them. “Make Drago do it.”

  Olander and his crew started to talk loudly on deck, and Regina turned towards them. “Better yet; make that fat asshole do it. Or at least use him as a diversion – send him out on one of the rafts.”

  Jack and Vincent laughed grimly, but Regina’s face remained clouded – he guessed she meant it. Cate and Sonya joined them, and Olander seeing them all grouped, also barged in.

  He folded thick arms. “I have some very scared people here. We need to get them off, and into special care, fast.”

  “Funny, we were just talking about options to get you off this boat, fast.” Vincent eyeballed the Earthpeace captain. “Listen up, captain to captain; if we survive, then maybe you survive. So do us a favor, and stay out of our way.”

  “Fuck you for putting us all in danger,” Olander stormed off.

  Jack watched him go for a moment. “We need to talk, make a decision, right now… all of us.” He pulled in a cheek. “Yeah, even him.”

  * * *

  In the bridge room, Cate, Jack, Vincent, Regina, Valery Mironov and Sonya formed a ring in front. Behind them to one side, were Drago and Alexi, and loitering at the rear was Olander and his youthful crewmembers.

  Drago’s other men were below deck trying to work miracles with the pumps. All of them tried hard to ignore the obvious tilting deck and the occasional thump of the behemoth battering them from below.

  Inside the room, the quiet murmurs were broken by a sharp metallic clanging sound.

  “Sorry, sorry,” Jupiter picked up an old-style alarm clock he had knocked to the ground. It was large, and one of the type that had two copper bells on top and a small hammer in-between. “My bad.” He waved it around, his other hand also held up in surrender.

  They turned back to the map table, where Jack had spread a schematic of the Slava out in front of them. He stood with his hands on his hips, looking down at the bow.

  The alarm clock went off, ringing loudly, and making the entire room of already tense people jump.

  “Shut that fucking thing off,” Jack yelled.

  A red-faced Jupiter carefully set the clock back on the shelf. “Oops.”

  “You asshole.” His pilot friend, Milo, smacked the back of his head.

  Cate sighed. “The vibrations alone will attract the Megalodon… not that I think it needs any more incentive.”

  Jack glared again at the young bearded man, before turning back to the schematics. “Let me say at the outset, there are no easy options left.” He looked up at each of them. “The Coast Guard chopper is still around two hours out. Olander’s boat is gone, and their tiny helicopter only seats two. Plus it doesn’t have the fuel to get even half way to shore.” He exhaled slowly through his nose, staring down at the table for a moment longer. “We have two small dinghies… that will be the final option for when, not if, the Slava sinks to waterline level.”

  “We’ll sink? Really sink?” Jupiter straightened.

  “Bullshit.” Milo shook his head, one corner of his mouth lifting. “I know for a fact that even whalers like this old clunker can use their empty barrels for extra buoyancy. Don’t worry, this thing aint sinking anytime soon.”

  “What barrels?” Vincent raised silver eyebrows. “Didn’t need those, as we’re not whaling.”

  “There’re no barrels, no second chances. Understand now?” Jack paused and noticed no one met his eyes, bar Vincent – only the tough Coast Guard officer returned his gaze. The man nodded to him. Jack went on.

  “We need to be out of here. We need to at least head towards the approaching Coast Guard chopper to try and shorten the distance. The boat will still sink, but at least it’ll be sinking while we’re being lifted off.” He folded his arms. “So, we need to try and defoul the propeller… from below.”

  “Yeah, right,” Jupiter gave them a bitter laugh, but his face was ashen. “Good luck untangling that elasto-fiber material. You’d need to pull this hunk-a-junk up into dry-dock.”

  Regina spun, launching a straight right that caught him flush on the chin. He dropped like a sack. Vincent pulled her back, but she pointed down at him. “I vote this sack of shit to be last off.”

  Jupiter held up his hands. “Just stating the facts, Eva Braun.”

  “Son, just keep your mouth shut… or I’ll let her finish you off.” Vincent ’s eyes blazed with cold fury and Jupiter quickly made a mouth zipping gesture.

  Vincent turned back to the table. “I’m going into the water.”

  Regina made a small sound in her throat and turned away. Vincent followed her with his eyes. “Unfortunately, it’s the only option that might work.”

  She turned back, and he looked apologetic. “Please don’t think for a minute I want to do this. But if we don’t, we’ll all end up like…” He wouldn’t or couldn’t finish.

  “It’s a bad plan,” Mironov said, lifting his head. He met Regina’s eyes. “But it’s the only plan we have.”

  There was silence for several moments, before Jack sighed, breaking it. “We’ll have Alexi manning the harpoon cannon. But we’ll also need a diversion.” He turned to Olander. “And that, mister, is where you can help. Your pilot will use his helicopter to drag the whale corpse we have in the hold. Hopefully, it’ll lure the Megalodon shark away long enough for Vincent to untangle the ropes.”

  Milo snorted. “No fucking way.”

  Vincent stared from under lowered brows. Everyone turned to the young pilot.

  He licked his lips. “Um, I, I’m not dragging any whale corpse.” His words came out in a rush. “I’m not desecrating the dead.”

  “Listen, I know you’re scared...” Vincent growled. “…but if you don’t drag that whale, then the next dead things you see being dragged will be your friends right there, by the shark.” Vincent pointed gun-like to the huddled youths behind him. He turned to Olander. “Talk to him.”

  Olander shook his head slowly. �
�We can’t make him do anything he’s opposed to.”

  “Oh, good grief.” Cate placed her hands to her head. “This is an insane asylum.”

  Olander turned momentarily to look at the faces of his crewmembers. He eased back, smiling sadly. “Sorry, but actually, we don’t condone murdering this animal.” He ignored the widening eyes of his crew. “Maybe if your man just tries to scare it off, we can agree to all work together.”

  Jack chuckled. “Yeah, scare it off.” He looked to Alexi, who grinned. “Just scare it off, right?”

  Alexi saluted and winked.

  “You may mock, but when this is all over and the eyes of public opinion are upon us, then you’ll be sorry.” Olander folded his arms.

  Sonya whispered something to Drago, who nodded, and edged quietly around behind the group. He pulled Milo aside, and spoke into his ear, holding him by the arm so tight; the skin bunched either side of his huge fist. Drago motioned to the water, and the color drained from the young man’s face. He gulped and nodded, his head jerking rapidly. The huge Russian let him go, but remained at his shoulder.

  “I’ve had a rethink – I should at least try,” Milo said. He licked his lips, looking from Jupiter to Olander. “I mean, for Annabel, right?”

  “Good man,” Jack said. “Any questions?” He waited for only a few seconds. “Then let’s do this.”

  CHAPTER 41

  Vincent stood on deck, tugging into place an oversized and old-fashioned rubber wetsuit. Even though the water here was around seventy degrees, he even pulled on a hood, boots and gloves. Swim fins lay beside him, ready.

  Cate and Jack dipped their hands into a bucket filled with thick viscous oil and smeared it all over his suit.

  “Jesus, that stuff is making my eyes water.” He turned away as Jack layered some over his head and neck. “It stinks.”

  “Sure does, but not of human being,” Cate said, smearing more on his cheeks. “This should mask your scent. Even though the whale carcass Milo will be dragging away should overpower anything else for miles, let’s take no chances.”

  “No argument here,” he said. Vincent turned, arms out to a sullen looking Regina. “Hug for luck?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “If you survive this, I’m still gonna kill you.” She turned and stormed away.

  Cate gave him a crooked smile. “She’ll get over it. And you are mad, but… thank you.” She leaned forward to kiss him.

  They walked him to the stern, and stopped at the gunwale. New netting had been lowered, creating another rope ladder to the water line that was now only a dozen feet from the surface.

  “Not far to the water, that’s the good news…” Jack said. “…and also the bad news. It means the propeller is now an extra ten feet down. And you don’t have air tanks.”

  “I know.” Vince went to spit inside his facemask, but just a little sticky foam came out of his mouth. He still rubbed it onto the glass. “I can swim a lap of an Olympic pool underwater.” He swallowed dryly, and patted a makeshift toolkit around his waist that held two sharp knives, wire snips and iron bolt cutters. “If it can be cut, then I’ll damn well cut it.”

  He looked over the side into the dark water. Cate knew the man was nervous, and at that moment, realized how glad she was that Jack wasn’t attempting it.

  Vincent turned back. “Jack, just… just try and keep that freaking big thing away from me, okay?” He sucked in a deep breath and then swung a leg over the rail. He paused for a moment to give a small mirthless laugh. “For some reason, I feel cold all over.”

  Above them the small yellow chopper rose, and went to the rear of the ship. The down-lights made it impossible to see much of its shape as it edged closer to the open back of the whaler. Some of Drago’s men leaned out to grab the trailing cable, and quickly attached it to the Minke whale’s tail, and then gave a thumb’s up. The chopper moved backwards and the stinking whale slid free.

  The small chopper wasn’t powerful enough to lift the twenty-foot whale above the water, and all the chopper could hope to do was drag it. It swung away, and Cate saw Jack quickly check the signal tracker for a few moments. He began to nod and then grin. “It’s working – the Megalodon is following.”

  “The whale or the chopper’s vibrations?” Cate asked.

  “Does it matter?” Vincent asked.

  “No.” Jack straightened, and looked into his friend’s eyes.

  Vincent reached out to shake his and then Cate’s hands. “Well guys, I’m on the clock.” With one hand holding his swim fins, he climbed quickly down the rope netting.

  Jack walked back a few paces, his head bent over the tracker. “It’s still heading away.”

  “Hey, what the hell are you doing here?” Cate felt a shock go through her body. She quick marched towards Milo, who was edging along the deck.

  “She made me.” Milo threw his hands up as Cate grabbed his collar, and led him out of the shadows.

  Jack’s brows knitted. “Then who…”

  Milo shrugged out of Cate’s grip. “She said if I fucked up, she’d kill me. So I said, you do it… and she said fine.” He saw the look on Jack’s face, and he opened his arms wide. “She’s a fucking navy pilot or something, man.”

  Jack smacked his forehead. “Regina, you fool.” He began to run to the bridge room.

  “No,” Cate yelled.

  Jack pulled up. “We’ve got to get her back.”

  Cate slumped. “We can’t. She’d drag the whale back towards us. Not that she’d listen anyway.”

  Jack threw his head back. “Shit!”

  Cate walked to the railing, and looked down into the oil-black water. “Let’s just hope that by the time Vince finishes, she can ditch the whale, and head back.”

  Jack looked back down at the tracker. “Then the best we can do is stay in touch; let her know what were seeing. C’mon.”

  CHAPTER 42

  “You can do it, baby.” Regina urged the small Hughes 500 helicopter to give her every ounce of lift it could squeeze from its compact Allison turboshaft. She had let out all the cable available, but was still only thirty feet above the dark water surface. It was pushing the craft to its limits, as the whale, coupled with the drag from the water, was a monstrously heavy combination.

  Regina was glad she had forced the huge Drago from the cockpit before taking off. With his added weight, she was sure they’d be belly-dragging the whole way. She looked out of the cockpit, and shivered. The water was so dark, and except for a strip of moonlight on its surface it was an impenetrable and foreboding place. She had no idea where the monster was. That’s what she thought of it as now – a monster – what else could it be, but something from some fuck’s twisted nightmare.

  The radio blinked in front of her, and she snatched up the handset, thankful for the chance of speaking to another person. “Regina here, over.”

  “Regina, you mad crazy bitch,” Cate said.

  “Nice to hear your voice too, Cate.” She grinned around the mic. “And hey, if Jack went over the side, what would you do?”

  There was silence for a moment, and then Jack came on the air. “She’d be down there too, handing me the tools under the water, that’s what.”

  “That’s what I thought, Jack.” She laughed then.

  “Regina, you’re doing a great job. You’ve got the Megalodon well away from us… from Vincent. But be aware, it’s tracking you, about a hundred and fifty feet back, and probably that again below the surface.

  “Good; long as its eyes are on me, then they aren’t on you guys.” She swallowed dryly.

  “Okay, but be ready to drop the cable when we say. You’re out there to lure it away not do a spot of night fishing.”

  Regina smiled. “Now wouldn’t that get me few hits on YouTube? A chick in a helicopter flying home with a sixty-five-foot shark hanging off a line.” She briefly looked down at her controls, seeing the winch button release. “And don’t worry, my finger is ready to go.”

  “How’s the fuel?�
�� Jack asked.

  She tapped a dial and grimaced. “Not great, but enough to keep me in the air, lugging this big bag of meat for another fifteen minutes, easy – longer, once I drop it.”

  “That’s good. Hopefully fifteen is more than we need.” Jack exhaled. “Okay Regina, good luck, over and—”

  “Wait, wait. Uh, can you guys stay on the line? Let me know what that thing is doing?” Regina licked her lips. For some reason, just hearing their voices made her feel a little safer.

  “You got it, babe,” said Cate. “We’re right here for you, and not going anywhere.”

  Minutes ticked by, and Regina grimaced as she looked out of the bubble-shaped cockpit window. There was nothing but an oil-flat dark ocean below her. She turned back and forth, looking over her shoulder – the cable stretched away behind and below, ending at the whale’s fluke.

  “Jesus.” The radio crackling to life made her jump and whip her head back around.

  “Regina, don’t want to worry you, but its closing on your position. Can you pump the gas a little?” Jack’s voice was calm, but she sensed a new the note of urgency.

  Regina looked down at the controls – she was at maximum power now – the small chopper had no more to give.

  “No can do, Jack. I’m giving this baby a whoopin’ as it is.” She looked back over her shoulder again, feeling her stomach do a little flip, and the hair prickle all over her scalp.

  “Ah, guys, I can’t see a thing down there.” Looking up, she saw the Slava was now just a dot of light on the horizon – it made her feel a long way from home. “Jack, how’s my Vince doing with the prop?”

  There was silence and then muffled speaking for a while as a she assumed he and Cate conferred. Jack came back on, calm as ever.

  “Still working on it, but we think he’s getting there. Guess he wants another few minutes – can you stretch it for another five?”

  She looked down at her fuel gauge. She still had a few gallons left, and knew once she let the whale go, the loss of weight meant she’d make it back to the Slava with gas to spare. She swallowed dryly – the problem was, it wasn’t the fuel that she felt leaking away, it was her nerve.