by Mike Monahan
***
“Here, Micko, put on this floppy hat and this old rain slicker and nobody will recognize you,” Celestial said cheerfully.
Micko put on the black hat and pulled it low over his eyes. He then put on the oversized tan rain jacket. “I look ridiculous in this outfit. The jacket is way too large, Celestial, and I’ll sweat bullets in this heat.”
“Not so,” Celestial returned. “The wind is picking up, and we may fight you for the warmth of the slicker later.”
Micko pranced about Regis’ hut like he was walking down a model’s runway, and the men laughed favorably. The game plan was to go to the Hummingbird, watch the fireworks display on the water, and hopefully see another one between Japanese and Russians on land.
The men carefully lurked in the shadows as they skulked to the pier and Celestial’s boat. Luckily, the Hummingbird was berthed at the end of the wharf farthest from the great lawn. Regis had brought a jug of rum along, and the men thought it would be a nice night to unwind. Regis poured each man a cup and then toasted, “To Micko’s FBI friends! May they arrive safe and sound…and soon!”
The men all laughed and drank the rum.
“What is this intolerable rubbish?” the professor demanded. “I’ve had rum before—and this is not rum.”
“Professor, I do believe it may be paint varnish,” James said with a laugh.
“Beggars can’t be choosers,” Celestial warned with a smile.
***
Tiki and his men were hiding in a small underground bunker parallel to the golf course. The fireworks were manually operated, and several rows of shells were fired off in each sequence; so eventually, the pyrotechnics had to take a short break to set up the next series of elaborate explosions. Tiki and his men would strike during this short intermission, and hopefully pandemonium would ensue, ruining the hated Japanese’s grand opening affair.
Tiki and his men had planned to cause extensive vandalism during the panic, but he had received word that the Japanese and Russians were heavily armed. Maybe they anticipated the rebels striking during the celebration and were prepared to take murderous action against the insurgents. He had revised his plan and picked a double target that would still cause a stampede and disrupt the carnival, while allowing his men to escape unscathed.
***
With Hiroshi’s passkey, Chuu slipped into the delivery entrance of the Majestic Hotel. He went to the penthouse unnoticed. Everyone was at the great lawn enjoying the ceremony, but Chuu knew he had to act fast. He ransacked Alex’s office, not caring about secrecy but only about swift results. There he found memos that were to be sent to New York blaming Hiroshi for stealing the Bible and double-crossing the Russian organization. Apparently, Andrej was holding off on sending these memos until some kind of devious plan was implemented by the Russians. Hiroshi might be in danger, so Chuu was eager to report his findings. Then he heard the front door open.
***
The villagers were really enjoying the fireworks, crowding at the dock for a closer look. Many of the fishermen were hosting pig roast parties on the larger fishing vessels, and several young villagers paddled their dugout canoes into the middle of the atoll for a panoramic view of the aerial explosions.
Celestial said to Regis, “How about checking the crab traps below the boat?”
“Right now?”
“Yes, the wind is picking up, and I don’t want the traps damaged by the Hummingbird rocking into them,” Celestial insisted.
Regis stepped off the stern, knelt down next to the port piling, and grabbed a thick line. He pulled only about two feet of line in when the line went taut, and he had trouble retrieving more line. “Give me a hand, Micko. The trap is caught on something.”
Micko knelt down next to Regis, and the two of them worked hard pulling the line until it suddenly gave way and they pulled up an empty trap. A second later, a bloated corpse bobbed to the surface covered in crabs, seaweed, and other marine critters. Regis jumped about three feet upward and inhaled a lung full of air ready to scream in shock before Micko muffled his mouth and whispered, “Shhh! Don’t make a sound or we’ll have to go on the run again.”
Regis regained his composure quickly. “That’s Alex. He must have been dumped with the traps tying him down.”
“That Chuu acts quickly,” Micko said. The body was clearly fresh because it was still submerged and not bloated enough to fill with gas that would make it rise. “I bet he put the body here to implicate you guys and the scientists, trying to make it look like a revenge murder for killing me.”
Celestial and the scientists heard Micko talking in low tones and walked over to see what was going on. It didn’t take long for them to figure it out.
Micko removed his camouflage outfit and stripped down to his bathing suit. “I’ll retie the body under the pier until after the FBI arrives. I’m the only one here who’s sober,” he cracked with a smile. He was a beer man and never touched booze. Besides, there had to be at least one clear head until Buddy and the troops showed up.
He popped underwater with Alex’s body and two crab traps, wrapping the lines around the neck of the corpse, then around the piling, and then around a leg and around the piling again.
“That ought to do it,” he announced when he surfaced. “It won’t hold once the gasses in his body build up, but hopefully, that won’t happen until help arrives.”
The shaken men went forward on the Hummingbird’s bow and continued to watch the colorful bombardments. No more rum was consumed, as each man realized that it could be a long and dangerous night. Micko was returning to his old form.
***
It heard the strange noises from afar, but didn’t feel the strong waves on Its lateral lines. The enemies were gathering. It would waylay them before they could organize an attack.
It zigzagged stealthily in the direction of the noise. All of a sudden, It spotted several of the oblong shadows resting on the surface. It remained motionless and watched the smaller objects circle around a much larger one. The larger one had a tentacle that ran from the surface to the seabed.
It coiled into attack mode and severed the tentacle with lightening speed. Then it turned Its attack against the smaller enemies, racing to the surface like a ballistic missile and cutting the first antagonist in half as it breached the choppy water. It crashed back into the depths and attacked over and over again until the oblong objects began to sink and the awkward creatures splashed on the surface. It continued the attack by slicing through the clumsy limbs of Its enemies. Soon they, too, were descending into the depths.
***
The Hummingbird’s gathering was amazed at the superior fireworks display, which took their minds off the danger that they were in. Suddenly, they were all looking at the water instead of the sky.
“Did you see that?” Celestial boomed to no one in particular.
“Was that a fish or a piece of unexploded ordinance?” Micko questioned.
They all watched silently as something leaped out of the water several times. The last time the fish flew out of the water, it was illuminated by a spectacular burst of burning white light from the pyrotechnic display. The light reflected off the silver side of the fish and lit up the gruesome scene momentarily like a huge lantern.
Almost all of the people on the dock and those in the boats witnessed a huge barracuda flying out of the water with a splintered dugout canoe in its mouth. As if in slow motion, the silver threads of water spilled down behind the gigantic fish, and several men fell out of the small boat and splashed helplessly into the rough water. The wind had kicked up the surf, and waves began to batter the canoeists.
Before anyone could move, the swimming men began thrashing about and the water churned with deadly activity. Suddenly, all eyes turned to the barge, which was listing, the wind was making it spin sideways. The pyrotechnic crew had just ignited another series of canisters, which arched dangerously close to land as the barge tilted.
Screams of agony emanat
ed from the waters of the atoll, and the workers on the barge yelled orders amid cries of dismay. They could not stop or control either the barge or the fireworks.
“My god!” James screamed. “It’s that killer fish! It’s sinking the small boats and dismembering the fishermen. It must have bitten through the anchor line and the barge is caught in the wind and waves. It will float out of control with thousands of pounds of ordinance.”
***
Tiki was intent on watching the crew on the barge through his night vision binoculars that he had stolen from the Russians. When he saw the men setting up for the next series of canisters, he gave the order, “Now!”
His rebels cut the power to the outside garden lamps and sent the great lawn into darkness. The colorful Japanese lanterns flickered twice and then died. All eyes had been skyward, but now the fanciful guests wondered if this was a planned blackout for added effect or another insurgent act of vandalism.
Suddenly, the aerial explosions came closer and closer to the great lawn. In an instant, it was clear to all that something was going terribly wrong. The angle of the fireworks was no longer straight up over the atoll but instead leaning sharply toward the Majestic Hotel and the great lawn.
Women began screaming, tables were knocked over, and the scene became more chaotic by the second. Men barked orders to turn the lights back on as the waiters attempted to light torches in the gusty wind.
All hell broke loose when the first canister exploded behind the hotel on the golf course. The canister did not reach the correct altitude, so it exploded on impact. The guests realized that the situation was totally out of control, and a mad dash to the hotel ensued.
“Get back to the hotel!” someone cried, and everyone who could still run bolted in that direction.
People fell over tables and chairs, tripping over unseen obstacles in the dark. Screams became deafening as the wealthy ran for their lives. The chaos intensified as the first aerial bomb exploded on the great lawn. Ladies in gowns and men in tuxedos were now on fire and running like live Roman candles. More and more explosions on the great lawn lit more human sacrifices that ran for a moment and then howled in anguished pain as they crumpled to the ground.
***
It had one enemy left. The tentacle was cut, but the thing would not sink. It was very big and was slithering slowly away wounded. Deciding to help Its enemy leave the lagoon, It grabbed onto the remains of the dangling tentacle and swam the large object toward land. It would beach Its enemy and then leave it to die.
It swam swiftly and dragged the antagonist toward the docile oblong objects near the shore. When It was close, It let go of the tentacle and swam back into the atoll. The large object kept going forward until It heard a loud crashing noise followed by much louder noises like the ones that had attacked Its home. It returned to guard Its underwater fortress.
***
Tiki was surprised by the extra chaos caused by the fireworks malfunction. “Go, Rambo! Go!” he ordered over his cell phone.
Rambo was stationed at a junction box that fed electricity to the hotel. The rebels had found a way to use copper pennies to overload the system, causing circuit breakers and fuses in the hotel basement to fail, thus throwing the complex into total darkness. The building codes on this third world island were not quite as stringent as in other more advanced countries.
Rambo committed his act of vandalism and quickly fled the scene. Within a few minutes, the entire resort was thrown into complete darkness, adding to the already chaotic scene.
***
Chuu ducked behind the large desk just as Andrej entered the office.
When the great lawn’s lights went out, Andrej had used his walkie-talkie and ordered all his men to search and destroy the insurgents. When he couldn’t raise Alex on the radio, he went straight to the hotel, fearing that his office was unprotected.
When he turned on the light he immediately saw that his office had been searched.
“Whoever you are, I hope this is worth dying for!” He pulled an automatic pistol from his waistband, released the safety, and chambered a round into the cylinder. The sound of the nine-millimeter’s metal slide action engaging was ominous. It occurred just as there was a lull in the noisy fireworks, causing the sound of metal against metal to resound throughout the office.
Chuu was still. He also had an automatic pistol, and he carried it on safety and without a round chambered. At that moment, he was afraid to chamber a round and give away his hiding place.
Suddenly, all the hotel lights went out. Andrej cursed, and Chuu quickly released the safety on his weapon and chambered a round. He then hastily fired in the direction of Andrej’s voice.
Andrej heard the weapon being readied and dove for cover. He saw the muzzled flashes of his opponent’s gun and fired back in that direction. A furious gunfight took place in the darkness of his office.
***
Hiroshi’s heavily armed staff did their best to act professionally and keep the guests calm, but the frightened tourists ran blindly across the great lawn toward the hotel. People fell over the many chairs and lawn ornaments, and the fallen ones were trampled by others in desperate flight.
The staff wore white dinner jackets, so they were easy to spot, even in the dark. They helped the injured while cleverly concealing the fact that they were armed to the teeth. Hiroshi’s people’s only concern was to help the VIPs and let the Russian enforcers handle the rebels.
When the hotel lights went out, everybody froze where they were. It was like a telepathically sent message understood by all: the hotel was not safe! Suddenly, a volley of gunfire erupted from the building, and the guests all fell to their faces on the moist grass.
“Don’t anybody move!” Hiroshi ordered in a booming voice. “Stay where you are!” He barked out orders in Japanese to his staff. Soon the white-coated waiters were an armed army rushing the hotel.
***
Andrej’s thugs were scattering about looking for the rebels when they heard the gunfire coming from the hotel. After a few tense calls on the radios, all the henchmen converged on the hotel. Some came running, while others drove up in golf carts.
The Russians were armed with both weapons and flashlights, while the Japanese were armed with pistols and glass-covered candles. Soon the two armies reached the front of the hotel and confronted each other. Each army waited anxiously for orders from their bosses. They all knew that tensions were running high between Hiroshi and Andrej, and that that a deadly conflict was inevitable, but neither side wanted to be the first aggressor. A nervous standoff developed.
***
Micko and the others watched in horror as the barged listed forward and the fireworks ordinance flowed toward the hotel and the patrons seated on the great lawn. In moments, the lawn was thrown into a pyre of fiery chaos. The grisly scene was viewed in grim silence until Micko exclaimed, “It’s pulling the barge toward the dock!”
The others tore their eyes away from the ghastly sight of lawn explosions and people on fire and looked at the boat. The barge had been turned into a battering ram as it rammed into the dock, spilling live ordinance all over the wharf. The sound of splintering wood was deafening, but not half as loud as the exploding fuel barrels and dynamite in the shed. The fifty five-gallon barrels of fuel ignited immediately, and the ensuing fire ravaged the dynamite shed; then the blaze lit the explosives.
Celestial quickly started the Hummingbird’s engines and pulled away from the harbor. He made it just in time, as the entire pier was quickly engulfed in fire. The inferno consumed all of the fishing boats as the terrified villagers ran for their lives. The once peaceful fireworks display on this idyllic island setting had turned into a conflagration from hell.
The crew on the Hummingbird were helpless as they sat out on the windy atoll watching the unstoppable catastrophe unfold. The exploding dynamite sent the fiery fifty-five-gallon drums of fuel flying skyward. Some flew harmlessly out into the lagoon, but one nearly hit the Hummingbir
d. The passengers all ducked as the drum landed ten feet in front of them, spilling a wall of fuel-powered flames.
All were in silent shock as Celestial once again maneuvered the boat out of danger. Then there was a final excruciating blast, and all onboard watched as one of the fiery drums flew into the air toward the hotel. The barrel seemed to hesitate in midair before it crashed through the opulent glass skylight of the casino. The entire interior must have caught on fire immediately because the casino was soon lit up like a Christmas tree with flames licking out the exploding windows and racing toward the hotel proper.
***
It stayed away from the wharf and the holocaust, hiding in deep water so that the noise and the shockwaves could not reach It. Later, It heard a noise: the sound that the oblong enemy made. It raced up from the depths and was about to launch an attack on the archenemy when the surface water lit up like daylight. It receded into the deep again, wary of this new adversary.
***
Chuu could hear explosions outside the hotel that were too close to be the fireworks from the lagoon. He also heard people screaming in both agony and fear. Something terrible was going on outside, and he was in a fight to the death in Andrej’s office.
The adversaries stopped shooting at each other for a moment as they each tried to reassess their situation. Chuu could barely make out the doorway through which he wanted to exit. He grabbed something hard off the floor where he was hiding and threw it through one of the office windows. The object crashed loudly through the glass, and Andrej began shooting in that direction. Chuu ran for the door and had almost cleared the room when he felt a burning sensation in his left shoulder. He ran noisily down the hallway and into the stairwell with Andrej in hot pursuit. The two fired recklessly at each other’s shadows as they raced down the stairs and across the lobby toward the main doors.
Chuu exited the doors and stood on the ornate porch, staring in disbelief. His gun dangled from his left hand as he held his right hand to the wound on his left shoulder. But the pain was nothing compared to the pain he felt as he looked upon the great lawn. He saw several people lying immobile and burning, while others were writhing in agony all across his beautiful manicured lawn. Ordinance from the fireworks barge were exploding, sending tufts of turf flying like shrapnel. The gorgeous bandstand and food settings were askew and burning. Dozens of horrified guests lay on the ground helplessly waiting for direction, and the Japanese and the Russians were in an armed Mexican standoff.