Apex Predator Thriller Series Collection (Including the blockbuster new shark park thriller, Salechii)

by Carolyn McCray

  Knightly took that as a yes then. He got out his smartphone and started making a list with his speech to text software which streamed from his phone directly to his secretary’s computer. “First, I want a ‘danger’ tour. See all the big hunters, lots of scary sound effects. Maybe some red lights? To turn the water red? Carla, look into how expensive it will be to use the Jaws theme.”

  Oh, this shark park was great as it was. Once Knightly was done with it? It was going to bitchin’.

  * * *

  Nami followed Quax down a long steel corridor. Water-free, thankfully. True to his word the robot had taken all of the “underbelly” passages avoiding those tube-thingies. She did not want a 360 degree view of the underwater lagoons.

  Seeing a shark close up was the furthest thing from her mind. Surviving the weekend was at the forefront.

  Well, that and that dangerous cute hottie tour guide.

  “So,” Nami said, trying to act all casual. “How well do you know Dillon?”

  Quax leaned forward, dropping to his knuckles. In this position he had a more lumbering gait, yet oddly compelling. Like a gorilla strolling his territory.

  “I do not think I am understating our relationship if I say that we are like brothers. He completes me.”

  Nami smiled. She liked this robot and his hatred of sharks. “So does Dillon have any special friends?”

  Quax tilted his head to the side. “Well, he and Dr. Hofstrum get along quite well and of course Chak Chak the cook.”

  Her father stepped forward, “I believe what my daughter is asking is if Dillon has a girlfriend.”

  The robot tilted his head even further to the side. “As I said Dillon and Dr. Hofstrum.”

  “No,” her father said. “She means a romantic friendship with a girl, if of course he likes girls.”

  “Well, according to his Laura Croft poster collection, I believe he is in fact interested in girls,” Quax explained. Nami blushed a little pretty sure that Dillon would be mortified if he knew the robot was spilling his secrets like this to her.

  “So?” her father asked seeming almost as interested in the answer as she was.

  “No, I do not believe he has any kind of romantic attachment to any girl.”

  Nami breathed a sigh of relief. That would have been awkward if she had a crush on a boy already spoken for.

  “And you?” Quax asked.

  “Me?”

  “Yes,” Quax stated. “I am sure that Dillon will grill me with the same questions once I see him again,” the robot paused for a moment, apparently waiting for an answer to a question that he had not yet asked. “Well? Do you like boys?”

  Nami looked down at her shoes. Her father looked rather inquisitive as well. After the debacle with her mother, he was probably eager to know her orientation. Not that he had ever asked or pressured her, but her father was certainly ready to hear the answer to the robot’s question.

  “Yah, I like boys. My poster preference is Young Indiana Jones.” It was a bit retro, but she was being honest. “And no, I don’t have a boyfriend.”

  “Very well then,” Quax stated waving toward a door. “This is your suite. There are two adjoining bedrooms. “Enjoy your ‘shark-free’ stay.”

  Nami smiled. “Thank you very much.”

  Her father reached out his hand. A twenty in his palm. He shook Quax’s hand but the bill fell to the floor. His father picked it up. “This was for you.”

  “I’m sorry, sir but I don’t take tips.”

  “You’ve earned it,” her father said.

  “And what would I buy with it? Ball bearings?”

  Nami grinned but her father gave the robot a quizzical look.

  The robot sighed. “Dillon would have laughed. I suppose no high five then?”

  “No,” her father responded opening the door and disappearing inside.

  “But thank you,” Nami said, shaking the robot’s cool metal hand.

  “I will be at the end of the hall, if you need anything, young miss.”

  “So far, I’m good.”

  * * *

  Dillon hit his tablet, calling a few robots to help with the unloading. Their latest guest would have quite the luggage. His father had gotten rid of the sleeze-ball “let’s scare the guests to death” Knightly.

  It wasn’t far to travel to get up top. Just a few corridors and two set of steps, plus one ladder. This was a “staff only” area. Dillon knew each and every square inch of the facility. He could traverse the miles of tunnels and passages without a single glance to a map.

  Even though he had been monitoring the weather like every two minutes, Dillon was still surprised when he opened the hatch and was hit by a sheet of rain. Not rain drops, but a sheet of them. They smacked him in the face, plastering his hair against his scalp.

  He was not wearing foul weather gear. His bad.

  But it was too late now, so he charged out onto the deck and made his way over to the helicopter as the blades slowed to a halt. The guests were pouring out of the chopper, their heads bent to the wind.

  Tonaka and Knightly had already recommended some kind of movable roof over the helipad. At first Dillon had thought it an extravagance, but now with water trying to get up his nostrils? It was a necessity.

  He trotted up to help with the bags.

  Jack the “Shark Hunter” stepped from the helicopter. He acted as if the skies weren’t raining at all, let alone dumping inches of water on him. He looked out over the islands and gave a nod like the archipelago needed his endorsement.

  On TV the guy looked kind of cool, however up close, his makeup was pretty heavy and his patented, literally patented “utility pants” with their hundred loops and zippers and pockets looked a little silly. Granted on each episode, whenever Jack got into trouble, he’d dig through his pants and find something to help him out of his jam.

  Dillon’s dad called them Jack’s McGyver pants. And not in the good way.

  What was it they always said on Project Runway? Design your garment, then take two things off. Even if Jack took a hundred things off, he’d still be over the top.

  But where were his manners?

  “Welcome to Salechii,” Dillon said. The Animal Planet star grinned down at him. “Too bad that you were delayed.

  Jack interrupted him. “Well, sometimes Great Whites just can’t be hurried.

  Dillon stifled a roll of the eyes. Like they didn’t know about Great Whites at Salechii. Maybe that line worked at Disneyland, but not here. He could already tell why his Dad didn’t like the television host.

  “I meant that you just missed a live Hammerheads shark birth,” Dillon clarified.

  Jack shrugged. “I’ve seen plenty in the wild.”

  CHAPTER 4

  Callum didn’t like the Shark Hunter one bit. Even less than that money-grubber Knightly. Jack was a smug, full of himself, commercial whore of a man. All that Callum could take though, but being dismissive to his son? Not on his watch.

  “Really, mate?” Callum challenged. “Because I haven’t seen any of that footage on your show.”

  Jack turned, looking possibly even smugger than he had before even with rain running down his craggy features like tiny rivers. “Sometimes the camera crew just can’t keep up with me.”

  The rest of Jack’s crew frowned at their boss as they unloaded their cameras and gear.

  Right. Blame your crew. A camera crew that had turned over seven times in two years. Jack was known for flouting safety concerns. He was more of the type of guy to “give people what they wanted” no matter the consequences.

  Callum thought Jack and Knightly were going to get along very well.

  “We’d best get you out of the slag,” Callum said, indicating to a bright red door that lead to the below quarters.

  “I hope you’re prepared for this blow,” Jack said, referring to the storm.

  “We are,” Callum said as he turned away from the helicopter.

  “Rumor has it,” Jack said. “Th
is tropical storm is brewing into a hurricane.”

  “It already has,” Dillon said, pointing to his video watch. “They upgraded seven minutes ago to a category two hurricane already.”

  Jack smiled. “Well, I hope you are as prepared as you say, Callum. I’d hate for all of this to just blow away on its first day.”

  Actually Callum thought that was exactly what Jack wanted. If people could come and see the sharks close up, where did that leave Jack? If his audience could come and experience sharks intimately, and actually learn about them, rather than be titillated by them?

  Jack and his ridiculous pants might very well be out of a job.

  As the television host strutted across the deck, Callum couldn’t wait until that day came.

  * * *

  “Psst, Dillon over here,” a voice called out.

  What the heck? Dillon had just gotten the shark hunter settled in and he was heading over to help set up for the investor’s meeting when a very secretive voice called out to him. Dillon followed the sound to find Quax around the corner.

  “What’s going on, bud?” Dillon asked. Sometimes Quax’s emotional chip got all wonky. One time he found him in the boiler room just crying and crying. Dillon had asked him why and it turned out to be over a Lifetime movie commercial. “Everything okay?” Dillon asked.

  “Yes,” Quax stated, “But I have some very important news. Nami. Likes. Boys.”

  “Good to know,” Dillon said not sure where this was coming from. “What’s going on, Quax?”

  “I asked and she said she liked boys, especially Young Indiana Jones and she didn’t have a boyfriend.”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa, buddy, what did you do?” Dillon asked. “You didn’t straight out and ask her that did you?”

  “Of course I did,” Quax replied. “Why wouldn’t I?”

  “Because, it is like why too brazen. Now she knows I like her. So not cool, dude.”

  “But she asked me first” Quax stated. “Well, actually it was her father that asked about the girlfriend thing.”

  “Okay, you got to put this in reverse, my man. Take it from the top,” Dillon instructed.

  “We were walking to her room and she asked if you liked girls. I told her about your Tomb Raider poster collection --”

  “Stop!” Dillon shouted. “You did what?”

  Quax sighed. “This is going to be a very long conversation if you keep interrupting me and asking me to repeat myself.”

  “Just do it.”

  “Yes, I told her the truth and for your information she seemed pleased by it.”

  Pleased or amused he was such a nerd. “How did the girlfriend question come up?”

  “Well, she was asking about special friends and I was not certain what she meant since you are gregarious teenager and well liked, but her father clarified for me that she was asking about a girlfriend.”

  Wow, just wow. A girl he liked, might like him. That’s what it meant right? If she was asking if he had a girlfriend, she was interested, right? Jeez, he couldn’t ask his dad, he was lame with women. And Dillon only occasionally went onto Cosmo.com when he didn’t think anyone was watching to try and figure out what girls wanted. Apparently tight buns and a guy with a car.

  Well, Dillon had seven boats, did that count?

  “Aren’t you pleased?” Quax asked.

  “Yes, yes, totally.”

  “High five?”

  “Um,” Dillon responded. “How about a high ten?”

  “You know it!” Quax responded putting up both hands.

  Yes, this news definitely deserved a high ten as their palms slapped together.

  “What are you going to do now?” Quax asked.

  Oh, Dillon had a pretty good idea.

  * * *

  Nick hadn’t felt so good in, well, he couldn’t remember. He was at a party that wasn’t thrown in his honor. He didn’t have a gazillion reporters hanging around the periphery ready to immortalize his every gaff.

  He was just Nick and it felt pretty damned good. He liked the sharks taking the center stage. He liked even more the fact that Shalie didn’t have the first clue who he was. And if he did say so himself, he was pulling off the tux quite nicely.

  Such a refreshing change. Nick’s eyes scanned the rest of the room to find the usual looks. Callum, who had come back soggy was glaring at Nick with jealousy plain in his features. Whether it was over Shalie or professional accomplishments, Nick didn’t know. His son, Dillon seemed completely star struck, and the business man, Knightly something had that predatory look in his eyes. His thoughts clear on his features. How could he increase his portfolio through Nick?

  It had been decades since Nick had met anyone, even in a grocery store in Singapore that didn’t know who he was. His mistakes. His bottom line. His epic failures. Who could forget the cross-dressing debacle of the Some Like it Hot remake, Hotties?

  Shalie didn’t have to forget it. She’d never seen it in the first place. She didn’t know it was supposed to be his Tom Hanks in Bosom Buddies moment. Or Dustin Hoffman’s Tootsie or Robin Williams’ Mrs. Doubtfire. His manager had insisted that every great actor had at least one cross-dressing role. It was a requirement if you ever wanted to be taken seriously by the Academy.

  Of course someone should have read the script first. But how could you go wrong with a Marilyn Monroe remake? Apparently he could.

  “I’m sorry, am I boring you with all this techno-jargon?” Shalie asked.

  “No, no. I’m sorry. I was just distracted. Promise, that won’t happen again,” Nick insisted. “Go on.”

  In truth he had absolutely no idea what Shalie was saying, however he liked how her lips looked as they moved. She was so passionate about her subject. Could she be equally passionate about other things?

  Whoa. Back that up. He hadn’t thought about a woman romantically for how long? Um, how long had he been married? He hadn’t realized he was a “beard” husband until his honeymoon when his beautiful bride had informed him that she would rather pleasure herself…in the bathroom. Then later with the maid. Then the bartender. Yeah, a legendary honeymoon.

  Given that it had been his third marriage in nearly as many years, Nick hadn’t wanted to give the press another scandal. Nami was only here because he and Talia had gotten drunk in a hot tub after his wife had consumed enough ecstasy to make an elephant horny.

  He had never regretted that night or what resulted from it. His wife hadn’t given him much but a complex with the exception of Nami. His world. His life.

  “Did that make sense?” Shalie asked.

  “Yes,” Nick said on reflex. “I mean, no,” he said with a chuckle. “All of this is way over my head.”

  Normally he would never admit that lest it end up on the front page of Us magazine. Instead, Shalie chuckled too.

  “I know. Don’t worry it’s over most scientist’s heads as well.”

  From someone else that might have sounded arrogant, but Shalie said it with a grin and chuckle as the truth that it was.

  “Do you have a companion for the dinner tonight?” Nick asked on a whim. He couldn’t believe that the words had just escaped his lips the way that they had. What was he thinking?

  Shalie blushed a little, tilted her head away, “Unless you count QX59, no.”

  “That’s the robot, right?” Nick asked.

  She laughed again. What a delightful sound. “Yes.”

  “Will I have to challenge him to a duel for your hand?”

  “Oh, heavens no,” Shalie said. “Look at him cross-eyed and he’d turn tail and run.”

  “This is the robot who is protecting Nami?”

  “Well, at the least he looks sturdy.”

  They both chuckled. It was nice to just laugh without an agenda or making sure you didn’t gaffe too hard and end up on some “celebrities being ugly” blog.

  “Have you had a chance to swim with Lebowski?” Shalie asked.

  “Who?”

  “Our whale shark. It
is simply one of the greatest experiences of your life. Guaranteed.”

  “I’ll have to put that on the agenda,” Nick stated then looked to his watch. How the time had flown, “You know what? I better go check on Nami before dinner. I’ll see you there?”

  “Sure,” Shalie said, still not able to look him in the eye.

  “Save me a seat,” Nick said before he went to move off.

  “And one for your daughter?” Shalie asked.

  “I wish,” he replied. “I doubt she’s going to want to come to the dining room.”

  Shalie’s eyebrow shot up.

  “The sharks and all,” Nick explained.

  “Oh, yeah, right,” Shalie said.

  For some reason, Nick reached out and gave her hand a squeeze. “See you in a few.”

  Then he was out of there. Nami had seemed content enough in her room that he felt comfortable staying at the reception for a few minutes with Shalie, but now that he knew that the robot was a wimp, he was rethinking his decision.

  Following the flashing green markers in the floor. About the only thing Nick had understood of Shalie’s explanation of the facility was that the computer could scan your room’s keycard and know where your room was and guide you there through the lights in the floor.

  Totally the kind of high tech gadget that would get the Shark Park into every technology magazine. It was kind of cool. He wondered if he could get something like this for his house. To guide his guests to the bathroom rather than find them roaming around his bedroom after they got “lost.”

  He arrived at the room much more quickly than he thought. It had seemed to take forever on the way out. Nick didn’t even have to slide his keycard into the lock. It just opened on its own.

  “Nami?” Nick called to the empty suite. With the lights out, the only illumination came from the waning sunlight filtered through the water. The ocean’s reflection splashed upon the walls, making it seem like the room itself was underwater. There was a quiet, all-encompassing blue calm quality to the room. The seaweed waved overhead. He’d heard that the storm which had once been thought to miss the Great Barrier Reef had just been bumped up to a category three hurricane named Ralph, and was headed straight their way.