Although here they weren’t called hurricanes, they were called cyclones. Nick had learned that back when he was filming the Walkabout. The first and last time he was going to work with Baz Lurhmann.
It was supposed to be a heart-wrenching journey of the soul. Again, Tom Hanks had gotten away with it and he only had a soccer ball. Then again, Castaway didn’t also try to be an upbeat musical. He really needed to fire his manager.
“Nami?” Nick called out again. Where could she be as he opened her bedroom door? He nudged the bathroom door open. No one there. No shower going. No kid. Had she panicked and run off? Where was her robot?
His heart rate kicked up in counterpoint to the slow, soothing undulations of the seaweed. Then he heard a scuff. It was coming from the closet. He walked over, put his palms on the handle. This was crazy. What would she be doing in the closet?
Then he opened it to find Nami sitting at the bottom of the closet. She’d made what looked to be a pretty comfortable bed out of the couch cushions.
“Hey, dad,” she said looking up from her Kindle.
“Hey, Nami, exactly what do you think you are doing?”
“This is the only place in the room that doesn’t have a glass wall.”
“Probably because it’s the closet. Get up.”
Nami frowned. “I feel safe here.”
“Where’s your robot?” Nick asked.
“Once I got set up here, I said it was okay for him to go and help hang some lights or something for an investor’s meeting down in the main amphitheater.”
Nick put his hand down to help her up. “Come on then.”
“Dad, you dragged me out here and got me attacked by baby Hammerheads sharks, can I, at the least sit in here and read in peace?”
It wasn’t a wholly unreasonable request.
“Fine,” Nick said. “Are you coming to dinner?”
His daughter just gave him a look that told him the answer was “no,” a definitive, absolute, “no.”
“You don’t mind if I go?” Nick asked.
Nami shrugged. “All the more power to you, but if you end up the main course, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Nick grinned, at least the girl had kept her sense of humor. “I’m afraid I did something rather impulsive.”
“What? Agree to work with Woody Allen again?”
He chuckled. She really should be a stand-up comedian. “No, I asked Shalie to go to dinner.”
“Really?” Nami asked, her eyebrow nearly hitting her hairline. “And you went through the checklist?”
Nick shook his head. “I don’t know for some reason I didn’t think I should ask her if she’d ever done heroin during our first conversation.”
“And sexual orientation?”
“Nami, seriously, I understand your concern but that is the kind of stuff you find out as you date…over time.”
“Like you did with Mom?” Nami shot back. “Sorry, dude, but with your track record, you are so not in charge of vetting your potential next wife.”
He really couldn’t argue with her about that. “Fine, then come to dinner.”
Nami tilted her head to the side as if asking wordlessly if he was serious.
“Okay, then don’t complain if she doesn’t like cats,” he stated as he backed away.
“Close the door, okay?” Nami asked.
Although it didn’t seem right, Nick complied, shutting his daughter in the closet. He certainly hoped it didn’t represent anything allegorical.
* * *
Nami shifted on the cushions. It was pretty comfortable, although not as comfortable as her Temperpedic at home. Everything was better at home. Granted the stupid thing had windows that went on forever, but at least it wasn’t underwater. You know, where the sharks actually were. At the least she had about a hundred feet of sand between her and the sharks at home. Plenty of time to run and since sharks couldn’t run, there was some margin of safety.
Here? If those sharks broke in, she was screwed. Like royally.
She was getting a little hungry. Maybe she could venture enough out into the room to get to the phone and order in room service. Still the thought of opening the door to the sea, just seemed wrong.
Maybe she could wait a few more minutes.
The image of Rusty kept running through her head. If they’d just stayed in ankle deep water rather than knee high water. If they hadn’t been splashing each other. If she hadn’t run.
Everyone kept telling her that she was just a kid and it was okay that she abandoned Rusty. But it wasn’t. It just wasn’t.
When she closed her eyes, all she saw was red. Blood red. She’d never seen so much of it and she’d seen each and every one of her dad’s movies. Even the “R” rated ones. The lead editor liked her so made sure she got to be in the editing room while he worked. Which meant that she got to see all of her dad’s outtakes. He tried to be so macho and perfect. When really she loved him the most when he was flubbing lines.
Like “The aliens are attractive” rather than “the aliens are attentive.” Stuff like that.
She heard a noise in the room outside. She cocked an ear. There was a strange metal whirring and clunk.
“Nami?” a voice stated. Not so much as trying to find her as trying to warn her that he was there.
The closet doors opened on Dillon. He held out a plate in her direction. “I figured you’d be getting hungry about now and weren’t going to dinner, with the sharks and all.”
He had the cutest lop-sided grin. And the plate was filled with her favorites. A grilled cheese sandwich with the crust cut off. Some carrots and strawberries along with a little salad with the most adorable cherry tomatoes on top.
“Thanks, but how… how did you know?” This wasn’t a random guess on Dillon’s part. Not with the cherry tomatoes and the crust cut off.
“Remember that survey you took?” Dillon asked. “I got your faves off of there.”
That was pretty darned chivalrous. Far better than the teens at her school teasing her that they couldn’t give her flack because she already was one.
Dillon held his other hand out. “How about you come out here and eat it.”
Nami slunk back into the closet. “I’m good.”
“No, check it out. I closed the shutters,” Dillon said stepping aside.
He was right. All of those stupid windows were covered completely by thick metal sheets. Nami had never been so glad to see such an industrial feature.
“You mean I could have done this the whole time?”
“Sure,” Dillon said. He showed her the remote control. “It is under light controls. See?”
The metal sheets began moving up. Nami reached out and grabbed Dillon’s wrist. “No, I got it. Put them back down.”
Dillon seemed a little flustered, punching button after button, none of them helping the metal sheets. Finally he figured it out and the metal sheets blissfully lowered.
“Want to see something even cooler?” Dillon asked.
Nami looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “Does it involve the sea? Or sea creatures?”
“Nope,” Dillon stated. “Not at all. As a matter of fact, beyond the one glassed in hallway, you won’t be able to see the ocean at all.”
Nami wasn’t so sure about this, but the boy had just given her the best dinner of her life and closed off the stupid water view. Maybe she could give him the benefit of the doubt just this once.
“Okay,” she said, setting the plate down. Thinking about it, she grabbed half the diagonally cut grilled cheese sandwich as her tummy rumbled.
Her momentary happiness was cut off as they stepped into the hallway with all of its stupid underwater view.
“Close your eyes,” Dillon said, taking her hand.
Would that really work? She tried it. It was a little freaky knowing what was all around her, but Dillon’s hand was warm in hers and she felt confident he wouldn’t lead her into a wall.
Taking a bite of her sandwi
ch, she followed where Dillon led.
“There you go,” Dillon said and Nami opened her eyes. They were at a steel ladder. She glanced over the side. That was a way long tunnel.
“No sharks, promise,” Dillon said.
Nami gave a grin, popping the last of her grilled cheese sandwich in her mouth. It was still all warm and gooey. There were at least three cheeses in there. American, cheddar and mozzarella. Maybe even Gouda. Nami didn’t care, it was delicious. She followed Dillon down the ladder as they descended into the bowels of the facility.
Once they reached another level, Dillon took them a short way then down yet another ladder.
“How far does this go?” Nami asked.
“To the support cables,” Dillon said as he climbed down.
It felt like they were going to end up in China as they climbed down and down. Finally they hit a small platform and Dillon helped her down.
“Right through here,” Dillon said and guided her to a door. He opened it and revealed the most amazing sight.
The walls of the small room were covered in murals. Forest murals. One even had a tiny fawn peeking out. Dillon entered and headed to the wood framed green couch. The arms were fashioned into the shape of antlers.
Pretty cool.
Way better than a plastic starfish chair. There wasn’t anything plastic in this place. None.
“What is this place?” Nami asked.
CHAPTER 5
Dillon groaned as he sat down. He hadn’t been off of his feet since five this morning. Opening a shark park wasn’t as easy as it looked.
He was going to answer her question with, “my Zen,” or “my sanctuary” but what came out of his mouth was “my man cave.”
Could he sound any more lame?
“Gotcha. You sure you want a girl in here then?”
Hell, yes, Dillon almost answered but realized it would have been a mistake before he actually said it. Score one for him.
“It’s really my home away from home,” he answered more honestly.
“How so?” Nami asked with a cock of her head. She was so pretty that it made it hard to talk, let alone share stuff. Girls. They really knew how to throw you.
“My mom,” Dillon couldn’t believe after all this time, he still choked up at the mention of her name. “We lived in Montana so I have a special bond with the forest.”
Jeez, did he just say that? Bond with the forest? Really? If Nami didn’t already think it, now she’d know for sure he was an absolute idiot.
“Sheesh, I wish my dad would bond with the forest,” Nami said. “I’ve been trying to get him to move to Aspen. Celebrities do it all the time. ‘Go back to nature,’ ‘get away from it all.’ Right?”
Dillon nodded even though he didn’t know much about celebrities and their habits.
“Well, we lived there because that’s where our family was,” Dillon explained.
Rich people had strange problems that seemed certain.
“Your Dad in Montana?”
“No, no,” Dillon clarified. “Mom was a marine biologist. They met doing a study on the Great Barrier Reef.”
“But things didn’t work out?” Nami asked gently. He could tell she didn’t want to pry, but just wanted to know more about him. Or at least that’s what he hoped. He had such little experience with girls. Shalie was about it and he was pretty sure she wasn’t exactly representative of her gender being all geeky and all.
“No, once I was born it was too hard for Mom to be out in the water and Dad of course, wasn’t going to leave the Reef so she brought me back to Montana so I could grow up around family.”
“That must have been rough. Did she resent you for it?” Nami asked concern clear in her eyes.
“No way. She took a position with Fish and Game. It wasn’t with aquatic animals but it was with animals.”
“Really? She didn’t blame you for ruining her life?
Dillon shook his head. “Nope, she used to say the job wasn’t ideal, but I was.”
His heart warmed at the thought of her saying that. Any time anyone asked her about her lost career, that’s what she would reply. He thought she’d be happy he was so integral to the shark park.
“Really?” Nami said again as if she couldn’t take in the concept.
“Really,” Dillon answered.
“What happened to her?”
Dillon swallowed hard. He seldom spoke about his mother. His dad didn’t seem comfortable talking about it and who else was there? Quax? Chak Chak, the Aboriginal cook?
He squirmed in his seat.
“Look, you don’t have to talk about it, if you don’t want to,” Nami said, giving him an out, but he didn’t want to take it.
“No, it’s okay. She got breast cancer and died about five years ago.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Nami said, reaching out and touching his knee.
He could feel the tears welling. He knew that Angelina Jolie had taken some heat for having the preventive surgery, but Dillon wished his mother had known about that option. She might still be alive today if she had. And he would have given anything for her to be here.
Dillon tried to shake it off. “It’s okay, it was a long time ago. After she passed, I came to live with my dad.”
“Still, that must have been awful.”
It had been. Horrible. It had taken her weeks to die. She had been in a hospice care facility for nearly a month. He’d stayed by her bed the whole time. He’d hated his father then. Hated that he hadn’t even visited. Hated that he wouldn’t come to the States to pick him up. He’d even hated the ocean as irrational as that was.
It was why he’d built this small room. His own little slice of home. His own little slice of his mother. He could remember her here. He could see her face. Not up with the windows and the sharks, but here.
Nami squeezed his knee. “I wish I had a mom to miss.”
Dillon thought that was the oddest thing to say, but before he could voice it, the room shook as metal groaned.
Nami grabbed the edge of her seat. “What was that?”
“No worries,” Dillon said. “Just the cabling adjusting to the weight.”
“The what? Adjusting to the what?” Nami asked.
Dillon laughed, he was so used to talking to technical people. “The island is held in place by a large network of braided steel cables. They all come together here to anchor to the ocean floor.”
“Okay…”
“We used cables because they are flexible and can ‘give’ with the ocean. They just get talkative sometimes. It’s totally normal.”
Nami hugged herself. “If you say so.”
“You want to get back up top?” Dillon asked.
“Yeah, maybe. My Kindle is calling me.”
Dillon was sad to see his first official date end, even though it wasn’t really an official date, but still.
“Isn’t there an investor meeting or something?” Nami asked.
“Yah, but the amphitheater has got a huge observatory room in it.”
Nami shrugged. “I think it’ll be worth it,” she stated with a conspiratory grin.
Dillon might not have much experience with girls, but he was pretty sure this wasn’t going to end well.
* * *
Nick fussed with his bow tie. He hated formal wear. But strangely he wanted to impress Shalie. She might not know any of his films, but tonight she would learn that he was a gentleman.
He’d gotten a little lost. So much for the auto-navigation properties of his keycard. He thought that he had typed in the amphitheater, but the lights on the floor had taken him all over the park.
Nick entered the next room. No amphitheater, however the view was stunning. This was the manta ray bay. The creatures truly were stunning. They seemed to fly through the water. Their majesty wasn’t just on how the light played off their “rays” or even how they slipped though the coral reefs, it was how they seemed to dance together.
In front of him was like an underwat
er Cirque du Soleil. The rays seemed to take true enjoyment on their movements, forming intricate patterns as they swam.
An in-glass LED screen streamed information about the rays genus and habitat. Nick thought though that everything he needed to know about the manta ray, he was seeing right now.
The door behind him opened and a little boy looking about seven or eight, dragging along his mother, rushed into the room.
“Mantas!” the boy screamed, dropping his mother’s hand and rushing forward to the glass. He plastered himself onto it as if he could somehow wish himself through the barrier to be with his beloved Mantas.
“Teddy,” the woman barked in an upscale English accent. “Don’t muck up the glass.”
Nick chuckled. “I think they’re probably expecting a lot of that.”
The woman looked at him with tired eyes, then one hand went to her mouth and the other went to her hair, smoothing it down. She’d probably been on a twenty hour flight just a few moments ago.
“Mr. Flack, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to see you here.”
Nick smiled back. So his own dance began. In this day and age of the cell phone camera/recorder you couldn’t ignore any fan or pay the price on YouTube.
“Yes, I brought my daughter.”
“And not your wife?”
Nick stiffened. You could never tell a reporter sometimes. He had to answer judiciously. “No, she had a fashion show in Sydney. We are meeting her after.”
Which wasn’t exactly a lie. They were meeting, just at the airport for that all important “family” vacation paparazzi shot.
“Oh, how I wish I could have stayed in Sydney.”
“Mum, can we go to the Nurse shark petting pen?” Teddy asked, “Please, please, please,” the boy begged, still stuck to the glass.
“It’s closed due to the storm, Teddy. You’ll just have to watch them through the glass.”
The boy didn’t lose a beat though. “Can we go see the bull shark’s feeding? Then the Hammerheadss then the tiger shark then the Leopard sharks? Huh? Huh?”
The woman shook her head, addressing Nick rather than her son. “They should rename the place… ADHD Park.”
Nick smiled, not because he had to, but because it was true.
Apex Predator Thriller Series Collection (Including the blockbuster new shark park thriller, Salechii) Page 9