Good girl.
Now he just had to be as convincing.
He stepped up to the microphone as a large clump of seaweed broke away from the reef and floated across the clear water. With a whir, a covered jet ski dove into the water. The crowd gasped as it streaked across with water. The entire thing, except for the exhaust was covered in lightweight but durable Plexiglas. A robot steered the underwater vehicle. With remote controlled arms, the robot grabbed the stray clump of seaweed, then turned and jetted back to the side of the enclosure.
Callum wasn’t as much of a showman as Knightly might like, but he was a bit of a showman. He waved his arm across the view.
“And that my friends, is what you have invested in. We are not just an educational and ecological facility, but a look into the future. A very entertaining future.”
He nearly choked on his words, but his comments got many heads to bob in the audience, including Knightly.
A thrum emanated from the undersea grotto. The cyclone was disturbing the uppermost level of water. Plus the outer ocean water was beginning to slam into the island in massive waves. This storm was going to test them to the max.
“And yes, that is what it feels like to get hammered by a cyclone,” Callum said but then saw the worried looks spread in the crowd. “But have no fears, we are prepared even if the cyclone hits us at a category five.”
The investors all looked relieved. Probably about time to drop some truth on them.
”And the cost of building an entire facility that was able to survive a sustained category five cyclone ran over.”
Knightly was no longer smiling.
Callum rushed on, “We had hoped to have funds left over from construction to cover our operating costs until the grand opening, however since safety is our first watch word, we weren’t able to meet that goal.”
Dear God, how many investor buzz words could he fit into one sentence? Well, here he went for a few more.
“We are now opening another round of investments to bridge us until operations are at peak.”
Callum looked around the room. Investors didn’t like to get tapped twice. They wanted to get returns, not spend more money. Time to really get this dog and pony show going.
“Rest assured that we are booked out for the next year. You should be seeing dividends, healthy dividends from your primary and secondary investments within the year.”
The Great White swam close to the glass, flicking her tail, banging the window. Part of her tail hit the coral reef, knocking a chunk off. It floated in the water. Again, a robot driven jet ski dove into the water.
Only this time, the Great White was ready and gave chase. The robot turned up the throttle, darting across the enclosure. The Great White wasn’t deterred. She kicked up her speed as well. She was used to her prey trying to outrace her.
Her giant mouth opened, enveloping the covered jet ski and the robot within it.
With a snap of the jaw, the vehicle disappeared.
A sharp intake of breath spread through the crowd.
“Wait for it,” Callum said. This wasn’t their first rodeo.
Suddenly the shark stopped swimming and shook her head. At first tentatively, then more violently until she finally opened her mouth. The jet ski darted out from the jaws of death and careened across the enclosure, snagging the boulder-sized piece of reef, then revved up, heading straight for the Great White.
It was she that turned away first in their little game of chicken. The jet ski hit the ramp, flying out of the water and out of sight.
Callum turned back to the crowd who were all slack-jawed in wonder.
“And that is exactly what you will be investing in.”
This time the entire room nodded except for one head. The actor’s daughter from before. The one that hated sharks or something ridiculous like that. She came walking down the side steps.
“Are you all insane?” she yelled, visibly shaken.
“Ma’am,” Callum said, stepping down off the dais, “Let’s take this outside.”
“No, I really want to know what you are all smoking? That shark just ate a robot. Ate him. After baiting him into the water and you are all just oohing and ahhing? Seriously? They are not going to be content with robots. They are coming after us next!”
By now she was bordering on hysterical. Callum felt for the girl, clearly she had some issues, but this was an investor meeting.
Callum watched as his son sprinted down the steps to catch up with the girl.
“Don’t you see?” she screamed. “The sharks will get in. They always get in! Dad,” she said, indicating toward the top of the audience. “You’ve starred in enough of these stories. Tell them how it ends!”
Callum stepped in front of the podium, not bothering to use the mic, he just raised his voice. “There is no risk of that,” Callum stated. “We have a ‘nuclear’ option which would render any dangerous shark stunned or dead. Actually anything in the enclosure, dead.”
“And if it doesn’t?” the girl challenged.
“It will,” Callum stated as he headed up the stairs to meet her.
Dillon caught the girl as she crumpled to the floor. Her father leapt out of his seat, racing to his daughter’s side at about the time Callum got there.
“Maybe you should get her back to her room?” Callum suggested as he lowered his voice.
“Yes, yes, of course,” the man said, sounding far more human than an action star had the right to be.
Knightly came up beside them. “Or perhaps even better, you two return to the mainland?”
Callum glared at the businessman. He could be so callous.
“Yes, yes, please,” the girl begged. “Get me out of here, Daddy.”
Callum nodded to QX59 and Dillon. “Use the Formula Bowrider.”
It was by far the safest, heaviest boat they owned. Not very fast, but stable as hell in the water. If any boat could get them to safety in this storm it was the Bowrider.
Callum turned back to the investors as the girl, her father and Dillon exited the room. He could feel the room was anxious.
“Remember my motto?” Callum said. “Safety first. You are completely one hundred percent safe. I spent the money to make sure of it.”
There was murmuring of the crowd as Knightly came up to Callum and shook his hand. “Well you can count on me for another sixty million then.”
Soon others were rising out of their seat, all looking to shake Callum’s hand.
So weird how these things worked out.
CHAPTER 7
Shalie sat at the dinner table as other guests and waiters swirled around her. This all felt a bit surreal. She wasn’t really all dressed up waiting for a date with Nick Flack, mega-movie star was she. Shalie wished she hadn’t Googled him. Now she was mortified that she hadn’t known who he was.
He must think her a backwater hick. So embarrassing.
Still, he had asked her out for dinner.
The only pause her research had given her was that he was married. Apparently unhappily. She never saw herself as the other woman, but it was just dinner right?
Before it went any further, she’d make sure he understood where she stood. She was certain that he was used to woman overlooking his marital status, but she was not one of them.
When she’d first arrived at Salechii two years ago, she had thought that Callum would be sitting opposite her on a night like this. However as time wore on and he had kept his distance, those hopes had faded. She’d thought perhaps he was gay since he didn’t give any woman a second glance, it wasn’t just her.
That was until they’d gone to a bar in Cairns and Callum had gotten hammered. Like hammered. Which was hard for an Australian to do. He’d had to do over a dozen shots and two six packs of beer, but he finally opened up.
And when Shalie said opened up, it was wide open. It hadn’t been pretty. He’d sobbed, snot running down his nose as he’d shared with how much he regretted letting Dillon’s mother leave. Ho
w he should have left the reef and gone to Montana. How he feared that there was a thirteen year chasm between he and Dillon that could never be filled. How he had never trusted himself around another woman, fearful that he would screw it up again.
It had all been very illuminating, a little gross, he’d puked about half way through his confession, and uncomfortable, after puking he’d leaned into her shoulder and drooled for about ten minutes.
Of course the next morning, he hadn’t remembered a single word of it and acted as if nothing had happened. After that Shalie knew there wasn’t a future with Callum. It was easier just to abandon all hope than hope for that which wasn’t there so she’d poured herself into her work.
However, for the first time in a really long time, she felt like a woman. She felt feminine. That was a rare quality way out here at the Great Barrier Reef. The nearest town was a thirty minute helicopter ride back to Cairns which was not a metropolis. It was a cattle town that catered to reef tourists. Not a lot of opportunities to go all girlie.
Shalie looked up as investors streamed out of the amphitheaters. Callum had spared her having to attend. “One of us might as well be off the hook,” he’d said.
Fine by her.
However, despite his trepidation, the call for funds seemed to have gone well. The investors were smiling, joking amongst themselves. Apparently Callum had convinced them that Salechii was worth another round of investments.
Nick should be walking out at any moment. It had only been through QX59 that she’d been able to get a table tonight. The place was filling up quickly. As a matter of fact, she was pretty sure the table under the tablecloth was the stand they used to support the fish bucket out at Lola’s enclosure. It did smell of mackerel.
But it would do.
She scanned the crowd. No Nick even as the last of the investors filtered out of the amphitheater.
Was she really going to be stood up on her first date in years?
Maybe it wasn’t his fault. Maybe there was a problem with his daughter. Still he could have left a message or something.
“Shalie!” a voice called out. It wasn’t Nick’s. It had a South African accent attached to it. Jack.
“Yes?” she answered coolly. The man made her skin crawl.
“May I?” he asked pointing to the chair across from her.
“I’m sorry, I’m expecting someone,” she replied.
“Ah, the infamous Nick Flack, I assume?”
Shalie could feel her cheeks flush. “Yes.”
“Damnable that,” Jack answered. “He’s headed home. Leaving with his daughter at this very moment. She went bonkers at the investors meeting.”
Shalie tried to process all of that information at once. What in the heck had Nami been doing at the investor’s meeting? And what exactly was bonkers? And Nick was leaving without even telling her?
“So, it seems a shame for such a pretty lady, all dressed up to eat dinner alone,” Jack said, smiling a smile that Shalie was sure worked on many a fan.
She rose instead. “I think I will order room service, thank you for the offer though.”
“He’s got you good,” Jack commented. “Even acting like a bastard, you’ll still sit around waiting on him.”
“Don’t presume to know me, Mr…” Shalie realized she didn’t know the man’s last name.
“Just Jack,” the shark hunter commented with a smirk.
“If you’ll excuse me,” Shalie stated trying to get around the television host.
After a moment, Jack moved aside. He whispered as she walked past. “You know my room number if you want to swing around for some dessert.”
She most certainly did not. It would have been more like three day old leftovers.
* * *
Knightly was feeling pretty good about himself. Especially with Susie tucked under his arm. Callum had handled himself pretty well for a tree-hugger.
Good showmanship too. He’d picked the perfect time to announce his funding deficit and made it out to be an opportunity rather than a failing. He’d taught Callum well.
Even the agitated girl seemed to work to their advantage. Her histrionics had only seemed to amplify the park’s danger. A secret thrill for the audience.
Despite the bad news regarding the funding and the fact a category five hurricane was battering the hell out of them, the project couldn’t be going better. He truly was a great leader.
They entered the last tunnel toward the room when a shark appeared out of nowhere, suddenly eying him as Knightly had eyed the lobster in that tank before dinner.
From the long stripes, it appeared to be a tiger shark. The thing was taking his time, ogling them as he slowly swam alongside. His pectoral fin dragged against the glass creating a noise similar to fingers on a chalk board. And almost as annoying.
“Knight,” Susie said, huddling closer to him. “Make him stop.”
He knocked on the glass, “Go on, get out of here!” he yelled. The shark hardly seemed to care. Instead he slid right alongside of them, never letting them out of his sight.
Knightly remembered part of Callum’s rather lengthy lecture on the variety of sharks that inhabited the island. The first thing he remembered was how boring the topic was. How could you make a talk about sharks, sharks right there that you could see, boring? They seriously needed to hire a speechwriter and possibly a new media consultant to jazz up the presentations.
The second thing he remembered was that the older a tiger shark got, the more his stripes faded. So this one must be a rather young one. He was about five feet in length with bold stripes.
The third thing he remembered was that Tiger sharks were the second most likely to attack humans, behind the Great White of course.
They were aggressive and ate nearly everything. To illustrate this a school of jellyfish swam by when, with no warning, the shark pivoted, attacking the jellyfish, gobbling them up by the dozen. The rest pumped and pumped, fleeing the predator.
What had Callum called sharks? Ápex predators.
Ha. Apex his ass. The sucker was basically in a big fish bowl. So much for apex. The shark was the one glaring at the apex predator in the room.
Him.
In his business he swam with far more dangerous animals.
Knightly knocked on the glass again. “Get!”
This time the shark flicked its tail, turning away from the tunnel and heading out into the murky, dark water.
“There,” Knightly said to Susie, “See, nothing to worry about.”
She cuddled next to him, her hand wandering a little south. “You were so brave.”
Damn right he was. And it was looking like he was going to be rewarded for it.
Then his idiotic phone had to beep. He checked the text. It was Callum. He wanted Knightly back in the control room.
Perfect freaking timing.
But business always came first. Even as Susie’s magnificent rack rubbed up against him, business came first.
“Head to the room. I should be back soon.”
“Ah, baby, no,” she moaned. “I thought this was our weekend?”
Again with the couple stuff. How did she think he could afford these expensive getaways and her jet set lifestyle?
Women.
Hopefully that blond would buck the trend.
He gave Susie a peck on the cheek then turned on his heel and headed back to the control room. Knightly noticed that the shark didn’t bother coming back.
Smart shark.
* * *
Nami was sobbing and couldn’t seem to stop. Seeing that Great White eat the robot was just too much. It was like something inside of her just snapped. She heard the sharp twang deep within her heart.
Dillon was trying to be nice, but you could see it in his eyes. He thought she was batty. Lost it. Clinical. Needing meds.
Her father had his arms around her shoulders, practically carrying her to the dock. “You’ll send our stuff along?” he asked Dillon.
“Y
es, of course,” the teen responded. “First chance the weather permits.”
They hurried along the undersea tunnel. Nami squeezed her eyes shut, feeling if she saw one more shark, she would lose it. Really, really lose it.
“I’m so sorry,” her father murmured as they reached a hatch. They hurried through it and followed a ramp that led upward. Thankfully this passage was metal enclosed. No sharks.
“Stay here,” Dillon said. “I’ll get the boat ready and come back for you.”
Nami wondered why he said that until he opened the door to weather that looked more like a carwash than a storm. Wind was whipping the rain into a torrent and branches and trees were streaking by like the cloth flaps of the carwash. What the heck was going on out there?
Then Dillon was out the door, slamming it shut behind him. For a moment she and her dad just stood their shivering. One blast of that storm had chilled her to the bone.
Her dad kissed her on the forehead. “I am so sorry, honey. So sorry.”
“I know,” Nami said, putting her hand on his now damp chest.
“No, I don’t think you do,” he said as he turned her toward him. “I never should have brought you out here.”
“Well, yah, I could have told you that,” Nami said then narrowed her eyes. “What caused the U-turn?”
“Um,” her dad said, “That shark ate the robot. Ate it. I have no idea why no one else wasn’t freaking out in there.”
She was so glad to see that her father had finally come to his senses. “Thanks, Daddy.”
Nami had forgotten about Quax. He stepped out from the shadows. “Please. Take me with you. I’m next. I can feel it.”
Dillon opened the door, letting in the torrent of rain. “Come on!”
She looked to Quax. “Please,” he begged. She looked to her dad.
“Let’s go,” he said. “All of us.”
They rushed through the door. Nami pulled her jacket hood over her head but it didn’t really help. Not with buckets of water lashing her from nearly every direction.
“Get down!” Dillon screamed.
Apex Predator Thriller Series Collection (Including the blockbuster new shark park thriller, Salechii) Page 11