“We only have enough power to drain two tubes at once. And I was concentrating on the critical tunnels to our buoyance.”
Nami could see Callum’s eyes flicker back and forth as he tried to calculate the safety of his son with the safety of the whole facility. “Keep up draining the critical areas, one at a time and use the energy to clear a path for Dillon with the other.”
“Yes, sir,” the tech said.
Nami pulled up a chair next to the tech. He started to drain a tube in front of Dillon.
“No,” she said. “He won’t even try that way.” She pointed to the stairs and a pathway that lead under the enclosure. “He’s going to try and use as many non-water passages as possible. Nami pointed to a tube to the west. “The first one he’s going to try to cross, is this one.”
“Got it.”
Nami smiled as the water started to drain from the tube. She was helping at least in some small way.
* * *
“Nick,” a voice called out. Nick turned around, trying to see who had called him. It was Callum.
“I hate to ask you, but you showed yourself pretty versed in operating the modified jet skis.”
Nick blushed. Not one of his finer moments going out to the reef with Jack.
“Yes,” he said not quite sure where this conversation was going? Perhaps the brig?
“All of the robots are either with Dillon or trying to repair the gates,” Callum said.
“Spit it out, McClay,” Nick said.
“Could you go to the jet ski bay and ferry them around to the west side of the island?” Callum must have noticed Nick’s eyebrow shoot up. “I’ve checked, you have a clear, dry path to them and back from the west shores.”
Nick gulped. Callum made it sound so easy. Just drive a few jet skis around the periphery of the island. No biggie. Except there were like a dozen wild sharks cruising around, looking for a quick meal.
He looked to Nami. “Don’t do it, dad.”
He was inclined to agree.
“I wouldn’t ask but a five month pregnant woman wasn’t evacuated and I’m afraid we won’t be able to get her offshore without at least one of the jet skis.
Great, pull out the pregnant woman scenario. How could he say no to that? Even without cameras here to document his cowardice, he couldn’t turn Callum down.
He patted Nami on the back. “It’ll be okay. I’ll move one and see how it goes. If it goes smoothly, I’ll try to get the others around.”
Callum gave a curt nod, then moved off.
Nami grabbed Nick’s hand. “Dad, you don’t have to do this. You’ve been courageous enough for a dozen TMZ segments.”
“I’m not doing this to prove anything,” Nick said honestly. “I’m doing it because it is the right thing to do. You seem awfully eager for me to man up and start doing the right thing.”
A wan smile flashed on Nami’s lips. “So, now you start listening to me?”
He ruffled her hair as he walked past her. “See you in a few.”
“I’m holding you to that,” Nami said then was distracted by the tech. “No, not that one. The one to the south.”
“But that’s the exact opposite direction Dillon should be going.”
“Again, only if he wasn’t using the below deck passages, I’m telling you he’s going to pop up here to try and cross over there to get back down to a whole labyrinth of metal tunnels.”
Nick left while his daughter was distracted. He didn’t want any kind of long goodbye or awkward, “if I don’t make it back” speeches. This was a simple jet ski run.
What could go wrong?
CHAPTER 20
Dillon had gathered about a dozen guests. They were sticking to the lower passages, avoiding the waterway tubes as much as possible. As a matter of fact, he hadn’t had to take even one yet.
He knocked on the next door that the computer indicated was occupied. “Hello, guest services.”
There was no answer. He put his ear to the door. Was there sounds? Sounds of a struggle?
He stepped back. “Quax, override the door.”
The QX plugged his finger into the lock and it opened. Dillon rushed in to find a couple… well… a couple doing what a couple did at a five star resort without their clothes on.
The woman screamed, gathering the covers around her.
“I’m so sorry,” Dillon stammered. He thought he saw the woman’s….well, he didn’t want to dwell on what he thought he might have seen.
“What is the meaning of this?” the man demanded.
“Sorry, mandatory evacuation,” Dillon stated, recovering somewhat.
“Give us a few minutes,” the man said.
“Yes, yes. Of course, but we’ve got to get moving.”
“Like I said,” the man barked. “Give us some privacy for god’s sake.”
Dillon exited the room, turning Quax around. He was a little too fascinated by the scene for Dillon’s comfort.
“Were they?” Quax asked.
“Yes, now, go get the group moving ahead to the next room. I’ll wait here for them.”
“Spoil sport,” Quax said but moved out.
Dillon leaned his head back against the wall. Well that was embarrassing. But at least it was a break from the tension. They were going to have to go topside soon. He was not looking forward to that. He’d seen Nami and Nick’s frantic run over the top of the flooded tube. There was no way he was going to get this many people across that way. And swimming? He didn’t like the odds.
So deep down into the facility he went.
* * *
Nami watched the monitors closely. If this was her job, she was going to do a great job of it. Everyone else had a million other things to do. It didn’t seem that anyone else was just watching for bad stuff to happen.
Given her phobia, she was the perfect person for the job.
A new monitor flickered on. They had been doing that periodically. She’d lost sight of her dad for a few minutes and her stomach had rebelled, but now he was back on her left monitor.
At first this new room didn’t seem familiar. It was fairly small for the facility. Boxed shape. With forest wallpaper, then she realized what she was looking at. Dillon’s retreat. A welling of warmth came from deep within her belly and spread through her body. She glanced over to the screen where Dillon was collecting more guests. Something had happened a few rooms ago that shook him. Even in black and white footage she could tell that his cheeks had been crimson.
He’d recovered though and moved on.
Nami looked back at the retreat. Something was wrong. The walls weren’t perpendicular. They were buckling.
“Um, Mr. McClay?” Nami said.
“Shh,” the tech said. “Don’t disturb him unless absolutely necessary.”
“Trust me, this is necessary.”
The tech didn’t seem to understand. “What’s one more damaged room?”
“Exactly how much experience do you have with structural design?” Nami asked. It wasn’t a good sign she understood the problem more than the staff.
“None, I’m from water purification,” the tech admitted.
“So let’s have Callum decide if this is important,” Nami said as she waved Mr. McClay over.
“Yes? Nami. I didn’t realize you were on the payroll.”
“I am as long as Nick and Dillon are down there,” Nami stated. She pointed to the room. “This is the room in the center of the primary anchoring cables.”
“If you say so,” Callum stated.
“It is and if it goes, don’t the cables get entangled, bringing down the island?”
Callum’s eyes squinted. “Bring it up on the building schematic.”
Nami pointed to dead center. “That’s the room that is collapsing.”
“Holy….” Callum breathed out.
“So I’m right?” Nami asked, mainly so the tech could hear it.
“Too right,” Callum stated as he turned to another tech. “I’m going to ne
ed the two closest robots, pronto.”
“But sir those are shoring up the Great White --”
“I don’t care. There is nothing more important than getting the bracers down there,” Callum stated.
Suddenly Tonaka was right behind them. “I am coming.”
Callum shook his head. “It is bad enough I have to go down. I can’t risk you too.”
“You are not a structural engineer, Callum,” Tonaka said. “How many bracers do you have?”
Callum looked to a tech.
“Large enough for that job?” the tech said. “Three.”
“You are going to have to make them count,” Tonaka said. “You are going to need me to calculate where to place them.”
* * *
Callum kind of hated it when other people were right. Especially when it involved his shortcomings. He was many things, but a structural engineer he was not. He actually hated thinking about stress loads and bearings. He was a biologist after all. He’d nearly failed physics. Only by the grace of god and a smart girlfriend had he passed the required class.
“Fine,” he said to Tonaka. “But you’re going to have to ride on the back of one of the QXs.”
“Acknowledged,” Tonaka replied.
Callum turned back to the tech. Have the robots grab the bracers and meet us at junction forty two a.”
“Yes, sir,” the tech responded.
“We better head out,” Callum said to Tonaka then stopped and faced Nami.
“Good catch.”
“Thanks,” the girl said with a timid smile.
“You’re going to get my boy home, right?”
Her face brightened. “Yes, sir.”
Feeling that Dillon was safe in the girl’s hands, Callum headed out to try and stop the facility from caving in on itself.
* * *
Knightly peeked out of the door of the shed. He’d snuck off when everyone else went inside. Fools. There was only death in there. Those sharks were going to get in somehow. The girl had been right after all. He could see the sea level rising. Or more accurately, the island level sinking.
He was on the lookout for a boat. A helicopter. Anything that might get him off this island.
He nearly jumped in the water himself, but luckily that other woman had shown him the error of that choice.
Now he waited, listening to the wind lash the metal shed with torrential rain. He sat amongst the gardening tools. Not that the island would need these much anymore.
There was no amount of money that could save Salechii now. The place was an utter disaster. They could never recover. Which meant the shark park had become a nice write off. He was such a silver lining kind of guy.
Something moved next to him. Knightley’s heart rate spiked. He tried to calm himself. It couldn’t be a shark. Not even they could survive in two inches of slug water sloshing on the dirt floor of the shed.
There was the movement again. Had a crab gotten in here? A sea slug?
Then he saw it. The diamond shaped head. The flickering tongue.
His heart rate leapt again. A sea snake. How the eff had a sea snake gotten in here? They were by far the most venomous snakes in the world.
Knightly tried to pry open the door quietly, but it creaked, stirring the snake. It flickered its tongue at him, rising up, ready to strike.
Okay, okay. Knightly let the door shut gently. The snake curled back up. Knightly sank down to the ground, trying to stay perfectly still.
Guess he was going to wait out the hurricane, hanging out with a sea snake. No biggie.
Callum was so going to pay for this.
* * *
Nick hurried around the corner. The jet skis should be through the next door. So far so good. Callum had been right. He had a totally dry route. No sharks. No flying fish. No problems.
Then he opened the door to find the jet ski garage trashed. Completely trashed.
Shields were shattered. Engines were on one side while the seats were on the other. The bay’s water was blood red. Apparently someone had tried to take the jet skis out and the sharks had caught them, then what? Trashed the place because the sharks were bored?
This didn’t look like sharks did it. It looked like someone with a sledgehammer. Who the hell would do this? And had they paid the ultimate price for their sabotage?
Nick saw something on the periphery of his vision and ducked just in time. If he hadn’t that crescent wrench would have clocked him in the temple. As it was, it skimmed over Nick’s head.
Going on instinct, Nick threw a punch in the direction of his attacker. It connected with the guy’s gut. Unfortunately his attacker brought the wrench down on Nick’s back. Pain shot through his spine. He dropped to all fours, trying to catch his breath, making sure his back hadn’t broken.
The pain made him dizzy and nauseated. The room lurched and wobbled.
Then he saw the fin in the bay.
Nick threw himself back just in time as a bull shark made a play for him.
Teeth snapped right next to his cheek.
Screw his back, he needed to get the hell out of here.
His attacker must have fled out the side door as it flapped in the wind, banging against the wall.
Nick grabbed hold of one of the jet ski’s railings and pulled himself up. He was still unsteady, but he had to get on the move. Tentative step after tentative step, he made it to the main door and hurried into the hallway, back to the control room.
* * *
Nami watched with concern as Dillon made a left turn. He should have made a right turn.
“Where is he going?” the tech asked.
“I’m not sure,” Nami replied trying to figure out exactly that question. She scanned ahead. If Dillon kept on this route, he would come up on flooded tubes. Then she realized their mistake. Dillon didn’t know that they had cleared tunnels for him. So he was just trying to create a route that used the least number of tubes.
“Can we get those cleared in time?” Nami asked.
The tech scanned the displays. “I doubt it.”
“And communications are still down?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
There was only one thing she could do. Nami pushed out of her chair. “I’ve got to go warn him.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” The tech said grabbing her wrist. “I don’t think so.”
“Let go of me,” Nami protested, pulling away from the tech.
“I don’t think your father and especially Callum would approve,” the tech insisted.
“I promised him I’d get Dillon back here safely,” Nami reminded the tech.
“But not by going out there yourself.”
“It’s the only way,” Nami stated.
She was going. She had to be as brave as Dillon, her father and Callum.
“If my dad gets back, tell him not to follow me.”
“Which means he’s going to follow you,” the tech said.
Nami shrugged. “Probably. Just get those other tunnels I marked cleared so we have a straight shot back once I get Dillon.”
“You are crazy girl, but I’ll get it done.”
Nami looked at the screens one more time, making sure she knew where Dillon was headed before leaving the control room. It wouldn’t do any good if she got herself lost, now would it?
* * *
Callum had to run to keep up with the QXs and they were carrying a few tons of heavy machinery equipment and Tonaka. He certainly did a great job of building them and Shalie had done a great job of programming them for the island.
Shalie.
He couldn’t think about her right now. If he did he’d crumple to the floor thinking of all the things he should have said. Should have done. All of his excuses sounded hollow. All the distance he’d put between them now seemed absurd.
He’d thought he was doing right by her, but really he’d just stolen an opportunity from both of them. He’d been so stupid.
As the QXs out distanced him, Callum had to shake
off his melancholy. He had a job to do.
They went down several flights of steel ladders. Deep into the bowels of the island complex. Finally they reached the bottom of the ladders. The robot had to shove open the door. The frame was already bent. They had gotten here just in time.
Callum wasn’t ready for what he saw as he entered the room. The place had been decorated with forest wallpaper and natural wood furniture.
What the hell?
Then he realized Nami had said Dillon had shown her the room. This must have been his son’s.
Tears sprang to his eyes. This must have been where Dillon came to grieve his mother. It felt so like Sarah. Woodsy, smelling of pine. Even after months on the ocean he used to tease her that she still smelled like trees.
And here was a room in her honor. How many times had Dillon come down here? Scared? Feeling alone? Despairing?
In giving both Dillon and Shalie their space, Callum had effectively abandoned them. How could he not know his son had this room? How little he knew about Dillon?
He could never make it up to Shalie, but would he have a chance to make it up to Dillon?
“Callum?” Tonaka asked as the metal surrounding them groaned loudly and another dent formed in the wall.
“Yah, yah, let’s get this over with.”
* * *
Tonaka studied the walls as Callum seemed to regroup. The steel was buckling at a very predictable rate. He should have reinforced this room twice as much as it was.
Whenever there were variables in any equation, Tonaka doubled the safeguards. He always assumed there would be structural failure and would expect the secondary supports to have to carry the whole load, not just a part of it.
“Here,” Tonaka said to one of the robots. He pointed to the worst of the defects. “Place one of the braces here.”
This was going to be tricky. They only had three struts and four walls. And they needed such shoring up. He would have rather had eight struts. Then he might have trusted the patch job. As it was, they were going to be lucky to get out of this room alive.
“And here?” Callum asked pointing to the most westerly wall.
“I need to see how the weight is redistributed once we get this strut in,” Tonaka stated.
Callum looked frustrated. Westerners. They wanted everything right now. Patience was not considered a virtue. As a matter of fact Tonaka’s patience and steadfast commitment to quality had often been mistaken as some kind of weakness.
Apex Predator Thriller Series Collection (Including the blockbuster new shark park thriller, Salechii) Page 23