End of story. There were no mind games to be played with a shark. It wasn’t that they weren’t smart. If anything they were too cunning. No, it was the fact the shark just didn’t care.
Prey. Eat. Do it all over again.
Their cunning was displayed in their hunt to track you down to eat you.
A shiver passed down her spine. Her fingers found the scar tissue that went up and deep into her hairline. A little souvenir from Salechii. The bite of a baby Hammerhead shark. A reminder to Shalie that no matter how small the shark, don’t ever underestimate it.
She had no intention of ever doing that again.
A curse rose from the door of the facility. If you weren’t looking for it you’d never find it. The metal was painted in snow camouflage. From the sky, the micro-island, there were hundreds of them along the Russian arctic coast, looked like a perfectly flat surface.
Only it wasn’t. There were moguls and hills of snow and troughs. It was a little crazy how the wind shaped the ice and snow into topographical features. The door was built into one of them.
There were a few other outbuildings scattered on the flow. A radio shack, a few other metallic storage modules, but that was it. Nothing to indicate that a huge underwater station lurked below.
The only nod to its military presence was a narrow metal sign above the door…
Shark Station 4419A, however the inscription was slashed through and the single word, Nyet was scrawled above it. Someone didn’t like the place, that was for sure.
She urged one of the QXs over to see what was taking Nassar so long to open the door. The robot looked over the Captain’s shoulder.
Nassar had a small piece of laminated paper covered in what Shalie assumed was Cyrillic. Apparently the unlock code to the station’s door.
From the string of curses coming from Nassar, the code wasn’t working.
* * *
Callum let the guy get it out of his system. He kind of knew how Nassar felt. Living with one arm you had a daily dose of frustration that something that normally would be so simple, had become impossible.
He offered his one good hand. “May I?” Quax repeated his words.
Nassar backed away. “I speak Russian so I don’t need your titanium translator.”
Callum sighed. There was speaking Russian and there was “getting” Russian. Callum didn’t understand Russian at all, however due to his injury, he “got” Russian.
The tiniest change in syntax could completely change the meaning of the sentence. He would only assume that codes were the same away.
“Chto mozhet bol'no?” Callum asked. Quax didn’t interpret the “What could it hurt?” Statement yet Nassar did seem to understand.
“I can blow the door,” the captain countered.
“We have no idea the pressure inside that door. You could destabilize the entire station,” Callum shot back in Russian.
Nassar frowned.
“Just give me a chance,” Callum offered his hand. He rocked a little as his artificial ankle gave out on him. He’d come down on it pretty hard when landing on the ice. If that had been his real ankle, it would have shattered on impact. Sometimes being partially bionic had its upside.
For a moment the Captain stood there motionless as the snow swirled around his figure. His eyes slid to his men, then back to Callum. Slowly, as if he was still trying to decide if he was really going to do it, Nassar handed over the card. Callum equally slowly took it, half expecting the captain to snatch it out of his hands.
Callum looked down at the Cyrillic symbols. To his conscious mind they were just a bunch of mumbo jumbo, but his subconscious, the part that had been damaged by that blow to the head seemed to take it in perfectly fine.
What the Captain hadn’t noticed was that while the letter and numbers needed to be entered, there was also a cadence of which they had to be punched in.
Callum didn’t enter the code in straight away. He read the numbers and letters as they were meant to be spoken. A slight pause here, an accelerated pace there.
The ominous red light switched to a blinking green.
Nassar pushed past Callum to spin the hatch’s wheel. “Beginners luck.”
Keep telling yourself that, buddy, Callum thought but didn’t speak, not even in Russian.
* * *
Nami clung to Dillon’s hand. The halls of the station were coated in a milky white ice. You could see the metal structure underneath. But it was more of an illusion than a sense of support.
The staircase that led deep into the station was unlit. The only illumination was that from the soldier’s flashlight, striping the walls in patches of light and dark.
The only sound was that of their and the QXs metallic footfalls.
It was uber creepy.
Her father squeezed her shoulder. “Just like the sound set on Terror in Iceland.”
Nami smiled. Now that was old school. Her father had taken his own advice back at the start of his career. He had starred in a super low budget horror flick financed by some banker in Iceland. It was horribly low budget. They had a guy in a Yeti suit that showed the zipper in the back. Nothing like this. This place was truly terrifying.
Still she smiled back at her dad. He was trying.
Nami could hear her own breath. All of a sudden she sounded like she had the bubonic plague. And how did it feel even colder in here? What was going on?
They finally made their way down to the base of the stairs. A large steel door stood between them and the station.
The Captain nodded to Callum who came forward and entered in the code.
Even though the green light blinked after he entered in the code, no one reached out to open the hatch door.
Nami knew why. If the staircase was this disconcerting, what in the heck was the inside of the station like?
CHAPTER 7
Dillon caught himself holding his breath as his father put a hand on the hatch and slowly began turning the locking wheel. The SEALs were flanking him, their guns pointed forward, all of them razor-focused on the door.
Quax translated for his father, sounding every bit an Aussie. “The pressure feels equalized. No water behind here.”
Hissing out his breath, Dillon steeled himself for what was inside. No water hopefully meant no sharks, at least right now. That didn’t mean they weren’t here before.
Finally the door cracked open, white fog seeped in through the crack, obscuring the view.
Nassar led his troops in, charging into the unknown. No matter his father’s disagreements with them, the SEALs were brave. There’s no way he would want to go in there first.
“Clear!” echoed off the walls. His father stepped through first, followed by the rest of them.
White fog swirled at their feet, but couldn’t hide the horror of what had happened here. Bloody hand prints smeared the wall. Pools of bright red blood puddled on the floor.
“Send out an SOS,” Nassar ordered. Ajax nodded. “On it, sir.”
Dillon didn’t blame the SEALs for sending out the distress code.
Something bad had happened here. Something really, really bad. Nami turned away from the sight and buried her face in Dillon’s jacket.
Without the blood, the sight would have been simply amazing. A huge window looked out into the Arctic Ocean. Their flashlights flickered into the deep waters. It was mesmerizing. Or it would have been mesmerizing if it weren’t for all that blood.
He stepped deeper into the large observation room. The place was huge. Way bigger windows than even Salechii and deeper. The place was an engineering marvel.
Tonaka rubbed his hand along the ice that coated the walls. “This room hasn’t been breached. This is the original ice.”
So if it wasn’t sharks? What the heck happened here?
Tonaka stepped next to Dillon, asking the question they all were thinking.
“Then where are all the bodies?”
* * *
Tonaka stepped forward, quickly calculati
ng the amount of blood on the floor. There had to be at least ten liters. That meant at the least three people dead, but it could have been more. Up to five. Yet there wasn’t a single body.
“Signs of a struggle,” the team member everyone referred to as Ajax shouted out.
“Small arms fire over here,” Lieutenant Troy called out.
Nassar bent down and picked up a white object. “Is this what I think it is?” he asked Callum.
The marine biologist studied the object. “A shark tooth. More specifically a Great White’s tooth,” Quax translated.
“What is it doing in here?” Nassar asked.
The shark biologist shrugged. Callum might be the world’s foremost expert in sharks, but that didn’t make him psychic.
“What the hell?” Ajax exclaimed, jumping back, aiming at the glass as a Great White shark slid along the window, eyeing them all.
“Don’t shoot!” Nassar barked. If Ajax shot, they’d all be dead as the glass would crack, bringing the freezing sea to them.
Then the shark was gone with a single flick of his tail. Tonaka’s heart pounded, reverberating in his ribcage. He’d forgotten how truly terrifying sharks could be. Especially when you were down here with them in their environment. A little like what the spider said to the fly. Unfortunately Tonaka and his team were the flies.
“There are bloody footprints heading this way,” Kibble, the youngest member of his team stated.
Nassar shook his head. “We’ll follow them later. The Admin offices are this way.”
The troops grouped back into formation, only Callum and the rest did not follow.
“What the hell is the meaning of this?” Nassar demanded.
“This is when we discuss how we are going to proceed,” Quax translated for Callum.
“Do not, and I mean do not,” Nassar hissed, his jaws clenched shut, “pull this crap now.”
“Mate, do your thing,” Callum said through Quax. “But I need to know what is going on with the sharks. To stop me you are going to have to shoot me.”
And by the looks of it, Dillon, Nami, and Nick.
Nassar seemed about ready to take them up on their offer.
Tonaka stepped forward. “You will not need to spare any of your men. My robots will provide our protection.”
* * *
Callum didn’t need Tonaka to fight his fight.
“Look, I get it, mate. You have your orders and your procedures, but the Secretary of the Navy asked me along,” Callum said, then indicted to the rest of his friends. “All of us for a reason.”
“Which I am still a little unclear on,” Nassar stated through clenched teeth.
“To keep us, all of us alive,” Callum said. “You have now entered the sharks’ world and you’d best live by their rules or die.”
Nassar’s jaw worked up and down. His knuckles white as he clutched his gun.
Nami stepped forward. “Do you know what type of shark that was that just passed?”
“A Great White,” Nassar spit out.
“Ah, but what sex? What age?”
“What does it matter?” Nassar challenged.
“It matters a lot. That was a female, adult, and by the looks of her wide girth, pregnant. She is probably the most dangerous creature on this planet. There will be no warning circles or bumps. She will go straight for the kill, every time. No warning. No mercy.”
“I expect that from every shark,” Nassar stated.
“But you see Great Whites really don’t want to eat us. We taste bad. So usually one will try to nibble on us first to see if we are its favorite prey, the seal. It’s why so many shark attacks are not fatal. They really weren’t trying to kill us. Her?” Nami suggested. “She wants to eat everything in her path. There are no second chances with her.”
Callum was proud of his son’s girlfriend. She truly had become a shark expert since Salechii. Her advice was spot on.
“So can you see why we need to go to the security hub to determine the shark threat?” Callum asked.
Nassar frowned, turning to his men, heading in the direction of the administrative office “Move out.”
* * *
Nassar’s gut still burned at Callum’s treachery. The only reason the man had stopped arguing on the plane, had been because he had planned to break off once at the station. And then to be schooled by a teenage girl? Insufferable.
He could have arrested the Australian. He could have done a lot of things, but none of them would have sped him to his objective. While this had been named a rescue mission, Nassar had been tasked to obtain whatever objects Putin had hid here and get out with them before the Russian Navy arrived.
In some ways losing the civilians might actually work in his favor. Fewer witnesses. He had broad discretion here. Although killing Americans or any of her allies was never his first choice.
“This way, Captain,” Ajax said, swiftly moving them through a series of corridors.
This white hallway was smeared with more blood than they had found in any of the other corridors.
The sign on this door read, “Komanda Tsentr.” Command Center.
Ajax looked over his shoulder, his question clear on his face.
Nassar nodded and handed him the code card. Ajax knew Russian as well as he did and now that they knew there was a pacing issue, the corporal could easily correct for it.
Ajax efficiently entered the code, unlocking the door.
Everyone took a big step back, setting up into attack formation. If there were any Russian Navy officers still alive, they would have shored up in here.
Ajax spun the wheel, opening the hatch.
The room was dark, but that didn’t mean that it was empty.
His team swept in checking their corners, clearing the room. Looking under desks, behind partitions, over vents. But nothing. The room was completely deserted.
Maybe Callum had the right of it after all.
* * *
Callum snuck down the hallway. Well, as much as you could sneak with your ankle clicking away. Luckily the QXs were equipped with lighted finger projectors. The further they got away from the men with the guns, the more uneasy Callum became. Funny how plans sounded great in safety, then once you were in the situation you realized just how badly you had underestimated it.
He wasn’t scared per se. That was a different sensation. An almost better sensation. This was apprehension, which was worse in some ways.
Blood streaked the walls. Some looked like arterial spray while some of it looked clotted and smeared.
Even though there was no standing water, Callum still half expected a shark to pop out at any moment.
When none did, the tension simply mounted.
He knew it was his idea to go this way, but he couldn’t help but think he was making the same mistakes he had made before. Thinking that he knew best. That somehow he was in control of the situation.
“You’re right,” Nick said next to him. “We’ve got to know what we are up against.”
Callum nodded and strode forward. They had followed the signs on the walls. All things equal, the Russians had done a great job labeling everything.
Soon they arrived at the security door. Callum put his ear against the metal. There were no water sounds. Hopefully this room would be clear.
Luckily he had memorized the codes and quickly entered in the one for the security station. The light blinked green. Nice and friendly. But that didn’t mean much under these circumstances, as he had to step over a large pool of blood.
He opened the hatch. “Quax?”
The robot stepped forward, shining his light into the security room.
“Privet?” Callum called out. Quax echoed in English.
People were draped over their chairs. There was no movement. None at all.
He stepped into the room. Red lights flashed all around, only adding to the sickening look of the place.
Callum took a few more steps. It quickly became clear that no one in the room w
as alive. White corneas glowed in the low light. These people had been killed several days ago. The cold must have slowed decomposition, however that didn’t make the sight any less nauseating.
Callum looked back to find Dillon and Nami at the door. “Get back. You don’t need to see this,” he said through Quax.
Tonaka side-stepped the youths as Nick thankfully drew Dillon and Nami back into the hallway.
The kids didn’t need to see this.
Just because sharks didn’t do this, didn’t make it any less horrific.
Humans did this and they might just be hanging around to do it again.
* * *
Shalie watched the horror through her screens. A dozen QXs were giving her far too good a view of the slaughter. Who could have done such a thing? Her mind reeled with the possibilities.
Were they still there or had they fled the scene of their crimes?
The room was still darkened except for the QXs’ lights and a few flickering power modules.
“Tonaka,” Shalie said into her mic. “The emergency power must be on so you are dark because of a breaker.”
Each section of the station had its own power supply and set of breakers. Luckily this one’s was close so they didn’t have to go ranging all over to find them.
“The breakers are in the south corner of the room,” Shalie informed him.
Tonaka followed her directions and flipped the main breaker. Lights flicked on. Shalie might be a half a world away but even she had to shield her eyes from the sudden illumination.
The room looked all the more horrific in full light. The QXs began moving bodies out of the way so that the team could get the cameras back up and find out the extent of the damage and look for any survivors.
She was watching intently until her screen began flickering and static replaced the images. It wasn’t real snow. They had left that outside.
Shalie tried a few maneuvers to clear the channel but with each attempt a pit grew larger and larger in her belly. This wasn’t a random failure of equipment. This was someone jamming every common use signal.
Someone was cutting her team off from the rest of the world.
* * *
Nassar grunted as he stood back up. Someone had trashed the communications console. It was beyond repair. He looked to a screen to find that every escape vehicle, the station’s submarine, their small research submersible and even the jet skis had been disabled. There was no way off the station. Nassar had hoped to co-opt some sort of rescue vehicle, however the saboteur had been thorough.
Apex Predator Thriller Series Collection (Including the blockbuster new shark park thriller, Salechii) Page 37