Again with the snort. “As did we and they all ended up in shark bellies within minutes.”
Grinning, Nick indicted to Tonaka. “Ah, but did you have these?”
A QX stepped into the room. The woman’s gun flew up, aiming at the robot.
Nick put his hands up. “No, no, they are just our robots. They are here to help.”
“So now the American’s have a robot army? Putin was right.”
“No, we don’t have an Army and these aren’t even American. They are Japanese.”
“Even worse,” the woman hissed.
Nick put out his hand to shake. “I’m Nick Flack. Come with me if you want to live.”
He just couldn’t help it. Nami would have laughed at the Terminator reference, but the woman just frowned.
“I am trusting you with my people.”
Nick nodded. “I know. I swear we’ll do our best by them.”
She went to take a step forward, but instead her knees buckled. Nick rushed forward catching her just before she hit the ground.
“I’ve got you. I’ve got you.”
She didn’t respond as her eyes rolled back into her head and she went limp in his arms.
CHAPTER 9
Nassar knew that many felt that a dry suit was constrictive, nearly claustrophobic, however he had always felt safe when wearing one. Unlike a wet suit that allowed water under the rubber, having it circulate between the suit and body, thereby warming the water with your body heat, a dry suit was completely sealed. His skin was dry as a bone. Air replaced the water, not allowing the arctic chill to leach the heat from him.
Even in a dry suit though, you had to be careful. The rubber wasn’t magic.
He checked his watch. It had taken them about five minutes to get down to the lowest level. They had a max of another ten minutes before hypothermia caught up to them. They would die of the cold far sooner than running out of oxygen.
Floating in the icy water, bubbles coursed up the side of Nassar’ face mask as he exhaled deeply. The rest of the men were flanked out around him. They had found the room marked on his map as the most likely place Putin would have hidden his object. His men faced outward in case there was any kind of threat to stop them from breaching this man-sized safe.
Putin certainly had a lot to hide.
The Russians, of course, didn’t give them the code to this lock. They were going to have to blow it and hope that whatever was inside was water-proof.
Nassar nodded and Ajax swam forward, giving a strong kick with his flippers. He pressed the C4 against the hinges and plunged in two detonators.
The team swam out of the room, shutting the hatch solidly behind them. Nassar didn’t want to risk the blast wave injuring or killing them. He was momentarily glad their communications were down. Nassar certainly didn’t want the civilians to hear what they were up to now.
Giving a thumbs up to Ajax, the corporal hit the red button. A muffled explosion shook the wall, but that was about it. Hopefully Ajax had put enough C4 on to really do the job. They really didn’t want a repeat performance.
Nassar opened the hatch and swam into swarm of papers drifting in the water. His men scooped them up, stowing them safely away. As Nassar swam closer he came to realize the safe had mainly been filled with those papers, now beyond soggy. However he knew the boys back at the CIA would be able to extract the information they needed.
A glint caught his eye. Gold. He swam forward. The only other object in the safe was a gilded box. It was about the size of a woman’s purse. Rectangular and shiny. He put his hand out, grabbing the object. Nassar turned it over in his hands. There didn’t seem to be any seams or lock. It seemed solid, yet he could tell by its weight that it was not solid gold. There was an interior, but how to get to it?
Ajax swam over. “Whatcha got, Cap?”
The box glistened in the low light. “I have no idea.”
* * *
Callum worked on the video bank. The security system, even with his limited understanding Russian, was a brute. This video bank could be their greatest help. If they would get a dozen shark cams up and running it could tell them exactly where the sharks were.
But the system was giving him some trouble. It seemed someone had been watching the attack on the Russian woman and stopped the tape there, but trying to get anything else to play had become a bit of a challenge.
“I think I’ve got something,” Dillon said next to him.
“It looks like the footage is from around the time the Russians lost contact with the station.”
Callum took in a deep breath. This wasn’t going to be pretty.
He nodded and Dillon cued up the footage. At first it seemed like nothing. From the large size and blunt shape of the nose, they were looking at a full-grown Bull Shark. Which in theory couldn’t live this far north in this cold of water, but somehow it was swimming around, looking quite vital. Although the Bull Shark seemed far fatter than normal. The Russians probably fattened up the sharks to make them more cold resistant.
“What is that sound?” Nami asked.
Callum looked to the girl frowning.
“What sound?” he asked.
“You can’t hear that?” Nami asked, looking to Dillon. “You can hear it, right?”
Dillon nodded. “It’s like high pitched acid jazz?”
“Exactly,” Nami said as she dialed the volume up, causing both teens to cover their ears with their hands.
Still Callum heard nothing. He turned the volume down to give the kid’s some relief.
“As we age, we lose our upper tone hearing,” Nami explained. The Russians must have been experimenting with sounds emitted from the camera to agitate the sharks, amping them up, getting them into a frenzy.”
Which seemed to be working. At first the bully had been swimming in a predictable hunting pattern, cutting through the water cleanly, making a straight line, but now he was thrashing side to side, swimming erratically.
Callum’s heart went out to the shark. This was torture, straight up.
Then the figure of a diver came into view. The bullie’s erratic behavior converted to laser focus as the shark swam straight for the diver. It wasn’t until the last second when the bullie rolled and opened his mouth that Callum realized it was a dummy.
The shark tore through the decoy like it was wet tissue paper. Apparently the Russians set up a reward system as blood gushed out of the form and big hunk of meat floated away from the dummy. The bully snatched the meat right out of the water, swimming away with vigor.
The teens’ faces had stopped grimacing so Callum assumed that the noise stopped as well. Typical Pavlovian training. Or torture depending on whom you spoke to.
“Why would they do this?” Nami asked, wrapping her arms around her waist.
Callum was pretty sure it wasn’t for conservation. That was for sure.
* * *
Tonaka helped one of the older women up. All of the Russian survivors had some wound or another. And the medical ward was under water. He hoped they had enough medical supplies in the security hub to help these people.
“Would you?” Tonaka asked one of the QXs. The robot lifted the elderly woman, although not nearly as tenderly as Quax would have done.
When he had first heard about it, Tonaka had been angered that Shalie had gone and installed an emotional chip into Quax, but as time went by he had warmed to the idea. Innovation was usually disruptive, especially to an old man like himself.
It took the next generation to truly see the potential of any new technology. Sometimes they took it too far, but other times they got it just right. This seemed to be the case with Quax.
Funny the robot had only been back a short time, but already being separated from him made Tonaka miss his creation.
“We’d best hurry,” one of the survivors said as they splashed down the hallway. The water was rising quickly. It was already over Tonaka’s shins.
“We can only go so quickly with this many injur
ed,” Tonaka stated.
“We’ll have more injured if we don’t hurry,” the man said. “This much noise and they will surely come.”
“The water is not even knee high,” Tonaka pointed out.
“That won’t matter,” the man stated pointing behind them, “When they get here.”
Tonaka looked back to find several small dorsal fins break the water, speeding toward them. The things couldn’t be more than four inches tall and what six inches long?
Still those fins rushed forward, ominous in their shape and speed.
Tonaka didn’t hesitate. He jumped up onto his robot. “Run!”
The people ahead of them barely picked up the pace.
That was until a small shark, with plenty of small, sharp teeth jumped out of the water, and grabbed hold of the QX’s ankle, gripping tightly with his little jaw. The shark must have been a little surprised that it didn’t sink into flesh. The baby shark flailed back and forth trying to find purchase.
Others finally noticed the threat. Screams filled the hallway and the sound of splashing echoed off the walls.
The small shark finally gave up on the titanium shell and fell back into water with a frustrated plop.
“Go!” Tonaka screamed as all four tiny sharks jumped at once.
* * *
Dillon’s gaze flickered from one screen to another.
“I think I’ve got the live feed,” his father said, but Dillon wasn’t holding his breath. He’d said that at least five times and each time they either got a blank screen, static or strangely, Gilligan’s Island.
This time though one of the screens bloomed to life. And clearly they were watching the feed of a shark swimming through the lower levels. Level two to be exact as the shark swam by a doorway and down the stairs.
“Didn’t the soldier’s head to level one?” Nami asked Dillon.
“Our communications are still blocked,” Dillon said with a frown.
“What kind of shark is this?” his father asked Nami. Dillon wasn’t sure if he was testing his girlfriend or really didn’t know.
Nami leaned forward. “I’m good, but from this angle? Let me give it a try…” Dillon loved it when her nose scrunched up when she concentrated. “Fairly narrow, blunted snout. Light grey color. Pretty wide head. There must be at least another 20 feet of shark behind it…I’d say a Greenland Shark.”
Dillon’s father nodded and patted Nami on the back. Sometimes his dad didn’t need words.
“How dangerous are they?” Dillon asked. “I can’t remember.”
“Because they usually only live between Newfoundland, Greenland and Iceland, so not a lot of opportunities to bite swimmers, they are said to be low risk,” Nami explained. “But they could do some damage if they wanted to. They have been known to take down polar bears and even attack bowhead whales if they are young enough.”
Everyone fell silent as the Greenland shark in front of them jerked his head from side to side, then surged forward.
They all knew what that meant. That meant the shark had sensed something moving in the water. Prey. Unfortunately that prey was more than likely some human SEALs.
* * *
Nassar heard the scream before he saw one of his men in the jaws of a huge shark. His man, Yartel, was trained so there was no panicked flailing or unnecessary movements.
Even though he must have been in agony, Yartel managed to get his arm around and pulled out his shark bolt. His man kept his head about him. To try and use his gun, that would have been a disaster. The last thing they needed was more blood in the water. No, they had to go with the prods. Yartel slammed the device into the shark’s nose and pushed the button.
Despite being a room away, Nassar could see the crackle of the electrical discharge. However instead of freaking out and letting go of Yartel, the shark clamped down. The struggling SEAL fell still, the shark prod slipped from his hand, drifting down and finally clunking on the steel floor.
The shark, seeming angry after being tazered, bit Yartel in half. His legs drifted away from his body in a haze of blood.
Before Nassar could give the command, another three men came at the shark, digging their prod into the shark.
“No!” Nassar screamed but it was too late.
Somehow the Russians had reprogrammed the shark to attack rather than retreat in the face of a tazer attack. The huge shark spun around, snapping another prod in half then taking off one of his men’s arms.
The shark was so fast that it was hard to track its movements. Suddenly it pivoted, biting off another man’s leg. The water ran red. In another instant the third man’s head was gone. His body, lifeless, floated away.
“Retreat,” Nassar barked not knowing if it could even help.
* * *
Zoya startled awake. Screams filled her ears just like they had done for the last few days. They ricocheted off her skull. Strong arms held her tightly. There was the scent of musk and rose. Even under the circumstances it was an odd combination.
Where was she? Who was holding her? Why was everyone screaming?
Then she saw it. Sharks. Of course it was sharks. These were baby reef sharks who normally wouldn’t even bother with a diver, but they had been pumped full of testosterone and were ready to attack anything in their path.
It looked like four of them had attacked their fleeing group. Now it was three as one of the silver robots grabbed a baby shark by the tail. The thing whipped around, clamping down on the robot’s arm, but could gain no purchase. The robot whacked the shark against the wall, stunning it. Then with the second whack killing it.
Zoya felt no sympathy for the creature. Sorry.
It must have been Nick Flack who was carrying her. Who else could it be? No one in her party had the strength and she could see the Japanese gentleman on the back of one of the robots.
They were nearly to the stairs, some of the robots had already climbed midway up, out of reach of the sharks. The other robots were helping people up and out of the water.
Nick was nearly up as well when a shark flew out, grabbing him in his well shaped calf. He screamed and fell to his knees but did not drop her. The shark let go, getting ready for another attack.
Zoya pulled out her gun, aimed and just as the shark crested the water, his mouth gaping wide open with small but razor sharp teeth, she shot.
She didn’t know if she hit it since the world went black again.
* * *
Nassar’s men, what was left of them, swam past him into the room. Ajax dove for the door, quickly pulling his feet back in as the shark made another pass.
That left only Mambi out in the hallway. He survived by plastering himself against the wall, avoiding the shark’s gaping mouth as it passed by. The shark swished his head side to side. It was almost like a dog sniffing the air for a scent.
The shark did a one eighty, heading away from the room, back up the staircase.
This might be the break they were looking for.
Nassar waved his arm, “Come on!”
Mambi pushed off the way, striving for the door. He was the best swimmer on the team. He probably could have made it to the Olympics if he hadn’t been serving his country.
He was almost there. Nassar reached his hand out. Mambi grabbed it, but then the man jerked backwards. The shark had him by the leg. Ajax pitched in, grabbing Mambi’s other hand. They tried their hardest to pull Mambi from the shark’s grip, but in the end the shark was simply stronger than both of them combined.
Nassar felt Mambi’s hand slip through his. The worst part was that Mambi was still strong, trying to cling to Nassar’s slick dry suit.
Then Mambi was gone, pulled backward into the murky red water.
Nassar wished it had been even cloudier so he didn’t have to watch what happened next. The huge shark opened his gaping mouth and swallowed Mambi whole.
Whole.
Mambi was there, still trying to swim one minute. The next he was gone.
Ajax recovered f
irst, shoving Nassar aside to slam the hatch shut and spin the wheel closed.
The shark rammed into the door, shaking it, but the metal held.
“We’re safe. We’re safe,” Ajax repeated over and over again.
Yes. Yes, they were from the sharks but what about the cold water?
Not so much.
* * *
“We’ve got to help them,” Nami exclaimed. Not like she didn’t think that was exactly what everyone wanted to but she had to express it.
They couldn’t see the men anymore since they were watching through the shark cam. They could only watch the Greenland shark swimming through the station.
“I did what I could,” Callum said through Quax.
“Which was?” Nami asked.
Dillon’s dad seemed to be getting a little over his phobia of speaking, at least with Quax around. “To get the sharks into certain pens, the Russians have automated chum dispensers. I just activated one on the other side of the station.”
Smart. No wonder Dillon was so bright.
Which was great. Callum had saved the SEALs from the sharks, which sounded kind of funny when you thought about it like that, however there was nothing funny about hypothermia.
“How long do they have in there?” Nami asked.
Callum frowned. “A matter of minutes.”
Nami looked around the room. Everyone seemed defeated, even Quax.
“Come on, guys,” Nami said. “Someone has got to come up with a great idea.” She turned to her boyfriend, shaking his arm. “Dillon, put that big brain of yours to work. You’ve got that engineer’s eye. You’ve got to see something we’re all missing.”
It seemed to pain him to admit it to her. “I’ve got nothing.”
Nami tilted her head. “No more excuses. You’ve got your dad and Quax back, you need to stop retreating and look forward.”
For emphasis she punched him in the shoulder.
Rubbing his arm Dillon chuckled, yet his eyes got that glint in them. “Well if you put it that way…
He had been joking but then Dillon got that far off look in his eyes. He’d spotted something out on the horizon of his mind.
“What do those men need more than anything?” Dillon asked them.
Apex Predator Thriller Series Collection (Including the blockbuster new shark park thriller, Salechii) Page 39