by Steve Alten
Urquhart Bay
11:25 P.M.
Michael Newman pointed at the screen, too excited to remain seasick. "We lost it after it passed Invermoriston, then it reappeared. See? It's staying deep, hanging out in the middle of the Loch, just south of Invermoriston."
David peered over the engineer's shoulder, high on adrenaline. "Invermoriston? That's like what? Ten miles south? How do we get it to swim up here?"
"Give it time. Maybe it'll smell the bait?"
"And maybe we'll lose it again. The bait's just sitting in the water. If it wanted it, it would have taken it long ago. This thing's not stupid."
David looked out the starboard window. Though the wind had died down, it was still drizzling, thinning out what had been a capacity crowd of more than three thousand. "Brandy, move us closer to the buoy, I have an idea."
Calum Forrest's Croft
11:37 P.M.
I sat at Calum's kitchen table, my pulse beating in rhythm to a grandfather clock ticking somewhere in the darkened living room.
The water bailiff set out two cups of coffee, then added a shot of whisky to each. "Aye takes me a nip or three afore my nerves calm doon. My wife, God rest her soul, often had tae dae it for me."
"How long have you been feeding it?"
"Since afore ye were born, an' long afore that, but only in winters. Come summer, there's plenty o' fish."
"But not this summer?"
He glanced at my injured foot. "I think ye a'ready ken that answer, dae ye no'?"
"This sheep croft, how long has it been in your family?"
"Since the time o' yer kin, Sir Adam Wallace."
"Sir Adam Wallace? Never heard of him."
"Then it's best ye ask yer faither."
"I'm asking you. Was Adam Wallace a Templar Black Knight?"
"He wis the first."
"So the mission of the Black Knights was to feed these creatures?"
"It's a part o' it, an' we call them Guivres. The one they call Nessie's the last."
"Why's she the last?"
"Cannae say."
"Then let me say. From the size of her, there's no way Nature ever intended her or her kind to be permanent inhabitants of a fresh water loch, even one as big as Loch Ness. That means the Black Knights must have cut off her passage to the North Sea… am I right?"
Calum said nothing, but the twinkle in his eye encouraged me to continue.
"Now why would the Black Knights want these monsters stuck in Loch Ness?" I thought a moment. "You were using them! You wanted to keep people away. That's it, isn't it?"
"Sort o'."
"Fine. Forget about the Knights' mission for now I'm more concerned with why this creature's feeding on humans."
"As am I."
"The Anguilla eel that attacked me had lesions in its brain, caused by hydrocarbon poisoning."
"Whit's that?"
"It comes from oil. There's oil leaking somewhere, and it's getting into the Loch. You're the water bailiff, have you—"
"I havenae found any oil."
"Okay. But what if it's coming through the passage that connects the Loch with the North Sea?"
The old man considered this scenario. "Aye, that's possible."
"Then there really is a passage! Tell me where it is."
He shook his head. "I cannae dae that. Besides, the passage collapsed years ago, back when they built the A82. It trapped a few o' the Guivres in Loch Ness, preventin' the rest o' their kind frae enterin'. Nessie's the last o' them. The alpha beast, as Doc Hornsby wid say."
And now she's gone crazy."
"Aye."
"Those underwater lights… when did you install them?"
"No' that long ago."
"Winter? Spring?"
He avoided eye contact. "Maybe winter."
"What happened this winter that you felt a need to install the lights?"
"Ye said it yersel', Nessie went crazy!" He pushed away from the table, obviously agitated. "Whit are ye gonnae dae now that ye ken? Will ye kill her like yer faither wants? Is that why ye're here?"
"My father wants the monster killed?"
"Dinnae play games, I want tae ken whit ye'll dae tae her."
It was Alban MacDonald's words, and I offered the same reply. "I'll free her if I can. Is that what you want?"
I thought that would please him, but instead he turned away, his fists balled, his weathered face turning red.
"Wait a sec… you want her dead, too, don't you?"
"It's past her time an' she's dangerous, but I cannae dae it."
"Because of your oath as a Black Knight?"
"Aye."
Suddenly remembering the laptop, I yanked open the lid, checking for the blip. "Oh shit."
The monster was heading north, closing fast on Urquhart Bay.
Chapter 29 Quotes
I was along the south shore of Loch Ness, fishing for brown trout, looking almost directly into Urquhart Bay, when I saw something break the surface, then disappear. I kept watching, keeping an eye out, fishing gently, when a great elephantlike shape rose from the water. It was a large black object… a whalelike object. It submerged, then reappeared a matter of seconds later, and I noticed it had rotated, turning before surfacing.
I called to my friend, Willie Frazer, who himself had a sighting a year earlier, almost to the day. He saw it, too, and we realized it was moving toward us, moving against the current. It was two hundred meters away, and people on the other side of the Loch were watching it, too. It remained along the surface for fifty minutes, the longest sighting on record.
—IAN CAMERON, FORMER SUPERINTENDENT OF THE NORTHERN POLICE FORCE, JUNE 1965
Chapter 29
Urquhart Bay
David waved to the reenergized crowd, then climbed over the starboard rail, his rubber-soled shoes slipping along the wet surface. "Newman, hand me that fishing gaff, then hold on to my belt so I don't fall in."
"I need to check the array."
"You'll check it in a minute. First I want to hook the bait rope."
Michael Newman handed him the reach pole, then grabbed him about the waist. "This is a mistake. The Nothosaur should be dragging the bait, not us."
"We need them to cut off the plesiosaur's escape."
"Wake up, Caldwell. Sonar says the creature's fifty-two feet long. That's almost twice the size of this rickety old tub."
"Will you relax. Once it enters the bay, we can always cut the rope. You eggheads worry too much."
"At least we know better than to be playing with an aluminum reach pole out on the water during a lightning storm."
"Chill, mom." David leaned out, slapping the hook end of the fishing gaff at the buoy's submerged rope. "Got it, first try, too. Here, grab the pole while I climb back over, and don't lose it, it's a lot heavier than it looks."
Gripping the aluminum pole, Newman pulled the hooked rope toward him. "Geez, it weighs a ton. What's on the end of this?"
"Dead cow. Hoagland sawed off its legs so it would bleed a nice trail. Here, help me guide the rope back toward the stern, then we'll tie it off."
Struggling with the gaff, it took them another five minutes before they gained enough slack to loop the rope around a metal cleat.
Newman wiped his wet hands on David's sweatshirt. "There. You can cut the line to the buoy without me, I'm checking the array." The engineer reentered the pilothouse, searching the sonar grid.
The red blip was gone.
"Not good."
"What's not good?" Brandy asked.
"I lost the monster. It disappeared somewhere along the shoreline."
"So find it." She pushed down on the throttle, feeling the Nessie III's engine strain to drag the dead cow through the water.
"I can't find it!" Newman snapped back. "Must've slipped into a blind spot along the western slope." The engineer's eyes widened as the blip reappeared. "Oh God, there it is! Jesus, it's already in the bay!"
"What?"
"It's in the fu
cking bay! Caldwell, cut us loose!"
"What?"
"Cut us loose!"
"Are you crazy? I just—"
The Nessie III lurched sideways as an immense force snatched the bait and dragged it into deeper water.
The wheel was wrenched from Brandy's hand, the Nessie III pulling hard to starboard, its keel half out of the water.
Brandy fell, as did the sonar array, Michael Newman with it. Tumbling on his back, he slid out the open pilothouse door and smack against the submerging starboard rail as the boat continued to roll.
David grabbed for the bait rope, which was all he could do since he had no knife to cut it with. As the starboard rail dipped into the water and the crowd roared somewhere off to his right, he glanced over his shoulder, shocked to see the port side of the Nessie ///blotting out the storm clouds as it began its surreal topple towards him.
David dove underwater seconds before the capsizing boat completed its 180-degree roll.
Brandy could only curl in a ball and cover her head as the pilothouse went topsy-turvy around her. She somersaulted blindly across her instrument panel, then was struck by a freezing wall of water that burned her skin.
The flooding cabin creaked and groaned, blanketing her in darkness.
* * *
On the banks of Urquhart Bay, thousands of onlookers stood, yelling and gesturing and snapping photos as the Nessie III capsized. For several adrenaline-pumping moments, the boat's hull was forcefully dragged sideway through the water, and then the cleat tore free, releasing the vessel.
The metal clasp skimmed across the surface. As it sank, it caught several loops of the heavy fishing net that, moments earlier, had been tied off atop the pilothouse roof, dragging it with it.
* * *
The bow of Calum Forrest's speedboat bounced erratically across the dark surface, spraying me every few seconds with cold water. Ahead, I could see the lights outlining Urquhart Bay while on my laptop, I saw the red blip reappear as it entered David's pen.
Moments later, my heart skipped a beat as the Web link shut down.
* * *
Michael Newman surfaced, wheezing and gagging. The engineer was freezing, the frigid water locking his muscles. His mind in shock, he considered swimming the three hundred yards to shore, then he saw the current created by the circling fishing net and decided maybe it was better to just stay right where he was.
Brandy was still in the submerged pilothouse. Despite being in total darkness, she knew her boat like the back of her hand, and it only took her a few seconds to locate the inverted cabin door and swim free.
David surfaced thirty feet from the capsized hull, his only thought, to prevent the monster from escaping. Looking back, he was excited to see the Nothosaur blocking the exit of the pen, while the crane on the construction pontoon lowered the first of the remaining six lengths of fencing into place.
Beautiful.
Satisfied, he turned, swimming back toward the capsized boat, never noticing the partially submerged fishing net closing on his right. Without warning, he was swept away, loops of heavy rope ensnaring his right arm and both ankles.
"Hey! What the fah—"
An intense force, like that of a grade four rapids, dragged David under. Frantic, he twisted and kicked and fought his way back to the surface, his limbs now hopelessly entangled.
The Nessie III's hull was too slick with slime and algae to allow Brandy and Michael Newman to climb out of the water. Instead, they huddled together by the slowly sinking vessel, their breath visible above the chilly waters.
"Ha… help!"
They looked around, trying to locate the source of what sounded like a gurgling scream. Newman pointed to their left as David surfaced and was dunked again.
"Ah, gees, he's caught in the net." Brandy felt along the back pockets of her jeans for her Swiss Army knife. "Stay here!"
Kicking away from the hull, she swam out, waiting for David to circle by again.
* * *
Michael Hoagland watched the action through binoculars from the starboard deck of the Nothosaur. "Victor, how much longer?"
The sonar tech's eyes were focused on the pontoon behind them. "The last panel's being readied now."
"As soon as it's lowered, get us over to that capsized boat!"
* * *
Brandy treaded water, her heart racing as the circling net approached. Anticipating its path, she avoided it, then grabbed for David as he rushed by.
He went under again and she leaped for him, brandishing her knife. David felt the disturbance and lunged blindly for her.
Brandy pushed him aside, fighting to keep herself from becoming caught in the entanglement of loops. Remaining spreadeagled atop the netting, she felt her way to David's left leg and began sawing at the thick, wet rope.
And then they stopped moving.
Freed of the current, David thrashed his way back to the surface, gagging in her ear. "Cut me loose!"
"Stop yer squirmin', I'm tryin'!" She continued attacking the rope, unaware that something immense was now rising slowly beneath them.
* * *
Calum steered his boat to the edge of the pontoon bridge. "I cannae get inside the bay!"
I saw the Nothosaur, and beyond it, the capsized Nessie III. I saw David thrashing in the water, caught inside a partially submerged fishing net, and I saw Brandy, trying to free him.
And in my mind's eye, I saw the monster, rising from the depths to take them, just as it had taken me seventeen years earlier.
Tearing off my shoe and walking boot, I grabbed the log-sized plastic case in my right hand and climbed onto the prefabricated bridge.
I hurried across the structure, then dove into the water, swimming as fast as a frightened man could.
My eyes watered, the icy temperatures like a vise on my lungs, each breath a forced gasp, my throat tensing up.
I reached David, "where's Brandy?"
She surfaced next to him. "Zack, we're both caught… I lost my knife!"
The light, Zachary, get to the light!
Move!
I ducked my head underwater, aimed the light cannon, and pressed the power switch.
The underwater beacon ignited, blazing a penetrating funnel of light into the depths. The beam illuminated a tea-colored environment swirling with particles of peat. I saw Brandy and David's legs, entangled in the drifting latticework of cocoa brown netting, my heart nearly stopping as I spotted the breaching monster's head!
It was rising directly beneath us, thirty feet and closing, a dark majestic serpent as wide as an SUV. As it moved closer, the light caught its hideous snub-nosed snout and fang-filled outstretched jaws in mid-yawn, the insane creature intent on devouring both Brandy and David.
Fighting through my fear, I maneuvered the angle of the beam, catching the ascending leviathan flush in one of its sensitive yellow eyes.
The monster spasmed as if hit by a laser, then whirled about in a sudden 180-degree retreat. I caught a blurred glimpse of an enormous brown tail before I was literally driven free of the surface by its retreating wake.
I grabbed a quick breath and ducked my head again, the light cannon's beacon catching the tip of the beast's tail as it disappeared into the darkness in a flurry of peat and bubbles. My right ankle jerked free of the net, a reflex, as it suddenly went taut and submerged, dragging Brandy and David with it!
Kicking hard, I lunged for the edge of the net with my free hand and held on, allowing it to tow me into the depths as I struggled to reach Brandy.
She grabbed onto my arm and held tight, using my body as leverage as she struggled to free herself from the heavy bonds entangling her left knee.
We were submerging at a frightening speed, dropping an atmosphere every few seconds. The pain in my ear passages tore into my brain as we jettisoned beyond eighty feet, when Brandy slipped out of her jeans and pulled her leg free.
We floated away, no longer encumbered, while the net continued below into darkness, dra
gging the hopelessly encumbered David along for the ride.
I hovered there in the blackness and silence of watery space, searching for him with the light. The edge of the beam caught his pale face, his expression—frozen in horror—as he disappeared into the frigid depths of Loch Ness.
Brandy tugged at my elbow and we kicked toward the surface. I kept the beam aimed below as long as I could, hoping David would see it.
Get to the light, David. Get to the light.
We surfaced and exhaled, gasping for air, our extremities no longer functioning in the cold. Desperate moments passed, until we were finally hauled out of the water by the Nothosaur's crew, and dropped on the deck.
Crewmen draped wool blankets over the two of us and we held on to one another, panting and dripping and shivering. Brandy threw an arm around my neck and hugged me, her purple lips cold against my face.
"Thh… thought ye were afraid o' the water?"
I pressed my mouth to her ear. "More afraid of losing you." She hugged me tighter, saying nothing.
Michael Newman, wrapped in his own blanket, flopped down next to us. "Caldwell?"
I shook my head.
Captain Hoagland tapped Brandy's shoulder, pointing at the construction pontoon and derrick. "Look, the pen's sealed. We've got the monster trapped."
It was true, the pen had been sealed. And then I heard the crowd cheer amidst a strange sound. It filled my ears like rolling thunder, only it wasn't thunder, it was David's underwater speakers, pumping out a familiar cadence from my childhood.
It was bagpipes, the recorded sounds originating around the shoreline, the bizarre tune muffled behind layers of water.
David was right, the acoustics were keeping the creature from accessing land, but they were also tormenting the beast, enraging it.
Without warning, the incensed creature struck the perimeter fencing. Metal screeched and connecting hinges snapped as sections of the floating bridge expanded and buckled under the ungodly force. A dozen of the prefabricated platforms broke free from one another, held together only by the interconnected lengths of chain link fence.