by David Wood
Aston stood stunned, fighting to keep down bile even as he realized Slater was screaming. Carly was screaming, but still filming – ever the professional. Holloway, however, was laughing like an imbecile.
“What a magnificent creature!” the billionaire crowed. “Did you see how she just tossed him up in the air and caught him? It was like feeding time at Sea World. Hurry, reset the net! We’ve got to draw her again and be quicker to fire the electrical charges.”
“Reset the net?” Aston asked, incredulous. “Did you not see what just happened? That thing is without a doubt a prehistoric monster, a predator longer than this damn boat almost. She’s designed to eat everything she can find. Makkonen is dead, you lunatic! You cannot possibly still think you can catch that thing!”
“If I can’t net the bitch, I’ll harpoon her!” Holloway said, eyes wild, his face bright red with excitement and fury combined. “There’s nothing we can do for the captain now. He’s gone.” Holloway raised his chin. “You will help me or you will never see a cent. Maybe you’d prefer to join Makkonen in the belly of the beast, as they say.”
Aston staggered backwards. “What? No, this is too much. You’ve gone too far. You’ve actually gone mad. I’m done, fuck you and fuck your money. I’m taking Jo and Carly and we’re out of here.”
The lake had quickly settled to an eerie calm, the beast seemingly satisfied for the moment with its meal of ship captain and its freedom. Near-silence descended after Aston’s outburst, but for the lap of wavelets against the Merenneito. Aston kept glancing out over the water, expecting the monster to return any second, arcing out of the water, determined to finish them all.
Movement caught his eye and he turned toward the shore. In the deepening shadows of the trees, a dark figure wearing loose-fitting clothing stood, swaying gently from side to side. The man seemed to be holding something aloft in each hand, one shining like a blade, the other dark and impossible to make out. In the sudden silence, Aston could just make out a quiet crooning, some soft chant, drifting to them. As he drew breath to point the man out, Holloway sighed.
“Plan B, Joaquin,” he said, clearly unaware of the stranger Aston had spotted.
Aston snapped his gaze back to the billionaire. “What the hell is Plan B?”
A metallic click answered his question as Joaquin drew a pistol and racked a round. He made a quick gesture with it. “Over there,” the big man said, indicating Slater and Carly. “And you,” he said to Carly, “it’s time to stop filming.”
Carly slowly lowered the camera with shaking hands, her face pale as milk. “What’s happening?” She turned her big eyes to Aston, who gave a small shake of his head.
“You have gone completely off the deep end,” Slater said. “What are you planning to do?”
“I’m just making sure you don’t interfere with my plans to capture this beauty now I’m so close,” Holloway said. “Clearly you’ve made a final decision here that you don’t want to be paid. That’s no problem. But alive or dead, I will be taking this beast home with me and you useless people will not stand in my way. If you won’t help me, you’ll be locked below.”
“How can you do this to us?” Slater asked. “I lost one of my crew over this. You lost your captain and his mate. I did everything you asked of me until the cost became too high. This isn’t right.”
“Don’t you dare talk to me about what’s right!” Holloway shouted, spittle flying. “I know about your late night file transfers. Did you really think you could double-dip on me? I’m doing us both a favor by not paying you. It saves us both a whole mess of legal fees.”
“It’s not—” Slater began.
“Shut up!” Holloway stamped his foot like a child throwing a tantrum.
This was bad. Aston sized up the gap between himself and Joaquin, wondering if he could cover the distance without being shot and whether he could take the man in a fight. He felt doubtful on both counts, but had little choice but to try.
“Don’t do it,” Joaquin said. “I really don’t want to shoot you, but I will.”
Holloway dug into his pocket and pulled out a small, snub-nosed revolver. “No heroics! Even if you can take one of us, the other will shoot you dead and feed you to our girl.” He inclined his head toward the water. “Now, get over there with those two.”
Aston fumed, ground his teeth, impotent in the face of two guns. He moved to Slater and she reached out and squeezed his hand. He saw she already held Carly’s hand tightly in her other. Carly hung the camera at her side, her whole body shivering with fearful tremors.
“Let’s go below,” Joaquin said. “Please, just comply. I really don’t want to shoot anyone.”
“But you will?” Slater spat. “Are you compromising your morals yet?”
Joaquin pressed his lips together and gestured again with the gun.
With a grunt of annoyance, Aston turned and led the way below deck. They were ushered inside a small cabin, thus far unused during the expedition. It was little more than a closet with a single bunk, small bedside table and tiny, sealed porthole window.
“You’re idiots!” Aston shouted as the door was closed. “Just the two of you trying to operate that winch, the electrics, the harpoon. You’ll die!”
His only answer was the click of the door closing and the snap of a padlock being secured.
Chapter 35
Cramped together in the tiny cabin, fear was a heavy presence among them. Aston held tight to Slater’s hand while she maintained her grip on Carly.
“What do we do now?” Carly asked weakly.
Slater shook her head, but Aston’s ire was up. He had had enough and refused to take any more. “We have to get out of here. We’re going to bust out and leave those idiots to it.” How, exactly, they were going to accomplish that, he couldn’t say.
“Hey, look, there’s someone there,” Slater said, eyes narrowed at the porthole. “On the lake shore.”
The man wore a loose-fitting robe, the hood pulled up. “I saw him while we were on deck,” Aston said. “And then Joaquin pulled a gun on us. He must have been there when all hell broke loose.”
They watched the dark figure move slowly in the shadows of the trees. Their view also afforded them clear sight of the net being let out again and the hooded man seemed very interested in it. He gestured with something.
“What’s he got?” Slater asked.
“Looks like a bundle of twigs wrapped in cloth.” Aston frowned. “He was chanting before, but I couldn’t hear what. He’s probably still doing it.”
“Can’t Holloway or Joaquin see him or hear him?” Carly asked.
“Too preoccupied, I guess.”
Slater narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips as she gazed at the figure. “He looks like some kind of religious nut.”
“He probably is,” Carly said. “You know, some kind of pagan. I’ll bet he worships the lake monster.”
“I suppose,” Slater admitted. “All the lore and legend around this thing, it wouldn’t be a surprise if at least some of the locals were nutters for it. If there’s a tradition of human sacrifice surrounding the monster, that indicates religion of some sort. It makes perverse sense.”
Aston shook his head, brow creased. “Even so, what’s he doing? Just watching?”
“What if he’s developed some level of rapport?” Carly whispered. “Like, can he communicate with it or control it with that voodoo doll-looking thing?”
Aston laughed nervously. “It’s insane to suggest anyone could communicate with a dinosaur, but after what we’ve seen all bets are off.”
“You can train a dog,” Carly said quietly. “Give it a tasty treat every time it does the right thing.”
Aston and Slater turned to stare at her. “You think he’s trained that monster by rewarding it with tasty humans?” Aston asked.
Carly shrugged.
&n
bsp; “Where is it?” Holloway’s muffled voice was strident, affronted, from the deck above.
They heard some murmur in response from Joaquin.
“Well we need to lure it back again!” Holloway barked. “This time we’ll zap it the moment the net is closing, shock it and wrap it up at the same time. I will have that beast. And while you’re doing that, I’ll man the harpoon. If it looks like she’s escaping again, I’ll shoot her. I’d rather have her alive, but I’m going to get her one way or the other.”
There was more conversation, dropped too low for them to make out. The man in the trees continued to sway and wave his rustic icon. Cold realization settled over Aston.
“We have to find a way out,” he said. “Right now.”
“They have guns.” Slater glanced up at the ceiling.
“I know, but they’re busy. Holloway’s preoccupied. There’s a dinghy right outside, and the dive platform is only a few paces from that door. We bust out, grab the boat and get the hell out of dodge. Come on!”
He turned in the small space, took the two steps he could manage, and drove one shoulder into the door. He bounced off with a bark of pain.
“This is stronger than it looks.”
But it was only an internal door, surely not built to withstand any punishment. He needed to get it open before Joaquin or Holloway heard the commotion and came down to investigate. The women moved to either side to allow him more space and he ran at it again. It flexed in its frame, but didn’t crack.
“Damn this thing!” Aston yelled and ran again. He bounced off once more, but the door hinges squealed a sound of damage and protest.
“You’re almost there,” Slater said. “Why don’t you let me try? We’ll take turns or you’ll hurt yourself.”
Seeing reason, Aston moved to the side, resisting the urge to rub his shoulder, while Slater backed up and turned. Before she could take a run at it, the door swung open. Holloway and Joaquin stood outside, guns leveled at the three of them.
Ice flooded Aston’s gut.
“Start with her,” Holloway said, flicking the barrel of his revolver toward Carly.
“What..?” Carly started.
Aston knew what was about to happen and red fury slipped over his vision. “No!” he shouted and dove at Joaquin as the big man stepped into the cramped cabin. He caught Joaquin’s gun hand and drove his good shoulder into the man’s chest. They stumbled back, locked in a tussle for the weapon. Joaquin slammed into the doorframe, grunting in pain. He drove a knee into Aston’s ribs and Aston repaid him with a head butt that caught him on the bridge of the nose.
“That is enough!” Holloway yelled and Aston had a moment to see the billionaire’s arm raised before the butt of the revolver cracked into his temple.
Blackness swept in from the edges of his vision and sound whined away to silence. Something hard hit his back and he realized it was the deck. He heard distant screaming, a sharp slap, more screaming, and a door slammed.
Aston groggily turned onto his hands and knees, and shook his head to clear the ringing in his ears. As his vision came back he saw Slater sitting on the edge of the bunk, one hand pressed to her cheek. Tears of anger and pain streaked her face. He spun around. The cabin door was shut and locked. Carly was no longer with them. He heard her screaming.
“That son of a bitch!” Aston yelled, scrambling up to the porthole.
“He’s not really going to do it, is he?” Slater asked quietly.
Cold certainty chilled Aston’s marrow. “Of course he is. There’s nothing he won’t do. I’m sure of it.”
Carly’s screams were interrupted by dull thwacks and then she began sobbing. More hits and a sharp cry and then she fell silent.
“Take her legs,” Holloway said from directly above them. “On three. One, two, three!”
Slater joined Aston at the porthole and they stared in horror as Carly arced out over the water, clad in a bright orange life vest. She hit the lake and cried out weakly, arms flailing like they were made of rubber. Her face was swollen, bruised and bloody, one eye shut. Blood leaked from her mouth and from several knife cuts along her forearms.
Slater cried quietly. “We have to save her,” she whimpered.
Aston turned, ran full tilt at the cabin door, and bounced back hissing in pain, clasping his nearly dislocated shoulder. He felt like a child trapped in an adult world, impotent in the face of one stupid door. Slater gasped and he turned back to the porthole.
The figure on the shore was now dancing violently back and forth, his strange icon held in both hands above his head. In the dim moonlight they saw the lower half of his face, his mouth moving in a frantic chant. Then he leaned his head back and released an unearthly sound, like an ululating wolf howl that echoed out across the lake.
“What the hell was that?” they heard Holloway ask.
Aston could imagine the bastard scanning the lake, looking for the source of the disquieting cry.
And then, maybe a hundred and fifty feet from the Merenneito, the water began to churn and the huge form of the creature surfaced for a moment and then submerged almost immediately.
Slater gripped Aston’s hand again and they stared, frozen by fear and helplessness. The zealot on the shore howled once more, then whistled a high-pitched call. The creature’s back broke the surface sixty feet nearer, spines flicking up as it moved, gems of lake water glittering in the patchy moonlight.
“Here she comes.” Holloway’s voice rang with glee.
Carly sobbed and thrashed, kicked her legs trying to head for the back of the boat and safety.
“Don’t let her swim to the boat!” Holloway yelled. “Hurry up.”
Aston and Slater both jumped as two quick gunshots severed the night and Carly bucked in the water, crying out in pain. Her face twisted, eyes squeezed shut, and she rolled in the water and would have sunk if not for the life vest holding her up. She sobbed again, swallowed water, coughed.
“Carly!” Slater screamed, banging at the porthole. And then the creature was on her.
It burst up from the depths, two halves of tooth-crammed jaw appearing either side of her, and the rest of the massive form came behind. It slammed its jaws shut as its front fins broke the surface and Carly’s cries were silenced in one, two, three quick snaps, and the monster fell sideways back into the lake.
“Now!” Holloway yelled.
The winch arm wailed as it motors drew the net around again, and blue arcs of electricity crackled between the small buoys. The monster seemed to convulse once on the surface and then thrashed, sending up gouts of water in massive waves.
“Faster!” Holloway shouted and the winch arm motors screamed as they were cranked up. “It’s working.”
The net gathered and electricity arced once more. The creature twisted and turned on itself, rapidly running out of room to move. It flexed violently and let out a low, hollow rumble, water churning white and rocking the Merenneito again. The winch protested against the deck, electricity surged, and the net drew tighter. The boat dipped gut-wrenchingly to one side, the water level almost up the porthole. SCUBA gear, pans, who knew what other gear, crashed and tumbled around in the hold and galley.
“Are we going to capsize?” Slater cried.
Aston couldn’t speak, so mesmerized was he by the grisly scene playing out before him.
The monster slammed its mighty tail once sending up a cloud of water, another burst of electricity flared, and the beast fell still. The Merenneito rocked back up to a stable level and bobbed gently.
Holloway howled with laughter. “We got it! We got the bitch!”
And under his celebrations, Aston heard the madman on the shore yell, “Nooooo!”
The man disappeared into the trees, and silence once again sank over the lake. The creature lay curled up tight in the net, floating just below the surface.
> Footsteps battered above them and Holloway said, “Did you hear that?”
“It came from down below, probably,” Joaquin answered.
“Yes, of course. Come on, help me make sure this net is secured.”
Aston stepped away from the porthole, every inch of him trembling in shock and rage. Slater remained frozen in place, staring out over the strangely calm water. Tears streaked her cheeks. The only sound was the winch motor slowly drawing the bulging net fully closed. “Carly,” she implored quietly.
Aston shook his head, lost for words. One thought tumbled over and over in his mind: no way would Holloway let them live after what they’d witnessed. They had to escape, and soon.
“Is it dead?” Slater asked.
Aston moved back to her side. “No idea. Quite possibly, or it might just as likely only be stunned.”
The motors of the winch fell silent as the net finally reached full closure, with the monster bound up tight.
“I can’t believe he actually got it,” Aston said. “I honestly can’t believe it. But I don’t think there’s any way out of that. Especially as it can’t move now and they can zap it again if it wakes.”
As if on cue, the monster weakly flexed, the net bulging one way and then back.
“We caught her alive!” Holloway cried. “Get the cage. I want take a proper look at my prize!”
“Shouldn’t we just tow it in and make sure it’s secure first?” Joaquin asked.
“I want to look at her! Ready the cage and I’ll get the tranq gun. I’ll fill that beast so full of drugs she won’t wake up for a week. We’ll take her in once she’s out.”
“I contacted our people,” Joaquin said. “They’ll meet us at the designated spot but it’s going to take them several hours to get there and set up.”
“What’s he talking about?” Slater asked.
“I assume he’s referring to whatever arrangements he’s made to get this thing out of the country and back to the States. He can’t just haul it into town. Word would spread like wildfire and the Finnish authorities would descend on him like flies on a rotten corpse.”