Mega #02 Baja Blood

by Jake Bible

  “Jesus Christ!” McCarthy yelled, yanking his hand back.

  Standing slowly, Darby kept her attention on Dr. Morganton and McCarthy while also looking out the door for more men. There were plenty of men, just no longer alive. Confident she wasn’t going to be ambushed, Darby turned fully to the two in the office.

  “Talk,” she said to Dr. Morganton. “And know that what you tell me determines how I deliver you to Ballantine.”

  “Let me guess,” Dr. Morganton glared. “Alive or dead, right?”

  “Wrong,” Darby said. “In pain or in agony. No matter what you say or do, I’m taking you out of here alive.” She looked at McCarthy. “You I don’t know and don’t care about. Keep out of my way and you’re free to go when this is all said and done.”

  ***

  Max moved quickly from deck to deck, very aware that cartel men could still be hiding anywhere. He cleared one passageway at a time before he made it to the Toyshop.

  “Someone call a taxi?” Max asked as he turned his back to the Toyshop, his eyes watching the passageway.

  “I don’t know why I need to go down there,” Carlos complained as he walked up behind Max. “Cougher knows the engines better than I do.”

  “Because he could use a hand and neither Mr. Reynolds nor Ms. Thorne have the technical expertise that you do,” Ballantine replied.

  “Fine,” Carlos grumbled. “Whatever.”

  “While tips are not expected, they are appreciated,” Max said. “Where to, sir?”

  “Why can’t you take anything seriously?” Carlos snapped. “You kill people for a living!”

  “You just answered your own question,” Max said, his tone turning cold. “When you have the amount of blood on your hands that I do, see how far you’ll go just to fight back the darkness.”

  “Oh...right,” Carlos replied quietly.

  “Plus the chicks dig the funny ones,” Max chuckled. “They like it when you tickle their funny bones.”

  “God, I hate you,” Carlos said. “Can we go now?”

  “Do you have everything you need?” Ballantine asked.

  Carlos patted the case he held. “All right here. I’ll get the engines up soon.”

  “Good.”

  Ballantine waited until they were gone then turned to Ingrid. She nodded and hurried off into the Toyshop.

  Lake looked from Ballantine to the guts of the Toyshop then back to Ballantine, unsure of what had just happened.

  ***

  “Can someone shut him the fuck up?” Thorne asked as he struggled not to put a bullet in the screaming Diego Fernandez.

  “Ballantine wants him conscious for the big reveal,” Gunnar said. “Which should be coming soon, I hope.”

  “I can’t believe that asshole killed Beau,” Shane said, struggling with the noise just as much as Thorne. He squatted next to Beau’s corpse and dragged him off to the side, folding the man’s arms across his chest. “I get the chance and I’m killing Espanoza myself. All I need is a clean line of sight.”

  “I’ll load the cartridge for you,” Thorne said.

  “What about Darren? How’d he look the last time you saw him?” Gunnar asked.

  “Pretty shitty,” Shane said. “Once we get the lights on you can go check him out.”

  “Can you take me down there now?” Gunnar asked. “I’m not needed up here.”

  “You’re supposed to stay put,” Shane said.

  Gunnar slid the piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Shane, his finger to his lips. Shane frowned, but took the paper and opened it. He quickly read it and walked over to Thorne, handing the commander the paper.

  “Actually, I better take Gun down to check on Ditcher,” Shane said as Thorne looked up, eyes wide. “Unless you want to go?”

  “No, you better handle this,” Thorne said. “I’ll stay here and keep an eye on things.”

  ***

  “Ballantine?” Darby called. “Can you read me?”

  “Barely,” Ballantine said over the com. “You are faint. We’ve had some com issues here on the Beowulf III. Hopefully they have been all sorted out.”

  “I can hear you fine,” Darby said, looking over at Dr. Morganton. “And I found the target.”

  “Did you now?” Ballantine said. “Can you patch her through?”

  Darby looked at McCarthy. “I’m guessing you can handle tweaking the com system. I need to patch it into mine so Ballantine can have a quick chat with the doctor here.”

  “Yeah, yeah, sure,” McCarthy said. “What’s the channel?”

  “What channel?” Darby asked Ballantine.

  “88A dash 64C,” Ballantine replied. “Tiger protocol.”

  Darby repeated that to McCarthy and he set the hangar’s com system to the correct channel. “You’re good to go.”

  “Great,” Darby said, looking at Dr. Morganton. “Now, start from the beginning.”

  ***

  “Sir? I’m picking up what you asked for,” the ensign said to Espanoza. “I am hearing someone refer to a Darby and...” He paused, his head tilted as he listened. “Ballantine. He’s finally contacting her, sir, like you said he would.”

  “Put it through,” Espanoza said and began listening to the voices on the com. His face grew red as he heard what was being said.

  ***

  “You were in on this too?” McCarthy said. “From the beginning? You bitch.”

  “Like you didn’t know,” Darby laughed.

  “I didn’t!” McCarthy insisted. “I swear! I mean, I knew Espanoza had his hand in a ton of shit, but I honestly thought the subs were for the Mexican Special Forces, not to run cocaine up and down the coast.”

  “Well, now you do,” Darby said. “And innocent men lost their lives because of your carelessness.” She looked over at Dr. Morganton. “Do you have anything else to say?”

  “No,” Dr. Morganton replied. “I’ve done what I’ve done and there’s nothing else to be said.”

  “Did he pay you well?” Darby asked.

  “You have no idea,” Dr. Morganton.

  “Bitch,” Darby said as she ejected the magazine from her pistol and put in a fresh one.

  “What are you doing?” McCarthy asked.

  Her answer was to shove McCarthy out of the way. She raised her pistol and fired, shooting Dr. Morganton twice in the belly then twice in the chest.

  “Jesus!” McCarthy said. “You fucking killed her! You said you wouldn’t!”

  “I lied,” Darby said. “Want to be next?”

  “Fuck no!”

  “Then get us out of here,” Darby said.

  ***

  Espanoza had a cell phone to his ear as the shots rang out over the com. He stopped speaking and listened.

  “Ballantine will pay for this. I paid good money for that woman,” Espanoza snarled then turned back to the cell phone. “Send them in! Send them all in! I want Darby alive, you hear me? I want her alive!”

  ***

  Doors burst open and armed men streamed into the marina hangar. Darby whirled about to face the men, but McCarthy tackled her about the waist. Her pistol went flying out of her hand as the two of them hit the floor. Darby tried to get her hands up, but McCarthy was faster and slammed a fist into her face again and again.

  She brought her knee up into his gut, but he was too big and heavy for her to move. She boxed his ears instead and he howled at the pain, but didn’t budge.

  “Don’t move!” a man shouted from the doorway. Close to two dozen more men were behind him. “Move and die!”

  Darby thought about it for a second, but that thought was lost as McCarthy hit her again. This time she saw stars and her body went limp.

  McCarthy stood up and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Then kicked Darby in the side. He turned to the armed men and frowned.

  “What does Espanoza want me to do with her?” he asked.

  “Don’t kill her,” the man replied. “She’s a bargaining chip.”

  McCarthy too
k a seat and looked over at Dr. Morganton.

  “Bitch actually thought she was playing me? Probably thought she could cut me out of it all,” McCarthy laughed. “Guess she learned how that works out.”

  ***

  Espanoza answered his phone and grinned. “Good. Don’t hurt a hair on her head or Ballantine won’t play along. I want a video feed set up so he has proof of life, understood? Call me when you are set.”

  Looking at the ensign, Espanoza twirled his fingers lazily.

  “Get me Ballantine,” he ordered. “Time to get my brother back as well as my product.”

  Chapter Nine- Quatro!

  Far off in the ocean, a shadow moved. Schools of fish fled before it; everything fled before it. The shadow swam, its massive body pushing it through the water like a sixty foot missile.

  ***

  “Here,” Carlos said, handing Kinsey the case. “Hold this for me.”

  “Uh, fine,” Kinsey said. “What’s in it?”

  “Tools,” Carlos said then fished out a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Max. He put his finger to his lips.

  Max opened the paper and his eyes went wide then he handed it to Kinsey. She set the case down and read the note, looked at Carlos, re-read the note, looked at Cougher, then shook her head.

  She jammed the note into her pocket and picked up the case.

  “How long do you think it will take for you two to get this going?” Kinsey asked.

  “Don’t know,” Cougher said. “Could be a long while. Maybe an hour or so.”

  Kinsey looked at Max. “That’s cutting it close.”

  “Then we better hurry,” Carlos said as he stared at the two operators.

  “Right,” Max replied. “Better hurry. We’ll be right here watching over you. Keeping you safe with our guns.”

  They all stared at him like he’d lost his mind. He just shrugged.

  “Let’s hurry,” Carlos said.

  “Hurrying,” Cougher said and pointed towards the hatchway.

  Kinsey and Max turned and hustled from the engine room.

  ***

  “Easy, easy,” Gunnar said as he and Shane maneuvered Darren up out of the whale sub’s cargo hold. “Don’t kill him before I can fix him.”

  “I’m trying not to,” Shane said. “But Ditcher isn’t making this easy.”

  Darren, still out of it, rubbed his hands across Shane’s face over and over.

  “You feel like rubber,” Darren said. “Little rubber sniper. Ten little rubber snipers. Ten rubber snipers jumping on the bed, one shoots a target and then that target is dead. Now there are...uh...”

  “Still ten snipers, dude,” Shane said. “You killed the target, not a sniper.”

  “I wouldn’t kill a sniper,” Darren said as Shane finally got Darren up on top of the sub and to the side of the cargo hold hatch. Gunnar climbed out and Darren pointed at him. “I’d kill a scientist. Not you, Gunny bud bud. But some other scientist.”

  Darren thought about it then sat up straight and grabbed Shane by the shoulders. “A mad scientist!” he shouted. “I’d kill a mad scientist and save the world!”

  “You’d be a hero, dude,” Shane said.

  “I would,” Darren replied, leaning in conspiratorially. “I’d totally be a hero.”

  “And you know what heroes do?” Shane asked.

  “Kill mad scientists,” Darren replied. “Fucking duh,dude.”

  “Dude, did you just mock my dude?” Shane asked. “If you did then I’m not telling you what else heroes do.”

  “Oh, shit, I’m sorry!” Darren cried. “Shane, I’m so sorry! I’m a hero! I didn’t mean to mock you!” He looked to his left then to his right then right at Shane. “It’s not my fault. A mad scientist drugged me.”

  “That he did,” Shane said, looking over and rolling his eyes at Gunnar. “Now, to be a real hero you have to let me and Gunnar here get your ass off this sub.”

  “It’s a whale,” Darren said.

  “It is whatever you want it to be,” Shane said. “As long as you also want to get down off it.”

  “I do,” Darren said. “I need to pee. That little mute pixie kept making me drink water. Like a lot of water. I tried to shove her away, but she’s strong, man. Like a lot of strong.”

  “That’s pretty strong,” Shane nodded.

  “I know!” Darren exclaimed. “Oh, damn...”

  The front of Darren’s pants grew wetter and wetter.

  “We’ll, that’s unfortunate,” Shane said.

  “I am so glad I didn’t miss that,” Kinsey said from the catwalk above.

  “Hey, bro,” Max nodded. “You going on the secret mission too?”

  “Please tell me you already killed your com piece?” Gunnar snapped. “Otherwise if they’re listening you just ruined it all.”

  “Oh, shit!” Max said in a high falsetto. “I’d hate to ruin it all!”

  “We killed them outside the hatch,” Kinsey said.

  “Killed ‘em dead,” Max said as he got to the ladder. “Now let’s figure out how to get Ditcher the fuck out of here without breaking him.”

  “Where’s Moshi?” Kinsey asked.

  A small hand stuck up out of the cockpit hatch and waved.

  “Hey, Moshi, thanks for taking care of Darren,” Kinsey said. She got a thumbs up in return. “Hopefully you still got what Ballantine needed you to do, well, uh, done.”

  Moshi wiggled her hand back and forth in a “so-so” gesture.

  “She’s already assured me she’ll be finished in time,” Gunnar said as he looked at Darren. “But he’s the real problem.”

  “I am not a problem,” Darren said. “I’m a solution. Everyone stop looking at me!”

  “We could always knock him out again,” Max suggested.

  “Then how do we get him up the ladder?” Shane asked. “The hatch down here isn’t working, remember?”

  “God!” Max grinned. “Why does Ditcher always gotta be such a pain in the ass?”

  ***

  The shadow saw movement far ahead and rocketed forward, its tail thrashing back and forth, taking it to a speed few creatures of the sea could match.

  It quickly reached the source of the movement; it was large and long that smelled nothing like food. But that hand’t stopped the shadow before. It had survived in the ocean by being smart and curious at the same time. It kept heading towards the large and long object that didn’t smell like food.

  Then it realized the large and long object was moving towards an even larger, even longer object. That object was something the shadow knew. It had come across many of those objects in its journey from ocean to ocean. Sometimes it let the objects move past, sometimes it didn’t. The shadow had no rules as to which object could leave its presence or which needed to be destroyed and sent to the deep. It only acted as it wanted at that exact moment.

  Except for this moment. In this moment it had been drawn to this area; drawn by something that called to it.

  The shadow, not knowing if the smaller object was what called it or not, started to swim faster. It targeted the object and opened its wide, wide mouth. But, to the shadow’s surprise, the larger object opened up and swallowed the not as large object.

  The shadow grew angry at this, being denied its prey, but instead of taking out its aggression on the larger object, the shadow slowed and turned a different direction, its senses honing in on something else. The real something that called to it.

  It began to dive and search for that something, its tail taking it deeper and deeper.

  ***

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake, Ditcher!” Shane shouted. “Just climb the fucking ladder!”

  “I peed my pants,” Darren said, his eyes full of tears. “You don’t understand, man. I peed my pants.”

  “No, dude, I understand,” Shane said. “And the only way we can get you clean clothes is if you climb the fucking ladder!”

  “He’s not climbing,” Gunnar said.

 
“That isn’t helping,” Kinsey said.

  “He’s had cardiac trauma due to ingesting a highly dangerous substance,” Gunnar said. “As medical officer I can’t have you forcing him to climb a ladder. That would be idiotic.”

  “It’s been an idiotic day,” Shane replied.

  “Then we’ll have to knock him out and figure out a way to winch him up,” Max said.

  “Why do that?” Popeye asked as he stepped through the hatchway onto the catwalk, surprising everyone. “Why not use the cargo lift?”

  He pointed at the far end of the catwalk and the wide platform attached to the side.

  “Want me to lower it down to you?” Popeye asked.

  “This is why ships have boatswains,” Shane said.

  “Yeah, so the soldiers don’t fuck everything up,” Popeye laughed.

  “Good to see you back onboard, Pop,” Max said.

  “Pissed I even had to leave,” Popeye said, waving a note around. “But Ballantine gets what Ballantine wants.”

  He hobbled over to the other end of the catwalk and worked the controls, sending the cargo lift down to the deck below.

  “You load him on and Doc can ride up with him,” Popeye said. “You folks need to get yourselves moving now.”

  “Thanks, Pop,” Kinsey said. “We owe you one.”

  “And Ballantine owes me a ton,” Popeye said. “Keeping everyone in the damn dark. That man needs to learn to trust more.”

  “Fat chance,” Max said.

  The Reynolds and Kinsey made their way to the hatch when Gunnar called out.

  “Hold up,” Gunnar yelled. “Where are your weapons? You can’t go in there unarmed?”

  “The M-4s may not be as reliable in the water,” Kinsey said, patting the case in her hand. “But don’t worry, we aren’t unarmed.”