Depths of Paradise

by Vance Albright

  “Look at the claw marks across the head and sides,” Max commented, staring at the deep gashes.

  “Cool, can we go?” Liz asked.

  “Yes, Max, please come up,” Ashly begged. Max ignored them.

  “I can’t believe the water panther was able to bring down something this big,” he said with wonder in his voice. He started to examine the severed feeding tentacles when Liz pulled on his arm.

  “The science lesson is over. Let’s go,” Liz ordered, pulling on his arm. Knowing she was right, Max headed for the surface.

  Chapter 35

  The next two weeks were utter chaos for Suijin Squad. The tracking system plan failed due to the Coast Guard rescue team recovering all the bodies. Okada spoke with Governor Fatu about the incident and coordinated operations, to acquire a base of operations on Maui. This proved to be challenging because the base needed a holding area for the dolphins. Governor Fatu’s team was able to find an abandoned estate that had its own private beach in the town of Makena. The beach overlooked two rocky cliffs and a natural coral reef, creating a small gulf. Perfect for housing the dolphins. The only down side to the location was right across the road was a small shopping center. People coming from it enjoyed walking in the shade of the estate’s trees and seeing the view the ocean offered. This would not have been a problem except the estate’s boat dock was visible from the sidewalk.

  Since he returned to Niihau, Max had been spending hours each day training the dolphins, using texts with Mya as an escape from the challenges before him. His primary challenge was the dolphins were going to be sharing the combat zone with friendly divers and vessels. This met he couldn’t simply teach them to attack anything that entered the area they were assigned to patrol. To overcome this, he came up with a simple yet effective exercise. A glow stick would be attached to a spear. The spear would then be fired at an underwater target. The dolphins knew the object marked with the bright light was what they needed to attack. The snout mounted hypodermic lance system had also proven to be troublesome. A completed lance harness was a harness placed around the dolphin’s front flippers and upper snout with a two-foot lance resting on top of the dolphin’s upper snout. At first the dolphins resisted wearing the harnesses, not liking the feeling of the leather straps or the additional weight on the upper snout. It took time and many treats, but Max managed to get the dolphins to accept the system. Now the dolphins could be combat ready in under ten minutes. The final challenge for Max and Liz was getting the dolphins transported to Maui. It was decided the dolphins would make the two-hundred-and-fifty-mile journey to Maui by wet transit. This process turned out to be easy since the dolphins had been transported by wet transit several times in the past. The dolphins would then be transported to the airfield where a cargo plane was waiting for them. The plane would land at Kapalua Airport, and the dolphins would be transported to the estate. Workers had already placed netting at the entrance of the gulf, so the dolphins could enter their new home right away.

  Ashly was tasked with preparing the mines and assembling the hypodermic lances. A major problem she discovered with the lance system was there was no way to reloaded them after the initial use. After learning from trial and error, she created modifications so new explosives could be loaded into the lances after each usage. She also modified the ten moored mines to go off by remote control rather than on contact. The mines were going to be positioned by a new robot the C-3000. This robot was slightly larger than the MSR-2. It had a box-shaped build and two strong robot arms in the front. Samuel did the simple yet important jobs like preparing meals, unloading equipment, and helping wherever he was needed.

  After two weeks of intense work, the jobs were finished, and a battle plan was in place. The finalized battle plan was Okada, Ashly, and Samuel would lead the first wave of the attack. Mines would be remotely placed near every entrance of the Five Caves Five Graves site. A drone would then enter the cave and lure the water panther out. If the mine attack failed, it would be immediately followed up by a dolphin attack, led by Max and Liz on a second boat. The estate was four miles from the Five Caves Five Graves sight. Bottle nose dolphins having a top speed of twelve miles per hour could be at the battle zone within twenty minutes. The team had discussed with Governor Fatu the idea of taking the dolphins to the attack site right away. Governor Fatu rejected the plan, feeling that mines and dolphins with explosive lances in the water at the same time was too risky. His main concern was the dolphins would be frightened by the explosive and turn rogue, a statement Max agreed with.

  The sun was nearly set when Okada, Ashly, and Samuel got aboard the Barracuda and began traveling to Maui. Max and Liz had left with the dolphins earlier in the day. The trip was calm until they entered the waters of Maui, the water panther’s hunting ground. A water panther who, like Max predicted, had been unusually quiet. However, throughout the journey the thought that today could be the day he started hunting again remained. Fortunately, they did not encounter their nemesis and joined their companions at the estate.

  Chapter 36

  9:10 AM 05/3/2021 HST

  The nearly risen sun brought with it feelings of nervousness and tension. Today was the day. The day they had been training for since the operation started. The day they would face the water panther. Since the team was going to be split, a small repainted Cost Guard patrol craft was docked next to the Barracuda. Ashly and Samuel got aboard the Barracuda. After kissing Liz goodbye, Okada got aboard. Max could tell how nervous he must be if he was showing affection for Liz in front of everyone. Max and Liz stood on the dock as the Barracuda disappeared from view.

  “Do you think they’ll manage to kill it?” Liz asked. Even though she was not showing it, Max could tell she was worried about Okada.

  “Have faith in our teammates, buddy,” he replied. He looked at the seven dolphin harnesses sitting on the dock next to training targets. “To keep our minds occupied, let’s run some training sessions with the dolphins,” Max suggested, knowing it was going to take a few hours for the others to get the mines deployed.

  “Better than sitting around doing nothing,” Liz agreed. “I’ll change into my wet suit.” Max blew into his training whistle. The number and length of each whistle was different for each dolphin. When Liz returned, Max had just finished placing a harness on Seafin. Liz clapped her hands to pump herself up.

  “Okay, what’s the game?” Max pushed three of the human-shaped targets into the water. The targets were made of wood with five-pound weights on each foot.

  “With a real operation possibly coming up, I don’t want to overwhelm them. We’ll start out with an hour or so of games, then we’ll have each dolphin attack a target once. I’m splitting the dolphins into two groups: Seafin, Tsunami, Atlantis, Depth Charge will be the first group. Typhoon, Aquatail, and Atragon will be the second.”

  “Got it,” Liz replied. She put her mouth piece in and jumped into the water.

  s s s

  The Barracuda drifted above the Five Caves Five Graves sight. The third MSR-2 was already inside the cave, hovering near the location of the food cache. Equipped with a sonar system, the MSR-2 had confirmed the water panther was inside. He was in a cave pocket right behind the food cache. Ashly’s hand had a death grip on the joystick as she positioned the mines with the H-3000. Tunnel vision had come over her during the stressful task. Nothing else mattered or existed at that moment. Adding to the stressful situation was the fact that the water panther could emerge from his lair at any time. Ashly let out a breath of relief when the last mine was positioned in place. Four mines were placed in front of the entrance that was nearest to the water panther’s current location. Two mines were placed in front of the three remaining entrances. No mines were placed by the cave entrance the MSR-2 had entered during their first trip to the site. From what they saw the first time, and later scanned, confirmed the tunnel to that entrance was too small for the water panther to fit though.

  “Why are three mines sitting on the ocean
floor?” Samuel asked, looking at another computer screen. The program that was running showed the location of each mine and the depth they were at. Thirteen green mines sat on a black background. Above ten of the mines were two digital buttons: a green activation button and a red deactivate button. The three mines sitting on the ocean floor had a folder titled “captor” under them.

  “Those are just additional mines. Always good to be prepared,” Ashly said in an innocent voice. The kind Samuel had learned she used when she was lying. “Anyway, can you come help me get the H-3000 aboard?” Okada waited at the MSR-2 controls. He heard the metallic screeching of the cable pulling the H-3000 to the surface. “H-3000 is secure,” Ashly said as she and Samuel returned to the cabin. She made her way back to her chair and pulled up the mine program. Samuel paced between the two of them, looking at each screen.

  “It’s a shame. I finally found a cryptid and we have to destroy it,” Samuel said, disappointed.

  “There will be more out there. After this is over, I’ll help you catch a nice one,” Ashly replied in a sarcastic yet sincere voice. Okada pressed the talk button on the radio.

  “Max, Liz, we are beginning operations.” He drove the MSR-2 right at the food cache. The team had placed a small amount of explosives inside the drone. Ashly clicked the detonator when the MSR-2 slammed into the food cache. Okada’s computer screen went blank as the drone and food cache exploded. “Now we wait,” he said.

  Silently, everyone hoped the small explosion would be enough to kill the water panther, but everyone knew that was a fool’s dream, so no one spoke of it. Seconds felt like hours. Ashly was glued to the mine’s sensors, waiting for one to detect something. A mine sensor went off at the cave entrance the team had guessed the water panther would emerge from. Ashly rapidly clicked the detonation button on the two closet mines.

  Still inside the cave system, the water panther saw orange flames and black smoke briefly engulf the cave entrance. The cave wall acted as a natural shield, protecting him from most of the blast. The shockwave stunned him for a moment. Several small bits of shrapnel punctured his nearly healed skin. The water panther stopped swimming, crouched down, and slowly started crawling on the sea floor. He gazed out the cave entrance, spotting the two remaining mines. A loud thunderclap left his throat.

  “What! No! No!” Ashly screamed.

  “What happened?” Okada asked.

  “The two mines near the water panther just went offline. I don’t understand how this could have happened?” Ashly said in an alarmed voice.

  “The infrasound. It must have destroyed the electronics inside the mines,” Samuel added.

  The water panther cautiously moved towards the two mines. He didn’t know what they were. All he knew was the others like them caused him pain. He remembered hearing a small clicking sound right before the load noise occurred. That was what he was listening for. He ventured closer and closer. The objects did not move. They must have been stunned by the roar. The strange objects somewhat reminded him of those stinging blobs of jelly he would sometime encounter while traveling the seas. He needed to destroy them while they were still stunned. The small spine under the main body seemed like a good place to attack. He bit down and the strange object fell to the sea floor. He did the same to the other object, then went to check for more.

  “He just broke the mooring cables!” Ashly said, stunned with disbelief. Moments later two more mines changed from green to red. Okada leaned back in his chair, frustrated by the results.

  “Contact Max and Liz. Inform them the operation was a failure,” Okada ordered.

  “We’re not done yet,” Ashly said as a mischievous smile formed on her face.

  “What have you done now?” Samuel asked.

  “I’ve been a bad, bad girl,” she replied. She clicked on the file titled “captor.” Inside were three file folders titled “captor one,” “two,” and “three.” She clicked on the captor one folder. A camera feed appeared, which looked to be coming from the ocean floor.

  “Ashly, answer the question!” Samuel yelled, worried she was going to do something dumb like set off a nuke.

  “Just wait,” Ashly replied. She moved the camera until it located the water panther destroying the last of the moored mines. A green targeting box surrounded it. The green box turned red, indicating the target had been locked on. “It’s over,” she said confidently, hitting the firing button. A torpedo shot out of one of the mystery mines sitting on the ocean floor.

  “What kind of a mine has a torpedo inside!” Samuel yelled.

  “Their captor mines, carrying a Mark 46 torpedo,” Ashly replied.

  “Ashly, since when did we get authorization to use torpedoes?” Okada asked, wondering how she managed to sneak this type of equipment past him.

  “Umm, they sent us the wrong stuff,” Ashly replied innocently.

  The water panther noticed the torpedo heading towards him. It somewhat resembled one of those sharks or dolphins he had seen many times before. They had never bothered him, so he was not too concerned with it. As it got closer, he started to circle the incoming object, wondering what it truly was. The torpedo’s tracking system followed his every move. The fact that this thing was following him made him uneasy. It seemed like it was getting set up for an attack. The water panther turned to face the torpedo. He cocked its head back and opened its mouth; thunder clapped as he released an infrasound blast. The torpedo exploded yards from its target.

  “What!” Ashly screamed in shock. This was impossible. First this creature had destroyed the mines, and now it had stopped a torpedo. Samuel started to explain what happened, but she already knew: the infrasound. Ashly quickly brought the other two mines online. Both fired within seconds of each other. The water panther spotted the two incoming objects. He had had enough. He swam towards them and fired a beam of infrasound. Both torpedos exploded. The team watched the unharmed water panther treading water from the mine’s cameras. His tail and feet pedaled to keep himself still. None of them could believe what had just occurred. Thousands of dollars of top military technology stopped effortlessly by an animal. The water panther looked up and noticed the boat sitting on the surface. He shot upward.

  “Okay, we’re out of here!” Ashly screamed. She got no complaints from her teammates as the Barracuda fled the area. The team was discouraged but not finished yet. They would be back. Hopefully, the dolphins would have better luck.

  Chapter 37

  12:17 PM 05/3/2021 HST

  “Liz, the operation’s started,” Max said.

  “Should we stop the training?” Liz asked.

  “Let’s finish it. We only have two dolphins left,” Max replied. He knew it would be confusing to Typhoon and Atragon if their brothers got to destroy a target for a reward and they didn’t. Aquatail surfaced. Max removed the lance and rewarded him with a small squid.

  Riley and Mya walked from the Makena shopping plaza on to Makena Street. The two girls had the day off and were returning home from getting their hair done. Mya got her purple highlights redone. Riley thought about adding some color but decided to stick with her natural blonde color.

  “Who owns the mansion?” Mya asked, looking up at the large aged building through the black fencing.

  “No one. It’s an abandoned estate. Let’s pool our money and buy it,” Riley suggested in a non-serious voice.

  “Yeah, let me get a million dollar raise and I’ll be happy to,” Mya replied. A distant splashing sound caught Riley’s attention. She walked over to a break in the vegetation and saw Max Varian standing on the dock.

  She spoke slowly and playfully when she said, “Oh, Mya. Look who it is!”

  “What?” Mya asked, expecting Riley to be pulling a joke. Mya saw him and blushed. She turned away from Riley, trying to hide her smile. “Wonder what he’s doing here?” she wondered. Last time she had heard from him, he was on Niihau, and he never mentioned anything about coming to Maui.

  “Come on. Don’t you want to go s
ay hi?” Riley suggested.

  “Umm.” Mya wetted her lips then said in a fast tone, “I’m sure he’s busy. Let’s get going.” She started playfully pushing Riley down the sidewalk. Deep down, she wanted to go over and talk to him, but like she said, she was sure he was busy. Plus, she knew Riley would make the whole situation awkward.

  Riley pulled away and said, “Okay, fine. If you don’t want to talk to him, I will.”

  “Riley, no,” Mya begged. Riley started walking along the fencing, ignoring her completely. At least she can’t climb the fence, Mya thought, looking at the spear heads on top of the poles.

  “Hmm.” Riley thought, tapping a finger on a fence pole. “Maybe I should start shouting for him to let us in.”

  “Don’t you dare!” Mya said seriously. Now she was getting worried, knowing Riley would do something like that. Riley walked over to the gate and pushed on it. She gasped and looked at Mya with an exaggerated look of surprise. Mya put her hands over the sides of her head as Riley pushed the gate open.

  s s s

  Frank Williams and Gary Clark drove their newly bought sport yacht across the Maui waters. The two men were tourists from New York. They had planned on spending their vacation drinking on the beach by day, then hitting up the local strip clubs by night. Yesterday evening the two men heard that a man-eating salt water crocodile was loose in the Maui water. Frank determined it would be a good idea if they killed the creature. Several beers later, Gary agreed with him. Now, here they were blazing across the Maui waters, beer cans and shotguns in hand. The two men were more of a maritime hazard than the conquering heroes they saw themselves as. Only moments ago, they had unloaded a barrage of shotgun slugs into a floating piece of driftwood.

  “How do you plan on paying for this boat, anyway?” Gary asked, taking a long drink. He crushed the empty can and tossed it into the water. Gary Clark was an overweight man in his early forties. He had neck-length messy brown hair with bald patches on the top front of his head. A long ungroomed beard covered most of his face.