MEG: Nightstalkers (44 page)

Jonas, Terry, Mac, and Zachary Wallace huddled by the Meg Pen’s rail, joined by Bradley Watson, the crane operator out of breath. “Hendricks sealed the canal doors, but I don’t think they’ll stop a monster that size. We might be able to brace the gate from the outside using the
McFarland
.”

“Good idea,” Jonas said. “Mac, contact the captain—”

“Maybe we ought to ask the new owners—here comes one of them now.”

Fiesal bin Rashidi and a small entourage of armed bodyguards exited to the main deck from an interior stairwell.

“Jonas Taylor, this is incredible—how did you manage it?”

“I had nothing to do with it. As far as I knew the Lio was dead.”

Terry looked for her son. She found David standing by the lagoon’s rail, staring at the dark dorsal fin which was now fleeing across the lagoon, chased by a seven-foot wake. “Bela won’t last long.”

“We do not care about Bela,” bin Rashidi stated. “The only thing that concerns us is the
Liopleurodon
.”

“I care about Bela,” David said, approaching the group. “Fiesal, we need to open the gate and let her out.”

“Unfortunately, that is far too risky. We could lose the Lio.”

“As long as we have the baby, the Lio’s not going anywhere,” Jonas said. “Bradley, have Hendricks open the gate.”

“No! Mr. Watson, the Taylor family no longer owns this facility—I do. Do not open that gate or you’ll find yourself looking for employment.”

Another roar went up from the crowd, this one more of a collective gasp as the
Liopleurodon
breached—Bela caught within its jaws! The Meg thrashed wildly, and then both monsters fell sideways back into the water, their splash creating a two-story-high wake that rippled outward before rolling over the lagoon wall to soak the patrons sitting in the first four rows.

Mac quickly led his group behind the medical pool as the swell rolled over the northern lagoon wall and rail and flooded the deck, washing over the Meg Pen.

Jonas grabbed Terry and lifted her as high as he could as the chest-high wave drove him backwards into the grandstand.

As the backwash rolled back into the lagoon, a bizarre gargled chirping sound cut through the din of the crowd.

Zach pointed. The juvenile
Liopleurodon
was sprawled out on the flooded deck, calling for its mother.

“Oh, geez, we need to move!” Carrying his wife, Jonas led the others into the northern bleachers as the thirty-foot-long crocodilian head rose out of the lagoon, its lower front fangs dripping water and blood from Bela’s impaled hide, its upper torso sliding halfway out of the lagoon onto the flooded concrete deck, crushing the guard rail and knocking the crane sideways against the
Marieke
.

The crowd seated in the northern bleacher’s lower seats rose as one and rushed to the nearest exits.

Terry looked around, frantic. “Where’s David?”

Soaked from head to toe, David had his back to the Meg Pen’s rail and was looking up at the reptilian nightmare.

The slime-coated monster stared at him, sea water oozing out its gills. Hissing phlegm, it shifted it weight over its forelimbs and lurched at David—

—only to be forced back into the lagoon by Bela. The Meg had a hold of the pliosaur’s left hindquarters and was shaking her head like a dog in a tug-o-war, her five-inch serrated teeth sawing through muscle and sinew, her powerful jaws snapping bone.

Spinning around underwater, the Lio bit the Megalodon on the left side of its head, its dagger-sharp teeth raking Bela’s left eye clear to her nostril, forcing the shark to release her grip on its broken limb.

The wounded predators retreated, the Lio circling beneath the
Marieke
’s keel, remaining close to the lagoon’s northern wall, the Megalodon seeking refuge in the canal.

David saw the
McFarland
moving into position outside the canal’s sealed doors. Sprinting across the arena, he made his way to the steel security fence guarding the canal’s paved maintenance walkway. Punching in his security code, he unlocked the gate and raced along the narrow path. Bela moved slowly through the waterway on his left, the wounded Meg watching him with her remaining good eye.

Back on the north deck, Fiesal bin Rashidi ordered his guards and Bradley Watson to lift the stranded Lio pup over the Meg Pen’s rail and back into its tank. The juvenile pliosaur squawked and snapped at the men, who finally managed to secure a canvas drop cloth over its head before they carried it through an open gate and tossed it back into the tank.

Jonas pulled Mac aside. “Contact the
McFarland
’s skipper and have him move the hopper-dredge. Then have Hendricks open the canal doors.”

Mac tried his radio, getting only static. “Too late. Bin Rashidi must have changed the frequencies.”

Zachary pushed his way into the conversation. “Did David tell ye about his latest night terrors?”

“Zach, can this wait—”

“He dreamt this very scenario! I think he’s going tae try tae use the Manta tae save Bela.”

“Oh, shit.” Jonas and Mac left the bleachers, both men hobbling as they tried to keep up with Zach.

Jonas grabbed Mac’s arm, pointing to the
Marieke
. “I know a better way to save Bela.”

Mac smiled. “Get in the cargo net.”

Jonas secured his waist inside one of the net’s thick loops and held onto the pulley’s large hook as Mac climbed inside the crane’s cab. Backing it away from the hopper-dredge, he raised the net, lifting Jonas forty feet in the air before swinging him over the ship’s main deck.

Jonas climbed down, quickly getting his bearings. He was standing in the stern, the hopper taking up most of the mid-deck, the bridge and its hopper controls towering before him. As he hurried past the tank Lizzy’s head rose out of the water, the albino shark watching him.

“Give me a minute, girl.”

Reaching the ship’s infrastructure, he started the four-story climb along the outer stairwell to reach the bridge.

*   *   *

The last scarlet speck of sunset had disappeared on the western horizon by the time David reached the end of the canal. The tide was out, the top eight feet of the steel doors poking free above the surface. The
McFarland
was stationed directly outside the gate, the ship’s stern resting within three feet of the metal barrier, preventing it from opening.

Bela was spy-hopping close by, the left side of her head streaked with blood, her eye hanging from its socket.

“Jesus, girl, it looks like you got into a fight with Freddy Kruger. Stay here, we’re going to deal with that bitch one way or the other.”

Stepping carefully out onto the top of the right door, David jumped into the ocean. Swimming against the incoming swells, he located the steel ladder embedded along the ship’s starboard flank and began climbing.

*   *   *

Jonas was winded by the time he reached the bridge. Pushing his way inside the control room, he confronted Paul Agricola and two members of his crew.

“Jonas Taylor—right on time. Our ship’s captain and my engineer have volunteered to serve as witnesses.” He pointed to several thick contracts laid out on a map table.

“I’m not here for that. The Lio’s on the rampage; people’s lives are in danger.” He scanned the ship’s command center, searching for the controls to the hopper-dredge.

Paul moved to a panel located next to a spiral stairwell running to the deck below. “Looking for this? Forget it. Lizzy’s not going anywhere until you sign off on our deal.”

“You’re too late. I sold the institute last week to the Crown Prince and his cousin. Guess you’ll have to negotiate a new deal with them.”

Paul’s expression soured, but he recovered quickly. “No matter. I still have a few bartering chips left.”

Jonas moved toward the control panel as Paul reached behind his back and greeted him with the business end of a 9 mm Glock.

“Come on, Paul. Are you really going to murder me in front of two eyewitnesses?”

“No, but I will shoot you in the knees. Now leave my vessel and have the Crown Prince contact me with an offer for the sisters or I’ll bash the
Marieke
through those pathetically thin canal doors and release all his sea monsters back into the wild.”

*   *   *

It was dark by the time David pulled himself over the
McFarland
’s starboard rail. He quickly made his way past the hopper to the ship’s infrastructure. Ducking inside the stairwell, he descended into the bowels of the ship, then raced down a steel passage to the submersible hangar.

Manta-Three
was perched on its launch pad, the two
Valkyrie
lasers still strapped to its wings.

Damn it, Cyel! You were supposed to remove that luggage rack last week.

Moving to the hangar’s control panel, he set the automatic timer to flood and open the chamber in three minutes. Returning to the sub, he popped the cockpit, climbed into the port seat and sealed himself inside.

*   *   *

Jonas felt the heat rushing to his face, his heart pounding rapidly as his blood pressure soared. “You pompous ass. My son’s out there, he’s going to try to kill the Lio using one of the Mantas. At least allow me to contact the
McFarland
to prevent him from—”

“No. First you’ll speak with the Crown Prince. You can radio the
McFarland
after he and I negotiate a—”

Paul Agricola suddenly flopped onto the floor, saliva drooling from his mouth, the gun falling from his twitching hand.

Mac ascended the spiral stairwell, brandishing a taser, the two prongs protruding from Agricola’s back trailing wires. “Yak, yak, yak. All this guy does is give speeches.”

“Thanks, Mac. As always, your timing is impeccable.” Moving to the control panel, Jonas opened the hopper’s hangar doors.

*   *   *

The
Liopleurodon
registered the vibrations overhead. Circling back toward the sound, it charged the hangar doors just as Lizzy shot through the opening—the pliosaur’s open jaws biting down hard on the Megalodon at the base of her caudal fin.

*   *   *

The hangar doors opened.

David accelerated the Manta into the Pacific. Passing beneath the
McFarland
’s keel, he surfaced on the port side of the ship and headed south a hundred yards before circling back. Descending to forty feet, he raced toward the canal wall and pulled back hard on the joystick.

The sub launched out of the water and cleared the wall by mere inches before landing in the canal.

There was no sign of Bela.

A yellow light blinked on his console—the Manta’s batteries were running low. Cursing aloud, David followed the channel into the lagoon, the arena’s lights turning the dark waters an azure blue.

That’s when he saw Bela. The dark overlord of the Tanaka lagoon was circling over Lizzy, her sibling wiggling along the bottom of the tank trailing a stream of blood—the albino predator missing her entire tail!

Before he could react, the
Liopleurodon
bull-rushed Bela, the pliosaur’s monstrous jaws clamping down over her head.

Bela convulsed in spasms as she attempted to roll herself free. But the Lio was far too big and now it had both leverage and the Megalodon’s jaws under control.

Blind with rage, David powered on the
Valkyrie
lasers and accelerated at the beast.

Seeing the familiar sub and its two glowing red-hot eyes, the Lio released Bela and circled back beneath the
Marieke
’s keel.

“You can run, bitch, but you can’t hide!” David went after the creature as the yellow warning light abruptly changed to red, the sub stalling out.

Powering off the lasers chased the blinking red battery light back to yellow. Stamping down upon both foot pedals, David accelerated away from the charging creature, its enormous skull blooming on his left, its snapping jaws just missing his portside wing.

Limbs shaking, David accelerated the sluggish sub into the southern end of the tank, realizing the additional weight of the two lasers made it impossible for him to leap over the high guard rail surrounding the lagoon; the dying battery giving him barely enough power to make it back to the canal.

Remembering the sub’s hydrogen fuel tank, he checked the gauge.

Seventy-two percent … that’s about an eight-second burn. Leap out of the lagoon using an eight-second hydrogen burn and you’ll end up buried nose-first in the seventh row of the bleachers, killing yourself and God knows how many innocent people.

No choice. Pray there’s enough juice left in the batteries to get back to the canal, then use the burn to vault the wall.…

Executing a tight 180-degree turn along the southern end of the lagoon, he headed back toward the center of the tank—shocked to find the Lio blocking his path, the monster’s nightmarish jaws now hyperextended wide to engulf him in one hellacious bite!

Fuck it …

Twisting the dial to the hydrogen tank, David ignited the fuel using his right hand even as his left searched blindly for the power switch to the
Valkyrie
lasers.

What happened next happened in the blink of an eye.

David’s head was flung backward into the seat cushion as the Manta shot through the pliosaur’s dark gullet like a missile, the twin lasers scorching the Lio’s gills and throat, the sub shuddering as the pink flames burned through the creature’s digestive tract, the hydrogen burn propelling the vessel deeper, refusing to allow it to stall as the
Valkyrie
s melted tissue and internal organs like fat off a hot barbeque spit.

David held on in the chaos and screamed—a scream he had bellowed a hundred times before from the depths of his darkest nightmare—a scream that ended with brilliant blue water and laughter as the Manta escaped the
Liopleurodon
’s internal anatomy by opening up a second anus.

The azure waters quickly turned into a lake of spreading crimson as the dead pliosaur bled out across the lagoon.