Read MEG: Nightstalkers Online
Authors: Steve Alten
MEG: Nightstalkers (45 page)
Powering off the lasers, David directed the submersible to the bottom of the northern end of the tank.
Lizzy lay on her side along the bottom. Unable to swim, the dying albino predator eyed David as she gasped her last breaths. Bela’s lifeless body rested beneath her—the Meg siblings inseparable in life, together in death.
It had taken two divers, a crane operator, and a driver operating a flatbed truck four hours to remove the two Megalodon carcasses from the bottom of the Tanaka Lagoon. Conversely, it had taken several days for the
McFarland
to haul the eviscerated
Liopleurodon
’s remains out to the Farallon Islands and its great white shark population, and another thirty hours of vacuuming the ravaged pliosaur’s residual body parts into the ship’s hopper in order to ready the tank for its new occupant.
The Miocene whale known as Brutus did not take well to its new habitat. By day it remained on the bottom of the canal, seeking refuge from the sun’s ultraviolet rays; by night it rammed the lagoon’s northern wall with its formidable head as it attempted to get to the Lio pup.
* * *
Jacqueline Buchwald escorted her boyfriend through the institute’s exhibit hall and down a corridor that led to the aquarium gallery, a three-story-high underwater viewing area that ran along the entire width of the Meg Pen.
The brilliant aqua-blue backdrop illuminated the dark promenade, the brown and white specked baby Lio moving back and forth along the tank’s thick Lexan glass.
Seated in the fifth row were Fiesal bin Rashidi and his cousin, the Crown Prince.
The prince gave him a weak smile. “Sit down please, David, we have a few things to discuss. Fiesal?”
Fiesal bin Rashidi stared at the pliosaur, refusing to look at the minority partner he now referred to as “the cocky American son-of-a-bitch that killed my dinosaur.”
“The Crown Prince and I are returning to Dubai. We’re taking the pup with us.”
“Why?”
“Three reasons. First, because the infant’s nerves are frayed from that damn whale pounding its head on the lagoon wall. Second, because we can’t give away tickets, let alone sell an arena seat so that people can stare at an empty lagoon. Finally, because I hate living here as much as I despise working with the cocky American son-of-a-bitch that killed my dinosaur.”
“That would be four reasons, wouldn’t it?”
“David!”
He glanced at Jackie, who was burning holes into his skull with her glare.
Burning holes …
He smiled to himself.
David smiled a lot lately. Killing the
Liopleurodon
seemed to have lightened a burden on his soul. He slept through the night and spent his days meeting with his new agent, fielding offers from television and movie producers pitching him everything from lucrative cameo appearances and new reality series concepts to optioning his life story.
The freestyle living caused a rift between himself and Jackie, who was struggling to care for a prehistoric animal that refused to eat. They had signed a month-to-month lease on a two-bedroom condo in Monterey, but the couple had not slept together in over a week.
Bin Rashidi stood up to leave. “Forgive me, Your Highness, but I am in no mood to deal with this spoiled child’s lack of respect. Perhaps Mr. Taylor will fare better with the institute’s new owner.”
“Wait … you sold the institute? To who?”
“To me.” Paul Agricola moved out from the shadows of the promenade. “I bought the institute and the prince’s remaining Manta sub. Now you and I need to talk.”
“Forget it.” He turned to Jackie. “Are you going to Dubai?”
“I think we both know the answer to that question.”
“I’ll miss you.”
She kissed him on the lips and smiled. “You’ll get over it.”
He watched her follow the Crown Prince and Fiesal bin Rashidi out of the gallery, then headed for the parking lot exit, Paul Agricola cutting him off.
“Give me two minutes, David. If you don’t like what I have to say, I’ll hand you a check for your share of the stock and we’ll be through.”
“Talk.”
“I’m tagging Brutus and releasing him. That should please the animal rights groups you pissed off when you killed the Lio. We’ll announce it was your decision.”
“There’s no ‘we’ in this equation, douche bag. You pulled a gun on my old man.”
“That was a simple misunderstanding.”
“We’re done here.”
“Do you know where I found the sisters, David? They were in the Salish Sea, guarding their surviving pups.”
“The sisters had pups?”
“Your parents never told you? Each pup is a genetic clone of Lizzy and Bela. We can catch them, David. We can turn the Agricola Entertainment Center into a thriving Megalodon exhibit.”
David stared at the Lio. The creature was destined to spend the rest of its life in an aquarium. And now Paul Agricola wanted to do the same with Lizzy and Bela’s pups.
“I think I’ll take the money. Make the check out to my middle name—cash.”
David headed for the exit.
“I sold the idea of capturing the pups to the Discovery Channel as a new reality show.”
“Good luck with that.” David continued walking.
“You’re not saving them by allowing them to live in the wild. You’re actually condemning them. With the sisters gone the orca pods will return. They’ll slaughter the pups, you can count on it. Help me save them and I’ll up your share of the institute to twenty percent.”
“Thirty.”
“Twenty-five, and we’ll hire you a beautiful secretary.”
“No. Maybe. But only if we keep my grandfather’s name on the marquee.”
“Absolutely not. The Agricola Entertainment Center was the name stipulated by our board of directors.”
“My grandfather sacrificed everything he had to build this place. He lost his son, D.J., to one of the Megs. The Tanaka name remains; that’s a deal breaker.” David headed for the exit.
“Wait.” Paul Agricola’s face turned red. “We put my family’s name on the institute, but the lagoon remains under the Tanaka name. That’s as far as I go, take it or leave it.”
David gazed around the promenade at the blown-up photos mounted on the walls. There were startling images of Angel feeding, the birth of her five female pups, an underwater shot taken in the Meg Pen of Lizzy and Bela swimming in tandem—a defensive posture forged out of fear of their domineering mother. More than anything, David loved working with the Megs; now Paul Agricola was offering him a second chance.
“We need to hire my friend, Monty. He’s a war vet.”
“Can he co-pilot the sub?”
“No, but he can run our all-female valet parking garage.”
Paul Agricola smiled, shaking his new partner’s hand.
“Mr. Taylor, I like the way you think.”
The MEG series continues with
MEG
GENERATIONS
Look for MEG movie updates at
www.stevealten.com
.
NOVELS BY
STEVE ALTEN
MEG: A Novel of Deep Terror
MEG: The Trench
The Shell Game
*
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
Steve Alten
is the best-selling author of the Meg series, including
Meg: Hell’s Aquarium
. A native of Philadelphia, he earned a Bachelor’s degree from Penn State, a Masters from the University of Delaware, and a Doctorate from Temple University. He is the founder and director of Adopt-An-Author, a free nationwide teen reading program used in thousands of secondary school classrooms across the country to excite reluctant readers. You can sign up for email updates
here
.
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CONTENTS
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
