Mega #02 Baja Blood (27 page)

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 took 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.”

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
,
dud
e
.”

“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.”

“We’ll pick up more when we get there,” Shane smiled.

“Be careful,” Gunnar said. “Come back in one piece.”

“Eh, it ain’t so bad missing pieces,” Popeye cackled.

“We’ll take your word for it, Pop,” Max said as the three left the specimen bay.

“Moshi? You about done?” Gunnar called out.

Moshi stuck her hand out and held up five fingers.

“Five minutes?” Gunnar asked.

She gave a thumbs up in response.

***

“Let’s make this simple, Ballantine,” Espanoza said. “I want my product and I want my brother back. You send them over and I don’t kill your pet.”

“I don’t own pets,” Ballantine replied over the com. “They are an entanglement and hassle that my lifestyle doesn’t allow for. Gone for weeks, many times months on end, out living a life of danger and excitement. It just wouldn’t be fair to a dog or cat. Or even a goldfish for that matter. Do you think a goldfish would miss me, Ricardo?”

“Shut up, Ballantine,” Espanoza said. “I am done jousting with you. These are not negotiations. This isn’t a conversation where we feel each other out and look for weaknesses. I have none. You have all of them.”

“I could kill your brother and dump the product overboard,” Ballantine replied. “Or would that be a weakness too?”

“Stop playing,” Espanoza said. “Darby means something to you. You have acted like she’s nothing but a bodyguard or right hand. But I know she’s not. The reason I know this is because my brother is the same to me.”

“Then you would probably care if I stuck a knife in his heart,” Ballantine said. “Because that is what I will do if you harm a hair on Darby’s head.”

“You see? That wasn’t so hard was it? You showed some emotion towards another person,” Espanoza laughed. “You know why the Mexican cartels cannot be stopped, Ballantine? Because we are filled with emotion! It fills every fiber in our bodies. We don’t separate business from emotion. We are not cold like Americans. We feel every kill. We savor every victory and mourn every loss. We live life, Ballantine. You should try it.”

“Oh, I know how to live life, Ricardo,” Ballantine said. “I’ve been doing it since I was born. Popped right out of the womb living life to its fullest. You think I became the man I am by not wanting to live life? Tsk-tsk, Ricardo, I thought you had me all figured out.”

Espanoza sighed. “My brother and my product for your Darby, whatever the fuck she is.”

“How do I know she’s still alive?” Ballantine asked.

“I have a video feed,” Espanoza said. “Proof of life.”

“Sorry, but I don’t have power,” Ballantine said. “Video is down. All I have is emergency power for the com. Put her on so I can have a chat. Then we’ll go from there.”

“Patch her through,” Espanoza said to the ensign.

“Yes, sir,” the ensign replied.

There was some static then McCarthy shouted, “Talk to him, bitch!”

“Ballantine?” Darby’s voice asked.

“Hello, old friend,” Ballantine said. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m holding,” Darby replied.

“Your voice sounds thick, have they been beating you?” Ballantine asked, a slight hint of anger in his voice, but he kept it in check.

“
The
y
haven’t,” Darby said. “Bu
t
h
e
has.”

“He? He who?” Ballantine asked.

“McCarthy,” Darby said. “Son of a bitch killed Dr. Morganton too.”

“What?” McCarthy screamed. “I didn’t kill her
!
Yo
u
did, you lying cunt!”

“McCarthy, stay off the com,” Espanoza said. “We’ll sort out the Dr. Morganton issue after all of this is finished.”