“The name of the game.” She smirked. “Anyway, I have my own cabin on the Clamdip. “When Hooker didn’t say anything she prodded. “Well, don’t I?”
“Hell, a hammock on deck isn’t so bad,” Hooker mumbled.
“No wonder Chana shot you.”
Watts glanced up sharply. “What?”
With phony fierceness Judy nodded and said, “That’s right, she put a bullet right in him.”
“That true?” the captain asked.
“Yeah, but she missed.”
“Missed what?”
“Killing me,” Hooker said, his voice cold.
“Damn! How’d that happen?”
“Women and guns make an unhappy combination.”
Watts didn’t ask anything further, but the half-concealed smile begged an answer.
Hooker said, “I’ll keep her guessing on that dive. I’ll stay in back of her and she’ll never know if I’m going to jab a knife into her or not.”
Quietly, Judy asked, “Would you?”
“No,” he answered softly, “but I’d like to. Trouble is, it would draw blood, then the sharks would come, then maybe the eater would come and we’d all be in one heck of a mess. Anyway, Captain, we’ll cancel on your invitation for tonight.”
“Maybe tomorrow night, then?”
“Good. You’re on.”
On the way back to the Clamdip in the dinghy they enjoyed the whine of the small Johnson outboard and the salt taste of the spray on their faces. The night was warm, the air a little heavy, but the moonlight sparkled off the waves. Ahead of them was their boat, lights blazing on deck and below. When they got close they could see Billy Bright pacing in the wheelhouse and Judy asked, “What’s wrong with him?”
“He’s alone, it’s nighttime and he’s scared witless that the eater is going to make a snack of him.”
But it wasn’t that at all.
Billy had caught a radio message directed to the ship Tellig. A cameraman in a light plane sent up by the Lotusland had gotten clear shots of the eater. It was plainly seen by the pilot, the copilot and the cameraman, although they could not determine the depth below the surface. The day was clear, the sunlight bright and the plane was headed back to process the negatives.
The answer from the Tellig was direct. They identified themselves as a government agency and the film was to be delivered to the Tellig immediately upon development. Five minutes went by before the Lotusland chiefs acknowledged in the positive. Nothing was said about it being the sole copy. This time the government was dealing with Hollywood, and movieland wasn’t going to let any U.S. agency get away with a prize like this.
Billy brought them a cold Miller Lite after he lashed the dinghy down, joining Mako and Judy in the deck chairs. Simply knowing that the eater had been photographed brought him a sense of satisfaction. The unknown had suddenly become known and now it was something they could go to war over.
Judy said, “How are they going to get this before the public, Mako?”
“Probably TV. That Lotusland group will go over every detail of that film for their own use before they get it to the Tellig. Chana might have come down hard with her demands, but there’s no way they can force the issue. Not at this point, anyway.”
“Would it be to anybody’s advantage to hold it back?”
“Uh-uh. This ‘eater’ story is big news, a damn sight bigger than the Bermuda Triangle jive. The public will eat it up.”
“Mako... what do you think it is?”
Billy squeezed his empty beer can into an aluminum ball, wondering if he should listen to his boss or not.
Hooker said, “Beats me.” He turned to Billy then. “Our TV working out here?”
“Not for long time, sar. Only in port,” Billy replied.
“We can pick up the transmission on the cruise ship,” Judy said. “If we radio Don Watts he can monitor the stations and tape the broadcast.”
“Sar... will we really see the eater?” Billy asked.
“Why, don’t you want to?”
“If the eater... he was dead... then I wouldn’t mind.” He swallowed hard and added, “He still down there, sar.”
“Mako...” Judy’s voice was very quiet. “Lotusland is only a couple hours from here.”
“So?”
“We’re still in its... operational area.”
Hooker headed for the wheelhouse. “Then let’s see if we can find out what it looks like,” he said over his shoulder.
Judy and Billy watched him silently as he contacted the Midnight Cruise ship. They avoided looking directly at each other but scanned the darkened sea every so often. It was a vast blackness out there, then something would make a wild dash below the surface, leaving a bright streak of fluorescence in its path. At times a body would lift out of the water and come down again in a muted splash. Twice a living thing felt its way along the keel and twice the hull was rammed softly by some sort of creature as long as the boat. They weren’t new experiences to Mako or Billy, but for the first time, Judy realized just how alive the ocean was and how small their boat seemed and how helpless they would be in a foreign element like the Black Sea.
When Mako came back on deck she had to stifle a sigh of relief.
But he knew what she was thinking. “Relax,” he told her. “It’s always noisy out there. As a matter of fact, this is a quiet night.”
“Why haven’t I noticed it before?”
“Because you’ve always been in a cabin or the band was playing too loud or somebody was whispering in your ear.”
“The next time I’ll be listening.” She paused a moment. “What did the ship say?”
“They’ll monitor all the stations. Whatever is made public, we’ll see.”
“Could you go to Chana...”
“Forget it, Judy. She’d make every move difficult. Unless we know... are absolutely sure of what we’re dealing with. All we have is speculation.”
Billy sensed his annoyance and brought him another cold Lite. Mako opened it with an automatic gesture and sipped at it.
Judy left her chair and stood next to Mako at the rail. “Why is a government ship here at all?”
“Because the Sentilla is a government operation. Supposedly, Tellig is resupplying them.”
“That’s a cover story, Hooker.”
“Sure it is.”
“Then why are they here?”
“Judy, there are some incidents that can go around the world in one hour. You think this ‘eater’ business isn’t being gobbled up in every city on earth? Hell, even if it was only around our islands it would be big news, but when the Arico Queen got hit, we’re on the front page.”
“Mako... accidents happen all the time!”
“Damn it, this was no accident.”
She felt a sudden coldness in the air, chilled by the tone of his voice. “What do you think it is?”
His shoulders shrugged his answer. Finally he said, “Something is prowling around, that’s for sure. As long as it’s something it’s big news. It’s the monster out there in the dark. It’s got teeth and it’s got power and everybody is scared to death of it.”
“Suppose it’s identified.”
“Then we’ll know how to deal with it.”
“You’re thinking something else, Mister Hooker.”
Mako nodded slowly and took another pull of his beer. “I’m thinking of all the cute political moves that are going to come down on us. Those playboys in Washington will make more out of this than the Panama bit.”
“Like how?”
“Like how and where to apply funding to something that will improve the politicians’ positions. This has all the earmarks of one hell of a publicity angle that can’t be overlooked. Every paper and TV show in the world will be locked in on it, and before long every publicity-hungry pol will be drooling over the potential for reelection that it offers.”