Mako grinned at him. “It’s a good way to keep one going.” He looked over at Kim Sebring and added, “I think Woods Hole will enjoy this expedition.”
The Sentilla’s launch was the quickest way to get to Lotusland, then back to the Clamdip. Judy went up the boarding ladder of her company ship and in ten minutes she was back with a canvas bag she lowered over the side before going down herself.
As soon as her feet touched the deck and Hooker steadied her, the engines roared and the launch pulled away, turning sharply behind the stern of the Lotusland and heading south to where the Clamdip was anchored.
Hooker lowered his mouth to her ear and shouted, “You get everything?”
She nodded brusquely, then shouted back, “Tony Pell was gone, Mako. He had come from the party, got into slickers, and then he and Gary left in the big inflatable. They had a lot of camera equipment with them.”
Mako felt a wave of impatience close over him like a cold fog. He knew what had happened. Somebody on the cruise ship had picked up the frantic call from Poca and Lule and relayed it to Pell. Now there was no way they could get to the area in the Clamdip before them. Damn!
The transfer took less than a minute and the launch went back to its mother ship. Billy had the engines going and the anchor raised, and Clamdip went into gear, picking up knots until it was at full speed. Every few seconds Hooker would flick on the bow searchlight, scan the water for any floating debris the radar didn’t pick up, then cut it off. Ahead, there still were no lights of any other boats.
Billy waved his hand and pointed to the barometer. Mako pulled away from Judy and glanced at it. It had barely gone down a half point, but it had moved. “A good night for the eater, Billy?”
“Only he knows,” Billy said. There was no inflection in his voice at all. His hand was tight on the throttles, holding them at maximum revs but ready to cut back if there was any discordant sound from the heavy engine rumbling below.
Mako found his night glasses and fastened them on the sea ahead. He checked his watch one more time, then swept the horizon again. He almost missed it, then came back thirty degrees and stayed focused on one tiny light. In four minutes the light became two and he said, “Steady on, Billy, they’re ahead of us.”
But Billy was ahead of him, having steered into position before Mako had spoken. With one hand Billy snapped on the CB radio, dialed it to channel sixteen and turned the volume up. Ahead there was the sudden pencil thickness of the beam of a flashlight touching the hull of a sixty-year-old converted sportfisherman that listed to port. Mako picked up the CB microphone and said, “Poca and Lule... this is Mako... are you all right?”
The reception was scratchy, but a voice came back, “Mr. Hooker, sar, the pumps, she hold good. We not taking water now.”
“Good. We’ll be alongside in ten minutes and take you in tow. Who’s that in the other boat?”
“She be a big rubber one. She got outboard, but not enough engine to tow.”
“Who is it?”
The reply came back slowly. “That mister be a bad one. He just sits and waits for something. He don’ wanna help none at all.”
So it was Pell, all right. Another sudden burst of light came from the strange inflatable illuminating the crippled fishing boat. It played around the hull, taking ghostly night pictures, a lens change probably bringing the anxious faces of the crew into view. When the Clamdip was almost in range for clear identification, the inflatable’s engine revved up, and the boat spun and darted out of sight. Mako didn’t bother trying to pick him up with his own spotlight. He knew what he was going to do, but right now he had to get a towline on the Malli brothers’ boat.
When he had completed the lashup and had the two hulls snuggled together he waved to Billy, and the Clamdip went into a low power setting for the trip back to Peolle.
“Is this the way you tow a boat?” Judy asked.
“How would you do it?”
“This way.”
“Then why did you ask?”
“Just to see if you knew.”
Mako grinned and shook his head. “Dames,” he said softly.
Off to starboard he saw a red light and a higher white one. The lights moved, then a green one came into view. It passed to their stern for a mile, then turned again until the boat was running parallel to the Clamdip. Judy was frowning at the light until Mako said, “That’s the Tellig out there.”
“What are they doing?”
“Looking for the eater.”
“How?”
“They have instrumentation coming out their ears. Go tell Billy to hand you my portable VHF. I want to speak to them.”
A minute later she handed him the unit and he pulled up the miniature antennas and punched in channel sixteen. “Tellig from Clamdip, over.”
It was Lee Colbert who came on. “Go ahead, Clamdip.”
“How come you didn’t make contact with the fishing boat, Lee?”
“She wasn’t that bad off. We got her on the night-vision glasses... the real vision kind, if you remember, and their pumps had the leak in check. Those two guys had gotten something down in that broken plank and didn’t seem worried about it.”
“Hell no, Lee, those two had all the worry scared out of them. They got hit by the eater.”
“That’s what they said. You believe that?”
“Damn right, and so do you. What are you looking for out there?”
“The eater,” Lee said calmly. “So far there’s not a trace of it.”
“It’s here, pal. It’s still out there looking.”
“Who is in the inflatable? We picked it up on radar coming from the naval operation. Either he won’t answer our VHF transmission or doesn’t have a unit aboard.”
“Don’t sweat him, Lee, we have the fishing boat tucked in tight and heading for Peolle. We’ll probably be getting in around daybreak.”
“What happens if you run into our maritime horror?”
“The eater?”
“Roger.”
“You’ll know it as fast as I do.”
There was a pause before Lee transmitted again and said, “You want us to stay with you?”
Mako grinned and thumbed the transmit button. “And spoil Chana’s fun? She’d rather wait to scour the wreckage and find what was left of us.”
“She isn’t that bad, Hooker.”
“Wait till she puts a bullet in you, pal. Over and out.” Hooker fingered the off button and told Judy and Billy, “Keep your eyes open for that inflatable. They’ll have a VHF with them and if anything happens they’ll be ready to zero in on us.”
“Who’s ‘they,’ Mako?”
“Our boy Pell, kid. He’s on a money trip now. He’s getting film clips of everything that happens for that picture of his and right now he’s hanging around for the big bomb, the only shot that will put that movie at the top of the list... the eater, seen for the first time, hitting something real, something that can’t be faked.”
Judy understood what he meant and nodded gravely. “But... he’d have to... kill it somehow, wouldn’t he?”
“Don’t worry, he’s prepared, all right. He’s got Gary Foster with him and they’ll have equipment that can knock out any kind of terror.”
“Mako...”
“What?”
“If the Tellig has all that electronic equipment, why haven’t they been able to locate it?”
“They’re not a ballistic submarine, Judy. Their equipment probably isn’t cut out for long-range surveillance underwater. This thing, whatever it is, doesn’t follow any patterns. Everything it strikes seems to be a random hit, like a dog attacking intruders inside its own fence. Right now we’re on top of a possible feeding site. It took the bait on Poca and Lule’s boat and might be hanging around looking for another bite.