“The eater left a history, honey. It comes at you, but it comes slowly and quietly. It’s been seen and heard, but it never made a rushing attack. That inflatable would be damn well aware of anything that surfaces, especially if it has a small radar unit aboard.” He turned his head and looked at Judy quizzically.
Quietly she said, “Lotusland has several on board. They used them at night when they were out among the ice floes in the Arctic shooting documentaries.” Her tongue wet her lips in a nervous gesture. “It’s Pell for sure, isn’t it?”
“Whatever he’s doing is legitimate. In a way, he’s still working for you. Even not responding to a disabled boat’s need isn’t a crime. He could have seen that they could make way unassisted and he left when he saw us coming up. We would have been able to offer a lot more help.”
“Sar...”
“What, Billy?”
“The glass, she has dropped another point.”
“Still in the normal range?”
“Yes, sar.” At the wheel, Billy glanced around, his eyes probing the open water as far as he could see. His hand rubbed the throttle levers but there was no way he could add extra speed. On the other boat Poca and Lule were shoulder to shoulder, continually searching, continually listening for any sounds that didn’t belong. When a manta ray leaped and came crashing down on the water a hundred yards to starboard, everybody jumped, then felt foolish when they realized what it was.
Judy tapped Hooker on the shoulder and said anxiously, “Where’s the Tellig?”
No light penetrated the night from Tellig’s last position. The sea was black. Nothing seemed to move against the bank of low-hanging stars. Even Mako’s binoculars couldn’t pick up anything in their limited scope.
“What’s happened, Mako?”
“They’re running dark.”
“Why?”
“Nothing unusual. Their radar will be making a full sweep.” He picked up the VHF and thumbed the send button. “Tellig, this is Clamdip. Over.” There was no answer and he repeated his call once more before hanging up.
Judy waited quietly.
Finally Mako said, “That’s a government ship on official business. They don’t have to answer anybody unless it’s a dire emergency, which this isn’t. Hell, they know we’re here. They can see us on radar. But believe me, if they were even touched by the eater, we would have heard about it on radio. Nothing’s going to close in on them either, not with all the electronics they have on board.”
“You sure?”
Mako waited a few seconds before he told her, “Pretty sure.”
“That’s not good enough.”
“Doll, that’s about as good as I can do. Here we are, lashed up to a crippled boat, we can turn a slow couple of degrees at a time, got minimum speed at best and are just plain sitting ducks for anything that wants to take a crack at us.”
“That’s a refreshing thought,” she answered. “What can I do?”
“You can get me a beer out of the cooler. Some Miller Lite should still be there.”
Mako was pulling the tab on the beer when Billy said, “Sar... he’s here.”
Both Mako and Judy felt the cold chill run down their backs and Billy switched on the portable spotlight. In its brilliant beam the mako shark, even blacker than the water, paced the Clamdip twenty feet off the side. It rolled, dove slowly without dipping the full length of its dorsal fin, then rose until its eye was above the surface and Mako knew it was staring straight at him. Then, almost laughingly, it slid below without leaving a trace behind it.
“He be looking for you, sar.”
“Billy, there are a lot of mako sharks out there.”
“Yes, sar,” Billy agreed.
“You see any notches in his tail?”
“No, sar.”
“See?”
“He didn’t show his tail, sar.”
Frustration mixed with annoyance. There was no way he could beat Billy’s logic. That was his mako shark down there and that blooming fish was looking for him to get this name back. One great bite would settle that argument for all time and there would only be one real mako left.
What was really strange was that Mako knew there was something between him and those jaws. Something was going to be settled for sure sooner or later when brother met brother face to face. If he had that mako on the end of a hundred-twenty-pound nylon line, he could win. If they met in the sea with a one-on-one confrontation the result would be one bloody mess of blood and flesh.
His.
Mako said, “Damn!” He shook his head and went back to watching the sea. Something was still down there.
Chapter Sixteen
Anybody who lived on Peolle and could be there was there. Somebody had intercepted the faint CB transmission from the Mallis and the word spread like a ground fire. They lined the bank and were spaced down the dockside to help berth the damaged vessel when Hooker and Billy untethered it from the Clamdip. The smiles of the people seemed louder than a cheer, but those smiles hid the anxious minutes they had faced before they saw the two boats edging toward home. Now voices were low as they patted their friends, happy to have them back, and in their eyes you could read their thoughts, that a great story would be forthcoming soon, of being hit twice by the eater and still being alive.
Hooker held Judy’s hand and nodded toward the crowd. “Remember this, honey,” he said. “Put their faces in your mind. Look at Poca and Lule and grab the anticipation in their expressions. They’re going to be the big wheels when showtime comes around a campfire.”
“I’ll never forget it, Mako.”
“Then grab your camera and get some quick shots. It’s something Pell’s never going to see.”
The camera lens was the latest technology could offer. The light wouldn’t have suited a Hollywood cameraman but was perfect for this scene. Judy panned the area very slowly, pausing for critical actions, taking in the subdued motions of people as they crouched over the planking of the dock to see where the eater had bitten. Each face seemed to mirror a different emotion, bewilderment, consternation and always a suppressed fear of the unknown.
When she had finished, she packed everything in the camera case and passed it to Billy to be stored away. Only then did Hooker see Berger emerge from the back of the crowd and wave to him, indicating that he wanted to see him.
There was no way Charlie Berger was going to set foot on the dock and endanger his outfit, so Hooker said, “Wait here. I’ll be back after I see what the fat man wants. And tell the brothers I want to see them both in a half hour.”
“You want any more film shot, Mako?”
Hooker grinned at Judy. “Only if it looks good.”
On the beach Hooker walked over to Charlie Berger, wondering what the fat man had for him now. He had long been aware of Charlie’s knowledgeability and wasn’t at all surprised to see his connection with Chana Sterling. He had figured himself to be out of that business now, but “now” hadn’t lasted very long at all. He almost had it made, retirement in a lush area, his own boat and suddenly a lovely woman. And in one shot the meteor had landed on his head and he was back in the jumbled mass of intrigue that kept this old-world system seemingly turned upside down.
Charlie waited until they were out of earshot of anyone and said, “A message came through for you from an Agency Electronics.”