Mega 4: Behemoth Island (22 page)

Team Grendel filled the mouth of the cave, weapons up and trained on the jungle below. They watched as the trees swayed and shook then began to crack and topple as the massive dinosaur tore into the open. Its muzzle was coated with blood and there were bits and pieces of croanderthals hanging from its lips. It opened its mouth and roared again, sending most of the bits and pieces flying this way and that.

The smell of the meat eater’s breath wafted up to the cave and everyone had to struggle not to gag.

“I really wish I hadn’t eaten those chips,” Shane said. “That smell is making me seriously nauseous.” He looked at his brother. “You know what helps with nausea?”

“All out of that medicine, bro,” Max said.

“Dammit!” Shane swore.

The dinosaur roared again.

“See? Even he’s pissed at us,” Shane said. “Is it a he?”

“I don’t know,” Max said. “Go down there and check under its tail.”

“We should send Lucy,” Shane said. “She’s our expert dick looker.”

“Boys!” Thorne roared nearly as loud as the dinosaur.

“Sorry, Uncle Vinny,” they replied in unison.

Thorne took a deep breath as the monster scaled the ridge and came for them.

“Alright,” he said. “Time to make this bitch ours.”

“I like the sound of that,” Darby said, taking aim with her plasma rifle.

They waited a couple more seconds, then as the dinosaur opened its mouth to roar again, Team Grendel let loose with everything they had. Bullets slammed into the thing’s hide, but being normal rounds, they barely managed to leave a nick. The plasma bolts on the other hand ripped chunks out of the creature’s flesh everywhere they hit.

The dinosaur stopped climbing and swayed against the attack. Its new roar was one of pain and no longer anger. A hunk of its shoulder burst into a thick spray of blood and flesh and it cried out. The monster spun around and raced its way back down the ridge, almost diving into the jungle and the shadows it afforded.

“Huh,” Shane said. “That was easier than I thought it’d be.”

“Move!” Lucy yelled and shoved Shane aside as one of the huge red birds dove at him. The thing’s talons slashed across Lucy’s cheek and down her neck, sending blood spurting out in a high geyser.

“No!” half the Team yelled as the other half looked up and opened fire, obliterating the circling birds that weren’t fast enough to fly away.

Lucy stared up at the sky as hands pressed against her neck. Darby leaned over and filled her vision.

“You won’t die,” Darby stated. “You die and you leave us with the boys as our only shooters. You want that?”

Lucy gave her a weak grin and closed her eyes.

Darby looked at Darren who had his hands firmly gripped to Lucy’s neck.

“I’ve got her,” Darren said. “Someone find me something to close the wound with. We can save her.”

Darby handed her plasma rifle to Shane and sprinted into the cave. She was desperate to find a hidden med kit or anything that would save her teammate. She was just as desperate for the others to not see the stream of tears running down her cheeks.

***

Sweat streamed down Carlos and Moshi’s faces as they brought the cannon to a stop outside the engine room hatch. The passageway and ceiling were buckled and dented all the way down, but the engine room hatch wasn’t even touched.

“Huh,” Ballantine said as he looked at the intact hatch. “Was I wrong? I could have sworn he would come here.”

Ballantine held up a finger for Carlos and Moshi to sit tight then reached out and knocked on the engine room door.

“What?” Cougher called out.

“Hello, Cougher,” Ballantine said. “Could you open up? Only take a second.”

The hatch creaked and groaned as Cougher spun the wheel from the other side then yanked the hatch open. He cautiously peeked his head out, looked left, looked right, then leaned back into the room.

“You didn’t happen to see a giant ape thing come roaring past here, did you?” Ballantine asked. “Apparently we have a Jekyll and Hyde situation and the Hyde is, well, hiding.”

“Yeah, I fucking saw the gorilla,” Cougher said. “I was standing here and it came crashing down the passageway. It was about to break in here, shouting about taking the ship for itself or something. I yelled that the engines were hit by an EMP and we didn’t have the parts to fix them so it could have the fucking ship, for all I cared.”

“You yelled all that before it had a chance to rip your arms off?” Ballantine said.

“I may have hit it with a wrench,” Cougher said. “It was a really big wrench. The thing sniffed the air and seemed to believe me. I think it was going to tear me apart anyway, but then it lifted its head like it heard something and took off that way.”

Cougher pointed down the passageway at the continuation of destruction.

“This is really going to be a bitch to fix, Ballantine,” Cougher said. “I hope you plan on making the rest of the crew handle it. I’m still working on salvaging what I can from the engines, I don’t have time to knock dents out of the walls.”

“Not to worry,” Ballantine said, clapping Cougher on the shoulder. “You just focus on what you’re doing. Carry on.”

“Fucking whacko,” Cougher muttered as he closed the hatch.

Ballantine turned to Carlos and Moshi.

“I think we need to get above decks,” Ballantine said. He looked at the cannon. “You two good to bring this up top?”

“No,” Carlos said. “Even with the hydraulic lifters, this thing is a bitch to maneuver. I thought we would shoot it a couple times and be done. I do not want to lug this all over the ship.”

“Is there anything more manageable?” Ballantine asked. “Perhaps a portable version back in the Toyshop?”

Carlos frowned at the use of the word Toyshop. Moshi only shook her head.

“That’s unfortunate,” Ballantine said.

There were several loud thunks and the ship shuddered slightly. Ballantine, Carlos, and Moshi all looked up at the ceiling, listening to the new development. After a few minutes, there were some sharp bangs and a couple of far-off shouts.

“Flash bangs,” Ballantine said. “We’ve been boarded.”

“Boarded? By whom?” Carlos asked.

“I’m guessing by whoever was on that ship coming towards us,” Ballantine said. He smacked his forehead. “I knew I was forgetting something. That giant ape really smacked me around. I’m going to need a long soak in a tub and a nap to get my bearings straight again.”

Moshi nodded.

“I know, right?” Ballantine smiled. “Doesn’t a soak sound wonderful?”

More bangs, more shouts, but closer.

“Well, they’re below decks now,” Ballantine said. “We should really go introduce ourselves before they find us and a horrible accident happens.”

Moshi squeaked a little.

“Not to worry, Moshi,” Ballantine said. He draped an arm across her shoulders and steered her back towards the stairs. “Stick with me and you’ll be fine.”

“What about me?” Carlos snapped.

“With your attitude?” Ballantine replied, shaking his head. “Not sure what’s going to happen to you.”

“You are such an asshole, Ballantine,” Carlos grumbled.

“That’s what I have been told,” Ballantine said.

Even more bangs and shouts.

“Man, they should all relax,” Ballantine said. “We’re actually reasonable people once you get to know us, right Moshi?”

Moshi nodded as they ascended the stairs.

***

Popeye stared at the deck of the Beowulf III and shook his head.

“The place is a fucking mess,” he said. “Who has been in charge while I was gone?”

“We’ve all chipped in to help,” Kinsey said, her hands restrained behind her back by zip ties. Her face was puffy and both lips were split. She had a nasty burn mark on her right cheek and her shoulders were hunched forward like she was in pain. She coughed and winced before continuing. “Mostly it’s been whatever deckhand Lake can intimidate the most. They just haven’t been motivated since you left.”

“Damn right,” Popeye said, brandishing his prosthetic leg. “Ain’t no one to threaten to jam this up their asses.”

“This is a lovely conversation on the finer points of employee motivation, but please shut the hell up, all of you,” Jowarski said.

He grabbed Kinsey by the arms and shook her. She almost cried out, yet was able to choke it back. Jowarski saw this and shook her again. Hard. Kinsey did cry out that time.

Standing next to Kinsey was a zip-tied, shell-shocked-looking Ingrid. Her eyes were swollen and she had snot dripping from both nostrils. There weren’t any marks on her, but her body trembled like a kicked dog waiting for the next blow. She leaned her shoulder against Kinsey, her subconscious mind desperate for some kind of protection even if her potential protector was beaten badly and zip tied.

Men dressed in black body armor swarmed across the deck and filtered down through the hatches to the decks below. Kinsey watched them go and wondered how many Ballantine would kill before he was captured. She hadn’t told Jowarski or Dana where she thought Ballantine would be, ship or island. She didn’t need to. After a few punches and kicks, Ingrid couldn’t stand to watch Kinsey get tortured so she caved, spilling everything she knew.

It was all over in minutes. That pissed Jowarski off. He looked like his favorite toy had been taken away. He wanted more time to tear the truth out of Kinsey and Ingrid went and ruined that.

So he got nasty.

Kinsey had been through worse. Ingrid had not. Glancing at the tech out of the corner of her eye, Kinsey wondered if Ingrid would bounce back. She hoped so. Ingrid was too strong a person deep down to just give in. Fuck that shit.

Several men came hurrying out of one of the hatchways. The man in front rushed over to Jowarski.

“We have him,” the man reported. “He was with two nerds. They, uh, got away.”

“Nerds got away?” Jowarski growled.

“Sorry, sir,” the man replied.

“That’s not nice. Nerds are cool,” Ingrid whispered and Kinsey smiled. Yeah, she would be just fine.

“Whatever,” Jowarski said. “Bring him to me.” He tapped at his ear. “Dana? We have your husband secured. You can come over at your discretion.” He listened for a few seconds and then nodded. “I won’t touch him, I promise.” He gave Kinsey a wink. “You get to take care of him yourself.”

“You really think you can kill Ballantine?” Kinsey asked. “You’re an idiot.”

“People have said that,” Jowarski replied. “But I am goal oriented. My goal isn’t to kill Ballantine, it’s to present him to his wife so she can kill him. If she asks me to do it for her then so be it.”

Popeye scoffed.

“You agree with Ms. Thorne?” Jowarski asked.

“I agree that you are an idiot, yeah,” Popeye said.

“Is that so?” Jowarski replied. “Then I guess you were broken by an idiot. So what does that make you?”

Popeye turned his face away and stared out over the water. He muttered something, but it was lost to the sea wind.

“No need to be pushy,” Ballantine said as he was led from one of the hatchways. “I am cooperating.” He held up his hands and showed the body-armored men the cuffs he was sporting. “You have me perfectly secured. Big, tough professionals like you shouldn’t be scared of a simple pencil pusher like me. Guys, I’m administration, not operations.”

“Our men have been fully briefed on your skills, Ballantine,” Jowarski said.

Ballantine’s entire demeanor changed. The smart ass, devil may care attitude was replaced with pure rage.

“Oh, this just got very interesting,” Ballantine said, his voice that of a cold, deadly predator. “You should not have come, Chance. You really, really shouldn’t have come.”

He glanced over at the ship that was sitting hull to hull with the Beowulf III.

“Is she with you?” he asked. “Is she, Chance? You brought her along, didn’t you? Man, you are dumber than I thought.”

“This is her mission, Ballantine,” Jowarski said. “I didn’t bring her, she brought me.”

Ballantine watched the man for a couple of seconds then nodded.

“Then where is she?” he asked.

“On her way,” Jowarski replied.

Ballantine studied Kinsey, Ingrid, then Popeye.

“Mr. DeBruhl, it is good to see you amongst the living,” Ballantine said.

“If you say so,” Popeye replied.

Ballantine frowned at the answer then looked at Kinsey and Ingrid, especially Ingrid.

“Ms. Thorne, is our elf going to be alright?” he asked.

“She is,” Kinsey said. “She’s strong.”

“I take it Mr. Jowarski was not polite in his behavior,” Ballantine said. It was not a question.

“Nope,” Kinsey said. “I took most of the impoliteness, but he did save some for Ingrid.”

“The best for last, you might say,” Jowarski chuckled.

Ingrid flashed him a look of pure rage and Ballantine smiled.