Barracuda (28 page)

12

It swam back to the home of Its den after the
shockwaves stopped bouncing off Its lateral lines. It felt safe
without the presence of the oblong shadows. It spotted some dead
fish floating on the surface and others slowly sinking from above.
Never one to pass up a meal, It fed heartily on the dropping fish.
But It was always on guard because the shadow figures from above
used noise to kill. It could not attack an enemy that had
withdrawn, and so was forced to wait to ambush the shadow
adversaries the next time they appeared. It would kill first, and
then reign over Its kingdom unmolested. It was content to wait for
Its enemy to return and then wage a battle to the death.

***

“Here, Micko, put on this floppy hat and this
old rain slicker and nobody will recognize you,” Celestial said
cheerfully.

Micko put on the black hat and pulled it low
over his eyes. He then put on the oversized tan rain jacket. “I
look ridiculous in this outfit. The jacket is way too large,
Celestial, and I’ll sweat bullets in this heat.”

“Not so,” Celestial returned. “The wind is
picking up, and we may fight you for the warmth of the slicker
later.”

Micko pranced about Regis’ hut like he was
walking down a model’s runway, and the men laughed favorably. The
game plan was to go to the
Hummingbird
, watch the fireworks
display on the water, and hopefully see another one between
Japanese and Russians on land.

The men carefully lurked in the shadows as they
skulked to the pier and Celestial’s boat. Luckily, the
Hummingbird
was berthed at the end of the wharf farthest
from the great lawn. Regis had brought a jug of rum along, and the
men thought it would be a nice night to unwind. Regis poured each
man a cup and then toasted, “To Micko’s FBI friends! May they
arrive safe and sound…and
soon
!”

The men all laughed and drank the rum.

“What is this intolerable rubbish?” the
professor demanded. “I’ve had rum before—and this is
not
rum.”

“Professor, I do believe it may be paint
varnish,” James said with a laugh.

“Beggars can’t be choosers,” Celestial warned
with a smile.

***

Tiki and his men were hiding in a small
underground bunker parallel to the golf course. The fireworks were
manually operated, and several rows of shells were fired off in
each sequence; so eventually, the pyrotechnics had to take a short
break to set up the next series of elaborate explosions. Tiki and
his men would strike during this short intermission, and hopefully
pandemonium would ensue, ruining the hated Japanese’s grand opening
affair.

Tiki and his men had planned to cause extensive
vandalism during the panic, but he had received word that the
Japanese and Russians were heavily armed. Maybe they anticipated
the rebels striking during the celebration and were prepared to
take murderous action against the insurgents. He had revised his
plan and picked a double target that would still cause a stampede
and disrupt the carnival, while allowing his men to escape
unscathed.

***

With Hiroshi’s passkey, Chuu slipped into the
delivery entrance of the Majestic Hotel. He went to the penthouse
unnoticed. Everyone was at the great lawn enjoying the ceremony,
but Chuu knew he had to act fast. He ransacked Alex’s office, not
caring about secrecy but only about swift results. There he found
memos that were to be sent to New York blaming Hiroshi for stealing
the Bible and double-crossing the Russian organization. Apparently,
Andrej was holding off on sending these memos until some kind of
devious plan was implemented by the Russians. Hiroshi might be in
danger, so Chuu was eager to report his findings. Then he heard the
front door open.

***

The villagers were really enjoying the
fireworks, crowding at the dock for a closer look. Many of the
fishermen were hosting pig roast parties on the larger fishing
vessels, and several young villagers paddled their dugout canoes
into the middle of the atoll for a panoramic view of the aerial
explosions.

Celestial said to Regis, “How about checking the
crab traps below the boat?”

“Right now?”

“Yes, the wind is picking up, and I don’t want
the traps damaged by the
Hummingbird
rocking into them,”
Celestial insisted.

Regis stepped off the stern, knelt down next to
the port piling, and grabbed a thick line. He pulled only about two
feet of line in when the line went taut, and he had trouble
retrieving more line. “Give me a hand, Micko. The trap is caught on
something.”

Micko knelt down next to Regis, and the two of
them worked hard pulling the line until it suddenly gave way and
they pulled up an empty trap. A second later, a bloated corpse
bobbed to the surface covered in crabs, seaweed, and other marine
critters. Regis jumped about three feet upward and inhaled a lung
full of air ready to scream in shock before Micko muffled his mouth
and whispered, “Shhh! Don’t make a sound or we’ll have to go on the
run again.”

Regis regained his composure quickly. “That’s
Alex. He must have been dumped with the traps tying him down.”

“That Chuu acts quickly,” Micko said. The body
was clearly fresh because it was still submerged and not bloated
enough to fill with gas that would make it rise. “I bet he put the
body here to implicate you guys and the scientists, trying to make
it look like a revenge murder for killing me.”

Celestial and the scientists heard Micko talking
in low tones and walked over to see what was going on. It didn’t
take long for them to figure it out.

Micko removed his camouflage outfit and stripped
down to his bathing suit. “I’ll retie the body under the pier until
after the FBI arrives. I’m the only one here who’s sober,” he
cracked with a smile. He was a beer man and never touched booze.
Besides, there had to be at least one clear head until Buddy and
the troops showed up.

He popped underwater with Alex’s body and two
crab traps, wrapping the lines around the neck of the corpse, then
around the piling, and then around a leg and around the piling
again.

“That ought to do it,” he announced when he
surfaced. “It won’t hold once the gasses in his body build up, but
hopefully, that won’t happen until help arrives.”

The shaken men went forward on the
Hummingbird
’s bow and continued to watch the colorful
bombardments. No more rum was consumed, as each man realized that
it could be a long and dangerous night. Micko was returning to his
old form.

***

It heard the strange noises from afar, but
didn’t feel the strong waves on Its lateral lines. The enemies were
gathering. It would waylay them before they could organize an
attack.

It zigzagged stealthily in the direction of the
noise. All of a sudden, It spotted several of the oblong shadows
resting on the surface. It remained motionless and watched the
smaller objects circle around a much larger one. The larger one had
a tentacle that ran from the surface to the seabed.

It coiled into attack mode and severed the
tentacle with lightening speed. Then it turned Its attack against
the smaller enemies, racing to the surface like a ballistic missile
and cutting the first antagonist in half as it breached the choppy
water. It crashed back into the depths and attacked over and over
again until the oblong objects began to sink and the awkward
creatures splashed on the surface. It continued the attack by
slicing through the clumsy limbs of Its enemies. Soon they, too,
were descending into the depths.

***

The
Hummingbird
’s gathering was amazed at
the superior fireworks display, which took their minds off the
danger that they were in. Suddenly, they were all looking at the
water instead of the sky.

“Did you see that?” Celestial boomed to no one
in particular.

“Was that a fish or a piece of unexploded
ordinance?” Micko questioned.

They all watched silently as something leaped
out of the water several times. The last time the fish flew out of
the water, it was illuminated by a spectacular burst of burning
white light from the pyrotechnic display. The light reflected off
the silver side of the fish and lit up the gruesome scene
momentarily like a huge lantern.

Almost all of the people on the dock and those
in the boats witnessed a huge barracuda flying out of the water
with a splintered dugout canoe in its mouth. As if in slow motion,
the silver threads of water spilled down behind the gigantic fish,
and several men fell out of the small boat and splashed helplessly
into the rough water. The wind had kicked up the surf, and waves
began to batter the canoeists.

Before anyone could move, the swimming men began
thrashing about and the water churned with deadly activity.
Suddenly, all eyes turned to the barge, which was listing, the wind
was making it spin sideways. The pyrotechnic crew had just ignited
another series of canisters, which arched dangerously close to land
as the barge tilted.

Screams of agony emanated from the waters of the
atoll, and the workers on the barge yelled orders amid cries of
dismay. They could not stop or control either the barge or the
fireworks.

“My god!” James screamed. “It’s that killer
fish! It’s sinking the small boats and dismembering the fishermen.
It must have bitten through the anchor line and the barge is caught
in the wind and waves. It will float out of control with thousands
of pounds of ordinance.”

***

Tiki was intent on watching the crew on the
barge through his night vision binoculars that he had stolen from
the Russians. When he saw the men setting up for the next series of
canisters, he gave the order, “Now!”

His rebels cut the power to the outside garden
lamps and sent the great lawn into darkness. The colorful Japanese
lanterns flickered twice and then died. All eyes had been skyward,
but now the fanciful guests wondered if this was a planned blackout
for added effect or another insurgent act of vandalism.

Suddenly, the aerial explosions came closer and
closer to the great lawn. In an instant, it was clear to all that
something was going terribly wrong. The angle of the fireworks was
no longer straight up over the atoll but instead leaning sharply
toward the Majestic Hotel and the great lawn.

Women began screaming, tables were knocked over,
and the scene became more chaotic by the second. Men barked orders
to turn the lights back on as the waiters attempted to light
torches in the gusty wind.

All hell broke loose when the first canister
exploded behind the hotel on the golf course. The canister did not
reach the correct altitude, so it exploded on impact. The guests
realized that the situation was totally out of control, and a mad
dash to the hotel ensued.

“Get back to the hotel!” someone cried, and
everyone who could still run bolted in that direction.

People fell over tables and chairs, tripping
over unseen obstacles in the dark. Screams became deafening as the
wealthy ran for their lives. The chaos intensified as the first
aerial bomb exploded on the great lawn. Ladies in gowns and men in
tuxedos were now on fire and running like live Roman candles. More
and more explosions on the great lawn lit more human sacrifices
that ran for a moment and then howled in anguished pain as they
crumpled to the ground.

***

It had one enemy left. The tentacle was cut, but
the thing would not sink. It was very big and was slithering slowly
away wounded. Deciding to help Its enemy leave the lagoon, It
grabbed onto the remains of the dangling tentacle and swam the
large object toward land. It would beach Its enemy and then leave
it to die.

It swam swiftly and dragged the antagonist
toward the docile oblong objects near the shore. When It was close,
It let go of the tentacle and swam back into the atoll. The large
object kept going forward until It heard a loud crashing noise
followed by much louder noises like the ones that had attacked Its
home. It returned to guard Its underwater fortress.

***

Tiki was surprised by the extra chaos caused by
the fireworks malfunction. “Go, Rambo! Go!” he ordered over his
cell phone.

Rambo was stationed at a junction box that fed
electricity to the hotel. The rebels had found a way to use copper
pennies to overload the system, causing circuit breakers and fuses
in the hotel basement to fail, thus throwing the complex into total
darkness. The building codes on this third world island were not
quite as stringent as in other more advanced countries.

Rambo committed his act of vandalism and quickly
fled the scene. Within a few minutes, the entire resort was thrown
into complete darkness, adding to the already chaotic scene.

***

Chuu ducked behind the large desk just as Andrej
entered the office.

When the great lawn’s lights went out, Andrej
had used his walkie-talkie and ordered all his men to search and
destroy the insurgents. When he couldn’t raise Alex on the radio,
he went straight to the hotel, fearing that his office was
unprotected.

When he turned on the light he immediately saw
that his office had been searched.

“Whoever you are, I hope this is worth dying
for!” He pulled an automatic pistol from his waistband, released
the safety, and chambered a round into the cylinder. The sound of
the nine-millimeter’s metal slide action engaging was ominous. It
occurred just as there was a lull in the noisy fireworks, causing
the sound of metal against metal to resound throughout the
office.

Chuu was still. He also had an automatic pistol,
and he carried it on safety and without a round chambered. At that
moment, he was afraid to chamber a round and give away his hiding
place.

Suddenly, all the hotel lights went out. Andrej
cursed, and Chuu quickly released the safety on his weapon and
chambered a round. He then hastily fired in the direction of
Andrej’s voice.