17

When Teacher slowly rounded a large bend, the calm waters suddenly angered and turned white with foam rapids. Jenks cursed and threw the two diesels into reverse. The crew, half on duty, half off and asleep in their bunks, were tossed forward. The ones on watch mostly lost their footing and fell to the deck, while the others cursed as they had heads slammed into overheads. A few even fell out of their tight bunks.

Jenks found he was fighting a losing battle as the river took hold of Teacher and thrust her forward as if she were on a wave. Whitewater was thrown over her bow glass as if she was submerging beneath the river. He cursed again when he felt a sudden blow underneath the hull and the boat rose two feet into the darkened space under the impenetrable canopy of trees. He found the emergency switches that controlled the underwater shields for the view ports and hit all as fast as he could. He couldn’t hear the hydraulic whine that told him the steel shields were sliding into place.

Jack pulled himself along the sections until he reached the cockpit, and threw himself into the copilot’s seat.

“What’ve we got here, Chief?” he asked as he placed his chair harness over his shoulders and tightened it down.

“Rapids out of nowhere, no warning at all; there wasn’t a change in current indicating we had rough water ahead.”

As they watched, Teacher slammed herself into a large rock outcropping and bounced back into the center of the now crazy tributary. She rocked twenty degrees to starboard and he could hear curses from the back as more people were slammed to the deck. Jack reached out, keyed the 1MC mic, and addressed those in the back.

“Everyone strap in,” he shouted over the noise of the rapids.

Jenks pulled the joystick all the way to the right, trying to right Teacher as she again slammed into the far left bank. He could hear the twin jets at the stern as they caught mud and sand on the bank and shot it high into the air. Alarms started sounding on the console. There was a fire warning in the engineering section, and several hatch openings were reported. A damage alarm rang from section five, indicating she was taking on water.

“Son of a bitch! I hope those boys are standing by on that fire alarm,” Jenks said as he throttled the engines into full reverse.

Teacher didn’t respond as she ran for the center of the tributary.

“We’re on a steep incline,” Jack called out after looking at the level gauge.

“Impossible. There wasn’t any current to speak of, unless we’re falling into some sort of a damned hole,” Jenks called back.

Other alarms sounded as Teacher was gouged somewhere in section eight.

“Chief, we have a major hole to the aft of section seven, between it and section eight,” Carl called over the intercom.

“Handle it, Toad, we’re a tad busy up here,” Jenks said as the huge boat slammed into a rock in the center of the tributary and careened up into the air again before slamming back down into the white water with a giant splash, sending the cockpit ten feet beneath the swirling water. Again Teacher struck the right bank, this time encountering mostly rock. They all heard the sickening crunch of buckling composite material as she righted herself and rolled hard to port.

As suddenly as the white water had appeared it vanished, and Teacher was left spinning in a slow circle in the center of a much broader tributary. The floodlights picked out the twin banks as they spun toward the shoreline and then as they faced the river. Jenks hit the starboard jets and Teacher slowed her spin, but one of the jets must have sustained damage because she didn’t slow fast enough. Finally the huge boat hit the sandy bank and that stopped her from spinning. He did the same on the aft-section jets and she stopped her spin off the rebound of the bank that would have sent her in the opposite direction. Jenks flipped the switch for automatic station keeping and hoped the system still functioned after the roller-coaster ride she had taken. Teacher was never designed for whitewater rafting. All was calm as he heard the jets engage in alternating blasts of water. Finally Teacher was at a complete standstill. The lights in all the aft sections had gone out and the crew was navigating by dull battery-driven emergency lighting only.

“Major, just aft of this section you’ll find her lighting and instrumentation fuse box. Get that breaker back in so we can see how badly she’s hurt, will ya?”

Jack unstrapped his safety harness and made his way aft. He quickly found the glass-covered panel and opened it. Three large breakers had popped. He pushed the first one and then the other two. The overheads came back on, and he could sense all hands breathed a sigh of relief. He heard Jenks on the intercom.

“Engineering, what’s your status?” he asked.

“Give us a minute, Chief, we’re still putting back some of the pieces here,” Mendenhall called to him.

Jack went to check on the others. He encountered Sarah and Danielle, who were assisting the cook with a small fire that had broken out on the stove. The overhead fans were clearing out the smoke and he figured they had it under control, so he moved on. At section eight he saw that Carl, Sanchez, and Professors Ellenshaw and Keating were tightening the frame around one of the underwater viewing windows that sat below the waterline. There was about two feet of water around their ankles as they worked.

“Got it?” Jack asked.

Carl looked up and nodded. He had received quite a gash on his forehead.

“See to that, Carl,” Jack said, pointing at his own forehead, and moved off again.

The rest of the science department was all right with only a few light injuries and equipment damage. It was in the engineering section that Jack became worried. Four feet of water was lapping at the two engine platforms. Mendenhall was kneeling in it, reaching around the number two engine.

“What’ve you got, Will?” Jack asked.

Mendenhall sat back in the water and looked up. “Engine two has broken clear off her motor mounts, Major. She won’t be working for a while. Her shaft to the main jet is bent like a pretzel, and we’re looking at atleast five days of repair time.”

Jack walked over to the intercom and called Jenks.

“Chief, we’ve lost number two for extensive repairs. Number one looks all right, but we’ll have to take it slow.”

“We don’t need her right at the moment,” Jenks replied.

“Why? We can keep her at a few knots,” Jack countered.

“We don’t need her for a while. Tell the boys we’ll work on number two in the next few days while you people find what you came to find.”

“What are you talking about, Chief?”

“Major, we have found your goddamned lagoon,” Jenks said calmly over the intercom.

There were fifteen souls on the upper deck looking out on what could only be described as a lost world. The massive waterfall was just as the legend described. The water fell from a source several hundred feet in the air. The center of the large lagoon was dappled in the brightest sunlight any of them could remember ever seeing, while the fringes of the water remained in almost near darkness. The havoc created by the giant falls produced its own system of winds and drafts that cooled those on deck from the relentless heat and humidity. The shoreline around the lagoon had wide beaches that stretched away from the water like the sands one would find at only the most luxurious hotels on Waikiki. But, by far, the outstanding feature of the entire scene was the giant stone arch that ran up the sides of the waterfall as it disappeared under the falls. Two stone deities stood guard on either side, flanking the falls. These were similar to the strange statues they had seen before, but more ornate in their carving. Massive one-hundred-foot-long spears were clutched in the outsize hands of these deities.

“I have never in my life beheld anything as beautiful as this,” Danielle said as she edged nearer to Carl.

“It is something.”

“All right, I need security with me. Let’s start getting our act together,” Jack said. “In all of this natural beauty, I have failed to notice one thing. The Zachary boat isn’t anywhere to be found.”

The admiration for the lagoon and forested valley stopped as soon as Jack mentioned the missing craft. What had been a stunning view instantly became foreboding to everyone’s eyes. Somewhere off in the jungle a cockatoo cried, and Teacher listed to starboard as she limped toward the open sunlight at the center of the lagoon.

Most of the science teams broke into repair groups. The security team made ready a rubber Zodiac to scout out the shoreline, to search for anything that would possibly help them in locating Professor Zachary and her team. Jack had tried to get a satellite transmission out to Boris and Natasha but the transmitter dish had been knocked free of its mounting atop the main mast. Tommy Stiles had been tabbed to repair it.

Jack, Mendenhall, Carl, Sanchez, Jackson, and Shaw cast off the inflatable Zodiac. Carl was at the wheel and steered the boat into the darkness of the lagoon, heading toward the widest beach on the eastern side of the lagoon. The seventy-five horsepower Evinrude motor shattered the silence of the lagoon and the mountainous walls around it. He gunned the engine the last ten yards and ran the boat as far onto the sandy beach, raising the engine free of the water as the Zodiac hissed onto the sandy shoreline.

Jack was the first out, with his M-16 pointed toward the pitch blackness of the tree line. He was joined by the others, who followed suit. The extreme quiet was matched by their own silence as they scanned the area immediately around them. Jack looked back at the silhouette and interior lighting of Teacher as she remained in the center of the sunlit lagoon. He checked his watch; they had about an hour of daylight left. If you could call this daylight, he thought.

“Straight-line formation, gentlemen. Carl, you take up station at the rear.”

Jack started forward along the shore and followed the waterline to the south. Every ten feet as they inspected the lagoon, Mendenhall reached into his pack and pulled out a small rod with what looked like a lightbulb on the end, and stuck it into the sand, sighting each one with its mate before and after, aligning the laser early-warning fence so they would have some security from something entering the water from the dry land side. As they went they heard the sounds of the forest as it came back to life. The screeching of birds and the chattering of monkeys allowed them to relax, as at least these were sounds they could identify.

They laid down their perimeter alarms for the next forty minutes. Although they had covered only half the perimeter of this eastern side of the lagoon, it would be a half they could basically ignore for the coming night, as nothing over a foot tall could breach the laser sighting that linked each pole with the one before and after it in the chain.

“Okay, let’s head back for now,” Jack said as the disappointment set in at not having seen anything, not one piece of evidence that anyone had ever been here.

Sanchez was looking about in the semidarkness when his foot hit something buried in the sand. He reached down and saw a rusted piece of metal jutting from the golden beach. He pulled on it but it wouldn’t budge. Then he scraped out the sand along the sides of the rusted protrusion. Mendenhall joined him as the others stopped. The two men pulled and tugged. Finally the metal gave way and they both fell onto the sand as Sanchez held out a curved shape.

“Look at that,” he said in astonishment.

The hilt was gone and they could see the remnants of braided fabric that had once covered the handle. The sword blade was mostly intact, but the once sharp edge had been totally eaten away by rust.

“God, how old do you think it is?” Sanchez asked.

“I would say it’s about five hundred and seventy-odd years old,” Jack answered. “Let’s get the hell back; you can take your prize in and show the experts.”

Sanchez lightly moved the Spanish sword through the air, amazed at his find.

As they made their way back, Jack and Carl in particular kept their eyes not only on the forest, but the lagoon, as well. But it was Mendenhall who saw it first.

“Oh, no.”

Jack stopped and looked at the area just inside the tree line that Mendenhall was looking at. The major grimaced and made his way toward the area.

Strewn about was what was left of the Zachary expedition. Jack counted at least fourteen bodies. He gestured for his men to spread out and start checking the grotesque scene. The people appeared to have been mauled by an animal. The remains were cast about like torn dolls among the wreckage of tents and supplies. Boys and girls. That’s the way Jack was seeing it. They were just children.

“Jesus, Major,” was all Mendenhall could say.

Sanchez stared in horror at what lay before him. They had all seen casualties before in the Gulf conflicts, but nothing could measure up to this scene. Sanchez looked at the sword he had been holding like a prize and let it slide from his fingers.

“Before we bury them, we have to get the science people over here to look them over,” said Jack. “Come on, let’s move. The manifest says there are more than just these people. We may have survivors.”

As authoritative as he sounded, Jack was losing confidence in finding anyone else alive.

Jack had already posted the roster for the night watch teams and kept the 50 percent alert status for the duration. Upon returning from the shore and turning over the Spanish sword to the sciences, the boat had been abuzz with the knowledge that Padilla had actually been in the valley, that the legend was no longer that, but reality. Jenks had sounded the loud navigation horn three times just in case there were survivors from the Zachary expedition hidden out in the jungle. It sounded in two-minute intervals but no one came forth. Since the loud intrusion of sound, the rain forest around the lagoon had grown unnaturally silent.

Virginia and the others had brought back the body of one of the students for a closer examination. The others had been hastily buried in the sand. Sarah had voiced the opinion that the bodies had not been disturbed by whatever animal had killed them because of the protection of the small creatures that inhabited the waters of the lagoon. The little monkeys had watched from the shadows of the trees where the men had done their grisly work of gathering up and burying the remains. Several mumbles and sighs were heard from the creatures as the bodies were covered with sand.

The repairs to Teacher progressed well through the evening. The only item that would remain after the night would be the repair to the number two engine. Remounting it and replacing the shaft would take most of three full days, but Jenks foresaw no problems in getting it back to 100 percent. They would need that engine to traverse the rapids outside of the lagoon. It was only sheer luck they had a backup shaft in ship’s stores.

“Ready on ballast pumps,” Jenks called as he flipped the switch and started filling Teacher’s ballast tanks to take her low into the water so her bottom windows could have a better view of the lagoon itself.

The crew heard the sound of the pumps as water was let into the four massive tanks lining the boat’s inner hull. All hands watched the windows as the huge boat started to settle into the water. Now exactly half of her was below the surface of the strange lagoon. The fantail was only six inches above the waterline and her rear doors would remain closed for the duration of her stay here. The underwater floodlights did much to dispel the darkness around and under the boat. It also brought to life the majesty of what the lagoon held. Fish of every sort came and went through the lights, as curious of them as they were of the fish. Sarah watched over Carl’s shoulder. Fish flashed in and out of her viewing range, coming right up to the large portholes, and she was amazed at their fearlessness of the strange craft in their midst.

“When do you plan to allow us into the mine, Jack?” Virginia asked, pulling a pair of rubber gloves from her hands as she entered the lounge.

“Not until we have Teacher back to one hundred percent in case we have to get the hell out of Dodge suddenly,” he answered.

“But Jack …”

He looked at Virginia and she shrugged, knowing her argument would do no good.

“You’re right; maybe tomorrow we can get some probes inside?” she asked.

“I want to check it out as much as everyone here, Virginia, but only because we may have people holed up in there. But I won’t lose anyone because we didn’t take the proper precautions. The satellite dish is still down, and yes, if we have to expend every probe we have, we will look for survivors tomorrow. What did you find in your autopsy?”

“Well,” Virginia said as she sat in one of the large chairs, “the wounds are consistent with a wild animal attack. Large lacerations on the torso and head. Cause of death was massive bleeding. I’m afraid, without more equipment, we’re limited to the tests we can run.” She excused herself and left the table when she saw the master chief walk through the outer corridor.

Jack watched her go and shook his head. “I hope everyone understands that we can’t go charging into that cave, or mine, until we know what in the hell we’re dealing with here.”

“Virginia’s just anxious, as we all are, to find out about those kids. She knows you have to wait. I think it’s you being hard on yourself. Waiting is the right thing,” Sarah said.

Jack looked from Sarah to Carl, and Carl knew what he was considering. Carl nodded his head and Jack spoke. “Sarah, you know that tactical nuke key that was found?”

“What about it?”

“The key was used. Somewhere out there, or maybe inside the mine, we have a live nuke on our hands. I’m afraid our priorities have shifted. For reasons we don’t know, someone was out to destroy this place. As much as the kids, if they’re alive, need to be found, we now have an active nuclear weapon on our hands.”

She didn’t know if she liked knowing that little bit of information.

“Yeah, I see your point.”

On the upper deck, Virginia joined Danielle and the master chief as they watched the stars come out directly above them. The night sounds had finally returned after the assault of the air horn. Insects and animal life allowed themselves to be heard again, which made the crew outside feel better. There was nothing worse than silence.

“Beautiful,” Virginia said as she looked up into the void of space that the center of the lagoon afforded them.

“No smog or city lights to obscure them,” Jenks said as he looked from the heavens to Virginia. He had shaved and put on a clean denim shirt for his night watch.

“I think I’ll see what Sergeant Mendenhall is up to at the stern,” Danielle said, excusing herself.

Jenks caught himself as he began instinctively to watch Danielle’s tightly fitted shorts while she moved away. He turned instead toward Virginia and removed his stub of cigar.

“Well, Doctor, I got you here—”

Virginia cut off his comment.

“I like you, too, Chief. And we’ll take this up when we get home.”

Jenks’s eyes opened wide as he reappraised the tallish woman.

“I’ll be goddamned and go to hell,” he mumbled.

Corporal Sanchez had the tower watch and was lulled by the gentle movement of the boat. He rested his elbows on the railing just above the radar platform that extended outward from the sail. The gentle electrical hum also helped to induce the sleepiness he was feeling as he watched the white sands of the shoreline two hundred yards off in the distance. He slowly turned and examined the other side of the lagoon; it was still and quiet. He took a deep breath of air and was grateful for the cooling breeze that hit him. How it could penetrate such a thick canopy of trees, he didn’t know. But it was nice nonetheless. He turned back toward the shore they had visited this afternoon and watched. He raised the night-vision scope to his eyes and scanned first the beach, then the tree line beyond. The laser fence they had placed was operating and glowed brightly in the scope. A light noise caught his attention. He swung the glasses around and looked to the immediate left of where they had landed the Zodiac. He saw nothing. Sanchez looked down at the early-warning alarm box that was linked via radio to the laser line. Of the thirty sensors, all the green lights were ablaze in a semicircle. Nothing had crossed the line from the jungle. But as he looked through the scope again, he failed to notice a large line of bubbles as something moved away from the waterfall side of the lagoon. It was rising from the deep and almost bottomless waters, and coming right at Teacher.

Jack and Carl left Sarah and went aft to make ready the remote probes that would be used tomorrow for the mine excursion. Jack wanted to launch the probes tonight because of the pressure to find any surviving members of Zachary’s team. But Jenks was right, daylight was best. No sense in losing whatever probes they had left by attempting a nighttime search.

Upon entering the engineering spaces they saw Professor Ellenshaw and Nathan filling the emergency air tanks of the three-man diving bell, which sat motionless in its steel cradle next to the submersible. Its cable and air hoses were on a large steel drum above it. Tools were spread on a large cloth on the deck, as they had been in the process of working on the broken mounts of the engine. The boat’s PA came to life.

“Major, this is Jackson in sonar. I have a target coming toward us at about three knots, seems to be about twenty, twenty-five feet in depth. Just came on the scope, and according to my reading, it’s pretty big.”

Jack was about to reach for the intercom when Teacher was rocked to her starboard side. Carl lost his footing and fell to the deck, and Ellenshaw was almost crushed by the diving bell as it broke loose from its steel cradle and swung outward into the walkway. Jack lunged and pushed the professor clear just as the bell struck the aft bulkhead with a loud clang. Teacher finally righted herself as the frantic calls started coming from the upper deck.

“Jesus!” Carl exclaimed as he looked out of the aft window.

Jack gained his footing and looked at what Carl was staring wide-eyed at. Almost blocking the entire five-foot-wide window was a dark undulating mass that was grayish white in color and appeared to have thinly placed fur covering a rough leathery skin. The window below water level was dark, meaning that the width of whatever had struck Teacher was enormous.

The boat rocked from side to side in a frenzy of motion.

“There’s another over here—no, wait, two of them!” Ellenshaw gasped from his position on the deck where Jack had knocked him. “My god, this cannot be!”

“Hang on, it’s going to hit us!” Carl shouted.

Jack braced himself as best he could and opened the double rear hatch. As the door swung open, water rushed in as Teacher was again rocked. This time, the hull came completely clear of the water on its stern end as the animal struck the bottom of the huge boat. Once again, everyone on deck was sent sprawling. Jack fell through the hatchway to the outer deck of the fantail as the angle of the boat became so extreme that he found himself suddenly underwater. The boat again calmed for a moment and he righted himself, taking a deep breath just as the stern of Teacher sprang out of the water after the impact.

“Secure that damned bell,” Carl called out to Nathan and Ellenshaw.

As Jack turned back he could hear screams and several loud popping noises that could only be gunfire coming from the upper deck. The boat was slammed and rocked again. As he turned and secured the glass doors to limit the flooding in the engine room, he saw a tail, pointy and swift, slice by his face as it rammed into the deck of the fantail, smashing the aluminum railing that lined it. Then the tail vanished as it splashed back down into the water. He fought to reach the ladder that led to the deck above. Several shots more rang out on deck among the screams. Jack finally gained hold of the first rung and pulled himself upward as more shots and more yelling sounded.

Finally, Jack was able to see what was happening on the upper deck. The sight that greeted him was one taken from a nightmare. Mendenhall was standing erect and firing his M-16 over the gunnels, but the swiftness of the animals in the water afforded a terrible target. Danielle was on the deck at the staff sergeant’s feet, trying to stand erect, as Jack gained the deck and drew his nine-millimeter from its holster.

An animal that resembled a presumably extinct plesiosaur moved its elongated neck quickly back and forth, snapping vicious-looking jaws at the people on the upper deck. The beast was small, at least compared with the fossils enshrined in museums. In Jack’s hurried estimation, it looked to be no more than twenty feet long—most of that being neck. The body thrashed and the tail slammed into Teacher in an attempt to kill the large object in front of it. Jack saw smaller animals swimming and diving around the larger one. The obvious difference between these creatures and similar ones seen by people in most museums was the fact that it appeared to have a hardened shell on its torso. The shiny green shell glistened as water poured freely off it.

The fur-covered plesiosaur darted forward in the water with incredible speed. Jack heard another scream and more shots from somewhere in the bow.

“It’s got the chief and Dr. Pollock cornered,” Mendenhall yelled as he saw an open shot and took it. The sergeant’s bullet grazed the dark skin of the beast and it hissed, its yellow eyes glancing away from its prey and toward the stern of the boat. Again it crashed its glistening body into Teacher, almost rolling her onto her side. They didn’t think she would right herself after that heavy blow, but slowly she started leaning the right way.

“Look out!” Jack shouted as he pulled Mendenhall down and on top of Danielle. The thick, powerful tail of the animal had risen from the water and lashed out at the antagonists from behind.

Jack braced himself but he knew it was too late. The tail hit him across the chest and threw him six feet into the air and over the side.

Sarah was still in the galley and yelped when the overhead light shattered. She looked up as the lights were lost but could still see the hull as it buckled inward from the pressure the monster outside was forcing on it. The upper window buckled and cracked. Then she smelled fire as the interior of Teacher went black.

Carl finally reached the upper deck from amidships after fighting his way through the darkness and flooding. When he first saw the beast his eyes widened, but it didn’t stop him from firing his handgun at the swinging head of the plesiosaur. He was only two sections back of Jenks and Virginia as he heard her scream and the master chief curse. He saw the flash of three shots as Jenks fired from where he covered Virginia below the gunwale. High above, an M-16 opened fire with a three-round burst that caught one of the freshwater animals along the curvature of its body where its skin met Teacher, just above the waterline. Sanchez had opened fire from the crow’s nest. The sergeant fired again, this time stitching a pattern in the water as he missed, and then guided the rounds across the body of one of the four smaller, shelled creatures.

The plesiosaur shook its massive head and slammed it into the section that Jenks was in, crushing the composite hull, causing the master chief to lose his weapon as he threw himself onto Virginia to protect her.

Suddenly Carl heard shots coming from the water. He saw the flashes about twenty yards from the boat. Several of the rounds struck the nightmarish beast just behind its head, jerking it violently. The dinosaur and its smaller companions turned their attention to their new antagonist as Carl turned on the battery-powered spotlight to see who had fired. It was Jack, treading water. Carl watched as the major fire twice more into the thick body of the creature. Its yellow eyes glowed with pure rage. It bowed its long neck and head, and immediately slammed its giant foreflippers into the water. Carl was astonished to see what looked like stubby fingers protruding from the flipper-like apertures as it dove away from the boat. The beast was going for Jack. Carl hurriedly fired several times, as did every armed hand on the upper deck. Even Jenks was now standing and fired wildly at the massive shape as it thrashed in the water.

“Goddammit!” Carl yelled. Sarah finally made it to the top deck as he emptied his nine-millimeter toward the prehistoric animal. “Swim for it, Jack!” he cried even though he saw Jack would never make it.

Sarah gasped when she saw one of the smaller animals had made it to Jack first. He disappeared from sight as he was jerked under the water. Carl threw down his weapon, jumped clear of the upper rail, and dove headfirst into the roiling lagoon. Mendenhall did the same at the stern. Sarah couldn’t help it, her legs gave out and she collapsed against the gunwale. Professor Keating came through the hatch and went to her side. The others watched in horrible dreamlike slowness as the water crashed and swirled around the small beast. They saw Carl surface and look around, and Mendenhall dive again. But as both men both went under, the thrashing stopped. The larger animal was now at the spot where Jack had been dragged down. As Jenks shined the large spotlight on the water, he saw a few bubbles and four long wakes leading away from an expanding circle of blood.

As the night became quiet all they could hear were the loud splashes of Carl and Mendenhall. Then even that sound ceased as the two men realized as one that Jack and the animals were gone. And then total silence swept across the water except for the gentle lapping of the lagoon at Teacher’s waterline.

In less than twelve hours onsite, Teacher had sustained damage twice. The pounding she had endured from the family of plesiosaurs was substantial, but Jenks announced that it was not beyond repair. The report fell on deaf ears as the crew was laid low by the news that they had lost Jack. In the science lab, Virginia and Dr. Waltrip tried to convince Sarah that taking a sedative would by no means make her a lesser woman in anyone’s eyes. Still, she refused and angrily left the lab.

She walked by everyone as if she were in a daze, to the spiral staircase amidships. Jenks headed her off and held her arm at the bottom step, then released it just as quickly when he saw her eyes.

“You watch yourself out there, young lady,” he said, and handed her an M-16.

She took it and went up the stairs, then pushed open the acrylic hatch bubble and stepped out into the night. She saw Mendenhall leaning against the gunwale and walked over. He was taken aback when he saw who had joined him. The black man studied her for a minute and then turned away to stare at the water.

“What you and Carl did, going into the water after Jack like that, I want …I want to say thank you for trying,” she said as she steeled herself against the tears that threatened to form.

“I only did what he would have done if it were me in the water,” he said without looking at her. “He trained us to react without thinking, but he never taught us how to act if we failed …” he said, trailing off.

Sarah placed her hand on Mendenhall’s, suddenly realizing it was not only she who would be grieving for Jack. She knew the sergeant looked at Jack more as a father; and Carl, as his best friend. The lieutenant commander had buried himself in the task of repairing the ship, to take his mind away from what had happened. Sarah knew she needed to do her job, as well, and decided that it was time to get on with it. She patted Mendenhall on the shoulder and turned away.

It was near dawn when Carl was shaken awake by Shaw, who had pulled a double shift abovedecks on watch while the others repaired the boat. Carl saw the wide look of fear on the corporal’s face and immediately rose from his bunk.

“What’s wrong?”

“Sir, I think one of those animals has surfaced and is just floating around the boat. I felt something hit us a minute ago and when I looked down, there it was, big as life. We may have a chance at killing the bastard. I also repaired the laser warning system. Something set off the fence at some point during the night.”

Carl leapt from the bunk, not bothering with his shoes, as he trotted for the arms locker. Jenks, who had been awake all night repairing the hull from the inside, saw him dash by and followed. Carl quickly removed a .50-caliber Barrett rifle from the locker and handed it to Jenks. Then he tossed two hand grenades to Shaw, and when he noticed Mendenhall come sleepily down the companionway he tossed him two grenades. He grabbed a white phosphorous canister and then ran for the amidships hatch. The rest of the boat was coming alive with the noise the men made as they ran up the steps.

Carl ran to the gunwale and was surprised to see the thick body of the large plesiosaur lounging up against the hull. It bobbed easily in the movement of the lagoon. His eyes followed the entire length of the beast. It disappeared into the darkness of the water toward the aft of Teacher.

“Fuck a preacher’s daughter, she’s one big son of a bitch,” Jenks whispered.

Carl didn’t answer. He was looking at something strange that seemed to be wrapped around the midsection of the long-necked animal. As he looked forward he saw the same thing toward the bow, where the head disappeared from view into the depths of the lagoon.

“It’s dead.” He handed Mendenhall the two grenades he was holding. Then with no explanation he jumped over the side, as all on board to a man reached out to try to stop him.

“Are you crazy, Toad, you fuckin’ officer piece of shit!” Jenks said loudly.

As they watched in stunned horror, Carl surfaced and made his way toward the floating plesiosaur. His breaststrokes were slow and deliberate and although he suspected the giant beast was dead, he still looked up and made a gun motion with his hand. Jenks aimed the rifle down at the thickest part of the animal as Carl approached.

“You have company, Commander,” Mendenhall shouted.

Carl pulled up short of the hull and watched as four of the smaller animals shot away from the corpse of the larger one. It had looked as though they had been intentionally staying close to it. Ellenshaw had explained earlier why he had thought the green-shelled animals were the larger one’s off-spring, and that not recognizing the boat for what it was, she had targeted Teacher as a threat to them. Thus, as he had lectured at them like a schoolmaster, why she had attacked the vessel.

Carl watched for a moment, but the smaller plesiosaurs didn’t reappear. He resumed his approach toward the floating body. Slowly, he brought his hand up and touched the rough hide of the wondrous animal, then he slapped at it. It didn’t move. Then he saw what had caught his attention from the deck above. The beast had been impaled onto the maneuvering water jets of Teacher, effectively holding it in place. He turned and swam toward the cockpit area, where it had been brutally attached at the forward thruster, as well.

“What in the hell, Toad?” Jenks asked. Other crew members had now come on deck to watch.

“It’s been slammed so hard into the maneuvering jets that it’s been impaled.”

The conditions just under Teacher had deteriorated as revealed in the early morning’s diffused light. The water was now murky. At last Carl found the long neck of the beast where it sank below the water. His hand traveled along it until it suddenly slid off. The head of the animal had been completely ripped off. Strings of meat protruded from the stump and long gouges deeply marred the plesiosaur’s dark, lightly haired skin. Carl looked around him and suddenly felt as if he wasn’t alone. He kicked upward toward the lagoon’s surface. When he did so, he immediately swam for the ladder.

“What in the hell’s going on, Toad?” Jenks repeated.

“Something wanted us to know this animal was dead. The head has been ripped off the body.”

The others started speaking at once, but Sarah just looked away toward the falls and wondered who—or what—had avenged Jack’s death.

The small hands worked and the jabbering was nonstop. Sand was thrown and even a few berries were forced into his mouth. The fruit was followed by cool water that not only splashed his face but started a choking reaction, as the water slid past the berries and into his throat. Jack sputtered and coughed as he fought his way back to consciousness. As he spat out the last of the overly sweet fruit and threw up about a glass of brackish water, he slowly looked around him. The forest surrounded him with darkness and it was loud with the noises he had come to be accustomed to. The screeching of monkeys and cries of the many different species of birds threatened to overwhelm his awakening senses.

As he stilled his heart he thought he could see through the trees to the lagoon beyond. He felt his chest and legs, and found no broken bones. His right ankle felt as though it may have been fractured until he attempted to stand and could put his full weight on it. That was when he noticed the damage to his boot and the puncture marks that lined the thick rubber sole. They looked like teeth marks. He was having the hardest time remembering what had happened to him. The only thing he could recall was drowning— being pulled under the water and not being able to come up for air. He remembered the feeling of being released and quickly grabbed again, and then a sense of speed, of being pulled through the depths and then just as suddenly being let go. Now he could recall the water becoming strangely and overly warm around him while there had been a tremendous explosion of motion around him. Then another vague memory of an animal that had no right to be in existence. The plesiosaur started to rematerialize in his confused mind. Now he remembered being thrown into the water and even firing at the great animal as it smashed into the boat.

Jack tested his sore ankle by taking a few steps. Then he remembered the berries being placed in his mouth, and saw where he had spat them out onto the grassy forest floor. He looked around and wondered who it had been who tried to feed him. He was deep in thought when a bunch of the small red berries hit him on the head and shoulders. He looked up in time to see a small, shiny arm shoot back into the tree branches. Keeping his eyes on the tree, he reached down and retrieved one of the berries and popped it into his mouth. He chewed and swallowed and continued to look upward. That was when he heard chattering along the ground in front of him, and he looked that way. As he watched, several of the small monkey-like creatures Sarah had said she had seen grooming poor Sanchez walked out of the underbrush. Jack felt as if he were hallucinating. He shook his head and stared as they advanced upright with a bowlegged gait. Their arms were longer than their legs, and they seemed to wobble as they walked. Their skin was perfectly smooth with not a hair visible. Scales covered their bodies and even in the dark he could see the fins that lined their forearms and legs. Small gills puffed in and out along their jawline, and their small lips were parted to show teeth that were short and pointy, not like a monkey’s at all.

“Well, what have we here?” His own voice sounded strange to him.

The five small creatures stopped short when he spoke. They looked from one to the other as if the sound coming from this man amazed them.

Jack now noticed their small hands; and indeed, as Sarah had said, their fingers were joined by webbing, and the same went for their overly large feet. There was a finlike appendage on the top of their heads that flared up and down as they took in air through their small noses.

“I suppose I have you to thank for the berries and water?”

The creature closest to him turned to look at its companions and then back at Jack. It tilted its head and then suddenly ran the thirty or so feet to the trees and disappeared, immediately followed by the others. Jack watched them leave and wondered what had scared them off. He listened closely, and he heard splashing coming from the lagoon. He turned in that direction and that was when he saw the footprints. They were huge and came from the lagoon. There was another set going back the way they had come. The enormous webbed prints heading from the beach looked as if whatever they had belonged to had been dragging something.

“What in the hell?” he mumbled as he reached down to touch one of the impressions. He picked up his nine-millimeter Beretta. Had it been him that had been dragged ashore?

He heard voices and looked again toward the lagoon. He followed the tracks of the large, fan-shaped footprints all the way to the water. In the bright spot of sunlight he saw the surreal vision of Teacher anchored in the center of the lagoon. Several people crowded the upper deck as they stared down at a man in the water. Jack stepped close to the water and called out.

Aboard Teacher, the crew had just opened one of the lab windows to take Carl in when a shout startled all on deck. Sarah looked toward where the others were pointing and her heart almost leapt from her chest. Jack was standing on the small beach with his hands on his hips. Then he raised his hands to his face, to cup his mouth.

“Will someone get a boat and get me off this beach?” he hollered. Shouts and laughter erupted everywhere on the upper deck. Carl dove back and swam to the other side of Teacher, then pulled himself up into the rubber boat. He then quickly started the motor and cast off, sped around to the opposite side, and zoomed into the lagoon.

Running the Zodiac up on shore, Carl hopped out before it came to a complete stop. He shook Jack’s hand and then guided him to the rubber boat. Sarah was so elated she didn’t feel it as the others on deck patted her on the back and shoulders. Even Danielle Serrate gave her a smile.

An hour later, Jack was cleaned up, his ankle taped and his stomach full of scrambled eggs and sausage supplied by Heidi Rodriguez. Sarah sat next to him and kept shoving food into his face while he told his strange story. Her happiness brought a mood of joy and a sense of reprieve to the rest of the crew.

“Not to break the mood here, but how in the hell has that animal survived?” Jack asked.

Keating started to reply but bowed to an excited Ellenshaw instead.

“Well, Major, one of the things we must consider is the fact that this lagoon, this valley, must now be considered as one would an island. A place that is separate from the rest of the world. And as on an island that has been left undisturbed, the animal life and even its ecosystem will evolve almost totally void of outside interference. The indigenous food supply would be the main key to any species and its growth. If this plesiosaur, or whatever it was, and its offspring has an ample supply of, let’s say, monkey and fish, and both land and lagoon life is as abundant as I’ve ever seen in such a small environment, there would be less competition for that food supply. The same can be said of other life forms associated with this lagoon. Obviously, this species would be near the top of that food chain.”

The others looked at Ellenshaw as if he had just spoken in Latin.

“Perhaps another example, Madagascar, off the coast of Africa. It was separated many, many thousands of years ago from the continent and in consequence the species on that island developed far differently from their cousins on the mainland. Why? Because they were isolated. Birds, for example, became flightless because they had nothing to fear in this new environment.”

“Until man intervened on the island,” Keating interjected. “Then many of these amazing new species went extinct, like the dodo bird, once found on Madagascar and now gone forever.”

The group brooded quietly as Keating reminded them that although the mother animal that had attached Teacher had been a killer, still she couldn’t compare to the relentlessness of man. The uncomfortable silence continued until Danielle broke in with questions.

“But how does an animal escape the very extinction that killed its land cousins? If I remember my biology classes correctly, wasn’t the plesiosaur a saltwater species?”

“As for its escaping extinction, the argument has been made that many varieties of sea animal may have escaped the fate of their cousins by the simple fact of their enjoying a more abundant food chain in a particular location,” Keating said as Ellenshaw agreed, aggressively bobbing his white head.

“And the fact that this variety of plesiosaur is clearly living in freshwater indicates that the creatures may have left the harsher, more competitive hunting grounds of the oceans for the less dangerous waterways to be found inland. We may never know. I have a new theory about the animal that attacked us, as I have looked at the carcass very closely. I believe one reason this beast didn’t go along gracefully to extinction land is the fact—” Ellenshaw paused for dramatic effect, “I believe this particular species has turned into what we know today as the giant sea turtle.”

“Oh, come on! How can you speculate so carelessly like that?”

With that, the argument was on between the two scientists.

Ignoring them, Sarah asked Jack, “How in the world did you kill the mother animal?”

“I didn’t,” he answered as he popped half a sausage into his mouth.

“Jack, something killed it. Tore its head right off and then staked its body to the side of the boat,” Carl said.

The major turned around and looked out of the tinted side window. He opened it and breathed deeply. His eyes scanned the water and then the small beach he had been on only an hour before.

“Something saved me from the creature and dragged me up on that beach. It was something big,” he said as he turned back to face the others. He took Sarah’s hand in his own and didn’t care who saw it. “I was as good as dead; the plesiosaur had me dead in her sights and there could have been no way I could have escaped on my own. I was pulled down by the smaller ones, hard enough to sprain my ankle. I was taken deep underwater. Every time I tried to fight to the surface, I was pulled even deeper. Then something came at the animal with incredible speed. I only saw a violent strike by something and then I was released. There was blood in the water; I could taste it. I didn’t know if it was my blood or someone or something else’s. Then before I could reach the surface, I was grabbed by my ankle and pulled away. All I remember after that was the feeling of being pulled along in the water. Then whatever saved me from the animal left me on the sand, and that is all I remember until I woke up with one of Sanchez’s small monkey fishes trying to feed me.”

“Then what was it in that water that saved you, Jack?” Virginia asked.

“I don’t know, but according to the footprints that were left in the sand where I woke up, it’s huge. Its feet resembled those on the couple of statues we came across.”

“My god,” cried Charles Hindershot Ellenshaw III. “It’s real! The legend of a creature that walks upright is real!” His amazement was enough to interrupt his argument with Keating.

The Rio Madonna was at anchor, and Farbeaux thought the captain should count himself lucky for being that way. When the Americans went off the radar Farbeaux became curious as to why, when suddenly Captain Santos threw his engines in reverse and brought the Rio Madonna to a standstill in the middle of the river. There, the captain had sent a small party ahead to reconnoiter the river. They were gone but an hour when they reported the rapids lay in front of the ship. Santos had narrowly missed smashing the Rio Madonna to splinters. Of course Mendez was angry at this development, stomping the decks, threatening everyone who crossed his path. But the captain smiled and watched how coolly Farbeaux handled him, by not handling him at all. The Frenchman seemed content to wait and the captain was curious as to why.

“I’m afraid this perpetual false twilight is affecting your capacity to see my point, señor,” Farbeaux said, “The Americans are there and we are not. Do you wish to charge in there with your guns blazing and take by force that which we can have with no risks by just waiting?”

Mendez stopped his pacing at the stern of the boat. He stared out at the anchored barge behind them and thought for a moment.

“I wish to do something, anything,” he grumbled.

“As I would, but I am a patient man. The Americans cannot leave here without going through us; we have effectively cut off any retreat they may have. Besides, my friend, the minerals have been there since the beginning of time; they’re not going anywhere.”

Mendez made a decision. “As always, you are right; I must learn to be as you. But you must understand, it is hard for a man such as I.” He turned to face Farbeaux. “What is your plan?”

“We will wait until the middle of the night and utilize our rebreather scuba equipment, which won’t leave any telltale bubbles on the surface, and simply swim under or around the Americans and reconnoiter the mine. Are you ready for a swim, Señor Mendez?”

“Yes, this is a good plan. But I must ask as I am curious, why not just place a charge on the bottom of their boat and send her to the bottom of the lagoon?”

“And then if there are survivors, señor, what then? What if three or four of those highly capable men survive? I am prone to believe they wouldn’t be in a very charitable mood because we tried to kill them, do you?”

Mendez just glared at Farbeaux. He hated having things explained to him as if he were a wayward schoolboy.

“I know these people you seem so quick to try and murder, señor. They are capable of cutting your men to pieces.” Farbeaux glanced toward the sneering Rosolo. “Let’s find out first if we even have a reason for such ruthlessness, shall we?”

Mendez relaxed and finally smiled. “That is why men such as I pay handsomely for men such as you, my friend; they think on another level.”

Farbeaux nodded and then moved away toward the bridge.

As soon as his back was turned Mendez ceased to smile and addressed Rosolo.

“You will of course place the charge and send the people he admires so much to the bottom. Just make sure it won’t detonate until we are well within the mine.”

Captain Rosolo grinned. “Sí, jefe.”

“You look like a man who is concerned about a problem, señor,” Santos said when Farbeaux closed the bridge door.

“There is no doubt about your ability to observe. And of course, I do have problems. Señor Mendez is a fool. But I have observed you, Captain Santos, and I don’t believe you are one.” Farbeaux held the captain’s eyes. “And since you and I are not fools, tell me how a river captain, one who has said that he has never traveled this particular tributary before, knew there would be rapids ahead.”

Santos smiled broadly. “I was born with a sense for danger, señor. My own mother, she was always crossing herself and telling me I was of Satan’s villa. Proclaimed this until the day she sent me to Bogotá and the Catholic nuns there. Then when they couldn’t figure me out, I was sent even farther away to study at the seminary. But, señor, the river, she was always calling for my return. So you see, I feel the river, I know the river and her many moods.”

Farbeaux laughed. “You have a gift all right, señor, but it is a gift of storytelling. Be careful in the coming day or so, Captain, and hide this strange … ability of yours; someone other than myself may become suspicious.”

Santos watched as Farbeaux left his bridge. He crossed himself and again kissed and then caressed his medal before dropping it back into his shirt. Then he went to the window and checked on the men on deck. He opened a drawer and removed a Colt .38 Police Special, all the while watching.

“Sí, señor, I will watch them very closely. But you, I will watch even closer,” he said as he checked the loads in the pistol.