Jurassic Island: A Prehistoric Thriller Read online

  When the boats were loaded up, the driver's took their positions. The one on Colt's boat climbed a small ladder up onto the second level of the ship where he went into the small cabin-like area. Moments later, there was a grumble as the boat came to life.

  As the engine roared and the driver came down to untie the boat from the dock, another member of the crew that had chosen the less-awful-looking boat brushed by Colt, headed to the stern of the boat. Leslie had called her out to Colt on the plane as Suzanne Creasey, a tech-geek and photojournalist.

  "I hate boats," she said, talking to no one in particular. "I hate the ocean."

  "Probably not the best idea to come looking for a ghost island then," Colt said.

  Suzanne cut him a look of warning and then continued on to the stern. As the boat started to move further out to sea, Colt made a quick loop around the decrepit little boat. He took note of those that he would be riding with: Leslie O'Brien, Suzanne Creasey, Harvey Ballinger, Liu Hamasaki, Ken Houston, and Joseph.

  He was again reminded of the trips he'd endured while filming Exploring the Shadows. He'd been forced to work alongside an interesting mix of people and some of them had proven to be quite helpful and extraordinary. He had even left the show with more than a few people considered as friends.

  Part of him wanted to be friendly…to open up to some of these people. But he was pretty sure that was just the excitement of the situation talking. Quite honestly, he was expecting this entire ordeal to be over in about an hour or so when they discovered that the stupid island wasn't even there.

  But what if, he thought. What if it is there?

  Well, then…if they all made it back to American soil, he'd be so stinking rich that he wouldn't need any friends, now would he?

  CHAPTER SIX

  Suzanne Creasy was puking off the side of the ship within less than ten minutes. She had remained back at the stern where Leslie O'Brien was doing her best to console her. Because he hated the smell of puke, Colt stayed as close to the front of the boat as possible. He looked up to the driver's little cabin and could just make out the driver looking out to the horizon.

  Colt looked back out to the sea and tried to tell himself that not a single part of him believed that there was a Spectre Island waiting for them out there. But, whether it was his fascination with the unknown or the part of him that missed working on Exploring the Shadows, there was some ingrained part of him that dared to hope.

  As he was looking out to sea, Joseph approached him and also stared out to the sea.

  "How are you feeling about it now?" Joseph asked.

  "I won't lie," Colt said. "It's exciting. We're what…about fifteen minutes out now?"

  "Just about, yes."

  "Awesome."

  "Well, I'm glad you decided to take part," Joseph said. "This search has been a part of my life for more years that I care to admit. I think you could make an excellent addition to my team, even after the discovery."

  "Speaking of the discovery," Colt said, "why are we driving out to sea on mini-Titanics? No offense, but these boats you've chosen for us suck."

  Joseph nodded his agreement as both men looked out to the right where the other boat was cruising alongside them.

  "This all came together on incredibly short notice," Joseph explained. "I had to take what I could get when I could get it."

  "You mentioned competitors to me earlier," Colt said. "What sort of competitors? Are they filthy rich like you?"

  "They're wealthy, yes. And like me, they have been looking for Spectre Island for quite some time as well."

  "Who is it?"

  Joseph only shrugged, his eyes travelling back to the horizon, scanning for any signs of the island. "No one important," he said. Then, with a stretch and a sigh that was pure anticipation, he said, "I should get back there and check on Ms. Creasey."

  Colt didn't like Joseph's vagueness, but he also didn't want to spend the effort in getting the man to come clean. Besides…so long as he was getting paid, Colt didn't really care about Joseph's competition or his sordid mysterious history.

  He heard footsteps behind him and turned to see Liu Hamasaki. He had been taking laps around the boat, walking in a tireless circle, ever since they had started moving. He looked like he was on guard duty, keeping his eyes peeled for any signs of danger. Colt waved to the man but got nothing in response. Other than the chuckle in the Jeep, Colt had not heard a single peep out of Liu since they had boarded Joseph's plane.

  As Liu made his way back around to the stern, Colt looked back up to the driver's little hideaway. The man looked like he was moving slightly back and forth, like he was looking at something along his control panels. Great, Colt thought. The ship is probably falling apart around us.

  He looked out to the other boat and saw the specks of the other members of the crew spread out around the boat. He wondered if they could see the impressive show that Suzanne Creasey was putting on. As he looked out, he noticed something that, although seemingly insignificant, flared up the excitement in his stomach again.

  He walked to the very edge of the front of the boat and peered out. He looked to the water and saw that his suspicions were right.

  At that, he heard more footsteps behind him. It was Liu, and this time he approached Colt at the front of the boat.

  "Choppy waters," Liu said.

  "Yeah, I just noticed that."

  "Did you notice there is no wind, though?" Liu asked. He then pointed up. "And not a cloud in the sky."

  Colt looked up and saw that the sky actually looked quite peaceful and perfectly blue. He then looked back up to the driver and nodded in his direction. "What about him?" he asked Liu. "Seems like he keeps checking for something."

  Liu watched the driver for a while and then said, "Yes. Something is going on."

  Both of them turned back to the ocean, watching the water. The waves were minor, but still choppy enough to send shudders through the boat. Colt looked to Liu and did not like the look of concern on his face. He was about to ask what had Liu so spooked but that's when he heard the driver shouting from overhead.

  They both turned and saw the driver quickly coming down the rickety ladder onto the lower deck. He ran directly to Joseph, saying something in his native tongue. Colt and Liu went over to see what was going on and Colt was impressed to find that Joseph spoke the driver's language, albeit rather poorly.

  Slowly, everyone on the boat came over, huddled around the driver and Joseph along the back of the boat. Even Suzanne, whom looked as pale as a ghost, meandered over, obviously weak and drained.

  Harvey Ballinger sidled up next to Joseph and started listening intently. "You speak the language?" he asked Joseph.

  "A bit."

  "What the hell is he saying then?" he asked.

  "Something about the water," Joseph said. "Something in the water."

  "Where?" Leslie asked, looking out to sea towards the second boat that was still puttering alongside them.

  Joseph said something to the driver, to which the driver pointed just ahead of them, slightly to the right.

  "Does he have it on sonar?" Leslie asked.

  Joseph asked the question and the driver nodded frantically. He motioned for Joseph to follow him and started for the ladder.

  That's when the screams started on the second boat.

  Colt looked in that direction and saw that all of the passengers on the second boat were trying to get their attention. They were yelling something over to them and even the driver was getting involved.

  "What are they saying?" Ken Houston asked, running to the side of the boat so he could hear better.

  Colt and Liu followed while Joseph looked all around the ship and the sea. He looked like a man that was desperately trying to come up with a plan. Colt barely noticed him running up the ladder with the driver into the captain's quarters.

  Over the roar of the engines and increasingly choppy water, it was very hard to hear the others on the second boat. They were separated
by about twenty-five feet of the choppy water but it was not so great a distance that their voices were drowned out completely. As they all listened, Colt saw the tall, animated, scarecrow of a man that he had watched for a while on the beach. He looked terrified and kept looking to the water behind them….right where the driver had pointed only moments ago.

  "What the hell are they saying?" Suzanne asked.

  Colt could barely make it out. A one syllable word with a hard sound at the end. Then, just as he finally heard the word, Liu said it for him.

  "Shark," Liu said.

  "So what?" Harvey Ballinger asked. "It's not like a shark is going to attack their boat. Why fuss over a—"

  "Because," Joseph said, coming to the top of the ladder overhead and looking down at them. "If it's a shark, it's the size of a house."

  They all looked in that direction, to the ocean beyond the boat. Over the engine noise and the sea, Colt thought he could hear someone on the second boat start to cry.

  "Holy shit," Ken Houston said, pointing out beyond the second boat.

  "What?" Joseph asked.

  And then everyone seemed to see it all at once.

  Roughly fifty yards away from the second boat, something broke the surface of the water. It was unmistakably the shape of a shark's fin, but it didn't make sense. Colt studied it, trying to wrap his head around it, and then the reality of it hit him and sank in like a load of bricks.

  It was indeed a shark's fin. But based on the distance between them and the fin, Colt thought that it was easily sticking twelve feet in the air. If what they were seeing WAS a shark, then he thought Joseph's estimation of the size of a house was being kind.

  "What do we do?" Leslie asked.

  "I don't know," Joseph said.

  They watched helplessly as the fin drew closer and the people on the second boat started to scream.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Colt felt guilty at the surge of excitement that passed through him as he saw that enormous fin. Even when more of the shark surfaced from the water as it opened its enormous mouth, the fear that Colt knew he should be feeling was dwarfed by the sheer awe of what he was seeing.

  Those emotions quickly shifted places when the shark hit the second boat. Right away, someone fell overboard, hitting the water with a little shriek. The boat made a crunching noise as the shark hit it and when it opened its mouth along the backside of the boat, Colt was able to get a much better idea of its size.

  He'd heard murmurs and read articles about the megalodon, a shark that was supposed to have existed around the time of the dinosaurs. It was supposed to be massive…easily three times the size of a standard great white. Colt felt certain that they were all witnessing one, alive and well, as it attacked the back of the second boat with a frenzy.

  "Megalodon," someone whispered beside him. Colt turned and saw that it was Joseph.

  "No way," Leslie said, but her voice was thick with fear.

  "It has to be," Joseph said. "Have you ever seen a shark that big?"

  "He's right," Ken said. "That's a beast, not a shark."

  "Whatever the hell it is," Harvey said, "we need to figure out what we can do to stop it."

  Even as she said this, there was another crashing noise from the other boat as the great shark tore into it. Already, the back was splintered and torn. The motor was coughing, barely making a noise over the racket of the boat's destruction, the churning of the water, and everyone on that boat. As Colt watched, he saw a portly man sliding backwards along the deck, trying to stay away from the cavernous mouth of the megalodon. In contrast, one of the shark's teeth was nearly as large as this man. It would slice him directly in half without any need to chew.

  "Are there weapons on this boat?" Colt asked. He had suddenly come to the realization that once the megalodon had chewed its way through that second boat, it would likely be heading this way to do the same thing.

  Joseph yelled up to the driver and the driver yelled back. "He says there's a harpoon gun, a flare gun, and a pistol."

  Liu stepped forward, speaking for the first time since we'd spied the shark. He looked totally unfazed at the sight of it and Colt was very glad that Liu was on his boat.

  "Give them to me," he said.

  Joseph nodded and scrambled quickly back up the ladder and into the driver's little cabin. The driver had kicked their speed up and Colt watched as the second boat grew further and further away. The screams still spilled from the boat, but there were less of them now. Colt watched in horror as a woman was pitched directly into the shark's mouth. The beast didn't even close its enormous mouth. The woman simply disappeared down its maw as it continued to shred the boat. There was little left of the boat now, just a fragment of the stern, the driver's cabin, and the front, which was now pointed into the air at a seventy degree angle.

  Colt saw where one of the passengers had jumped into the water and was now paddling furiously to their boat. His eyes were wide with fear but he was not looking behind him. Colt started to look around for some sort of floatation device to throw out to the man and selected an orange floatation ring that was hanging by the ladder to the driver's cabin. A long strip of white rope was tied to it, wrapped in cords. The swimmer was too far away for Colt to make the throw, so all he could do was wait.

  Meanwhile, Joseph came back down with the pistol and the flare gun. He handed them to Liu and then ran to where Colt was standing. Joseph opened the lid of the small bench that ran along the back of the boat and pulled out a harpoon gun along with a few buckets and assorted fishing gear. There was also a rather ancient-looking aluminum gas can in the tiny space.

  "That, too," Liu said, pointing to the gas can.

  Joseph handed the harpoon gun and the gas can to Liu. Liu took a moment to closely examine the flare gun and the harpoon gun before dropping into a sitting position on the deck. His legs were crossed and he went to work with an intense look of focus on his face. Colt watched as he took five bullets out of the pistol and then set to uncapping them. When they were uncapped, he then reached to the collar of his shirt and started tearing at it.

  "Knife?" he asked.

  To Colt's surprise, it was Ken Houston that stepped forward and pulled a pocketknife out of his front jeans pocket. He flipped the blade up and, at Liu's gesture, started sawing into the loose fabric that Liu had torn from his shirt.

  Across the water, the sound of gunfire sounded out. Everyone looked in that direction and saw that only the driver and one other terrified person remained. Another was in the water, taking the lead of the other swimmer and trying to make it to the other boat. On the remains of their boat, the driver had to hold on to a rail just to keep from tottering over into the water. He was firing a series of shots with a small handgun into the face of the shark. The shark seemed to not even feel it. And as it thrashed at the back of the boat, tearing it to shreds in order to get to the humans remaining on board, Colt saw its shape beneath the water and was again awed by what he was seeing.

  The shark was easily fifty feet long…probably more than that; the water made it hard to get a good estimate. Its body was wider than the boat it was devouring and if it wanted to do so, it could probably just start swallowing the remnants of the boat whole. The thing was just so damned big that it was hard for Colt to get his mind around it.

  He looked back down to where Liu was working and was amazed at how fast and calm the man was able to work. From what Colt could tell, he had emptied the powder out of the bullets into the cloth he had torn from his shirt. He had then bound those up with fishing line from inside the bench Joseph had opened. He was now opening the gas can while holding his little pouch of gunpowder.

  "Is this safe?" Suzanne asked.

  "Safer than that monster over there," Ken said. He then added, "Ah shit…it's um…"

  But he didn't need to finish. They looked over and saw that the megalodon had made quick work of the boat. The driver was floating among the wreckage but the shark didn't leave him there for long. The dri
ver gave one sudden and violent shake, and the blood seemed to erupt over the surface of the water.

  Colt looked out to the two swimmers and saw right away that the one that had gone into the water late was not going to make it. The other one, however, was closer. Still, the fact that the driver had opened up the boat still made the distance between them far too much to work with.

  "Slow down!" Colt screamed. "We can save that guy!"

  "Don't be foolish," Joseph said. "If we stop this boat, that thing will catch us."

  "It won't matter," Leslie said. "If it wants us, it's fast enough to catch us."

  “She's right," Liu said. "Besides…stopping the boat will give me a better shot."

  Joseph seemed to weigh his options and then actually stamped his foot on the deck. "Damn," he said. He then yelled something up to the driver. When the driver yelled back, even though Colt did not understand the language, he could hear the disbelief in his voice.

  Joseph yelled something else and the boat came to a slow idle. Colt looked back out to the water and saw that the shape of the megalodon was now back under the water, its fin the only thing breaking the surface. And it was coming fast. There was no more than twenty feet between it and the swimmer that was furthest away. Colt guessed the poor guy had less than five seconds before he was in the shark's teeth. He wanted to look away but couldn't.

  The megalodon didn't even slow down to take him. The man was simply there one moment and gone the next, pulled violently under the water.

  "Who has good aim?" Liu asked.

  No one said anything at first, but Colt finally spoke up. "I'm decent," he said. "At a firing range."

  Liu handed Colt the flare gun. "This is no firing range. You miss, you die."

  "Awesome."

  "I'll put the harpoon in its eye first. The moment the harpoon is there, you fire the flare. You don't have to hit the pouch with the powder dead on, but the closer it is, the more effective the blast will be."

  "Okay," Colt said, suddenly shaking.