Gargantua (21 page)

Hale frowned. “Well, high-frequency sounds could keep it at bay, but what would attract it?”

Jack rubbed his chin. “Amphibians communicate with each other by sound. We could record the voice of the baby creature and amplify it. We’d bring the baby with us on a boat with Dad following behind, guided by speakers in the water.”

Hale said, “You make it sound easy.”

“Really?” Jack replied with a smile. “I think it sounds insane.”

Laughing, Hale said, “Fine, once we’ve got the creatures home, how do we make certain they stay there?”

“Good question.” Sadly, he had no idea. He looked up at the geologist. “Got an answer?”

“Not at the moment,” Hale said, but he said it in a faraway voice.

Jack grinned. The geologist would probably have an idea by the time they got to his bungalow.

After they had themselves a fortifying breakfast on the trawler, Derek had sent Kikko off to find the nine-footer. A good night’s sleep and breakfast must have returned Kikko’s enthusiasm, because he seemed like his old self again—and was quite eager to track the creature down. Derek had given him a pair of binoculars, one of his harpoon guns, and a rope and sent him on his way.

Derek himself had been all set to do likewise, but first he wanted to get another look at the huge corpse.

He was rather surprised to find that the thing had gone missing. And this time, Derek himself had nothing to do with it. He wasn’t worried about being suspected for it. In fact, he’d made an effort to strike up a brief conversation with the chief, during which Derek ascertained that Movita didn’t consider Derek a suspect in that particular theft. “Probably some environmentalist nut who wants to keep all creatures in their natural habitat or something,” the chief had said. Derek had made affirmative noises, then excused himself.

The big, dead lizard, though—that disappearance was cause for concern.
Unless they evacuated it in the middle of the night? But if that’s so, why is Ellway standin’ around with Hale and the others?

“Excuse me, sir,” said yet another bloody Marine, “I’m going to have to ask you to move along to the airfield.”

“I beg your pardon?” he said.

“The airfield, sir. Colonel Wayne has ordered the evacuation of all civilians from Malau.”

“Fine, of course,” Derek said with all the amiability of someone who had no intention of listening. “Uh, if you don’t mind my askin’, what happened to the corpse?”

The Marine tensed up at that. “It was taken by person or persons unknown, sir. That’s why the island’s being evacuated. Now
please
move along, sir.”

Bloody bastard,
he thought, but smiled at the man and moved along.

But not without another glance at Ellway and the others. Noticeably absent was Ellway’s kid—and the little bite-sized lizard.
Ellway probably sent the little bloke back to the hotel.

Sniffing opportunity in the wind, he headed for the Hotel Ritz.

He arrived to see Ellway’s kid sitting on the lawn behind the tiny hotel, playing with the little creature.
A boy and his bleedin
’
lizard. Real cute.

Trying to look casual, and making sure there wasn’t anybody else around, Derek sauntered up to the boy.

“Cute little monkey, innhe?”

Brandon glanced up at him, shrugged, and continued playing with the little monster.

“Have you given him a name? Gotta give a pet a name.”

“Casey,” Brandon said. “I had a dog named Casey. He got lost.”

Sentimental little brat,
Derek thought, but said, “Good, solid name, Casey.” He crouched down, raised his hand as if to pet it, then looked at Brandon. “May I?”

Another shrug. “Whatever.”

Derek petted the little thing, and it seemed to like that. At the creature’s seeming happiness, Brandon actually smiled.

All right, mi’lad, time to throw the pitch.
“It’s a shame, what’s gonna end up happening to little Casey.”

Brandon’s smile fell into a frown. “What do you mean?”

“It’s only a matter of time before they come and take him away.”

“Who?” The kid sounded indignant.

“The government. Your little friend is gonna end up in a lab somewhere, dissected like a frog.”

Brandon snatched the little demon and held it to him like it was a teddy bear. “My dad wouldn’t let that happen.”

“Your dad’s a terrific guy, kid,” Derek managed to say with a straight face, “but he’s got no power in this. When the military gets hold of Casey, it’s off to the lab.” He looked around conspiratorially, as if making sure they couldn’t be overheard, then stage-whispered, “We don’t have to let that happen, you and I. We can save your little friend—get him outta here before it’s too late. We could take him away on my boat—all the way to Kalor, all the way to safety.”

Brandon’s lips twisted—he was obviously seriously considering it. “I gotta think about it,” he said.

Bloody hell.
“Maybe I can help you think—what’s your problem with it?”

“Nothing, I just—”

Move in for the kill.
“Fine, it’s all settled then—right?”

After a second: “Right.”

“Fantastic,” Derek said, clapping his hands and standing up. “You’re a bright and courageous young man. Meet me at my boat in an hour. Don’t forget the little monkey.”

“I won’t,” Brandon said with a smile.

Derek smiled back, then headed back into town.
Like shootin’ fish in a bleedin’ barrel. Fiji, here I come.

Kikko had figured it out during the night. It all came clear to him, so much so that it should have been obvious from the get-go.

It was learning that the large creature had been killed by the Marines that did it. It made everything just crystal-clear.

All these creatures had to die.

And so did Derek Lawson.

First things first, though. Gotta find that thing that maimed Naru and kill it. Kill it until it’s dead.

He had managed to avoid the Marine patrols and work his way to the comparative seclusion of Elephant Rock. Avoiding the patrols had been easy—Kikko had been avoiding people like that all his life, whether it was the hall guards at school or Joe Movita’s cops.

Besides, he had a mission to perform. Naru had sacrificed himself to show Kikko his true purpose: he had to kill the creatures.

The creatures were abominations. They deserved to die.

And so did Derek Lawson for trying to keep the abominations for himself.

And for getting Naru hurt. And almost killed.

Yes, Derek had to die.

But first the creatures.

He raised the binoculars to his eyes and scanned the rocky coast.
C’mon, you were hurt, you couldn’t have gotten that far. And if you wanted to stay out of sight, this place’d be perfect.

The guess paid off. He caught sight of a very familiar-looking reptile form, lying unmoving on Elephant Rock, blood trickling from a large gash in its leg.

“A bit under the weather, eh, big fella?” Kikko laughed a cruel laugh.

He moved closer to the creature, clambering over rocks. It was slow going, weighed down as he was with the harpoon gun, but he wasn’t in a terrible rush, either. There was no one around. He could make this nice and slow. After all, the abomination had to suffer before it died.

As Kikko approached, the monster raised its head and roared. Kikko just laughed, bent over, picked up a small rock, and threw it at the creature. The rock collided with the thing’s head. It roared again, then lowered its head back to the rock.

Giggling madly, Kikko said, “Not so tough with a hole in your leg, are you?” He uncoiled the rope that he had tied around his waist. Within seconds, he’d fashioned into a noose. “The hangman cometh, big guy. And it’s all going to be over for you with the snap of a neck. Or maybe I’ll just stab you in the heart. Assuming you’ve got one, anyhow. See, I haven’t figured out what’ll make you suffer the most. Tough choice, y’know?” He grinned. “I know! Whichever way I don’t kill you is how I’ll kill Derek! Wouldn’t that be just perfect? So, let’s think. Noose or harpoon, noose or harpoon?”

He stopped his climb and scratched his head. Then he thrust his index finger into the air.
“I
know! I’ll use the noose on you! Why, you may ask? Yes, a good question. Why? Well, you see, I want Derek to
bleed.
I want his blood to pour out all over the place like Naru’s did when you clawed him. But if I’m going to do that, it means I
have
to kill you with the noose—you
do
understand, don’t you? Of
course
you do. Yes indeedy.”

Kikko climbed up behind the abomination.
This is going to be fun.

Then it got dark.

It’s morning. It can’t get dark. And it’s not cloudy.

Realizing he was now in something’s shadow, he turned around.

The sky was blotted out by a ten-foot-long head with two horns on top of it.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. The big daddy of all abominations.

Kikko screamed.

The head leaned forward. Its teeth were numerous, looked to be razor-sharp, and were heading straight for Kikko.

He expected it to hurt.

He expected to care about this.

Neither turned out to be so.

The incisors ripped through flesh and bone. His body was twisted and bent into shapes they weren’t meant to be twisted and bent into.

But Kikko felt nothing. And he didn’t care.

He only had one regret.
Should’ve killed Derek first. That was short-sighted. I’ll know better next time.

His last thought was,
Goodbye, Naru.

The news that Colonel Wayne had just received from Lieutenant Castro in the AWAC plane had not made him happy. They hadn’t picked anything up out on the open sea. At last report, they were heading in closer to Malau, where Wayne had been hoping they wouldn’t need to go.
I do not want that thing crawling up my ass.

The news that he received a few minutes after that from Corporal Macdonald back at MacArthur made him much happier. When Bateman had made his little announcement about Fox News, Wayne thought he was going to be up to his eyeballs in press. Bad enough that two journalists were missing and presumed dead and another injured—
paparazzi,
true, but still photojournalists—the last thing he needed was a bunch of microphone jockeys second-guessing him on-site.

Thankfully, that wouldn’t happen.

Wayne found Bateman dictating notes into a tape recorder on the beach. “Good news,” Wayne said.

Bateman stopped the recorder and said, “Oh?”

“Brigadier General Cox is ordering the media restricted to Kalor. I’m making you a one-man press pool. You’ll be giving them official releases from here by phone. Talk to Sergeant Morwood about getting a cell phone.”

“Uh, okay.” Bateman looked stunned.

Wayne slapped the reporter on the shoulder. “Welcome to the big leagues, kid,” he said, and walked off.

As Bateman ran over to find Morwood, Ellway and Hale approached.

“Topex has been recalibrated,” Hale said, answering Wayne’s question before he had the chance to ask it. “If they get anything, they’ll contact your Lieutenant Castro for confirmation—and he’ll also relay it to us.”

Wayne nodded. “Good work.” He turned to Ellway. “Now what do we do when we find the thing?”

Before Ellway could answer, Wayne’s radio squawked. “Malau, this is Lieutenant Castro.”

Putting the radio to his lips, he said, “This is Wayne—go, Lieutenant.”

“Colonel Wayne, we’re picking something up, about sixty feet long, just off the coast of Malau. Something’s travelling alongside it—about nine feet long.”

Wayne sighed.
Well, that certainly kills two lizards with one stone.
“Thank you, Lieutenant. Keep tracking. Out.” He lowered the radio and turned to the two scientists. “Gentlemen, I need to hear your plan
now.”

TWELVE

B
efore he and Hale outlined their plan to Colonel Wayne, Jack had wanted to find President Moki. Wayne had no problem with that, and indeed seemed chagrined that he hadn’t thought of putting the president in the loop in the first place.

They found him at his restaurant, locking it up. The structure had managed to remain undamaged in the mother creature’s initial stroll through town, for which Jack was grateful. “All secure, Mr. President?”

Moki turned to the three new arrivals and nodded. “Indeed.”

“I’m glad the place made it through okay,” Jack said. “After all, Malau’s going to become a hot-ticket tourist trap. Wouldn’t want to deprive people of the island’s best restaurant.”

For the first time since meeting him, Manny Moki allowed himself a big smile. “I appreciate your optimism, Jack. I hope it is not misplaced.”

Hale said, “That’s kinda why we’re here.”

“Our brain trust claims to have a plan,” Wayne said. “So let’s hear it.”

They started walking back toward Wayne’s command post on the beach. “Okay, we’re going to need a boat, a good-sized sound system, some recording equipment, and explosives.”

Wayne blinked. “Explosives? We talking dynamite, tactical nukes, what?”

“Lower end of the scale,” Hale said with a smile.

“Basically,” Jack said, “we need to lure Dad and Junior by using two different sets of sounds: the baby creature’s voice to attract it to the boat—”

“—and ultra-high-frequency to keep it from getting dangerously close,” Hale finished.

“I’ve used high-frequency sounds before, to protect whales by keeping them out of certain areas.” That had been on the Hawaii trip—his and Brandon’s first after Diane’s death. It was actually one of the more productive journeys they’d taken. There were few enough humpback whales left in the world, and there would have been two fewer but for Jack’s efforts on that trip.

Hale picked up the ball again: “We’ll return the creatures to their home in the Iozima Ridge.”

“And to keep them from coming back,” Jack said, “we’ll cut off their access to the fault line by setting off explosive charges—that’s where the explosives come in.”

“They’ll implode the trench, filling it in.”

Wayne and Moki had both been looking at Jack and Hale throughout their litany with poker faces. After they finished, there was a long pause. Then Wayne smiled a small smile.
Geez,
Jack thought,
I figured I’d go my entire life without seeing either of these guys smile, and now I’ve seen both do it inside of five minutes. Go figure.