The Shark Rider (32 page)

Coach pulled out a jug of Sea Camp water. “They could use our help in the cleanup and there are some tasks that you all are especially well-suited for. So, campers, fuel up and let's get to work!”

“No rest for the weary,” Hugh moaned.

“You can sleep when you get old,” Coach Fred responded.

Once they'd eaten something, the campers perked up. They went out on an inflatable with Coach Fred and Meg to find the other submersible and the metal drum it was carrying. Since Tristan had seen it the
night before, he led them to the general area where he thought it might be, assuming it hadn't moved too much in the storm. The teens jumped in and began searching. Using her echolocation, Sam quickly found the sub. It had rolled over several times during the night, but was still basically in intact.

Meg handed the teens a yellow marker buoy and line. “Tie this to the sub so we can recover it. Any sign of the metal drum they were carrying?”

The teens shook their heads. It was nowhere to be seen and Sam couldn't locate it.

“Okay, start a search pattern. Work as a team and make your way out from the sub,” Coach instructed.

The campers began swimming in a widening circle out from the damaged sub. A cloud of sediment billowing up from the bottom caught Tristan's eye. He swam closer. In the midst of the roiling sand was a large gray stingray. It was flapping its body while blowing sand out from openings just below its eyes. Tristan hovered over the creature, staying safely away from the barbed spine on its tail. He tried to read its thoughts.

Dumping wastes in our home. Hope the shark bit that nutter good. Gotta get rid of this thing too.

With one powerful flap of its broad body, the stingray rose off the bottom and swam away. Its digging had exposed the top of the metal barrel. The drum had been buried by the storm. Tristan waved the others over. Meg recorded where the metal drum was relative to the submersible so they could remove it later and safely dispose of the chemicals inside.

“Okay, now let's head back and clear some of the debris from the coral reef off Eustatia,” Coach instructed.

The teens climbed into the inflatable. They sped back toward the reef where they had stranded Marsh and his man. Old fishing line, some rope, and a few palm fronds were now tangled in the coral.

“Hop on out,” Coach instructed. “But watch yourself on the coral.”

“And stay well away from the
Diadema
—those dang black spiny sea urchins,” Meg added.

They spent about an hour carefully swimming around the reef, clearing debris off, and piling it in the inflatable.

“One last job for you before lunch,” Coach said after they'd climbed aboard the boat.

“C'mon, Coach, give us a break. We could use a rest,” Rosina said wearily.

The others nodded in agreement.

“Just one more task. It won't take too long or be
too
painful for you.”

They rolled their eyes and sighed in tired acceptance.

Coach Fred drove the inflatable into the rectangular swimming area at the Bitter End. Along the way they pulled more debris out of the water. He beached the boat on the sand. Sitting nearby was the giant blowup trampoline. It had been deflated and stored for the storm. Alvin stood next to it with a scuba tank. He had just re-inflated the trampoline.

“Thought you alls mights want to helps us puts this backs out and tests to be sure its working okays,” Alvin said, grinning.

Coach gave them one of his rare smiles.

The teens dragged the huge blow-up trampoline out into the swimming area and connected its anchor line to a large cement block on the bottom. Ryder tried to be the first to climb on, but with Luis's sea star hands and feet, he scrambled on quicker than seemed possible. Ryder followed, along with Sam, Tristan, Mia, and Rosina. While the others jumped up and down, crashed into each other and laughed, Hugh treaded water nearby looking up at them anxiously.

“Climb on, Hugh!” Tristan shouted as he bounced into Sam and she went flying off. “Hey!”

“C'mon,” Sam said to Hugh as she climbed back on. “After what you did at Marsh's you can't be scared of this!”

Hugh shook his head. “I'm not scared. It's just that, well, with everything that's happened the past few days, I think I've lost some weight. My shorts are kinda loose. One bounce and . . .”

Ryder laughed. “Don't worry, dude. Like, we've seen all of that before.”

The others laughed and Hugh shrugged his shoulders good-naturedly. Tristan helped him up onto the trampoline. The campers spent the next hour bouncing, jumping off, and pushing each other into the water. Tristan swallowed a ton of seawater, twisted his ankle, smacked his head on the side of the trampoline, and hadn't had so much fun in what seemed like years!

A little while later, the seven of them lay on their backs on the trampoline staring up at the wispy clouds drifting by.

“Is this how all missions go?” Tristan asked Luis and Mia.

“No,” Luis answered. “You guys have just had rotten luck. I mean, usually things go pretty smoothly.”

“Yeah,” Sam added. “I'm sure our next mission will be easier, you know less
life-threatening
.”

“That would be good,” Tristan said, though once his parents found out about this one, he didn't think he'd be going on any more missions.

They heard the director calling from shore, announcing that lunch was served. They were about to jump into the water, when a wave nearly knocked them all off. The teens spun around curiously looking to see what had caused it. A large manta ray leapt up and splashed them on landing. Two dolphins and three sharks then swam by, creating another wave that rocked the trampoline and, again, nearly knocked them off.

“Very funny,” Rosina said, wiping the water from her face and trying to regain her balance.

“That was pretty good,” Sam laughed.

They jumped in and swam with the creatures. Tristan thanked the sharks and rays, and they did likewise. He also told them that Meg said she would bring in an expert to remove the wires from their backs. Sam thanked the dolphins and they told her all the fish in the area appreciated what they did to stop Hugo Marsh. They also reported that Hammer was back in his reef and already causing trouble. But, periodically,
a new neighbor, a slightly pudgy green moray eel, came by to keep him in line. The teens said good-bye and swam to the beach. After drying off, they walked with the director to the restaurant for lunch.

“So, did you reach Sea Camp and our folks?”

“How about the yacht? Did you, like, find it and Rickerton?”

“Yeah, what about Marsh? Did the police arrest him?”

The director held up his hands. “Hold on, one question at a time. Yes, communications are back up and I've spoken to Ms. Sanchez at camp and she is calling your parents. We're arranging a phone call for each of you this evening. No word on the yacht yet, but we're tracking its location. And yes, the police came and took Mr. Marsh and his beefy friend into custody.”

The teens were scheduled to leave first thing the next morning, but after lunch they had one last important task to take care of. It was unclear whether Marsh had been emptying the harmful chemicals out of each barrel or just dumping the drums. They needed to be sure there weren't any barrels left in the water still leaking. The campers split up into two boats and spent several hours searching. By late afternoon, they found one additional metal drum and marked it for removal. Meg would continue the search after they left. They decided, however, to release their remaining robo-jellies, hoping that if there were still leaking barrels out there, the drifters would help by detecting any unusual chemical concentrations.

“So what's going to happen to Scar Island and the lab?” Tristan asked Meg on their way back to the Bitter End.

“Not sure. Maybe we can do a little remodeling and make it an ocean research and education center for the BVIs. A place where we can help the local community learn about the sea and how to protect it for the future.”

“What about the submersibles?” Hugh asked.

“I'm hoping we'll be able to take the working one back to our institute. Hey, anyone want to do a little driving?”

Sam had driven the inflatable before so Hugh hesitantly volunteered to give it a shot. After he nearly ran them straight into a rock, it was Tristan's turn. He grasped the twist throttle on the stick-like handle of the outboard engine. Giving it a little gas, Tristan tested the steering. He pushed the handle forward and the small boat turned left. When he pulled it closer to him, they went right.

“Okay now,” Meg told him. “Steady it up and head for that first empty mooring ball up ahead.”

Tristan nodded and pulled the handle toward him to veer left and line up with the ball. But he pulled too hard and they swerved sharply.

“Nice job,” Ryder shouted from the other inflatable that was just speeding past.

“Yeah, yeah,” Tristan muttered, trying to straighten them out. He pushed the engine handle forward. But he overcompensated and they swung too far right.

“You better jump for it!” Ryder shouted back to them.

“Oh shut up,” Sam yelled. “It's not like you could do any better.” She then put her hand lightly over Tristan's and twisted the throttle a little. “You'll have more control if you go a little faster. My dad taught me when I was little. With some speed, just small movements are needed to steer straight.”

Tristan blushed at Sam's touch. It was almost like they were holding hands. He suddenly felt light-headed and was so flustered he could hardly understand what she was saying. Hugh stared at Tristan and then down at Sam's hand and grinned. Sam saw Hugh and quickly took her hand away.

“Uh, okay. I got it,” Tristan said.

With some coaching from Meg, Tristan drove most of the way back to the Bitter End. Meg took over when they neared the dock. They made it back just in time for their calls home. Each of the teens assured their parents they were fine and that the storm hadn't been all that bad. The director asked them not to say anything, at least yet, about everything else.

Dinner that night was a true test of the teens' endurance. Not because of the wait for food or an overly long and boring conversation. The campers were just so tired. It was all they could do to stay awake for dessert. They retired to their assigned cottages and were asleep in minutes.

The next morning, the teens packed their backpacks and readied to leave. A boat would take them to Beef Island where they'd head to the airport and board Sea Camp's jet. They said their good-byes. Mary and Meg hugged each and every one of them and told them anytime they wanted to come back they were always welcome.

On the plane ride home, the campers once again sank into the cozy, plush leather seats. Tristan began to nod off, but a couple of things were still bothering him. For one, why did Sam putting her hand on his while he was driving the inflatable make him feel so weird? It's not like they were actually holding hands or anything. That would be too weird; Sam and Hugh were his best friends. Tristan decided maybe it had been a lack of food or he'd been dehydrated. He then undid his seatbelt. Tristan walked forward to the cockpit where Director Davis sat in the copilot's seat.