Shark Bait 2: Prologue
Six months twenty three days and eighteen hours. That was how long it had been since the rugged polar bear last laid eyes on the divine sea otter. Every hour that passed he longed for her touch. The war dragged him from continent to continent... warzone to warzone... death to death. The burden of his trails was eased only by the knowledge that he would return to his beloved Leilani. Today was that day.
Night had already fallen. There was a bright full moon with not a cloud in the sky. It was far too romantic to waste. "Okay Rob, I will be landing on the north side of the island. You will have to swim part of the way. It's too dark to risk the rocks."
"That's fine. The sea is calm tonight. You head back and I will radio you for pickup in about a week," Rob wanted longer but it was all the time he could afford to spare.
The sea plane circled the island once before making its descent. After a smooth landing Rob pushed himself out of his seat and hopped over onto the pontoon. A wad of cash fell into the lap of the pilot, "You get the rest when you come fetch me."
"I know I know... the routine hasn't changed."
"And if you breathe a word of where I am to anyone..."
"Yes. You already told me in explicit detail what you would do with that spanner," Sam took the threat from Rob very casually as per usual. He has yet to see the mongoose show any kind of emotion whatsoever.
The polar bear pulled off his green t-shirt and black boots while balanced on the pontoon and threw them back into his seat on the plane, "Look after those. I won't need them."
He plunged into the dark water and started to swim. With his incredible strength and stamina it didn't take him long to get to shore. By that time the plane was already in the air and making its way back.
Robert felt butterflies in the pit of his stomach. They were flutters of excitement but also nerves. It had been a while since he left, he worried the feelings she had for him had eroded away.
He put it all to the back of his mind and pressed forward using memory to find the path back to his exotic lover.
Through jungle paths and old claw marks he had left behind in stone he found his way to a very familiar beach. The night made it all the more nostalgic as he remember making love on the sand bathed in moonlight with the tide trying to pull the two of them back out to sea. It was enough to bring about a flushed grin on the polar bear.
His attention was drawn to the dark hut. He held himself back from calling out her name. He wanted to surprise her instead. He jogged across the shore and over to the hut... but... his jog started to slow as he neared. His smile started to fade and his walk came to a full stop.
"No..." All became clear to the bear in that very moment when horror gripped him. It looked like the hut was raided. Items and furniture littered the perimeter and there were clear signs of struggle.
He caught no scent of the sea otter and a vague panic seeped into him. Most would immediately burst into the hut and search but Robert was smarter than that. He needed to go from the outside and work his way in putting his survival training to good use.
His eyes scanned the ground around the hut and he spotted a footprint. He took to one knee and inspected it closer. He then talked to himself to better remember what he found, "A bare footprint... not Leilani's... facing towards the hut. The foot is webbed... no fur and no claws... likely a fish humanoid," his thoughts drew back to Samuel Thorne, the Mako shark. It seems very likely that what he is seeing before him is related to the death of the shark.
Rob re focused on the crime scene and kept studying the ground and piecing together what happened. "There were only five or six men. They arrived on the beach close to the hut. Not by boat... too noisy... they were divers."
He made his way closer and started pawing through the goods that were thrown outside. It was mostly salvage and trinkets Leilani has collected. "They were looking for something..." He came by a familiar red and white sarong and took it gently in his paw. He brought the fabric to his nose and inhaled deeply. The sweet scent of the sea otter brought a pause to the universe. His heart didn't know whether to sink or swim. He pocketed the sarong so he could refresh the scent later on, he could always rely on his nose to find her.
As he approached the door he saw a blade sticking out of the frame at eye level. It was a foreign knife; clearly Japanese but Rob didn't know what it was called. There was a small note pinned into the wood and, "My dog tags..." hanging from the hilt which he cupped in his paw before putting them back around his neck.
Rob pulled the blade out and took hold of the note.
"You claimed the life of my brother. It was not your right. I have taken the girl as collateral. Don't worry... I will not touch her. However I cannot guarantee to restrain my lonely men from her forever. I took the prisoner on the eighteenth of March and I will return on the eighteenth of April. The Tantou is my gift to you. Give yourself an honourable death. If I do not find you at peace when I arrive then there will be no mercy for your companion."
Rob looked at the Tantou blade with contempt, still grasping it firmly in his hand. There was no way he would kill himself, especially in the greatest sanctuary he has ever known. At least now he knew that she was taken only a few days ago. He had more than enough time to track her down.
He entered the trashed hut to see if there was anything left that could prove useful. He caught the scent of blood and he was bitten with fear. Another knife lay on the floor but it was one that belonged to Leilani. It had blood on it. "You managed to scar one of them. They underestimated you," with a proud grin on display he picked up the knife and tasted the blood before inspecting the stains. "That is a lot of blood but you just missed his major artery." The taste however was more important, it did confirm that she was attacked by sharks. There were different subtle flavours on the blade. She cut a few of the intruders before jabbing the blade into another.
After a few minutes of searching there was little else that was worth noting. He found that she was dragged back to sea which is where the trail goes cold. But there was one other place that he could search for clues, Samuel Thorne's old hideout.
It took about an hour for Robert to swim to one of the neighbouring Islands. It was easy enough for him to find the location of the hideout after visiting once before. He stood looking down into a large lonely rock pool nestled near the shore. "This is it," he said softly before taking a deep breath and plunging into the water. He swam as quickly as he could through the dark water, he could not hold his breath too long and the underwater tunnel proved to be an agonising trial. By the time red mist started to cloud his vision he found the end of the tunnel.
Rob erupted from the pool and gagged for air. After a few coughs and splutters he regained his composure and pulled himself out into the pitch dark cave. He took out his lighter and slowly made his way over to the wall where he found an old torch and lit it.
The cave was not very large it was more of a nest. There were a line of tables covered with radio equipment sitting along one wall, a couple of chairs and a cot. He took the torch and started to carefully scan through the belongings of poor old Samuel. Some wooden boxes were nestled under the tables and he pulled them out one by one. Afterwards Rob took a seat and popped open a box and found a hive of Intel. "Hmm... Samuel must have kept this place a closely guarded secret. This would have been destroyed otherwise," the only reason Rob knew about it is because he cased Samuel into this place in a past encounter.
He started to paw through every piece of paper and held the torch close so he could see however most of it was in Japanese.
After another hour of grinding through useless intelligence he came across something useful. It was a photograph. It showed five humanoid sharks, each of a different species. They all stood side by side bare chested in front of a large ship. It looked like some sort of Cargo ship, the name of the ship was in clear view but it was in Japanese.
All of the sharks wore Japanese uniforms and carried samurai swords. "Samuel was in a special unit. Shit... I should have figured this out ages ago." Failure swelled in his mind, if he had known he could have foreseen this whole situation and protected Lani.
Rob put the thought behind him before it affected the task ahead. He now knew the next step.
Rob pocketed the photo and walked over to the radio and tuned into the right frequency, "This is Snowflake... Come in Goose... Do you read me?"
He repeated himself a few times before he got a reply, "It is four in the Fucking Morning! I thought you weren't calling me for two weeks!"
"Change of plans... I need you to come and pick me up..."
By the time Sam returned it was already dawn. The plane settled for a landing near the beach. Rob lay on the beach awaiting the pilot to come to shore. Sam leaped out into waist deep water and trudged to the beach.
"If you are trying to tan you may be disappointed," even starting the conversation with a joke the mongoose did not look the slightest bit amused and nor did Rob.
"Funny. Anyway seeing as you helped me track down Samuel some time ago I am going to need your help tracking down someone else," Rob said taking to his feet.
He then handed Sam the Photo where he took a close look at it, "This is, expensive information you're asking for."
"So you do know about those men."
"Yes. Are you sure you can afford my knowledge?"
"If I couldn't I wouldn't have asked."
The mongoose turned so that he and Rob shared the picture, "I know most of these men very well. Before the war they were the best smugglers in the pacific. It was hard to compete with them but once the Japanese recruited them into their fleet business has been booming... I take it you recognised Samuel Thorne there."
Rob took a good long stare at the shark standing on the very right. The sharp menacing smile still got under his fur to this day. "Standing next to him is Garrett North. Safe to say he is one of the fastest swimmers in the world. Tried for the Olympic team but because of his questionable history he was quickly rejected." Garrett was a tiger shark, he wasn't smiling in the picture but that didn't make him look any less menacing.
"On the far left here we have Hyde Carter. His ugly face certainly reflects his personality. He is wanted in all states across the western seaboard for a string of rape homicides. I would say he is worse than Samuel in that department. At least Samuel didn't kill his rape victims." With that knowledge Rob clenched his teeth at the sight of the Hammerhead, fearing that Lani may very well be in the presence of such a monster.
"And finally we have Adam Howe. A man I dare say may be even stronger than you. I have seen him carrying metal girders on his shoulders. He is also smarter than he looks, possibly a college man." The Great White seemed to show the greatest challenge to Rob if they were to get into a fight but he wasn't going to underestimate any of them. Samuel proved to be enough of a challenge.
"What about this man in the middle?" Rob pointed to the calm and composed Bull shark standing straight and true.
"He wasn't part of their crew. All I know is that he was the one who recruited them. He wanted to make a special unit composed of divers. They do a lot of important stuff such as spying, sabotage and assassination all across the pacific. It goes without saying that Sharks are the best choice for such a team."
Rob couldn't agree with him more, he knew better than most that a few can accomplish missions that an army could not. This team was a fleet in their own right, "Well at least I only have four more left to kill."
"What? You can't be serious; these men will eat you alive."
"It is the only way I can protect her."
"Her?" Sam looked at Robert with confusion before coming to a realisation, "I see..."
"Tell me about the ship in the background of this photo. This may be where they are holding her."
Sam showed a brief reluctance to speak, as if waiting for any common sense to come back to Rob, "Sam..."
"It is an unmarked cargo ship. The name has been removed since the photo to avoid getting boarded by the Americans. They docked over at my port about a week ago."
"Where were they heading?"
"You think that they would tell me."
"Best Guess. You smuggle across the pacific all the time so you must have noticed some sort of routine."
"Depending on the weather they would either be in Samoa or Fiji."
Robert suddenly leads the way back to the water towards the plane, "Do you still supply oil rigs?"
"Yes... why?"
"I need some explosives."