Primordial

Chapter 33

The crew followed Holloway back out onto the deck. Aston tagged along last, reluctance slowing his steps. The whole venture was starting to take on the trappings of a farce, or perhaps a suicide mission, but the billionaire was undeterred. Joaquin had tied the dinghy up at the dive platform and Ollie Makkonen was helping him to lug three unhappy sheep into the SCUBA room. Each poor animal was trussed up tight and bleating plaintively, eyes rolling in understandable panic.

“This is not right,” Slater said, lips twisted in disgust.

“You’re not wrong,” Aston said. “Sheep are terrible at SCUBA diving.”

She looked at him, eyes flat.

“The mask leaks because of their woolly face?” he tried.

“This isn’t funny, Sam. This is all kinds of messed up!”

He sighed, nodded. “You’re right. I’m joking because otherwise I think I might go mad.”

“More of your gallows humor?” She shook her head. “I don’t know what bothers me more — what he’s about to do to those poor animals or what might happen to us if he actually succeeds in luring the creature out. What if it’s so big it causes the boat to capsize?”

Aston grimaced as he watched the scene unfold. “There is a bit of good news on that score.”

Slater cocked her head. “Really? What’s that?”

“If we do capsize, you don’t have to be the fastest swimmer on the crew. You just have to be faster than the slowest swimmer.”

Slater gaped at him and then broke out in laughter. “Or at least faster than three sheep, I suppose.”

“Leave that one there!” Holloway shouted, pointing down into the dinghy.

Joaquin and Makkonen paused, the third and last sheep hoisted between them, half out of the small boat.

“Leave it here?” Joaquin asked.

“Just put the thing down.” Holloway bustled in, forced the sad animal back into to the bottom of the tinny and ushered Joaquin and Makkonen out. He fired up the outboard and motored away, frightened bleating fading as he went. The remaining two sheep lay on the Merenneito’s deck, silent but panting and wide-eyed.

“We can’t just leave them like that. At the least they could stand.” Slater grabbed a dive knife and cut the ropes binding their feet together. Using the same rope, she made makeshift leads and tied them to storage lockers on either side of the room.

Immediately the animals began to calm, standing still and looking up at the people around them as if answers might be forthcoming.

“Do we have anything to feed them?” Aston asked.

“I’ll get something from the galley,” Joaquin said. “Some spinach or lettuce. Full stomachs might help them settle down.”

As he walked away, Slater said, “You know what would calm them down? Taking them back to wherever the hell you got them from in the first place.”

“Yeah,” Aston said quietly. “Come on, let’s see what our mad leader is doing up there.”

They made their way to the top deck and paused, stunned by the sight. Carly ran ahead of them and filmed from the ship’s rail. Holloway was on his knees in the dinghy, the boat rocking violently as he tried to force the sheep’s legs, free of rope now, through the fittings of a life vest.

“What in the actual hell?” Aston rubbed his eyes as if he could clear away the bizarre sight.

Before long, the creature was crammed into the bright orange vest, its bleating even more panicked. Small, white buoys, spaced every three feet or so, kept the top of the catch net level with the lake surface before it trailed back up to the winch. Holloway tied the sheep’s rope between two buoys and then fastened the other end tightly to a plastic buckle on the life vest. Then he tossed the sheep over the side.

Aston had no idea a sheep could scream, but there was no better description for the noise the poor animal made as it thrashed and rolled in the cold water. Slater put a hand over her mouth, but couldn’t tear her gaze away any more than the rest of them. Holloway watched for a moment to be sure the sheep wouldn’t sink, and then gave a single, satisfied nod. He revved the outboard and motored the small craft back to the Merenneito. His face was split in a wide grin that Aston considered at least partly manic. The man had clearly tumbled over some cliff edge of sanity in his enthusiasm and it didn’t look like he was about to stop falling any time soon.

The sheep had finally accepted its fate and bobbed in the water like a stunned, woolly buoy by the time Holloway joined them on deck. He trotted up to them. “That should draw the monster in, don’t you…” He stopped talking, face crumpling into a frown.

“What’s the matter now?” Makkonen asked. Even the grizzled old captain seemed uncomfortable with the turn of events.

“What’s it doing just hanging there?” Holloway demanded, like it was the crew’s fault.

Carly moved around to get a better view of Holloway with the camera, occasionally panning back to the terrified animal in the water.

“What do you mean, hanging there?” Slater asked. “What’s it supposed to do? Sing and fucking dance?”

Holloway scowled at her. “What kind of bait is that?” He gestured toward the floating sheep. “It’s supposed to thrash around, make a lot of noise like it’s in distress. It’s supposed to attract my monster.”

My monster, Aston thought. He already thinks he owns it.

They stood staring for several minutes. Holloway paced back and forth, mumbling softly to himself. Aston neither knew nor cared what he was saying. Every now and then the sheep would let out a plaintive bleat, and then fall silent again. It didn’t move, paralyzed with fear, Aston presumed.

Holloway made a noise of disgust and stalked away. “I’m going to do something about this.”

“What now?” Trepidation hung heavy in Slater’s voice.

The dinghy’s outboard fired up again and Holloway motored out to the unfortunate beast. The sheep began thrashing and crying out again as he approached. It managed to paddle a few feet, but could not escape Holloway’s reach.

“Now you can finally play your part!” Holloway shouted at it. “Let’s put you to work, you little fuzzball!”

He produced a shining dive knife and leaned over the edge of the small boat.

“No!” Slater cried, but it made no difference.

The knife flashed and Holloway drove it into the sheep’s shoulder. Again and again he slashed at the helpless animal, savagely slicing at its flanks. Aston gritted his teeth, unable to tune out the horrifying cries of a terrified animal in pain. Blood soaked its wool and clouded the water as the sheep’s voice rose into terrified and agonized screaming once more.

“What the hell are you doing?” Slater screamed. “This is too much! Please stop this!”

Holloway turned the dinghy and headed back for the Merenneito. “It’s there to be eaten anyway!” he yelled over the engine noise. “How is this any worse?”

“It’s unnecessary cruelty, you sick bastard!” Slater said. “What is wrong with you? Are you a sociopath?”

“And floating it out there for bait isn’t unnecessary cruelty?” Holloway asked.

“Yes it absolutely is!” Slater said, face twisted in astonishment. “That’s the whole point. This isn’t research any longer; it’s sadistic…” She threw up her hands, unable to say more.

“You don’t understand,” Holloway said as he brought the dinghy alongside Merenneito. “Sometimes sacrifices have to be made. We’re on the cusp of the greatest scientific discovery of the century. It’s ridiculous to think we should fail now because you don’t want to see an animal eaten. I’ve got news for you, if the monster didn’t eat that thing,” he pointed at the sheep for emphasis, “some local would have. That’s how the food chain works, sweetheart.”

“This is bad,” Slater said, “and you’re making it worse by the minute.”

Aston looked out at the blood-soaked bait. “Actually,” he pointed over Holloway’s shoulder, “it can’t really get any worse now, can it?” he said.

The billionaire twisted to see what Aston was indicating and spat. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me. Damn thing.”

The sheep had tipped sideways and lay dead in the water, its eyes rolled back to show only the whites. Holloway killed the outboard and stared at it, seemingly at a loss. Then he burst into action, clambering back onto Merenneito and hurrying out of sight.

“Boss,” Joaquin called tentatively, “do you need my help?” The dull sheen of disbelief in the man’s dark eyes said he hoped the answer was no.

Holloway didn’t reply. Aston and Slater shared a concerned look as sounds of banging and bleating rose from the SCUBA room.

“Not another one,” Aston said.

Soon enough, Holloway reappeared in the dinghy, a second sheep stumbling fearfully around, looking for an escape that didn’t exist. The small boat rocked dangerously, but Holloway seemed not to care. The sheep’s coat was soaked scarlet with blood in spots, but it was clear the billionaire had been less violent this time. The bloody patches covered only a small part of its coat, but its pain was evident along with its fear as it staggered around uncertainly.

Holloway pulled the dinghy up next to the dead sheep and that only made the panicked one on board redouble its frenzy. Holloway lifted a diver’s weight belt loaded with lead sinkers into view. He fed it through the life vest of the dead animal and cut it free to sink like a rock beneath the surface.

“That should help draw my monster in!” he said, though he didn’t seem to be addressing his words to any of the crew.

He threw the second sheep overboard and tied its leash rope to the trailing edge of the net. The animal thrashed and protested loudly. Holloway motored back, grinning broadly.

“That’s more like it!” he called up. “We’re learning more with every failed attempt, aren’t we?”

As he went out of view toward the dive platform, Aston said, “We’re certainly learning more about what a fucking lunatic you are!”

He jumped when he realized Joaquin had reappeared to stand right beside him. But the big man just laughed softly and patted Aston on the shoulder. “He’s eccentric,” Joaquin said, with a smile that said he knew full well how much of an understatement that was.

“You know the difference between eccentricity and madness?” Aston asked. When no one answered, he said, “Money. You act like him and have no money, you get locked up in a psych ward. But act like that with a bank account like he’s got and you’re merrily referred to as eccentric.”

“How do you stay with him?” Slater asked. “He must have shown these colors before.”

“He has, in some ways,” Joaquin admitted. “Though maybe never quite this… obsessed about something that wasn’t business. He’s never been this close to a discovery before, I suppose. The thing is, people don’t make the kind of money he has without being ruthless, amoral, and at least a little bit insane.”

“And that’s okay with you?” Slater said.

Joaquin shrugged. “He takes very good care of me and that lets me take care of my family in a way I wouldn’t be able to otherwise.”

“He pays you to be complicit in his lunacy,” Aston said.

“I’ve never felt that I’ve compromised my morals,” Joaquin said.

“But would you if it came down to it?” Aston demanded.

“I take each day as it comes.”

Aston grunted. “That’s not a very definitive answer.”

Joaquin shrugged again.

Further conversation was curtailed by Holloway’s return. “Now if that doesn’t bring my monster in, I have no idea what will!”

They stood in silence for a few moments. Silence except for the sheep, which dutifully cried out exactly as Holloway had hoped it would. It twisted and flexed in the water, kicked its legs in vain attempts to break free, and gave voice to its terror almost constantly.

Holloway nodded. “Yes, yes. That’s more like it! Come on, let’s all get ourselves some dinner and keep an eye on the sonar and cameras while we wait.”