Jessica heard gunshots. Tauman still had hold of her gun after all. Was he firing at Jim and her? At Lansing’s chopper as Don tried to save him? Or was he firing at the feeding sharks? Lansing was in no position to know, but Ja or Henri must have radioed him that the shots were being directed, for the moment, at the sharks and not the chopper.
Jessica glancing over her shoulder as she and Jim were hauled off, wondered if Don Lansing might not simply leave Tauman to the sharks. And why not? He had nervously moved a little off after the first shots had rung out. But now Lansing lowered in on the fugitive again.
Henri’s chopper having risen sufficiently, Jessica had a better view of what was happening with the snake amid the sharks to the north of their position. Tauman was pumping his bullets into the sharks. With each near approach, he would fire into one of the animals, the water now thick with blood, so that the number of sharks only increased. Tauman would soon run out of bullets. Jessica wondered if he planned saving one slug for himself, as she had intended to do. Ja’s cousin Henri, seeming to have gotten the hang of this thing now, almost gently deposited first Jessica and next James Parry into Eriq Santiva’s waiting arms aboard the killer’s boat. Jim then took over from Eriq the duty of draping a blanket over Jessica. Parry and Jessica stood at the stern of the boat as it closed in now on the shark party and Tauman, who was finally responding to Lansing’s rescue effort, reaching out and grabbing on to the rope ladder dangled before him.
James Parry had draped his arms about Jessica as they watched the unfolding drama before them. It looked as if Tauman would be rescued, but Jessica recalled how difficult it had been to pull her weight and drenched clothing up along the rungs.
The boat was closing in on the scene, and now Eriq maneuvered the boat closer and closer in hopes of dispersing the sharks and possibly coming to Tauman’s aid, but it was dicey, extremely so since their fugitive was armed with a lethal weapon. But then came the hollow click-click of the empty chamber.
“ He’s run himself out of bullets,” Jessica said aloud.
“ Move in faster!” shouted Jim to Eriq, who revved the boat.
Lansing’s lifeline looked like Tauman’s only hope, but Tauman had refused to let go of the gun and now slipped from the ladder, falling back into the waiting sea. Tauman had foolishly continued searching for a bullet in the chamber, obviously in a state of shock or knowing nothing about the type of firearm he’d grabbed hold of. They could hear the useless click-click-click of repeated attempts to bring a bullet into the chamber as if by some magic.
Eriq brought the sailing vessel ever closer and they watched as Lansing, using the rope ladder, tried his level best to place this lifeline over the now trapped Tauman, the sharks having circled and circled and tightened their circle as they’d done so. One of the sharks took a run at Tauman, who slammed the gun into its snout, deflecting the brute. A second creature took a run at him, tearing a chunk from his body somewhere below the surface, sending Tauman’s scream to the brilliant blue heavens.
Warren Tauman’s shouts could be heard across the water. But he was now shouting with a giddy happiness, for he’d latched hold of the rope ladder a second time, and now the chopper began to rise, tugging at his wet body, lifting him from the water. It appeared the snake would live to face charges after all, and would become the contention of three countries, the subject of extradition orders, mass interest and countless newspaper articles. It appeared the Night Crawler would stand trial before a judge and jury and a fascinated public.
Jessica and Jim looked into one another’s eyes. “It’s over,” he said, trying to soothe her, feeling her tremble and shiver beneath the blanket and his embrace. He held her tighter still when suddenly the tone of Tauman’s voice went from that of a cheer to that of a scream of horror and pain. This sent Eriq forward, and along with Jessica and Jim, he looked out over the bow to see Tauman’s torso lifted from the water by Lansing’s upward pull. But both his legs dangled loosely there, and were suddenly amputated by a duo of sharks who leapt from the water and took them off at the hip.
Lifted from the water, Tauman’s torso and arms seemed wrapped up in the rope ladder, twisted and twisting like a frantic eel, clinging to life, his bottom half leaking blood like a busted oil can. Lansing continued to carry what was left of Tauman higher and farther away from the shark pool. Tauman’s arms had become so twisted up in the netting of the rope ladder that his weight held there. Jessica had to turn her eyes away, as did Jim Parry, while Eriq, captivated by the sight before him, stared in amazement, for Tauman was still alive and in great suffering and pain.
Warren Tauman’s final anguished, unholy wail, and his wide eyes, reached out across the water for a mercy that was not forthcoming. Then there was silence.
“ The snake’s head and his heart are gone,” Jessica said. “What’s that?” Eriq asked. “It’s over…”
“ It certainly is.”
“ But we need what’s left of the body, Eriq,” she told the others. “It will help tremendously to prove it’s Tauman, that this guy is the Night Crawler, without the slightest doubt.”
“ God, he’d better be at this point,” Eriq moaned.
Parry instantly got on the radio and got to Lansing, telling him to be as gentle as possible, that he was still carrying Tauman’s body below on the rope ladder and that it was needed for examination and identification.
“ God, mister… what do you want me to do with it?”
Jessica was beside Jim, having torn away the blanket, and she snatched the radio from Jim. “Don, try your best to lower it over the boat. We… we’ll take it in from here.”
“ Aye, aye. I’ll do my best.”
Eriq shouted from the stern, “Damnit, we’re losing him!”
Jessica and Jim looked up to see that Tauman’s torso now dangled by one knotted arm and that with each second, even this connection was loosening. Below the twirling ladder, a stream of blood had baited sharks to follow. The remains were ugly and contorted in the Caribbean sun, which beat down relentlessly and in stark juxtaposition to the moment, as if God’s awful, inscrutable reality had finally turned on Warren Tauman, the Night Crawler, and had decreed all of him to be consumed by the sea.
Like a drunken, disabled diver, Tauman’s remains awkwardly came loose, dangled, loosened further and sailed heavily downward to the waiting sharks, who then fed voraciously on them.
“ Damn… damn,” muttered Jessica.
Lansing came over the radio saying, “I’d like to say I’m sorry, but I can’t quite work myself up to sorry.”
“ It’s all right,” Eriq assured Jessica. “We know it was him.”
“ But can you prove it?” contested Parry.
“ Yeah, we can prove it, can’t we, Jess?”
“ There’ve got to be papers about. You can show it’s his handwriting, Eriq.”
“ That’s hardly enough in a court of law,” countered Jim.
“ It’s one nail in the coffin, then,” she contested.
Jim nodded and asked Eriq, “Did you see any papers lying about below?”
“ Nothing lying out, no, but there’re papers inside the cabin somewhere, and possibly far more incriminating evidence aboard. The ropes, the taxidermy stuff, chemicals maybe.”
“ Have you seen any of this?” Parry asked, continuing to play Devil’s advocate.
“ No… but who’s had time to search?”
“ We’ll need to search the boat from top to bottom.”
Jessica said. “We’ve got to show, beyond any doubt, that it was Tauman who was killed here, that it was the Night Crawler.”
“ We’ll have the boat returned to Miami, get the witnesses to ID the boat,” suggested Eriq as if he’d just closed the matter.
“ If we can get the boat out of Ja Okinleye’s hands,” hinted Parry.
“ What’re you talking about?” asked Eriq. “This is evidentiary property of the United States government now.”