“Take her legs,” Holloway said from directly above them. “On three. One, two, three!”
Slater joined Aston at the porthole and they stared in horror as Carly arced out over the water, clad in a bright orange life vest. She hit the lake and cried out weakly, arms flailing like they were made of rubber. Her face was swollen, bruised and bloody, one eye shut. Blood leaked from her mouth and from several knife cuts along her forearms.
Slater cried quietly. “We have to save her,” she whimpered.
Aston turned, ran full tilt at the cabin door, and bounced back hissing in pain, clasping his nearly dislocated shoulder. He felt like a child trapped in an adult world, impotent in the face of one stupid door. Slater gasped and he turned back to the porthole.
The figure on the shore was now dancing violently back and forth, his strange icon held in both hands above his head. In the dim moonlight they saw the lower half of his face, his mouth moving in a frantic chant. Then he leaned his head back and released an unearthly sound, like an ululating wolf howl that echoed out across the lake.
“What the hell was that?” they heard Holloway ask.
Aston could imagine the bastard scanning the lake, looking for the source of the disquieting cry.
And then, maybe a hundred and fifty feet from the Merenneito, the water began to churn and the huge form of the creature surfaced for a moment and then submerged almost immediately.
Slater gripped Aston’s hand again and they stared, frozen by fear and helplessness. The zealot on the shore howled once more, then whistled a high-pitched call. The creature’s back broke the surface sixty feet nearer, spines flicking up as it moved, gems of lake water glittering in the patchy moonlight.
“Here she comes.” Holloway’s voice rang with glee.
Carly sobbed and thrashed, kicked her legs trying to head for the back of the boat and safety.
“Don’t let her swim to the boat!” Holloway yelled. “Hurry up.”
Aston and Slater both jumped as two quick gunshots severed the night and Carly bucked in the water, crying out in pain. Her face twisted, eyes squeezed shut, and she rolled in the water and would have sunk if not for the life vest holding her up. She sobbed again, swallowed water, coughed.
“Carly!” Slater screamed, banging at the porthole. And then the creature was on her.
It burst up from the depths, two halves of tooth-crammed jaw appearing either side of her, and the rest of the massive form came behind. It slammed its jaws shut as its front fins broke the surface and Carly’s cries were silenced in one, two, three quick snaps, and the monster fell sideways back into the lake.
“Now!” Holloway yelled.
The winch arm wailed as it motors drew the net around again, and blue arcs of electricity crackled between the small buoys. The monster seemed to convulse once on the surface and then thrashed, sending up gouts of water in massive waves.
“Faster!” Holloway shouted and the winch arm motors screamed as they were cranked up. “It’s working.”
The net gathered and electricity arced once more. The creature twisted and turned on itself, rapidly running out of room to move. It flexed violently and let out a low, hollow rumble, water churning white and rocking the Merenneito again. The winch protested against the deck, electricity surged, and the net drew tighter. The boat dipped gut-wrenchingly to one side, the water level almost up the porthole. SCUBA gear, pans, who knew what other gear, crashed and tumbled around in the hold and galley.
“Are we going to capsize?” Slater cried.
Aston couldn’t speak, so mesmerized was he by the grisly scene playing out before him.
The monster slammed its mighty tail once sending up a cloud of water, another burst of electricity flared, and the beast fell still. The Merenneito rocked back up to a stable level and bobbed gently.
Holloway howled with laughter. “We got it! We got the bitch!”
And under his celebrations, Aston heard the madman on the shore yell, “Nooooo!”
The man disappeared into the trees, and silence once again sank over the lake. The creature lay curled up tight in the net, floating just below the surface.
Footsteps battered above them and Holloway said, “Did you hear that?”
“It came from down below, probably,” Joaquin answered.
“Yes, of course. Come on, help me make sure this net is secured.”
Aston stepped away from the porthole, every inch of him trembling in shock and rage. Slater remained frozen in place, staring out over the strangely calm water. Tears streaked her cheeks. The only sound was the winch motor slowly drawing the bulging net fully closed. “Carly,” she implored quietly.
Aston shook his head, lost for words. One thought tumbled over and over in his mind: no way would Holloway let them live after what they’d witnessed. They had to escape, and soon.
“Is it dead?” Slater asked.
Aston moved back to her side. “No idea. Quite possibly, or it might just as likely only be stunned.”
The motors of the winch fell silent as the net finally reached full closure, with the monster bound up tight.
“I can’t believe he actually got it,” Aston said. “I honestly can’t believe it. But I don’t think there’s any way out of that. Especially as it can’t move now and they can zap it again if it wakes.”
As if on cue, the monster weakly flexed, the net bulging one way and then back.
“We caught her alive!” Holloway cried. “Get the cage. I want take a proper look at my prize!”
“Shouldn’t we just tow it in and make sure it’s secure first?” Joaquin asked.
“I want to look at her! Ready the cage and I’ll get the tranq gun. I’ll fill that beast so full of drugs she won’t wake up for a week. We’ll take her in once she’s out.”
“I contacted our people,” Joaquin said. “They’ll meet us at the designated spot but it’s going to take them several hours to get there and set up.”
“What’s he talking about?” Slater asked.
“I assume he’s referring to whatever arrangements he’s made to get this thing out of the country and back to the States. He can’t just haul it into town. Word would spread like wildfire and the Finnish authorities would descend on him like flies on a rotten corpse.”
“We’re not far from the coast. I’ll bet he’s got a ship waiting for him and people lined up to make the transfer. The bastard.” Slater banged her fist against the wall.
Up above, the sounds of feet on deck and the clang of metal rang out.
“Nothing we can do to stop him now. We have to focus on getting away,” Aston said.
“But we’re trapped here!”
“We’ve only tried force. Look around for something that might help.”
They began searching the small room, lifting the mattress, desperate for anything that might give them an edge. Aston pulled open the drawer of the bedside table. Inside lay an old Bible, a loose deck of cards, a few pencils, and a small sewing kit. He rummaged around until his hands closed on something familiar. Smiling in triumph, he held up a screwdriver. “Now this I can use.”
Slater looked from the tool to Aston and back again, and then shrugged. “What are we going to do with that? Poke a hole in the door?”
He pointed to the hinges, fixed to the inside wall of the cabin, each held with three cross-head screws. She smiled and stepped back, gesturing him forward.
With a renewed sense of determination Aston began working at the hinges. Three of them, top, middle and bottom of the door. He concentrated, working as fast as he could, though the screwdriver was really too small for the job. It kept skipping and slipping free.
“Take your time,” Slater said. “Those two are pretty busy up there.”